Norwegian wouldn’t
Posted on
January 14, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Now remember, small oil-rich countries bordering the North Sea, there’s just no way you can thrive on your own.
After all, would this guy lie to you? He’s from the fair and unbiased media!
And in fairness, Neil was right about “failing” Norway. Without wise old Westminster to run its affairs for it, look at the crazy Communist mess it’s in now.
But, y’know, they haven’t even got any nuclear weapons, the idiots.
Timely Stu, with oil back up to nearly $70/barrel
When I click on the images I dont getan enlargement as I usually do, but get a link to the original articles, some of which are behind a paywall.
Cheers Stuart.
Was just beginning to get over losing my Bitcoin wallet.
Thanks for that.
It’s perception, and from the London point of view. The UK is big and capable, whereas Norway is small and incapable. Therefore Norway is a failure, the UK a success, and everyone wants to be like the UK and is jealous, apart from the US of course.
That’s it basically. In a nutshelll, and I do mean nut.
As usual the article is excellent and shows the frankly preposterous position of the yoon media. The very definition of people who would cut off their nose to spite their face.
Good Beatles based headline punnery too.
All just so depressing.
But at least proud Scot but Aeberdonians like Ian Wood got rich beyond their wildest imaginings and we have to call him Sir now too.
BBC gimpery, 12 September 2013 Last updated at 00:08 GMT
Norway: Is world’s largest sovereign wealth fund too big?
Only our relentlessly grotesque beeb gimp network, has the sheer tory gall to produce Britnat red and blue tory garbage like that.
Oh well, I’m alright jack, I vote tory, red or blue and the SNP are v v bad.
Having spent a lot of time in Norway, I can confirm that it makes the UK look positively backward.
This notion of the UK being something special, or rich, or even competent only seems to afflict many Brexiteers, and many No voters. Oh and the Uk/Scottish media, obviously.
It is not so much the price of oil at any given time,but more what you do with it. It also epitomises what I have maintained for a long time.
Yoon commentary is all guesswork. They like to speak as knowledgeable ,informed experts,but in fact are inevitably wrong. This is such an example. They are no wiser nor informed than anybody else. People put faith in such nonsense.
We are seeing the same philosophy playing out with Brexit. All under control they say. Nothing to worry about. Common sense tells us there is much to worry about, just as common sense should have told Andrew and others that a nation with natural resources should not be poor. Look where we are. Another cluster feck in being unable to shepherd resources because you wanted to buy political popularity in the moment.
Westminster is utterly incapable of financial management.
Andrew Neil’s agenda is always on show. Someone who wears a shredded wheat as a hairpiece is never going to be subtle, or even give a fuck about how things look. He is mouthpiece for the right and that colours everything he says and does.
I see Nicola is going to weigh up the Indyref2 position at the end of this year when presumably Westminster will have some sort detail on the EU deal (even if it is just some matchstick figures and a bit colouring in by David Davies – aged 69 and a bit)
Reading through that just makes me want to weep.
Still, it’s not too late to build the society we would like for Scotland. Just imagine a country free from food banks, poverty & nuclear weapons with a standard of living similar to Norways.
We can still do this, all it takes is enough people with the strength of courage to believe in themselves and their fellow Scots, and to vote YES in IndyRef2
We are so close, it’s going to be a tough struggle. Westminster literally can’t afford to let us go especially taking into account the damage that Brexit is going to do. Bring it on!
When indyref2 comes along, there should be 3 choices available to the people of Scotland.
1. Vote for an independent Scotland.
2. Vote to remain part of the UK, outside the EU.
3. Abstain.
With all the forecasts and info avaialble, it would appear that, unlike 2014, a vote for independence is the best outcome for retaining the Status Quo, as far as Scotland is concerned.
A vote to remain part of the UK outside the EU is taking a step into the unknown. There can be no Status Quo.
Abstaining is just giving up your right to have your say as to the future of Scotland.
Are there still Scots who think we’re ‘too wee, too poor and too stupid’? If so, it is encument upon all Yessers to get as much pro-indy info out into the public domain, bypassing the MSM.
Of course, there are those Scots who are British first; their Scottishness secondary to their Britishness and only allowed to surface in support of a Scottish sports team or individual, at a wedding, wearing their kilts, or on Burns Night or whatever.
The Rev’s article above should be another part of our armoury – plus all the memes produced by Colin Dunn et al.
When indyref2 happens, we only have to persuade between 5 and 10% of the electorate to either change their vote from no to YES, or actually get out and vote.
I have no doubt that if we Scots vote no again, the imminent future Scotland “will be a part of the country known as England”, to quote Marks & Spencer.
Is that what you want? Is it? Coz that’s what’ll ‘eppen…
How the hell can you read this and still not open your mind to independence?
Two words, McCrone Report.
If I recall correctly the report claimed that on the discovery of oil off the coast of Scotland. That Scotland would become embarrassing wealthy, the report was hidden, so as not to encourage Scots to vote for self determination.
Westminster lied and deceived you and in the process squandered Scotland’s North sea assets. Westminster even shifted the marine boundry so that when you look out to sea at Carnoustie, you are looking at English waters and not Scottish waters.
In the process Westminster’s illegal boundry change saw several profitable North sea oil wells become English. So not only did they lie and deceive you they also stole from you.
Denis Healy in his latter years virtually admitted that the McCrone Report was hidden from Scots.
We must dissolve this unfair union this year, or next year at the very latest.
T.roz says:
14 January, 2018 at 1:08 pm
How the hell can you read this and still not open your mind to independence?
Because I’m alright Jack, I’m British, I am safe and secure British and above all else, Scots are not capable of running a bath, let alone my Scotland region, look at the appalling NHS we have to endure etc etc…
Just ask everyone at BBC Scotland.
No one ever suggests Norway is too wee, too poor, or too stupid.
What’s the difference between Scotland and Norway?
Workforce, natural resources, tourism, agricultural land, food and drinks industries, location, etc … nothing stands out in Norway’s favour.
Oh yes. One has got Westminster shackled to its leg!
Scottish wealth illegally and secretly went to support London S/E. Thatcher. Tax havens established World banking rules deregulated. The Barnett formula deliberately introduce to secretly and illegally misappropriate, and mismanage the wealth of Scotland. To leave Scotland in relatively deprivation and poverty. Never investigated by MSM tax evading, non Dom owners and their sychophants of which Neil is one. To line their pockets with public money. Working against the public interest.
Neil and the MSM deliberately told lies to conceal the facts. Kept secret under the Official Secrets Act. Deliberately by the MSM and Thatcher. The McCrone Report etc, The criminality of the Westminster Gov is felt all over the world. Illegal wars, tax evasion and financial fraud. Destroying the economy the world over, and in Scotland.
It is still going on the MSM Press lies. They can’t even count or read a balance. Never mind analyse easy figures. Either deliberately or through total ignorant incompetence. Simple %, proportion or equations. It really is astounding. Especially the salary and remuneration these people are receiving. Often remuneration from public funding. Tax evaded and offshore. To make false report.
It is still going on. Even now. Scotland’s wealth is being taken to be mismanaged and misappropriated by the Westminster unionists. Scotland unequally, higher taxed by Westminster Treasury. Losing £20Billon a year on Westminster misappropriation and mismanagement. Ignorant incompetence. Depopulation Scotland and leading into even more congestion in London S/E. The recognised North/South divide. Implemented by Westminster secrecy, lies and inconsistency. Unequal and unfair. Neil and the rest of the sycophants support this behaviour,
Still no Report in any of the Press the £4Billion a year cut to the NHS funding by the Tories from 2015-2020. £20Billion. When the funding should have been increased for the elderly and inflation.
Another Press/MSM cover up. Pushing the idea of another tax NI increase. The Tories spending £Billions on groteque projects of no value instead of NHS/Education and essential services. When there are cheaper, more feasible, alternatives projects of better outcome. Cutting tax for the wealthier and sanctioning and starving people to death. Increasing the burden on the social/essential services and the NHS.
The Tories – unionists are trying to privatise the NHS. Milking the public purse to line their own and their associates pockets. For donations and favours. Neil and has cronies should be throughly ashamed. Deliberate misinformation.
Thank goodness for the SNP and the internet.
Sarha Smith o today’s ‘Sunday Politics’
‘EVEN the Scottish Government has gender equality in Cabinet’
What’s with the ‘EVEN’? Patronising colonialist tool.
The unionists were and are,in substantial majority, Brit Nats in disguise.
Dewar betrayed Scotland when in full knowledge of the value of North Sea oil he declared that the economy of an independent Scotland would be like that of Bangladesh, at that point the worst in the World.
For that reason alone, I have never and will never vote Labour.
As for the Tories-when did they ever act in Scotland’s interests?
…thanks for the reminder 🙁
O.T. This morning on lbc on the Nigei Farage show we had Alastair Campbell on giving his views on brexit who the hell does he represent ??? No one but himselfe these are the kind of people they shove in front us him and Blair ,Clegg Cable Straw Rifkind etc ., most if not all proven liars these are the kind of people they bestow honours on it just shows how sick the U.K. Is and of course we in Scotland have more than our fair share of liars,who are given air time and must know they are hated by at least halve of,their fellow citizens but are protected by their U.K masters but the real shame is on US for allowing it to happen by that I mean the NO voters
Will an iScotland ever catch up on Norway after generations of Westminster thievery and mismanagement!
I honestly don’t know, but I’m up for having a damned good try!
Scots have achieved so much in the past, often to other people’s benefit. We have a proven record, it’s just never been sufficiently focused on our wee country itself. Scotland can flourish if only we had the independence to get on with it.
I have just learned that a good friend of mine died on the 6th of January, that flu killed him, he was younger than me, i will allways remember his laugh and his life force
RIP Paddy, till we meet again XXX
We can ignore the figures, they don’t matter. Norway,like Scotland, is not England. It therefore follows that, no matter how wealthy it might be now, Norway will inevitably pee it all up against the wall of the fjord because, well, it isn’t England. Given a few millennia of further evolution, other nations MAY develop the kind of stable, prosperous demi-paradise that England already is, but not yet. No, far better Scotland be run by the shrewd English, and every good house Scot knows that.
Why do you think Trumpet is cuddling up to Norway.
They have loads of $$$$$$s.
Surprised the Daily Heil hasn’t accused the Norwegians of stealing “England’s oil.”
Andra Neil FUD
What’s the difference between Scotland and Norway?
Norway is not some kind of shangri la, governed by angels. What they did have and still do have, is not tory government, red and blue.
As we all know, they kept control of their state owned oil companies, whereas here in teamGB, as we all know, the Snatcher Thatcher era tories sold all the UK state owned oils co’s, to the rich, the City and the great UK private pension funds.
People should visit Norway to see just how different countries are, when they are not owned and governed by red and blue tories, from Snatcher Thatcher to Crash Gordon.
What most people can’t do, is visit Norwegian oil installations, or see the average Norwegian oil worker pay cheque, usually triple what your average UK oil sector earns, especially the lower skills end.
Norwegian oil installation living quarters are of completely higher standard compared to the UK sector, health and safety standards are infinitely higher, Norwegian offshore oil workers have triple the time off compared to the UK saps and more importantly, vast majority of Norwegian oil workers also have their own small businesses, because their pay is high enough to fund their small businesses, which often grow into medium sized and bigger.
UK offshore oil workers just want to get home, pay the bills, pay the mortgage, get some rest. Its how the UKOK zone works, because we’re British.
[…] Wings Over Scotland Norwegian wouldn’t (From The Archives #3.) Now remember, small oil-rich countries bordering the North […]
Andra The Seer.
What a total wanker.
O/T link to youtube.com
Oil today is worth around $70 a barrel. When it was worth $110 a barrel, the cost of producing that barrel was $30. The cost has fallen by around two thirds.
Since 2014, the investment in new fields are starting to bear fruit. Oil production has been increasing, not falling, since 2014. It will be around 2,000,000 barrels a day on average this year. The commodity at today’s prices has a value around $50 billion.
In 2015 the UK government decided to cut oil taxes. The subsidy will run to 2020.
Yet the oil companies will be making make billions from the surge in the price of oil.
In my opinion the tax subsidy should end now, and the revenues raised from the tax increase should be diverted to supporting the NHS and Social Care.
Ian Brotherhood Andra’s foo o the Blue Nun noo thats ah bad habit tae get intae lol .
I adore satwcomic.com, ever since this.
link to satwcomic.com
And then there was this.
link to satwcomic.com
Just never, never, put the url in your browser and click on it without the “comic” part.
A typical House Scot. The oligarchs throw him some dosh, seems a lot to him, and he identifies with their cause.
“We gettin richer boss?”
You know, I really feel for Norwegians and all the immense problems that they must face in their daily lives? Do you think maybe a bunch of Unionists from the UK could be persuaded to move there, naturalise and start a political party pushing the viewpoint that things would be so much better if they where ruled from London instead of Oslo?
It shouldn’t even be that hard a campaign really either! I mean, they’d only have to point to the massive economic powerhouses that are Scotland, Wales and in particular Northern Ireland! And these could be contrasts with the collapsed, failed-states of the Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada & New Zealand …
The whole scenario just writes itself doesn’t it? 😀
So the big tory and liebours Carillion is ready to go bust leaving the public sector and no doubt the tax payer to bail out. How can the 2nd biggest construction firm go bust in the best run country in the world? (or is that the US?)
It has gone pearshape underr this corrupt union where tory business people reward the tories and are rewarded back with a CBE or similar.
This is no doubt the fault of the snp and our saviours Mundell Davidson May Johnson will make it all right. What could go wrong?
Ps not feeling well.
Hard core Andrew Neil tories rule the UKOK waves but the tory ground war rumbles on, local tory propaganda for local saps. Neo fascist Voice of the North British Press and Journal will never surrender:D
link to archive.is
“Sturgeon urged to ‘stop cutting hospital beds’ at First Minister’s Questions”
Vote Colonel Ruth, Be British.
Morag says:
That’s cruel. I want to. I so want to see what happens. But I won’t! 🙁
These are excellent comic strips, thanks.
In recent years there have been many originating around Europe. There’s always a common theme running through them, and it’s positively pro Scottish. They must all be thinking … what are you waiting for, Scotland, come and join in?
{shrugs} aye, what are we waiting for?
Neil is just another Britnat lowlife who would say and do anything to do Scotland down. Tractor.
Don’t pay the bbc tax.
Even if oil hit 150 USD a barrel I wilk still never use the price of oil as an argument in my debates about independence.
It’s the fact that it is sovereign. We need not import it to run our navy, airforce and society in general.
Same goes for electricity – scotland can power itself. England cannot.
The neoliberal establishment have done a great job in convincing a very naive population that energy is infinite and money is in short supply whilst the opposite is true.
Yep, the Britnats, the English masters, have had Scotland stitched up good and proper, and they didn’t even have to oust a government to steal the oil, because they had already made sure they were the government, no matter what colour mascot they paraded around at election time.
The English elite have been clever, keeping Scotland poor and begging while bagging every resource and removing all revenues thank you very much, ha ha! Another thing they have done is pretend to the people on both sides of the border, that Scotland is hugely subsidised. The English really do believe that they fund Scotland, from having no prescription charges, to no tuition fees and everything inbetween.
That lie is important, because your proudscotbutts actually think that Scotland owes England. I could say more about that, but not giving any ideas to the Britnats on what lies they can use next time round.
In 2014, no voting friends said, ‘if only we could be like Norway’. No words, but sickening to the stomach, given how Britnats have kept Scotland poor and orchestrated sectarianism, as well as no doubt fuelling drug problems etc. They loved calling Glasgow, ‘the sick man of Europe’. All the while siphoning away all that black stuff that dare not speak it’s name. ‘It’s dirty though’, said a couple of yoon friends in 2014.
So, just hand over that ‘dirty’ oil and so what if Scotland is poor. ‘Scotland’s s***e’ anyway.
Stitched up, the English have had Scotland for free for far too long and are terrified that the gravy train could end soon. Serves them right, vote YES next time, and count all of the votes in Scotland, not England, and with international reliable observers. Also exit polls.
Artyhetty says:
link to i0.kym-cdn.com
… one aspect of the stitching up, anyway 😉
A Neill, S Smith, A Darling, M Curran, R Leonard, R Davidson, W Rennie, Ms Bird all wonderful examples of your house Scots who would sell their granny for a piece of the poison pie.
America’s got oil, the Saudis have got oil, the Norwegians have got oil, respect shown to all of them, Scotland’s got oil *shut up naw yeez huvnae*
Malcolm x talked about house slaves
Scotland has house Unionists
Vampires have familiars
Notice the thread here, the powerful control the powerless by promising them power but end up drinking their blood to keep themselves alive
Unionists have to learn to grow up
I love the slogan ‘sovereign scotland”. The problem is, the yoons would joyfully fixate on the acronym.
@heedtracker says: 14 January, 2018 at 2:25 pm:
link to archive.is
““Sturgeon urged to ‘stop cutting hospital beds’ at First Minister’s Questions”.”
But! But! But!, heedtracker, is not the running of hospitals the preserve of the local council controlled Hospital Boards, as are the Local Area Health Boards, all with local councillors on the boards and local constituency MSPs helping things along, (cough!), to run them?
Are not these therefore the ones who cut or increase the numbers of beds and the numbers of people who staff our hospitals or a meringue?
ScottieDog @ 15:47,
Whisky is also sovereign – needs no imports, pure export, near 100% balance-of-payments return. Another major factor in our favour. Provided we don’t drink it all first! =grin=
Your point about oil not being infinite is correct, but renewable energy effectively is. We’re sitting on a far bigger sovereign resource even than oil, but most people still haven’t a clue.
The overwhelming influence of the media in this country , daily they portray a world diametrically opposite to How it really is .
UP – becomes Down – Left is now right , 1984 was not a novel its going on before our eyes ,
We have a Tory Regime so removed from reality that they are unable to tell the truth ,its all buried in Malcolm Tucker land as in the thick of it ,
Just imagine if the likes of Brillo Nut had control of the internet , no one here could find out the truth , thats why the establishment are hell bent in controlling whats out there .
Sites like this would disappear overnight who would report it ?
Brillo nut hasn’t went away or retired he is working on bigger fish ” US ” with the full backing of Mayhem & Co .
The higher price of oil puts up all other prices. It can have an negitive affect on the economy. It should be taxed according to price. Not taxed out of exploration and production existence.
Since 2010 the price fell 75%. Tax was 62% 40% since Jan 2016. If Oil & Gas has to be produced instead of being imported. Putting up the balance of payment deficit and the debt. Until enough alternatives renewables etc can be produced. Climate change – global warming has only been introduced in the last 40 years. 20 years mainstream. Not long enough for every policy to change. There have to be feasible alternatives put in place. These do exist and can be developed in Scotland.
The UK government is trying to measure the wealth and success of a country on 19th and early 20th century ideas. Just like Russia keeps trying and always has done on 17th and 18th centuries. For the UK it’s about how rich the wealthy are and how big your weapons. For Russia it’s how much land you occupy and what wars you might need to fight.
The UK way leads to a gutter poor population and a suppressed economy. Because the greed of the rich knows no end and is a hole that can never be filled.
For Russia every piece of territory brings with it a population that wants free and a new border with a population arming for a future war against you. They can never occupy enough land to feel secure and can only create fear, opposition and more possible enemies.
Measuring on how advanced your economy, how educated and well off your population generally, that’s not how the UK and Russia think.
@ScottieDog says: 14 January, 2018 at 3:47 pm:
“Same goes for electricity – scotland can power itself. England cannot.”
Not only can Scotland power itself but it is a matter of historic fact that the very first cross border link in the then new Electricity Grid carried power from the old Portobello, coal fired, power station across the border into the north of England. If memory serves in 1946, and Scotland has been a net exporter of electricity ever since.
Scotland is factually a net exporter of fuel, power and food/drink and is the only part of the United Kingdom that is thus not only able to feed its population but fuel itself and power itself and have some of all three to export.
This on spite of the scams operated by Westminster by which Westminster claims ALL the oil & gas revenues and not a penny of those revenues comes back to Scotland. Do not be fooled by their quoted 8.4% figure they claim is credited as earned by Scotland for that is just their estimate to derive other statistics from. Then there is the Grid Connection charges where Westminster charges electricity generators more the further they are from London but also subsidises southern generators and that other nice little earner for Westminster where they class exports as being exports from where the goods leave the UK not as being from where they are produced.
Scottish Salmon, soft fruit, fish, meat and even Scotch Whisky is calculated by Westminster as English exports as it mostly leaves the UK via English ports and air ports.
Thing is, just how many Scots don’t know these facts?
Even worse, how many Britnats do not know those facts?
Why not ask a few and find out – it may not convert them but it sure as hell will give them pause to doubt.
Andrew Neil’s face should be an even deeper shade of red than usual, when reading his 20 year old remarks. But they won’t, because he’s the epitome of an ‘Uncle Tom’…he’s been kissing England’s arse his whole adult life and he’s not alone.
I feel like weeping when I read these excerpts. I worked in Norway all those years ago and saw the burgeoning prosperity. Back in Scotland, particularly Aberdeen, I warned people that we were being fucked big time. But the majority just shrugged their shoulders. Fatalistic and brain washed even then.
Why did Aberdonians and people in the North East not demand even a limited oil fund like Shetland’s which could have been used to facilitate the current problems of infrastructure and being a mono economy based on oil? It was easy to foresee even back then.
But the parochial N.E attitude and divided Scottish psyche created by centuries of Imperial lies kicked in.
Even back then, recruitment was a case of who you knew, to get on the rigs. Half my crew were non Scots. I always believed this was wrong. Indeed when my rig moved to Norway, the Norwegians insisted the company sack the South American catering crew and bring in Scots. Similarly, when we moved to Irish waters, the Irish insisted on all irish crews up to driller level.
The North Sea was and continues to be mis-managed with little or no Scottish control. Even Scottish jobs have diminished beyond being significant. Only a colony of misguided and self deceiving fools would allow this. Unfortunately, the same scenario is continuing west of Shetland. Time is running out.
O/T Breaking news regarding Uk Ok branding on Scots products.
link to dailygael.com
Why did Aberdonians and people in the North East not demand even a limited oil fund like Shetland’s which could have been used to facilitate the current problems of infrastructure and being a mono economy based on oil? ”
Because it was not a mono economy. Maybe it is now but the north east of Scotland has been a wealthy region of the UKOK zone for a long time, from the fash and farming, whisky, shipping, uni etc.
North Sea oil made a lot of small town hicks quite rich but it mainly drew in a lot of outsider workforce types, first American, then they got kicked by the English, with a lot of Dutch. But alongside all that Aberdeen and the north east simply carries on as ever.
Its the real reason there’s hard core toryboy vote in the north east, that can always be relied upon by the toryboy centre of it all in London.
Look at how easy it was for BBC Scotland alone to take out Salmond, within a year or two as Westminster MP. Until Anne don’t Call me a nazi Begg, took over, my constituency was very toryboy and that toryboy must have been very surprised to lose to the New Labour do fcuk all for Aberdeen, freakshow.
Well do fcuk all New Lab, is completely wrong. Aberdeen’s now in giant debt, all thanks to New Labour catastrofucks like Wullie Yoong OBE. But as Sir Wullie always says, its fcuk all to do with him, he just blew it all, on what? who knows.
18 January, 2018 at 2:06 pm
mr thms says
Oil today is worth around $70 a barrel. When it was worth $110 a barrel, the cost of producing that barrel was $30. The cost has fallen by around two thirds.
Last September, BP CEO Bob Dudley, was very proud to announce that the cost of production of North Sea oil had fallen to $15 a barrel, with the expectation that it would fall to $12 a barrel by 2020.
In 2017 the average price for a barrel of Brent crude was $54.17, and around 2 million barrels per day were extracted from the the “UK” sector of the North Sea. That’s around 730 million barrels.
If the difference between the average price per barrel and the production cost per barrel is $39.17 (54.17-15) then the total value of 2017 production after costs have been deducted is $28,594,100,000.
The next time SNP MP’s have an opportunity to question the Energy Minister or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I would like to see a proper field Scot assertively enquire as to
WHERE IS OUR 28 BILLION DOLLARS MOFO?
Does Ireland also suffer from the terrible burden of vast oil and gas fields?
link to irishtimes.com
Non Facebook links.
No oil and gas for Ireland,
link to irishtimes.com
but are they reigned over by likes of stinky old The Graun, currently 110% behind Colonel Ruth in her Scotland region
link to archive.is
The people of the NE were aware of what was happening and voted SNP for over thirty+ years. They saw the meters turning offshore. Thatcher was offshoring all the revenues. Some voted LibDem to stop the Tories getting in. They did absolutely nothing for the area but voted down infrastructure improvement. Just sat back and racked it in and let all the wealth go South to Westminster. They did absolutely nothing for the area.
Unfortunately the rest of Scotland did not agree and kept on voting Labour. Labour/cosla funded the NE Aberdeen/Shire 30% less than every other councils in Scotland. Even though the NE was one of the only area in Scotland with growth. They did not out in any growth/infrastructure revenues to make the necessary improvements.
No by-pass road for over thirty years. Only City in Europe without a by-pass road. Traffic chaos affecting the economy. Only just being delivered because of the SNP Gov. M15 did the rest to undermine the truth getting out. Kept it under the Official Secrets Act. The Scottish Office.
Until Devolution 2000 when the truth started getting through. 2007? The Scottish Gov started publishing the accounts on the internet. They were not kept secret any longer. More open government. Finally the truth that many had known from education etc. Finally began to come out.
Westminster is still sabotaging Scottish revenues and lying about it. May lied two days ago about ‘£2Billion’ x for Scotland. Most have to be paid back with £200,000 million actual loss. The Tories have cut the Scottish budget 10% a year since 2010. Over £3Billion.
They are still misappropriating and mismanaging £Billions from the Scottish economy and lying about it. Illegal, wars, tax evasion and financial fraud. Too high Oil taxes etc. Scotland has to make repayments on money not borrow or spent in Scotland, £1Billion on Trident etc. The Brexit mess will damage the Scottish economy. Scotland did not vote for it but Westminster unionists are trying to impose it on Scotland. Unless Scotland votes out of the shambolic mess.
From the first link in the post, to the Sunday Herald article by Jordan Daly:
“When the proposition is to trust the information coming from the blogosphere, where no regulator exists and authors are not bound by the same ethical and legal standards and regulations as accredited reporters, then that really is post-truth.”
“where no regulator exists and authors are not bound by the same ethical and legal standards and regulations”
So, the press have a regulator and ethical and legal standards and regulations, aye right !
And WTF is an accredited reporter ? Is it an National Yoonion Of Journalists member ?
Brillo nut as detached from reality as its possible to be .
Moving on slightly, I thought Nicola Sturgeons performance was a welcome breath of fresh air , a competent politician who for once wasn’t interrupted, talked over as per usual with the Scottish media , the total disrespect by the media and Unionist msps reflects more on them than their intended target, that being the scourge of their lives Nationlists .
Even the most rabid British nationalists can’t fail to recognise a truthful politician when they see one , contrast Nicola with the Tory minister who for a change was excellently caught in Andrew Marrs little trap , the Tory minister was speaking about bolstering the Tory online presence ,
Marr interrupted him by confronting him with the information regarding the Tory claim of removing charges from credit card transactions , Was down to them , Marr pointed out it was a ruling by the EU that forced this change and not as claimed the benevolent Tory party ,
Even after being confronted with this evidence this Tory clown still insisted it was the Tory government , these Tory politicians are so removed from reality they are unable to tell truth even when proved totally wrong they still continue to Lie ,
This whole party display Psychopathic tendencies and are devoid of any empathy or normal behaviour , these people have no conscience and exist in some kind of parallel universe .
Back in 2014 when the anti Scottish daily rags and Britnat proudscotbutts were saying the oil was all but gone ha ha, you’s are even more poor now ha ha. I spotted a full page ad in a paper, touting for oil workers and ‘experts in the field’ to work in the industry, in Scotland. It was an OIL industry fair thing being held in, er, Newcastle.
I remember thinking why on earth are they not advertising these vacancies and having this jobs fair in Scotland. Well that was and is obvious.
Agree the First Minister was good during the interview with Andrew Marr. Assertive, polite and knowledgeable. Refused to be continually interrupted as is the bbc norm.
Attack best form of defence.
More of the same please.
o/t a wee bit.
During a debate on the English – British – eh not Scottish health service , He who cannot be removed ‘ Hunt ‘ in reply to a question on NHS readiness for winter , he gave a quiet baffling reply , in all seriousness he said , all planned operations were cancelled because it was better than a last minute cancellation as had happened the previous winter , this was given as an excuse and a vindication of his departments success in winter planning , well f/k me if that’s competent management I would hate to see chaos and confusion in operation ,
The like their little slogans don’t they remember ‘ Strong & Stable ‘ Christ can’t these people just disappear and let normal folk get on with their lives without being drowned in a sea of total pish , Lies , and double speak , A Philadelphia lawyer is required to interpret what these clowns say now
Robert Graham @ 18:39,
Aye, everything the EU do to help us out gets credited to someone else. Tory credit grab from the hated “EU federal superstate Evil Empire” isn’t the only example. I don’t know if they tried the same over phone roaming charges, but the phone companies themselves certainly did. Oh how generous they suddenly all were to graciously reduce our phone charges while on the Costa Brava or wherever, in a funny synchronised kind of way.
But hear a word about any of this from the BRitNat media? No, too busy with “square tomato” scare stories. It’s a wonder that anyone in Scotland could have brought themselves to vote Remain.
Just shows though how much credence most people in Scotland now put on what the Dead Tree Scrolls pronounce on Europe, or indeed anything else. (Dimwit Daily Heil readers, excepted, I suppose.)
Unionist shut eyes, fingers in ears, make loud humming noise,
blank mind, and be sure that Scotland is so much better off with a share of Westminster’s £1.8 Trillion Debt that grows by the £Millions each hour.
How inconvenient for Scotland if we had traded in all the English debt for a measly £Trillion in the treasury, great infrastructure, great health service, great pensions, still owning your oil, electricity and gas companies who make you an annual profit.
Would you trade all that for Ruth, Kez, and Wee Willie???
AYE, YES, Qui, Ja, Si.
@Artyhetty,
You maybe saw the Amec / QEDI recruitment roadshow. Those bambots run the same stunt every year.
It’s bascally a trade test coupled with some additional training. It takes place midweek, on a working day. 3 roadshows, one in Scotland, two in the NE of England (Newcastle / Middlesboro).
No trade test, no job. Even if you passed the trade test chances are the Teeside or Geordie mafia would skip you over for their mate who’s just freshuffle out of college 2 weeks ago.
No expenses or pay either for the day. Back when I started in the North Sea you would get a rail far and a days “onshore” rate for the day as well as guarenteed a start if you passed. Now you get nothing !
The problem was that they had most of the hook-up and commissioning jobs tied up and would only start you if you had been to one of their fairs and passed the test.
The classic thing was that the questions to all trades were widely available to anyone in the know, so the jobs were stuffed full of Teeside & Geordie chancers. They changed the questions and some 60% failed was the rumour.
o/t
That’s about 6 times this new Tory clown has featured on BBC news , his ‘ never missed a dinner smarmy face ‘ has been shown on every bulletin , what hasn’t been shown is his ambush by Andrew Marr when even after being confronted with the fact it was the EU who removed credit card charges on all transactions , this lying Tory brd still insisted it was the Tory government who removed them ,
I guarantee that this part of the interview will never see the light of day again.
So far the BBC has in their news bulletins given totally free promotion to the Tory party and their quest for world domination , well maybe a slight exaggeration there , their quest for domination of the internet and social media , this is the toe rag party looking for support courtesy of the BBC , how obliging of our nation broadcaster eh , all hands to the pumps the Torres are getting fkd on the twitter net .
O/T . link to facebook.com
Don’t mind if aye do.
Norwegian would:
link to youtube.com
“Like the loch itself”.
Scotland could.
Scotland should.
The birds.
The classic thing was that the questions to all trades were widely available to anyone in the know, so the jobs were stuffed full of Teeside & Geordie chancers. They changed the questions and some 60% failed was the rumour.
And if you say anything out loud, you’re racist. Click your finger, you’re a racist wye aye man, that quick. Its a neat trick in silencing saps too.
For real… here is a version.
Norwegian Wood:
link to youtube.com
Love the sitar.
232,349.
This topic needs mention of HURRICANE ENERGY…
“All told, the above brings Hurricane’s total combined 2P and 2C resources to 2.6billion barrels oil equivalent.
Collectively they add up to the UK’s answer to Norway’s huge Johan Sverdrup field complex that is now being developed.”
link to energyvoice.com
Don’t you think that any Scottish broadcaster worthy of the name and with the merest hint of a conscience and a sense of decency would go home after ScotRep or whatever and spend at least an hour in the shower with a bottle of strong bleach and a wire brush?.
So, Andrew Neil is a buffoon and the Westminster duopoly mismanaged the “gift of oil”, as with so many other things, but let’s not get carried away with the “international edition” of Norway’s profile. Norway is relatively well-off, but there are still lots of problems and challenges in its society and for the country as a whole. You can read about them if you read Norwegian media for Norwegian consumption, not pieces about Norway for foreign consumption.
Norway was lucky to get good advice at the right time when figuring out how to manage the nation’s oil wealth. That advice came from an Iraqi outsider (Farouk Al-Kasim) and set the country on the right path. But fifty years on, families with young children who have fled Al-Kasim’s now-destabilised region and who have ended up in Norway are apparently expected to leave after five years (if they are “lucky” enough to be from Syria) and “go and rebuild their country”.
Now, Norway does spend a lot per person on international aid. But in contrast to the depicted news stories that suggest general kindness to refugees, it should be remembered that last year’s general election was won on the basis of veiled racism and promises of tax cuts. Does that sound familiar? Even the principal somewhat-right-of-centre commercial broadcaster has run stories highlighting how the government rhetoric of refugees as “fortune seekers” has a rather limited basis in reality.
Scotland can learn a lot from other countries, but the way this must be done is to acknowledge the mistakes and bad things that should be avoided as well as the good things that should be emulated. Norway is overdependent on unsustainable industries, notably oil-and-gas and industrial-scale fish farming, both of which have powerful lobbying interests (and big money) propping them up, corrupting politics and obstructing progress. Scotland faces similar challenges and threats.
If the aim is to figure out how Scotland should be in the future, instead of lamenting its mismanagement in the past, it is important that we do not romanticise other countries and think they offer a formula to be copied and pasted. Scotland does not have to settle for being Norway when, with proper attention to detail, it can play to its own strengths and be rather better than that.
o/t I believe it’s good manners to warn folks when going slightly off topic .
Anyway enough of that o/t sanctimonious bull shit ,
Heedtrackers comments raised a wee memory , I was employed by an English company that had offices and depots as well as some reasonably sized factories all over Britain . Head office in London and main manufacturing plant in Kent .
During the year we came across colleagues from all over Britain , and without doubt the ones most likely to bugger stuff up were the geordies , if there was a particularly dangerous situation usually at heights and windy conditions that really were not safe ,
Up pops the bloody geordies we will do it , so cutting the legs away from the local crews , even the cockneys despised them as the thought they were bloody stupid by making the job worse for everyone , no one could advance their pay or working conditions because these fkrs would do anything for tuppence , and that bloody impenetrable accent most of them couldn’t understand each other . Sometimes on site it was easier using idiot boards to communicate .
Useful idiots the Londoners used to call them , we called them something more exotic and colourful
Hi n aye n aye’ve forgot aye’ve left my luxury yacht down by the loch at Lock 27, on the Forth and Clyde Canal, Greater Anniesland, the Switch-back.
In an iScotland, Scotlands Glasgow’s River Clyde will be pure jumpin’.
The Switch-back.
Heidin’ oot.
40mph.
If you’d be interested in meeting the SIU people and Murdo Fraser, Johann Lamont etc as they’re going into Club 29 for their Burns bash on Fri Feb 2nd in Glasgow, please pop over to O/T and leave a wee note to say so – that way I can get an idea of numbers and let abody know what arrangements are for a wee swally afterwards.
Alternatively, search my name on Twitter and DM me.
No hotheads, please – it’s a perfectly innocent peaceful protest, all above board and squeaky-clean.
😉
An excellent proposal to raise more public revenue to be spent in Scotland for the common good,
‘Taxing land is also attractive for administrative reasons because – as land can’t be moved – land value taxes are very difficult to avoid or evade… Our view is that LVT (or Annual Ground Rent as we prefer to call it) is an obvious alternative source of public revenue and we would like that message to be reinforced by anyone who agrees’
link to scottishlandcommission.wordpress.com
Responsible government par excellence. Statoil – the state is the biggest shareholder, managing the financial gain from its enormous natural resource for the common good;
‘The Norwegian state’s principles for good corporate governance
1.Shareholders shall be treated equally.
2.There must be transparency in state ownership of companies.
3.Owner decisions and formal resolutions shall be made/adopted at the annual general meeting.
4.The state will, together with other owners if applicable, set performance targets for the companies; the board is responsible for the targets being achieved.
5.The capital structure shall be consistent with the purpose of ownership and the company’s circumstances.
6.The composition of the board shall be characterised by competence, capacity and diversity and reflect the distinctive character of each company.
7.Pay and incentive schemes should be designed to promote value creation in the companies, and they should be perceived as reasonable.
8.On behalf of the owners, the board shall exercise independent control of the company’s management.
9.The board should have a plan for its own work and it should work actively on developing its own competence. The board’s activities shall be evaluated.
10.The company shall be aware of its responsibilities to society at large’
link to statoil.com
Dear Me! Rev Stu – of course the Norwegians Wood.
link to youtube.com
Ahm oot n good n lookin’ forward tae ra mornin’ wood.
And SO ye SO should.
Scotland Yes.
Aye aye.
The most stupid people on earth are in Scotland.
That does not mean all people in Scotland are stupid.
It just means that if you were looking for the most stupid people on earth, Scotland would beat any other nation on earth.
Which other oil rich country in the world would have voted to remain a colony of a master which had been stealing and squandering its wealth for decades?
Scottish oil riches were used to develop London and the south east while Glasgow remained a poor city with weapons of mass destruction located close by for good measure.
Not brainwashed, pure stupid.
Because Rock has decided to infect two pages tonight, I repeat this from ‘the-house-scot-and-the-field-scot’.
——————————————–
Hi Rock.
You and Ben Carson are in the same clubbie, reading from the same pamphlets, iye?
link to motherjones.com
Brexit explained brilliantly. From WoS twitter …
link to brexitoptions.co.uk
Well if you put it like that rock.
BBC alba. Documentary on Malcolm X and Martin Luther king now.
Somebody’s been on the Frosty Jack’s again I see. Minimum unit pricing can’t come quick enough.
Thepnr,
“Somebody’s been on the Frosty Jack’s again I see. Minimum unit pricing can’t come quick enough.”
Rock (30th May 2015 – “Another question answered”):
“It is in the Establishment’s interests to keep the plebs drunk and ignorant.”
@Rock,
we aint stoopid,
we have been lied to and misinformed for generations by a complicit media and education system,
outside of Wings where you gonna see/hear the truth,
if you don`t have access to the knowledge/truth you can`t make an intelligent judgment,
how many headlines or news reports have reported on the trillion dollars of potential oil revenue wasted by UK Gov mismanagement,
conversation not confrontation as Nicola says,
not stoopid just needing access to knowledge/truth.
@Robert Peffers
“Why not ask a few and find out – it may not convert them but it sure as hell will give them pause to doubt.”
I do ask people about englands per capita energy production and such like when talking about independence. I jut find the faux intelliegents who look at me in surprise when I tell them I support independence take the fall back position of “well I hate Nicola sturgeon anyway, and it wouldn’t work”
No intelligent reasoning or analysis, just a shallow ‘informed’ knowledge straight from the papers of the Uk establishment.
Doug Bryce @8.38
The Hurricane discoveries on the Rona Ridge are massive, and together with the nearby BP and Total finds they wil be worth billions in Petroleum revenue tax over at least the next thirty years.
Not a penny will come to Scotland, off course, unless we vote Yes.
If we do vote Yes we will build up a great Sovereign Wealth Fund like Norway, and all the financial problems of recent years will seem like a bad dream.
Our descendants will look back on our times and wonder how it took us so long to understand how wealthy Scotland is. They will find it difficult to believe that so many people believed so many lies for so long. and how all the Unionists, the BBC and the press conspired to keep it that way.
It is our duty to spread the word about our wealth and capabilities as widely as possible. Never waste an opportunity to mention Norway and the fact that they are unbelievably rich yet produced almost the same amount of oil as Scotland.
o/t.
Just noticed this subtle little misrepresentation in the grauniad, from a few days ago
link to theguardian.com
The article is entirely about the English Health Services. However, the picture at the head of the article is ambulances at the Glasgow Royal!
Fireproofjim
The thing is, most folk go about their daily life without giving much thought to the historical and macro causes of their circumstances. Saying that, Scots certainly don’t appear to have much faith in the UKOK/Tory approach, despite voting for more of the same in 2014. Generally, folk lack knowledge of what needs to be changed and what can be done to improve things. So they get on with their lives as best they can.
Some see the Yes movement as divisive, I see it as an inspirational vehicle for progressive social change. That’s not because my brain is shaped in a particular way, it aimed at radical change that would enable Scots to empower their social status and protect the quality of their experienced lives. The Better Together campaign was a pack of lies, not least their claim that voting No would protect our EU citizenship. Brexit hasn’t even started, yet we already know that despite voting to stay in the EU, Scotland has to leave the world’s largest trading block in order to accommodate English cultural values and because England’s/Britain’s ad hoc constitutional law says so.
link to si-drive.eu
Carillion on brink of going bust today.
How much gov cash has this company had to build HS2 without actually building anything yet ?
They have other big contracts as well.
Yookay’s biggest construction company apparently.
Any Translators out there. I have heard that Andrew Neil Translated from the old Scottish Language Means Establishment Condom ?
@Andrew Neil
Being a Tory BritNat, your mindset is that of an authoritarian, nationalist, reactionary. Your outlook is founded on outdated utilitarian ideology and the philosophy of inequality, not empirical reality and a respect for human rights. Do you really think Brexit is best for Scotland, despite Scotland voting to stay in the world’s largest trading block? What makes you think you are considered credible?
link to libpsy.org
link to scra27.org
revista.psico.edu.uy/index.php/revpsicologia/article/download/254/242
Robert Peffers – it may not convert them but it sure as hell will give them pause to doubt.
Reminds me of a line from ‘The House of Cards’
“you can’t turn a No to a Yes without a maybe inbetween”
Those poor Norwegians must really envy us.
I mean, look at the important issues. We’re not paying £10 a pint! And not a single one of us suffers from what the BBC’s Douglas Fraser describes as the “asset curse” of having so much oil. It not just one generation either. Those foolish Norwegians have blighted their own lives, their children’s lives, and countless generations of Norwegians with the asset curse of wealth and prosperity.
I bet every Tom, Dick, and Harry wakes up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, worried sick that they have built such a diversified economy upon oil prices which are so desperately volatile, and that if Norway would only wise up, they could avoid this dreadful strain on their nerves of endless volatility, if only Norway handed all of its oil revenues to somebody else, just like Scotland has done for decades. No nightmares for us here in Scotland eh? We’re all sound asleep here. Aren’t we Scotland?
If we had a shipping industry like the Norwegians, just imagine the turmoil we’d be in trying to compete with pesky foreigners who didn’t saddle their production costs with our ludicrously overpaid wages.
But most of all I bet those Norwegians really envy us our treasured National Broadcaster, the glorious wonder that is BBC. The jewel in the crown of the Yer Majesties Crown.
Aye, Norway. There, but for the grace of Westminster, goes us….
May you live forever Andrew Neil, Douglas Fraser, Kaye Adams, all your ilk at the BBFeckin’C. – The Norse legends of Odin, Loki, and Thor are as nothing beside the daily dose of BBC mythology we in Scotland see replenished and reinvented every feckin’ day.
Al Dossary says:
No trade test, no job. Even if you passed the trade test chances are the Teeside or Geordie mafia would skip you over for their mate who’s just freshuffle out of college 2 weeks ago
As someone who has suffered from this discrimination for decades and still do. People just do not realise how much of this discrimination goes on nowadays. I even heard a Geordie say a few weeks back in the tea shack that he hates coming to Scotland. I replied by saying that he doesn’t need to come to Scotland at all and that there would be many Scots who would take his job.
Many Scots do not realise that the north sea is driving the north east of England’s economies and all these outsiders are depriving local Scots economies of a potential economic boom in their local area.
Scots are being discriminated in their own country in this day and age.!
I recently wrote to my local MP, John McNally, about this discrimination, hoping at least he would write to oil companies to highlight this, but he has done nothing on the matter, not even acknowledged my letter. So he’s lost 2 votes from my household.
Just to add to that list, the Irish who are running their own little mafia by importing their non-qualified friends into the north sea from Ireland.
“Our descendants will look back on our times and wonder how it took us so long to understand how wealthy Scotland is. They will find it difficult to believe that so many people believed so many lies for so long. and how all the Unionists, the BBC and the press conspired to keep it that way.”
I fervently hope so, Fireproofjim, but that can only happen with independence.
The biggest hurdle to independence is ignorance, not stupidity.
This morning figures compiled by the civil service are to be released by the Scottish government showing that post Brexit Scotland could lose up to 12.7 Billion a year
Spokesman for the UK government says Nicola Sturgeon is scaremongering and the UK is seeking a Brexit that is good for the whole of the UK
Spokesman for the BBC party Bryan Taylor says Ms Sturgeon will deploy these figures for political purposes
So we expect these organisations to say that but what the BBC and UK government don’t say and can’t say is that the figures which are compiled by the civil service are wrong, because these numbers are not the SNP numbers and I’ll repeat it again these numbers are compiled by the civil service not a set of SNP Elves under the stairs
Given that everybody will have to agree with these figures, (because if they don’t they’re calling the civil service liars) will Scotlands apathetic population start paying attention or will they just once again cross their collective fingers and *jist wait n see whit happens* or will they condemn themselves to Tory poverty till the end of time and blame the SNP for not telling them and having a grievence, or will they vote for Jeremy Corbyns Labour who are as much the architects of this debacle as the Tories
Or will they for once in their lives take some responsibility for themselves and back the Scottish government in a vote for Scotlands Independence to sort this out for ourselves
Get a grip Scotland
@Tinto Chiel
Spot on and the ignorance is perpetrated by the WM Establishment and the MSM esp the state broadcaster.
@Dr Jim
“Or will they for once in their lives take some responsibility for themselves and back the Scottish government in a vote for Scotlands Independence to sort this out for ourselves
Get a grip Scotland”
Good post. Well said Sir.
Just on BBC news channel at 0717am today,
(with reference to Carillion),The LABOUR shadow business secretary just admitted that PFI was a very bad idea, isn’t a good deal and that mistakes were made. Tried to imply that although this was Labour’s policy pushed hard and implemented by Labour, it doesn’t matter anymore since Labour have been our of power for a few years.
So, that’s ok then eh? No need for Labour to accept responsibility.
Can somebody PLEASE tell the British Nationalist Labour f*ckwits in Scotland.
re Carillion – chairman Philip Green???
Scotland is already losing £20Billion a year to Westminster misappropriate and mismanagement of the Scottish economy which has been gong on since 1928 and before.
Scotland raises £54Billion in tax revenues. The UK raises £533Billion. Take £54Billion from £533Billion £479Billion. Divide by 11 (11/12 pop) £46Billion. Raised pro rata in themrest of the UK. Scotland raises average £10Billion more. Scotland has lost an average of £4Billion plus a year. On the Oil & Gas sector. Tory too high taxes when the price had fallen. Stopping exploration and production. (£28Billiin++) Costing 120,000 jobs in Scotland. Scotland could have had full employment (higher wages). Loss £Billions.
Scotland has to pay £1Bilion on Trident. On average £4Billion on repayment on loans and debt not borrowed or spent in Scotland. £3Billion lost on tax evasion. UK tax Laws not enforced by the Westminster gov. HMRC not fit for purpose. Tax havens supported by Westminster unionists. Scotland can’t borrow 10% to expand the economy £5Billion? To increase revenues. No minimum pricing. £1Billion. (May 2018) Total £20Billion.
Brexit will cost Scotland even more. The ignorant incompetent Tories.
Illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion has cost Scotland £Billions. The Westminster Gov is totally fraudulent. Lie after lie after lie.
They have cut NHS £4Billion a year a year from 2015 till 2020. £20Billion. They are despicable liars. Never one Report about in the sychophant Press. Another bunch of lies. Their reports are so misleading. Appalling statistical errors etc. False figures. Either deliberately or through total ignorance or incompetence.
The Brexit shambles is a scandal of wilful ignorant incompetence. An appalling mess. Just unbelievable.
Thank goodness for the SNP Gov standing up for Scotland. Against the ignorant, intolerance and intransigence of the Westminster regime, Corrupt in every way, Every word they utter is a lie. Their criminality kept secret under the Official Secrets Act. Dunblane,Lockerbie, Iraq for 100 years. That’s how culpable they are.
Their committed aim to impoverish and deprive Scotland. They have been at it for nearly 100 years and before. The Westminster psycho bastards. Killing their own citizens and people all over the world. Causing the worst migration crisis in Europe since 11WW. That’s how evil they are.
“That there are no assets left in the company which had basically been building Britain fir the last decade is a criminal indictment of the management and a huge embarrassment for the government who must have been utterly failing in their due diligence.
Once more tens of thousands of working class jobs are sacrificed for the demands of banks.”
(Lifted from a Guardian reader comment on the Carillion liquidation. But the chairman wasn’t THAT Philip Green.)
Apparently UK gov is accusing Scotgov of attempting to undermine the result of a democratic referendum…. Uh huh!
Setting aside the mahoosive irony bypass and the fact that the old hypocrisy meter has just died laughing. Setting aside ALL that. The EU referendum should never have been held in the first place.
Going over very tired old ground, but there was a legally binding compact between the people of Scotland and the UK government. The ONLY way to guarantee continued membership of the EU was to return a no vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Pretty much a matter of public record and a cornerstone of the Better Together/HMG campaign.
It took two years for that assurance to be completely ignored in favour of UK/Westminster party political interests and a CONSULTATIVE UK/EU referendum, which instantly promised the possibility of conflict with the result of the Legally Binding 2014 referendum. It’s kinda why we have a constitutional crisis today and not just in Scotland. NI does not have its problems to seek either with the direct threat to yet another legally binding compact, the Good Friday Agreement.
Basically yer UK gov pishing on every binding agreement they’d ever come to with ‘partners’ in the name of party political expediency, arrogance, ignorance and self. What part of democratic is ANY of that?
Scotgov did not invite any of this. NOT A SINGLE BIT. They are however, expected to bow down and dae as thir telt, by thir maisters? I don’t think so. Democracy has been hijacked. It has been undermined. It’s been jumped outside a pub and had an epic kicking, but not by the Scottish government.
As a by the by? NO Scottish government of any stripe is either capable of or allowed to take independence and the dissolution of the political union off any table. It is a right of Scotland’s electorate to determine their own form of government and belongs to no politician. Today our government is two tier – central and devolved. If tomorrow Scotland’s electorate decide UK gov are a shower of arrogant, self interested and ignorant gangsters/tossers, they may well decide to take back their on loan competences and sort this shit storm out for themselves… mainly because they can.
Trump’s migrant German grandfather was throw out of Germany. Displaced.That’s why they ended up in the US. His migrant mother ended up there too. Both his wife’s were migrants. Migrant children.
Scotland has a 40million disporia
The US/UK Gov policies caused the worse migrant crisis in Europe since 11WW.
Ditch the nostalgia, the oil bonanza is over even for the Arab producers. Scotland has alternative and much cleaner energy potential that ought to be developed. Our country must look forward. Looking north to Scandinavia and wringing our hands about might have beens is wasting political energy.
All that money in Oslo hasn’t done much for the quality of norwegian architecture; the usual bogstandard corporate crap.
Jeremy Corbyns pet doggie in Scotland Richard Leonard not only now supports Brexit but supports a hard Brexit and that’s after his election campaign in which he promised real change in Scotland to Labour supporters
Well unless my memory’s dulling with age that’s real change alright given that Scotland as a whole voted NOT to Brexit at all and the Labour party in Scotland supported that position wholeheartedly and publicly stated it as their position
So let’s just see what the Labour branch office MSPs have to say about this complete change of policy from this weeks Labour leader in Scotland
Did Richard Leonard lie to the electorate AND his own party just to get elected by making them look like total fools for supporting him and how are they going to continue supporting a leader who ignores his own MSPs
Just like Jeremy Corbyn does….. what a coincidence
Like rice puddin wae mince ower it Labour smells and tastes *Rotten*
Watch Nicola Sturgeon and feorlean present new analysis on the impact of different post-Brexit outcomes on the economy at 10.30am today #ScotEU
link to youtube.com
Sorry think this is the right link
link to youtube.com
The Guardian has reserves of £1Billion (offshored?). They are claiming poverty. They are pleading for £1 from impoverished people. The Oxbridge colluders.
O/T more running down Scottish Government Infrastructure Projects
During 08:00hrs news on BBC Shortbreid:
The BBC’s Garry Robertson calls the AWPR the “Aberdeen Western Peripheral ‘ROAD’”
The BBC’s Douglas Fraser says “The AWPR or ‘the ring road, as I like to call it’”
So there you have it “critics say” the long overdue and vitally important AWPR is ‘just a wee ring road’
Oil isn’t only used for energy and the world will be using it for around another 50 years for all sorts of purposes and somebody has to have it and make use of it or sell it to those who do
We already have organisms that can eat different kinds of plastics that means it’s on the way to being bio degradable
so if Scotland doesn’t R&D that somebody else will and be selling that technology back to us instead of the other way round
Maybe Norwegians are happy with their architecture in Oslo…. just sayin
We should be aspiring to be like Norway, but are unfortunately held back by people who believe we are better under Westminster.
Here’s the latest nonsense being spouted in a press release from Labour numpty Hugh Gaffney.
He claims he has always opposed the SNP because its a nationalist party.
They don’t go further than Carlisle , whereas I’m an internationlist. we go over.
The union jack took over from the Scotland flag, and that’s why to me the Tories did so well in the council elections because they were flying the flag.
We moved from the Scottish flag to the union Jack flag.
Next time round you will see the red flag flying for Labour, people will start to see through it.
Does this guy live in the real world?
@Shinty
Different Philip Green,not to be confused with the Sir Philip that destroyed and then plundered BHS,
Carillion CEO is top House Scot Keith `I`m voting NO` Cochrane ex of the Weir Group,
the curse on the Better Together Uncle Tams strikes again.
Artyhetty-
‘The English elite have been clever, keeping Scotland poor and begging while bagging every resource and removing all revenues thank you very much, ha ha!’..
You could swap ‘The English’ elite, for-
Global,
Self-styled,
British Empire,
US military,
European Aristocratic,
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant,
21st Century Top 1%,
Financial Services.
Divide and rule?
They have spread war-for-profit in collusion with groups of nations. They continue to soil our civilisation and poison our environment beyond recognition by promising everlasting growth, later, soon.
It is THEY, WHO HAVE BEEN SCREAMING DIVISIVENESS, the same trick for centuries.
People trying to come together or force change peacefully, UNDER WHICHEVER BANNER are seen as A THREAT TO THEIR CONTROLLING-IN-PERPITUITY INTERESTS.
In a famous Scottish work of philosophy,
‘The Wealth of Nations’- the people are encouraged to dismiss capitalism as the driver of the system, should it fail to represent alignment with democratically defined interests.
But what if, even, that democracy is corrupted? The companies can’t be touched by law.
It’s not much of ‘system’ if there are no social standards, where the perception of what is good or bad in effect, is twisted by those at the top, who have the power to do so, aided by their middle-class politician slaves.
The Gaffney piece is not the most lucid I have ever seen. Where do Labour find them?
I look forward to seeing Labour flying the red flag at their street stalls at the next election to see if this is all mouth and trousers or whether they really have bitten the bullet and reinstated clause four in full.
I suspect it is just another piece of Scottish cringe from Labour but he is too embarrassed to say that his allegiance is to the Union flag and he goes no further than that.
The red flag soaked in blood. Illegal wars, tax evasion and financial fraud. The world in turmoil. International unionist criminals. They should be ashamed.
From a Green Party prospectus Norway should not be the pinnicle of achievement. Their wealth is based on petrol chemicals. The Green Party do not like or support. The ‘sovereign fund’ makes revenues from poorer countries. The duplicity.
The Oil revenues are needed to invest in renewables etc. Until they are less reliant. Westminster unionists banned coal – CCS. Banned onshore wind turbines in England. Cut investment in solar. Cut investment in wave or tidal. All the cheapest. They are spending £Billions on Hinkley Point twice as expensive. Double the cost, more dangerous and producing by comparison less energy.
@ louis b. argyll 10:08 – spot on. Sums up our situation. I just read (on Stu’s twitter) that the richest 6 people on the planet own as much wealth as half the world population. That’s 3.5 billion. Or the richest 1% own as much as the other 99%.
That is an outcome engineered by human beings. We can change it.
The total insanity of very hard Brexit …
“… agriculture would be devastated. Cheap food would flood in from around the world …. Similar things would happen, to a lesser but very meaningful extent, in manufacturing. …. Some free marketeers say that this is all part of the regrettable but necessary process of capitalist renewal. …. “
…. this is what the loony right believe is just fine. It’s like an über capitalist version of Mao’s cultural revolution or Pol Pot’s ‘social reconfiguration’. Tear everything down to build their idea of a brave new world.
Brexit was never about immigration, or taking back control from the EU …. THIS is what it was really all about. Not what most Leave voters had in mind!
link to prospectmagazine.co.uk
Any chance of a link to BLiS Numpty Gaffney statement @Peter McCulloch says at 9:37 am?
@Jockanese Wind Talker
The Gaffney statement is in todays Courier.
Folks, for those who never caught the profile of “Sanjeev Gupta, Man of Steel!” on Saturday at 17.00 on BBC1. The owner of Liberty House who rescued the Welsh & Lanarkshire steel industry & bought Rio Tinto’s Lochaber smelter along with its associated hydro schemes & estates, was questioned on his dealings with the Welsh, British & Scottish governments, he said that there was no comparison, the Scottish government were miles ahead of the rest & that he’d never experienced anything like it. Nicola Sturgeon of course gets top marks. Pity this prog’ never appeared at peak viewing time.
I did wonder how the tunes of glory types on “Do Not Break Our Unity” would reconcile themselves with the Corbynites if the latter began to wax and the Ruthie Tendency began to wane.
Step forward Linkman Hugh Gaffney.
Maybe the campaign literature in his constituency next time can include a red-and-white UJ (with the blue bits cut out obviously) flapping uselessly in the wind.
The Hedge funds (May etc) made £1Billion+ from Carillion collapse Betting on the collapse. More bail out with public money. The Tory pozzi scheme.
More lies from SKY. Discussing Scotland without Scottish Gov SNP representation.
Funny how the Daily Heil readers (free copy) complain about democracy being flouted by it’s supposed removal from trains and buses. The fact there was no alternative paper (with different thought processes) was neither here or there. Total Hypocrites.
Personally I think public sponsored/ supported services such as rail or bus should not have one political viewpoint pushed our way. Let there be light. Lets have the National and one unionist paper on the buses. How fair is that? The Unionists will say no of course.
How about SPTE, Scotrail, McGills etc. Stop promoting one political viewpoint or lose the public money.
Handshrimp @ 10.10
Apparently he did go further than that at the Count when he was elected.
On hearing he had won he didn’t thank his opponent for a contest well fought.
Naw….he proclaimed it loudly to his group as a “victory fur the Union”!!!
Didn’t have the gut’s tae repeat it in his speech though!
The knuckle dragger’s aren’t as out and loud and
proud as they would have us believe,they are still snaking around on the edges neither field or house Negros I’d say the are chicken coop Negros.
I hear Carillion is going into liquidation. The Chairman philip Green ( not of BHS fame), was an ambassador for Cameron stating that Labour would destroy jobs. Well done Mr Green.
Again I emphasise, we should be collecting a database of all the errors mistakes and incompetence of all these so called experts who got everything completely wrong. All these characters who couldn’T predict wind accompanying a storm were wheeled out to say that Scotland is not financially viable, and people believed them. Financial experts, OBR who have never had an accurate prediction.
We have ammunition . Their own incompetence. It can all be used against them
The only way forward is May and the Tories to be brought down. Instead of collusion by the unionists with the intention to destroy the Scottish economy.
Thanks Peter at 10:33am I’ll look it up
O/T
Nobody will dispute the fact that The NHS both in Scotland and South Britain have had problems both historically and ongoing meeting demand.
As far as Scotland is concerned we have been subjected to evil opportunistic political attacks on The Scottish NHS by the colonialist parties motivated by their determination to discredit The SNP Government.
It is generally accepted by most sensible people (that excludes Tories) that the problems are primarily down to a lack of m oney being invested by the WM Government.
It is also generally agreed that this can only be remedied by Tax Increases.
Tax Increases are of course seldom popular but there is one that would raise a considerable amount without upsetting the majority of the electorate.
At present there is an upper limit on NI Contributions. Abolish it – it would only affect those on High Incomes in particular the ever popular Fat Cats. Such a measure would surely be popular and in fact I would suggest (tongue in cheek) that such a proposal would merit a Referendum.
Are there any figures available of just how much could be raised per annum if said Upper Limit were to be abolished?
From SG Brexit appraisal ….
“A failure to remain in the single market or to secure a free trade agreement would see Scotland’s GDP around £12.7bn lower by 2030 than it would be under continued EU membership.
This is would mean a loss equivalent to £2,300 per year for each person in Scotland.
The analysis takes account of the impact on trade, productivity and migration of different future relationships. It shows that a so called ‘Canada-type’ deal with the EU would still leave Scotland’s GDP £9bn lower by 2030 – or £1,610 per head.”
Abdulhaq
@9.02
The oil bonanza is certainly not “over” as you say. You may disagree with extracting oil, but it is a fact that there is at least forty years of reserves around Scotland and it will certainly be produced, as the value of crude oil is back to $70 per barrel,and production costs are about $17.
Whether the oil revenues go to Westminster or stay in Scotland is up to us.
The architecture in Oslo, which you dislike, is of no importance to the long term prosperity of Scotland. The massive oil revenues is.
Jockanese wind talker
re the AWPR
In the article about Carillion collapse on the main UK BBC website it doesn’t even think that the AWPR is worth mentioning – HS2, 900 schools, prisons and some other projects including Qatar and Canada … but we mustn’t forget, according to’ M and S’ we are part of England now, and OBVIOUSLY NOT A VERY IMPORTANT PART.
Ialso read that Ross thompson is chiding the SCOTTISH government to make sure that the road is completed outside Aberdeen, North Englandshire. Why doesn’t he also lambast his own party leader – T Hapless May – to make sure she doesn’t fail his constituents. Plonker.
—-
Also read that Scottish labour MSP’s have rounded on Leonard and accused him of taking a Hard brexit stance which will alienate his supporters in North Englandshire – ferrets in a sack, or the more poetic, ‘futrets in a poke’ ( Thankyou Mr. Peffers. )
Two Scottish papers lead with Nicola’s remarks about Indy but the bBC sums it up as the Scottish Media has slapped down Sturgeon for her diversion (and divisive) mention of the’ I’ word. What rubbish!
@Jockanese Wind Talker
Look for the Headline Labour ‘all
over the place before Corbyn’
She who’s name must never be spoken;
Labours Stephen Kinnock agrees with every word Nicola Sturgeon says but refuses to SAY he agrees with every word she says on Skys All out politics with Adam Boulton
The Tory Kwasi Kwartang says SHE (Nicola Sturgeon) is a failing politician in a fading party, Adam Boulton points out she leads the largest party in Scotland with more MPs than any other party and Toy Kwasi Kwartang says but SHE lost 21
During this conversation they couldn’t bring themselves to say her name or recognise she even is First Minister of the country of Scotland
So what do we make of that telling exchange, well what I make of it is if Nicola Sturgean could spin straw into gold and lay golden eggs whilst climbing up her own hair to the castle eating the poisoned apple and surviving, she terrifies them so they hate her and not only because she’s clever and the most respected politician in Britain I think they dislike and fear powerful women full stop, and that makes them something else
The Bastirts of both Tory parties blue and red still wouldn’t acknowledge she was right on anything because even if Scotland is right 100% they don’t want to hear it because the Racist Mysoginist Bastirts cannot ever lose control of Scotland by admitting Nicola Sturgeon knows what she’s talking about
O/T
Recently their have been reports in the media of moves to set up Ferry services to Scandinavia and to restore the much missed full passenger and cargo service from Rosyth to Zeebrugge.
The loss of the excellent Superfast Service to Zeebrugge was largely put down to the cost of fuel which made it difficult to compete with the airlines as far as passenger traffic was concerned.
Is it not the case that the aircraft fuel AVGAS and AVTUR are free of duty? – the historical justification for this was that air travel would never have taken off without this benefit.
Surely with the advances made in aviation which have slashed the cost of air travel in recent years it is difficult to justify this preferential tax treatment compared with sea travel.
The solution would be either to tax aircraft fuel on the same basis as Marine Diesel or to abolish the tax on Marine Diesel.
You know, TV is a wonderful thing.
I can’t imagine that many on this website watched last night’s programme about the Queen of England’s Coronation… full on English propaganda doesn’t come anywhere near describing it. ( My elderly Aunt wanted me to keep her company while she watched it last night, in the care home)
e.g. I learnt that Westminster Abbey has been the venue for EVERY Coronation since time began ( so obviously Mary Queen of Scots, 6 James’, a couple of Charlie’s, 3 Malcolm’s, MacBeth Son of Life, and Gruoch, Robert the Bruce and his descendants and many other just wIrnae Monarchs.
Scone and the real Stone of Destiny, the role of MacDuff of Mac Duff and the whole clanjamfrie is just a pile of Jackie Baillie – Aye right.
So glad I don’t pay the propaganda tax to learn about Edward the Confessor’s crown and the rest of the rubbish spouted. MI5 must have been well pleased.
Keith Cochrane, “I`M VOTING NO”
Commander of the Brutish Empire
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
Establishment stooge
UK Government’s Lead Non-Executive Director for the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General,
is Chief Executive of the failing Carillion construction empire.
Dr. Jim
I LOVE your description of Nicola Rapunzel Sturgeon.
Can I be in your team?
@galamcennalath
As I’ve said from the get go. If Brexit is enacted in any way shape or form on Scotland it won’t be about avoiding damage. It’ll be about damage limitation.
People want to follow the rest of the UK on the Brexit route? Well they’ve just heard the price tag for that.
@Meg merrilees
I’m a cult Meg
Well I’m sure that’s what I heard
Coronation programme from BBC last night saw Scotland’s monarchs erased from history.
Keith Cochrane, “I`M VOTING NO”
Commander of the Brutish Empire
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
Establishment stooge
UK Government’s Lead Non-Executive Director for the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General,
is Chief Executive of the failing Carillion construction empire.
Gaze in awe, as our great and noble state broadcaster covers their big rich tory arses.
No mention here of that Cochrane dude ofcourse but there is one line from one tory at least
“Carillion chairman Philip Green said it was a “very sad day” for the company’s workers, suppliers and customers.”
link to bbc.co.uk
When you’ve got tory propaganda like this in your pocket, how can you lose. And the saps pay for it all for you.
O/T . More of Mundells pish , Royal Assent
The Edinburgh Bakers’ Widows’ Fund Act
2018 (asp 1) received Royal Assent on 12 January 2018. no business in Holyrood today , they’ve dealt with the important stuff on the 12th lol.
Macart says:
Indeed, there are only bad Brexits.
We should calling Brexit what it is – opting for a major recession!
I’m shocked at the scale of damage, particularly the cliff jump no deal.
However, the damage of even EEA compared to ful EU membership is interesting. This has bearing on what iScotland should look for, IMO.
Scotland has yet to produce the likes of the neo-nazi Anders Breivik or a party such as the xenophobic Fremskrittspartiet, currently a partner in the Norwegian government. Prosperity comes at a price it seems. To the Norwegian, or any of those lauded Scandi model we ought politely to say, nej takk!
Do things our way…that’s what independence is about.
Carillion… I am sure that the Government will save the company. As a total cynic one of the big hurdles was the “pension black hole”. By going bankrupt it gets government aid to fill the £600 millionblack hole. Best of all the write off is not noticed… business as usual. But now the company has had £600 million of it’s debts written off a White Knight can save it or have it’s debts restructured. Phoenix like it will recover and nothing will be said about the £ 600 million we have paid as taxpayers.
LINKS! From the Lady;
Warning: upsetting image!
link to latinorebels.com
13,000 Veterans Homeless;
link to evolvepolitics.com
Molehills and mountains;
link to indyref2.scot
Off Your Marks!;
link to rbs.postach.io
MORE TO COME
LINKS!
link to theneweuropean.co.uk
link to catalannews.com
link to evolvepolitics.com
link to politicshome.com
LINKS!
link to politicshome.com
link to global.handelsblatt.com
link to middleeasteye.net
Doctors and nurses “When May and Hunt tell the public the NHS is not in crisis, that is a lie”
link to archive.is
That’s all, Wingers. Have a Peaceful and Productive Afternoon for Scotland Sake.
🙂
@Smallaxe
Links appreciated. 🙂
I hope Nana is minding those hands. Give her my best if you’re in touch.
Macart,
Thank you, my friend, I will pass on your kind regards to Nana. Nana’s in good spirits and will be receiving more treatment on her hands very soon from our World Class Scottish Health Service and the Staff who are doing an Outstanding job under difficult circumstances, As we All KNOW!
🙂
Found this Smallaxe . link to gilmsp.com
Thanks, I found it@Peter McCulloch says at 11:09 am what a BritNat Roaster yer man Gaffney is. A very BritNat Labour in Scotland type like his boss Richard “Hard Brexit” Leonard.
link to pressreader.com
Red flag and Yoonion Jack have usurped the Saltire my hoop.
Highlights all that is corrupt with the Trades Union movement in Scotland as well.
ronnie anderson,
Aye, Ronnie, they can be very liberal with public money.
Thank’s for that Ronnie.
🙂
@Jockanese Wind Talker
Glad you found it.
Though I am sorry I hadn’t provided the
links to the story in my first post.
Anyway thankfully he’s not my MP.
VIDEO. Statement this morning 15th January 2018,by the First Minister of Scotland and Mike Russell MSP on–
‘Scotland’s Place in Europe:people,jobs and investment.’
Statement is now Archived and available here.
YouTube. link to tinyurl.com
Starts a couple of minutes in.
Why would Brillo knock 1.3 million off of the population of Norway?
Great to see you posting again Smallaxe and hope that’s a sign that your health has improved. Hoping to hear some good news too, in the very near future, in relation to Nana’s health X
More than anything a great big thanks to you and Nana for continuing to contribute greatly to this site under difficult personal circumstances X
That’s what you call REAL dedication to a cause X
@ Jimbo says at 2:44 pm …. ”Why would Brillo knock 1.3 million off of the population of Norway?”
Maybe because Unionists all read from the same hymn sheet Jimbo? Don’t bother their lazy, inept backsides to check facts and spout garbage on a daily basis in an attempt to dupe the Scots. Expert at it now with 300 years of experience to draw from.
Cameron and Osborne have no idea how many people live in Norway either or for that matter in the UK with Cameron stating 60 million and Osborne 65 million.
What they do both agree on is that Scotland could have been as wealthy as Norway if it wasn’t for the fact that they have mismanaged our oil sector overall and that our oil revenue (minimum £300 billion) has been spent on 60 / 65 million people rather than 5 million in Scotland, as per the case in Norway. And to clarify on that latter comment, the best part of our £hundreds of billions of oil revenue has actually been spent in London and the South of England (pop. 18 million people). The North of England rarely gets a look in other than it would seem comandeering jobs in our oil sector to the detriment of Scottish workers.
link to businessforscotland.com
And if you are new to this site take a look at some of the articles on the Business for Scotland site in general.
link to businessforscotland.com
A bit out of touch so didn’t realise Nana is struggling. hope things improve soon for her and great to have you back online Smallaxe. 2018 is shaping up to be a momentous year.
I notice the Bullsh*t broadcasting company is introducing Nicola Sturgeon’s report on th effect Brexit will have on Scotland’s economy as, ” a report prepared by the Scottish Government who backed ‘Remain’ ”
thereby implying that we are just making it up to support our decision.
Funny how they never prefix WM decisions with,
” a decision made by the WM government who backed ‘Leave’ ” Chancers!
Petra, Meg,
Thank you, both, we only do what we can, while we can, as do many of us. Peace and love to you and yours, always.
Scot Finlayson,
“not stoopid just needing access to knowledge/truth.”
Why didn’t Robert Peffers ever write a book on the history of the union?
How long has the internet been around in Scotland?
Pure stupid, no excuses.
Many of us have walked a similiar path believing what we read in the press.I was a three paper a day man and it was’nt only for my love of football.I was interested in politics/economics and thought i was reasonably informed.
How wrong was i in my understanding in that time that Scotland was unable to stand on its own two feet.I thought we were not economically viable and that independence was a dead dream(i had voted in 1979 for independence).Ignorance and apathy are our biggest enemy we have to get to some of the 15% who did’nt vote the last time and change the minds of 5% of the soft knows.
The genie’s out of the bottle for many of us and once you are armed with the facts there is no going back.
In Norway,annually you can see what everyone has earned and paid in Tax/Insurance,if your name came up in the “Paradise Papers” you’d be in nick.
Sickness Benefit, Full Salary for 1 year and then various benefits close to that for re-habilitation/re-training etc.
Unemployment Benefit ( 1 year ) linked to earnings but capped at approx £500 per week for each individual.
UK State Pension £142 per week at 65 after 30 years.
Norwegian State Pension, (after 15 years in a 40 year system)
£358 per week.
All that said, sadly Norway has been slipping further and further to the right into greedy individualism, under the influence of “the Market”.