For reasons which defy all known science, John McTernan remains the first number on the BBC’s speed-dial list when they need a commentator to represent Labour views. It’s a remarkable editorial decision, given that McTernan despises the party’s current leadership almost beyond words, and it doesn’t seem too fond of him either.
But on today’s Good Morning Scotland, McTernan really kicked it up a notch.
Yesterday George Osborne treated us to an Autumn Statement in which he performed one of the most remarkable political U-turns in living memory.
The apparent need to cut £12bn from the welfare budget has long been sign-posted by the Tories as a requirement to getting us “back in the black” and on the road to a “higher wage, lower welfare, lower tax” society as part of their oft-cited “long-term economic plan”. (Or what academic economists prefer to call a “risky experiment with the economy in order to score political points“.)
Alert readers will recall David Cameron saying before the general election that child tax credits wouldn’t be cut in pursuit of that goal. But after the election, Osborne decided that they would. The Institute for Fiscal Studies determined that these cuts would have the worst effects on some of the poorest families in Britain.
Despite widespread opposition to the cuts, Labour infamously abstained on the critical vote in the Commons. Then, when the welfare bill reached the Lords, Labour once again abstained on a Lib Dem motion that would have completely killed the bill, in favour of a Labour one which phased in the cuts over three years, but meant Osborne would have to find another £4.5bn in his budget.
So we were somewhat surprised to hear Osborne say yesterday that the best thing to do was “not to phase these changes in, but to avoid them altogether”.
At today’s First Minister’s Questions, the Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale oddly chose to spend her entire allotted time not on any current issues affecting Scotland, but on attacking the SNP’s 2013 White Paper on independence, seemingly unaware that the referendum was held 14 months ago and resulted in a win for the No side.
Happily for Scotland, that decision resulted in a huge £200bn oil bonanza.
Here’s our old pal John McTernan, angrily condemning Labour’s shadow Chancellor John McDonnell quoting Chairman Mao to make a point in the Commons yesterday:
And for once he’s right. What sort of vile cretin would go around quoting Mao?
Obviously, actually including the exact phrases “within 45 minutes” and “weapons of mass destruction” might have been a little bit too near the knuckle, but the message comes across just the same: “Here we go again.”
The Daily Record has this on its front page today.
And that’s fine. The tale of a five-figure sum of money which might (or might not) have gone missing from the accounts of Women For Independence, who’ve promptly called the police to investigate an apparent discrepancy between their donated income and their expenditure, is entirely legitimate news.
We don’t often bring you footage of an Armed Forces Committee session in the US Senate, readers, but this spellbinding six minutes of questioning from a Republican senator on the subject of military action against ISIS doesn’t miss and hit the wall.
(We should note that Sen. Graham is a hawk who wants ISIS bombed back to the Stone Age. But even he can see the insane, irrational nature of the action currently being proposed, which would leave Syria a shattered mess but firmly in the hands of a murderous Russian-backed dictator conducting a ruinous, destabilising civil war.)
For over two years now, this site has been warning that the UK government will take the earliest opportunity it thinks it can possibly get away with to abolish the Barnett Formula, the funding mechanism which the No campaign sold as the biggest benefit of Scotland remaining in the Union.
The Formula is hated almost everywhere else in the UK, by both politicians and the English (especially) public, who see it as an over-generous subsidy to the scrounging Jocks, and with the threat of independence theoretically removed after the referendum there’s very little protecting it.
Neither Labour nor the Tories – with just one Scottish MP each – would have much to lose politically from reducing Scottish funding by billions of pounds they could use to bribe swing voters in England instead. Barnett’s partial survival was the only solid commitment made in The Vow, but it’s set to be slashed by the Scotland Bill, and the smaller it gets the less resistance there will be to its total removal.
This week the House Of Lords made lots of headlines by highlighting the shambolic, half-baked state of the Bill, which hasn’t yet come up with a “fiscal framework” to replace the bulk of Barnett. But make no mistake – the Lords want it gone just as much as everyone else does.
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Baby Senator Kennedy says; The Democrats have changed their minds on Homeland Security quicker than a one legged cat in…” Mar 27, 14:25
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “The silence in Scotland concerning the Pakistani Grooming Gangs is deafening.” Mar 27, 14:10
Confused on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “here’s an interesting thing : why do highly vocal minorities wield so much power in democracies where naively “the will…” Mar 27, 12:36
Confused on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “every day is now a gay day on wings The PIPEworks on MetroPOLE Lane — billed as Scotland’s largest gay…” Mar 27, 12:32
Confused on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “fantasies of power and relevance https://archive.ph/OFQUr – they spend HUGE amounts on all this crap, the least you would hope…” Mar 27, 12:30
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “The war with Iran (& R) is to cut off China. They can’t compete so are setting about cutting off…” Mar 27, 11:03
100%Yes on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Sven, May’s election is going to be a interesting night. I might just need to take a day from diet…” Mar 27, 10:44
agentx on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “It would have sent a stronger positive election message for Labour in Scotland if they had agreed to the China…” Mar 27, 09:54
Sven on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “100%Yes I doubt anything would persuade that particular Tite-Barnacle to voluntarily detatch himself from the rich pickings on the ship…” Mar 27, 08:22
100%Yes on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I see James Kelly has nothing to right about so he’s attacking a Indy party instead. The guy a real…” Mar 27, 08:18
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Yer not wrong but I think it is the holy sites that protect them. The Saudis don’t give a shit…” Mar 27, 07:57
Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Do we actually need any more windfarms built at this pint in time, when the grid is unable to cope…” Mar 27, 07:54
robertkknight on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “In other news… Former council leader guilty of sexually assaulting young men – BBC News https://share.google/7ALHmuqmWRW3TZMKR Who knew…” Mar 27, 07:46
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I dated I rugby player once.. all rugged & handsome. I asked, so how did ye get intae Rugby then?…” Mar 27, 07:21
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Aye John, This is what happens when you spaff mandates up the wall & squander 56 MPs at Westminster. You…” Mar 27, 07:11
Cynicus on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “The Offord Joke: Hats off to The National for publishing it. Old hat. I’d heard a version of it decades…” Mar 27, 02:01
100%Yes on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Labour on track to lose 2000 Councillors in this coming May’s election, now this will cause Sir Starmer to resign…” Mar 26, 23:11
Del G on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Your Party had not so much a faint hope as no hope of impacting the Scottish election: formed far too…” Mar 26, 22:46
agentx on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““John Swinney has said it is “not a coincidence” that the UK Government announced its decision to block a Chinese-backed…” Mar 26, 22:41
Del G on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Your Party had not so much a faint hope as no hope of impacting the Scottish election: formed far too…” Mar 26, 22:39
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I wouldn’t feel safe visiting Holyrood. Imagine if you were a tourist stumbling intae the gayest gaff in all of…” Mar 26, 20:22
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Couldn’t have said it better myself. Totally agree. I have never been to prison but I believe the first question…” Mar 26, 20:15
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “He’s a nasty piece of work. That was him behind the astro turfing fake no borders campaign during indyref. Caught…” Mar 26, 20:00
Frank Gillougley on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Dan, 1kW Electricity for 8p 1 m3 of gas is 23p 1 litre of diesel is 135p in Hungary the…” Mar 26, 19:56
Confused on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “wonder if jordan the bummer will be taking excessively long showers in addiewell, dropping the soap repeatedly and asking if…” Mar 26, 19:39
Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Hi Frank, any idea how much regular diesel is out where you are? I had to do a double take…” Mar 26, 19:34
George Ferguson on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Day 1 of the election and I am already thinking about a complaint to Ofcom and the Electoral Commission. An…” Mar 26, 19:34
agentx on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““Former SNP politician sexually assaulted five young men and boys Jordan Linden, 30, is the former leader of North Lanarkshire…” Mar 26, 19:22
100%Yes on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “It says the crappiest newspaper in Scotland “Outgoing MSPs who made tough decisions on our behalf deserve thanks” I say…” Mar 26, 19:11
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Would you look at that. Just in time for LA28 Olympic games. The yanks certainly wouldn’t want every Tik Toker…” Mar 26, 19:06
