Wings Over Scotland

Sharp-minded readers will recall a piece from earlier this week, in which we crossed swords with a Scottish Labour press officer angrily denying that the party wanted the Scottish Government to introduce a no-evictions law for Bedroom Tax arrears:

“You wrote that SLab has a specific policy proposal relating to evictions. Don’t assert – prove. Show me where you get it from.”

Will this do, Alan? (Our emphasis, as if it were needed.)

“Labour today called on the Scottish Government to intervene to protect those worst hit by the “bedroom tax” […] Labour claimed the Scottish Government could ease the plight of those due to be hit by the bedroom tax by introducing a ‘no evictions’ policy – pledging no-one would be kicked out of their home simply because of the new rules.”

If there are any other Scottish Labour policies that the Scottish Labour press office needs us to clarify for it, it’s welcome to ask any time.

…about the full extent of the modern Labour Party’s complete and utter betrayal of the poor and vulnerable and its wholesale capitulation to Tory ideology, read this.

We have to go out this afternoon so we’ll make this quick. Blah blah too poor blah blah no jobs blah blah individual smear blah blah fascist state blah blah invaded by Belgium or something blah blah. Frankly we wouldn’t even bother clicking the links if we were you. If you miss them today, the same stories – or very slight variations on them – will be back in the Scottish media tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, and all the days after that all the way to autumn 2014.

The media (and some of the more gullible elements of the blogosphere) recently got itself into a lather about Douglas Alexander’s latest contribution to the independence debate – excellently rebutted by novellist and playwright Alan Bissett – which presented his vision of a post-referendum Scotland that voted No to independence.

Here’s an alternative picture. But unlike the typical “Better Together” scare story, these are not fabricated fantasies. Many are happening right now, while others are merely under discussion and in preparation.

This is what you’re voting for if you vote No.

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A little compare-and-contrast to contemplate.

This is from the Scottish Government document about setting up a new constitution in an inclusive process after a Yes vote in a referendum:

“…a constitutional convention should consider how to further embed equality and human rights within the constitution and the extent to which the people of Scotland should have constitutional rights in relation to issues such as welfare, pensions, health care and education.”

This is from a recent speech by Theresa May:

“…and we need to stop human rights legislation interfering with our ability to fight crime and control immigration. That’s why, as our last manifesto promised, the next Conservative government will scrap the Human Rights Act, and it’s why we should also consider very carefully our relationship with the European Court of Human Rights and the Convention it enforces.”

I can’t decide for you, but I know which one seems more appealing to me.

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The calmer heads found in the Scottish independence movement – and in our better moments we like to consider ours among them – can often be heard cautioning against over-deploying allegations of bias, and citing Hanlon’s Razor in doing so.

(And to save you clicking on the link, that’s the one which runs “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”.)

It is, of course, possible and frequently the case for BOTH to be present – a glance at any Scotsman column by Michael Kelly or Brian Wilson will verify that – but this morning we’re going to focus on the latter side of the equation.

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Alert contributor Scott Minto came across a weird little story in The Sun this week. We had a look into it and found the “Loyalist” nutcases responsible, whose Facebook page helpfully also provided us with a much more beautiful and uplifting sight.

Flying proudly over Glasgow City Chambers, just as it should. Not long now.

Over the last 30 days, Wings Over Scotland’s readership has soared to almost 42,000 unique users. Although in February our number of unique visitors eclipsed daily sales of the Scotsman for the first time (and has grown 25% since then), soon we’ll have no idea how we’re doing comparatively, because the once-proud newspaper has now joined the Herald in ducking out of monthly sales reporting. The Guardian reports:

“All four titles were pulled out of monthly reporting against the background of plunging print sales. In The Scotsman’s case, its sale in January was recorded as 32,435, only 21,806 of which were sold at the full cover price. That represented a year-on-year drop of 17.5%. Scotland of Sunday’s circulation fall, to a January average of 38,493, was worse. That was 24% fewer than in January 2012.”

Tick tock, tick tock.

Veteran readers of this site will know how hard it is to nail Scottish Labour down on a policy for just about anything. So when we suggested earlier today that the party DID have a (sort of) firm policy on something – namely calling on the Scottish Government to bring forward legislation to stop people being evicted over bedroom-tax arrears – we probably shouldn’t have been surprised to be contacted within minutes by a Scottish Labour press officer angrily insisting that it didn’t.

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For the seasoned political analyst (and also for idiots like us), it can be hard to offer a rational explanation for why any thinking human being would ever believe a word the Labour Party says about anything any more.

It came to power 16 years ago promising to introduce electoral reform, then ditched it. (But still hilariously claims to be committed to the principle despite 100 years of failing to deliver it.) It also pledged not to introduce university tuition fees, then introduced them. It campaigned for re-election on a promise not to increase them, then increased them. It – well, we could go on all day, just about tuition fees alone.

But let’s cut to the chase and move up to the present day.

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Vince Cable in today’s Herald:

“Millions of Scots will lose out on an RBS share bonanza worth up to £800 if they choose independence, Business Secretary Vince Cable has warned.

The Treasury is considering giving every taxpayer in the UK shares in RBS as part of a give-away ahead of the next general election. Coalition sources calculate the windfall could be worth £400 to £800 per person.

Coalition Cabinet minister Mr Cable said his Liberal Democrat party backed the payout to ensure taxpayers benefit from 2008’s billion-pound bailout of the Edinburgh institution, although he cautioned the Coalition not to “rush” the process.

Asked if Scots would get a chance to benefit in an independent Scotland, he said: “No. It is at the moment vested in the British Government.”

Even leaving aside the astonishingly crude bribery/blackmail aspect, we’re still a bit confused. Unionists constantly tell us that RBS is “Scottish”, and that therefore an independent Scotland should take on all of its debt. But apparently the people of the rUK will still own the whole bank, so they’ll get all the shares and the profits.

Sometimes, readers, it really does seem like the No camp is devoting most of its anti-independence efforts to putting us out of a job.

A lot of independence supporters are getting excited today about this clip of Labour shadow-cabinet MP Helen Goodman telling the BBC that Labour would keep the bedroom tax. They’re right to highlight it, but most are doing so for the wrong reasons.

Goodman’s position is that Labour WOULD still implement the hated tax, but would only penalise people for over-occupying their housing if they’d been offered smaller accommodation and refused to move. Opponents of Labour are observing the hypocrisy of the party raging against the tax in public while admitting they’d retain it, which is fair enough, but also misses the real point.

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