Wings Over Scotland

Duncys pure greeting that the Greens won’t vote against Indy bill. What a wee shame.

I really want kippers rolled in oatmeal for my tea now, remember, the kind they used to sell in Lewis’s foodhall when they were still on Sauchiehall Street. The heartburn will kill me though. Curse you, tories!

There are of course many Labour supporters in Scotland who support independence. Sadly for them their so-called leaders are hell-bent on destroying the Labour party before it can recover in an independent Scotland.

These red-tory leaders are a disgrace to a once-great party and a disgrace to Scotland.

Labour, Libdems and the Tories are all now UKIP, they all support leaving the EU, to some extent. And they’ll all deny Scotland it’s freedom, given half the chance.

How lucky that we have a left of centre, European style, social democrat party in Scotland that voters can support. Normal, you might say.
Hope the SNP and Greens sweep the LA elections and provide a solid base for the Referendum.

Just goes to show that there really is no point to SLAB, not may folk, or not enough folk, care anymore. Since they all pursue the Tory policies, they’d be as well forming one unionist party and be done with it.

They won’t be needed in an independent Scotland, new parties will be needed and I hope that there is absolutely no room for these useless hingers on in the forward looking country that we want to build.

Myopia, in the Labour party

With this track record I’m surprised the SNP is not at 60% + read it and weep yoons.?
Lang time lurker here btw

Record funding for Scotland’s NHS, with the overall health budget at £13 billion in 2016 – over £3.3 billion more than when the SNP first took office.
?Free, high quality childcare is increased to 16 hours a week for all 3 and 4 year olds – up from 12.5 hours in 2007, extended to 2 year olds from low income households too.
?Employment at its highest ever level. Latest figures, 2,636,000 people in work.
?Pupils are achieving more than ever with a reformed curriculum, record exam passes and 93% of school leavers now going on to work, training or education.
?Council Tax frozen saving the average Band D household £1,550 by April 2017.
?1.3 million older and disabled people benefit from free public transport through the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme – now extended to help disabled veterans.
?Target to build 30,000 affordable homes exceeded, with an investment of £1.7 billion.
?Free tuition maintained, saving students up to £27,000 compared to England.
?Jobs and businesses protected from recession by cutting business rates for almost 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses.
?78,000 elderly benefit from access to a wide range of personal care without charge.
?Recorded crime in Scotland has reached its lowest level in 41 years.
?Free prescriptions protected, saving people with chronic conditions over £100 a year.
?Road Equivalent Tariff rolled out to all ferry routes in the Clyde and Hebrides, cutting fares by around 40%.
?178,000 low income households helped to buy essentials such as nappies, food and cookers through our Scottish Welfare Fund since it was established in 2013.
?By keeping Scottish Water in public hands customers pay less for a better service – charges for the average household bill are £39 lower than in England and Wales.

A healthier Scotland
?Free prescriptions for all. (In England you pay £8.40 per item.)
?The number of nurses, doctors and dentists working in Scotland’s NHS increased.
?NHS staffing is at record levels, up more than 11,500 under the current government.
?Scotland’s A&E services are the best performing in the UK.
?95% of hospital day case and inpatients seen within 12 weeks last year.
?Healthcare kept local. A&E units saved, children’s cancer services and neurosurgery units protected, and maternity units kept open.
?Over £5 billion invested in Scotland’s health infrastructure since 2007, including the South Glasgow Hospitals and Emergency Care Centre in Aberdeen.
?Pay rises for our NHS staff delivered.
?Nursing staff up to £714 a year better off than their counterparts in England.
?Hospitals cleaner and safer. Cases of C. Diff and MRSA fall to lowest levels recorded.
?Almost £40 million invested to raise public awareness of cancer, and catch it earlier.
?Risk of cervical cancer cut by providing HPV vaccine for girls in second year of school.
?Scrapped parking charges at NHS-run hospital. Patients and staff save £25 million.
?Highest number of GPs per head of the population in the UK; more practices are now open in the evenings and at weekends.
?Scotland first country in the UK to have a mental health waiting times target.
?Over £150 million invested next five years to improve mental health services.
?2.2 million registered with an NHS dentist than when the SNP took office.
?98% of primary and secondary schools providing two hours of physical education a week – up from 10 per cent in 2005.
?More funding provided to support carers and young carers; over 22,500 benefiting from the Short Breaks Fund.
?Irresponsible alcohol discounts in supermarkets and off-licences banned.
?Legal age for buying tobacco raised to 18.
?Control of social care services budget through the Self-Directed Support Act.
?Extra funding for Scotland’s veteran charities, ex-service men and women receive priority treatment in the NHS and other services.
?Free childcare increased to 16 hours a week (from 12.5) for 3 and 4 year-olds. Also extended to 2 year-olds of low-income families.
?Patient satisfaction levels are second-to-none.
?£3.3 billion more given to our health system that when the SNP took office.

A smarter Scotland
?All children in primaries 1 to 3 – around 135,000 pupils – benefiting from free school meals, saving families around £380 per child per year.
?The £160 million Attainment Scotland Fund improves literacy, numeracy and health and well-being for children in over 300 primary schools in the most deprived areas.
?Spending per pupil is significantly higher here than south of the border – 9% higher per pupil in primary at £4,899, 12% higher per pupil in secondary at £6,738.
?Investment of £1.8 billion and 607 school projects delivered.
?4,020 school children able to learn in dedicated Gaelic medium language classes.
?The Disabled Students Allowance in Scotland protected and bursaries for students maintained, while the Tories abolished both elsewhere in the UK.
?Education Maintenance Allowance in Scotland expanded– scrapped in England – to support 57,000 school pupils and college students from low income families.
?Over 119,000 full-time equivalent college places provided – exceeding 2011 manifesto commitment to maintain 116,000 places.
?£530 million invested in college estates and state-of-the-art buildings in Glasgow, Kilmarnock and Inverness – plus £140 million for Fife and Forth Valley colleges.
?Full-time college students benefit from the highest bursary of anywhere in the UK.
?A record numbers of Scots supported into university. Young people from deprived areas more likely to study at university.
?The poorest university students living at home benefit from a minimum income guarantee of £7,625 per year – the highest in the UK.
?More women entering universities are choosing to study science, technology, engineering and maths subjects. They make up 48% of those gaining degrees.
?Free tuition protected saving students £27,750 compared to England.
?A 3-D printer given to every library in Scotland.

A wealthier Scotland
?Scotland has the highest employment rate of the four nations in the UK, women and youth employment rates exceed those of the UK.
?Typical pay in Scotland is now, for the first time, higher than in England.
?The Scottish economy has seen three years of growth up to the third quarter of 2015.
?186,855 young people took the opportunity to undertake a modern apprenticeship since 2007, and by 2020 a further 30,000 opportunities will be available every year.
?Around 22,000 families supported to buy their own home through home ownership schemes – three quarters of them under the age of 35.
?Councils enabled to build new homes– 5,292 council houses built since 2011.
?15,500 social houses for rent safeguarded by ending Right to Buy.
?£500 million invested to stimulate conomic growth in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley.
?£125 million allocated to Aberdeen to stimulate economic growth in the city, plus an additional £254 million for infrastructure projects in the North-east.
?£60 million put towards a Town Centre Regeneration Fund.
?£500 million spent on tackling fuel poverty, with one in three households helped to improve home energy efficiency.
?Tax burden reduced on the sale of homes, with 93% of house buyers paying less than under UK stamp duty land tax or paying no tax at all.
?The number of private sector businesses in Scotland at 361,345, the highest number recorded – productivity is up 4.4% compared to 0.2 per cent in the UK.
?International exports increased by 36%. (2007 to 2014) £20.3 billion to £27.5 billion.
?Tourism healthier with 15.5 million tourists visiting in the year to September 2015.
?Enterprise and development spending per head in Scotland is double that of the UK, and spending on research and development has increased by 44% since 2007.

A fairer Scotland
?More than 80% of Scots paid the Living Wage of £8.25 an hour. Scotland offers highest proportion of workers in UK at least a living wage.
?In 2011, the first government in the UK to pay the Living Wage to our staff.
?Poverty levels down. 260,000 fewer people in poverty in 2014 than in 2000.
?Invested £90 million to ensure that no-one in Scotland has to pay the Bedroom Tax, protecting up to 72,000 households from threat of eviction or becoming homeless.
?Over half a million vulnerable households – including over 200,000 pensioners and 86,000 single parents – protected from UK Government cuts to Council Tax support.
?Almost 3,000 disabled people supported through the Independent Living Fund Scotland, set up after the UK Government scrapped its support.
?Over 200 companies signed the Scottish Business Pledge to boost productivity and increase diversity.
?54,000 new affordable homes built, and counting.
?Number of days lost to industrial disputes down 84%, the lowest of any UK country.
?Encouraging public, third, private sector companies to boardroom gender equality.
?Nicola Sturgeon appointed first cabinet with an equal number of women and men.
?Scotland is leading light on LGBTI equality, with progressive equal marriage laws.
?Over £75 million has been spent since 2007 to help some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

A safer Scotland
?Violent crime down 55%, homicides 51%, weapons/knife crime two-thirds.
?£216 million invested in the creation of the new national police service.
?The new Scottish Crime Campus provides a focal point for excellence in intelligence-sharing
, evidence gathering and forensic science to tackle serious organised crime.
?Since 2007, 1,000 more police officers keeping our communities safe. By contrast, police numbers south of the border have fallen to their lowest level in 15 years.
?Automatic early release ended: long-term prisoners will serve their sentence in full.
?Reconviction rate reduced to its lowest level in 16 years.
?£75 million seized from criminals reinvested in community projects for the young.
?HMP Grampian opened in March 2014 and HMP Low Moss opened in March 2012, two major parts of the prison building programme.
?Access to air weapons tightened.
?A record £33 million invested to tackle domestic violence against women and girls.
?Access to justice for survivors of domestic abuse improved too.
?Tackling sectarianism backed up with record investment.
?The new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service created.
?Scotland has the UK’s first national action plan on human rights.

Investing for the future
?£1 billion invested annually in public and sustainable transport to encourage people out of cars. Spending for safer walking and cycling at a record high.
?Scottish Steel, Ferguson Shipyard, and the last remaining UK aluminium smelter in Lochabar – all saved.
?The £1.4 billion Queensferry Crossing is on time and on budget.
?Tolls on the Forth and Tay bridges abolished, commuters continue to save £184 a year crossing the Tay, £207 a year on crossing the Forth.
?Borders Railway reopened, longest domestic railway built in Britain in over 100 years.
?£742 million Edinburgh-Glasgow rail improvements; widespread electrification of the network between the two cities, and to Stirling and Dunblane.
?£3 billion to create 80 miles of dual carriageway on the A9 Perth-Inverness, £745 million to Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, plus M8, M73 and M74 motorway.
?£170 million Aberdeen Inverness rail upgrade; new stations at Dalcross and Kintore.
?Contracts worth £97 million will protect the 150-strong workforce and create 100 new jobs at the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde.
?Prestwick Airport saved from closure, safeguarding around 1,350 jobs.
?£500 million a year to deliver higher water quality, better environmental protection, and better service for customers. Scottish Water now UK’s most trusted utility.
?£400 million to deliver superfast broadband to 95 per cent of properties across Scotland by the end of 2017.
?Negotiating the renaissance of the UK’s only aluminium smelter in Lochaber, Fort William, creating over 600 new jobs, half in the smelter, half in services.

Empowering communities
?The independence referendum was the biggest democratic exercise in our history.
?The voting age for Scottish Parliament and local government elections permanently lowered to 16, starting from May 2016.
?Fighting for LGBTI rights, plus secured best equal marriage laws in the world.
?Local communities given a voice – backed up with £20 million funding – in the planning and delivery of local services through the Community Empowerment Act.
?£9 million Scottish Land Fund helped 52 communities across the country purchase land. Over 500,000 acres is now in community ownership – benefiting 71,000 people.
?The ambitious Land Reform Bill introduced to transform rules around the ownership, accessibility and benefits of land in Scotland. More reforms to come.

A greener Scotland
?Renewable electricity output more than doubled since 2007, with renewables largest contributor to electricity generation in Scotland.
?Our target to reduce energy consumption by 12% by 2020 exceeded, a 13.3% reduction between 2006 and 2013.
?Scotland is on target to deliver world-leading climate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020.
?Moratorium on underground coal gasification and fracking.
?Household recycling at its highest ever levels. 43% of household waste recycled.
?Carrier bag use reduced by 80%. Bag charge raised nearly £7 million for good causes.
?Investment in flood defences and new measures in the Flooding Act.
?Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to sign up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals; established the world’s first Climate Justice Fund.
?Scotland became the world’s second Fair Trade Nation in 2013.

Supporting rural communities
?A record £1 billion invested in vessels, ports and ferry services since 2007 as part of a commitment to the islands and remote communities.
?Residents of Caithness and north-west Sutherland, Colonsay, Islay, Jura, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are eligible for a 50% discount on air fares.
?Created a key role in reforming EU fisheries policy to bring an end to the wasteful discarding of fish at sea.
?With food and drink exports valued over £5 billion, and new jobs created in the sector by 2020, continued support to promote Scotland’s top quality produce.
?Fares on ferry services frozen until 2017 for passengers, cars, commercial vehicles.
?Opting out of cultivation of genetically modified crops in Scotland.
?Scotland’s first National Marine Plan to achieve sustainable development of our seas.

Enabling creativity and sport
?Free access maintained to museums and galleries, with 27 million visits to Scotland’s world class national collections since 2007.
?Government provided support for Scotland to welcome the world in 2014, with the staging of the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
?£162 million pumped into Scotland’s screen sector since 2007.
?£130 million invested in our cultural infrastructure – including revamped National Museum of Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, the palace at Stirling Castle.
?£16 million direct investment in Edinburgh’s 12 major festivals since 2008.
?£25 million for the Victoria and Albert Museum of Design in Dundee.
?The new Bannockburn visitor centre which opened in February 2014, and the creation of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Ayrshire which opened in December 2010.
?1.5 million opportunities created for young people to take part in youth arts in 2015.

That juggernaut is thundering down the hill and taking out those who don’t jump away in time.

I believe the SNP is in the driving seat!

Isn’t it incredible to think that the very people who have suffered most at the hands of the Tories in terms of bedroom tax and reduction of benefits are the very ones who now support them. It is not rational.

When you are brainwashed by Britney propoganda it is very hard to shake off.

I think we all know the demographics of these figures. No need to elaborate.

Surely we must be approaching the point where even the most devout of devoutest Labour members/supporters will say “enough is enough” and walk away from the crumbs on the floor of what was once a respectable political party.

As things stand at the moment, and with Council elections looming, surely it can only be a matter of month’s before the Labour %age of the vote falls below the 10% mark.

The current so called “leadership” in Scotland is a joke. No scratch that they are no longer a joke they are the worst sort of ludicrously bad jokes to fall out of a Christmas cracker. They are the sort of joke that no one even bothers to vaguely smile at far less laugh!

How can we get to the % of people who still didn’t vote in 2014?

The Tories have outflanked labour on the Independence issue. Their leader is simply thick to believe that Labour in Scotland can hang on to its remaining support by talking a hardline Unionist perspective.

That 22% will soon be zero, the rats will desert the sinking ship that is Labour and shift to either the Tory B’stards holding this country back or to the SNP.

There is no middle ground, Ms Dugdale is an idiot. She will reap what she sows and Labour will be out of power in the UK for the next 25 years.

I’ll say it again, Ms Dugdale is an idiot.

Speaking as World class idiot Thepnr I resent that remark! 😛

Wee Kezzy is NOT an idiot. WE have certain standards that must be acquired before being considered an idiot. Thankfully for the standards of Idiots she has FAILED in every category with next to no likelihood of her achieving even one category pas within the next 5 years! 😀

Am I reading this data correctly: 16% of ‘NO’ voters would vote SNP.
Could that be construed as 16% of those who voted ‘NO’ in 2014 would now vote ‘YES’ to Independence as that is, basically, what the SNP are offering?
Nice to think so 🙂

Nice one Morag!

The SNP actually do have enough votes on their own!

Hamish100 @ 4.58

+1 for “shoogliest”

Here we go, from, not a chance, to maybe. Should tighten a few SLab sphincters at least. We’ll get blitzed with BBC led media gimps screaming federal UK ultra super dooper style, if we shut and stay UK.

link to itv.com

Is Dugdale really this thick, surely more likely she’s a Yesser deep under cover, doing her bit for her country. Yeah more likely she’s a Scottish hero.

There are probably enough Wingers voting in the council elections in May to ensure that every Red Tory controlled Council is obliterated in May – if we vote the right way.

Perhaps the Rev or James Kelly can advise us nearer the time, but my gut feeling is that if we all used the STV system correctly and placed the Labour candidates last on our lists, we could nearly wipe out the complete shower.

Now there’s a thought. 🙂

Hit em’ hard when they are vulnerable – no mercy. Certainly not after, how they have behaved since 2014.

“Holyrood not told about Article 50 date”

Reports are circulating that Downing Street “FORGOT” to tell the Scottish Government’s Brexit Minister, Mike Russell, who learned of the date from BBC reporting.

Obnoxious arrogant b@s£@r#s! And they wonder why we want away!

On the subject of local elections – I’ve tried to find out from my council the names of all the candidates standing in my Ward of the Scottish Borders and they can’t give me that info until after 4pm on 29/03/17, which now turns out to also be the date for triggering Article 50.

“Labour have majestically captured the gap in the market for the “representing nobody” party and lost everything in the chase. A masterstroke from the party of dunces.”

Indeed, Martin, an apt summary.

I do wonder, however, if on Wednesday the sentient BLiS______d MEPs like Malcolm Chisholm, who has always seemed pretty decent to me, will support the SG. Even if it is only for self-interest to avoid being on the wrong side of history, surely a few will consider “crossing the floor”?

Hmmmmm: have I taken that too far?

I feel the Tories are now at their peak, they are unlikely to attract many more Labour supporters. It must be a depressing to be a Labour supporter, little prospect of having any influence except hoping to be in coalition with the Tories as the minor partner (I actually could see this happening, they are so desperate).

Downing Street “FORGOT” to tell the Scottish Government Brexit Minister that the will trigger Article 50 next week. Aye Right.

Did they “FORGET” to Norn Irn and Wales too, or just us?

For all of the hysterical MSM telling May to call a snap GE, they are forgetting it’s a fixed term parliament now. It’s not very easy anymore, to try and call a snap GE. I think the Maybot would be too scared anyway, she might lose votes to UKIP and the LibDums. She’ll no be worried aboot Labour.

Like he budget a deal is done with the Greens and as they are a pro Indepence party in Scotland it will happen that section 30 is passed by Holyrood.
Some of tbe Labour voters left and a few Tories who want Independence rather than brexit will be disappointed.

Tinto Chiel

Malcolm Chisolm stepped down at the last SGE, he is no longer an MSP. Don’t think there are many like him left in Holyrood Slab.

@Icyspark,
Damn predicatext . That took 3 tries to get right as well!!!

When I think about why Slab voters are now voting for the Tories I always return to the woman that was on question time who said “If I had known the Tory policies would have affected me I would not have voted for them”.

I think there is a very similar attitude among these Slab voters.

The full effect of Tory policies has been somewhat mitigated by the Scottish Government (better performing NHS, Transport, free education etc) also they have been conditioned over the decades to believe the mantra of SNP BAD!!!

At the moment they see the Tories as the lesser of two evils but this might change as the full consequences of BREXIT come apparent and start to affect their lives directly.

@Icyspark,

Take a bow ( rhianna).

Using the constituency votes as this compares the same voting system as Westminster.

SNP 59 seats
The Rest 14 seats

The SNP has 80% of these seats, a majority of 60%, and 70% above the Tories. The Tories only have 51% of the seats at WM. Uncomfortable facts for Tories when they talk about mandates.

Marie Clark (6:18pm):

Re snap election: Mayhems unamed spokesman has today stated that “It’s not going to happen.”
__________

Meant to make it clear for Wingers earlier, on the subject of this years Council Elections – You should be able to access a full list of standing candidates for your area on your councils web site after 4pm on 29/03/17.

Best way to know is phone your council and make sure because areas may differ, depending on your council. The sooner you know who’s standing the sooner you can organise your voting intentions and spread the word around your area etc.

Hope this helps!

@ Luigi: @ 6pm

I always thought the only way to ensure the result you want is to vote #1 for SNP, #2 for SNP (if a second one is standing), then do not use any further votes.

I can say that at our last LA election looking at the votes cast compiled in order saw a candidate receiving a lower total elected over one receiving a higher total. These two were both way down the list and only by going through the election/elimination rounds one by one by hand at home the next day was it possible to ascertain that votes way down the list for iffy candidates can bounce up to eliminate someone further up the list.

I’ll not be caught again. And, give the chance I will not support PR again.

Maureen@ 6:50 pm
Phil @ 6:57 pm

Check this link:

link to scotgoespop.blogspot.co.uk

IMO you shouldn’t rate the unionist parties unless you want to say disadvantage either the Tories or Lab, depending on who’s most likely to get the most votes.

The Greens annoy me sometimes with their pettiness but for me it will be; SNP 1&2,( if 3 candidates will vote 3) Greens 3, any other Scottish indy supporter eg SSP, RISE(aargh) and not giving either Red or Blue anything

No less an observer than Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail columnist, is of the opinion that the differences between Blairite Labour and the Tories at Westminster were veneer thin.

In Hitchen’s opinion they were effectively one party. He is perfectly correct in this view and by extension, that logic states that Labour in Scotland are Tories.

Now there will be people at an activist level who probably regard themselves as “old” Labour, or perhaps see themselves as “of the left” but the people pulling the strings are most definitely Tory at heart.

These string pulling puppet masters are BritNat in view and have muddy, polluted Thames sewer water running through their veins.

Kez is a puppet who probably thinks she is quite clever but she is being controlled. Kez is no puppet master, she doesn’t have the intellect.

Hitchens voiced an opinion that the Blairite faction of Labour would probably prefer May as leader rather than Corbyn. Same applies in Scotland.

The point is – with Labour in Scotland you are genuinely dealing with a Tory wearing a red rosette, not due to the fact that they would identify with being a Tory but because it’s the person pulling the strings that needs to be understood and that puppet master is a Tory!

Shaping up nicely to clear the way – without any middle-ground distractions of well-meaning ‘lefties’ and well-irrelevant ‘Liberals’ – the final battle between the SNP and the Unionists.
A simple choice. Scottish Nationalism or English Nationalism.
There is nothing else left.
Just Armageddon for the Yoons.

“Malcolm Chisolm stepped down at the last SGE, he is no longer an MSP. Don’t think there are many like him left in Holyrood Slab.”

Thanks, Brian, I didn’t realise that. He was unusual in being a decent sort and seemed quite unembittered towards the SNP.

lol i see from the Rev`s twitter he knows how that one goes.

You just cant beat the classics 🙂

Imagine in Glasgow in the height of corruption. Someone has to vote (Thatcher/May/Davidson) Tory to keep Labour out. It is sickening.

Gary45%, your last para. was spot on. If Labour embraced independence wholeheartedly they could gradually win back a significant number of the tens of thousands they lost to the SNP in 2014/15.

However a change like this would require intelligence and a commitment to Scotland over Londinium and its baubles and stoatskins. I think that is beyond them so they will be doomed to oblivion as a party.

It’s really the simplest of choices now: Scotland or the Toxic Tories.

@Marie Clark says: 20 March, 2017 at 4:57 pm:

” … they’d be as well forming one unionist party and be done with it.”

They are just the one unionist party, Marie. They always have been the one big party and it is called the Westminster Establishment. Mind you there is very good reason why they have always pretended to be different parties in opposition to each other.

It has never mattered whether they were Whigs, Conservative, Liberals, Democrats, Labour or any other title thereof, they have always been the Westminster Establishment.

There is logic in this, believe it or not. You see, while all having the same ultimate aims, they, of necessity, had to present a face to the electorate and the world that seemed as if democracy were in fact it action.

So the face presented to the World is of democratically elected opposing political parties but the ultimate aim of them all is to keep a firm English grip upon the British Isles, Empire or Commonwealth, or whatever level of English dominion the Westminster Establishment had under their power at any particular point in Britain’s history.

I have this feeling that if Labour and the LibDems vote against the Referendum Bill on Wednesday, that will come back to haunt them. More sensible for them to abstain.

Labour – proving that turkeys do vote for Christmas

@ Iain Bell..’Am I reading this data correctly: 16% of ‘NO’ voters would vote SNP’.
If so Iain……never mind Greens….that would equal 320,000 from REF1.
That would take us over the line easily. Add on the EU and 16-18 yr old , plus the never voted folk in the schemes, plus a few freshly sussed auld yins and we win handsomely!
No wonder they are shitting it1

@Hamish100 says: 20 March, 2017 at 4:58 pm:

” … Even selfishly do they not understand by voting No, their own future (by aligning with Tory UKIP) is hanging by the shoogliest of pegs.”

I believe that the truth of the matter is, Hamish100, that in Labour’s case their collective Jaikits have been lying on the floorboards for a considerable period of time.

The reason they don’t change course, and do what they actually know to be the right thing to do, is because they know it is far too late to be sufficient to hing thir jaikits back up again.

What does it matter to them now that the next time they pick up those jaikits will be to wear them as they go outside. All that really remains for them to do is for the last one out to switch off the lights and heating and turn off the water at the main.

Mind you I get the feeling they have just enough feelings of grievance and entitlement left to just leave everything on out of pure spite.

Dorothy Devine says:
20 March, 2017 at 6:44 pm

OT Just watched the apparent Alloa SDL on ITV news – seemed to have very strange Scottish accents. I did think it was a report designed to frighten the horses and found myself a tad skeptical

Funny that I am working in the midlands at the moment,sharing a house with northern England guys.One commented “that’s naw a Scottish accent,well no like yours”

I wonder if I’m the only one here who literally laughed out loud when I saw Gideon getting the London Evening Standard editors job?

Reason?

He loathes May & the Brexiteers. London/SE benefits most from single market. He’s now editor of the largest (free) paper in London – which the BBC uses as one of their “we’re not biased” papers.

You wanted the job Theresa, best get on with it mmmm? Oh and that means the “day job” which is Brexit, not going on a grand procession around the country…

I suspect that in future years we may view Gideon as “still a tory tosser but not as bad as he used to be”. Scary thought.

@Stoker 20 March, 2017 at 6:07 pm
The reason being that the closing time for nominations is 16.00 hours on the 29th

lol sorry about that i really insulted poor orangutan`s there

As far as i hear he is back with tombstone tony and the gang which means up to no good but keeping a low profile.

Coming up to an election even the yoons would be even more stark raving bonkers than they already are to bring him out.

@ crazycat.

Can see what you mean. Obviously it is better to vote for the (supposed) Indy or even at extreme EU (supposed) supporter for better choice. Then can’t even decide between Labour or Tory for which one is worse, for obvious reasons. At a local level in coalition (together) they all have wreck the local economy, wasted £Million/Billions of public money etc are universally despised by everybody of every persuasion. Borrowed money, not supported public services properly etc.

The system is also difficult to describe to other to understand in other wards/areas because the situation is every one is different. Often try to advise others who are not so interested in political affairs. Quite difficult to do in the circumstances.

Would/have never, ever voted Tory because of Thatcher. Would at one time, long ago, veered to Labour but no candidate? Until the Iraqi war/Banking scandal. Would never, ever want to vote for them again and will never forget. It might have to be done in order it to help SNP/Independence cause in the long run. It will break every conviction held, but realise it might have to be done. Rather than just let others decide, which In other, not so dire circumstances, would have just been acceptable.

It is a real challenge of conviction. Kind of have decided what to do. To vote for Party who have helped get legislation done. Although can’t stand any of them because of what they have done in the local area.

Robert Peffers says:
20 March, 2017 at 8:47 pm

All that really remains for them to do is for the last one out to switch off the lights and heating and turn off the water at the main.

Mind you I get the feeling they have just enough feelings of grievance and entitlement left to just leave everything on out of pure spite.

I think there is no end to their vindictiveness, I would expect them to leave the taps running and a bag of postcrete down the cludgie.

TBH you only have to look and listen to the windae lickin group of liebour reps to see why people are deserting them in droves

Cummon honestly wid you consider the likes of kelly sarwar bailey kez and the rest to be the best Scotland can offer

The reality is that the ordinary working class voters north and south are sickened and revolted by the theft of a party who used to represent them taken over by self serving egotists

These people have to realise that this party no longer exists, it has been replaced by a party who GENUINELY believe in social inclusion and the inalienable RIGHT to determine their best interests and the way forward for Scotland and the Scottish people .

We don’t have to be the victims of theft of our resources we can utilise these resplendent resources to benefit our own citizens and protect them from the parasitical pirates of conservatism

@clan rossy says: 20 March, 2017 at 6:57 pm:

” … so from now on who ever mentions the labour party
i shall reply back dont you mean the judas party.”

On that way of doing, I have a young friend who has two daughters and a baby son.

He has the two wee girls play a game when the family is in the car. This game is simple. Every time he, or his wife, says, “independence”, the first daughter to say, “Are we there yet”, gets a point.

Every week the one with the most points gets a silver, (plastic really), cup as the champion for the week.

Their wee lad is too young to take part yet.

Tinto Chiel

If you believe voters moved from SLabour on the basis of Independence alone, I’m not sure you have been watching Labour very closely over the last 6+ years.

@ Ken500

No-one said it was going to be easy…..(:

We can only do our best; I’m hoping there will be at least one candidate I can assign my lower preferences to.

Heed

Getting Wullie Young out of Aberdeen is the single thing I’m most looking forward to in the upcoming elections
Made Aberdeen a laughing stock

Or even put the eyes at the top like a real face (duh)

🙁

Good Evening folks.

I’m having a ‘wee rammy’ with a non-believer over on the ‘Exposing anti-independence bias on the BBC’ forum on F/Book….anyone got the Cuthberts and Richard Murphy/Tax Research links on GERS?….better still…join in and post there (I’m making little headway with this chap…he’s actually quoting Scotland in Union as his font of knowledge and truth!….Get the picture?

O/T saw this on twitter.

link to twitter.com

I must admit, SLAB have moved fast under Kezia. Unfortunately…

“It wouldn’t really matter if the Greens simply abstained from the new indyref bill, although obviously it would be better to have them onside” (Morag 4.38pm)

and

“I doubt if the Greens will abstain on Wednesday” (Marcia 4.49pm)

Surely first thing Nicola and co would have done before last week’s moves even contemplated would be to check that Green parliamentary support for indyref2 solid as a rock…

“If you believe voters moved from SLabour on the basis of Independence alone, I’m not sure you have been watching Labour very closely over the last 6+ years.”

I would have to agree with the last part, Brian: they repel me. I didn’t say that was the only factor in any case. I said, “If Labour embraced independence wholeheartedly they could gradually win back a significant number of the tens of thousands they lost to the SNP in 2014/15”.

I frankly have no idea for sure what other considerations may have played a part in the crumbling of support for the party. There are plenty of possible factors but I think the big surge to the SNP may have been caused by Labour’s being the Tories’ human shields during the referendum, which disgusted a lot of people.

Tam the bam – Mr Murphy’s website is http://www.taxresearch.org.uk

@Iain Bell says
================

late to this thread so may already have been said but it’s already been shown (by polls) that a good number of former NOs have moved to YES. Unfortunately a number of YESers with a strong dislike of the EU (though how they can construe that as being worse than Brexit neoliberal UK I don’t understand) but anyway YEs got the better of it but only by a few points so things are about 50/50 rather than the clear majority for Independence it would have been if the Anti-EU YESers hadn’t moved to NO.

Glamaig @ 22:02,

I share your understanding and your dilemma. (You don’t actually need to give a last preference, BTW, since it defaults anyway.) It’s a definite strain to vote for any of the unionists here in Glasgow at least. (The choice might be easier elsewhere, of course.)

It is crucially important to remove the current Labour administration, so they should be the last/null choice, I suppose.

Mayhem has already clearly indicated that she is hoping to use the results of the local elections – an anticipated increase in the Tory vote as the above poll suggests – to justify stalling ScotRef. Nothing to do with local issues, just an implicit threat to deny our democratic rights. That’s a definite no-no (and for many other reasons too), so no preference for Ms Harrison’s wee mob either.

I might have been willing to give the LibDem candidate a last nod, but in her election leaflet she makes a big issue of “the unity of the United Kingdom” – gone apparently are the days when the LibDems won local votes on bread-and-butter issues like fixing the roads. So like the Tories, they are pushing national issues. On the other hand, she also states “[we] will work with all parties”, so my choice there is still up in the air. That’s maybe just inside my boak limit, we’ll see.

I don’t know who else is in the running – a Green almost certainly – so I’ll slot all the pro-indy ones like them in there somewhere. I’m pretty sure the Greens will vote for ScotRef on Wednesday, and if they do, they will have earned their fair due in return.

@Robert J. Sutherland 10:27 pm :

“It’s a definite strain to vote for any of the unionists here in Glasgow at least. (The choice might be easier elsewhere, of course.)

It is crucially important to remove the current Labour administration, so they should be the last/null choice, I suppose.”

Pick your third pref carefully Robert – assuming 2 x SNP standing in your ward.

The prize here is Glasgow. The last bastion of SLAB. I can hear the shredders going now 😉

Winning Glasgow makes all the unionist point scoring just noise.

Vote whatever gets Glasgow out of Labour hands & into SNP hands Robert.

@Richardinho …10.09pm

Woah!!!….I didn’t say he was a troll!…in fact he’s trying to get me to ‘see the light since I’m deluded’…No..its his sources ‘Scotland in Union’ whom he quotes as his source of irrefutable evidence.

As an Irish politician with 40 years of experience with STV I am finding the debate here and on Scot Goes POP really frightening

James is clearly absolutely correct – you use up your preferences right down to the bottom or risk majorities on councils or councils led BT Tories

I strongly suspect that paid professional Yoons are on this site and on Scot goes Pop trying to damage the SNP and Greens and Yes in general by leading folk up the garden path

@Vestas 10.40.

Exactly.

Then SNP look at the books. Then serious crime polis. Then jail.

I personally will vote SNP and Green only. You can’t transfer a vote if its not there. No votes for Britnats!. They will count them all and spin like dervishes!

@Robert Kerr
======================
As ChewinTheFat said, the shredders are churning full blast as we type here.

Earlier today, I watched a video clip of Theresa May speak, it was some time last year, about the vital importance of staying in the EU, and then, another clip, more recently, about leaving the EU. Watching both speeches by the Prime minister one after the other but separated by months, it was noticeable that she sounded just the same.

The conclusion I came to is that the EU isn’t actually a priority for Theresa May and she may even be indifferent to it and to the outcome of Brexit.
Perhaps the EU doesnt impinge on her individual career prospects, or maybe she isnt actually interested in making a difference in people’s lives. Is Theresa May just an out and out careerist, driven by purely selfish ambition?

And a voice spoke from the other side of the room and said, ‘Nut. She’s a maddie.’

Of course, any non-political party member, civic-minded yesser could stand for election on a single local issue.

ie. Yes! and free bulky household waste uplift.
Yes! and more street cleaning.
Yes! and free sweeties for unicorns.

Of course you’d have to be prepared to get elected!

Sky news, May and Davidson are more popular than our First Minister. What complete tosh. Did they attend the Tory party knees up in Tunbridge Wells.

It is clear however that we should forget about Dugdale. Let’s expose Davidson for what she is.
I’m too polite to write it all down.

Davidson undermines the Scottish Parliament, she colludes with the enemies of Scotland representing the right wing UKIP Tory.They are one and the same.

Just wondering if we might see any Labour or even Tory MSPs break ranks and vote for Independence Referendum?

Def recommend anyone in Aberdeen to read this alternative legacy report, the fella that produced this has a crowd funder on the go to get hard copies made, read and share widely: blood boiling, save for morning if ye value yer blood pressure…

http://www.aberdeenlegacyreport.co.uk

Crowd funder:

link to crowdfunder.co.uk

@Tam the Bam

If there’s a chance of a conversion- go for it! 🙂

Has anyone else seen THIS !!!!

Good grief..!

link to theguardian.com

Give up SKy subscription for their lies. Hit them where it hurts. There are plenty (cheaper) alternatives. Not difficult. Just can’t believe their deliberate lies, They know they are lying. They even admit it. No where is there any evidence pro rata Davidson and May are more popular. Obviously Nicola has no mandate in England/Wales neither has Davidson. They try and include a UK Poll element which is quite ridiculous, when she has a mandate in Scotland of % of 4Million people. Then they try and include a non percentage representative view of a % of 45Million more people. A total unrepresentative joke. Like comparing apples and pears. SKy are either really intellectual lacking or just being deliberately obtrusive.

Half the time SKy are trolling trying to wind folk up. To increase there viewing figures to get more advertising revenues. Don’t give them the chance. Switch off or stop subscription for their revenue stream, it really bothers them. They are never off the phone or trying to make contact through literature/with discount offers. People have to say they have moved to get rid of their nuisance. Murdoch is behind May’s Brexit plans. In Scotland where her mandate is Nicola has 50% support. Davidson has 20%. May has even less in Scotland. Now is really getting despised. With her condescending manner and lies. Folk are finding her out.

In Scotland comparisons with any population % comparisons are irrelevant. Alex Salmond, Nicola and Co are well respected in many parts of the UK. They get great support from many quarters. A lot of admiration. There is even an SNP branch in London and other parts of the UK. Some of them would like to move to Scotland to stay. Or visit often they like it so much. Scotland has friends all over the world. A 40 Million disporia. Well respected in Europe as well.

Let’s concentrate on the UKIP Tories and their policies for low wages, no benefits, no NHS economy. Davidson supports Osborne 3 jobs.

@ Arbroath1320: “Surely we must be reaching the point when even the most devout of devoutest Labour members/supporters will say “enough is enough” and walk away…”

Well, if my Godmother is anything to go by, then that point has been well and truly reached. She was – until about last summer – a devout and very active Labour member who I never thought would turn her back on them; but she did. She was one of their VERY faithful.

Pure unmitigated pish here link to archive.is
Paywalled so not full artice but you get the gist.
They need to fork out in some other Scottish picture, they use the same one in nearly every article now. Bams.

Stoker which link? The Aberdeen legacy one? Huv a posted another link…haud oan tae a check… naw Stoker that’s a bonefide link to the crowd funder direct from Rev’s twitter feed. I’d read the guy’s report last week, it’s a genuine take down of Aberdeen’s council record, as I recall he cited rev’s wee black book as inspiration for his, in essence for his project to expose the extraordinary corrupt practices involved in that council’s day tae day running and the financial whizz they’ve indulged in pulling the wool over the eyes of the people of Aberdeen. 😉