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Every which way but loose 85

Posted on November 23, 2014 by

The talk of the steamie in this weekend’s Sunday papers is that Scottish Labour are set to backpedal on the devolution of 100% of income tax, a position previously described by Gordon Brown – the great architect of “The Vow” – as a “Tory trap” which was “not in Scotland’s interests”.

(Coincidentally, the papers also report that Brown, who said he would personally ensure the safe delivery of the new devolution settlement, will stand down at the 2015 election in order to devote more time to his “charity” work.)

brownlaugh

It is, of course, a challenge to keep track of Labour’s position on the move from one day to the next. In 2013 it wanted to devolve all taxation, then in 2014 it decided as its final settled position that it wasn’t a good idea after all, and has flip-flopped on a more or less weekly basis ever since. Just this month the favourite for the Scottish branch office leadership, Jim Murphy, poured cold water on the notion, but now it seems yet another U-turn is on the cards.

We wouldn’t put a lot of money on it being the last one.

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Category analysis, comment, scottish politics, uk politics

Conflicting accounts 157

Posted on November 21, 2014 by

From an editorial in today’s Daily Record:

“The debate in the House of Commons yesterday proved once and for all that The Vow is doing its job.

David Cameron had to stick to his word under pressure from misguided backbenchers who demanded an end to the way Scotland is funded through the Barnett formula.

The Prime Minister insisted no review is ‘on the horizon’, saving valuable funds for Holyrood.”

But that isn’t a very accurate report of events, for several reasons. Not least of them is the fact that David Cameron wasn’t even there.

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Category comment, media, uk politics

A serious matter 257

Posted on November 20, 2014 by

Packed Labour benches for the devolution debate in the Commons today.

labdevocommons

We’re sure Gordon Brown’s just nipped out for a Snickers or something.

Tags:
Category comment, pictures, scottish politics, uk politics

An acceptable answer 301

Posted on November 05, 2014 by

Earlier today we published an email from Daily Record editor Murray Foote about “The Vow”. In it he referred to an editorial published in the paper on 8 September, attacking the “confused” and “shambolic” position of the three Unionist parties on further devolution to Scotland in the event of a No vote.

vowhearno1

The infamous “Vow” was their response. When publishing it on 16 September, two days before the referendum, the Record announced on its front page that “NOW VOTERS CAN MAKE AN INFORMED CHOICE”, thereby implying that “The Vow” had delivered what the 8 September editorial had demanded.

Readers can judge for themselves.

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Category comment, investigation, media, scottish politics

Victory’s missing fathers 134

Posted on November 05, 2014 by

Disappointingly, we haven’t received a reply from Daily Record editor Murray Foote to our email yesterday inquiring into the provenance of “The Vow”.

mfoote

However, an alert reader who wrote to him yesterday did. You can read it below.

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Category comment, investigation, media, scottish politics, uk politics

Chasing the story 328

Posted on November 04, 2014 by

A couple of things we’ve sent off this morning in relation to this.

files

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Category investigation, media, scottish politics

Disavowed 187

Posted on November 04, 2014 by

Below is a letter from the editor of the Daily Record sent to a Wings reader yesterday (and, we presume, to many others). We thought you might find it interesting.

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Category comment, media, scottish politics

The cream puff 219

Posted on October 28, 2014 by

It seems the Daily Record has taken something of a sulk at our post of earlier today. This evening the paper’s editor Murray Foote issued this statement on its Facebook page in response to one of a number of readers who’d posted links to the story:

recordvow

It’s a telling reaction.

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Category comment, media, scottish politics, uk politics

Filed in Receptacle 13 199

Posted on October 26, 2014 by

We haven’t bothered sending a submission to the Smith Commission.

wastepaper2

Here’s why.

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Category comment, scottish politics

Trouble with numbers and words 106

Posted on October 24, 2014 by

From the Twitter account of the Aberdeen Conservative and Unionist Association last night, during the First Minister’s appearance on Question Time from Liverpool:

abtories

Just a couple of things.

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Category comment, scottish politics, uk politics

The man with no plan 198

Posted on October 18, 2014 by

The Guardian today carries an article by Gordon Brown, which echoes the content of his speech to the House Of Commons on Thursday. We’ve read it over and over again trying to make any sort of coherent sense out of it, but we’ve drawn a blank. The mighty architect of “The Vow” appears to have not the slightest idea what he actually proposes as a constitutional settlement for the UK and Scotland.

pixelbroon

But perhaps we’ve missed something.

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Category analysis, comment, scottish politics, uk politics, wtf

A fair assessment 382

Posted on October 17, 2014 by

Mark Steel in the Independent, 16 October 2014:

“Maybe one way they can reverse this is to try a more forthright approach, and to start with they could say: ‘If the Scottish are so daft as to believe our vow, maybe that proves they’re not fit to run their own country anyway, the idiots.'”

Craig Murray said something quite similar recently from the other side, as it were, and at the moment we’re finding it quite tough to disagree with either of them.

Tags:
Category comment, media, scottish politics

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