The embrace of stupidity
Ever since the referendum, we’ve documented the various ways in which Unionists have constantly tried to rewrite history and inflate the magnitude of their victory.
We had Alistair Darling saying before the vote that 60-40 would have been too close for comfort, but then his team attempting to portray 55-45 as a resounding win, and we had the Labour peer Baroness Liddell try to claim the real result was 67-33 based on a near-Stalinist approach to voter attribution.
And yesterday, bless his heart, No campaign mascot Wee Willie Rennie had a go.
In comments reported by the Scottish Sun, he claimed that the No campaign had won “by half a million votes”, an impressive exaggeration of over 30% on the actual figure of under 384,000. But in a shock revelation, he also insisted that the dastardly SNP was (1) planning to win all the seats in Scotland at this May’s general election, and (2) still in favour of independence.
A political party trying to win elections and continuing to pursue its lifelong goals after losing a single vote? Those fiends. (We’re almost certain the Liberal Democrats have abandoned their commitment to electoral reform forever after being comprehensively thrashed 68-32 in the 2011 AV referendum, or 87-13 under the new Baroness Liddell patented counting system.) But there was more to come.
The low-watt Lib Dem leader told the David Hume Institute that “the minimum the SNP want is an ultra-extreme devolution that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world”.
We’re not big fans of skateboarding and such, so we’re not entirely up on the modern young people’s lingo and we don’t know if “ULTRA-EXTREME” is a higher measure than “MAX” these days, but it’s nice to have a new entry in the political lexicon.
As far as we’re aware, in most Scottish people’s minds the terms “home rule”, “devo max” and “new improved ULTRA-EXTREME devolution!” all mean the same thing – control of everything except defence and foreign affairs. Far from not existing anywhere else in the world, it basically describes the relationship between US states and the federal government, and which hasn’t tipped any of them into independence.
Indeed, devolution expert and advocate Alan Trench wrote in 2011 that:
So we couldn’t blame the SNP if they were feeling a bit confused about what Willie Rennie wants from them. In 2013 he was in the Daily Record demanding that they “should embrace devolution if Scotland votes No to independence”, saying:
We must confess we’re not sure how you “embrace” devolution without doing so in an “ultra-extreme” way. We can’t immediately identify the differences between the “home rule” and “federalism” advocated enthusiastically by the Lib Dems and the “home rule” that the SNP are contesting the 2015 election on.
But we’ll ask Willie Rennie, and we’re sure he’ll clarify it for us.
Gosh, you’d think he was scared of losing most of his MPs or something.
Here’s a thought: if the Scottish Lib Dems actually DO get reduced to just Alistair Carmichael in Westminster, who carries the can – Clegg or Rennie?
You sense the huge discomfort that unionists now feel over their great victory that they now have to describe their promises of “Home Rule” as “ultra-extreme devolution”.
God bless Wee Willie Rennie , not the sharpest tool in the box , but harmless as he is inconsequential.
Forget the Age of Ultron, sit back and watch the Age of Stupidity, brought to you by unionists everywhere
“Here’s a thought: if the Scottish Lib Dems actually DO get reduced to just Alistair Carmichael in Westminster, who carries the can – Clegg or Rennie?”
Dunno, but if there’s only one of them, we better hope it’s not a BIG can.
The American Senates have more power than the Scottish Parliament. I could go on, but why waste time? Wee Willie has just diacivered that the evil nats really stand for Independendence. Who’d have thunk it, eh?
Poor Wee Wullie Rennie he seems awfi confused. I can almost feel sorry for him. Almost mind!
PS Love the “Campaign Mascot” bit. 🙂
“the minimum the SNP want is an ultra-extreme devolution that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world”.
What doesnt exist anywhere else in the world is this so called “Family of Nations” set up that we have the misfortune to live under.
If he believes what he says he’s an idiot, if he doesnt then he’s a liar.
It’s bad enough New Labour are fighting against Home Rule, but the Neoliberal Democrats doing it is madness.
Just out of morbid interest….
What does The Sun say on Page 6 ?
Does it call Willie out on his hypocracy? Or is that too much to hope?
*pats wee Willie on the head and says “there there”*
he’s the political equivalent of a 40w bulb connected to a dimmer switch.
There’s only one word to describe Willie Rennie. The man is a complete dipstick.
‘Engage brain before opening mouth’ is not a mantra he follows and it shows every time he speaks. Most people would remember the thing their party said in the past-not this one. Then to single handedly increase the NO vote to half a million WTF.In what universe is he living because it sure ain’t ours-ergo ‘Dipstick’
The highlight of my week is always First Minister’s Questions because we’re always guaranteed a laugh at wee Willie’s expense as Alex and now Nicola proceed to demolish his ill informed arguments with such ease every time he opens his mouth. I enjoy seeing the lying duplicitous b*******d with egg on his face ;-)Long may it continue.
Wee Willie Rennie is never going to go down as a profound thinker on politics. We see a prime exhibit of why not here.
Does this make us all ultra-extremists then? Fanatics, even?
Listening to Rennie over the years he’s always given me the impression of being naive in a childlike way. When he eventually gets to the apparent conclusion he seems to think he’s the only one to have managed to do so, so feels the need to inform the rest of us of the bleeding obvious.
He is right on one thing,the Union is still at risk. They got over the line in the indyref, but only at the cost of the Union being dissolved eventually.
@Doug Daniel
“Here’s a thought: if the Scottish Lib Dems actually DO get reduced to just Alistair Carmichael in Westminster, who carries the can – Clegg or Rennie?”
Or to use an Americanism “Who gets thrown under the bus?”
It’s quite interesting how the Libdems have increasingly taken on the same cynical approach as Labour/Tories in recent years. Their little stint in office seems to have made them think that they should become gangsters. Who on earth can vote for them now? Their credibility in the past was based on the notion that they were ‘different’, that they had principles and believed in a liberal approach to life. Now they are just a third rate version of the other two sets of exploiters. It will be interesting to see how many people actually vote for the new nasty Libdems in the GE.
Remind me again was this dumpling Willie Rennie actually elected or was he yet another ‘grace and favour’ list MSP?
If there are no Lib Dems left who will issue their P45s? Maybe their Tory colleagues can do this as they enjoy that sort of stuff.
It is amazing that this little man who has not been directly elected and owes his place to the progressive methods of Scotland is so enamoured with being ruled by FPTP Westminster.
Willie Rennie,Ruth Davidson,Kezia Dugdale.
No wonder Nicola and John look exasperated at FMQ`s,it must be hard having to dumb every reply down just to help them understand it.
When Rennie speaks at FMQ`s you can almost here the nursery rhymes that are playing in his head.
I think we are on a long slippery slope. The rhetoric from the Unionist side has not dulled since the referendum. In fact it seems to have increased.
Are we watching live the use of the media to turn the UK into a one party state so that no matter the name of the party that is in power, it’s sole purpose is to serve the elite?
Wullie Rennie is a fool as are a great many of his fellow Unionist politicians and journalists for failing to see what is going on in front of their own eyes.
Democracy destroyed with lies. Servants and dupes of the elite.
FFS just when I got over being called an insurgent, now I’m an ULTRA EXTREMIST?
Can they no make their bliddy minds up? 😀
So to get this right. The Libdems put together a package called home rule that wasn’t really and stands no chance of ever being enacted basically because no one would trust them to run a piss up in a brewery.
Mr Broon guaranteed home rule or as near federalism as damn it, which also won’t be enacted because… well basically because he lied his arse off and had no intention of sticking around long enough to follow through on his guarantee.
The conservatives offered sweet FA except to think about new and interesting powers such as devolving the responsibility for road signage and to think about percentages of tax gathering responsibility.
Near as I can tell we’re left with being exactly where we started before the referendum and possibly a lot worse off.
Or am I missing something?
OT and this might have been asked before: As the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Labour Party don’t officially exist and aren’t registered with the electoral commission would it be possible to register “The Scottish Labour Party” and stand in the GE with that on the ballot paper? This would confuse/split the die hard Labour voters and be a chance to expose their internal infrastructure. The policies could mirror those of Labour exactly, without the spin, with a few fun exceptions i.e. 1001 more nurses than anything the SNP pledge.
Unionist arithmetic is as skewed as their definition of the democratic process.
As a fully paid up ultra extremist, natsi insturgent, I am personally going to pick up a pencil on 7 May and put an x on a wee scrap of paper and stick it right into a black box, so there.
On a lighter note, how many Willie Rennies does it take to change a light bulb, none because it is getting brighter, look it is definitely getting brighter.
If you watch most Scottish Lib Dems and Labour Mp’s. They look like they can see the end in the distance. Watch their eyes! They are staring at the end of their careers. They are now in the death throws and going through the motions. Hence they deny that Scotland was only 6% away from leaving the UK. They deny they ever mentioned Devo Max. They deny the Vow was Devo Max. They will not talk about SNP membership or the polls showing them in the lead. It’s all nothing to be concerned about. It’s Karma. The same thing happened to Rangers and they are still in denial. They sang :”Everybody hates us we don’t care” when they had all the power. Then they want sympathy from all normal fooball fans who don’t hate Scotland and certain religions. They treated Scotland with contempt the same as unionist Mp’s. However life always comes back to slap you down when you get that arrogant!
Obviously Wee Willie has not studied the relationship between Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Islas Malvinas et al and the UK but I don’t think we should get too exercised about what he thinks.
Poor Wee Willie Rennie, boy I am really hating that wee stupor.
Hey Macart, funny that, wee Niko on Munguin called me that the other day. Fair made my day. You know you are doing well when the call you names.
I actually doubt Wullie Rennie said this, i cant see the word childcare anywhere in the coverage.
Amazingly, the SNP will no doubt be blamed when Liberal Democrats are reduced to a few seats at best. The lot of them are the same, they just dont understand, the People have woken from their sleep..adapt or die. Dont just shrug and blame it all on “The wee lassie and her mates done it and ran away”
Whenever the unionists get over excited and angry about ‘moving on’ etc we need to good-naturedly reassure them that we are here FOREVER. We are enjoying our association, waiting with infinite patience, watching their discomfort, enjoying their discomfort, organising and plotting, preparing for the moment to strike. We are the their worst nightmare that will never go away. We are their grim reaper and as my mother used to say: ‘what’s coming to them won’t go past them’. I hope it brings them a modicum of comfort to know that because I am not a vindictive person – unlike ‘Willie’ Rennie.
@ Helena
The mind boggles at what they’ll come up with next.
Right now we’re an ultra extreme, insurgent virus. Genetically incapable of handling self governance to boot. Aaaand they wonder why we’re a tad upset wi’ them and refusing to back down?
We’re in some state right enough. 😀
Gone are the days when I did not pay attention to politics. The genie is out of the bottle. They are far worse than I could’ve imagined. The world was easier when I knew nothing, and voted Labour.
Geography and political settlements around the world are not Willie’s strong point (although there does seem to a be a lot of contenders for his weak points).
I never know whether to laugh or cry at Willie’s stuff. He just makes stuff up as he goes along. The interviewers rarely challenge him (although his face was a peach over the Atlantic thing when he was challenged).
Rennie’s no worth the bother. Has anyone else noted something more important than Rennie? That the amount of votes cast for Yes is damn near the Golden Ratio?
The Golden Ratio is 1.618, votes cast for Yes was 1,617,989. Indeed, rounding up to the next thousand actually gives 1,618,000.
That inconsequential observation is far more important than anything Rennie related.
Trying to clarify any of Willie Rennie’s thoughts or even words really calls for extreme caution, I do believe there are two methods one run his brain through a fine sieve and if you get anything out the other end it will most likely still be muddy, or you could add a large portion of clarified butter at a high temperature and observe the results.
In reply to a comment earlier, in fairness, The Sun actually does on page 6 rip the Lib Dems to pieces in its comments page, so in this case, fair play to them.
@Blind Squirrel
No. The Electoral Commission (supine as it is) will not allow any name that would confuse people who might want to vote for another party. Additionally, Labour has registered as one of its descriptors (i.e. what a candidate can be called on the ballot paper) “Scottish Labour Party” and “Scottish Labour Party Candidate”.
Anyway, we’re quite capable of haemorrhaging support on our own. There’s really no need to do anything more than present a competent face to the electorate, that’s better than anything the branch office can manage at the moment.
The Lib Dems are there to offer what everyone wants with no chance of getting elected then compromising it away to nothing when the electorate manage to engineer a draw between the main two.
A party like the SNP that actually does offer what people want and will implement it faithfully when they do achieve power shows the Lib Dems up in a way nothing else quite does.
That’s why they hate the SNP so much.
How does he know what we want, did he use a FOI request?
It is just not fair – imagine the SNP wanting to win all the seats in the GE15 – just how undemocratic can you get.
I think the difference between ultra-extreme devolution and Home Rule is that the Lib-Dems have actually delivered Home Rule already – it is just that nobody has noticed yet.
Well done Willie – it only took your party 100 years to deliver absolutely nothing for Scotland.
1 MP come GE2015 in May – tick,tock.
Wee Willie is a dunce, and should be made to stand in the corner with his dunce’s hat on.Until he can come out with something er, sensible.
However, he better take a bedding roll and a ton of sandwiches before he is put there, sensible? that might take a while!
Fanny . Won the referendum by half a million votes?
Hey Macart and they wonder why we do not like them.
When I moved to Dunfermline he was my MP. Now being an incomer I had no idea of his pedigree, for a Lib Dem he seemed to care about his constituents. When he lost his position I actually felt sorry for him, I dislike Mr Dochery a lot, but since he got his list seat in our Parliament you are much better able to observe these people first hand. Most of them in opposition would make ideal sock puppets, apologises to sock puppets. We often talk about the Willie Rennie syndrome. The children in the school opposite me spend an inordinately amount of time running about the playing field, much of the time would be better spent at their desks learning things as they do on the Continent, like a foreign language, as the same children come out of school and do exactly the same thing on the other side of the fence. So now you could say I think he is an idiot who I would love to speak to first hand.
[…] The embrace of stupidity […]
Now, now. Remember Willie was an MP and after even a short exposure to the Westminster expenses system you lose any sense that figures should bear any connection to reality so the cybernats lost the referendum by a million votes. Or more!
A final thought…
Which has higher devolved powers: Devo Max, Devo Super Max or Devo Ultra Extreme?
From politicalcompass.org it looks like English politics is all three main parties crammed into the right wing with UKIP overlapping the Tories. SNP in the centre of politics with the Greens on the left. Like musical chairs the Libdems don’t have a place. What’s their point? Just to provide a few jobs for political nobodies like Ronnie? Who’s spending the day cutting our newspaper for his scrap book to show Mum.
Willie-the-Dick.
Don’t know what Wee Willie’s complaining about, does this not mean we’re on the way to Federalism, which is his lifelong dream and then he wont have to resign like that Natsi AlicSmmin did after Cochers designed his demise, it’s all leading to a stronger Scotland, does that not serve all their Patriotic desires, the SNP is doing them a favour, even wee Ruthie might be in with a chance only down side is the Labour Party lose all their power, HE HE HE i’m having too much fun now Somebody stop me
The angry unionists view the post-referendum landscape and it is not quite what they envisaged. Things have not quite gone according to plan. It is slowly beginning to dawn that the Smith Commission was last chance saloon for the union. And they have, true to form, blown it big time.
For the Scottish unionist career politician, things are now looking very grim. A bleak future awaits. How many of the poor wee souls wake up in the middle of the night, sweating and asking:
“How did this happen?”
” Davie says:
13 January, 2015 at 12:01 pm
It is amazing that this little man who has not been directly elected and owes his place to the progressive methods of Scotland is so enamoured with being ruled by FPTP Westminster.”
Willie Rennie loathes Holyrood.
Attended a “How Holyrood Works” seminar at the Scottish Parliament. Rennie was one of the MSPs that gave a talk. He spent his 40 minutes telling us how much better Westminster is as a parliament on every level and how Holyrood was crap. It was incredible to listen to….
He can’t wait to be back in Westminster.
Again, personal abuse of your opponents is your stock response. So all the Scottish people who voted against reactionary separatism are stupid. Charming. And then you accuse unionists of denigrating Scottish people.
Unionists don’t do ‘ultra extreme’ democracy!
@ Helena
Jeez I’d love to see that conversation…, or maybe not.
It could go one of two ways… short and curt or long and painful on the wee sowel’s eardrums. 😀
Besides, he’d only be left extremely confused. Even more so than now.
Gary says:
“The world was easier when I knew nothing, and voted Labour”
Exactly what labour have always wanted. It scares the pants off them that Scotland is now half awake. We just need to wake most of the rest of the country.
Even the dogs in the street realised the Unionists had the power to win the referendum at any point by putting Home Rule on the table. Inevitably when it was offered, they won.
If they had delivered, then they would have genuinely won, without dispute.
They had no intentions of delivering, of course. However I think we can safely say it was their only chance of winning on the 18th. They made the offer, then backtracked on it immediately. This is perhaps the most undemocratic episode in UK living memory.
Now we see a concerted effort to rewrite history in the best Soviet traditions! This is Rennie’s half arsed contribution.
Only one question, how long will they keep this charade up before accepting their Union is dead in the water after not delivering on their Vow? They know it, we know it. It’s all just going through the motions waiting for an excuse for IndyRef2.
Standard, Plus, Max, Ultra Extreme, …
Maybe Wullie is just conflating the settings on an electrical device that brings him personal pleasure?
I’m sure there is a simple, innocent reason for all this.
Unionist language & terminology is now reminiscent of the outpourings from North Korea & the old Eastern Bloc communist countries. Compare something like this:-
“The fascist capitalist imperialists will never defeat the glorious soviet states of workers & peasants, who are united in the cause of international socialism”.
With this:-
“The narrow nationalist separatists, defeated in their attempt to break the unity of our family of nations, are now putting the stability of the UK at risk with their ultra-extremist form of devolution.”
Any real difference?
Willie Rennie : a turkey who thinks he’s an eagle.
Its rather creepy to watch how easily democracy can become dictatorship. First Project Fear, which did win, now they dehumanise and monster YES voters even more. What parts of freedom of speech and democracy does this buffoon in particular not understand?
Telling Scots that want independence to shut up and go away probably won’t work.
Well, it’s certain that some people aren’t Ultra Brite.
But how about marketing the Smith Comm as DevoAwesome? Maybe that would help the Unionist Troika connect with “the young people”.
Home Rule was always a Unionist Sop
Now with the Referendum Tide out,its shown them to be completely naked
naw a good sight
How comforting to see the Baroness Liddell back in the fray although she now rests above the hoi polloi in her elevated position in the House of Lords. This is where good socialists go when their political career is over and there is an embarrassingly large contingent of redundant Scottish Labour ex-MPs jostling around the expenses claims office in the Upper Chamber. Chamber is quite appropriate as Helen Liddell, prior to her soaring to the upper rungs of Labour acheivement, will always be fondly remembered for slavishly following her boss, “Captain” Bob Maxwell, into a gents toilet on a rare visit to Scotland.
[…] Ever since the referendum, we’ve documented the various ways in which Unionists have constantly tried to rewrite history and inflate the magnitude of their victory.We had Alistair Darling saying before the vote that 60-40 would have been too close for comfort, but then his team attempting to portray 55-45 as a resounding win, and we had the Labour peer Baroness Liddell try to claim the real result was 67-33 based on a near-Stalinist approach to voter attribution. […]
Thomas William Dunlop says
“Forget the Age of Ultron, sit back and watch the Age of Stupidity, brought to you by unionists everywhere”
How does it go?
could put the words to the song Age of Aquarius?
If I was a No voter who wanted more devolution, I think I’d be more keen on ultra-extreme devo than boring old “lets call it devo max.”
And if “ultra extreme” doesn’t scare anyone do you think they’ll move to “Devo Alpha-Super-Awesome-Cool-Dynamite-Wolf-Squadron Max”? *
sigh – I remember when Rennie’s were something you took when you had an upset stomach. Now I think it is the reverse.
– apologies to Shrek 3 writers and fans
I need to start booking an all night party to sit up & watch the GE results coming in. It will be a cracker of a night!!!
Rennie going to Murdoch to print untruths… #Foxnewsfacts anyone???
I think the time has come for the bus driver to return to his *ahem* roots and start driving his buses again. At least when he is driving his bus no one can hear anything he says and it makes for a far better day all round for everyone. 😛
I just love your turn of phrase, Rev. Some truly magnificent writing over the months I’ve been a loyal reader! Have you thought of starting a School of Journalism? Perhaps you could get a few students from the MSM who could learn a thing or two! Keep up the good work.
Dcanmore
“he’s the political equivalent of a 40w bulb connected to a dimmer switch”
Dim and dimmer!
brilliant 🙂
@Spout
Attended a “How Holyrood Works” seminar at the Scottish Parliament. Rennie was one of the MSPs that gave a talk. He spent his 40 minutes telling us how much better Westminster is as a parliament on every level and how Holyrood was crap. It was incredible to listen to….
Mid Scotland and Fife Activists (Yes parties) might appreciate some quotes or video for their campaigns.
What is his voting record like and what about those committees he is on?
OOR favourite wee troll is back!
Will Podmore says:
13 January, 2015 at 12:54 pm
Again, personal abuse of your opponents is your stock response. So all the Scottish people who voted against reactionary separatism are stupid.
reactionary separatism..that’s two awfy big words Will have you been reading the Oxford Dictionary at your work tut tut..
Transcript of the The First Debate in Westminster After the referendum. Important sighting of the contributions of many MPs.
Of note is the question raised by Mrs Anne main (St Albans) (Con) and Carmichael’s reply. He is clear that no extra powers were offered in the “Vow”. All it did was clarify implementation dates in terms of that which had been put forward by the three main parties many months before the referendum.
Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con): The Secretary of State will be aware that very late in the campaign all three party leaders promised significant extra powers to the people of Scotland. What calculations were done on the costs of implementing any additional powers? I heard the Secretary of State say that all resources would be given in terms of making up the deal, but when will the House see any figures associated with what will happen in the name of giving extra powers to Scotland?
Mr Carmichael: May I gently correct my hon. Friend on one point? The proposals of the three parties that support the continuation of the United Kingdom were published, in some cases, 18 months ahead of the independence referendum, and all certainly were published well before the summer. What was made clear in the latter stages of the referendum campaign was the timetable that would be followed. That was the essence of the new commitment that was made. On the figures that will be available, I am afraid that my hon. Friend will, like the rest of us, have to wait until Lord Smith comes forward with his heads of agreement on 30 November, because we cannot put figures on something that we do not yet know the details of.
link to caltonjock.com
Tut, tut Willie.. Someones NOT been taking their medication have they..
To be fair, on or off medication, it wouldn’t stop the man from flicking the “Talk Nonsense” button.
I thought the Lib Dems had always been Federalists anyway?
I think we should have 70’s style Public Information style Ad’s for Politicians.
Charlie says – Stop Lying to the Electorate & Talking Shite.
Alvin Stardust warning against exaggerated Expense Claims. Or
David Prowse/Tuffty on the dangers of House Flipping.
Macart 12:04 pm
“just when I got over being called an insurgent, now I’m an ULTRA EXTREMIST?”
Next thing we know there’ll be badges and stickers everywhere… the mark of the terrorist. You’ve been radicalised Macart… there is no hope for you. Next you’ll be attending weapons training camps near Aberfoyle and making slightly amateurish home videos wearing a balaclava.
Say what you like about ISIS but they ain’t never thrown an egg in anger. Dark days we are living through in Scotland. What can we expect from the fanatics next? Further extension of nursery provision? Free school meals for all pupils right through primary school?
Thank God for guys like Willie Rennie, on point in the war against fundamental Scottish Nationalists, ready to use his body as a human shield if necessary. Willie, this subject of the Crown salutes you.
Wouldnt you like tae embrace Wee Wullie Rennie
step forward the Auld Black Bear its nae teeth but can suck him tae death.
I do believe one of our resident trolls has just entirely validated my previous post!
“Reactionary separatism”! Goin yersel, Will boy! Calling 45% of the Scottish voting public ‘reactionary separatists’ sure ain’t “personal abuse”, no sir.
Will Podmore
Hong Kong
I thought the Lib Dems had always been Federalists anyway?
They were, until it actually looked possible, like it might happen. Panic! Like their Red Tory buddies, they had a marvellous opportunity to regain the constitutional initiative by supporting Devomax and a second question on the referendum paper. They could have won convincingly, but sadly they declined, on account of not really wanting more powers for Scotland at all.
During the refewrendum, the LibDems were found out big time. Now that Devomax/ more powers has jumped back onto the agenda, they are being found out all over again. Little wonder they are fuming.
This debasement of language annoys me. (Similarly, I have no patience for people who call unionists ‘("Tractor" - Ed)s’.)
For most people, an extremist is a neo nazi or jihadist. For Willie Rennie to then call an aspiration to achieve an improved form of devolution peacefully and constitutionally and without rancour, ‘ultra extreme’, logically places the people who want it to the farthest end of the spectrum of human behaviour, beyond people who set fire to hostels full of Turks or who kidnap schoolgirls for the sin of getting an education.
Low-wattage indeed.
I wont name it
“And then you accuse unionists of denigrating Scottish people.”
People like Rennie get paid to be abused, (and richly desereved too)
WE DONT!
Some days I feel upbeat and some days down right pissed off.
It’s despairing to think a total eejit like Rennie has any say over anything.
And as others were saying on the previous thread, Scotland is being removed from UK thinking.
We are North Britain, Wales and England as they were.
I can’t wait to get rid of these, below average in every department, politicos.
Even the ‘big beasts’ Broon, the Alexander bros etc are really poor.
Please lets get rid on them in May
Willie Rennie = having a battle of wits with an unarmed man
Libdems = NO credibility
“Reactionary separatism”! Goin yersel, Will boy! Calling 45% of the Scottish voting public ‘reactionary separatists’ sure ain’t “personal abuse”, no sir.
The unionists have done an excellent job in hardening the YES vote for us. We now have a very strong 45% platform from which to start the next battle.
Much appreciated, Will.
Off thread, but relevant. Both BBC and STV are suggesting its time for a know National Anthem for us Jocks. Amazing they should both raise this subject at the same time. I’m quite fond of , The Wheels On The Bus. . . Jenny Marra might want ‘Helpless’ written by her uncle.
BrianW says
“Charlie says – Stop Lying to the Electorate & Talking Shite. ”
I have a qusetion.
How do you know what Charlie is saying?
just askin s’all.
Not sure if anyone is tuned into radio Scotland – turns out that an independent Scotland would struggle to set up an intelligence service like GCHQ. Of course Norway, Finland etc do without but Scotland would find it very difficult and expensive to gather intelligence to the extent that the US and UK does now.
Some pretty bizarre stuff. The basic message – Scotland could not be independent.
Gary (@12.24) in four sentences pinpoints what happened during the referendum, and is continuing to happen. Many people who did not engage with politics in Scotland have had their eyes opened and are now exploring how far the rabbit-hole goes. This is not a thing the Unionist parties wanted or expected.
Ignorance due to a lack of information, or just good old disinformation, has been an important factor in WM retaining control. The ‘religious’ faith many had in Labour is now diminishing rapidly. The next few generations will not be so trusting or so gullible. Wings is part of this democratic process, albeit ‘underground’ and quietly subversive.
Rennie, like other Unionists, recognises this sea change too; they can see the end of the line approaching fast. Petty semantics won’t rescue them. Big words and gobbledegook sentences won’t save them either – smoke and mirrors with the odd squirrel thrown in for good measure.
Not this time. Ticktock!
Time for wee Willie to ditch the big boy night time pants and go back to nappies (It’s not my best insult work Mr Podmore i know).
Some of the unionist comments these days show how much they are on the run. Farcical lies from politicians that will need to up their game considerably to take on the SNP who are miles ahead.
Nicely dissected again Rev.
@ Tam Jardine
I’ve already failed the training in ballistic farmyard produce… poor eyesight. Oh and my balaclava stands out a bit because my mum only had pink wool left in her basket and stuck a dayglo bobble on top. 🙁
Classic fear response. One of the long term side effects of being part of Project Fear, is that it is all the member knows. So, when it turns in on itself in this atmosphere of twisted introspection, the outpouring is this kind of rot.
It’s a wee shame he thinks Scotland has home rule. The lights are on but nobody in.
@ John King..
I have a qusetion.
How do you know what Charlie is saying?
just askin s’all.
Google Translate..I think.. Or it epends on who is writing the scrip i suppose..
I thought the extensive new powers that have been delivered already by Lord Smith and signed off by John Swinney was “ULTRA-EXTREME devolution”. I mean, we might even have APD devolved already FFS (if you look back from the future that is). Plus all that extra dough rolling in from income tax is surely going to pay for more nurses than you would ever need. Well all be assigned a nurse. Even nurses will have nurses to look after them.
In fact, when you think about it, did we not just achieve independence lite with the Smith Comission. The Vow delivered? They did nae just deliver it, they came in, unwrapped it, plugged it in, switched it on then turned it UP!
You say vow, I say ‘WOW!”
link to thecourier.co.uk
Cracking story, a must read.
Tactical voting in fife and central Scotland in 2016 he, would stop rennie getting a list seat with only 4.9% of the list vote
Great picture of Rennie looking like a complete retard at the top of the page by the way!
@ a reluctant Labour member
You may not post very often but when you do it’s brilliant whether it’s a helpul or funny post as here today.
Keep up the good work 🙂
We know from past experience, that Mr Rennie and cogent thought are strangers.
What makes me angry, is this incremental rise of nastiness in the Unionist language, of a large part of the electorate, who simply voted for independence. We know it’s subliminal targeting, but no excuse when it’s coming from public servants.
@A reluctant Labour member
You are absolutely correct. But why not register the Better Together party.
Think about it.
Put a candidate in the top ten Labour strongholds. 🙂
Willie Rennie=Classic Unionist placeman you know the type not very bright but with animal cunning. Time Scotia rid herself of such fifth columnists and enemies within ie all Unionist MPS/MSPS and Councillers.
As for Baronness Liddell’s comments that only 37 percent of the electoral roll voted for independence:
I’m missing something here. In the Yes Scotland campaign, much was made of the voter enrolment efforts which got a lot more people onto the roll where previously these people were disengaged from the process (hence, the statistic that 97 percent of the eligible population were enrolled, IIRC).
Yet, while 85 percent of the people on the roll did vote – what happened with/to the rest of the electorate who didn’t? Especially as we were expecting them to be pro-independence – or anti-Westminster, anyway.
Insurgents? Ultra extremists? It seems Project Fear has become Project Smear.
O/T
link to burdzeyeview.wordpress.com
We know Austerity does not work. The Scottish Government knows it. How come Westminster hasn’t figured it out?
@Gillie – Docherty MP doesn’t exactly look that thin himself!
gillie at 2.16pm
Well spotted. Slight correction for your story. Don’t want to give them any money.
link to archive.today
Willie Rennie’s opinions?: nothing but the squeals of an imprisoned fart….ditto Will Fudmore the resident Troll.
Talking of Fuds…I heard Blair Jenkins giving his opinion on BBC Scotland about Fox TV’s ridiculous coverage re. Muslims in England.
Good to see the old boy back in harness with the old alma mater eh?
Didn’t take long for him to show his true colours….no bias at the BBC…..AYE FUCKEN RIGHT!!
Hobbit says:
13 January, 2015 at 2:42 pm
As for Baronness Liddell’s comments that only 37 percent of the electoral roll voted for independence:
I’m missing something here. In the Yes Scotland campaign, much was made of the voter enrolment efforts which got a lot more people onto the roll where previously these people were disengaged from the process (hence, the statistic that 97 percent of the eligible population were enrolled, IIRC).
Yet, while 85 percent of the people on the roll did vote – what happened with/to the rest of the electorate who didn’t? Especially as we were expecting them to be pro-independence – or anti-Westminster, anyway.
I did think there was something significant in the fact that the strongest YES areas had the poorest turnouts. No coincidence, methinks. Were some people intending to vote YES scared off at the last minute? Did the Vow sway them away? Did they stay away because they were unsure but could not stomach voting against their country.
I hope some post referendum analyses are now being conducted to get to the bottom of this. Something strange happened and needs to be understood.
Rennie with the permanent blush on his face can get away with talking mince and it doesn’t show. Poor excuse for a politician. The Lib Dems and Labour treat Holyrood as a ‘get out of unemployment’ opportunity when rejected by the electorate.
Constituency members should not be allowed to be on the lists seats…list, and list members should be announced before other general elections (i.e. 2011’s list should have been settled before May 2010). Or stop rejected politicians in the 2010 from being added to the 2011 list. It’s a con.
Sorry if already mentioned but they only “won” by 190,000.
O/T Given there is such a thing as Anglo-Scots relations, I can only conclude that continuing ignorance of their own unthinking, Anglocentric racism has led the BBC to a headline on ‘Anglo-German Relations’. link to bbc.co.uk
I thought it was supposed to be a ‘United Kingdom’ with a common foreign policy…oh wait a minute, no, I didn’t. I forgot it really just is England and some colonies.
@Ron,
No Ron, it makes us “INSTURGEONTS” ????
Interviewer: “Madam, are you having troubles with extremist dirty thoughts?”
Housewife: “why, why yes…yes I am.
Lately I’ve tried to clear my mind of progressive, democratic, separatist, nationalistic whims, but it’s no good…I just can’t get these blasted optimistic thoughts out my head. And let’s not get started on about my Paul’s cereal stains”
Interviewer: “Well Madam, perhaps you should use new and improved ULTRA-EXTREME devolution. Guaranteed to produce cowering thoughts that are whiter than white”
“Yes folks, our new and improved compromise. You just shake the contents out…and then you jump right into the box. Double action of clean thoughts and put in your place”
‘ULTRA-EXTREME devolution’, not to be confused with similar sounding products.
wingman 2020
Better Together candidates in Labour seats. I have a dream, chuckles malevolently.
OT, apologies, but just a wee note – the Steel report on “extremely far-reaching devolution” was apparently based on the Spanish autonomous communities, or I should say, a complete misunderstanding of the Spanish autonomous communities, which have lots of powers, true, but neither the exclusivity nor the money to go with them.
The real world passed them by then, and time does not seem to have improved their understanding of the issues. Low-level mischief making apart, of course, which is probably the case here, as Mr Rennie does not seem to be aspiring to actually understand anything, simply to cry wolf.
‘Democracy reborn’ confuses opposing an idea – separatism – with insulting those who hold that idea – which proves my point. Separatism is inherently reactionary, because it aims to split a united working class – to the benefit only of the employing class. Divide and rule is what the rulers practise; it’s what the loathsome Cameron does all the time – and the SNP play into his hands.
All too many separatists abuse those who voted for union – which is fine, because people don’t like being abused, and won’t support those who abuse them.
RE Squedued Perspextive
Didnt take the Anglo-centric EBC long to revert back to type, surely if we were all Better Together it would be Brit-German relations wouldnt it. Just proof of another lie from the Unionists.
Cant wait for the day that it will be Scoto-German relations. And we never have to hear again from the scummy EBC.
I don’t like the sound of this “extreme devolution” idea, especially so as nobody else has tried it. I’ll settle for good ol’ common or garden independence, a tried and tested system of government that seems to work for most nations. I know, I know, I’m a traditionalist, an old fuddy duddy with no sense of adventure….
Could anybody remind me please, are we no meant to get a draft bill or something by Burns day?
Les Wilson says:
13 January, 2015 at 12:39 pm
Wee Willie is a dunce, and should be made to stand in the corner with his dunce’s hat on.Until he can come out with something er, sensible.
However, he better take a bedding roll and a ton of sandwiches before he is put there, sensible? that might take a while!
les don’t put him anywhere near me stoker put me in the corner yesterday and I do not want that dimwit near me
Will
So the Yes voters are reactionary? Am I reading you correctly? What do you mean by reactionary? And when you describe a united working class are you talking about the UK?
O/T
Talking of embracing stupidity..where is Jim Murphy? two days have passed and his puss has not been on MSM..thats more than a couple of hours Jim..mmm very suspisious
And another thing:
Will Podmore says@3.28pm
Will as my old Grannie used to say: Son if you have nothing constructive to say shut the F*** up
Stephen Armstrong says:
13 January, 2015 at 12:51 pm
Willie-the-Dick.
stephen i like that the prick does nothing but talk pish
he has got a face that you could slap until the cows shit butter
jake
I’ve changed my mind on independence – I am pressing for mega-devolution… that’s defined as control of everything except defence, foreign affairs and consumer rights.
It’s Willie Rennie FFS
Nobody listens to Willie Rennie!
In fact nobody listens to the LibDems!
So Wee Willie Stinkie once again pops his head out from under the duvet on the Tory bed.
Is it not about time you were getting a room of your own Willie?
Can’t imagine what sort of a person chooses to sleep in a bed between the red & blue Tories.
Goodness knows what yous get up to with all that pillow talk, eh!
@Will Podmore
What are you gabbering about now?
Separatists, what is that? Just a nasty word to use in your arguments rather than Independence. Let’s face it, you just couldn’t bring yourself to use the word Independence because of what it implies.
It implies freedom of choice, you know, to choose to take our our decisions and maybe even a different path from those that currently govern us.
The working class are far from “United” because they have no party to unite behind. Feck many of them will be voting UKIP.
Your a fake, a fake socialist and internationalist.
Just like the current Labour Party, both of you are passed you sell by date.
@Will Podmore
Workers of the world unite…. within the British state?
Sure. Take a look around you right now & see how good it is for the working class. Neo-liberalism, gross inequality, government by Eton-educated millionaires, scapegoating foreigners & the most vulnerable in society, illegal wars, WMD, attacks on public services.
If you seriously think the cause of the Scottish working class is advanced by more of the same…. keep taking the pills, Will.
Willie Rennie comes from a very small gene pool of LibDem’s. He was unopposed at the last leadership contest in 2011 following the resignation of Tavish Scott after disastrous Holyrood election results :
link to en.wikipedia.org
He (Scott) claimed the poor showings were in part due to the coalition deal which saw the Liberal Democrats form a government with the Conservatives after the United Kingdom general election, 2010.
Willie knows the downward spiral towards oblivion is now a reality and he is displaying the behaviour of a CONDEMned man. Voters do not believe a word he says.
As an aside if you see the title graphics of the all inclusive BBC 2015 politics programme there is no trace of Willie Rennie. He does not exist!
Democracy Reborn
If you disagree with Will you are a reactionary. Why can’t you just get behind progressive, radical team GB?
Tam asks, “So the Yes voters are reactionary? Am I reading you correctly? What do you mean by reactionary? And when you describe a united working class are you talking about the UK?”
No, I oppose the idea of Scottish separatism, of independence for Scotland. I am not accusing Yes voters of anything. We must distinguish between an idea and the person who has the idea.
Democracy reborn is quite right, of course, to oppose neo-liberalism, gross inequality, government by Eton-educated millionaires, scapegoating foreigners & the most vulnerable in society, illegal wars, WMD, attacks on public services. That’s what the British working class opposes – see the TUC resolutions , for example.
It is reactionary to try to split a united working class. That’s what Cameron is doing, with the referendum in Scotland only (which assumed the point at issue), with EVEL, with his attacks on Britain’s trade unions.
Cameron would be happy for our trade unions to be divided and weakened in every way possible. And separatists follow his logic of divide and rule.
Look at the effects of dividing countries – Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia.
Willie Rennie has obviously never heard of Switzerland either where the Cantons raise all their finance before deciding what to remit to the central government. (Most Swiss apparently pride themselves on having no idea who the president is.)
But Ultra Extreme devolution may be the Devo Super Max which George Galloway, as spokesperson for the NO campaign, promised us in a televised debate just before the referendum.
Supercalifragilisticcexpiallodocious Max!
Divide and rule is what the rulers practise; it’s what the loathsome Cameron does all the time
Will
Bop me on the head with a herring and call me a Silly Billy but why is it OK for you to call Dave loathsome but we can’t call one of his Coalition chooms stupid?
It is reactionary to try to split a united working class.
It may well be but if the UK working class were united we would not have opinion polls showing the Tories on 32% and the ultra Tory UKIP on 16%. Throw in the Lib Dems and assorted right wing loons and the well over 50% of the population in England are voting right wing…call that solidarity? I don’t.
@HandandShrimp
SLAP!! Take that you bounder, hahaha.
Tam Jardine says:
“turns out that an independent Scotland would struggle to set up an intelligence service like GCHQ”
But some of the best british spooks were ProudScotsBut…
Calgacus says:
“Sorry if already mentioned but they only “won” by 190,000.”
Strangely I think that is about the number of ‘missing’ Yes votes from Glasgow and Dundee. Just saying like..
And see these folk that can’t resist a pishy wee troll… 😉
Hmm. A form of extra-super-extreme-devo-max that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world except… here in the British Isles (Isle of Man has basically the exact same arrangement).
FFS Rennie, do you even know what the internet is for?
Tam Jardine says:
Not sure if anyone is tuned into radio Scotland – turns out that an independent Scotland would struggle to set up an intelligence service like GCHQ. Of course Norway, Finland etc do without but Scotland would find it very difficult and expensive to gather intelligence to the extent that the US and UK does now.
Some pretty bizarre stuff. The basic message – Scotland could not be independent.
This is old news, Tom Jardine. It is part of the RUSI paper produced in 2013. I commented on it here, and on the rest of the paper in the preceding post. It was truly comical, that paper
link to thosebigwords.forumcommunity.net
Will Podmore says- look at the effects of dividing countries.
I have never read one person on this site writing about dividing countries. I have read about a lot of people wanting independence. In case you failed to notice Scotland is a country and a lot of people want it to be independent from the rest of the u.k. Now Will go and read your Daily Record there’s a good boy old chap and all that toodle do.
Split the working class, I thought that was Slab’s job now that they are free of their masters. The referendum was the full weight of the state against the Scot’s who have had enough of their antics. Their win was not convincing enough for them and they seek to fuel the fire, Good luck with that, to my mind you are only fanning it.
@Will Podmore reply to Tam Jardine:
‘ And when you describe a united working class are you talking about the UK?”
‘No, I oppose the idea of Scottish separatism, of independence for Scotland. I am not accusing Yes voters of anything. We must distinguish between an idea and the person who has the idea’.
Well try this…the idea is retreaded neo Marxist bullshit and the person is a troll with a tic.
‘That’s what the British working class opposes – see the TUC resolutions , for example.
It is reactionary to try to split a united working class.’
Will Podmore …the TUC? for pity’s sake man..go back to train spotting!
Will
Ok – so separatism is reactionary. Do you know Will, that since the dawn of man allegiances have changed, territories have changed hands, control has been extended, ebbed away, empires have been built and have fallen. Unions have formed, countries have been annexed or colonised and territories have broken apart . I don’t see 2 countries becoming 1 as good and 1 country becoming 2 as bad is borne out by any kind of overview of history.
Your judgement of ‘seperatism’ is a pretty sweeping one. It is a pejorative term for something that was all about building a better society, a fairer, more equal society. Now we may disagree with whether it would succeed but I struggle to see any part of the aim as ‘reactionary’ in my understanding of the term.
The reactionary force in the UK, the conservative party were dead against as they need Scotland’s wealth so I don’t see how you think independence was furthering the conservative reactionary goals.
Things end Will. Relationships end. People leave jobs and country’s change. You think it is by definition a bad thing because of the class struggle. My view is that the class struggle being waged by the UK establishment against her people has been lost and that a successful, progressive democracy in Scotland where workers are rewarded for their toil and we don’t need to graft into our seventies for the lowest pension in Europe could be a shining beacon for the people of the rest of the UK to follow. It would open up a new flank in the class struggle against the UK state and the rich.
You give 2 examples of countries that have divided- Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Do you think both relatively recent inventions should have stuck together? Or maybe a superstate combining Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia would have worked better… After all their workers could have United…
One example of a successful separation and one bloody ethnic conflict. Money poured from poor Slovakia initially but it is now doing pretty well as part of the EU, no?
Obviously the process is messy, much more so if one party is going to get all arsey about it as seems inevitable. If I thought there was a political party that could genuinely improve the UK for her people I would sign up. No such body exists – the only possibility would be for the SNP to ditch the S and field candidates all over the UK but they won’t do it so indy it is.
Any more questions? The answer is probably Hong Kong
“Insidious enemies of the state” coming pretty soon I think. Pure demonisation from all and sundry in the Westminster club.
@Soda says:
13 January, 2015 at 11:33 am:
” … If he believes what he says he’s an idiot, if he doesnt then he’s a liar.”
Actually, Soda, Willie is both at the same time. The proverbial, idiotic liar, in fact. Always was and always will be.
In the style of Mary Poppins, you know the tune, Lets go for:
Super Mammoth Ultra Mega Maxi Independence
Even though the sound of it is something quite contentious
If you say it loud enough
You’ll always sound precocious
Super Mammoth Ultra Mega Maxi Independence.
Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dee
are screwing up our country,
Go out and vote for SNP
and then we’ll throw a Party
Super Mammoth Ultra Mega Maxi Independence.
Hum deedle Liberal dumb,Hum deedle Liberal dumb,Hum deedle Liberal dumb, etc
Has a feel good factor singing that one! lol
Fiona
Thanks – it is indeed old news. My sarcasm is not always effectively conveyed. It was the same shite we heard throughout the indyref reheated.
@X-sticks,aye mate the troll is no worth it;-)
Effijy
By Super Mammoth Ultra Mega Maxi Independence do you mean home rule or federalism? Is that not what the Smith Comission has already delivered?
Will Podmore, you have a very poor grasp of understanding why we want Scotland to be independent and you insult us by calling us Seperatist & reactionary.
I am sick of tired having the media smearing my name and other voters that said YES, all because WE want to see Scotland being governed by a Goverenment that the citizens of Scotland voted for, and you are joining in by calling ME a seperatist.
You highlighted Czechslovakia and Yugoslavia as a point, I say to you, that is so poor that it highlighted your lack of knowledge and proof that you are just ignorant and just believe what the media says as gospel.
Let me clear up the Czechslovakia and Yugoslavia point shall I?
Following the Pittsburgh Agreement of May 1918, the Czechoslovak declaration of independence was published by the Czechoslovak National Council, signed by Masaryk, Štefánik and Beneš on October 18, 1918 in Paris, and proclaimed on October 28 in Prague. Towards the end of the First World War which led to the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, several ethnic groups and territories with different historical, political, and economic traditions were blended into new state structures. In the face of such obstacles, the creation of Czechoslovakian democracy.
Interestingly, the relationship between the Czech Republic and Slovakia was the same as Scotland and the Rest of the Uk.
“In 1991, the Czech Republic’s GDP per capita was some 20% higher than Slovakia’s, but its long-run GDP growth was lower. Transfer payments from the Czech budget to Slovakia, which had been the rule in the past, were stopped in January 1991.
Many Czechs and Slovaks desired the continued existence of a federal Czechoslovakia. Some major Slovak parties, however, advocated a looser form of co-existence and the Slovak National Party (SNP) complete independence and sovereignty. In the next years, political parties re-emerged, but Czech parties had little or no presence in Slovakia, and vice versa. In order to have a functional state, the government demanded continued control from Prague, while Slovaks continued to ask for decentralization.”
Yugoslavia, again was a creation after the 1st world war and Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia were nations in their own right before they were forced together to make up Yugoslavia.
Notice that all these countries got their independence back only after a war.
Scotland never fired a gun, we went to the ballot box peacefully and whilst YES fell short by 6%, I find it extremely offensive to be smeared with such provactive words like you used.
Tam Jardine
No Tam,
We never got Super Mammoth Ultra Mega Maxi Independence.
We got Stuffed!
Willie Rennie is a twerp. If he wasn’t such a vicious little twerp I’d feel sorry for him. In the short term, the SNP wants Home Rule, something the LibDems have promoted for years. Now it’s devo extreme. What a pathetic little leader of a pathetic little party. Thank goodness we’ll be waving you all goodbye soon.
Oh dear, Wingers. So much prose …….. such futility. Leave ‘pair wee Wullie’ alone. Lord knows he’s challenged enough, and shouldn’t have to read such vitriol. He’s harmless, totally harmless.
Thats it, i knew Wee Willie Stinkie reminded me of someone!
Watch carefully folks, its him alright.
The resemblance with that picture above is uncanny.
link to youtube.com
Don’t you just love George Osborne, is he related to Ossie Osborne? He appears be suffering similar delusions to Ossie during his substance abuse years.
It seems that through no actions taken by Geo or his Party, that inflation is down to 0.5%. He heralds this as a great success
for the average family, and we are all reaping great benefit?
Here is how it works at my end, neither me nor my wife have had a
pay increase for several years, we are in our 7th year of a major recession, and we have had to endure the inflation rate increases during this time.
We are worse off financially than we have ever been, and now we are to rejoice and Thank Dear George, the Tories, Oh and Danny Alexander and the Liberals, and probably the Better Together Mob, for seeing my income fall by yet another 0.5%.
Does anyone have a bag of lemons that I could borrow?
I will need to suck on something to keep this smile off my face.
Woo pi Do!
Who’s is Wille Rennie?
J. Denham
Will comes on here and puts his point across – this site would be the poorer if it just becomes an echo chamber with no opposing views. I can only speak for myself but he helps me and others sharpen arguments and express myself. I think he is very useful for this site.
J Denholm
Just realised you were talking about Will Rennie not Will Podmore. My mistake.
Stoker
Great Likeness in your You Tube Link!
So was it Wee Plucker people were calling him?
@ Will Podmore
I think you miss the point also about working class solidarity, and you’re buying into the race to the bottom approach. Solidarity is not about me expecting another group to forgo fighting for their best interests because I don’t see mine getting any better. I want better for me, but I also want better for everyone and solidarity is knowing that if I stand with others to help them get their due, I can rely on them to stand with me to lift me up too.
For trade unionists and people of the left, a ‘Yes’ in Scotland would have given us a once-in-a-generation to challenge the passive apathy which characterises politics in the UK. A “yes” would have given leftists the confidence to make the case that it isn’t all alright and if we just suck up a bit more austerity, a bit more detached Westminster consensus, we’ll be reet. Because Scotland would have shown us that there is another option, that it’s safe to take that massive step because what determines our success or otherwise should not be the city, the oil or the neoconservative elite, but the collective endeavours of the people who really have a stake.
It’s those who voted ‘No’ who are the class ("Tractor" - Ed)s, not those who voted ‘Yes’.
People are right to feel that Labour’s betrayal of the left in Scotland over the referendum (and subsequently) is unforgivable – I hat
@ Jackie G,
Me thinks, Dim Jim is on the ‘Naught Step’ after the latest polls showed a crash in the labour vote and the Tory’s going into a six point lead.
The only significant thing that has happened over the past week or so that could have caused this turnaround, was Murphys 1000 nurses at the expense of wealth Londoners sales pitch to the supine Scottish media, that went down like a lead balloon with voters in England.
Nice on Jimmy! 🙂
I never realised the citizens of Germany, France, Norway, or any other country in the world were ultra extremists!
Are British nationalists ultra extremists?
#confused
Please answer Willie Rennie. We know you read this website.
Will Podmore
Having actually been in Bosnia and Croatia whilst the war was on I can assure you that you cannot compare our situation to that.
Unless of course you draw parallels with the dominant neighbour controlling the smaller ones.
After the war I returned another three times to the region of FRY and I never met any ethnic group that mourned the union.
I met many folks who saw Scotland as being the same as them.
In fact many of them were more educated about Scotland than most of the NO clowns.
Wullie Rennie,
From Driving a Number 9 Bus
to living on Cloud 9.
You are just coming up to the terminus Wullie.
Time to get off.
The good news is your ticket won’t get punched until you are
back at the Depot looking for work.
@muttley79 says: 13 January, 2015 at 11:45 am:
“Wee Willie Rennie is never going to go down as a profound thinker on politics.”
Aye! Muttley, that’s Wee Wullie richt enuch. Wullie sud jine the rid an blae Tories at Westminster. He micht weel gan faur wi thaim. They aye say shite in a muckle stank maun sik its ain level.
Will Podmore
If you were to ask the former English Colony, known as the Republic of Ireland, if they missed being abused by UK Tory governments, or if they would like to return to the UK, do you think that 1 person in 20 would want to return?
The Poor old working class over there enjoyed many years of the
Celtic Economic Boom, they are ranked as 6th in terms of average
wealth, while the UK is Ranked 14th thanks to Scotland’s free oil
They did get caught up in deep debt like most of the world, but again they have made great in-roads toward paying it back.
Were you aware that the UK continues to borrow more year on year?
So Will, shall we blame the Irish for leaving the working classes
of the Empire, or take a leaf out of their book?
Begorrah!
I’m for removing the Multi-coloured Tories from my life!
Hilarious!
OT. 28 Scottish Labour MPs voted with the UK government tonight for £75billion of cuts and tax rises. No idea what about the other 13, maybe they didn’t even turn up. The Roll of Shame is as follows:
Douglas Alexander Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Willie Bain Glasgow North East
Gordon Banks Ochil and South Perthshire
Anne Begg Aberdeen South
Russell Brown Dumfries and Galloway
Michael Connarty Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Margaret Curran Glasgow East
Iain Davidson Glasgow South West
Thomas Docherty Dunfermline and West Fife
Brian Donohoe Central Ayshire
Frank Doran Aberdeen North
Gemma Doyle West Dunbartonshire
Tom Greatrex Rutherglen and Hamilton West
David Hamilton Midlothian
Tom Harris Glasgow South
Jimmy Hood Lanark and Hamilton East
Cathy Jamieson Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Iain MacKenzie Inverclyde
Michael McCann East Kilbride , Stathaven and Lesmahagow
Gregg McClymont Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch
Anne McGuire Stirling
Graham Morrice Livingston
Iain Murray Edinburgh South
Pamela Nash Airdrie and Shotts
Fiona O’Donnell East Lothian
John Robertson Glasgow North West
Frank Roy Motherwell and Wishaw
Anas Sarwar Glasgow Central
@yesidyref2
Sure that isn’t the Jim Murphy leadership election support list?
Certainly looks familiar.
bjsalba says:
13 January, 2015 at 1:35 pm
@Spout
Mid Scotland and Fife Activists (Yes parties) might appreciate some quotes or video for their campaigns.
I’d like to help but…it was work related…Chatham House rules and all that ….(ahem)…
All this trashing of oor Willie’s nous. Let’s raise the tone a little.
I’ve written to him offering that he could resign from the LibDems and join Labour MSPs on the other side of the chamber, thereby raising the average IQ of both parliamentary parties.
This reminds me of Alan Minter’s famous quote “Sure, there have been injuries and deaths in boxing – but none of them serious.”. He’s an idiot.
Whow,thanks Willie for telling me that the Party that I joined 56 years ago is actually seeking INDEPENDENCE – what a tosser.
Auld Rock
handandshrimp, the British working class is united in its trade unions, which come together in the TUC, which represents all Britain’s workers.
Yes, sorry, handandshrimp, you make a good point – to be consistent, I shouldn’t have insulted Cameron personally. I loathe his politics, not his person.
r esquierdo writes, “Scotland is a country and a lot of people want it to be independent from the rest of the u.k.” Britain is a country and has been for 300 years. Only a minority of Scots want Scotland to be independent.
Lochside fails to make an argument and calls names as an inadequate substitute.
Sometimes, people make mistaken judgements, and think that something reactionary is progressive. All too many supporters of the SNP, and of Scotland’s separating from Britain, believe that the EU is progressive. When you tie yourself to a reactionary body like the EU, you can keep saying ‘I’m progressive’, but fine words butter no parsnips. Analyse the EU and you will see that the employing class, expressed in the European Roundtable of Industrialists, runs it. The EU imposes corporate rule, which means ‘austerity’ (= poverty). So if you oppose poverty when imposed by Cameron, you have, to be consistent, oppose poverty when imposed by the EU – don’t you?
Barontorc says:
13 January, 2015 at 11:58 am
Remind me again was this dumpling Willie Rennie actually elected or was he yet another ‘grace and favour’ list MSP?
List MSP. They didn’t win any constituencies on the mainland. Roll on May.
Most Scots want rid of Trident so we want to be in charge of defence
Many are opposed to the wars that the UK has involved us in so we can add foreign affairs to the list
That’d be independence that we still want then?
Poor wee Wullie. When I hear him trying to put his thoughts into words, I think that care in the community just isn’t working. Time to go back to your old bus driving job Wullie son.
I’m not usually a fan of mocking peoples appearance on posts as it’s a cheap shot and really does adds nothing to the debate..
That said.. is it just me or does Wee Willie Rennie’s mooth look like it’s ready to go in for some ‘Bitty’ like he needs a feed..
“the minimum the SNP want is an ultra-extreme devolution that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world”.
Er! Doesn’t he know about Bermuda, Falkand Islands, Channel Islands, IOM and so on.
Devo Max or should I say ultra-extreme devolution certainly exists and works in these places.
Dick
Will Podmore
Hi Will
Only just saw your post – wanted to question your basis for the ascertain that “Only a minority of Scots want Scotland to be independent”.
The indyref did not give us that data so I was wondering if you had other info. Genuine question.
Cheers
I hear that Wee Willie could tie his shoe laces before starting
Secondary School. As soon as he learn how to tie his tie, he
should get that Ermine Cloak yo wear for £300.00 per day.
He thought I.Q. was were you waited for new spectacles!
Don’t worry! It’s not insulting as he doesn’t understand it!