The leader who won’t lead anyone
We know some readers hate listening to audio (we do too), so here’s a full transcript of this interview from this morning, with some brief added commentary.
GARY ROBERTSON: Neil Findlay joins us now, good morning to you.
NEIL FINDLAY: Good morning, Gary.
GR: Isn’t the truth if you did lead Labour and you opposed Trident, that the MoD just wouldn’t take any notice of you?
NF: Well, we’re allowed to have an opinion, Gary, and I think the Scottish Labour Party should be able to take those decisions, or make those views known, and –
GR: But that’s the point, they can’t take any decisions on this, can’t they?
NF: Well I would hope that we would be able to influence [the] Labour Party across the UK, and Scottish Labour Party policy is already opposed to nuclear weapons, it has been since the conference passed that position some time ago and –
Allegedly. We can still find no evidence for this assertion, and Neil Findlay himself says that he “can’t recall” when it supposedly happened.
GR: But Johann Lamont said that she was in favour, you’re saying that it’s policy, Johann Lamont said that she was in favour and we’ve got Jim Murphy saying that you can’t be unilateralists on this, so the policy seems somewhat muddled, doesn’t it?
NF: No, but this is a leadership election where people have different views and different opinions, I’m just putting forward my opinion and I’ve always been against nuclear weapons, I think at – particularly at a time when our public services are under such pressure, I don’t think that that’s the right way to spend very considerable amounts of public money.
GR: When there was a debate in Parliament a couple of months ago and the motion put forward by Keith Brown that the Parliament supports the speediest, safe withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Scotland, you voted against that.
NF: Yes, because it, it linked the eradication of nuclear weapons and it said that that could only be achieved by independence, it linked it to independence, that’s clearly not the case. Independence wouldn’t remove nuclear weapons from the UK.
That’s an interesting argument from someone who’s standing to be the leader of Labour in Scotland, not the UK.
GR: But if this is a point of principle, wouldn’t you vote yes to remove weapons in a vote in Parliament?
NF: But it linked it solely to independence and that clearly is not my position.
GR: You didn’t lodge any amendments to it, did you?
NF: No, because that was the proposition put before us that it could be, that it was linked to independence and I clearly have my position, I’ve always been against nuclear weapons. I’m a member of CND; that is my position.
“I couldn’t lodge an amendment to something because I partly disagreed with it” is a curious misunderstanding of what the sole and entire purpose of amendments is.
GR: On the issue of, let’s say you are leader of Labour in Scotland, you would, under the rules, be the leader of the MPs who are in Scotland. If there’s a vote at Westminster, and Ed Miliband says he supports the renewal of Trident, you’re sitting in Edinburgh saying you’re against the renewal of Trident, how do those MPs vote?
NF: Well that would be up to those MPs, it’s up to them how they vote, but –
GR: But you’d be the leader of the party in Scotland, you would be the leader, the leader of those MPs?
NF: Well I would have my opinion, that’s exactly what I’m saying, Gary, I’m putting forward what MY position is, and what the position of the party as passed by our conference is, in Scotland, that’s Scottish Labour policy.
Allegedly.
GR: But you’re saying, as the leader you would only have opinions, you wouldn’t be able to direct people?
NF: No, well, that is the case, because they are –
GR: What’s the point of being leader then?
NF: Well, Gary, I am in a leadership election contest, I’m putting forward MY position, I would hope to have influence over the rest of the UK Labour Party, and I’m sure my colleagues in Wales and in the regions of the UK have similar opinions to me. I think, actually, my opinion is mainstream Labour opinion.
GR: But it’s not Ed Miliband’s position is it? If Ed Miliband says no, then that’s the end of it.
NF: Well, that’s to be determined, because we have to put forward our position for the manifesto in 2016, and let’s just see what that says. There’s a strong body of opinion across the country amongst the general public that this is not how we should be spending public money at this time.
Hang on. Scottish Labour won’t HAVE a manifesto position on Trident in 2016, because defence is reserved to Westminster. The 2011 Holyrood manifesto didn’t mention defence at all.
(Also, if you’re standing to be the leader of Scottish Labour, shouldn’t you KNOW what you’d want to put in the manifesto, rather than waiting to see?)
GR: Well, indeed, it’s Nicola Sturgeon’s position and she said in her address to the SNP conference at the weekend that she could potentially do a deal after the 2015 general election if there’s a hung parliament, with the Labour party, provided they change their stance on nuclear weapons. Can you find common ground with her on that?
NF: Listen, where I agree with Nicola I will say I agree with her, and I hope she will do the same with me. This is an area where we agree that, you know, Scotland would be a better place, and the UK would be a better place, and indeed, of course, the world would be a better place without nuclear weapons.
GR: Do you also find common ground with her on a call for an end to austerity?
NF: Well, I certainly think that we need to move to get rid of austerity as soon as possible but, eh, y’know Nicola’s rhetoric is often much more better than the reality of what she delivers on the ground.
GR: But she’s saying a deal with the Labour Party after 2015 if there’s a hung parliament, to involve the SNP in some kind of supply arrangement with a Labour government would mean no nuclear weapons and an end to austerity. Are those two areas that you can say yes to?
NF: Well, I want to see an end to austerity and I want to see an end to nuclear weapons but Nicola’s playing games in the run-up to the General Election and we know that’s what she’s at so, y’know, I’ve been campaigning every day for the election of a Labour government with a majority and winning those seats in Scotland as well.
“SNP BAD.”
GR: You talk about bringing the railways back into public ownership – Keith Brown, the Transport Minister, says that that’s not an option that the Scottish Parliament can deal with at this point. Why was there nothing in Labour’s submission to the Smith Commission about about devolving those powers?
NF: Well, I didn’t write Labour’s submission to the Smith Commission, but I’m putting forward my position in the leadership election, and I think it’s common sense that if – at the moment what we do is we take a big load of subsidy, and we hand it to the rail providers, and they then take a big load of that subsidy and hand it on to shareholders. I don’t think that is common sense, I think that’s crazy.
We should be running the railways in the interest of the public, like we’re doing with the East Coast main line and the profits going back in to the Exchequer, I think that’s a sensible way to run the railways.
GR: But you can’t do anything unless you’ve got the power to do it at Holyrood, so, should it be in your submission to the Smith Commission?
NF: Well, I think Keith Brown is being a bit disingenuous, he could have set up a not-for-profit organisation to run the railway franchise in Scotland and chose not to do that, and we could have done that. But I would argue that we should have powers over the railways and that we should be able to make that decision.
Wait a minute. If you’re saying we SHOULD have the powers to make that decision, that surely means we don’t have them at the moment? In which case, how could Keith Brown have done it?
GR: So it’s a mistake by your party not to ask for that?
NF: No, Gary, I’m putting forward my position in this leadership election.
GR: But you could win this leadership election without the powers that you actually want because your party hasn’t suggested it to the Smith Commission.
NF: Well Gary, as I say, I’m putting forward my position, that’s what you do in a leadership election campaign, you have different positions, if we were all the same you could elect anybody.
So far as we can tell, then, Neil Findlay’s position is that Labour’s policy with regard to devolving rail powers is wrong, but that that’s somehow the SNP’s fault.
GR: How much would it cost to carry through your suggestion?
NF: Well, that’s not been costed at the moment, Gary, and I think given what we know about the way in which the subsidy operates I think it would be very cost-effective.
GR: Have you costed taking back PFI contracts?
NF: If you look at what’s happening in the north-east of England, Gary, with PFI contracts, we’re actually seeing that some of the health authorities and other organisations who’ve been involved in PFI are taking them back in because they are cost-effective, so it would be on a case-by-case basis where some of them prove to be more cost-effective being taken back in-house. That again, I think that’s just common sense.
Of course, the awarding of these inefficient, wasteful PFI contracts was almost entirely the responsibility of governments run by [inaudible mumble].
GR: But have you costed any of those measures?
NF: No, because it would be on a case-by-case basis.
GR: But the reality is you’ve come up with two policies here which you have no costings for at all – clearly if you are to spend money on bringing PFI contracts back into public ownership, to bringing the railways back into public ownership, that means money that has to go on that cannot be spent elsewhere.
NF: But that… much of this would be savings, Gary, because if it was more cost-effective to run the railways in the public interest then that’s a good deal, if it’s more cost-effective to bring PFI contract back in-house then that’s a good deal, it would actually cost less.
So whose fault is it they weren’t done that way to start with, Neil?
GR: So you would only bring the railways back into public ownership if you thought it was cost-effective, if it wasn’t cost-effective you’d say no?
NF: Look, if we follow the example of what’s happened in the East Coast main line, it would be cost-effective, it’s now generating profit for the Exchequer in a better way than it was under the private sector.
GR: Neil Findlay, Labour leadership candidate, thank you very much for joining us on the programme this morning.
.
*Thanks to alert readers Seamus and Fiona for transcribing this interview.
Print is best; you can laugh without obscuring the next joke comment. Well done the transcribers.
No one is this thick on purpose. So in precise, “there you go Jim, Scotland’s all yours. Have at it, blue and the red Tories expect”.
A poor attempt at SPIN by Neil Findlay as he tries to convinces us that a leader in a position without any authority whatsoever, can still be a leader. Epic fail.
What he thinks about anything is of no relevance, as long as the real decisions are made in London. The position is not a leadership position, it is a branch manager position.
It’s really that simple.
That’s why Murphy getting the role instead would be a good thing. He is a massive loose cannon. Miliband must know this already. Murphy’s eggo is going to expand like a soufflé and cause huge problems in the Labour party.
Even John McTurnip will struggle to keep Murphy from getting more egg on his face.
Reading the transcript is even worse than listening to it. Thankfully, the Rev’s analysis tears it into even smaller shreds that the interviewer.
Dire stuff indeed. Labour really are too wee and too stupid to ever be trusted again.
Leadership authority legitimised to some extent? Charisma, tradition, qualification, social position, heredity, knowledge, hierarchy or elected.
Hmmm… I am struggling to see how any of these categories would legitimise any SLAB branch manager to influence or lead any of us in Scotland.
Why can’t he just be honest and admit that all the things he personally believes in are opposed by his own party. He should make it clear that if he is elected “leader” of Scottish Labour he will be unable to deliver all the things he believes in because English Labour won’t let him.
This is the reality of the situation, we can all see it, why can’t he just admit it?
I just had a vision of Marshall Murphy and Deputy Dawg riding into town. Shudder.
A humpty numpty and his sidekick. “We have come to clean up Dodge.”
Promising a completely undeliverable manifesto in Scotland. On the basis of personal belief but powerless to implement. And the tame MSM repeating their mantras…
Sleepless nights for Miliband with a Scottish 3-way leadership contest that looks like getting out of hand. London wants Murphy as the safe option policy-wise yet from a survival point of view most Scots Labourites would prefer a leftist candidate to win. Labour look set to implode. Who says politics is boring. This hopefully could be messy, but for all three candidates the blunt truth is that under their party’s constitution LONDON RULES!
I’m a member of CND…. but I voted AGAINST removing weapons of mass destruction from Scottish soil…
Now, there’s a principled politician!
Thanks for transcribing that, much better on the blood pressure.
🙂
I would like to make a suggestion –
Please consider doing this with all similar future articles but please also include the audio so that Wingers have the option.
PIE in the sky slaverings, but some people will believe anything.
Now then, now then. As it ‘appens, guys & gals, goodness gracious, Gordy was “duped” !
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/gordon-brown-duped-into-backing-paedophile-campaigner-1.686792
How’s about that then !
I’m not sure if anyone has covered this already but Willie Rennie took the time to table an amendment (albeit as a way of attacking the SNP and confirming his faux comittment to nuclear disarmament.
Neil Findlay abstained.
Patrick Harvie also took the time and interest to table a motion developing the theme into global disarmament and how removing trident would make renewal of trident less likely in rUK.
Neil Findlay voted against.
The opportunity was clearly there to subtract a small portion of the motion (Willie Rennie I see effectively cut from ‘once upon a time’ to ‘the end’.) Someone with a clear and principled commitment to nuclear disarmament could have, nay would have tabled an amendment acceptable to the house.
What he said on the radio this morning was clarly snish.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S4M-10724&ResultsPerPage=10
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/gordon-brown-duped-into-backing-paedophile-campaigner-1.686792
I listened to this on the radio this morning and was astounded how incoherent Mr Findlay was. It must be obvious to him how ridiculous he sounded and I can’t believe any rational person would want to put himself through this. It’s only the likes of Ms Curran who can survive (sort of) is this incoherent space occupied by Labour and she does it by completely ignoring the question put.
Desperate stuff indeed
Thank you Seamus and Fiona for your diligence.
It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at such complete twaddle.
Poor Findlay could have just said,’Ask Milliband because that is what I (or any other leader) will have to do.’
A very correct grilling, but only because whoever runs the Scotland policy unit in Washington DC has run an analysis and found Findlay is sadly wanting on the “rabid neo-conometer”. Expect Boyack to be singing paeans to Thatcherism if she knows what’s good for her.
What appalling examples of intellectual bankruptcy Findlay and Lamont are in a nation that has given us David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Carlyle… I am ashamed at the thought of such numpties appearing on UK television… it almost makes me understand why the English think we are subsidy junkies who cannot find work cos we are all so dim…!
Many thanks to the transcribers.But it reads as it sounds.A lot of incoherent rubbish.Heres what he could have said;
“Gary,unilateral nuclear disarmament is an emotive issue.Like many in the Labour Party,I am committed to unilateral disarmament and have been a member of CND for many years.At the moment the party supports renewal of trident,but I’m convinced that,if I am elected leader of Scottish Labour I can work with others in the party to bring about a change of policy.”
He’s not up to the job and if he is elected,he will make a fool of himself.I would have thought his friends would have dissuaded him from standing.Maybe he is so appalled by the idea of Murphy leading the party that he has gone way,way out of his depth.
They expect to win an election
Where’s the manifesto – he said – she said – they said? What?
Unionist politicians free by 2016
Vote SNP/Alliance 7/5/15
Independence by 2020
@Rev “The leader who won’t lead anyone”
Hopefully either he or the the gobshite jackeen Ó Murchú will lead them to oblivion when people realize they are only gombeen men
Just for a laugh, (if you can bear it) check out the petted lip smart arse amendment made by Willie Rennie:
As an amendment to motion S4M-10724 in the name of Keith Brown (Trident), leave out from first “supports” to end and insert “recognises the Liberal Democrats’ commitment to reduce the UK’s nuclear arms and support global disarmament; notes that local SNP branches called for the refurbishment of Trident to be carried out at Rosyth; further notes that the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland will not result in any fewer nuclear weapons in the world; notes that the SNP wishes Scotland to remain part of the NATO nuclear alliance; believes that the SNP’s defence policy is more of a slogan than a full policy; calls on the Scottish Government to use the 42 days until the referendum to explain from where it will recruit the personnel required for a Scottish military, how the correct balance of skills would be achieved and the timescale for achieving balance in the event of independence, and further calls on the Scottish Government to be clear on what will happen to the security of Scotland in the intervening period, given that this basic information has not so far been provided.”
Is there a parliamentary equivalent to the offence of wasting police time?
O/T Nicola Sturgeon in Govan has just gone live on Livestream.
After GR says But Johann Lamont said (interruption) NF insert: Sorry Gary wait a wee minute, wait a minute, wait a minute let me finish GR that she was in favour, you’re saying that it’s policy, Johann Lamont said that she was in favour and we’ve got Jim Murphy saying that you can’t be unilateralists on this, so the policy seems somewhat muddled, doesn’t it?
Would be more precise.
This man is like a fruit-picker choosing what he thinks is the most attractive and juiciest fruit from the SNP apple tree to tempt would be deserting labour voters to elect him as leader to a party that is rotten to the core. Roll on May to get rid of the whole putrid barrel of them
I think the important question at this point is, what has Darth Murphy promised him to chuck the election this badly?
NF says “he could have set up a not-for-profit organisation to run the railway franchise in Scotland”.
But this is specifically ruled out by the legislation. A recent Wings post went into this in some detail (apologies can’t remember the title).
O/T.
Alex Salmond has decided to give up his FM pension and give it to a charity organization:
http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2014/nov/salmond-pension-benefit-north-east-charities
I reckon his heart’s in the right place. He just doesn’t have any influence in the Labour party and he doesn’t fully grasp the implications of what he proposes
The Wings article on the legality of setting up a not for profit company to run the railways was By way of Example :
http://wingsoverscotland.com/by-way-of-example/
The reference was to the Railways Act 1993, still in force. i.e. not repealed or amended by Labour governments. stillhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1993/43/section/25
Eeny meeny manny moe time fur awe they fak’rs tae go,anybody got a spare skyhook to hing the rope on.
Mr Findlay completely skipped car crash and went straight to train wreck. 😀
Sounds like he’s not serious about campaigning for leadership
a straw man to make
Jimbo look good.. Someone from spin central
been having a quiet word mebbes?
I’m wondering if tonights extreme delay of Reporting Scotland
appearing on the iPlayer is down to this story.
Are they having problems establishing how to edit it?
It’s understandable, the muppet lurches from one blunder to another.
“Well Gary” – “Well Gary” – “Well Gary” – “Well Gary”
I think he’s laid one too many bricks, if ye catch ma drift.
Most definitely Slabber management material.
As thick as shit in the neck of a bottle.
Socialist worker Flipper Darling goes all bettertogether on rancid Gruan phoney leftie readers , UKIP and SNP one and the same etc but its same old red tory boy fraud, poor wee silent majority who were never heard throughout the ref. Will the EU try and pull a last minute Crash Gordon THE VOW fraud on teamGB. How often did FLipper lie and call Yes voters fascists? anyway its game on Red Tory Guardian style all over again.
” As in the Scottish referendum we must argue that we can get the change we need without tearing ourselves apart in separation. We remain better together.
In Scotland it took a long time for the quiet majority to feel confident enough to speak out. It was almost left too late. We cannot repeat that mistake again. Three years ago many people thought it was inevitable that Scotland would leave the UK. Too many are beginning to think the same of our membership of the EU. That has to change and to change now.”
Can you just here that whiner lying for teamGB? Want to emigrate anywhere these shysters are not. OZ booted that Macternan fraud into touch:D
BBC Scotlandshire have an exclusive interview with Findlay by their reporter Anne Drumar. There is a rather fetching picture of Anne included in the report…
http://bbc.scotlandshire.co.uk/index.php/city-news/851-a-finicky-findlay-finally-tells-it-like-it-is.html
Let’s test out fracking on him to see if it’s safe.
Let’s test out fracking on him to see if it’s safe.
I lost the will to live halfway down the Q & S,
Help me Rhona?
Macart says
“Mr Findlay completely skipped car crash and went straight to train wreck”
What?
like this you mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSjK2Oqrgic
what a dire state labour are in.
they are like a used gas lamp filament touch it and it falls apart.
Macart says
“Mr Findlay completely skipped car crash and went straight to train wreck”
like this you mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSjK2Oqrgic
“Nicola’s rhetoric is often much more better than the reality…”
Who the hell taught Findlay English? Johann Lamont?
I think GR is not too biased but misses quite a few obvious points and juxtepositions in interviews when they arise but more, this shows us that a 5 min interview does not enlighten the listener!
Thanks Rev. Stu.(and Seamus and Fiona) for “clarifying” NF’s thoughts on PFI, which I alluded to in an earlier topic.
As I expected he has no idea about how he would fund taking back PFI hospitals. “On a case-by-case basis” is not an answer.
Overall he seems a bit thick, perhaps sincere, but not believable.
Stoker says
“I’m wondering if tonights extreme delay of Reporting Scotland
appearing on the iPlayer is down to this story.
Are they having problems establishing how to edit it?”
Now you say that I wondered why Eddie Mair was presenting the news this morning instead of the usual vacuous lot they normally have, I wonder if they’ve had a whip round and acquired some balls and gone on strike?
@Tamson.
He was also a teacher. What is it with these SLAB ex-teachers and their command of the English language?
An embarrassment to Parliament, his party and himself!
@wingman 2020 says: 17 November, 2014 at 7:03 pm:
“A poor attempt at SPIN by Neil Findlay as he tries to convinces us that a leader in a position without any authority whatsoever, can still be a leader. Epic fail.
I think I may have figured out what the Labour Party Leader in Scotland is elected to do. They choose the best person in the party to answer the phone and relay the orders from the London Leader to the rest of the party. It saves a bomb on telephone bills. Mind you, if things go to the YES movement’s plans, that job should soon be rather less demanding with just four or five elected members to contact.
This is just a continuation of the Lamont guff. It’s amazing that so many of them can rise to prominence without having coherent arguments. It’s an ingrained attitude: we’re Labour, so we’re right, and that’s all anyone needs to know. And if you oppose us, you’re a Tory and an enemy of the working class and the deprived.
No chance that any of the labour contenders’ mendacity will be exposed on TV or the MSM.
O/T Hootsman reports that STV rapped for broadcasting referendum programme on polling day. https://archive.today/9awjn
Won’t hold my breath for the Ofcom reports on BBC bias during the referendum campaign
@ John King
The Frank Drebin of Scottish politics. 😀 LOL
Dr. Mainheimer: It’s a terrible thing that’s happened here, Lieutenant. I do hope you will find the people responsible.
Lt. Frank Drebin: I’m sorry I can’t be more optimistic, Doctor, but we’ve got a long road ahead of us. It’s like having sex. It’s a painstaking and arduous task that seems to go on and on forever, and just when you think things are going your way, nothing happens.
or
Lt. Frank Drebin: Looks like the cows have come home to roost.
I had to give up Findlays incoherent rambling was just too much. Is this the best that the Labour party in Scotland can do? no wonder they were against independence they must think all Scots are as thick as they are, Lamont was partly right SOME Scots are genetically incapable of making decisions The so called Scottish Labour party ones.
What did he teach – widwork?
GR obviously tackled Mr Findlay quite aggressively, judging by the transcipt. We can take it then that Jim Murphy remains BBC Scotland’s preferred candidate.
BTW wasn’t GR’s contract going to be allowed to lapse in the autumn? Is it autumn yet?
OT A leader who will lead. Livestream of Nicola in Govan tonight.
http://tinyurl.com/qy4thb2
generating profits for the exchequer but but but what use is that to any project to improve life chances to the deprived in Scotland?
I am cringing in a pose to do John Cleese proud.I do not feel good.
Murphy will look so good he will attract UKIP votes. The only thing that keeps me from screaming is the thought that the SNP has widened its selection choices to include the many able potential candidates from the YES campaign.
I heard the interview in the car as it was broadcast.
It was evident I was listening to a man completely out of his intellectual depth, who, without a hint of self-parody, happened to call himself a ‘politician.’
@Famous15
generating profits for the exchequer but but but what use is that to any project to improve life chances to the deprived in Scotland?
When I heard the words “generating profits for the exchequer” I thought well woop dee fucking doo.
Watch this wee clip of AS in Perth.
Intriguing final frame.
Looks like aliens.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=550602158374222
Iain: we’re Labour, so we’re right,
It is not politics.
It isn’t even principle.
It is only the herd instinct.
OT(ish) I’ve just come back from a weekend near London and have been asked about the Ref many times. Most people were shocked that I was a YES as I’ve been a Labour supporter down south for years before I moved up here. I started to explain the dodgy nature of the Labour party and ran into the usual disbelief and ‘surely nots’. I explained about Consequentials and inequalities against Scotland and basically got short shrift. Is there a site where facts about the contribution Scotland makes to the UK coffers can be gathered very quickly? Ie one with clear graphics… I know I can dig on WOS if needs be.
Pin,
“I reckon his heart’s in the right place. He just doesn’t have any influence in the Labour party and he doesn’t fully grasp the implications of what he proposes”
He knows perfectly well that what he is saying is complete lies.
His own voting record proves he is lying.
If he had his heart in in the right place, he would have the honesty to resign from the Labour party and publicly state that SNP policies are much more in line with his beliefs than Labour policies.
There is no such thing as a Scottish Labour politician with a heart in the right place. They have betrayed the Scottish people for their party’s chance to form a government at Westminster.
Stu or other posters may have exact details or a link, but my recollection from the Indyref was of at least one poll which showed a majority of Scottish respondents against Trident but (perhaps surprisingly) not by much. During discussions with some persuadable No’s or DKs on the issue I used to almost tear my hair out in frustration. I’d explain the grotesque waste of money (which to be fair to Findlay, he alludes to in his interview), how it’s an offensive and NOT a defensive weapon, relic of the Cold War, UK has it to simply keep up its post-imperial power pretensions etc etc. But a frequent response I got was along the lines of ‘what if someone attacks us?’ I’d ask ‘who?’ & they’d say either ‘Russia'(!) or some terrorist group.
It illustrates again the militaristic conditioning that exists in UKplc & the MSM (witness eg. the overkill of programs we’re still being subjected to about WW1) that we just ‘must’ have these weapons. Seriously : at a UK level Trident is simply not talked about. The last I remember was the Lib Dems bleating about it during or after the formation of the coalition.
It is utterly laughable for Findlay to suggest that somehow he could persuade his bosses at WM to ditch Trident if he became branch manager. Labour actually had a manifesto commitment of unilateral nuclear disarmament in 1983 & 1987. Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock were absolutely slaughtered by the press, Tories AND the Liberals. Kinnock didn’t make the same ‘mistake’ in 1992 & as for Blair…. well, the least said the better. Other than Crash Gordon made sure as Chancellor that the funds for Trident were available.
@Author_Al
Check out Ivan on business for Scotland website.
@Author_Al
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W8cKHcZn60
@Author_Al
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W8cKHcZn60
CH
Are you a Civil Servant? 🙂
AuldA says:
17 November, 2014 at 8:14 pm
O/T.
Alex Salmond has decided to give up his FM pension and give it to a charity organization:
http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2014/nov/salmond-pension-benefit-north-east-charities
“Ah, but he is doing it deliberately!”
Seriously, how could anyone possibly not like Alex Salmond? It would take the blackest heart of a sour-faced unionist to find something to really hate in the man.
@Marcia
No just civil sometimes.
@Marcia
No just civil sometimes.
While we wait for the Scottish branch office of labour to choose between an incompetent, unprincipled ‘left’ candidate and a deluded egomaniac right wing nuclear weapons enthusiast….
A wee dose of reality from the mean streets of Leith: 9.50pm in the scot mid. The guy in front of me has 2 big cartons of milk and a loaf of bread – he’s come in at 9.50pm to get the marked down stuff.
Bill comes to £1.90. The £2 food bank voucher he tried to use wasn’t accepted as you have to spend OVER £2. Company policy. So the guy behind the counter nips out and comes back with a banana to push it over. Bill comes to £2.06. Thing is, if you have fuck all, you have fuck all.
At this point I hand over the 6p. I felt ashamed – am sure the other half a dozen strangers watching this charade felt the same thing.
So let’s get this contest over with then get on with skewering labour and the tories in May, and press the SNP to build a dyke around the poor of this country and do all they can to protect them from the cruelty and indifference of the UK machine.
Capella:
GR obviously tackled Mr Findlay quite aggressively, judging by the transcipt. We can take it then that Jim Murphy remains BBC Scotland’s preferred candidate.
That’s what my daughter and I thought as well.
Never trust the BBC.
I wonder if getting rid of nuclear weapons would really be so easy. I can remember the time when people thought there was a military coup underway in this country against Mr Harold Wilson and the Labour Government, organised by Prince Philip with the support of the military. I am sure older readers would remember the armoured cars at airports and ports and communication centres . All denied of course at a later point, but my father who was travelling from London knew two of the soldiers and they had loaded weapons (live) . The royals AND MILITARY could also be part of a complex equation
Is it fair for Robertson to have asked Findlay had he costed out his policy of rail nationalisation, do you think? Findlay does not have an army of policy boffs at his disposal to work out figures. He’s only a humble MSP. It’s only been a few weeks since Lamont’s shock resignation. How is that time for an MSP to cost out a thing like that?
Yes, Findlay fumbled embarassingly. But it was a very hostile line of questioning.
Bateman has been fisking the FSA, a Blairite ‘think tank’ staffed by John Maclaren.
It would seem that these policy boffs do the maths for the policies for politicians to recite.
Perhaps Robertson’s point was to show that Findlay had no such politico boffins behind him, that he is a lone figure, out of line with the Labour party machine.
He says he’s in CND and?but unilateral nuke disarmament wont happen, which probably seems like a slick getout but means jack shit. Who and how are they in treaty with ever? We have various START’s and partial test bans but after that there’s nothing. Online Labour in Scotland vote NO campers were threatening Scotland with a North Korean nuke strike prior to the referendum, so its clearly a cunning terror weapon to frighten your own population, safe, secure under the union jack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Successor_to_the_UK_Trident_system
Survation Westminster poll
SNP 46%
LAB 24%
CON 17%
LD 6%
@Luigi, the really awful stuff that has been said about Salmond esp. over the past two years is downright hateful, it makes my blood boil, when folk like Cameron don’t even get half of it.
Truly dreadful stuff, AND, it still goes on. I often just leave a site, rather than try to engage.
I feel sorry for the poor man. He is in denial about the fact that he is in the wrong party. Let’s hope he’ll defect to the Greens soon.
Bob Mack,
“The royals AND MILITARY could also be part of a complex equation”
Could be? Do you have any doubt about it?
Never underestimate the power of the British Establishment. It has tentacles everywhere, the most powerful of which in Scotland as we found out is the BBC.
@ Heedtracker
I agree. Project Fear is meant to keep the home population docile and compliant. All the more remarkable that 45% ignored it and voted yes.
I’m more frightened of the constant cold war rhetoric against Russia, which is a nuclear power. The UK is the US poodle but as long as their weapons are stored at Holy Loch it’s us who are the target. Nicola’s right to make it a condition of cooperation that they are removed.
O/T but related, a few people on twitter have posted links to Australian newspapers and their view on John McT.
They are scathing, he was apparently flown in especially to help with J Gillards election campaign and people are asking why wasn’t an Aussie employed.
They are also saying he ruined her political career and was doing the rounds on TV shows – ”McTernan sheds light with his disturbing mantra of “fear beats hope”.
”Rudd is privately scathing of Gillard’s brand of hate politics, overseen by a man he loathes as evil, communications chief John McTernan.”
I’m sure we all recognise his ‘project fear’ tactics.
Almost four hours after it aired, tonights Reporting Scotland appeared on the iPlayer and not a peep about NF and his gaffs.
It must have taken the BBC all this time to come to the conclusion there was no way they could edit and spin Findlay’s utter failure.
Safer to pretend it didn’t happen – if in doubt, leave it out.
@Tam Jardine (10.40)
Hear hear.
@Capella.The Holy Loch is no longer. U.S. base. It’s had a clean up too.Faslane for “British” nuclear subs and Coulport for “British” nuclear missiles!
It amazes me sometimes when I look back over my lifetime, how often I have heard the same interminable promises every 5 years, and mark my x in the box almost knowing that what I hope will happen will never materialise, and yet hope inspires me to continue to believe something will change. Perhaps this time for the first time in a very long while, I believe we have the opportunity to make a difference as to how we govern our country. I really do believe this. Hope has often won over fear for me with disappointing outcomes. This time it is belief over both hope or fear
I trust these dissembling bastards will be gutted from the Scottish body politic come the 2015 (imploding) UK general elections, the amoral fucks that they are.
Bob Mack 10:45 pm; “I can remember the time when people thought there was a military coup underway in this country against Mr Harold Wilson and the Labour Government”
Proves there is more than one oldie on this blog. I remember. It was an attempted coup which failed to get enough support, people were not imagining it.
Things were very different in those days though, the military had far more influence. Their influence has been replaced by the security services these days. In those days people like Gen Frank Kitson was around advocating colonial style illegal action against internal dissent and so on.
Things are very different today. If we keep to the moral and democratic high ground, It would be very difficult to justify military illegally overriding any democratic victory as was done by the Army mutiny against the Irish Home Rule bill in 1912/1913.
If we listen to the likes of Nicola and win this campaign in an irreproachable manner, we will give no excuse and democracy will will out in the end despite obstacles.
How much of this imagery of Murphy arriving at Labour’s Glasgow Central Gala dinner (£200 a skull) ever made it into MSM? We’re not talking about a dozen ‘usual suspects’ here.
NB his volte-face (at approx 45 secs) when he deposits his ‘Bag For Life’ along with the other foodbank donations – all that did was infuriate everyone further and place the thin line of Police Scotland’s finest in a spot of bother.
Have a listen to this (so far it’s only had 46 views).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQjI4ihRCY8
Following Liz.
JOHN MCTERNAN – SNIPER & POLITICAL ASSASSIN.
A MAN WITH NO RULES.
When a politician or a political party is desperate and will go to any lengths to save themselves, they will think of John McTernan – a man who makes dirty tricks look like childs play. ‘Very good at attack lines’, he is the kind of man who phones old people and threatens them; and contacts immigrants and puts the fear of deportation into them.
After the BBC, no one did more damage to the Independence campaign than John ‘Fear beats hope’ McTernan.
But this man appears able to do anything he wants and no one will bother him. Is this man untouchable?
McTernan himself has said that ‘politics is a contact sport’. Must keep that in mind.
Here’s a few more details:-
Born in London, John McTernan has a long association with Labour; he fits in nicely with them.
“For the record, Mr McTernan joined the Gillard team last year not long after a two-year stint as special adviser to Jim Murphy MP, Secretary of State for Scotland. Prior to that, in 2007, he ran the Scottish Labour party’s unsuccessful campaign at the Scottish Parliament general election.
Head of policy for First Minister of the Scottish Executive Henry McLeish from 2000 to 2001, he also worked for three months as a policy consultant to the Scottish Arts Council in 2002 and was special adviser to Des Browne, Secretary of State for Scotland from 2007 to 2008.
He has written for the Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, penning such perceptive lines as ‘There are a lot of myths about political campaigning. Top of these is the idea that negative campaigning never works’, and ‘fear beats hope.’
Baroness Liddell, former Labour Secretary of State for Scotland, claims McTernan is ‘very good at attack lines’.
(www.theaustralian.com.au/media/pms-new-spin-doctor-says-hell-walk-his-talk/story-e6frg996-1226156422626?nk=15824407473cddd69501323eae4947a1)
(www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/scots-in-the-thick-of-it-in-australian-row.21284462)
(warriorfactor.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/its-offical-john-mcternan-destroyed-julia-gillards-career/)
(www.spectator.co.uk/australia/australia-leading-article/8737511/in-the-red-again/)
@Bruce
“Sounds like he’s not serious about campaigning for leadership
a straw man to make
Jimbo look good.. Someone from spin central
been having a quiet word mebbes?”
Or ‘stalking horse’?
Mind you everyone thought that Mr Ed was a ‘stalking horse’ (not ‘talking horse’, that was an old American comedy show, although east to be confused) for his brother David.
Low key, but spot on. Real deal leadership:
new.livestream.com/IndependenceLive/NicolaSturgeon/videos/68515100
Reading that transcript, I could swear that he sounds like Rennie. Even worse than Lamont and Gray!
Murphy or Findlay. I don’t care which one wins now. Its guaranteed that Labour’s branch office will die now.
After manandboy mentioned Des Browne, I looked him up; I had completely forgotten that he was Secretary of State for Scotland (even though he was my MP at the time – he must have made a real impression in the job!).
His Wikipedia entry states that “in 2007 he successfully persuaded Parliament to vote to replace Trident”. That was while he was Secretary of State for Defence, which he managed to combine with being SoS for Scotland for a year or so. I wonder if it was “Scottish” Labour’s policy to get rid of Trident then?
Now he is “convener of the European Leadership Network for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation”. I realize it specifies multilateral, but I still find it rather bizarre.
The Labour Party in Scotland have just one aim which is to reclaim Scotland from the SNP. That is all. They don’t give a shite about the people of Scotland.
@Tam Jardine
A terrible indictment of Scottish Labour and correctly so.
Test
Attack lines for Labour.
‘Scottish Labour, the party who stood alongside the Tories to frighten the People of Scotland.’
‘Scottish Labour did nothing for you the past twenty years. Do you really believe they are going to do anything in the next five?’
‘Scottish Labour, London Labour’s branch office.’
‘The party that lost its socialist principles and values at the Westminster trough.’
‘Scottish Labour, staying in power by keeping you impoverished.’
‘The party that shouted Tory, while treating Scotland as stupid.’
I am a member of CND. I voted against removing nuclear weapons. What??
Someone sent me this appalling url of the Daily Express Engerland.
Hello,
The Better together lot were lying about our Pensions, and much more:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/521244/State-pension-pot-empty-within-year
Regards.
Findlay says “I’m sure my colleagues in Wales have similar opinions to me”. Eh, so how come during the referendum campaign Carwyn Jones, the red tory welsh first minister – sorry, branch office manager – advocated relocating Trident to Wales in the event of a yes vote?!! These clowns are making it up as they go along. Either Findlay is as thick as mince, or is simply hoping the people of Scotland are. Get back tae the trowel ya bam!
Whilst we’re naming and shaming bought and sold journalists, let’s no forget Pravdas very own Torcuil Crichton. Continuing to do his bit for Englands empire.
Is it fair for Robertson to have asked Findlay had he costed out his policy of rail nationalisation, do you think? Findlay does not have an army of policy boffs at his disposal to work out figures. He’s only a humble MSP.
But not humble enough to realise he was uninformed and ought to avoid the subject.
O/T
Nicola speaking at Govan SNP last night said SNP membership is now almost 90,000.
Perhaps the target of 100,000 isn’t that far away after all. The only hope for Labour is to be able to discredit the new leadership but somehow I really don’t see that succeeding. Oh they will try-no doubt but as recent weeks have shown they can’t even lead themselves let alone an electorate.
@Donald Anderson
And from a JULY report. Who’d have thunk it! Of no material interest to the referendum… 5M vs 60M blah, blah pool and share blah blah security of UK family blah blah.
“Archive it” chastisement.
@Famous15
Thanks for the info, Faslane and Coulport it is. BTW is Holy Loch really “cleaned up”?
Mr Findlay is clearly a tool in Mr McTernan’s standard issue box. But there are others. Front page of the Herald for example leads on the umpteenth “crisis” in the NHS. Plus a wee dig from Anas Sarwar about the SNP not being 100% taken in by the Smith Commission.
So Lamont’s dreary mantra of ‘we need to have a debate’ is to be replaced by Findlay’s comatose offering ‘I/we need to put forward a position’.
Inspirational.
Perhaps Murphy will skillfully navigate a middle course, something like ‘we need to have a debate about a position we put forward’ which will win the approbation of BBC Murphy.
It’s even worse it print than it was in audio. Does the man even have the slightest clue what he’s saying? Is he simply Murphy’s fall-guy, and was it all a stitch-up from the word go to let an obviously nitwit stand to make Sincerity Jim look capable?
anyone know of problems at Scottish Statesman this morning – account suspended?
Thought Robertson did a good job of pointing out that Findlay really ought to join the SNP
The rise of the SNP.
https://archive.today/96VuG
Ed Miliband to have say on Alistair Darling seat
THE fate of Alistair Darling’s Edinburgh South-West seat could be decided today by a Labour Party panel chaired by UK leader Ed Miliband.
A replacement must be found for the former chancellor following his decision to step down at next year’s general election.
The party had said no move would be made until a new Scottish Labour leader was elected next month.
But reports claim a panel led by Mr Miliband is now set to decide whether or not to require an all-women shortlist when choosing a new candidate for the seat.
Scottish Labour row over Trident future
https://archive.today/1zCFj
@ heraldnomore
Yours or theirs?
Is Murphy starting to make way for Findlay to become the new Scottish Labour leader?
Len McCluskey of the Unite union said that Murphy would kill off the Labour Party in Scotland. And when you think that it is the Unite union who have put in the last two Labour leaders, Ed Miliband AND Johann Lamont, then his views have to be taken seriously.
What Len McCluskey doesn’t seem to realise is that, with either Murphy or Findlay, the Scottish Labour Party are finished anyway.
heraldnomore
I can get onto website. Can’t read anything cos I won’t register but it is working.
Have you upset them by any remote possibility?
Author_Al says:
17 November, 2014 at 10:00 pm
Is there a site where facts about the contribution Scotland makes to the UK coffers can be gathered very quickly? Ie one with clear graphics… I know I can dig on WOS if needs be.
Wings article – Unleashing a Firestorm. Has a link to the Financial Times with great graphicx
More on McTernan who will become Labour’s spin doctor in Scotland in event of Jim Murphy being the leader in exile.
In The Times John McTernan added his voice to the increasingly disgruntled MSPs on Labour’s backbenchers concerned over the absence of any credible policy ideas.
http://www.scotsindependent.org/2010/101001/index.htm 27/9/2010
In the memo Mr McTernan states “We need answers urgently” and that “hardly
anyone has seen you apart from political addicts”. The former Scotland
Office adviser tells Mr Gray “Crucially you’ll need to come clean about
the cuts.”
John McTernan who now regurgitates his Daily Telegraph articles in the Scotsman urging Scots to follow Tony Blair’s journey to right wing economics, was described by his boss as “Dedicated, utterly loyal and fiercely determined on my behalf.” Thus Tony Blair in A Journey on his former political secretary, John McTernan, who was questioned under caution by police conducting the cash-for peerages inquiry.
Still, there’s no doubting McTernan’s enduring loyalty. “Tony Blair’s memoirs,” he informed Telegraph readers “should remind Labour that he was popular while Gordon Brown is already forgotten.”
@heraldnomore and lollysmum
My account had been suspended too at the Scottish Statesman! Hope that there is no trouble!
Listening to the audio was hilarious but the transcript really highlights the utter stupidity of this man who could be leader of slab.
Rennie, Lamont and Findlay come across like they have been lobotomized in a laboratory.
How did Unite members vote in the referendum? What % intend to vote SNP in May?
I see Ed Miliband got skewered by that political heavyweight and artistic intellectual Mylene Klass on the ITV’s ‘The Agenda’.
http://order-order.com/2014/11/18/watch-myleene-klass-demolishes-ed-miliband-on-mansion-tax/
How fu##ing embarrassing for Labour.
OBSTACLES TO INDEPENDENCE – WHAT OBSTACLES?
It would appear that the US government
together with most, if not all, European Governments,
thinks that Scotland’s value lies in being under London’s control.
So in their eyes, an England/London without Scotland,
would be so disadvantaged,
that the US & Europe would suffer badly as a consequence.
So what are the assets that Scotland has
which, individually or in combination,
make it the object of so much concern to London, Europe and the United States?
This question is important because it is VITAL over the next few years, that the Independence movement – including the SNP and the Scottish Government, know what we are up against as we strive for Independence.
Why should Europe and the US care so much about Scotland remaining under Westminster’s control?
And do these giant overseas political interests have any bearing on democracy in the relationship between London and Scotland?
Scotlands assets.
Scotland has two major assets, one of which is unique in global terms, and the other which is almost unique in European terms.
The first is it’s NATO strategic location relative to Russia, the North Atlantic and, for future purposes, the North Pole.
The second major asset is Energy.
Oil, Gas and Renewables.
IMO, Scotland, not England, is a VITAL NATO asset.
I’d even say Scotland is indispensable to NATO because of it’s location, and because of the Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane & weapons storage at Coulport.
An Independent Scotland would dispense with Trident and thereby remove a key component of the NATO security strategy in the North Atlantic.
But what about the Oil, Gas & Renewables?
These are connected to the NATO strategic location aspect, simply because, without Scottish Oil, London would be bankrupt. The effect of this on the UK’s ability to maintain it’s nuclear submarines contribution to NATO (and the influence London derives therefrom,) would be catastrophic.
NATO would be seriously weakened and destabilised.
It is difficult to imagine how Europe or the US would tolerate a major degrading of NATO capability in this way.
So, in the grand scheme of global security, in which the US plays the dominant role, Independence for a Trident-free Scotland is consequently, a luxury which the US dominated world can’t afford.
So the US and EU say ‘Sorry Scotland – if you won’t have Trident nuclear submarines, you can’t have Independence.’
Have you ever driven off with the handbrake still on.
NATO is Scotland’s handbrake.
I repeat. The Independence movement needs to know what it is up against.
Neil Findlay and CND. Bigger perhaps than we first thought.
Thanks for the transcript Stu, those of us who don`t hear very well, as opposed to those who don`t listen, miss out on a lot of radio items. Hearing impairment is sometimes like living in a circle of confusion, quite like Neil Findlay at the moment it seems.
@DemocracyReborn
A better strategy on Trident is to explain how frighteningly dangerous Trident is. The third stage rocket engine fuel tanks are stacked around the warheads and are filled with hydrazine, which explodes easily. When they take the warheads off the missiles for maintenance the fuel tanks come with it. If they drop it or something heavy enough drops on it during this process then at best weapons grade plutonium and uranium are spread around Coulport and the loch. At middle the warheads ignite and explode. At pretty bad this recruits the other warheads on the boat and you get perhaps the biggest bang ever known. At worst case this then recruits the warheads stored in the bunkers above Coulport and you get the biggest bang outside of a star going nova. Hydrogen bombs, not simple nukes either.
People do not know or understand about this. The danger is not academic either a worker on one of the American missile silos dropped a wrench which hit the missile and caused the fuel to explode. Fortunately the warhead did not explode. They are not quite sure why not.
well, well, whit a surprise the spin doctors are at work this morning..
The campaign for Neil Findlay to be the next Scottish Labour leader has claimed it is closing the gap on frontrunner Jim Murphy.
The Findlay campaign has indicated the MSP is polling 6% behind his rival ahead of the result on 13 December.
did they hear that radio interview?
Man and boy: that’s partly why I think we should stay in NATO. The other reason being the fact that in an insecure world (I don’t trust China or Russia in the Arctic) it makes sense to remain part of the most successful military alliance ever.
Scotland has 1/3 of the landmass but 85% of the coastline of the UK (all those firths, peninsulas, and island) but nuclear subs are not the best craft for policing this. More conventional means are needed.
Canada and Norway are in NATO. But both have maintained a stance of being nuclear free. They give support in other ways. NZ is also a Major Non-Nato Ally (MNNA) which maintains a non-nuclear stance on its soil.
But where Trident is kept is another matter, and the nukes. There would be nothing incompatible with being part of NATO but requiring that other parts of the UK house these things for a change.
Further thoughts on SLAB leadership
We’ve been treated to a good look at both Murphy & Findlay but today out of the woodwork creeps Sarah Boyack putting in her four.pennorth on Trident. First-aggressive, second-thick, the third -sounding reasonable & thoughtful.
Tack changing maybe?
O/T
YES Generation are gearing up for the future. Now being called OUR GENERATION
Good move:-)
If I was still a Labour voter I would want Neil as leader simply because he does have the right policies. The fact that Balls and Miliband would not let him have those policies is moot.
As a now paid up member of the SNP (got my card yesterday) I want Murphy to get the job. He can start an argument in an empty house.
@ manandboy
would these not be the reasons why Alex sought to reassure on NATO membership prior to the referendum?
I always thought that the SNP MSP’s who went independent over this issue were being self-serving and delusional.
Only an idiot would try and fight all their enemies at the same time.
O/T
I am also getting “account suspended” at Scottish Statesman.
Re NATO – I agree with the comments above.
We had to agree to NATO membership or the US would have made indy impossible to achieve instead of just very hard.
Refusing NATO is idealistic and unfortunately we live in a far from ideal world.
Fight the battles you have a chance of winning.
Re JMcT – he seems to wield a lot of power?
I am a member of CND. I voted against removing nuclear weapons.
what a man what a man (hero to none )as bright as a brick
now wheres the grey man that voted against land mines years after they where banned
is it not time he showed his face ian gray come on down your tea is oot
Le Bloc Quebecois was the official oppostion in Canada for a short perion
from Wiki
“In 1993, the Reform Party challenged whether the Quebec sovereigntist Bloc Québécois could hold the position of official opposition. The Speaker ruled in favour of the Bloc, as they held two more seats than Reform. During the Bloc’s time as the official opposition, Quebec issues on national unity dominated Question Period, often to the irritation of the other opposition parties (indeed, Reform was the only other caucus that met official party status, with the NDP and PC parties falling short of that threshold). However, Reform was considered to be main opposition to the Liberals on all other issues that were not specific to Quebec. In 1995, when Bloc leader Lucien Bouchard’s position as Opposition Leader granted him a meeting with visiting US President Bill Clinton, Reform leader Preston Manning was also given a meeting with Clinton in order to diffuse Bouchard’s separatist leverage.[4]”
Anyone know what this fellows stands for. I wonder what his expenses were. Something is niggling at the back of my mind.
Isles Labour Party announce their man for the General Election
http://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/news/local-headlines/isles-labour-party-announce-their-man-for-the-general-election-1-3608395
On Scotland’s financial contribution to the rest of the UK I like these:
“under the Barnett formula, Scotland has subsidised the rest of the UK by at least £150 billion” http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2014/10/08/smith-and-the-subsidy-myth-makers/
Of the £136 Billion in taxes to be spent on the ‘UK Infrastructure Plan’ Scotland will receive only £1B. That’s less than 1%. http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-pooling-and-the-sharing/
I was reminded above of this:
“an independent Scotland would be 11% better off overnight compared to staying in the UK”
http://wingsoverscotland.com/unleashing-a-firestorm/
and
New figures confirm that Scotland would have been £8.3 billion better off as an independent country
http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/new-figures-confirm-that-scotland-would-have-been-8-3-billion-better-off-an-independent-country/
Will Lords reform help devolution – or scupper it?
http://www.theinformationdaily.com/2014/11/18/will-lords-reform-help-devolution-or-scupper-it
@ Nana Smith at 11.42
His Wiki entry says he used to work for BBC Inverness, Glasgow & Stornoway. Was a Tv & radio reporter. Elected to represent Labour in Western Isles 1999-2007 when he lost his seat.
One of 10 MSP’s investigated by Sunday Mail in 2006 for buying his flat for £90,000 & selling for £245,000 (profit £155,000
Thanks Lollysmum Did’nt have time to go searching for info but I knew there was something dodgy about this character. SNP supporters in the Western Isles need to get a poster made up.
Just another devious thieving labourite.