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Posted on June 07, 2014 by
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RogueCoder

Tried to post this to Wings the other night, but blocked – do we need to edit URLs, Rev?

mogabee

Tell Chris he’s fired! 😉

Robert Bryce

I’ll wipe the tea off my laptop screen now.

Murray McCallum

Hilarious and so true.

James123

Hilarious, this kind of stuff should be on TV.

Morag Graham Kerr

Hah! James emailed me the link yesterday morning. Absolutely hilarious. Chuffed to see it appear on Wings.

Morag Graham Kerr

Rogue Coder, if you want to post a YouTube link, you have to delete everything in the link before the www. It’s a measure Stu took to stop the videos embedding themselves in the comments, which disrupts the formatting of the site.

Retro_Rabbit

That was fantastic… give that man a coconut! I’ve been saying this for years but he put it brilliantly… glad I’ve got a screen protector on my phone. 😀

msean

Very funny,but very true of our national broadcasters.

Les Wilson

Very funny, good old Scottish humour, there is much hidden talent in Scotland, after a YES it be out everywhere. Artists of any kind will express themselves, to the benefit of the whole country.

Seasick Dave

Does anyone else feel that the tide is turning?

I sense that some BBC presenters may be starting to feel like they have backed the wrong horse and hey are now becoming the object of mickey taking and derision.

Scotland has a wonderful chance to progress after a Yes vote and, for the first time in their lives, people feel part of something important and are invigorated by the possibilities that lie ahead.

It can’t be much fun being part of the BBC propaganda machine that mocks these aspirations at every opportunity.

Still, its not too late for them to be part of the ‘happening’.

lorna cruickshank

This is great.I would love to see a bit more of this kind of thing which can engage those of us(not me I hasten to add)who seem not to have shown much interest to date.
Humour is a wonderful campaigning tool and I would love to see more

Drew

Brilliant, so true. Still laughing.

Yesitis

Absolutely spot on. A point made with humour cuts like a hot knife through butter.

I have a feeling I will be showing this to a lot of people over the next few weeks.
🙂

Les Wilson

Sorry, O/T
I went for my weekly shop in Morrison’s today, when I got to the cash desk there where Union Jacks at every cash desk in the place. Proclaiming “Team GB”.

I asked the desk lady if she knew why they had done that, she just muttered “I dunno! they done a few weeks ago too.
Another lady who was assisting with helping fill bags had a GB ” Britain has talent” across the flag. She said ” oh that is just about BHT, I said fine, what about the bigger ones at each cash desk, Oh, thats just for things like ,well last year!

I assumed she meant the Olympics, I said this year there is a TEAM Scotland in the Commonwealth games. OH er she said and turned away.

A Very pro Union Statement by Morrisons however the dress it up, and right in our faces. Boycott of Morrisons in order wingers?

EphemeralDeception

That has made my day.

dennis mclaughlin

Bazinga????!.

James123

@Les Wilson
A Very pro Union Statement by Morrisons however the dress it up, and right in our faces. Boycott of Morrisons in order wingers?

Didn’t someone on Twitter last week claim that staff at Morrisons were handing out BT leaflets?

dennis mclaughlin

Bazinga????!.

Alfresco Dent

That’s hysterical and so true.

@ Les Wilson

I assume you left Morrisons without giving them any money?

Bugger (the Panda)

Is this the Prof at the W of Scotland Uni?

Ian Brotherhood

@BTP –

I think it’s the novelist. He wrote ‘The Testament of Gideon Mack’.

Harry

I left my local Morrisons in Hamilton without buying anything when I saw part of the store was emblazoned with union flags with “Britain’s Got Talent” written across them. Quite what that has to do with Morrisons I have no clue but in Hamilton we are lucky as the nearest rival store is just a stone’s throw away so I went there instead.

Jamie Arriere

He set up Itchy Coo with Matthew Fitt publishing books for children in Scots.

Talented guy, one of the many you rarely see on BBC.

Alex McArthur

Not even finished the first watch and the link is already well on it’s way to four folk!

Bugger (the Panda)

Thanks

Abaron Nomore

Genuinely delighted to hear Morrisons are associating themselves with Better Together as I am always hearing people in my neighborhood saying how much they dislike having to shop at Morrisons. Opportunists who hike prices at every excuse who are now trying to make a virtue of having partially lowered some in response to LIDL taking a big chunk of their custom.

annie

Re Morrisons, someone tweeted last week that the store in Stirling was handing out BT leaflets. I tweeted Morrisons to ask if this was now Company policy, needless to say I am still waiting for a reply. (Got my Tesco delivery this morning).

Pentland Firth

Thanks for sharing this, Rev. Absolutely brilliant. I laughed out loud, but I bet the poor sods at BBC and ITV aren’t laughing. Cringing with well deserved embarrassment more like.

donald anderson

I remember when the Brit left in Scotland described the Scottish news as the Toytown News and only read the Guardian.

Davie Park

Quite what that has to do with Morrisons I have no clue.

Morrisons sponsors Britain’s Got Talent. It’s an attempt to ride the wave of resurgent British patriotism.

That’s one of the great frustrations of this campaign; we seem to be swimming against a high tide of nostalgic Britishness. People yearning for a Britain that never was and turning away from a Scotland that could yet be.

john j

Can’t stop laughing. Ever noticed what a humourless bunch of shits the no campaign are?

Joker

This video is a 3 minute awkward joke that was spent in the first 30 seconds.

annie

Morrisons sponsoring BGT that will be the talent show that refused to come to Scotland this year as Scotland doesn’t have any talent to discover since the discovery of Susan Boyle.

Derek M

totally brilliant humour from a very talented guy thanks for sharing this with us Rev it fair cheered me up lol

Lesley-Anne

Just a pity the video stopped short there. It really should have kept recording so that we could have seen the travel news for the day. Fortunately I managed to catch the travel news. 😉

link to tinyurl.com

Flower of Scotland

Morrisons charge people different prices depending where you live. The one in Glenrothes keeps it’s prices down because there’s an Asda,Aldi and Lidl nearby, but in the south of Edinburgh their prices are higher because there’s no competition!

I have boycotted Morrisons for a while!

wee_monsieur

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing it with us

Proadge

Absolutely fantastic, thank you, James.

On a related note, the great Tom Leonard:
link to s2mskirkwood.wordpress.com

Schiehallion! Schiehallion!

@ john j
Can’t stop laughing. Ever noticed what a humourless bunch of shits the no campaign are?

They only joke when their masters tell them it’s funny.

Which, like their country’s allotted place in the news, is part of what makes them Proud Scotch Shits. Knowing they’re much less important than the big proper more newsy shits they’re proud to slither around under.

JGedd

First saw that a couple of days ago on Bella Caledonia and it still makes me laugh because like all good humour it’s built on a bedrock of truth we all recognize.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard people in the past complaining in a week of horrible weather, “But they said on the BBC weather that we were to have hot,dry weather all week.”

Aye they did, but that was for England. Hearing the weather forecast in the background while doing something else these people were caught out by the main message, often trumpeted brightly again at the end, “So a heat wave ahead for this week. Put away the brollies. We can all enjoy some great weather.”

Of course, if Scotland was actually having downpours all that week it would have been mentioned but subsumed into the more joyful overall message, which is “we” are to enjoy wonderful weather. Unless glued to the whole forecast, the unwary come away with the wrong message for where they live.

It’s a kind of metaphor for the way the UK is, in fact.

turnbull drier

This is cracking.. found it on Bella from a tweet yesterday, but it will be getting shared again 🙂

nemo

Re Morrisons. I posted a pic of Morrison’s on my FB page – one of their flags has YES in the middle of a union flag. Good that they are for independence 😉

Calgacus MacAndrews

O/T – Here’s a bunch of non-Lego people.

YES Edinburgh Super Saturday 7th June: link to i.imgur.com

We all lined-up on the grass (non-astroturf) in the shape of the letters YES, and photos and video were taken from a cherry-picker.

Weather stayed sunny, which was nice.

heedtracker

link to bbc.co.uk

Its funny how the news where we are, hasn’t reported much at all about just how badly Labour did in the Newark by election last week for example. Wonder why the BBC news providers fighting to stop Scotland going independent and vote Lamont’s Labour back in, left the Newark defeat out of their news where we are?

Obviously a by-election disaster for Labour and a Tory triumph is completely irrelevant to Scotland’s referendum and so on. Ah corruption at the BBC in Scotland is a very ridiculous thingee.

almci1975

Nice to see a WOS presence at Yes in the park. Cheers for the snawbaws and Hamish posters and badges Ronnie. Shame about the light drizzle though.

Pam McMahon

BBC Scotland is sitting in God’s waiting room, biding it’s time till the ward round starts on September 18. Plenty of time to read old cookery mags and cast it’s mind back over some of the unfortunate life-choices which led to such a dismal prognosis. Too much imbibing of Labour party rhetoric – too much arrogant disregard for the license fee payers in Scotland – not enough exercise in searching out an unbiased and impartial position? I’ll come to the funeral.

heedtracker

Found something about Newark and Labour and how future PM Milliband will probably never be PM but its certainly tucked away from where we are.

Or, don’t go on about this to the jocks, they have to be suckered into believing Labour’s the next teamGB.gov otherwise etc.

At least the end of Labour has actually been mentioned by bettertogetherBBC as nothing about it all where we are in Aberdeen. Vote No Vote Tory Press and Journal is weirdly silent too. Spooky, although BBC in Scotland did have massive thing about Lord John Reid vote No or else stuff. Spookier.

link to bbc.co.uk

“Lost deposit
Labour will content themselves that their vote share did not fall back too much. But third place here – for the first time since at least the 1930s – will not fill party strategists with confidence that they are appealing to voters in Middle England.

People discontented with the government of the day are not flocking to the official opposition of the day. To win a general election, that would have to change”

steviecosmic

Just read the article on Wings in the FT. I find it amazing that even though there are referenced links in every article, and that the vast majority of arguments published by Wings are constructed from solid logic, there are still people out there who accuse Wings of ‘parroting Salmond’s lies’ etc.

I don’t think I’ve ever suffered from a moment of cognitive dissonance in my entire life. Things change, arguments are made and views are persuasive to the point where one changes one’s mind without ever feeling confusion, certain that the new information is correct or even just ‘more correct’. That, I believe, is just honesty.

manandboy

link to theirishvoice.com

This is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the role of ethnic Irish traditional Labour voters in the Referendum.

A clip: “This (Irish) community is undoubtedly less Irish, less working-class and less Catholic: sometimes dramatically so.
It is in turn more Scottish, more affluent and more secular.”

“Many also see their former favoured Labour Party as currently less concerned with the poor and marginalised, with too many inferior quality careerists representing it, and being much less caring and more self-serving than ever.”

Dr Joe Bradley is a senior lecturer at Stirling University. For more details link to rms.stir.ac.uk

heedtracker

Interesting and ever more exciting BBC blitzing now, with John Reid says vote No! “John Reid calls patriotism claim ‘insulting”

link to bbc.co.uk

Shurely the bettertogether liggers at Pacific Quay cant be trying to divert attention from Labour coming third behind UKIP too at Newark and by mega boosting ageing old Labour Lord, pushing pretence like Labour does still have a future term in power and might fool some into voting no for a 2015 Labour.gov with future PM Milliband not kicking Scotland’s airse?

“People discontented with the government of the day are not flocking to the official opposition of the day. To win a general election, that would have to change” Sayeth BBC news dude where they are too.

Murray McCallum

Reid, Galloway and Coburn – three arseholes with a lot of cheek and definitely better together.

G. Campbell

Crossfire (Political)

Time: 09:00 to 10:00 (1 hour long).
When: Sunday 15th June on BBC Radio Scotland

Campaigners from both sides of the referendum debate review the big issues.

Starring Stephanie Cutter as Kezia Dugdale and Newt Gingrich as Andrew Wilson.

link to 1.bp.blogspot.com

cynicalHighlander

OT/ First 8 mins essential listening for all politicians everywhere in these isles.

link to bbc.co.uk

Les Wilson

Alfresco Dent says:

No, I paid, I was in a long queue with a trolly full of messages but made my feelings known and told the lady to let her boss know he HAS NOW lost a customer. She said she would.

Plenty other places around where I stay that have no nonsense on show.

Truth

@Les Wilson 1:37

I have been boycotting Morrisons for ages after their boss Dalton Philips made his idiotic comments.

I emailed him (very politely I might add) and he didn’t even dignify it with a response.

Therefore I haven’t spent a penny in there for months. That’s a lie actually, I have popped in to use their toilets a few times, but that was the only penny I was spending.

For the time being they still own Kiddicare though are wanting to sell it. I boycott it also, and with a toddler they are losing out on a lot of money. We all know how much kids cost.

Get along to Aldi and Lidl. They are keenly priced, advertise their Scottish produce and have Scots voice-overs on their adverts. It all smacks of a commitment to Scotland to me.

Croompenstein

@cynicalhighlander – Thanks for that. Very moving listening to someone like Mr Nash

Clootie

It has always pissed me off as another example of the dominance game. Once again humour is a far better tool to highlight it instead of ranting (as I normally do)

Proud Cybernat

O/T

Populus Poll for F.T.

YES 40%
NO 47%
DK 15$

YES we can!

Proud Cybernat

Sorry – D/K 13%

Clootie

Truth says:
7 June, 2014 at 5:21 pm

No more shopping in unionist stores for us and we have stopped buying anything covered in union jacks.
Aldi and Lidl for me as they demostrate an understanding of what’s going on.

Croompenstein

Nae cartoon from Chris but this is a cracker from Greg

link to gregmoodie.com

Vestas

My wife found it funny, she’s English & has spent probably 3 weeks of her life in Scotland.

The BBC funding for English regions/Wales is abysmal so the “news where you are” comments ring true everywhere outside London.

Albert Herring

But Alastair Darling gave us some superb Better Together comedy last week with his hilarious “you’re all a bunch of Nazis” quip. Iain Gray had to go to A&E for emergency side surgery!

Croompenstein

We should replace Vanunu and Guy Fawlkes with Flipper and well just about any one from Better Together….

s-in-history/" rel="nofollow ugc">link to listverse.com

CameronB Brodie

It’s June. It’s raining. I’m Scots. I will prevail. 😉

And finally. Speculation grows over the future of Britain, as ordinary citizens rip the total pish out of the establishment. 🙂

link to en.wikipedia.org

CameronB Brodie

IMO, Vanunu was a hero, if a bit naive.

call me dave

Hi all
Was well into buying an 02 mobile as a replacement for someone in my family. Then I noticed the ‘better together’ adverts in the O2 shop shelves.

Asked if O2 were part of the NO campaign, to which I got an unsatisfactory answer. Paperwork handed back and phone put back in box.

Told them I would get a mobile from another provider. 🙁

john king

Where am I?

cynicalHighlander

@john king

Eccles!

Les Wilson

john king says:

John I do like your new avatar, but rather preferred your previous real picture! Ha!

john king

Yes that’s Eccles the other avatar was Bluebottle.

john king

I wasn’t the only one I see who took offence at the wall to wall union flags in Morrison’s, one of the staff even had a union top on, I emailed Morrison’s to make them aware that their behaviour has been noted and wont be quickly forgotten so they had better be aware they stand to lose a lot of customers if they keep up their support for better together.

CameronB Brodie

Sorry, I just realised how “I will prevail”, might come across as ethnically driven and isolationist. Possibly even expansionist. But only if you believe Alistair Darling, that this is at the heart of my desire to have my vote count.

He’s a British Labour politician, so he perhaps knows more than I do. I’ll need to ask my English relatives what they think.

Wp

I wouldn’t worry about Morrisons and their union jacks etc. If you are undecided and a proud Scot,union jacks in your face will probably push you towards Yes. One reason I hope England go far in the World Cup.

Croompenstein

It will be interesting to see what gets prominence during the Commonwealth Games, I would hope that it’s the Saltire and the cheering on of Team Scotland..

galamcennalath

Perhaps no one has explained to Morrison’s that it won’t actually be Team GB at the Commonwealth Games!?

(Apologies if someone else has already said this.)

john king

I took exception to the abundance of Union flags in Morrison’s so sent them some feedback

It has come to my notice that store staff were employed passing out Better together leaflets in the Stirling store, This may well constitute a breach of Electoral Commission rules, since I would assume Morrison’s are not a registered no supporter with the Electoral Commission which in turn would mean physical assistance could be a breach of the commissions rules,

I went to the Perth store today to be assailed by wall to wall Union flags,

now I personally don’t have an opinion good or bad about a supermarket branding produce with the union flag but the ridiculous over abundance of union flags was quite frankly sinister,
It is worth noting that the polls in Scotland are much closer than the Main stream media’s silly poll’s would suggest,
you only have to look at a hugely expensive poll the government ran only to withhold publication of its findings to know this is not a clear win for the no campaign and any company coming out firmly in favour of no stands to do untold damage to its reputation post a yes (or more importantly, a) no vote,
Morrison’s would be well advised to tread carefully,

I for one wont be back in your stores until you show balance, and for your books I would estimate my wife’s and my expenditure to be £50.00 pw approx, not massive I admit, but multiply that by every YES voter in Scotland and Morrison’s is in trouble!

galamcennalath

Populus Poll for F.T.

YES 40%
NO 47%
DK 13%

Other analysis seem to have been showing DKs convert at 2:1 yes:no

That would make it neck and neck with the usual 3% error.

Nice!

Free at 63!

Aye and Seb Coe claims the Commonwealth Games are ‘British’. That is London is better than Glasgow – aye right!

link to bbc.co.uk

CameronB Brodie

I was our leafleting at the Meadows Festival today, which was nice. Perhaps I just have a knack, but I had very few refuse the “Aye Right” flyer, which was even nicer. 🙂

I even met a No who thinks Yes will win. That’s a new one for me and was nice also. 🙂

Croompenstein

Just noticed that Morrison’s are sponsoring the ITV show Britain’s Got Talent and this could explain the abundance of union flags (the Mrs is watching it not me..honest)

cal

O/T Sorry. Trying to convice someone who works for HMRC to vote Yes. She says her employer has told her that 20,000 people are employed by HMRC in Scotland and they do work for the whole of the UK.She’s been told that an independent Scotland would need far fewer staff so she would most likely lose her job if we become independent. Is this true? Can’t find any stats for total employees in Scotland on Google. Wiki says total for UK is 67,000 but that’s all I can find. Any help would be appreciated. She’s an SNP supporter and likes the First Minister so pushing against an open door here if I can give her some reasurance. Please help.

Andy-B

O/T.

Just heard on Reporting Scotland news, that the makers of Lego, have warned the Westminster Government NOT to use it to illustrate, anything to do with Scottish independence. Westminster have used Lego figures to show all manner of patronising situations, with regards to independence.

CameronB Brodie

P.S. I’d be happy to chip in £100, if there is a print-run of the “Aye Right” flyer being organised. Any replies in O/T, please. 😉

ronnie anderson

WINGS IN STRATHCLYDE PARK.

Many Thanks to the many fellow Wingers/Yes Campainers & the

many Lurkers of WOS,who visited the stall, I hope You all

had a nice day ( wet very wetter,but didnt dampen anyones

spirits,an naebody got droonded ). 600 Alert badges/Hamish

posters went like hot cakes, an the Snaw balls went down a

treat. Met many old faces & many new.You Lads n Lasses

made our day worthwhile,so on behalf of Patrician & Wife,

Man in the Jar, Silvertay ,Robert, Gerry Parker Thanks.

REV. Lets take this Show on the Road & put Wings on the

street stalls,Cmon Wingers orginize in Your Areas.

bittie glakit

How come nobody has told us we can’t belong to the commonwealth when we are independent? Surely they’re missing a trick there.

TJenny

Cal – Who is telling her this? Is it the high heid yins whose positions may possibly be over represented in an indy Scotland and therefore may indeed be supernumerary to requirements, or her union?

Can’t believe it’s PCS as I understand their ballot showed they had no branches that voted against indy, so is it someone in the rarified heirarchy trying to preserve their position, or the union that is telling her this?

ann

“and Morrison’s is in trouble!”

I believe they already are. I read that their perecentage share of the UK Market has dropped about 1% in the last couple of months and are heading on a downward spiral in trying to keep shoppers heading to Lidl and Aldi.

TJenny

Cal – and surely the fact that ALL taxes will be accruing to an indy Scotland’s treasury means that we need far more tax workers than at present, especially if we manage to get large corps actually paying their taxes. 🙂

Jock McDonnell

cal, i don’t have the precise info but if you Email: info@yesscotland.net
they will give you a briefing

Always remember – the union offers NO guarantees, ask the miners, where have the shipyards gone ? what about no more boom n bust ?

rab_the_doubter

Ronnie & Co at the Wings Tent,
Brilliant showing by you guys and thanks for letting me keep out of the rain. Had a great time.

ann

T Jenny & Cal. We get this at work as well. Work for a UK and Worldwide Defence Contractor who feels that they can’t work outwith the Union, but have sites based from Australia to the Middle East.

Bosses sendout e-mails to us. One sent recently was from a meeting that was held in England with Unions from England and issued to us. Got posted on the noticeboard.

It get’s us very angry and it has been reported to our site manager.

The place is already in the doldrums due to the continuing redundancies that have been hitting us in recent years, and when things like this appear in the mail-boxes and noticeboards we are now starting to get tetchy and rebellious.

The Union Dividend is not saving jobs now and probably won’t in the future as there is a review at the end of this year, beginning next with even more redundancies expected.

As for trying to get through to HMRC, that’s a joke. Only open 9-5 Monday to Friday and even then you have to go through an automated answering machine to get you to which ever service you want and which struggles with my West Fife accent.

Jeannie

@ronnie

It was great to meet you all at the Wings tent today. Always nice to put a face to a name. Maybe I’ll try out your sausages next time. Love The Man in the Jar’s wee dug. And Rab, are you called the doubter on account of being a natural sceptic or is it something to do with the fags?

cal

Thanks folks. I’ll e-mail Yes Scotland with question. Not with her right now so can’t ask her exactly who’s telling her what but seems to be her managers. Also said people around her were pushing this line too. If there are 67000 employres UK wide then pro rata we’d need 8.4% of that??? which would be 5628…Good point about being lots of extra things for indy Scotland be to collecting tax on. The work of the present DVLA being a good example and VAT being another. She works in the tax enforcement/ compliance bit. I really need to verify that 20000 figure.

Jeannie

@The Man in the Jar

Nice to meet you today. I’ve missed your rants of old 🙂

Edward

Cal
I’m actually involved in international logistics, which also includes work with HMRC (VAT/Duty/Excise)
I can assure you the person that works for HMRC has been told a load of bollocks about an independent Scotland needing fewer HMRC staff.

If anything a Scottish HMC will require more at all levels and departments!

For PAYE and NIC, they will still need staff to manage PAYE and NIC, this may reduce as they will not be responsible for tax payers in England, Wales and N. Ireland. HOWEVER this will be phased as the various adjustments are made.
BUT staff for VAT will increase dramatically, due to processes currently carried out in Salford and Southend move to Scotland In addition organisations such as Tesco, M&S, Morrisons etc will have to open accounting offices in Scotland, all of which will have to be managed by an enlarges HMRC VAT department.

Then we move on to Duty and Excise. Currently goods imported or exported via English ports and airports are ‘customs processed’ at these locations. With independence , this process will change and additional staff will be required in Scotland to manage it.

Perhaps the person you spoke to is only involved in PAYE/NIC, which as mentioned would be expected to reduce. BUT this would be more than be taken up with other HMRC processes and departments that are currently outside Scotland

Croompenstein

@Edward – Well said Edward, this is why I F*ckin love WoS

TJenny

ann – and what are your unions saying? Aren’t there any in your union who will speak up for the indy supporters in their midst?

crazycat

@ cal (and T Jenny)

Definitely worth getting your friend to talk to the union – my understanding is that PCS as a whole voted at a special conference to remain neutral (with some delegates wanting to support Yes, but none in favour of supporting No, as T Jenny said), but that some branches had previously and separately come out in favour of Yes – including those at Centre 1 and the DWP in Glasgow.

Patrician

Hi to all who were at Yes in the Park today. Special message to Isobel I see you still haven’t posted yet, what is keeping you? I have some photos I will try to get up later.

p.s. those who turned up late, missed the attempted mating of the SNP and Wings gazebos 😀

TJenny

Cal + ann – these statements from her ‘cough’ ‘ahem’ superiors (apols to Lesley-Ann! :-), has she asked herself whether she places any faith in their other pearls of wisdom on for example new working strategies and staff reductions? If she doesn’t really believe their former outpourings, which I would suggest is highly likely, why then should she believe them on this?

Lynn Blair

@Ronnie

So nice to meet you all today and to put some faces to names. You were lovely with the kids and they all enjoyed their snowballs!

Thanks for all your hard work. I really hope there’s some more stuff like this over the summer – great fun!

Some photos here:
link to lynnblair.blogspot.co.uk

john king

Cal says
“Trying to convince someone who works for HMRC to vote Yes. She says her employer has told her that 20,000 people are employed by HMRC in Scotland ”

Im struggling to believe that out of 70.000 full time posts in the entire UK,(source link to gov.uk) 20.000 of them are in Scotland Cal, at a guess Id imagine something like 7000 jobs if your lucky,

Somebodies blowing smoke up someones ass Cal I cant see an independent Scotland needing less that 7000 tax officers.

Ian Brotherhood

@TJenny –

Today, in Saltcoats, got talking to a fascinating character who must remain nameless, but is a Communist who knows Brian Donohoe from way, way back. The stories, although largely unrepeatable, were utterly fantastic.

As he was telling me this stuff, Katy Clark was no more than twenty feet away, handing out ‘United With Labour’ leaflets. (Donohoe was meant to be doing the same in Irvine but I don’t know if he bothered.) What she and Donohoe share is a very real prospect of being out of a job in the not too distant future.

The difference between them? Katy Clark is widely respected by her constituents. Donohoe, frankly, is not – view Clan Destiny’s coverage of his recent calamitous appearance at the Volunteer Rooms for evidence. There could be a place for Katy in an independent Scotland, and I for one would bemoan her absence. Donohoe, on the other hand, will be walking the plank.

Someone in the Labour Westminster Scottish hierarchy is going to have to break ranks. I’ve already asked Katy to do it (via e-mail) but she didn’t respond. The opportunity exists, right now, for a brave character to resign, unite with Allan Grogan, get LFI constituted as a real political party, and deliver the coup-de-grace to the embarrassing farce headed by Lamont and her cronies.

I don’t know enough about the inner workings of Scottish Labour to know whether or not it’s plausible or possible, but the feeling on the ground, from ‘staunch’ Labourites I know (be they family members or Ayrshire locals) is that something radical has to happen, and the sooner the better.

ronnie anderson

@Patrician an thank god fur gerrys hairy string that held the gezebo together, an You’s lot are leaveing me to explain to Airdrie & Shotts Yes group why they will have no
gezebo ( it got broked by the SNP stall trying to fly without Wings) lol.

Ian Brotherhood

@crazycat/cal/TJenny –

This may be of interest:

link to richieventon.blogspot.co.uk

cal

Thanks Edward I’ll pass that on. In my search for an answer to the number of employees question I came across a very interesting webside which could be of use to other Wingers. It’s called http://www.whatdotheyknow.com It allows you to search and view FOI requests that have been made in the past. A guy called Chris Thomasin Sept 2009 asked how many staff employed by HMRC and reply was 44430 full time equivelant posts. Also found out Irish Revenue and Customs employs 6000 full time staff.

ronnie anderson

@ T Jenny we we were asked several times today when is the Edinburgh WOS nite out, have you & Cameron B any news on that front.

Also Dumfries Wingers looking to have a nite.

Thepnr

@Ian Brotherhood

Did you see this about a sitting Labour MP George Mudie, a Scot who represents Leeds East.

link to news.stv.tv

Croompenstein

@cal – that is a cracking link you provided, found this wee gem that hasn’t been responded to..mmm..

link to whatdotheyknow.com

ronnie anderson

@ Lynn Blair thanks I hope there nae fighting fur the Hamish posters, but lovely to see you & the Family today.

cal

Sorry that should be 74430 full time equivalent posts!

gordoz

Great Day at YES in the Park (good turnout despite the rain)

Brilliant to see a WoS stall & Tent

Nice to meet you Ronnie A & the Wee Ginger Dug (What a star!) Nice to meet you too Paul C

Now wearing my new Wings badge with pride.

F.U.B&Q (my new sign off)

cal

Another requst for information (sorry to be a pain) but my local Yes group is running low on Aye Right cards. Does anyone know where I can buy some more? Who supplies and how can I contact them? Thanks.

Rory

that was class, loved it.

TJenny

ronnie anderson – I have no idea about a WOS night out in Edinburgh – CameronB, Lanarkist, Cactus and others who said they would suss out venues, have been strangley quiet of late.

I had a quick glance at Edinburgh pubs around Waverley station, however, Edinburgh is very different to Glasgow – everywhere around Waverley, easily accessible for all (i.e. no stairs), is fairly expensive.

Had a look at the option of folk getting of at Haymarket (no sniggering in the cheap seats, please), and the Haymarket Bar looked interesting, with its beers an’ all.

link to nicholsonspubs.co.uk

Don’t have info on WiFi and connection thingys though. More research required by those interested.

Marcia

Cal

The UK figures you quote seems too high.

link to blogs.channel4.com

Since 2012 there have been many staff reductions in Scotland with the closure of various offices and soon all the local enquiry centre will shut leading to more staff reductions. Many of Scotland’s tax records away from Centre 1 are dealt by south of the border.

lumilumi

Thanks, Rev Stu for posting this for a wider audience.

What a quietly hilarious exposé of the patronising mindset of the “where we are” people.

I especially loved the weather bit. As a Finn I find it hilarious that 3 centimetres of snow in SE England is a national emergency and national – even international – news. Snowfall doesn’t make the national news in Finland unless more than 30 cm gets dumped in a day. Snow in Finland never makes the international news – well, do bears shit in the woods etc. (The bears are hibernating during the winter anyway.)

I used to think the BBC was trustworthy and informative but their blatant bias re. the Scottish situation has made me cast a critical eye on all their output.

What I find is increasingly shallow tabloid-style journalism.

Take this piece, for example. The BBC seem to be saying that sleeping in less than pitch-black bedrooms makes you fat.

link to bbc.com

I don’t think that is what the scientists were saying, or if they were, they’re as bonkers as the BBC. The point is, the BBC’s point of view is totally anglocentric – they’re not even thinking about Scotland that has lighter summers.

Where I live, in southern Finland, the sun set about 45 minutes ago (22.44 our time) but it isn’t dark yet, and the sun will rise about 03.53, so it’ll only be properly dark for two hours, maybe? Summer is a dire time for amateur astronomers in Finland, you can’t really see the stars from May to September.

Why don’t all Finns get fat during the summer when they have to sleep in less than pitch-black conditions? Why don’t all Finns lose weight during the winter when it is dark? The opposite tends to be true. People put on a couple of kilos during the winter and lose it during the summer.

That silly BBC story looked at things from a very narrow (southern) English perspective. Bless them, they just cannot help themselves. It’s the news and science/health stories where they are.

ronnie anderson

@ gordoz aye you must have been early badges run out, wee

ginger dug wiz hingin aboot waitin on wan of oor rolls n

sausages.

CameronB Brodie

TJenny
Oh you liar, I never said anything of the such. 😉
Early July and that massive pub down the Cowgate. Happy. 🙂

G H Graham

This 3 minutes of comedy is one of the most accurate metaphors of the British media, especially the BBC.

If it’s not in London or reported from London, as far as the south east is concerned, it isn’t worth reporting nationally.

So looking forward to ditching this rotten, corrupt Ministry of British State Propaganda.

cal

Don’t know Marcia but that figure is from the ‘horse’s mouth’ ie UK gov. . Go to http://www.whatdotheyknow.com and search for Chris Thomas and you’ll see the letter he got in reply to his request. Thanks for everyone’s help with the HMRC thing. A pile of stuff has been passed on to try and bring her round to Yes.

CameronB Brodie

TJenny
Sorry, I should have read on. The Haymarket is also handy and large-ish.

TJenny

CameronB Brodie – soz – thought you had – anyway – what massive pub down the Cowgate and is it within easy access for all?

Croompenstein

It is,sadly, the biggest difficulty for us pursuing independence is the ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality.

If there is a threat to someone’s employment prospects then they are going to be difficult to convince that independence will make things better no matter what evidence is produced to the contrary

CameronB Brodie

TJenny
I wouldn’t give up so easily, if I were you. 😉

Re. pub. I can’t remember it’s name, but it’s set back from the road with a bear garden. South side, between the bridges, if memory serves. I’ve just thought about getting from the station to the Cowgate, and the Haymarket makes more sense, now that I engage brain.

gerry parker

@ Cameron B.
A Bear garden, isn’t that a bit dangerous?
🙂

CameronB Brodie

gerry parker
Stimulating? 🙂

TJenny

CammyB – A BEAR garden! Oh, I sooooooooooooo want to be where they have a BEAR garden. 🙂

Or could you be referring to ‘The Three Sisters’?

link to thethreesistersbar.co.uk

Jock Scot

@T Jenny
Sorry I didn’t get back to you re looking for pubs in Edinburgh..been a bit of a week.

CameronB Brodie

Grrrr.

crazycat

@ Ian Brotherhood

Thanks for the link about an hour ago – definitely interesting, though alas not surprising.

CameronB Brodie

TJenny
That’s the one, but there is a whopping big hill to get around, or over if healthy.

Iain

@CameronB Brodie
‘Re. pub. I can’t remember it’s name, but it’s set back from the road with a bear garden. South side, between the bridges, if memory serves.’

Pear Tree? Hope it doesn’t have a bear garden!

Fairliered

Ian Brotherhood. Agree with you regarding Katy Clark and Brian Donohoe. I respect Katy Clark as one of the few socialists in the Labour Party. I don’t think she will come out for Yes, but I still think she would be an asset to an independent Scotland. Brian Donohoe on the other hand will continue to be an embarrassment to Scotland, independent or otherwise.

Fairliered

Is Ryries at Haymarket station too small?

Betsy

@Cal,
The Republic of Ireland has approx 6000 people employed in Irish Tax & Customs to service a smaller population than Scotland’s. With that in mind John King’s estimate of approx 7000 or so staff for Scotland seems pretty much bang on. Though it is likely more staff will be needed during the transition period to assist with the set up of a full revenue service.

Even in the event of a no vote further heavy job losses are coming for the civil service. The UK government in it’s wisdom has it’s ‘digital by default’ policy which aims to restrict the public to contacting all government departments online and eliminate as much as possible phone & face to face contact as well as cutting down on the use of paper forms for benefit claims, tax returns etc. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that online is the cheapest way to process returns and enquiries and that fewer staff will be needed to deal with most HMRC functions in the future.

According to the UK government there are just 9860 people working for HMRC in Scotland, so yes with independence there could also be job cuts in HMRC in the longer term -if we use the 7000 figure as a guide. Either way the 20,000 figure your friend has been given is nonsense. However with independence there will also be a substantial increase in civil service jobs in other areas as reserved matters come under the control of the Scottish Government offering scope to redeploy any ‘excess’ staff from HMRC to other civil service departments.

I’ve been through redundancy before and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone so I can fully understand your friend’s position but in her shoes I’d have to conclude indy is the safer bet. The union guarantees job losses in HMRC, independence merely risks them with the very strong prospect of redeployment elsewhere in the civil service.

It would be a very, very foolish first government of an independent Scotland that makes mass civil service redundancies in it’s first term. They’d be handing the PCS pretty powerful leverage and pretty much ensure they were unelectable for a long time to come. Not to mention incurring the wrath of everyone who voted yes. With that in mind for your friend I’d say independence offers a worst case scenario of redeployment, natural wastage and voluntary redundancies. The union offers compulsory redundancies and natural wastage.

CameronB Brodie

Iain
TJenny got it (The Three Sisters), but I think her suggestion is better. Just my opinion.

Paula Rose

Oh gosh – I’m getting confused, are we going to meet in a bare garden? Does that mean I can wear my Yes heels but nowt else?

Paula Rose

This will be news where we are!!!

TJenny

Paula Rose – this will be news, where we’re not. 🙂

CameronB Brodie

At least I’m good for a giggle, even if I don’t mean to be. 😉

Croompenstein

Where is Marcia with the front page of SH?

TJenny

Croompenstein – nice deflection. 🙂

Marcia

Sunday Herald front page;

link to twitter.com

Some of the articles in the paper

Blueprint for turning Scotland into a new industrial powerhouse after a Yes vote;

BBC Scotland chiefs plan station overhaul as strike threat looms – in tomorrow’s paper

Commonwealth Games organisers turn to emergency funds as £46m back-up pot is exhausted;

a new blueprint for Scotland; troubles in Labour; abortion devolved after No vote; Africans in Scotland back Yes;

Holyrood chief executive in row over transparency of the judiciary;

Scotland fails for third time in a row to meet carbon targets;

Brotyboy

C’mon Marcia.

Brotyboy

Aaaargh!

Croompenstein

@Marcia – Just 🙂

CameronB Brodie

So the only Scottish paper that supports independence, has nothing to say about “blood and soil”. That’s a bit odd.

caz-m

Reading the last few comments, I thought I had entered a soft porn site for half a dozen people. lol

Edward

Sunday Herald front page
link to twitter.com

🙂

CameronB Brodie

@ Sunday Herald
We know what Alistair Darling thinks is at the heart of the independence movement, we know what is under the carpet.

LizM

I work for HMRC and have not been advised by any superiors that I will be less likely to have a job after indie. HMRC is actually shedding jobs now while we are in the union.

I do actually state to colleagues that tax collection and governmental work will still be required as Scotland will not suddenly regress to the neolithic age.

cal

Betsy.
Brilliant! Thanks for that. Don’t know how you got the 9860 figure but that’s exactly what I needed .It proves they’re lying to her and that’s a big help. Possibly enough to get her on side. Can you give me the link where you got the figure so I can nail the point? Thanks.

Paula Rose

caz-m dear, there is nothing soft about my high heels, oops still on main thread, scuttle back to a safe distance.

Edward

LizM – Did you see my comment re HMRC
specifically that the VAT operations currently at Southend will have to move to Scotland and FAS operations at Salford will also have to move

What I didn’t mention was that an independent Scotland would have to open a treasury account with a bank. Currently import Duty and VAT is paid into Citibank in London (that’s the bit I deal with) I cant remember which bank UK HMG use for other tax payments

Indy_Scot

100 days to save Scotland.

lumilumi

@ Cameron B

I know.

The only pro-indy paper and they’d have a feast of stories/lies to get their teeth into, and they’re running with the… erm… riveting story of reindustrialisation.

Fair dos, it’s an important aspiration, but right now it’d be more important to focus on UK gov/BT/NOB/BBC lies and distortions of the week.

Sigh.

stonefree

@Ian Brotherhood
I would not be holding my breath for Katy Clark, Unionist through and through.
If you trawl through her motions (so to speak) not a lot of Scottish ones, she can talk a good game
Of course that’s only my opinion

Tam Jardine

Cameron B Brodie

Just a thought but the News Room on Leith Street has a big room downstairs that can be booked – dead handy for the arse end of the station down Calton (road?)

Jinglin Geordie is a guid boozer, again v handy for the station… shame the Heb on market Street ain’t bigger.

3 sisters is not a guid shout on a Friday night IMO- it will be rammed. Hay market Bar I know less well.

Will try to make it wherever

CameronB Brodie

lumilumi
I still can’t honestly get my head around your interest in our mess (I may have missed relevant info), but thanks all the same. Some of your posts are truly uplifting.

Croompenstein

Thought Colin Fox was excellent today at yes in the park and FFS Alistair MacDonald sang Sam the Skull..big heads up to Kevin and independence live providing this service.

Don’t have your indiegogo link thistle but will be donating more before it runs out..

CameronB Brodie

Will try to make it wherever

Same here. That’s been a few good suggestions we can thrash out over in Off-Topic.

Thepnr

@Tam Jardine

News Room sounds good, not from the area can you find out more?

lumilumi

@ LizM

Exactly!

Indy Scotland will have to have government departments dealing with all the stuff independent countries deal with. The one-off set-up costs might gobble up a tenth of the national budget for a year but then start saving money through good governance.

There will be MORE government jobs in Scotland after indy, MORE revenue to pay for them (because Scottish revenue won’t be recycled through Westminster where a lot of it sticks) and as an added bonus, the income tax of all Scottish civil servants AND their disposable income benefiting the Scottish economy.

An additional benefit is more job prospects for the highly educated youth of Scotland so they don’t have to emigrate.

What’s not to like?

Thepnr

@lumilumi

I hear what your saying about the Sunday Herald and the events of this week. This week is past though and is no longer news, unless they could prove for example that Obama was following 10 Downing St script or that AD really did say blood and dirt. Then no point, it aint news.

A vison of re-industrialisation of Scotland is something I for one want to hear about. We have far too many young unemployed, you know those that for them university or college is a mirage. We need apprenticeships, thousands of them each year teaching skills and providing well paying jobs.

We need industry, that is the only way we will prosper in the future. Our oil bonus will allow us to rebuild what Scotland was once the worlds best at. That is building things. Well done to alex Salmond for having this vision.

Tam Jardine

Thepnr

Will do

Patrician

Already posted this on off-topic:, time for it to go mainstream.

Some pictures from today’s Yes in the Park. Here is the link link to imgur.com.

Please shout if you are in any of the photos and don’t it to be included in the album or if there are any issues viewing the photos.

Great day today, good to see so many smiling faces even later when it got very wet.

My humblest apologies to Silvertay for referring to him as The Man in the Jar a couple of times today. Strangely, I always introduced The Man In the Jar correctly.

We had a few undecideds todays and 1 or 2 No voters visit the stall (dragged along by their better halfs) all left either as Yes or had lots to think about.

Betsy

@Cal,
The 9860 comes from this scaremongering statement from Carmichael which naturally leaves out all the civil service jobs that would be needed in an indy Scotland link to gov.uk

Still 9860 seems a plausible figure, certainly more so than 20,000.

Croompenstein

@lumilumi – What’s the situ in Finland? is Helsinki a dark star for the rest of the economy? How much responsibility has local government for taxes etc? And is there a huge disparity between the rich and poor?

Ian Brotherhood

@stonefree –

I hear you, and understand, but Katy Clark must be one of the very few Scottish Labour MPs who still commands enough respect to make the transition to a political life in indy Scotland.

I really don’t know enough about the whole scene, and I’m biased because she’s my MP and has always been decent in any communication I’ve had with her. Truth is, she strikes me as a fundamentally decent spud and I’d hate to see her going down with the Labour ship when she still has the chance to bail out.

a2

“I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard people in the past complaining in a week of horrible weather,”

Unfortunately, a lot of people make important decisions based on what the bbc tells them regardless of a wealth of their own experience telling them they shouldn’t do that.

Marker Post

Classic!

caz-m

Regarding Union Jacks in Morrisons. I will be paying my local Morrisons store a visit tomorrow and will be complaining to management about the lack of Saltires on view and asking if they are in any way linked to the Better Together campaign.

I will then leave the store without buying anything.

I was in the ASDA store in Govan tonight and there are Saltire linked products all over the place. They had a special World Cup display made up and guess what, someone forgot to add England to it. Shame.

When I look at the Union Jack now, I can’t see the Saltire in it anymore, all I see now, is a big Red St Georges Cross jumpin out at me.

LizM

Cal/Edward and all

The figure of 20000 tax workers is also a bit odd. My office is one of the biggish ones with about 1400 staff, you would need about 14 offices that size in Scotland.
HMG is reducing staff throughout the civil service and across the UK now, so there is no guarantee if she votes no.
More and more is being done online now and I have to advise taxpayers to use hmrc.gov.uk to submit info etc when they call with a query.

Incidently to the person who can’t get through most Tax Offices are now open 8.00am till 8.00pm Mon to Fri.

ronnie anderson

please note the niffty repairs ( with hairy sting dont ask its a gerry thing )at Patrician 11.26.

ronnie anderson

@ Ian Brotherhood,left a message in O/T.

lumilumi

@ Cameron B (11.09pm)

I fell in love with Scotland the first night I was there. It’s a long story but after several weeks in England, I felt like coming home when I got to Scotland (Edinburgh). Hmm. Maybe the guys from the hostel and whisky had something to do with it, but I remember our jokes about our bigger neighbours. This was in the early 1990s.

Later on I actually lived in Scotland, first illegally (before Finland was in the EU) and then legally for a longer while.

I’m a keen wilderness trekker and hillwalker. Finland offers more wilderness but Scotland offers better hills, actual bite-sized mountains. One thing I love about Scotland is that it has a similar “everyman’s right” to the Nordic countries. England and Wales are horribly different. You aren’t allowed to ramble wherever, some landowner might come with a shotgun and chase you off HIS land.

Not in the Nordic countries or Scotland (though the English/foreign landlord might try that in Scotland, not being aware of Scottish laws).

I love Scotland because when I lived there, I saw that it was a very welcoming, vibrant but also a strangely repressed country. I felt it was the most Finnish-like corner of the British isles. (Ireland is independent but they’re a bit all singing and dancing for us dour Finns.)

I’d thought to immigrate to Scotland but family stuff is keeping me in Finland, and if Scotland votes NO I’m not sure if I want to. A country that votes aginst its own independence? OK, it might be based on BBC and MSM lies, but still..?

I just cannot understand the mindset of anybody who votes against self determination and enhanced democracy. Sorry, but I just can’t.

stonefree

@ Ian Brotherhood
And mine…… However you no doubt saw the United with Labour trash that was printed in her name , Very disingenuous full of misinformation purporting to be the truth( Aye I know, still) If you can’t give truthful statements it doesn’t bode well for you in the future , if nothing else ,the ability to retain some credibility.
I would think if she were to say anything and I seriously doubt it, it’s far too little, far too late
Might I suggest too much of the comfy seats for her,I suppose that after Brian Wilson I wasn’t expecting much and got it

Patrician

ronnie anderson @8:52

Gazebo is broken? surely not.

I think you will find it was OK when I packed it away at end of day. It must have gotten trapped in a door or something, or it could have been removing the hairy string that broke it 😉

Cindie

Looks like you all had a brilliant time at Yes in the Park, so good to see you all, and Wee Ginger Dug. @Ronnie, but my very favourite bit was the string, proper job that!

ronnie anderson

@Patrician I had to break the bad news to Stuart Gamble,

Alan Beverage had a garden party planned, how much is a

of polythene an a couple of 4x2s lol

ronnie anderson

roll of polythene

Patrician

@ronnie

I wasn’t invited to the garden party so who cares 😀

I hope you explained to Stuart it wasn’t really a problem, a roll of hairy string and it would be as good as new. However, you need Gerry to tell you where to buy the good hairy string but that might be a trade secret.

ronnie anderson

@patrician kevin Livestreamed but it was at the stage,REVs

ahappy clappy chappy by the sounds of his Email,& I see

others are starting to follow our example Thepnrs post.

Ian Brotherhood

@stonefree –

It pains me to admit that you are right. I’m looking at the leaflet Katy handed me this afternoon, and it’s chockablock with the same BTUKOK pish we’ve all become so sick of.

Come Sep 19th, hearts will be broken. I just hope that Katy Clark, and many others who respect and support her, will see sense, and get themselves on the right side before it’s too late.

How they do that is up to them, but they have to do it soon – we all need the outcome to be solid. IMO, anything less than 65% Yes is not good enough. Right now, it’s too tight for comfort. We need wavering Labour supporters to make a leap of faith – people like Katy Clark can ensure that it happens.

ronnie anderson

@Cindie 12.18, am no resposible fur the hairy string thats doon tae gerry parker, & patricians knots & his wife’s ticky tape an a few cable ties other wise its a brand new Gezebo.

Rock

“Part of it is I don’t want to find myself living in Scotland if it’s a No vote. I couldn’t bear it. I would feel I was living in the most cowardly nation on earth.” (FT)

Thanks to your enormous efforts (from Bath), we will hopefully soon stop living in the most cowardly nation on earth.

Do join us before the historic event on 18th September.

Barney Thomson

Cal,

I’m a bit late to the HMRC discussion tonight but the latest official figures are available in the second Excel file provided in this ONS publication at Table 12 –

link to ons.gov.uk

Any reductions in the requirements of the larger departments such as HMRC and DWP because of the work they currently carry out on behalf of non-Scottish employers will be offset by a share of posts reallocated from Defence and parts of BIS, Environment, Transport and the Home Office whose work is mainly situated in England and Wales. There will be smaller reallocations from other departments too.

Rock

As for why he backs England to win the World Cup this time, his logic is impeccable.

“It will never be off the telly and I think people [in Scotland] will be very, very sick of it, very fast.”

I think that would guarantee a Yes vote on 18th September.

But even independence wouldn’t prevent us from hearing about it for the rest of our lives.

Rock

I meant save us

lumilumi

Croomperstein @ 11.29pm

@lumilumi – What’s the situ in Finland? is Helsinki a dark star for the rest of the economy? How much responsibility has local government for taxes etc? And is there a huge disparity between the rich and poor?

AAARGH!

I wrote a very long, intelligent post answering all these questions but it disappeared into cyberspace.

To cut a long story short.

Helsinki is a bit of a dark star but Tampere and Oulu regions are putting up a fight.

Finnish local councils (municipalities) raise most of their own money through flat rate municipal income tax. For the individual taxpayer, this is offset by national progressive income tax. As it is, Finnish municipalities have more tax-raising and spending powers than “devolved” Scotland has.

Finland has one of the least income (and wealth) inequalities in the world. Finnish bosses are poorly paid by international standards, and nobody is really rich in Finland, not like the really, really rich British or Russian or whatever billionaires. I don’t know the child poverty figures but I bet they’re lower than the UK’s.

Regrettably, income inequality and hard-line right-wing voices have been growing even in Finland. Still, our mainstream rightist party is somewhere left of British Labour. 😉

john king

Thepnr says
“A vison of re-industrialisation of Scotland is something I for one want to hear about.

Snap
I took the road off the bridge (Forth)the other week to get along to Rosyth dockyard to get a closer look at the Queen Elizabeth, (what I like big boats ok?)
and the demolition/reconstruction work along the foreshore sent a bolt of electricity right through me.

I had a vision of a mini Rotterdam and Rosyth being the shipping hub for Scotland,
When we see the possibilities it fills you with wonder and hope.

@Ronnie, Gerry, Patrician, TMitJ, (spoke for only for a few seconds on Calton hill with you)and all who attended the Wings flying roadshow,

RESPEC 🙂

cal

Betsy and Barney Thomson
Thanks for the links

Everyone else
Thanks for all the valuable info. I’ll add it to my arsenal.

Rev
Thanks for this site. I’m sure the stuff that’s come out on this topic will be of use to other Wingers when they’re trying to convince others to vote Yes

john king

Breaking news,
The UK is to send a WARSHIP to the Baltic to take part in exercises and send a message to those Russkies,
well thats it then boys, the baws burst ye might as well go hame before the might of the Royal Navy tans yer erse.

caz-m

Talking of Union Jacks,

After having dried out from manning our YES campaign stand yesterday, I will be calling in to my local Morrisons to see what all this Union Jack waving shit is all about.

I will also be asking management if they are active members of the Better Together campaign, since recent reports suggest that they are handing out leaflets at Morrison stores throughout Scotland.

When I see a Union Jack, all I see now is a St Georges cross jumping out at me. Thank god you hardly see a Union Jack flying in Scotland now.

Once I have made my complaint to Morrisons management, I will turn around and make my exit, empty handed, never to return.

PS, I was in the ASDA store in Govan last night and they have saltire related products all over the store.

They also made up a special World Cup stand with all the participating nations on show, and guess what, someone forgot to add the England team to the display. Shame.

Well done ASDA Govan.

Calgacus MacAndrews

Every time I hear “and now the news where you are” on the BBC, it makes me think (in a Chic-Murray-wearing-a-tinfoil-hat way) “how do THEY know where we are?”.

manandboy

I wish everyone a pleasant and relaxing day –

especially you Stu,

or have we gone past that point.

ronnie anderson

@ John King 7.36, oh goody am gittin a wee bitty peely wally

sittin in the hoose awe day,kin ah tak ma y fronts aff fur a

all over spray,ah’ll cover ma princibiles i’ll wear a Jock

Strap.

heraldnomore

Ronnie is that a UJOK strap?

It’s Sunday morning man, some things we don’t need to imagine

Stuart Macdonald

Thanks to all about the Morrisons info – especially about the Hamilton one which is my local also. Walking past Lidl yesterday and the have all these Saltire-based signs up with the question ‘Seen the light yet?’ on them. Cannae help but wonder if there’s a message in there…;)

Helena Brown

A wonderful little piece for Sunday and a right good laugh. I would not cross the street to go to Morrisons, never liked them and it is no great surprise to hear about them. I will not have to boycott, them though if I could I would. Hope they go to the wall and take Tesco with them.

Morag Graham Kerr

I used to use Morrison’s in Wishaw, and before that when it was Safeway. It was within walking distance and had a very good range of products. I’ve not been there in a while, having moved 7 years ago.

Last night I had to change a light bulb and picked up a new one from the basket and cringed. It said “Morrison’s” on the glass! Must have had it from before the move.

confused employee

A little confused by uninformed the anti-morrisons comments. I have wanted an independant scotland since i dfveloped free thought. Im 36 now, so somewhere way back in the past. Im a mo’s enployee. I work in stirling store. Clarifying a few things.

1 to best of my knowledge mo’s doesnt actively support BT. It is (and was last year after a tie up wih Ant and Dec)the sponsor of Britains Got Talent. BGT final was last night. Part of the store dressing was bunting, this featured the union jack. Not becausé of the indy ref. Because its the BGT logo. And was before the Morrisons tieup last year.

This bunting was taken down today before store opening as final was last night and event now passed. From canteen chats, there are those in the both the no and yes camps. The only leaflets anyone has been paid to hand out, as such, was to sign up to Morrisons miles loyalty and get 250 free points. No member of staff was paid to hand out bt leaflets. If they were i wouldnt be going to work there, id be off sick and taking union advice. The canteen is also free of any bt docs.

This type of ill informed twisted comments dont help anyone in the yes camp, its bitter, twisted bluff and blunder and anyone in the yes campaign should be above this. Morrisons like everyother non scottish based retailer isnt going to pull out of scotland after we vote yes, 5million customers is 5million customers… 18months of planning and a wee bit extra admin is hardly going to turn companies away.

If you dont like morrisons dont shop there. Ive not shopped at tesco for 18years because they disgust me. Dont come online and started poatimg unsubstationated claims that he said that she said that she said that he said that she said the he thought wee jimmy saw the union jack.

Rock

“Dont come online and started poatimg unsubstationated claims that he said that she said that she said that he said that she said the he thought wee jimmy saw the union jack.”

Can you explain why Morrisons has far more union jacks in its stores than any other supermarket in Scotland, especially when a referendum on Scottish independence has been called?

Or are you claiming that jimmy didn’t see an union jack at morrisons because morrisons don’t have union jacks in their stores?


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