The problem of memory
So this is a thing that happened yesterday:
Because, as ever, Scottish Labour are absolutely certain that voters are morons.
We can’t begin to tell you the toll that having to listen to the boneheaded parade of lies and insults to the intelligence that passes for Scottish political discourse has taken on us over the last five years, readers, so we’ll be as brief as possible with this.
1. Labour complains that the households – not individuals – being helped are those with income between £41,000 and £52,000, which it describes as “affluent”.
But for the typical two-adult home that’s annual income of £20,500 to £26,000 a head, which is BELOW the official average wage in Scotland of £27,953.
(That’s using the same version of “average” – the median, rather than the mean or mode – that Labour references.)
So Labour is complaining that people on below average wages are actually rich and shouldn’t be helped by the Scottish Government.
2. The SNP scheme involves the Scottish Government taking a 15% stake in the home being purchased, which it retains until the (interest-free) loan is paid off. It is NOT a handout, and only applies to relatively inexpensive homes – those up to £200,000 if bought before next March, and up to £175,000 thereafter.
It’s also only available to people who can’t afford to buy homes otherwise, and eligibility is strictly controlled to ensure it doesn’t lead to housing market inflation or to people buying homes that they can’t keep up repayments on.
3. Conversely, when Scottish Labour proposed a Help To Buy scheme, barely over a year ago, it was a straight-up bung of £6,000 to anyone who could cobble together a tiny deposit – to be paid for from general taxation, ie subsidising homebuyers out of the pockets of poorer people who couldn’t even afford to save up a deposit, and which would have inescapably inflated prices.
(And when we say “from general taxation”, we mean “from £150m in completely fantasy money that Scottish Labour insisted would somehow be generated by keeping a tax the same as it is now”.)
Unlike the SNP plan, which is only available to those who can’t afford to buy a home without help, Labour would have given thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money even to people who could afford to buy comfortably by themselves. As far as we can tell, it’s still officially Scottish Labour policy.
4. There is, of course, only a housing crisis at all because Gordon Brown did everything in his power to sustain the house-price bubble created by the Tories in the 1980s, and because during 13 years in power Labour built vastly less new social housing than even the Tories and did nothing about Right To Buy, which destroyed the public-housing stock.
The SNP, on the other hand, have ended RTB, lifted inexpensive homes out of stamp duty and built literally thousands of times as many new council houses since coming to power in 2007 as the last Labour administration at Holyrood.
Scottish Labour think nobody knows any of this. They think they can U-turn on every policy they propose within months, without anyone noticing or holding them to account.
The fact that they’ve lost the last five Scottish elections in a row, coming third behind the Tories in each of the last three, suggests that the electorate still has a rather better memory than they think.
Again well analysed will RT ???.
Aye well, Slab have to be the greatest Gish Galloppers about.
The number of council houses built in Scotland since 2007 is vastly more per head of population than in England, which has about 11 people for every 1 person in Scotland.
Otherwise known as ‘Getting on with the day job’ whereas SLabour interested only in getting on with the daily hatchet job.
And, naturally, the colonial, lapdog media are only too happy to regurgitate the SLabour lies. And they both wonder why their respective numbers are going the way of a duck in winter?
I have a shared equity home (LIFT), 61% owned by me and 39% owned by the government. I was a first time buyer with a new family. My wife and I’s income combined at the time was £39,000 per year. Even with £39,000 (take off tax) i was certainly not affluent. Even today, we still live there and our combined income has increased to approx £50,000 per year, i am still not affluent. I manage to get by but if it wasn’t for the shared equity scheme (LIFT) i would not be in the ‘comfortable’ position i am just now, i certainly would not have managed to increase the size of my family from 1 child to 3. I will always be grateful for the help me and my family managed to get with the LIFT scheme. For first time buyers and a young family it was literally a god send.
Superb piece, this is why I continually return to Wings, facts which expose the hypocrisy of Labour and other unionist parties. They are worse than the Tories, you at least know they are openly contemptuous of common people.
This is simply not fair!
Not only are you publicising Scotlab’s proposals but you are analysing their effect were they ever to be implemented.
Now the Daily Wrecker will have to spike their top political journalists from their searching exposition with all its benefits of this proposed policy
But then Labour and all Yoons for that matter are determined that Scotland should not govern it’s own affairs and be governed by England.
Don’t expect any sense or anything in Scotland’s interests from them until that changes.
Dream on.
The “analysis” on their website at link to scottishlabour.org.uk is a complete joke.
And it is based on a distorted analysis of highly caveated data – which was indeed provided by the Scottish Government. See Kevin Stewart in response to James Kelly at link to parliament.scot.
As you’ll see, the data on the income of Help to Buy users is very limited.
Do they care? No. It is simply lie upon lie to try and discredit the incumbent SNP government. They would never carry out any of these pledges, but if it looks like they are the good guys then they will use it.
I had a friend who was an actor. Up on the stage he was a very powerful figure with a booming voice and an air of menace. At home he was a mild mannered very shy guy. It is easy to get into a role when you don’t have to live it 24 hours a day he would tell me.
That is Labour. Deceive the “hopefully gullible”as often as you can, with as much as you can. Promise the world but deliver a day trip to Ayr.
They sicken me. They play on people’s desperation with false hope and lies.
SNP houses are divisive and designed deliberately to make folk like the SNP
It’s the same with the Roads the Railways and the Hospitals and the Bridges and putting on the Commonwealth Games and Och well just all the stuff the SNP keep doing
It’s all fake you know, it is, it definitely is, and and we the Unionist party will keep (making up) eh producing figures and numbers to show that the SNP are well just Rotters and it was all better before when folk didnae know what was going on
Damn Internet!
Sad to say that Labour in Scotland are talking to people who will never be able to afford to buy their own home and the reason being the policies that they assisted in bringing into being. Zero hours contracts, part time working, etc. Drives me insane that the very party who should have been securing workers rights were selling them down the river. Labour have always talked a good game, but basically they are sellouts to the British Establishment. Media and Ruth have them same goal, never to have to hold down a job that way they will never suffer what.they want the restmof us
Quite funny Bob Mack mentions Ayr as that was where the lesser spotted Jim Murphy was yesterday…..doon the races….only saw him going to the bookies once after a race (so he got one win from eight races….maybe a general guide as to how often SLab will get things right…one in eight !)
Labour, dun dun dun
What are they good for?
Absolutely nuthin’,
Say it again huuuh
——————————–
Even the Corbyn bounce was with a burst ball in Scotland.
Still – doesn’t stop the media pretending that indy support is down. I can only give anecdotal evidence so here it is:
My friend (in his late 20s) lives in southside of Glasgow. He is only vaguely interested in politics – he certainly doesn’t know the daily goings-on as we anoraks do.
He voted Yes in 2014. He voted SNP in 2015. He voted SNP at the Scottish Election in 2016. He voted SNP at the Council elections…
But at GE this year he voted for Labour. Why? His own words were that he’d prefer Corbyn for PM, over May. He also remarked that in Scotland it meant he was also voting for Dugdale and Scottish Labour, who he thinks are ridiculous, but nonetheless voted Labour for Corbyn.
In his mind, more perceptive than you might expect, he feels we are getting a referendum – secured and in the bag – and that UKGE is a different beast.
He has not changed his mind on indy (who are these people who do?) and will vote Yes. I know this is obvious to many Wingers, but just to put it out there and remind you a portion of our electorate may not be fully engaged, but they are smart!
What a bunch. Underlying all of this fraud, unregulated immigration to the UK, met Labour’s absolute zero social housing build.
Its easy to call SLabour a catastrofuck without end because that’s exactly what they are.
If it wisnae for massed ranks of beeb gimps in Pacific Quay…
@Az
As long as your Yes Labour voter was aware that his voting choice was being used to try and undermine any referendum, if not what did he think the Labour no indyref was referring to.
Dr Jim says:
It would certainly seem to be the bane of Unionists, msm, and the established order.
However, we need to watch out for it being turned against us. I refer not to discussion forums, alternative news sources, blogs, etc etc … but to the mapulation carried out by secretive ‘marketing’ companies in return for large payments filtered through political parties from dark donors.
One theory is that Thump’s US win and the EURef Leave win were ‘purchased’ from such organisations. It seems possible, likely even, that both these narrow wins were achieved using dark online arts.
IndyRef2 and we will need to recognise and challenge such intrusions onto ‘our turf’.
Great piece Stu. Exposing Labour’s flawed view of the memory of Scottish voters is a very satisfying and worthy task.
@ fngw says at 12:03 pm …. ”Superb piece, this is why I continually return to Wings, facts which expose the hypocrisy of Labour and other unionist parties. They are worse than the Tories, you at least know they are openly contemptuous of common people.”
Spot on fngw and a BIG thanks to Stu who soldiers on regardless.
”We can’t begin to tell you the toll that having to listen to the boneheaded parade of lies and insults to the intelligence that passes for Scottish political discourse has taken on us over the last five years, readers, so we’ll be as brief as possible with this.”
A BIG thanks to the SNP too who are continuing to do an amazing job especially under the circumstances. Doing the day job, preparing for Independence, dealing with Brexit and even more so their MANY enemies, within and without.
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O/T
I see that Andrew Neil has a month to sign a new deal with the BBC but is saying that he wants to wind down his career and spend more time at his luxury home in France. Are we going to get rid of him? Meanwhile Ronnie Gibb has just been appointed as Theresa May’s director of communications. Ronnie Gibb head of BBC political programme teams and editor of Daily Politics. Need any more be said about the political bias of the BBC, which has been regularly pointed out and equally regularly denied? The revolving door between the BBC and the Tory (and Labour) Party.
link to democracyundone.com
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And a couple of links from Prof Robertson’s ‘Talking Up Scotland’ site. I wonder how much tax the Tories will want to slap on this?
link to thoughtcontrolscotland.com
link to thoughtcontrolscotland.com
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And please continue to disseminate this video. Time for Ruth Davidson to clarify what links she has with Mr Cook and whether her party has helped itself to money from the same murky sources. Cook et al and the DUP used some of the money to back Brexit. Did Davidson use some of the money in an attempt to diss Independence?
link to channel4.com
O/T
Stuart I’d just like to ask if you’ve ever thought of producing your own newspaper? If so have you costed it and would it be feasible to do if you were guaranteed long-term financial support from Wingers?
Here is a little story about housing, Once upon a time, many many, years ago in the dark ages, Inverclyde Council owned the housing stock, due to years and years of mismanagement the said council was paying one third of its income in interest payments every year to pay the debt it had accrued over the years, because of this they could not build any new houses, i have been on this planet for 65 years and they never built one house in my lifetime, so what happened, they had to give up control of the housing stock in order for the debt to be cleared, now we have a housing association called River Clyde Homes who have built houses all over the place in Inverclyde, and they are still doing it as i write, what was the problem before, well it was quite simple, the housing stock was managed by the labour council which was basically full of people who could not run a monkey house in a zoo, i bought my house many years ago to get away from these morons, and that was the only reason i bought it, but as an ex/council tenant i have a nice little house that i have spent a lot of money on improving, which they never did btw, at one point they said we are going to give you a new heating system, we got a new heating system, storage heaters taken out, and storage heaters put in, i said i don’t want that rubbish as i allready have it, i was told take it or leave it, so as it was new, not better, just new i said ok, so they put the rubbish in and charged us £2 a week to rent it, you see they did not tell us that we where actually renting storage heaters from the company that supplied them to us, and let us not forget, these people in the labour council had been to university, they where much cleverer than me ( on paper ).
I had a women from this council say to me when i told her i wanted trip switches as i was sick of changing the fuse wire, she said, your not supposed to do that, honestly, all she new about houses was the fact they had 4 walls and a roof, but ofc she ave had been to university, she was much cleverer than me ( on paper ) i only worked in the building trade, so what the hell did i know about houses, when it was a council house, they even wanted me to pay £780 plus vat for my back door, i could have bought a door at my local homebase for about £80 and done the job myself, i got the door and they put it in, the bloody thing was rotten and when it rained my whole kitchen was flooded, but the good news , do you actually think i paid these morons any money to put in a door to a council house, you bet your sweet bippy i did’nt , you see i am not stupid, i have not had a university education lol
Is that brainwave-flatliner Dugdale still in a job? Sigh. Still, not like power junkies to throw away their fix, eh?
Herald Britland, may I suggest that you replace the sloppy Tom Gordon with Stu Campbell?
No?
I wonder why?
Excellent, Stu.
The scribbler whores of the Dead Tree Scrolls as their propaganda porn worst.
How do they face their children at night?
@Petra
During Neil’s last hols from This Week he was replaced by Nick Ferrari, no doubt seen at the BBC as a good neutral voice.
Try to imagine the Scottish Labour brand managers having any control over Scotland’s economy.
SNP creating thousands of new and refurbished affordable housing all over Scotland.
And they’re doing it deliberately, y’know.
@ jfngw says at 1:09 pm …. ”Petra. During Neil’s last hols from This Week he was replaced by Nick Ferrari, no doubt seen at the BBC as a good neutral voice.”
He’ll fit in right enough, jfngw!
”In 2003, the Broadcasting Standards Commission upheld a complaint against Ferrari, finding that his programme’s “active reinforcement of prejudiced views about asylum seekers had exceeded acceptable boundaries for transmission”. Following this, and at a time of frosty relations between Nick Ferrari and the former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, the Mayor wrote to the Managing Director of LBC asking what measures had been implemented to ensure the situation would not arise again. Following this, Livingstone appeared regularly on Ferrari’s programme to answer questions from listeners.
In 2015, Ferrari was investigated by Ofcom after he said on his radio programme that the November 2015 Paris attacks were “a Muslim problem” and told a Muslim caller to “go some place else” if the caller didn’t agree with UK foreign policy. Ofcom found Ferrari not in breach of any broadcasting rules, saying “We found the caller was given an opportunity to rebuke Mr Ferrari’s offensive comments, while two other callers also challenged Nick Ferrari in strong terms. In addition, the presenter made clear that he was not characterising all Muslims as violent extremists”.”
link to en.wikipedia.org
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If anyone is looking for a good read try Owen Jones’s ‘The Establishment.” From as little as £3 on Amazon. Books like this should be made available in secondary schools in Scotland, imo.
link to iea.org.uk
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Anyone heard from Nana (and Smallaxe)? Is she on holiday? I’m fairly missing her links.
A wee reminder for lurkers
The banks bankrupted us with the willing assistance of both Labour and Tory and the one place you’ll never see any of those people is..
A Foodbank!
i wonder if slab supporters have gloomy dreams to go with their gloomy f/n lives ,never a word of encouragement as they cosy up to their tory pals who piss on them and use them and they still cant see the warnings how many times do they need to be slapped in the kisser before the penny drops ?. IDIOTS .
Point 1 doesn’t make sense. It asumes that every household has two full time residents. Highly unlikely based on the proportion of the population that work less than full time hours and the prohibitevly expensive cost of full time childcare for worker on average salaries
SLAB lies with a Lorra Lorra help from Tom Gordon and the Herald .
Excellent analysis from the Rev, as usual. Britnat media and britnat politicians in Scotland continue to wallow in their own ignorance.
O/T
I see after Theresa May went to the country to get their approval for her Brexit position, she lost her majority. Now she wants other parties to back the position that she couldn’t get the public to support. You do have to admire the gall of this desperate character, or does she believe she still has a mandate no matter what the vote.
Also Unionist supporters should now be aware that to receive an extra £1-2bn bung they need to build bonfires with posters of SNP politicians stuck to it. It’s the Unionist way.
…if only we had a balanced media.
So with 42% of female workers in Scotland working part time (and many home makers not getting paid at all), point one is somewhat ropey.
Unless we know that the proportion of ft and pt workers for these households are then we can’t make a comparison between individual wages and household income.
However as we are a country that does not have full employment, have many who choose not to work and many who work pt, two people earning an average wage each would mean that the household income is, by definition, above average.
I totally agree that it’s hypocrisy by SLab and their policies are even worse.
But, I still believe not a single penny should go towards helping people buy a house when that money could go towards the NHS and other public services such as Council housing.
You say households, but that “household” CAN be a single person. So, people on £52,000 a year can benefit from this scheme.
The Scot Govt should not be acting as building society to boost the number of property owners, in my opinion.
I’ve nowt against people owning their home. Good luck to them, but I’ve got an objection to helping them buy it. If they want to buy a house, that’s nice. Use your own money.
If you cannae afford it, that’s a shame. I genuinely sympathise, but there are greater priorities for taxpayers cash than putting people onto the property ladder.
I see Labour’s Air Passenger Duty magic money tree never stops giving.
Interesting to note from the activist handbook on Stu’s twitter feed that Labour is preparing draft letters for “ordinary members of the public” to write to papers.
As SNP press officer the late Stephen Maxwell used to provide template letters 40 years ago.
Perhaps nowadays SNP is too focused on digital media rather than supplying PROMPT and easily available (ie in text as well as infographics) rebuttal or supportive lines for members to use.
@colin alexander
Don’t vote SNP then if you disagree with the policies, it’s that simple.
@Graeme Kerr says: 11 July, 2017 at 1:36 pm:
“Point 1 doesn’t make sense. It asumes that every household has two full time residents. Highly unlikely based on the proportion of the population that work less than full time hours and the prohibitevly expensive cost of full time childcare for worker on average salaries.
Yes!
Dear!
There!
There!
There!
We Know! We Know!
Sheesh! There’s always at least one.
I bet he’ll be back.
@Graeme Kerr says: 11 July, 2017 at 1:57 pm:
Ooooh! That was quick.
The Yoons must have an inexhaustible supply of them.
Or, maybe it is the same one under different false flags.
@Sinky says: 11 July, 2017 at 2:10 pm:
“Perhaps nowadays SNP is too focused on digital media rather than supplying PROMPT and easily available (ie in text as well as infographics) rebuttal or supportive lines for members to use.”
What would be the point, Sinky?
Their tame media won’t print genuine letters so why would they print fake ones?
Robert Peffers
I really do not know what you are trying to say, do you disagree with what I was saying?
Robert Peffers
Some of them do print pro SNP / Indy letters and info can also be used for radio phone ins / conversations etc.
@Graeme Kerr
It doesn’t matter what the individual wage is, if the combined income is less than £54kish then the household income of a couple is less than the Scottish average each. After all it is the total income of the household that is important surely.
Some individuals may gain from this, unless you go down a total income measured against the number of occupants. It depends on how complex you want the bureaucracy to be.
O/T
Some bonfire, eh! The DUP/Orange Order getting braver, or more foolish, by the minute.
link to thenational.scot
David @ 1.00pm
Naw ye don’t David….. I still claim getting the most Stupid comment ever from the “educated” housing officers…
The radiator has tae go under the window,the draught will blow the heat back into the room,,, infact because that’s no a double glazed window, you’ll get mair heat blowing back in.
And yes as if it needed sayin…it was a Labour controlled council.
@jfngw who said: if you don’t support SNP policies, don’t vote for them.
We better get indy or Scottish sovereignty before 20121, because I think the majority will follow your advice and NOT vote for the SNP then, unless the SNP improve their policies and their personnel before then.
That’s not anti-SNP. That’s a warning to try and save the SNP.
Not cos I care much about the SNP as a party, I don’t. I make that clear. But I’m no anti-SNP either. (They are currently the best of a bad bunch).
But I care about the fight for Scottish sovereignty / independence and unless others take the lead by forming a dedicated independence party who don’t give a fig about winning the chance to run devolution for Westminster Govt, we are stuck with the SNP taking the lead in the independence campaign.
Can’t wait to hear this take down on call Kaye
Oops perhaps not!!!
jfngw 12.36pm
“As long as your Yes Labour voter was aware that his voting choice was being used to try and undermine any referendum, if not what did he think the Labour no indyref was referring to”
Well, I think he just ignored the crap through his door to be fair. He laughs at Dugdale, honestly. If he was aware of the “no indyref” he would have dismissed it as nonsense. He is aware Holyrood already decided.
His focus was – which PM do I want? I think it’s tough to ask much more from busy people who are only remotely interested…
If we’d spoken before the election, I would have advised him of this chicanery, and he would have listened – in which case he most liekly would have stuck with SNP. Not only would I have pointed out the attempt at undermining and how his vote would be miscounted, I would have asked why his MP should be ousted. What has he done or not done to deserve deselection.
However we talked afterwards, and in the event, the SNP MP retained his seat so, in the scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter.
The point I was getting at is that many in Scotland who voted Labour (especially the younger ones) did so because of Corbyn-vision and not out of rejection of indy. Once you see the need for indy, you can’t unsee it. Believe me, this guy (and his English girlfriend) are very, very Yes 🙂
I have missed such concise analysis over this quiet period…if only the Scottish Government could obtain the same money as the DUP have recently, just think how many new houses could be built.
That really would be a beacon for the people struggling, unlike the large pallet one built in Belfast…..
I just got an e-mail from Jackie Baillie?!?
‘CALLS FOR SPRINKLER SYSTEM IN HIGH RISE FLATS.’
‘Local MSP Jackie Baillie has called for sprinkler systems to be installed in all high-rise tower blocks in West Dunbartonshire to address residents’ concerns over fire safety.
The call follows a BBC investigation which revealed that there are no sprinklers in more than 300 high-rise residential buildings across Scotland. There are 22 tower blocks in West Dunbartonshire without sprinkler systems, including 3 in Dumbarton at West Bridgend. Under Scottish building regulations sprinkler systems must be installed in all new high rise blocks and residential care homes since 2005 but there is no requirement to retro-fit sprinklers in older buildings. Labour has also urged the Scottish Government to provide the extra funding needed for councils to make improvements to fire safety.
Jackie said: “Lessons must be learned from the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower and we need a review of existing building regulations and their enforcement. There are hundreds of families living in high-rise flats in our local area and their homes should be subject to the same high standards as newer buildings. Labour believes the government has a responsibility to work with councils to put in place a programme that will ensure the highest safety standards in all high-rise flats, which would include sprinkler systems. Given the level of cuts to local authorities in recent years, the SNP Government must accept that it also has a responsibility not just to agree any improvements to safety in high-rise flats, but also to fund such programmes. To simply leave any programmes to improve safety to cash-strapped councils would not be acceptable and the Scottish Government must be willing to put in place the resources to ensure all high-rise housing in Scotland is to the highest safety standards.”
Oh the IRONY of it. Jackie Baillie of the Labour Party who never had to face austerity cuts when in power. In fact were handing money back to Westminster. Why did they not put sprinkler systems into buildings over the many years that they were ruling the roost over Scotland? Then there’s the Labour PFI debacle which includes school walls caving in. And to add insult to injury this is the woman who supports having Nuclear weapons ‘hosted’ by Scotland against a majority of politicians being against it. Just to remind her that sprinkler systems wont help us if we’ve ever to face the greatest fire bomb of all.
Excellent work, Stu. I couldn’t possibly have been aware of this, and I certainly wouldn’t have been made aware of any of it from any of the TV news channels we have in Scotland or from ANY of the newspaper publications – most definitely intentionally from majority of them.
I regretfully have to say, I’ve seen no examples of this type of damning, investigatory and/or basic data-gathering journalism from either the Sunday Herald or the National. I really wish those last two would become a bit more aggressive about representing us, a bit more ‘Scottish Truths and Disclosures’with a big stick.
If a one-man-band can produce the above – regularly, completely accurately and without fear – then..
Just received a Voter registration form from NLC. Wee Brenda will have apoplexy an so will the ither Brenda Tick Tock ,Tick Tock.
I saw this story in the Herald yesterday and when I read it the ‘household income and ‘median income’ description my immediate thought was ‘apples and pears’. A young couple living together or married could have a household income of £46k but individual incomes of £22k or thereabouts each.
If you check the property agent sites you can find out what sort of mortgage you can get with that income and £5k deposit.
Works out at £112k to £157k which is around £600 to £900 per month. If the household income is £46k, whether combined or individual earner, then you would be seriously overstretched at the top end of that range of mortgages.
For an individual earning £28k then with £5k deposit then it works out around £89k to £120k or so.
Describing this scheme as helping the ‘affluent middle class’ is risible.
It’s the same with student loans. Labor/Unionists were means testing the student loans on household income. On a sliding scale £21,000 to £42,000. So students with 5 straight ‘A’s couldn’t get a full loan £3000 (paid back) to go to university. Then Labor/unionists complaining students from households of average earning could not go to university. Prevented by them. They could get £3000? unemployment benefit.
Brown and the housing bubble. Keeping interest rates at 5% leading to excessive, reckless borrowing. Believing it was abolishing boom and bust. Led to the boom and bust. Brown did not have a clue about banking or regulations. Every advice given by sycophants was ignored. The Tory bankers took it all. £Trns of debt.
The (SNP) Scottish gov committed to building/renovation 6,000 affordable houses a year. 17k builders houses. 17K? coming on the market. = 40,000 a year.
Prices will be kept down and homelessness will be eradicated, along with other policies.
Brexit could lead to empty houses and not enough workers for essential services. If May and her cronies have their way. Unlikely in any case. The Tories/Labour trying once again to muck up the world economy.
How much does a pallet cost and how many do you get for £1.5Billion?
Stu:
We notice, not least thanks to sites like this. It’s the mainstream media who all-too-predictably drop the ball. Real print and broadcast journalism is all but dead in Scotland. No “holding account” by them at all. Not if its Red, Orange or Blue Tory.
And with all due respect to your work ethic, Stu, a lot of the time it’s not that hard to do. But you do also have to have a fair measure of integrity.
Another great dissection Rev and a neat bit of work by the Scottish Government too. When it comes to affordable housing, no one, and I do mean NO ONE, in the current opposition parties have any record to crow about or credible policy for future delivery.
Just so they know like, but some folk do pay attention.
Nana is having a rest and going on holiday. She has sore hands and manages brilliantly in spite of that. Thanks to everything she does.
Child care is becoming more affordable. Increased to 30 hours for four year olds in 2018? If it is required. There are more women working in Scotland. An increase from before.
REV – if you add the housing association builds to the stats above the difference between Labour and the SNP becomes even more stark
Indeed, the total of both is on a proportionate basis hugely more than those in NI, Wales and England
Liz g 2.52 I had similar conversation with NLC re cutting in a 4 inch air vent in the wall of my L/R as I had a gas fire, I pointed out the double glazed windows had air vents in them , ah but its Scottish Gas health & safety aye an the Scottish Gov have a health & safety aspect in the Scottish Housing act ie Wind & Water tight , end of contract lol.
Tom Gordon. The Heralds own fake news correspondent.
I’m Herald subscriber, just, but this guy’s rabid anti SNP slavering brings me closer and closer to cancelling my subscription.
Chunky Mark doesn’t seem to like Theresa May and the Tories, LOL.
link to youtube.com
link to youtube.com
Not too keen on the MSM either.
link to youtube.com
@ Ken500 says at 4:09 pm …. ”Nana is having a rest and going on holiday. She has sore hands and manages brilliantly in spite of that. Thanks to everything she does.”
Thanks for the update Ken. She’s worked extremely hard on here and deserves to get a rest. Let’s hope her condition improves soon. Enjoy your holiday Nana X
@Graeme Kerr says: 11 July, 2017 at 2:36 pm:
“I really do not know what you are trying to say, do you disagree with what I was saying?”
It’s called irony, Graeme. We are, for the most part, fairly intelligent people on this blog. Thus we had already figured out the point Stu made and also the one you are attempting to make.
@sinky says: 11 July, 2017 at 2:40 pm:
“Some of them do print pro SNP / Indy letters and info can also be used for radio phone ins / conversations etc”
Indeed but I figure Wingers are bright enough to not need pre-printed stuff. In the second place any media outlet that received a bunch of identical pre-printed letters would bin them as not being genuine.
Az 12.21pm yes i don’t know of any yes voters who changed their minds. And anyone who says they did are obviously trolling.
Property ownership is not the perfect world for lower income people. For some it can be a millstone around their necks if they cannot afford the buildings insurance, factoring fees and cannot afford to maintain the property once they’ve bought it.
Deteriorating properties in private ownership is a real problem. Grants for repairs or improvements have been ended by many Councils since Austerity.
Helping people who struggle to keep their homes habitable would be a better use of funds instead of encouraging more people to buy properties – when they can’t afford them.
If they can afford them, then the Govt should not be using public funds to subsidise them.
Robert – sorry, you have lost me. Ironic or not, I can’t see the point you are trying to make.
But if you are happy everyone else is clear, I shall go back to the tennis
Murray Mcallum 1.19pm. Slab having control over Scotlands economy?. Any sane persons worst nightmare.
Petra 2.52pm. I wouldn’t be too worried,it’s built right on top of their own rat’s nests.
@johnj
He seemed fine for a time, even balanced. Then he really went off after the election.
PP
Email just in from the SNP :
“No matter what the Unionists assert the referendum is on it’s way and we will win”
Can’t get much clearer than that now can we and that’s just after I heard on radio Scotland from Kate Devlin that the FMs in trouble over failing public services
I suppose when the BBC pay the usual suspects to lie their Arses off in Scotland this is what you get
In many other countries they’d get something entirely different, and nice fella that I am I’d be in the front of the queue to help out with that after borrowing Stu’s hammers
Dr Jim – Kate Devlin is now deputy political editor at the Sunday Express – says it all, no?
Petra @ 3.26 pm
I believe older high rise buildings, ones built before the regulations about sprinklers was brought in, are fitted with dry or WET risers on each floorwhich means that fire fighters can access water on each floor in the event of a fire. Therefore they are not entirely without protection unlike Grenfell tower.
You might like to send Ms Baillie this link about fire protection in flats. It is from 2003 when Labour were in power at Holyrood
link to gov.scot
And this about dry risers
link to highrisefirefighting.co.uk
@Petra says: 11 July, 2017 at 3:26 pm:
“I just got an e-mail from Jackie Baillie?!?
‘CALLS FOR SPRINKLER SYSTEM IN HIGH RISE FLATS.’
‘Local MSP Jackie Baillie has called for sprinkler systems to be installed in all high-rise tower blocks in West Dunbartonshire to address residents’ concerns over fire safety.”
There are very good reasons why the SG does not make it a requirement for older buildings of over four stories to have sprinklers retro-fitted as standard.
This is because the Scottish Building Regulations have long ago stipulated that all such properties are fitted with an alternative system of rising-mains fire hydrants on every level.
One big problem in the recent tragedy was that the fire engine pumps could not provide enough water pressure at the higher levels to effectively fight the fire. Another was that the Local brigades did not have long enough ladders to reach higher levels.
The system of rising mains is so efficient by providing fire fighters with water points that the incidence of serious fires in higher properties in Scotland has more than halved the previous statistics.
These rising-mains hydrants do the same job as auto sprinkler systems but do so without the destruction caused by a whole area being damaged by water.
Actually, that’s not quite true for more modern sprinkler systems are far more localised in action as the auto-controls are fitted in smaller areas but this means great added expense for installations with far more sophisticated control systems.
Older, and cheaper, systems would turn on the sprinklers over perhaps an entire floor level and damage many more homes unnecessarily.
The point is that although the regulations do not stipulate sprinkler systems the problems face in the recent London conflagration do not exist in Scottish High rise buildings.
Baillie is just stirring the smelly stuff – as usual.
Bob p says:
Indeed. Me neither.
I know some who are very anti EU and I’ve talked to them about this. They have said that they will always vote Yes, when the chance is presented.
Perhaps there are some who might tell pollsters differently, or others who were never SNP voters so that is a different issue, or others who are fluid between Labour and SNP. When they are presented with a binary choice between Indy or Tory Brexageddon, they will be Yes.
TJenny @ 17:48,
The Sunday Slug does seem to have rather a liking for column-fillers from Northern Ireland. (Even if this one is slightly more upmarket than the dire harpy Siobhan.)
RJS – Gerry Braiden has also left The Herald, for LA work Don’t know which LA. Is the Herald closing down or hoping to import replacement right wing SNPbadders?
Another excellent article from the Rev Stu School of Advanced Journalism. Bombard them with facts. It really annoys SLab.
My email from Nicola is full of good news including a Times article saying foreign investors are surging into Scotland, third only after London and the South East.
link to thetimes.co.uk
Not deterred by talk of Indyref2 obviously. Perhaps encouraged by the thought of an independent Scotland in Europe?
OT
Would that Hungarian/Australian tennis-playing lassie find it so easy to come here now – and get British citizenship?
Just wondered.
Capella @ 18:55,
That last sentence. A hint of another potential upside. (Always provided somebody’s clearly signalling to them, even if on the QT, that the option remains a realistic prospect.)
That would be news that the MSM couldn’t hide or “massage”. And one reason why UKGov won’t allow any differential within the Union – can’t have London shown up as incompetents by a shower of “provincials”.
” Aristocrat offered £5000 bounty for someone to kill anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller “
link to archive.is
Just think of the treatment he would received if he had been Muslim.
Capella @6.55pm
Thanks for the link to the Times article on Scotland’s success in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).
Your comment – “Not deterred by talk of Indyref2 obviously. Perhaps encouraged by the thought of an independent Scotland in Europe?” – brings back to mind the results of the Ernst & Young (EY) 2015 Scotland Attractiveness Survey which examined FDI performance in 2014. Of course 2014, and the period leading up to that notable year, was (as we all remember!) a time of such damaging uncertainty for business and also held the threat of economically disastrous independence.
But the EY FDI survey results for 2014 tell a quite different story.
Source: link to ey.com
“In 2014 Scotland secured its third best year on record for Foreign Direct Investment:
• 80 projects in 2014, with scientific research, financial services and manufacturing flying the flag ….
• Investor perception study confirms Scotland’s brand boosted globally.
In an uncertain world, Scotland continues to punch above its weight in securing global FDI. It’s challenge now is to build further on achievements to date, and tackle areas where it can do better. This study gives solid ground for confidence it can succeed on both counts.”
And also:
From: link to ey.com
“What’s already clear is that the 49% rise in investments recorded in 2012 was not a ‘flash in the pan’, but marked a step up to a new level – one that Scotland has sustained. So Scotland has continued to build on the progress made to date, while consolidating its position as the UK’s biggest FDI region outside London. Notable successes in 2014 were the growth from 15 to 31 Manufacturing projects, a huge increase, and the securing of more than twice as many Scientific Research projects as in the previous year, both creating platforms with the potential for significant future growth.”
This EY report also notes:
“Our survey of international investors later in this report confirms that global perceptions of Scotland as an FDI location rose strongly during the year.” (i.e. during 2014).
In its next (2016) FDI report (link to ey.com), EY states:
“EY’s annual study of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Scotland reveals the country’s most impressive performance on record ….. Our research and analysis demonstrates in no uncertain terms that Scotland is a commanding economic force within the UK and beyond.”
Now how many folk in Scotland know of that positive assessment from what is widely regarded as an authoritative source?
Labour- What a racket!
Game, Set and Match to the Rev.
It’s so sad that Scottish Labour supporters are devoid of Lateral Thinking.
Just think of the treatment he would received if he had been Muslim.
or Scottish
O/T
Any fellow Wingers heading to/living on….MILLPORT!..
Dats where I be headin’ tomorrow my fine feathered
freends!!!
Shinty says:
If he had been a Scottish BritNat and said that about Gina Miller, the msm would have buried the story.
If he had been a Scottish Yes supporter and had said that about some Tory in London, we would never have heard the end of it, right enough!
galamcennalath says:
11 July, 2017 at 8:38 pm
Shinty says:
Just think of the treatment he would received if he had been Muslim.
or Scottish
If he had been a Scottish BritNat and said that about Gina Miller, the msm would have buried the story.
If he had been a Scottish Yes supporter and had said that about some Tory in London, we would never have heard the end of it, right enough!
…………….
You mean like Ms Davidson’s fisherman friend from the north-east and his tweets.
@stewartb
Very interesting reports you linked to about the attractiveness of Scotland for foreign investment and how since 2014 we have been better than ever despite the “uncertainty”.
Can’t understand why I have failed to read anything like that up until now, could it be that the Scottish media are failing in their reporting of Scottish news? Surely not?
O/T Meantime if you happen to be within travelling distance of Edinburgh between 13th and 27th August you might want to pop along on an afternoon and see what should be a good show at the Festival.
Star speaker with special guests and everything, though he has already ruled out an appearance by Donald Trump, will be fun all the same I’m sure.
link to assemblyfestival.com
@stewartb
Good find ref FDI findings.
I wonder how much London FDI is in property.
Something assetized by Gordon Brown at the expense of working class londoners
off topic friends but i hope you will forgive me. I just want to draw your attention to the latest manifestion of sectarianism and bigotry by Unionists and loyalists in northern ireland. remember these are the people who vote for the DUP, PM May’s right-hand helpers to keep her in power
link to eurofree3.wordpress.com
@ RJS & stewartb – it’s astonishing isn’t it, the vast gulf between the MSM narrative and the real state of the Scottish economy.
We are living in a colony and the greatest obstacle to independence is the colonial mindset conditioned daily to believe we are third rate.
Exposure to the facts is always healthy.
link to caltonjock.com
O/T but re #brexit
Still seeing signs of slippage.
Pro-EU Liddington was on Marr saying that there will be no single-market and no customs-union.
I reckon thats just appearing tough, ‘even Liddington is a brexiteer now’ sort of thing. They are not daft, they know brexit is an economic nightmare.
Feels to me like they will try to sell a Norway style option as a ‘staging-post’ by talking tough and then saying that we can choose a harder option after the next GE ‘if you vote for us’.
True brexiteers should be vigilant.
Just as we must be.
Out with the private housing sector SNP getting on with the day job -connecting up big policy areas
‘We will deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes by 2021 backed by over £3 billion. This target represents a 67% increase in affordable housing supply, and 35,000 of the 50,000 target will be for social rent.These extra homes are expected to support, on average, around 14,000 jobs per year and generate around £1.7 billion for the economy on average over the life of the five-year programme’
link to beta.gov.scot
The real challenges of inequality and the housing crisis- ‘generation rent’;
‘The Equality Trust’s latest briefing note A House Divided – How Unaffordable Housing Drives UK Inequality shows the scale of housing inequality, and the chronic lack of affordability of housing for many people. Our analysis finds that:
• 86% of renters (over 6 million households) have less than the £8,838.65 needed for even a 5% deposit for a mortgage on an average first home in the UK.
• 95% have less than the deposit (£35,354.60) needed for a mortgage on an average first home in the UK.
• 78% have less than a quarter of the deposit needed (5% of total house value, or £3,629) for an average house in Burnley (the local authority area with the lowest average house price).
• Twenty four of the wealthiest 100 people in Britain last year grew their wealth, in part, through owning property. They have a combined worth of over £78 bn. Last year these 24 people saw their wealth rise by almost £7 bn. That’s the equivalent of 33,144 average priced houses
Housing is a key component of the story of inequality in this country, where we are fast becoming a nation with a dwindling number of the ‘housing haves’, and millions more becoming the ‘renting rest’
link to equalitytrust.org.uk
‘The housing crisis in the UK is deep-rooted, extensively documented, and well known by just about everyone – not least the many of us experiencing the effects. The crisis has been growing at an alarming pace over three decades in each year of which housing supply has seriously undershot demand… from key workers being priced out of both market and rented accommodation anywhere near their place of work, to housing waiting lists exceeding life expectancies in the capital, to accelerating housing costs stripping out billions in potential consumer spend that could be stimulating the real economy…
the year-on-year undersupply of new housing has had the dual effect of grossly boosting land and house prices whilst significantly growing the rented market and rent inflation, with myriad demographic, social and economic consequences. This is further compounded by the consequences of the government’s other home-owning policies, principal of which is the aforementioned Right to Buy, under which almost 40% of houses sold off with a generous discount find themselves on the private rental market. This has given birth to ‘Generation Rent’, the effects of which are only set to continue…in London alone the waiting lists for social housing in the absence of real affordability is around 350,000, extending to 1.2 million across England. At the same time, developers from China, Singapore, Malaysia and Qatar have permission to build more than 33,000 homes that are distinctly unaffordable to the average worker…
The political parties have consistently colluded in the green belt shibboleth for risk of upsetting what their advisors regard as the all-important Middle England voter. As put by Professor Ian Gordon, writing for the Centre for Cities, “Securing a decent quality of life, both for Londoners and their South East neighbours, will require region-wide efforts to re-model a much-valued – but outdated – green belt for the 21st century…
Despite its clear view about demand and targets on housing, the government has purposely destroyed this potentially potent part of the supply side. In doing so, it has set out its stall against lower income families. However, it’s worth remembering, this is not unique to our current government: it was in fact perpetuated by 13 years of Labour rule’
link to academyofurbanism.org.uk
Annual Ground Rent (AGR)-one answer to a fairer economy;
‘A form of AGR; a Land Tax, has been used previously in Scotland. It was the main source of revenue prior to the 1707 Union of Parliaments and continued for several years afterwards but was gradually abolished by the landowners in the Westminster Parliament, who changed the tax laws to pass the burden of paying taxes onto working people so that the barons and lairds could enjoy the unearned rental value of the land. We are often told that we live by the ‘Law of the Land’ but it would be more accurate to say we live by the ‘Law of the Land Owners’
link to bellacaledonia.org.uk
Perhaps the last word should go to the well known radical socialist Winston Churchill in a HoC speech in 1909;
‘Land monopoly is not the only monopoly, but it is by far the greatest of monopolies – it is a perpetual monopoly, and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly. Unearned increments in land are not the only form of unearned or undeserved profit, but they are the principal form of unearned increment, and they are derived from processes which are not merely not beneficial, but positively detrimental to the general public…
Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains— and all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is effected by the labour and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of those improvements does the land monopolist, as a land monopolist, contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare,he contributes nothing to the process from which his own enrichment is derived.
link to landvaluetax.org
Eck there, peerless.
Jock McDonnell says:
It’s hard to see anything coherent in what they do … but I think you are right.
I’ve always said there are two styles of Brexit. Firstly the crash and burn walk away. Secondly accepting what the EU offers with a few face saving tweets around the edges. (A third non-Brexit option is of course to simply call the nonsense off!)
So what would the EU put on the table? IMO too, a “Norway style option” as the transitional agreement after Brexitday. It would last years allowing the ‘final trade deal’ to be pushed into the future and become someone else’s problem. And by then everyone might be ready for a long term “Norway style option”.
If business, the CBI, and the City, have finally come round to seeing that the world outside the single market is a very scary place their political minions in the Conservative party will fall into line.
A plausible plan.
Kind of snookers Indy, though. And perhaps that the is the biggest reason for believing it is THE plan.
Thepnr twice I have seen that guy do stand-up – really good.
Kind of snookers Indy, though. And perhaps that the is the biggest reason for believing it is THE plan.
It does. Imagine the kind of heat Mayhem’s under to give up Brexit completely.
If they lose control of Scotland and anything like all the forecasted Brexit economic contraction is accurate, England’s in for some very severe belt tightening over the next 3 to 4 decades.
link to huffingtonpost.co.uk?
BBC says this is what the Lab 1997 manifesto said about their housing policy.
“The phased release of capital receipts from council house sales will increase the stock of housing for rent”
Its not much is it. Keep selling council houses like Thatcher’s crew did, and use that money to do what?
Oh well, they’re not the red tories for nothing.
ben madigan @ 10.05
Worth reading and seeing that to let us know the reality in NI. Those bonfires are so close to what looks like new build housing. Are they mad or just filled with hatred?
Rhetorical question.
the thing is……….I know we are the Gov in waiting…..we need to convince/dsplay…..we ARE the GovforScotland
A minor, though significant, correction. Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable New Build scheme is available on properties up to a maximum value of £200,000, that complete during the period 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2019. The decision to retain the £200,000 cap was announced at the end of March..
South of the border the max remains at £600,000 and the Help to Buy loan can be up to 20% of the value.
Seriously? We’re still – STILL – treating a Tom Gordon article as if it has the remotest degree of legitimacy?
@ Still Positive
thanks a lot.
“But for the typical two-adult home..”
The typical home in Scotland contains one adult.
link to nrscotland.gov.uk
The typical household contains 3 or more people – that much we can take from the link posted above.
There is a subtle difference between the statement and the figures shown in the link.
893k homes consist of 1 person. 846k households consist of 2 persons (could be 2 adults or adult & child) and 699k consist of 3 or more persons (again could be 1 or 2 adults plus children or even 3 or more adults)
“A happy 12th to the Wingers” as Arlene might say! Certainly happy for her! She’s now on the ascendant as a doomed Theresa becomes a laughing-stock, she’s got the billions & the future looks Orange. “What shall it profit a man…….!”
Warm yer Hole wi Arlene’s Coal!
LINKS; from the Lady;
Wallace Day Parade (August)
link to facebook.com
Not in a good way;
link to itisintruthnotforglory.wordpress.com
May urged to be humble and listen to people; (No Chance)
link to newsnet.scot
Peace Always
LINKS;
A hard Irish border is quite possible, a frictionless one is an oxymoron;
link to blogs.lse.ac.uk
G4S offered privatised tagging contract despite facing multi-million taxpayer fraud probe;
link to thelondoneconomic.com
UK’s £3bn aircraft carrier could be sunk by cheap missiles – security think-tank;
link to rt.com
Peace Always
LINKS;
Banks begin London exodus as hopes of transitional deal fade;
link to archive.is
JPMorgan’s Dimon Says EU May Force More Brexit Moves Later;
link to bloomberg.com
UK house prices: Is a crash coming?;
link to cityam.com
Peace Always
link to cityam.com
LINKS;
EXCLUSIVE: COOPER ATTACKED LEFT – USING KNOWN #SOCKPUPPET ACCOUNT;
link to skwawkbox.org
Brexit cake is now more humble pie for Britain;
link to irishtimes.com
Prime Minister is arrogant and stupid on migration;
link to irishtimes.com
Peace Always
LINKS;
UN NUCLEAR BAN TREATY: Video;
link to patriciagibson.org
A&E Waiting Times Improve;
link to news.gov.scot
Alex Unleashed;
link to assemblyfestival.com
Peace Always
LINKS;
Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky: How the U.S. Became an Oligarchy That Makes War on the Middle Class;
link to truthdig.com
Donald Trump Jr. may have crossed the legal line on collusion;
link to archive.is
That’s all Folks:
Peace Always
LINKS;
Staying in the Customs Union: Neither Soft Nor Simple;
link to scer.scot
Release details of DUP Brexit ‘dark money’, MPs tells Northern Ireland Secretary;
link to opendemocracy.net
EXPOSED: THE LINKS BETWEEN THE ORANGE ORDER AND THE SCOTTISH FAR-RIGHT;
link to athousandflowers.net
Peace Always
NOW, that’s ALL!
🙂
Peace Always
This is the problem with memory/ME!
Prime Minister is Arrogant and Stupid; (This is news?)
link to theneweuropean.co.uk
Have to go, if I’ve made any more mistakes please let me know.
Peace Always
@Al Dossary says: 12 July, 2017 at 5:18 am:
“893k homes consist of 1 person. 846k households consist of 2 persons (could be 2 adults or adult & child) and 699k consist of 3 or more persons (again could be 1 or 2 adults plus children or even 3 or more adults)”
I believe the original, post and source of this bit of the thread, was attempting to imply that the SG policy was wrong because these two person households were one adult and a child and thus unfair to unmarried mothers.
In point of fact, though, by far the most likely two person households will be older couples whose grown up family have left home. Also many, if not most, single occupant households will be older people whose family have grown up and left and their partner has then died.
The thinking behind that view is the demographic that Scotland has a growing problem of an aging population. In the cases I mentioned the occupants will have either already paid off their mortgage or be close to doing so.
Furthermore, the one adult and one child classification need not be the inferred unmarried female and child. My first wife died young and left me with two children to raise single handed for some years.
My point is that we should not jump to sweeping generalisations and making unwarranted assumptions.
Excellent article Stu,in this “quiet” period it brings focus back as to just how the Unionists work in order to degrade all things Scottish.There are no Unionist politicians in Scotland, nor the wider UK who give a fig about the Scottish people only our assets of all kinds.
They rely on the dumb to swallow their crap, they seek the headline hunters who never look below nor take any time to really find out what the truth is. In that, is their targets, and no shortage of them.
On other issues, the DUP seem to be on another path of confrontation boosted by their Westminster connections, this does not bode well for peace in Northern Ireland.
Jackie Bailey. She sets new trends in labour anti SNP agenda’s with her call to the SNP about sprinkler systems for buildings that labour built, no shame there, or ever from this horrible creature.
On a bright note, Alex Salmond unleashed from political restraints at the Fringe is sure to be very controversial and no doubt he will come out with exactly what Westminster does to Scotland, long past time someone to spread that dirt out, Alex is just the man to do it, can’t wait.
BBC radio Sweaty has a story this morning about Highland farmers worried about their profits and the end of EU subsidies.
They ram home the story with an anti SNP tirade by Tory Struan whatever his name, saying the SNP wont pay the same level of subsidy post Brexit.
No rebuff allowed for the SNP.
Smallaxe Great linking, Nanaesque, even:D
Seen the Herald yesterday and the Scottish tory farmer’s latest freak out?
Where’s our EU money Dear Leader Teresa?
8 hrs ago
Top Scots Tory calls for an end to calamitous Brexit as Scottish farmers face post-EU wipe-out
David Leask
Chief Reporter
A senior Conservative has called for a rethink of his own party’s “calamitous” Brexit policy, warning a trade deal with Donald Trump’s America would wipe out Scottish farmers.
Former MEP Struan Stevenson raised the spectre of falling subsidies and collapsing land prices while imports of cheap low-quality hormone-treated beef and chlorine-washed chicken destroyed domestic production.”
Writing in The Herald, the veteran Tory echoed grave concerns expressed in this newspaper’s Beyond Brexit series last month by both economists and farming analysts”
Love that “senior conservative” Herald style, not greedy old tory gits watching their subs evaporate under their own hooters.
link to rebrn.com
Help to buy has been one of these policies that has been shown to actually increase house prices and keep the city of London Ponzi scheme going. It’s party policy for most parties but the real problem is the banks being allowed to pump so much newly created money into mortgage markets.
Perhaps the SNP policy at WM should be QE on privately debt. Sanction the Bank of England to buy up a percentage of people’s mortgage debt and a reset of house prices. It’s the only way to sort the problem. Going forward a policy of credit guidance for banks where most of the money they create goes to creating jobs (only 10% just now)
Economist Steve keen has suggested this type of things and Barack Obama was going to do this without US mortgage debt but couldn’t get it through the senate.
At last friends I have found it! No giant leap for mankind, but a small step me.
Regarding our famous Declaration of Arbroath and subsequent Claim of Right, it has perturbed me a little that while there were numerous references to the perpetual nature of the Scottish Sovereignty, the Declaration itself was less specific. Some have even claimed the Declaration makes no mention of perpetuity. So where did it come from?
It’s true, the Declaration does say “as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, NEVER will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life itself”. I suppose never does mean never, but it is debatable if in emphasis and interpretation.
Written to Pope in 1320, the Pope’s reply was not fast in coming, it wasn’t until 1328 that the Pope recognised Scotland and lifted the excommunication of King Robert. Those are eight turbulent years… 1327 saw the English King Edward II deposed and murdered in infamous method, leaving his wife Queen Isabella, and infant heir Edward III, and her lover Roger Mortimer to run an English state weakened by wars with Scotland, a widespread famine, and near civil war between English factions divided by the imprudent actions of Edward II.
England was weak, but the popular perception is that where Edward II was weak and a poor leader, Isabella was just opposite. It was England, under Isabella, which sued for peace with Scotland, recognised Scotland with the 1328 Treaty of Northampton.
The Treaty of Northampton formally recognised the reign of Scotland, “, “shall belong to our dearest ally and friend, the magnificent prince, Lord Robert, by God’s grace illustrious King of Scotland, and to his heirs and successors, separate in all things from the kingdom of England, whole, free, and undisturbed in perpetuity, without any kind of subjection, service, claim or demand”.
Ya beauty. “Whole, free, and undisturbed in perpetuity, without any kind of subjection, claim or demand”.
In 1953 there was Lord Cooper’s much-cited judgement in McCormack vs the Lord Advocate case (which centered upon whether the Queen should be Elizabeth II or Elizabeth I in Scotland), where he stated that “the principle of unlimited sovereignty of parliament is a distinctly English principle and has no counterpart in Scottish Constitutional Law”, and the Lord Advocate’s own concession, “admitting the Parliament of Great Britain could not alter or repeal fundamental and essential conditions of the Acts of Union.”
Lord Cooper’s core finding was that the Acts of Union preserved the rights of the Scottish people as sovereign, and sovereign status which cannot be changed, for all time.
If you are sovereign, you have NO superior to overrule your reign. Scotland’s sovereign people voted to remain in Europe, and both Westminster and Holyrood are stuck with it.
heedtracker says:
Correct, partly.
There are two faces to Scottish agriculture.
Firstly, the large farm in the rural lowlands with the ‘gentleman farmer’ – driver of a RangeRover and kids in private education. It is this group you allude to.
There is another side. The 1000s of crofters and hill farmers who rely on the £20k for so they get in CAP subsidies to survive. They drive aging pickups and live in areas with poor amenities.
To be honest, I couldn’t give a toss about the first group. They will no doubt ‘diversify’ and still land on their feet.
The second group does concern me. We really are likely to see a complete change in our Highland and Islands with Brexit. It is going to be a re run of the Clearances. Our ‘wilderness’ may be about to expand.
The second group does concern me. We really are likely to see a complete change in our Highland and Islands with Brexit. It is going to be a re run of the Clearances. Our ‘wilderness’ may be about to expand.
Well someone voted Naw Thanks, galamcennalath. Look at the demography of NO too.
Check the map. All crofter regions of Scotland, Naw Thanks.
link to bbc.co.uk
If they’ve voted themselves out of existence, too bad.
Hi Breeks, good analysis. Just one wee pedantic point, but highlights the way our history is skewed to an English perspective. The 1328 treaty is actually the Treaty of Edinburgh, not Northampton. It was negotiated at Northampton and signed in Edinburgh, and Treaties are known by where they were signed. The Treaty for all its conditions was an admission that England could not protect its borders and was a humiliating defeat for English arms. It is easy to see why they would prefer not to be reminded of that fact.
More good news from the State Broadcaster- through gritted teeth no doubt:
Scotland’s jobless total fell by 19,000 in the three months to May to stand at 104,000.
The unemployment rate is now 3.8%, down by 0.7% from the previous period. The rate for the UK as a whole now stands at 4.5%.
Comments from Mundell and Sarwar to follow – something about the ‘broad shoulders of the UK’ and ‘a mere decrease of 0.7% is unacceptable’ 🙂
I’ve heard the 1328 treaty called by historians the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.
SNP getting on with the day job -connecting up big policy areas
‘We will deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes by 2021 backed by over £3 billion. This target represents a 67% increase in affordable housing supply, and 35,000 of the 50,000 target will be for social rent.These extra homes are expected to support, on average, around 14,000 jobs per year and generate around £1.7 billion for the economy on average over the life of the five-year programme’
beta.gov.scot/policies/more-homes/affordable-housing-supply/
Inequality and the housing crisis- ‘generation rent’
‘How Unaffordable Housing Drives UK Inequality shows the scale of housing inequality, and the chronic lack of affordability of housing for many people. Our analysis finds that:
• 86% of renters (over 6 million households) have less than the £8,838.65 needed for even a 5% deposit for a mortgage on an average first home in the UK.
• 95% have less than the deposit (£35,354.60) needed for a mortgage on an average first home in the UK.
• 78% have less than a quarter of the deposit needed (5% of total house value, or £3,629) for an average house in Burnley (the local authority area with the lowest average house price).
• Twenty four of the wealthiest 100 people in Britain last year grew their wealth, in part, through owning property. They have a combined worth of over £78 bn. Last year these 24 people saw their wealth rise by almost £7 bn. That’s the equivalent of 33,144 average priced houses
Housing is a key component of the story of inequality in this country, where we are fast becoming a nation with a dwindling number of the ‘housing haves’, and millions more becoming the ‘renting rest’
link to equalitytrust.org.uk
‘The housing crisis in the UK is deep-rooted, extensively documented, and well known by just about everyone – not least the many of us experiencing the effects. The crisis has been growing at an alarming pace over three decades in each year of which housing supply has seriously undershot demand… from key workers being priced out of both market and rented accommodation anywhere near their place of work, to housing waiting lists exceeding life expectancies in the capital, to accelerating housing costs stripping out billions in potential consumer spend that could be stimulating the real economy…
the year-on-year undersupply of new housing has had the dual effect of grossly boosting land and house prices whilst significantly growing the rented market and rent inflation, with myriad demographic, social and economic consequences. This is further compounded by the consequences of the government’s other home-owning policies, principal of which is the aforementioned Right to Buy, under which almost 40% of houses sold off with a generous discount find themselves on the private rental market. This has given birth to ‘Generation Rent’, the effects of which are only set to continue…in London alone the waiting lists for social housing in the absence of real affordability is around 350,000, extending to 1.2 million across England. At the same time, developers from China, Singapore, Malaysia and Qatar have permission to build more than 33,000 homes that are distinctly unaffordable to the average worker…
The political parties have consistently colluded in the green belt shibboleth for risk of upsetting what their advisors regard as the all-important Middle England voter. As put by Professor Ian Gordon, writing for the Centre for Cities, “Securing a decent quality of life, both for Londoners and their South East neighbours, will require region-wide efforts to re-model a much-valued – but outdated – green belt for the 21st century…
Despite its clear view about demand and targets on housing, the government has purposely destroyed this potentially potent part of the supply side. In doing so, it has set out its stall against lower income families. However, it’s worth remembering, this is not unique to our current government: it was in fact perpetuated by 13 years of Labour rule’
link to academyofurbanism.org.uk
Annual Ground Rent (AGR)-one answer to a fairer economy that isn’t driven by an overinflated housing bubble
‘A form of AGR; a Land Tax, has been used previously in Scotland. It was the main source of revenue prior to the 1707 Union of Parliaments and continued for several years afterwards but was gradually abolished by the landowners in the Westminster Parliament, who changed the tax laws to pass the burden of paying taxes onto working people so that the barons and lairds could enjoy the unearned rental value of the land. We are often told that we live by the ‘Law of the Land’ but it would be more accurate to say we live by the ‘Law of the Land Owners’
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/01/18/the-fair-system-to-replace-council-tax-annual-ground-rent-agr/
Radical socialist Winston Churchill agrees- in a HoC speech in 1909-
‘Land monopoly is not the only monopoly, but it is by far the greatest of monopolies — it is a perpetual monopoly, and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly. Unearned increments in land are not the only form of unearned or undeserved profit, but they are the principal form of unearned increment, and they are derived from processes which are not merely not beneficial, but positively detrimental to the general public…
Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains— and all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is effected by the labour and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of those improvements does the land monopolist, as a land monopolist, contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare,he contributes nothing to the process from which his own enrichment is derived’
link to landvaluetax.org
@heedtracker
I wrote to Scotland’s MEPs when Struan Stevenson was an MEP. I asked whether the EU had any EU-wide regulations regarding Glycol coolant as it can be potentially dangerous if ingested by people or animals.
Out of all the MEPs – including the SNP – he was the only that took the time to actually give a response. Not only did he supply a response. He gave a properly researched answer.
I have written on another occasion to MEPs. That time I got a decent answer from the Labour MEP.
UKIP’s email bounced. I did get an SNP acknowledgement this time, but no proper answer.
For a party that is supposed to be so pro-EU, I found it very disappointing that SNP MEP’s were almost the worst at responding.
I also found it disconcerting that a Tory, aye a blooming Tory, was doing a better job than the SNP MEPs.
Struan Stevenson when he was a Tory MEP regarding answering correspondence: 10/10.
Labour 5/10
The SNP’s performance 1/10
and UKIP’s 0/10.
colin alexander says:
12 July, 2017 at 11:01 am
@heedtracker
Well DON’T vote SNP Colin. Its that simple. I totally respect that your NOT an SNP voter, for all kinds of reasons and I totally respect that you want a ref2 but only on Scottish Sovereignty.
But the fact is, ALL crofter regions, of the Scottish region of greater England voted NAW Thanks, 2014.
Amd if their vote Naw Thanks has meant that crofting is now finished, or at least only a n other hobby for the wealthy, too bad.
Look what you could have won, kind of thing Colin.
BREAKING news on the BBC.
Barnier to meet Scottish and Welsh leaders.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Theresa (and Moothie).
BBC BREAKING NEWS. Barnier totally ignoring the Westminster Tories. Ha, ha, ha. Just loving it. What a kick in the teeth for Theresa May.
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@ Robert and Legerwood. Thanks for taking the time to post data relating to rising-mains hydrants in Scottish buildings. Jackie Baillie should cut out the scaremongering by stating full facts.
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It’s bad enough that the Scots have had Westminster lording it over us, currently Tories that we didn’t vote for, but now we’ve to contend with the DUP, the political arm of the UDA calling the shots. And to add insult to injury we’re forking out 9/10% of the cost of doing so. Is this what we want for Scotland? Being ruled by a corrupt, sectarian, homophobic party or being an Independent country aligned to the EU?
‘Arlene Foster told those “waging campaign of demonisation” against bonfires to “dial down the rhetoric”.
The DUP leader released a 650-word statement last night about the Twelfth.
Instead, she said bonfires have “long been part of the unionist culture” and that “those who have waged a campaign of demonisation against such celebrations should dial down the rhetoric”.
link to irishnews.com
Maybe this is the kind of action that led to the stereotypical ‘thick Mick’ term.
link to irishnews.com
stewartb ‘8.01 pm
THAT is heartening news !
Thank you for the links and synopsis about Scotland attracting record Foreign Direct Investment since 2012.
Scotland goes from strength to strength = )
Doesn’t fit with the unionists talking down Scotland with every breath, does it?
I wonder how much that investment is attracted by the welcome and quality of life here? Scotland’s own folk are our greatest asset (that’s you folks 🙂 )