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The rank outsider

Posted on October 24, 2018 by

And we do mean rank. It’s been quite a week already for super-hapless Labour MP Hugh Gaffney, but he excelled himself today when joining in with Scottish Labour’s campaign to resist building a new hospital in Gartcosh (which is the recommendation of an independent NHS panel), rather than on the site of the current one in Monklands.

(And yes, that is the same one Labour wanted to shut down in 2007.)

Because it wasn’t terribly long ago that he took a rather different view.

He didn’t even think to delete the previous tweet, let alone actually give any reasons for the sudden change of heart. And here at Wings, we believe that standout political talent like that deserves recognition.

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jimnarlene

Is his full name Hugh Hypocrisy Gaffney?

call me dave

Kinda reminds of the Bain Principle from ex MP Wullie a while ago.

You’ve put a shift in today Rev.. go watch some Bullseye darts.

Bill Hume

Has Hugh even heard of this interwebby thing where your past utterances do not go unrecorded?

Clootie

….he definitely supports the last thing he was tweeted. In true goldfish mode when a camera is pointed at him.

Voters why? Why? did you think it was a good idea to elect him? An empty cardboard box would have been a better choice!

starlaw

Well he would have been right, if Monklands had been selected then Labour would have been campaigning for Gartcosh.

remo

Over the last wee while, I really feel as though I have stepped into the Twilight Zone.

Gary45%

“Rank Rotten-Shug Gaffe-Prone Nobody”, at it again
The Red Rosetted Turd pops his head out the cludgie once again.
Before the internet this sorry shower of SH*TE got away with this daily, without challenge.

Donald anderson

Gaff for short and principles for short.

James Caithness

Gafney by name gaff by nature. He seems to be trying to challenge the tories for the thick of the week award or the day.

Inverclyder

I’m convinced that British Labour in Scotland (Branch office and Northern Dominoes League) are actually here in Scotland from an alternate dimension with a timeline where they are in charge at Holyrood.

It’s the only explanation there can be!

Jason Smoothpiece

Leave wee Shug alone he is not a bad man, incredibly thick I mean really really thick, wouldn’t trust him to put the rubbish out.

He is fully paid up Scottish Labour so he is in the right place.

We need more Labour politicians like this. Off the scale thickos quite a party Labour now.

Do they actually have a recruitment issue for full time politicians?

Dan Huil

Huge Gaff is the bloated face of brainless Labour. No wonder the britnat media loves him.

galamcennalath

The difference between them and us …. they try to choose a different past, we want to choose a different future.

remo

@galamcennalath 7.53 pm

I love that line. Should be on posters.

Robert Peffers

@ Clootie says: 24 October, 2018 at 7:23 pm:

” … An empty cardboard box would have been a better choice!”

As long as i’s n0 ane o thae yaised SNPBAAAD! Flammable baby boaxes, Clootie

Jockanese Wind Talker

The sad fact is that these lies will go unchallenged by the MSM in Scotland.

As a result a large % of our population (who rely on the TV and printed press for their news) are unaware of the hypocrisy of British Labour in Scotland, their Trades Union Placemen and Placewomen like Dick Leonard.

Now apparently the Greens and the EIS are joining the EssEnnPeeBaaad “BritNat Scottish National Strike”.

BritNats now aiming to cause maximum damage via propaganda because either a ‘snap’ GE is on the cards or the knowledge that IndyRef2 is going to be a YES landslide.

Hopefully some mercenary wee no win-no fee lawyer will bankrupt the GMB and BritNat Labour in Scotland in a class action via the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 with legal fees, damages and compensation.

Dr Jim

I wonder if you apply a blowtorch to Labours con trick policy of creating strikes out of situations they created
would it burn
or do they just store them up next to Ed Milibands big slab of lies

Macart

Labour’s in full lemming mode this week.

Andy-B

Of course Labour oppose anything the SNP put forward. No matter how useful or pratical or money saving it is.

Labour don’t care about the people of Scotland, they’re a bunch of self serving hypocritical bastards.

Robert Peffers

Breaking Scottish Parliament Committee. 5 hours ago:-

link to youtube.com

Bob Mack

When people ask in 20 years why Labour became redundant in Scotland we just need to show them our Wings archives,

They will never believe it.

Breeks

Where does this political calamity end? I mean, all the Labour hypocrisy and Tory mindf’kery, – if it was a ship you’d scuttle it. If it was a horse you’d shoot it. If it was a limb, you’d amputate.

A recent tweet from Alan Smith:

Alyn Smith MEP
@AlynSmith
Awful from Tory leader in #EPlenary quipping that Nazis were “National Socialists” (speaking to Socialist Group leader). After Foreign Secretary “Soviet” jibe, grossly offensive, real upset around the Chamber. These chancers are trashing the UK’s image. Not in Scotland’s name.

That’s right, the Tory Leader in the middle of an EU Parliamentary debate about Britain’s exit from Europe is comparing European Socialist MEP’s to the Nazis. What the hell are these crazed Tory lunatics thinking?

I can think of no historic parallel for this unfolding political “British” idiocy. When, throughout history, has there ever been a Nation so hellbent on dismantling its own integrity and leaving itself disgraced and open to unanswerable ridicule?

The Westminster Government is breaking new ground and taking the UK into thoroughly uncharted territory, and has lost all reason and objective perspective.

They are talking about a vote of confidence in May, but what possible difference does a change of personality at the top make to sands of time running out in the Brexit Egg timer? That is quite literally rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. They are ALL OF THEM unfit for office.

For the love of God, PLEASE get Scotland out of this insanity while Scotland at least has some small degree of integrity left.

ronnie anderson

We have more than enough of Politico thickos in Scotland we should enter into the export market , there again maybe not .

[…] Wings Over Scotland The rank outsider And we do mean rank. It’s been quite a week already for super-hapless Labour MP Hugh […]

Q.

Expect fireworks at FMQ’s tomorrow. A veritable horror show for Labour. Again.

robert alexander harrison

And then there’s the blue torys really putting hypocrisy all over the place frist pmqs may basically in a nutshell says the torture and killing is wrong but won’t stop the arms sales to Blackfords question then in Holyrood Michelle ballantyne defends the two children tax limit and attacks the unemployed with extreme verbal prejudice.

twathater

The Gaff or Guff is just the typical representation of the britnat twats that are prevalent in Holyrood and that other place , what really makes me sooooo angry is that we are forced to pay stupid amounts of money for just stupids

C;mon Dick pull Nicola up about your equal pay clusterf**k at FMQ;s and give us and SENSIBLE Scots a good laugh

dakk

Yup,that’s short arse Gaffney in full Cocky Baine mode.

What a wonderful british sight to behold.

Alluring to watch in a kind of sadistic way.

Top notch journalism Stuart.

stewartb

O/T Re- the EIS pay claim for teachers.

What’s going on with the EIS pay claim of 10%? Is this reasonable, even feasible, at this time? How does it square with what follows?

This from England, from a media release from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the National Education Union (NEU) dated Tuesday 24 July 2018:

“Joint union response on teachers’ pay

Three education unions today welcomed the announcement of a 3.5% pay increase for classroom teachers on the main pay range and the Department for Education’s commitment to funding part of this pay award. This shows that the penny may have dropped in terms of the government recognising the scale of the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.”

Source: link to neu.org.uk

And then I found this dated July 2018:

“The pay scales for qualified teachers are split into main and upper pay ranges – after entering at the NQT/probationary starting point, teachers are promoted up the scales in line with excellent performance. These ranges, from the main rate to the highest upper rate, differ between countries across the UK:

England (excluding London) and Wales – £23,720 to £35,008
London – £24,859 to £41,268 (fringes), £27,596 to £43,348 (outer), £29,664 to £47,751 (inner)
Scotland – £27,438 to £44,727
Northern Ireland – £22,243 to £37,870.”

Source: link to prospects.ac.uk

Something must surely be wrong with some of this info: how else is the EIS claim for a 10% pay rise even reasonable at this time? Can anyone with sector knowledge that I don’t have shed any light on all this?

Bob Mack

PMQ# today was yes we supply ammunition to Saudi to bomb Yemen, but we also give the Yemen money and aid to ease their suffering. How thoughtful.

Wulls

Somewhere in the states they elected a donkey to their local council.
I bet Gaffney is glad it wasn’t standing against him last election.

Luigi

Looks like the BritNat establishment (aided by its useful idiots, the red tories) are trying hard to kick off a winter of discontent against the Scottish government before a GE and/or Indyref2 kicks off.

Nip this in the bud, Nicola.

carjamtic

The Lignum Vitae Trophy

#ThanTwoShortPlanks

Meindevon

Rev, I hope you have sent this to Sky’s James Matthews in order that he can out the hypocrisy of this man who also made such a fool of him (that’s giving him the benefit of the doubt) live on telly the other day.

Jockanese Wind Talker

“Expect fireworks at FMQ’s tomorrow. A veritable horror show for Labour. Again.”

Aye you are probably right @Q. says at 9:02 pm

Unfortunately this is not what the BritNat Propagandists at the BBC or STV ‘News’ will report using strategic editing and their ‘reporter’ telling the viewers what the FM said rather than letting them hear her responses.

winifred mccartney

Yesterday pretending to be a worker for GCC in order to dis snp and today unable to remember what he said previously about the site of the new hospital-in the same camp as Jackieb saying one thing to constituents and another to parliament.

Labour have been lying to us for so long they simply cannot get out of the habit. They still have the msm and bbc covering for them but more and more of us can see them for what they are, and I think even the bbc is embarrassed by them.

Street Andrew

Twat.

Twat of the first water, and as thick as pigshit.

yesindyref2

Oh dear, he made a right gaff there.

Silverytay

Gaffney and Leonard are both hypocrites
As far as I am aware it’s been Alex Niel M.S.P and Niel Gray M.P who have been campaigning to keep Monklands Hospital in Monklands .
Niel Grey even has a post on F.B about it just now

Capella

Man of the moment, Hugh Gaffney, pleads to retain decaying Monklands Hospital in defiance of the former Hugh Gaffney.
Maybe Nicola should just say OK then. The money saved could pay for the equal pay settlement which Hugh Gaffney demands should be paid forthwith.

Meantime, another peasants’ revolt is brewing with Scottish teachers, the relatively well paid, demanding an inflation busting 10% pay rise. Good luck with that then.
What does Hugh Gaffney advise?

It does look like a co-ordinated campaign of defiance against the SNP Scottish Government. I suspect Neil Findlay is masterminding the operation. It has all the hallmarks of a Lothians Peoples Front pincer movement.

Artyhetty

Oh god I hate the Britnat Labour party and their accounting branch office in Scotland more and more as each minute passes. These lying, scheming troughers are for sure a dangerous lot.

Thing is at least part of the Labour/Tory/British Nationalists agenda is to bring the Scottish parliament down, with their lies and their scheming. There is definitely something afoot. A GE, or a new poll that indicates massive support for Scotland’s independence given the totally dystopian nightmare that awaits after the rUK Brexit is done and dusted.

O/T
Not sure whether to bother but poised to comment on Kenny MacAskill’s article in the National today, it’s all better together even if you and your kids and family are really starving because we need to look after ‘England’!
WTF.

The National today had a front page that could have been just from the Scotsman.

Scotland is really up against it. Today a nurse I saw complained that the Scottish gov got ‘the numbers wrong for the flu jab, huh!’. If she’s not careful there won’t be a ‘Scottish gov’ to get it wrong, or a SNHS!

Scary times, with Scotland having no powers ( blocked by Westminster at every turn) to having their own broadcast media, it’s an uphill struggle.

Sharing articles like this one and the previous one is essential to democracy!

defo

Amateur etymologists could be forgiven for jumping straight to ‘Guffy’ here.

Jack collatin

stewartb at 9.11 pm
This from Larry Flanagan’s wiki entry:-

“Larry Flanagan (born 1955 or 1956) is a Scottish trade union leader and former politician.

Flanagan attended the University of Stirling before becoming a teacher at Blantyre High School. He also became active in the Militant Tendency and in the Labour Party.

He was elected to Glasgow City Council, where he called or the party to oppose the Poll Tax with a campaign of non-payment.

He hoped to stand in the Glasgow Govan by-election, 1988, but was not considered as a candidate due to his involvement with Militant.

Early in the 1990s, Flanagan was suspended from the Labour group on the council due to disagreements about strategy with relation to the Poll Tax.

He instead focused on his teaching career, at Penilee High School in Paisley and then Hillhead High School in Glasgow.

He also became increasingly prominent in the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) trade union, being elected to its council and convening its education committee.

In 2012, he was elected as the union’s general secretary He also represents the union on the General Council of the Trades Union Congress, and the General Council of the Scottish Trades Union Congress.”

Some may say, but not I, that he is a dyed in the wool old style Commie Militant agitator, on £135,000 a year plus expenses, who will lead the teachers by the nose into striking over a ridiculous 10% increase in a pay range currently at £27,438 to £44,727 pa plus index linked final salary benefits described golden lifetime pensions, with 12 weeks paid holiday a year.

Some may also observe, but not I, that these evil Commies and Militants ‘sleepers’ have insinuated themselves into the very fabric of our society and have have lain dormant for decades, and activated by the English Oligarchy in response to the Rise of Independence Movement and are instructed to destroy Scotland’s civic society for the greater good of their London Masters, and blame the SNP for it.

mike cassidy

Labour in Scotland candidate selection process revealed.

link to youtube.com

mike cassidy

Labour in Scotland candidate selection process revealed if would be candidate is a postman

link to youtube.com

Jim

Both myself and my wife work full time, we have three children and claim tax benefits so please, go fuck yourself Michelle Ballantyne and your next steps Eugenics.

galamcennalath

Looks like May will decide whether to declare a No Deal situation in Mid November.

This does probably coincide with the last date the EU can agree a Withdrawal Agreement and have it ratified by each of the EU27.

link to archive.li

KiltedSplendour

Clootie says:
24 October, 2018 at 7:23 pm
….he definitely supports the last thing he was tweeted. In true goldfish mode when a camera is pointed at him.

If you look it up you’ll find that internal strife in the SNP in North Lanarkshire played a big part in the election of Hugh Gaffney. Some of us won’t let it happen again.
Both my MP & my MSP are an embarrassment to their parties. Sadly the MSP is from the SNP.

galamcennalath

Re Michelle Ballantyne

What seems amazing here is that she doesn’t seem to understand why her views are totally unacceptable! To her, she probably believes she is just expressing ‘a normal Tory’ opinion.

The nasty party still lives up to its image!

Jim

If either of us lost our job we could lose everything you callous, Nazi bitch or is it only the rich that are going to be allowed to have children.

Rather than share some of the wealth of the 1%ers to give us a decent enough wage to not rely on state hand-outs you would prefer us to die out through not being able to procreate.

As can be testified, many poorer families have provided some of the worlds keenest minds and inbred scum like you would deny that scenario ever happening.

Jim

@galamcennalath

This has hit home like a kick in the balls; these bastards think they and their ilk have some inherent right to life and those of us on the periphery should just die out.

Jim

Modern day clearances, stop the poor of Scotland breeding, that’ll sort them.

Clapper57

Apologies o/t

In case anyone not seen this and wants to sign it.

I did it via link on Lesley Riddoch’s twitter account.

“David & Alison Telfer are sheep farmers in Galloway, brave enough to shop Duke of Buccleuch’s “trees for tenants” wheeze.

Now their tenancy isn’t being renewed despite pleas by @ScottishLandCom & @JoanMcAlpine MSP. Please show u care, sign petition & share”.

Dave McEwan Hill

I don’t think it would do the SNP any harm at all if they just told the teachers to fuck off (and I’m an ex teacher).

Even better would be to deal in exactly the same way with Ross Greer.

Jim

The teachers are being encouraged by the EIS to ‘push the envelope’, may they realise that Scotland truely runs on a limited budget and there is only so much to go around until we are Independent and in charge of our own finances.

Jim

May they also realise that they are being used by those Unions allied to ‘London Labour in Scotland’ who’s only goal is to preserve the Union at all costs, truely wierd that Scotland is one of the only countries in the world to run what is more or less a household budget, choice between fish fingers or beefy fucking bites for tea…

Capella

@ DMH – agreed. And also they could publicise pay rates. People who are relatively well paid should be more sensitive to the plight of the majority.

Average wage is approx £24,000. Anyone earning more than that is privileged.

Income should be made public and easily available, as I think it is in Switzerland through an online search. Also, how much tax people pay.

Jim

Regarding the child cap; there are people in the same situation as myself that are agreeing with if they can’t afford them they shouldn’t have them; think like me at what you would do if you lost your job, what the fuck would you do then….

Gary

Labour = farcical

manandboy

Labour, riding the Westminster gravy-train these past 80 years, aided and abetted by their partners in corruption, the Unions. Red Tories to the core.

Boy, the Scottish electorate were so gullible, so naieve, and above all, so totally brainwashed.

Legerwood

Artyhetty @ 9.52pm

You might want to show the nurse this article from the Guardian on 21st Oct. It is about flu vaccine shortages in NHS England.
link to archive.is

Yet a couple of weeks ago the papers up here were full of stories of how the SG had made a mess of ordering the flu vaccine resulting in shortages. If any mention was made of the situation down south it was to the effect that everything was Ok and they had got the ordering spot on.

This article shows that is not the case and they were caught out just like the SG and NHS Scotland

Capella

@ Jim – here are a great many people in that situation, probably the majority. There’s even a name for us “the precariat”.

The low paid, disabled, unemployed, underemployed, zero contracts, students, retired, immigrants. Probably more we don’t know much about e.g. artist, writers, craftsmen and women, married women looking after children or elderly parents.

We’ve fallen a long way down from the post war Beveridge welfare state.

Legerwood

Teachers’ pay scales
Pay for teachers on the unpromoted or maingrade scale goes from a Probationer, point 0, at £22,866 up to the top of the scale, point 6, at £36,480.

Chartered teachers scale goes from £37,611 to £44,727.

Full pay scales are here:

link to eis.org.uk

Jim

@Capella

I am welling up, maybe I need to stop posting when upset.

Greannach

In Gaffney we have all the Pie-faced Low-flying Jimmies poured into one. It’s like the Hoods, Donohoes, Roys and Hamiltons have been re-formed into this new concoction of sub-mediocrity. “Oaf” doesn’t do him justice.

Robert Peffers

” … Average wage is approx £24,000. Anyone earning more than that is privileged.”

The SG could always bring them into line with the average Kingdom of England rates. In an effort to normalise the profession’s rates right across the whole Union.

Do you think they would fail to welcome being paid as much as their English Kingdom counterparts?

Jim

You know what I feel like, Capella.

I grew up poor, my parents were made redundant at the same time and where we lived jobs were few and far behind.

I spent some time on the dole, managed to get a job with my partner who has worked all her life and so, so very hard-working and I feel that my children are not much better off than I was, living hand to mouth but, I have a mortgage and a car so must be a step ahead!!!

CameronB Brodie

So the MP has a problem, a choice between two mutually exclusive options. He’s simply adopting a critical rationalist approach to scientific inquiry, seeking truth through trial and error. Obvs. 🙂

Capella

@ Jim – keep on posting. We’re all in the same boat. We all want a fair society. Only the Tories, whether red, blue or yellow, want privileges. The rest of us just want to get with our lives in peace and harmony.

Jim

Forget the Millenials, I and many like me are the bastard children of the Tories, ‘the working poor’!

Valerie

@ Dave McEwan Hill & Capella

Glad I’m not the only one thinking that! My understanding is that the offer to teachers is a 3 year deal, 3% each year. Plenty would bite your hand off for that.

————-

Can I ask Wingers to consider signing this petition to Scotgov about the revolting trophy hunting of semi tame goats and sheep on Islay.

link to change.org

Jim

@Valerie

As I have said, there is only so much money to go around due to the constrictions of a budget/pocket money, given to us by Westminster.

A husband gives enough for a tin of Campbell’s meatballs, (other brands are available), but tells you he wants steak and Onion for dinner, that sort of thing.

Hamish100

Congratulations to Hugh Gaffney for his attempt to be the greatest Labour plonker despite stiff competition. Jackie Baillie, Dugdale, Leonard must be furious.

I hope printed copies of Gaffney’s preference for Gartcosh are delivered locally. Surely we should help him get his message across that he really is a rank hypocrite.

Incidentally does he donate his MP & councillors salary to the working poor?

Jim

@Hamish100

These must be printed and distributed to all in the area.

Dr Jim

Poorer people spend what money they have straight back into the economy, they have no choice, supermarkets cafes local shops takeaways toy stores baby goods are all funded by poorer people

The only people who are bad for the economy are rich people who keep their money out of the economy ceasing its circulation thereby causing more poverty among the poor, and the more money that’s kept out of circulation, the poorer the majority become

Conclusion: Without the majority of population who are poor to middle income there is no economy

One more thing, these children who the Tories claim are unwanted could end up being their carers or nurses or doctors or indeed if we’re fortunate funeral undertakers who might refuse to bury Tories and just let them rot in refuse bins for landfill

Too harsh? Nah!

Chick McGregor

Maybe it is them that have the goldfish memories.

Capella

@ Jim – well you are well ahead if you have a mortgage. I don’t own a house. I have a vast number of books, which, in this digital age, are worth SFA. But no debt. Apparently, that’s a bad thing in modern society.

But I can contribute to various crowdfunders, blogs, streaming services and news providers so I feel involved in something a bit more rewarding than the mind numbing Great British propaganda fest which dominates the daily zietgeist.

And I look forward to the day when we will be free of it and able to build the kind of society which we all want.

remo

@ Chick McGregor 11.42 pm

I take exception to that slur on goldfish. Goldfish can be trained and do not have a 3 second memory. I agree that SLab may do though and goldfish are cleverer.

David McCann

Hugh Gaffney, the gaff that keeps on gaffing!

Jim

@Capella
Still got 25 years so not too far ahaead.

Thepnr

@Chick McGregor @remo

A post on Wings by jdman pre 2014 that I’ve never forgotten 🙂

link to youtube.com

Capella

Oh look! Pork barrel politics. Monklands revealed.

There’s a by election in Coatbridge tomorrow. On the doorsteps Labour have been campaigning to keep the hospital “in Monklands”. On TV today and whenever Richard Leonard is asked, they are campaigning specifically to keep it in #Airdrie.
Win/win either way. All bases covered.

link to twitter.com

Colin Alexander

I heard a bit on the radio tonight.

Alex Neil explained why he voted with the Scot Govt that keeping the Monklands site was not a good idea. Basically, the site will have to be suitable for 60 years or more and the site isn’t suitable long-term, in his opinion.

However, he was also very opposed to the health board’s choice of Gartcosh.

I believe he said the “independent” panel was anything but and stuffed full of NHS Lanarkshire managers etc with only 1 patient from the Health Board area on that panel.

It seems he just stopped short of calling the Health Board liars and cheats and used the phrase “stitch-up” several times. It’s the most damning criticism I’ve ever heard from an SNP MSP.

As I’ve repeatedly warned, Health Boards are allowed to get away with the most serious of misdeeds and the Scot Govt brush it under the carpet. It happened under Robison, it’s happening under Freeman. This could damage the indy cause.

There is a lack of scrutiny and accountability by govt or others. Thank goodness for people like Alex Neil, a former SNP health secretary, who are willing to speak out.

Something must be done to make health boards open to public scrutiny and accountability. NOW.

Thepnr

Deranged Labour politician Prof. Dr. Cll Scott Arthur goes off on another one. like his colleague Gaffney above he needs to be sent to “diversity training”.

link to twitter.com

Artyhetty

Re: Legerwood@11.03

Thanks Lw, will take a look and pass it on…

re: Capella@11.05

Not to mention unpaid carers.

Robert J. Sutherland

I believe what we are witnessing here is the first observed occurrence (thanks, Stu!) of a Schroedingers’ politician. Each time the individual is interacted with, his complex wave functions collapse into a different eigenstate, which produces a literally unpredictable result.

Because all possibilities are latent in the configuration, each instantiation is quite unaware of the behaviour ensuing from preceding instantiations.

It’s remarkable. A genuine scientific curiosity that should be preserved for the nation, nay, the whole world. We may learn much from studying this unique opportunity.

In the meantime everyone (especially media) is advised to carefully observe but never interact with this phenomenon, since one just cannot know what instantiation will appear next. It could get messy.

Capella

@RJS – I believe the mere act of observing alters the dynamic, so that Hugh Gaffney may even cease to exist if we divert our attention elsewhere.

Furthermore, entities approaching a black hole become spaghettified. A terrible fate we would not wish on our worst enemy. But for Hugh, it would be a mercy.

Valerie

Here we go, that Scottish “expendable” fishing sorted.

Spain to get access. This is no doubt the price of that Gibraltar deal.

link to twitter.com

Gary

He’s obviously realised that it’s the work of the devil ie SNP…

Valerie

I’m in the Monklands catchment. With apologies to the staff, it’s a shithole, anything would be better.

If I were ill, I’d rather take my recovery at the landfill site.

The new site has been consulted on, and there is public support for the Gartgosh site, and it makes sense to put it on a new campus site, where another public service building is.

Valerie

@ Thepnr 12.01am

I’ve reported that racist filth.

North chiel

Tend to agree with “ Jockanese wind talker @ 2006 and “ @Luigi @ 2124 “, it’s beginning to look like we are moving into the “ end game” on Brexit . If it’s “ No deal” and “Chequers” is rejected by the EU then surely May has to resign. A general election with a Corbyn government ( with establishment “ plants” Starmer & Thornberry in the vanguard ) could be the “ Establishment choice” to thwart Scottish Independence. The latest Britnat Labour “union agitation “ in Scotland would certainly make sense as the “ propaganda channels” mantra in Scotland for the GE campaign will certainly be “ vote Labour in Scotland to save the country from a Tory hard Brexit” ( naturally no mention of saving the RUK from Scottish Independence). Make no mistake saving “ the precious precious union “ is the “ end game” for the “ Britnat Westminster Establishment”. If the Tories can’t get away with their goal of a hard Brexit and “ keeping Scotland chained “ then the soft Brexit compromise “ via the Establishment “ reserve Britnat government “ will be deployed. Stand by in this scenario for a “ propaganda blitz” on behalf of “ Scottish Labour” if this comes to pass. .The current agitation by the Britnat unions in Scotland could well be the forerunner . There is little doubt in my opinion that there is “ collusion” at a very high level within the “ Britnat Westminster establishment “ to deny Scottish Independence, ( whatever it takes) , this could very well include coordination between Tories, Labour & unions to degrade the SNP government in Scotland. In these circumstances does the SNP contest this GE on Independence ? against the Britnat Labour proposition of “ soft Brexit / super Devo Federal max jam tomorrow for Scotland” ? ( of course backed to the hilt by the Britnat media in Scotland).
Hopefully our wonderful FM “ has the plan” to free our country. She has “ played it so well so far” . In Nicola we trust.

Wullie B

Councillor scott Arthur show BLiS attitudes well with his latest tweet link to mobile.twitter.com

Confused

@RJS
@Capella

so what yir sayin is

Hugh Gaffney interferes with himself and collapses in a state?

chortle – physics “autism”, nice – keep it coming
I see references to –
quantum mechanics / copenhagen interpretation
black hole information paradox
?loop quantum gravity – jaysus that is obscure

This is from EPR –
Labour Policies are entangled with SNP – as soon as an SNP policy is measured, then immediately all other Labour policies become the OPPOSITE

Dr Jim

The offending racist Tweet by Labours Scott Arthur has been reported to Police Scotland by several people, more by the minute by the looks of it

Wullie B

Labour the gift that keeps on giving Dr Jim

scunner

Well, he appears to be testing the limit of my theory previously espoused regarding the memory retention period of the politically unaware.

However, yer average Joe won’t have been paying attention to the media (any) in June or now unless they live in the affected communities and probably more interested in celeb guff or sport. Only us anoraks care.

I swing between optimism & a deep pessimism regarding our chances of Independence.
The lies and hypocrisy an incessant stream. The utter brokenness of the UK obvious, but how many of our countrymen are actually paying attention?

My, it seems Prof/Doc/councilor or whatever, Scott is also testing the limit this evening. What a racist fool.

Meindevon

Well the day is not out (well not here Stateside anyway) and the Rev has another contender for cretin of the day.

Cllr Prof Scott Arthur (see the Revs twitter feed) doesn’t deserve to be a councillor or a professor. Is he actualy a professor? If employed his employers need to have a rethink. Not to mention his council.

I’m going to put a few items together when back in DDD and send them to Ben Bradshaw and ask him why I should ever vote Labour again. His partner is Scottish so the reply should be interesting.

Still Positive

I cringe every time I see Hugh Gaffney speak in parliament. He is the Scottish cringe personified. He also replaced a very capable and soft-spoken SNP MP who was an absolute gentleman, Phil Boswell. Can’t understand the people who voted him in.

North Lanarkshire did vote Yes.

manandboy

Valerie, I too am in the Monklands area. To call Monklands Hospital ‘a shit hole’ is gutter talk. Most people don’t live in the gutter.

I regularly visit Monklands Hospital and each time I do, I am very impressed by the quality of care I receive.

‘would rather take my recovery at a land-fill site’, this is absurd – and more gutter talk.

The consultation on the proposed site of Gartcosh has been very limited as well as being selected by the Health Board. At the busy meeting I went to in Airdrie Town Hall, there was virtually no support for Gartcosh.

Gartcosh is hopeless for the Monklands. It is in the wrong place pure and simple, for a host of reasons.

It’s a set-up by the RedBlueTory alliance in Lanarkshire Council and their business associates. Taxpayers money, they can’t get enough of it.

CameronB Brodie

A Schroedingers’ politician or imaginary politician? Apparently there is no reality until we observe it, at least on the quantum level. Here’s one for the quantum physicists. 😉

Wheeler’s delayed-choice gedanken experiment with a single atom
link to nature.com

Macart

@Dr Jim

Dear lord. That tweet’s appalling.

CameronB Brodie

I didn’t want to say anything about the tweet, in case folk think I’m overly focused on race relations. I think it does suggest a problem though.

Thepnr

There is no bigger hypocrite than a Tory hypocrite. This video is just unbelievable, unfortunately though it’s all to believable with this shower in our parliament.

Ballantyne said that the two-child limit is about fairness and “it is fair that people on benefits should not be able to have as many children as they like, while people who work and pay their way and don’t claim benefits have to make decisions about the number of children they can have”.

It was later revealed that the Tory welfare spokeswoman has six children of her own and claimed tax credits for each of them.

link to twitter.com

Then SNP MSP Tom Arthur hit back and she takes a good skelping!

link to twitter.com

link to thenational.scot

Dr Jim

I’ve just been reading the BBC Scotland news text service and every department and think tank that gets a say in anything in Scotland is attacking the Scottish government on everything from NHS collapse to a failure to succeed on fairness and equality and how the SNP have missed all the targets and everything’s worse than ever and nothing’s been achieved and also the opposition and police and god knows who else all want to bring back Booze to football

It makes for dreadful reading so I guess the BBC will be hoping everyone in Coatbridge reads that before they go out to vote seeing as how Richard Leonard probably stayed up late to make sure he got it all on the telly

They’re throwing everything at us at the moment, let’s hope Mr and Mrs Coatbridge and the rest of the country don’t fall for this tripe and do something silly they’ll regret

CameronB Brodie

Back O/T. Is it nature or nuture? A bit of both? The study of epigenetics is adding to our understanding of the social and environment influences on human potential.

A critical view on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in humans

Abstract

Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance refers to the transmission of epigenetic information through the germline. While it has been observed in plants, nematodes and fruit flies, its occurrence in mammals—and humans in particular—is the matter of controversial debate, mostly because the study of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is confounded by genetic, ecological and cultural inheritance. In this comment, I discuss the phenomenon of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and the difficulty of providing conclusive proof for it in experimental and observational studies.

link to nature.com

Thepnr

This is Brexit for 5 year olds as told by the BBC. Shameless.

link to bbc.co.uk

Al Dossary

I truly hope that Labour get flattened in the by-election today. In fact I truly hope they get flattened in every by-election and election from now until doomsday!

Dirty, corrupt, 2 faced lying bastards. Vote “Yes” and you will lose your pension said former councillor Sam Love and his cohorts in Wishaw. I still see him from time to time when I am home – he looks a broken man. A man who from the age of 26 represented Coltness ward as a councillor, but I feel zero sympathy for someone who knowingly lied to pensioners to do his paymasters bidding.

O/T – Veterans Today is tearing Liam Fox a new ass hole over the “aircraft carrier with no aircraft”. It seems that it and RN sailors are being used for a trade convention in New York.

link to veteranstoday.com

cearc

Al,

Stand-out paragraph from VT report,

‘Captain Jerry Kyd revealed that his aircraft carrier stopped just yards from where Admiral Lord Nelson used to anchor his ships in New York, back in the century when that meant something. For me it’s hard to imagine Lord Nelson inviting a delegation of business leaders aboard HMS Victory for a finger buffet and short slideshow on post-Brexit business opportunities.’

Petra

This is what we are paying for, folks.

‘SNP MP calls for action as Tommy Robinson dines in House of Lords.’

link to thenational.scot

…………………………………

‘Former Donald Trump advisor says Scotland needs a hard border with England to keep out criminals.’

link to thoughtcontrolscotland.com

………………………..

Ben Sheppard and Kate Garraway.

Watch video: ‘ITV gets its knuckles rapped over Nicola Sturgeon interview.’

link to thenational.scot

……………….

Kate Garraway:

‘Ludo Thierry on ITV’s Labour connections.’

link to thoughtcontrolscotland.com

Robert Peffers

@Dr Jim says: 25 October, 2018 at 1:02 am:

” … The offending racist Tweet by Labours Scott Arthur has been reported to Police Scotland by several people, more by the minute by the looks of it.

The tweet has been deleted – Ooops!

Gone but not forgotten.

Petra

Well worth a read. ..”We must not forget that Glasgow’s museums, libraries, archives and art galleries are now run by a quango (Glasgow Life) headed up by Bridget McConnell.’’

………………

Long Letter in the National by Michael Donnelly, Glasgow:

”Once again the People’s Palace Museum and Winter Gardens (one not two institutions) is under attack as a result of the carelessness and mendacity of the Labour Party.

I understand that Richard Leonard has approved, and general secretary Brian Roy has issued, an online petition blaming the current crisis on the SNP.

Let no-one be in any doubt that the two re-glazing projects of the 1980s and 90s were carried out under the Labour Party. The disastrous changes carried out to the Palace under Julian Spalding and Mark O’Neill were sanctioned by Pat Lally and Frank McAveety.

Lally is gone and unlamented but McAveety is still in office, and as convenor tolerated the destruction of most of the museum’s most popular exhibits. He also permitted the reduction of the museum’s central role as the museum of Glasgow’s social history by confining its exhibits to post-1750.

This decision meant Lally and he were able to facilitate and justify the asset-stripping of the museum collections, thereby avoiding and eliminating such awkward subjects as the War of Independence, the 16th- and 17th-century witch hunts, the Scottish Reformation and the Union of 1707.

What remains of the pre-1991 presentations is an anodyne collection of disjointed artefacts which obscure rather than interpret the role of Glasgow as a great imperial city.

The hard-won and carefully restored room settings of the Stockwell Mansion with their rare marbled decoration were simply torn apart and dumped, as I witnessed at the time. The carefully restored effigy of Robert Wishart, the patriot bishop of Glasgow and stalwart supporter of Wallace and Bruce, was as badly stored and damaged. This gross mismanagement did not only affect the pre-1750 display but extended to the very rare printing press of John Mennons of the Glasgow Advertiser, precursor of the Glasgow Herald, when it was moved from its panelled room setting rescued from the last Palladian mansion of Robert Dreghorn. It was later seen by me in the Mitchell Library in a dismantled condition.

Of the 19th-century displays, the collections of Glasgow and Scottish stained glass were removed entirely, also the displays on cast iron and the Togneri Cafe from Duke Street, now dead and unloved in the Riverside Museum. The Victorian bathroom from Blythswood Square was likewise exited, as were the flanking busts of RB Cunninghame Graham and James Keir Hardie. In a recent crisis McAveety had Hardie resurrected, but Graham – being a nationalist as well as a socialist – remains in purdah, as does Matt McGinn.

The picture collection including the historic works of Crimea Simpson and John Knox, and the contemporary works of Alastair Gray, Peter Howson, Andrew Hay, Alexander Guy, Avril Paton and Virginia Colley are conspicuous by their absence.The historically important mural cycle of Ken Currie is atrociously lit and hidden by a clutter of irrelevant hangings. Currie’s other major works on War and Peace have not been on show since 1990.

This museum was once capable of attracting more than half a million visitors a year, long before the current refurbishment and use of the Green for concerts and events.

I fear that not only the fate of the building but the restitution of its deliberately scattered collections will depend on the goodwill and determined support of the SNP if the glory days are ever to return. We must not forget that Glasgow’s museums, libraries, archives and art galleries are now run by a quango (Glasgow Life) headed up by Bridget McConnell.”

Luigi

Robert Peffers says:
25 October, 2018 at 7:08 am
@Dr Jim says: 25 October, 2018 at 1:02 am:

” … The offending racist Tweet by Labours Scott Arthur has been reported to Police Scotland by several people, more by the minute by the looks of it.

The tweet has been deleted – Ooops!

Gone but not forgotten.

Ah yes, the nasty Dr Arthur who calls himself scot. He has been close to the edge for a while. He may just have taken one step over the cliff with this one.

Hopefully someone made a screen capture copy. 🙂

Petra

What a hypocrite!!

Carolyn Leckie: ”Brian Wilson’s diatribes against the SNP leave a bad taste.

..”But one thing that does rile me about Brian Wilson is the personal animosity he feels obliged to parade. Over this past week or so, he has sneered at the SNP MSP Christina McKelvie, railed against Nicola Sturgeon and hit out at Jeane Freeman, whom he has nicknamed, not for the first time, the SNP’s Quango Queen.”..

..”Soon after that Wilson was piling up the outside jobs. In the House of Commons Register of Members’ Interests for 2005, he is recorded as earning fees – of “up to £5,000 in each case” – for writing articles for The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, Observer, The Scotsman and The Herald.

While sitting in Parliament – and picking up a lavish salary by most people’s standards – Wilson became a paid director of the Aberdeen-based oil and gas company Core Technical Services Ltd. And a paid adviser to Windsave Ltd. And to Scottish Biopower Ltd and Pipsa Energy. And Renewable Technology Ventures Ltd. And Englefield Capital (Renewables Fund). These, you will no doubt have worked out by now, are energy companies one and all. Brian certainly made the most of his fleeting two-year stint as energy minister. And there’s more. After leaving Parliament, he became a non-executive director for the multinational nuclear power giant Amec Foster Wheeler. And the UK chair of Airtricity, in which capacity he oversaw the development of the 49-turbine Braes of Doune wind farm, near Dunblane, generating an estimated income of £2 million a year for 30 years for the landowner, the Earl of Moray.

And while working in renewables, he also became the chairman of Flying Matters, a front organisation for the airline industry. Under his chairmanship, the organisation tried, unsuccessfully to take what it called the “Mother of All Injunctions’ against the Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow Airport. Flying Matters also opposed the UK Climate Change Bill of 2008, which committed Britain to slashing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

Wilson later went on to become the founding chairman of Havana Energy, which develops biomass in Cuba. Some on the left might approve – and I personally I have sympathy with the achievements of the Caribbean island over many decades in the teeth of a US blockade. I have less sympathy that Brian Wilson’s company has its main headquarters, not in Cuba, but in Guernsey – an offshore tax haven.”..

link to thenational.scot

…………………………

Compare with the dregs of humanity working as so-called journalists in Scotland.

David Pratt: ‘Journalists in the line of fire epitomise what this profession can be.’

link to thenational.scot

orri

A politician who celebrates jobs and services being moved from his own backyard to a place closer to Glasgow?

Pooling and sharing right enough.

Petra

Professor John Robertson – ‘Talking Up Scotland.’

‘Edinburgh alone has 14% of the UK’s top tech companies.’

link to thoughtcontrolscotland.com

……………………………………

Michelle Ballantyne …”people on benefits should not be able to have as many children as they like”..

link to twitter.com

..”In 1990 Michelle and her husband decided to move to the Scottish Borders in order to set up their manufacturing company and raise their six children, establishing their business in Walkerburn and settling near Selkirk.”..

link to michelleballantyne.org.uk

”Shortly after she joined the Scottish Parliament, Ballantyne was appointed to the role of spokesperson for Childcare and Early Years.”….

link to en.wikipedia.org

………………….

@ Valerie says at 11:26 pm … ”Can I ask Wingers to consider signing this petition to Scotgov about the revolting trophy hunting of semi tame goats and sheep on Islay.”

link to change.org

Petra

I see that one of my posts is awaiting moderation.

”Your comment is awaiting moderation.”

That’s a first for me on here. Has anyone else experienced this?

Robert Peffers

It is getting to be laughable now.

The Scottish Auditor General has just made a great case for Scottish Independence. Mind you that was not her intention but that is the true effect.

The SNP BAAAD! Mantra of all Unionists, and their tame Scottish SMS, has overplayed their hand to the extent the only sane answer to it is independence.

If the purse strings remain with the Her Majesty’s Treasury and vital services are curtailed, not by incompetent, but by lack of finance.

Yet as Scotland is the only United Kingdom country that exports more than it imports then the only sensible thing is to end this corrupt United Kingdom that treats the union as a four country union when the United Kingdom is legally a two partner kingdom.

The exact same solution applies to the British/English harping at the underfunded Scottish services of Police, Education and every other cash strapped Scottish function that these idiots claim as being the fault of a the absolutely best performing legislature in the entire United Kingdom and that includes the shambolic mess that is Westminster which, without doubt, is absolutely the worst performing one of all.

Now I might be wrong but my feelings are that even if your average voter in Scotland takes little interest in the nitty-gritty parts of politics they subconsciously are becoming aware that this relentless SNP BAAAAD! mantra of the unionist propagandists.

BBC is going at it with a much overblown tirade by the BBC and their obviously well chosen (Cough!), experts and pundits. One on right now being interviewed by Garry.

Giving Goose

What was the content of the Scott Arthur tweet?

sassenach

Ihope I’m not being too optimistic – but I’m looking forward to FMQs today, hoping that Nicola is on her best form and rips some ar$eholes (particularly Dickie Who?).

Tatu3

Valerie at 11.26pm

I have signed

Nana
Nana

Speaking with @Feorlean about the outrage caused by Larysa Switlyk shooting goats on Islay. He’s raised the issue with the Scottish Government
link to twitter.com

link to change.org?

link to randompublicjournal.com

A powerful and important point of order in the Commons by @StewartMcDonald on Tommy Robinson. We cannot let these poisonous attitudes become normalised.
link to twitter.com

Dorothy Devine

Giving Goose , whatever it was it must have been very bad as it has vanished into the ether. – I am assuming that an alert reader will have captured it and the police are now knocking on his door.

Scottish Tories demonstrating their humanity , likeability and concern for humanity again I see , delighted with the rage expressed by the young SNP MSP. Time someone really BIT back.

Nana

link to peterabell.blog

SNP’s Ian Blackford presses PM on Saudi Arabia
link to twitter.com

Ellie Waugh, chief executive of the charity @HumanityTorbay, breaks Tory gagging order on the effects of #UniversalCredit – “I’m speaking out because I’ve actually been threatened. I’ve been told to keep my mouth shut”
link to youtube.com

link to irishtimes.com

Nana

link to politico.eu

link to lexcomm.co.uk

Greedy web giants are threatening to slash post-Brexit investment if we force them to pay more tax.
link to archive.is

NAO report on No Deal preparedness is terrible.
Every HMRC border system readiness for No Deal rated either Red or Red-amber – “successful delivery of the project appears unachievable”
link to twitter.com

Nana

link to theintercept.com

Contemptible Caroline Noakes
link to twitter.com

EU rules still ‘essential’ for UK’s farmers after Brexit
link to archive.is

link to mlexmarketinsight.com

Nana

“The rage people should feel for Iain Duncan-Smith and the people who sat round the cabinet table and voted for it (benefit sanctions).”
link to twitter.com

Theresa May does little to reassure her Brexit critics at crunch backbenchers meeting
link to archive.is

No more time to prepare for no deal
link to archive.is

Thread by @tconnellyRTE: “Here are some sobering observations from NI business groups when asked at DexEU committee what they would say to those calling for @theresa_

link to threadreaderapp.com

Nana

link to thecanary.co

Debenhams to close up to 50 stores in further blow to high streets
link to archive.is

Long-serving MEPs to be eligible for six-figure transition payments
link to archive.is

Translation ‘3 weeks before Skripal “poisoning”, the British Marines conducted a Toxic Dagger chemical exercise in Salisbury (!!!), imitating chemical weapons poisoning and performing actions to rescue the poisoned. There are no such coincidences!’
link to twitter.com

Nana

Brexit: the inevitable consequence will be chaos
link to eureferendum.com

link to bloomberg.com

link to wired.co.uk

Sharp falls wipe out Wall Street’s 2018 gains
link to archive.is

Nana

@Giving Goose

link to twitter.com

Another Union Dividend

On Labour Church Elder Cllr. Prof Scott Arthur’s rascist tweet.

Ever since Indy Ref debates and local hustings he has always come accross as an agressive bully.

Since becoming a Councillor, playing the Unionist card with Tory voters, he has used the local paper letters pages to attack his coaltion colleagues on almost a daily basis.
Bur now called out.

link to edinburghnews.scotsman.com

Macart

@Nana

Thanks Nana and yes, it’s a two cup morning right enough. The ordure seems to be coming at folk from everywhere and all at the same time. Labour’s hypocrisy and naked manipulation exposed and as one poster over on WGD rightly notes, Ms Ballantyne’s attitude reeks of nothing short of demographic eugenics.

These are scary people, with even scarier attitudes. Happily there is something they’re afraid of though. People taking away their access and their wealth. People just voting them out of their lives. That terrifies the bejeebus out of them. 😎

Nana

Morning Macart, someone in twitter reported the hypocrite Tory woman has herself received tax credits for her 6 children.

My loathing for labour grows with each passing day, rage is bad for my BP.

Re the racist tweet from Arthur, folks can complain

link to standardscommissionscotland.org.uk

Iain mhor

@Valerie 12:35am
Ta for the link.
If wasn’t the airport, it had to be the fishing.
Which kinda brings me back to the EU needing Spain sweet to complete Brexit & help asset strip a weak government.
I wonder if there are any other valuable assets up for grabs?
No, I can’t think of a single thing.
No support to be had for Scotland from the EU pre Brexit that’s for sure.
On our own as ever.

Petra

Thanks for the links Nana. If only we could get this information, the data in your links, into every household in Scotland. If only!

How on earth did it ever get to be as bad as this? Millions of people REALLY suffering in the UK. People being threatened if they speak out about it. Nazi Germany comes to mind and no one seems to be in a position to help, not even the UN.

It just beggars belief that this Government would consider leaving the EU when this country (England) is in such a bl**dy mess. It’s akin to bedlam now. Every solitary area that you can think of from housing, policing, social care, education, the prison service, NHS, etc, etc, etc is so shambolic that you wonder if it can ever be turned around again.

Meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon continues to do an amazing job in Scotland against ALL odds. Let’s help her to get us out of this. Continue to get the truth out there via this site, other online Independence supporting sites, via the National and to the men / women on the streets. Join the SNP and / or donate today. PLEASE.

link to snp.org

……………………..

@ Nana .. ”Ellie Waugh, chief executive of the charity @HumanityTorbay, breaks Tory gagging order on the effects of #UniversalCredit – “I’m speaking out because I’ve actually been threatened. I’ve been told to keep my mouth shut”

link to youtube.com

………………………….

@ Nana … “The rage people should feel for Iain Duncan-Smith and the people who sat round the cabinet table and voted for it (benefit sanctions).”

link to twitter.com

Ken500

‘Comments waiting to go into moderation’ Gremlins in the system. It can post with the ‘awaiting moderation’ comment on it. The poster sees it but no one else does on the posted comment, which can have posted right away. Longer posts can take time to post because they have to approved in some way. Name check or something else. It just takes a bit of patience.

Gordon McIntrye Kemp Thursday October 25th. Tonight 7.30 New Inn at the Park. Coming to Aberdeen

Dr Philippa Whitford The New Inn at the Park Saturday October 27 2-4pm. Aberdeen.
(It was advertised as Queens Cross Church). It might be better to check. Or could someone give clarity. Changed to a bigger hall? There is a phone number on the website, The locations are not miles apart. Quite accessible.

Tickets Eventbrite. Or at the location? There are still tickets left on the website,

They have been killing goats, deer, rabbits and other animals for years, The Highlands would be overrun if there was not a cull. Rabbits often develop disease and cull themselves.

The stagnation of the Scottish population is due to Westminster unionist mismanagement for years. Iraq, Dunblane and Lockerbie kept secret for 100 years. Under the Official Secrets Act.

Since 1928 and before. Scotland’s resources and revenues were illegal and secretly taken to fund London S/E and pay for illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion by criminals at Westminster. Criminal and illegal political parties breaking every vow and oath that they make. Breaking International Law with impunity. Coarse, greedy, nasty self serving bastards. Of all description. Freaks out of touch with humanity. An absolute disgrace

Petra

@ Ken500 says at 8:51 am … ”They have been killing goats, deer, rabbits and other animals for years, The Highlands would be overrun if there was not a cull. Rabbits often develop disease and cull themselves.”..

Eh! So that makes it alright then? Alright for everyone and their granny to come from all around the World and turn Scotland into a hunting safari?

”Several tourism companies offer the chance to stalk and shoot wild goats in Islay, Dumfries and Galloway and other parts of the UK.”

Get the Law changed, ASAP, FGS.

link to bbc.co.uk

Nana

@Petra

Daily I see the most ridiculous arguments for leaving the EU, people have swallowed every bit of tripe the media have reported about the ‘big bad EU’ while covering up for the worst politicians in living memory.
They have succeeded in getting the people to hate the very people and institutions that are on their side.

This Westminster government has wrought havoc in every which way, yet somehow is still standing! I’m at a loss to understand how.

I don’t know whether Brexit will actually happen, but I am seriously worried about our future and hoping that Scots really have had enough of Westminster.

This is why the Tories want to leave the EU. Money is their God.
link to ec.europa.eu

Giving Goose

Nana

Thanks for the link.
What a nasty person Scott Arthur is.
What is wrong with these people?

galamcennalath

Nana says

link to lexcomm.co.uk

This is a VERY interesting article.

It imagines a deal has been agreed with the EU for a Withdrawal Agreement.

It highlight the hurdles May faces in actually getting a Withdrawal Bill though Westminster. The two greatest problems seem to be time left, and the potential for amendments to be made which makes the Bill actually incompatible with what had been agreed with the EU!

“… prospect of amendments being passed by the UK Parliament that would undermine any agreement reached with the EU and pose a serious threat to ratification ….. invalidating it against the agreement struck with Brussels”

In parallel, the WA has to be ratified in 27 other EU parliaments.

Having missed the ‘deadline’ to get a Withdrawal Agreement a few weeks ago, there may not be enough time to agree and ratify one now. Sobering.

Ken500

Jeremy Vine. Ban shooting Scotland?

Ban meat eating?

Slagging off Scotland?

Ken500

Ban all shooting or killing of animals? Ban all farming etc.

More veggies/vegans. Many people are changing. Are you?

Ken500

Another excuse to slag off Scotland and the Scottish Gov. As usual

Dorothy Devine

OT It looks as though NATO – the USA to you and me and of course their best uncritical, hingin’ on the their coattails pal , that’s us) are working on their next war on Russia’s borders.

“Just military exercises’ ; Big bang coming!

Nana and Petra, great if disturbing links.

Vronsky

I attended the same public meeting that manandboy reports above. It was styled as a ‘consultation’ but it was abundantly clear that the decision had been made to use Gartcosh, in spite of the offer by a local business to sell them the necessary ground at another (more convenient) site for £1.
There is strong local feeling against the Gartcosh site for a number of reasons, chiefly the difficulty of access from Airdrie and Coatbridge. The steamrolling methods of the NHS reps at the meeting did nothing to improve the mood.
At present my elderly sister is in Monklands Hospital. I brought her there from her home in the Borders as I felt the health service there was neglecting her. Monklands reacted at once and had a diagnosis in hours for a problem that had gone on for many months untreated. She has nothing but praise for the staff there.
Yes, of course Labour and the disgusting Gaffney are jumping on the bandwagon of local anger, but in this particular case they may have a point.

Wullie B

Luigi says:
25 October, 2018 at 7:12 am
Robert Peffers says:
25 October, 2018 at 7:08 am
@Dr Jim says: 25 October, 2018 at 1:02 am:

” … The offending racist Tweet by Labours Scott Arthur has been reported to Police Scotland by several people, more by the minute by the looks of it.

The tweet has been deleted – Ooops!

Gone but not forgotten.

Ah yes, the nasty Dr Arthur who calls himself scot. He has been close to the edge for a while. He may just have taken one step over the cliff with this one.

Hopefully someone made a screen capture

I did Luigi and sure plenty others have as well, Labour, Scotland’s shame

Nana

link to irishtimes.com

British finance watchdog to quiz polling firms over hedge fund clients
link to archive.is

link to brexitcentral.com

link to theecologist.org

That’s all for now and I’m betting you will all be relieved.

Clydebuilt

BBC Podlitical

Political LIES told by young people

Sharny Dubs

I’ve not had time to read through all the posts so apologies if someone has already posted something similar.

This situation reminds me a bit of the advise of a good friend who was promoted in the field to Captain during 4 years of WW2 (hospitalized 3 times).

He said there were times you do not want to puss your luck with your troops, one of these was when the cigarette ration did not come through. Any other time it was always humbling what men would do when asked.

I think we are in a similar situation now. With the troubles of the time, the general population is on a short fuse. They are pissed off, disenfranchised, in some cases just plain hungry, cynical and angry.

I think this strike has less to do with details of who did what when, but rather a reaction to the deterioration of the present situation.

Of course there are always the b*****ds who do not mind exploiting that condition. Hell mend them.

Tinto Chiel

Philosophical question: if Hugh Gaffney falls over in the forest and no-one is around to hear it, is he still a split-tongued stumer?

Asking for my friend Jean-Paul.

That link re fracking, Nana, reminded me that I don’t recall hearing about this on Radio 4. Maybe I’ve just missed it, of course, and its wonderful reporters will be beavering away doing an in-depth report.

I was slow off-the-mark and missed Arthur’s now-deleted tweet but I do hope someone has preserved it for posterity. Couple that with the nice Tory Lady’s objectionable eugenical views, and the perpetual Tory war on the poor and disabled while they cosy up to Steve Bannon, and you realise this is probably what living in 1930s Germany was like for the average well-meaning and decent citizen.

It’s like being the lulled lobster in what starts off as the pleasantly-warm water of the pot: by the time it becomes even dimly aware what’s really going on, it’s already too late.

The only answer is becoming independent again but it’s now going to be a lot harder to escape the quick-sands of the Union than in 2014 because of WM’s desperation to keep the Golden Goose.

Macart’s perennial question is the important one: What kind of a country do you want to live in?

Socrates MacSporran

I feel, re Hugh Gaffney, we should in future, just as we always put the letters WATP after the name of Mad Murdo Fraser WATP, MSP. put the letters LFJ (Low-Flying Jimmy) after the Hon. Hugh Gaffney LFJ, MP.

I mean, the guy has worked hard for the title, we must use it.

Patsy Millar

Stu, ya beauty!

Muscleguy

@CameronB Brodie

We have to be careful not to treat transgenerational epigenetics as deterministic as genetics is sometimes seen. Epigenetics is more about how nurture impacts than a deterministic thing and it is clear that while it exists nurture and lifestyle can override it. Just like bad genetics can in some situations be overcome.

It is also clear that epigenetic effects are weaker than genetic effects and remember, X and Y genes apart, the epigenetic tags on DNA vary in the different copies.

So while it is interesting we need to be careful not to jump on a bandwagon and start thinking it is seriously meaningful.

Bob Mack

Monkland Hospital is an old hospital built around the late 1980s. It is inadequate for the growing needs of the population it serves,currently around 240,000.

It’s services on site are not integrated as required by modern health provision. Facilities such as surgery take place in separate buildings ,leading to staff being inflexible for management.

Annually it is becoming more expensive to keep in a state of repair. Around 5 million I believe.

Choosing a new site also has complications as there are numerous underground mines permeating the area,

I had two operations in Monklands ,but being involved in health care myself ,I realise the limitations of the facilities it can currently offer.

Frank Gillougley

And so Scottish teachers via the EIS demonstration are up next on the 29th of October.

My wife is a teacher and has worked in a secondary school for 20+ years now. She is not a ‘political’ person. I had to explain to her that I didn’t think the teachers would get much public support for their 10% pay claim, (probably based largely on media misrepresentation etc.), though I for one (and i may well be just the one) support the teachers.

Anyway, in the public domain, the usual ‘canard’ of holidays come up as a stick to beat teachers with. My wife argues that teachers need these holidays due to the very real emotional stress on their working lives day in and day out (dealing with the twin pressures of schoolkids and pernicious, clueless management). I would have to agree. I don’t know how they do it. It IS unlike other occupations. She IS exhausted. I know.
Marking homework at 11pm at night and on Saturday mornings and Sunday nights? How many other jobs do this? Working 24 hrs a day and in your REM sleep?

Also, I was told that they had been offered 6% which the EIS did not accept. Without knowing the facts or history of this dispute, its obvious that it goes way back many years (8 years or so?) and that the union is trying to catch up with the 10% claim. Even if 10% is a bargaining ploy for maybe an eventual 8%, I still don’t think the public will look upon this with any support. Probably, politically, they should’ve settled with the previous offer.

– And then it occurred to me with reference to the GMB, is there mileage in the view that the unionist unions (of which the EIS are affiliated with?) are at ‘war’ with the SG in order to undermine the whole independence movement? What about that angle?

Lastly, my wife informed me that the lowest teacher pay rate is less than that of a baby sitter (no disrespect to baby sitters) . If so, (and i have no reason to disbelieve this as the days of £5/ph are long gone), the question then becomes for Scottish society, how much do we value education, our childrens’ futures, or do we want to just employ teachers as babysitters, or as agents of social control, or prepare them solely for the workplace, rather than have them educate our kids in the truest sense of the word, ‘educate’. Again, as is said, what kind of society do we want to live in?

I don’t think this is easy at all and recognise that many will have engrained views – so be it. But I post this purely for discursive purposes and for my own education, so i’d appreciate no personal pelters! 🙂

Bob Mack

Monkland should have read (been built around late 1960s not 80s)

Giving Goose

Socrates MacSporran

How about “British Nationalist”….after all that is what he is. And that description applies to al unionist politicians.
It is entirely accurate.

Brian Doonthetoon

“That” tweet…

link to thenational.scot

bjsalba

O/T
@nana

Greedy web giants are threatening to slash post-Brexit investment if we force them to pay more tax.
link to archive.is

TechUK, which represents companies including Amazon and Facbook, wrote to Chancellor Philip Hammond to hector him over plans for a digital sales levy in Monday’s Budget.
And they warned any bid to impose a specific tax on mainly US multinationals would result in President Donald Trump retaliating with tariffs.

Well, that might not work so well because of this:

link to cbc.ca

Canada hosts trade reform talks without the U.S.

2-day gathering of trade diplomats from 13 WTO members kicks off with private dinner Wednesday night.

It is an interesting read especially if you disregard some of the dismissive commentary and read between the lines.

Ken500

If there had not been illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion. Everyone including public servants, pensioners and children could have been better funded,

The Westminster Unionists have imposed austerity totally unnecessaryily and are sanctioning and stsrving people to death and trying to destroy the world economy.

Terence callachan

Why does it matter if the new hospital is in monklands rather than gartcosh ? They are only five miles apart ….

Tinto Chiel

@Frank Gillougley: excellent, thoughtful post, doubly welcome because it is from an outsider looking in.

The main contributing factor to teachers’ stress and unhappiness imo is actually the inability of the unions (and the EIS is by far the biggest union) to defend its members’ interests against the authoritarian and mad management tendencies of both the Inspectorate and the Scottish Qualifications Authority which have added to the already considerable workload burden on teachers, particularly in planning and assessment.

The EIS went along with the worst excesses of the Curriculum for Excellence reforms (which began life as a Labour project) despite an avalanche of teacher concerns, so a cynic might think that its actions now may just be part of a general BLiS______d attempt to attack and undermine the SG, especially since they knocked back 3% already (not great but the SG has to balance its budget).

I doubt whether, once teachers have had their march, a majority will vote for strike action. An odd strike day here and there will just lose them money and public support, given so many people are suffering under Tory (and Labour-enabled) austerity but I suppose Mr Flanagan can lead them gloriously to the barricades with his red beret on and make things difficult for Honest John Swinney, whose only weakness I think is his tendency to believe what the HMI and SQA tell him is good for pupils and teachers.

Ken500

Eventbrite

Coming to Aberdeen

Gordon McIntyre Kemp 7.30 pm October 25 Tonight

Dr Philippa Whitford Saturday 27 October 2-4pm

Dan Huil

Re: brexit negotiations [for want of a better word]

Britnat DRaab:

“We have made good progress. We are close to agreeing a deal,” Raab said. “There certainly is a risk of a no deal especially if the European Union engage in a deliberately intransigent approach.”

Getting in his anti-EU accuse early.It’s all Johnny Foreigner’s fault!

Nana

Arthur says his tweet was a ‘mistake’

link to drscottarthur.scot

@bjsalba
Thanks for that, I will read it later.

CameronB Brodie

From a gender-critical perspective of international political economy, Brexit has been described as a tad problematic.

Brexit as a scandal: gender and global trumpism
link to tandfonline.com

Ken500

Most teachers are too intelligent to be used for political purposes by their Tunion reps but it will be seen. Most teachers are too bright to cut off their nose to spite their face even in the present of Tunion aggressive agitation. Stirring.

It is the unionists councils who try to lob of allocated education funding for any nonsense they perceive. Keeping class sizes too high and schools overcrowded deliberately. Using the statute limit (30) as the norm. Instead of keeping class sizes down and helping the teachers. Or investing in additional needs provision.

Fred

Consternation in Airdrie as folk might have to travel all of 15 minutes to new a state of the art hospital in Gartcosh! In Caithness folk are 100 miles from a main hospital!!! Diddums!

The Gartcosh site is right on the motorway, right next to a station & has acres of space for parking cars. Glasgow’s superb new hospital is miles out of the city centre & we manage! As for old pits, the whole of the Monklands is undermined. An added bonus is not only its closeness to the Polis & the Gartcosh club! It will also upset some Slab arseholes & Alex Neil!

Bringing the meat issue into the Islay billy-goat business is ludicrous. This beast was shot for its head only & would be rank & inedible! as standing down-wind of one will confirm!

hacklumpoff

@Fred
Caithness, Pah!
Try the Western Isles to Raigmore for anything major – 5 hours from home via Ferry and Bus or a flight, if you can afford it.
Also accommodation if accompanying a sick relative or just visiting.

Robert Peffers

Slightly O/T:

Quite often some smart arse politician or other professionals, try to make normal folks seem stupid or wrong by taking things out of context.

However, some such out of context things are not what they seem.

I found this humorous example on YouTube:-

link to youtube.com

Terence callachan

Frank gillougly

Sorry but I don’t agree with you.
Teachers get so many holidays it really is a huge advantage and clearly has to affect how much pay they get.
As for sitting up til late at night checking homework I’m sure that is not something teachers have to do all the time, if it were ,it would be in their contract and therefore in their pay.
Everyone working for public services needs a 10% pay rise they have all been held to 1% pay rises and sometimes zero pay rises for two decades now, sure a tiny number of staff get performance bonuses often more to do with who you know than what you do so it’s a mess for all in the public sector.
It’s about time percentage pay rises were replaced with set amounts of money which would end the widening gap between those at the top and the rest.
Of course the reason public sector employees are treated badly is because the rich get wing governments Tory and Labour and Lib Dem use this to show private sector employees who get low pay that there are people who get paid worse than them this allows private sector employers to pay low and make more profits for themselves.
The advantage public sector employees have is that generally they have a long term job albeit one where promises of promotion abound but are in most instances a myth.

gus1940

There is no longer any doubt that the Britnats are are in full panic mode re Indyref2 judging by the revving up in the number of SNPbad attacks over the last 2 weeks.

First we had a ludicrous renewal of the attacks on the BabyBoxes.

This was followed by the NE BSE case which was all over the media for days with the subliminal suggestion that somehow The SNP was responsible. No mention was made, of course, that there had been 10 or so case in E & W over the last few years which miraculously were never shouted from the rooftops – I can’t remember them being reported at all in the media.

Then on Monday the media storm broke with nationwide TV and MSM going hysterical on the Glasgow Equal Pay strike. However, this one backfired on them when the true situation became clear that The SNP council were doing there best to sort out the scandalous shambles created by the previous Labour council and the unions.

At this point and from yesterday they have hilariously run for their lives to ignore this matter to the extent that it has dropped off the media horizon completely as they realised that instead of it being an SNPbad scandal it was a Labour/GMB scandal.

Next up we have the Auditor General’s report on the Scottish NHS which has allowed the Bad Bad Guys to recover their breath and go into another hysterical SBPbad rant.

However, nobody- not the Aud. Gen. or Britnat shower have suggested just where will the money come from to sort out the alleged shortcomings contained in the report.

Robert Peffers

@Vronsky says: 25 October, 2018 at 9:43 am:

” … I attended the same public meeting that manandboy reports above. It was styled as a ‘consultation’ but it was abundantly clear that the decision had been made to use Gartcosh, in spite of the offer by a local business to sell them the necessary ground at another (more convenient) site for £1.”

You are making a basic error in logic in your comment. No one is criticising your intentions but your thinking is just plain wrong.

You confuse the care and dedication of the staff in the old and out of date hospital with the old and out of date hospital and it’s equipment.

If your sister had been treated by the same dedicated staff in a bang new up to date, and newly equipped with the latest diagnostic & treatment, in far better and new environment the care she received would most certainly have been as dedicated.

It would have probably been even quicker, more efficient and more relaxed by the same staff with far better facilities and a more relaxed and satisfied staff working less hard under stress in better working conditions.

In other words you are confusing the care given with the environment it is given in.

Not to mention the fact that in all probability a good deal of cash has already been spent on assessing and planning the best solution already and may even exceed the possible gains of re-planning for that £1 cost of land offer.

Terence callachan

Frank Gillougly

Further to my post about teachers pay, I thought of another important point which is an advantage teachers have, so many of our young people cannot get a home because so many older people have used the purchase of and renting of flats as a means to ensure they have retirement income these people often cashed in the pension pot they had accrued with past employers so they could live it up a bit, the rush to do this has led to ever increasing rent costs because at the same time as this was encouraged by right wing governments Tory Labour Lib Dem, the governments ceased to build council houses leaving young people with no option other than to continue living with mum dad or gran and grandad etc or pay huge rent for old run down flats which from the low pay paid to young people is difficult, the low pay prevents them from getting a mortgage or saving a deposit to improve their chances of getting a mortgage.
Teachers having long term jobs have no such worries and can get a mortgage and have the long term prospects of improving their lives.
Young people generally do not.
Teachers are well down the pecking order for improvement in wages .
We need to double social security payments and double the minimum wage and give pay increases each year of ten or twenty or thirty pounds a week…to EVERYONE…what you would find is that huge numbers of people would be better off but the headlines in the poisonous British press would still be the squealing of the fat little piggies earning fifty a hundred ,two hundred thousand a year and more just like we did when the SNP Scottish government reduced income tax for the majority but increased it for the minority.
I’m not saying teachers should not get a good payrise, they should, but in the context of the misery experienced by millions in this country others have to get first.
So teachers…..back off…wait your turn.

Terence callachan

To Robert puffers

There is just five miles between gartcosh and monklands why is one place any better than the other to build a new hospital what difference does it make when it’s five miles down the road

Capella

@ Petra 7.10 – just read your comment on the Long Letter in the National by Michael Donnelly, Glasgow.

What a long litany of cultural vandalism by Labour councillors. Appalling. Should be broadcast far and wide. To have Bridget McConnell presiding over the Glasgow Museums, Libraries and Art Galleries adds insult to injury.

link to wingsoverscotland.com

Truth

Hugh Gaff-prone

Luigi

So wee Arthur Poll-Scot embarks on another damage limitation exercise.

Always thought he was a bit of a weasel. 🙂

Stephen McKenzie

gus1940 @ 11:52

Gus I would have said it started with an earlier manufactured “event” in the claimed SNP Civil War.

All the MSM and BBC tried to big it up and all they got back was a big Scottish Piss take. Brian Taylor downgrading to “Turmoil” on air was hilarious.

Socrates MacSporran

FMQs was yet another example of what poor politicians the SNP Government are.

Had British Labour (Head Office Division rather than the Scottish Branch Office), scored the own goal Small Dick Leonard, Hugh Gaffney LFJ, MP, and their Trade Union camp followers produced with their ridiculous 48-hour strike, you could have put money on back-bench Tory MPs queuing-up to lob easy balls at the Maybot, for her to blast back at Jeremy Corbyn & Co.

But, not one SNP MSP got up to offer-up the same ammunition to Nicola.

See this getting on with the day job malarkey, laudable, but, just occasionally, there is a time to put the boot in, and the SNP let Labour, and in particular Small Dick, off the hook there.

Robert Peffers

Breaknng news 1 hour ago:-

link to youtube.com

gus1940

I had forgotten about the SNP Civil War – it was so desperately ridiculous, shortlived and universally declaimed as total nonsense.

auld highlander

Brexit is like the Titanic’s maiden voyage and we all know what happened there, 95% completed.

Robert Peffers

@Terence callachan says: 25 October, 2018 at 12:05 pm.

” … There is just five miles between gartcosh and monklands why is one place any better than the other to build a new hospital what difference does it make when it’s five miles down the road?

I wouldn’t know, Terence. The only thing I could think of is the access to the existing road/rail networks but new access roads would be included in the site plans I expect.

For heaven’s sake Edinburgh council mover Edinburgh royal from a site within walking distance of Waverley Station and central city bus routes out to Little France.

Didn’t see any unionist party protests about that.

admiral

Socrates MacSporran says:
25 October, 2018 at 12:53 pm
FMQs was yet another example of what poor politicians the SNP Government are.

There’s a reason it is called “First Minister’s Questions” and not “Irrelevant Questions about Opposition Parties”.

It’s a pity that Tories at Westminster waste their questions to the PM at “Prime Minister’s Questions” and demean the meaning of democratic accountability, so that they can make puerile comments about parties not responsible for running the governmewnt. That must mean they are not poor politicians in wee Sporran’s estimation.

Fred

@ Terrence Callaghan, Gartcosh is in “Monklands” & the hospital will be about two & a half miles from the centre of Coatbridge, which of course adjoins Airdrie last time I looked!

Gartcosh is not the Yukon. A song & dance about f’all. Most folks would be over the moon at getting a new hospital! See parochialism!!!

Frank Gillougley

Teachers action 29th October

Thank you Ken 500, Tinto Chiel and Terence Callachan for your varied, interesting and well-informed views on this not straightforward subject. I also heard the FMs response today on the subject of teachers understandably aligning herself with the bottom-up approach for public sector workers, which i would have to ultimately agree with. I think as the FM suggested, compromise would be the way forward ie so much over so many years etc.

One thing did strike me in this though, and that is the sheer number of vested and competing interests at play in all of this so much so that the teachers are well and truly at the bottom of the delivery of education (in no particular order):

There are the EIS interests and agendas
There are LA interests and agendas
There are SG interests and agendas
There are the SQA interests and agendas
There are educational reforms’ interests and agendas
There are school Senior Managements’ interests and agendas
There are the wider public interests and agendas
there are private sector/public sector interests and agendas and
lastly there are teachers interests.

and so I think that is the real picture and context in which the teachers are in, after all everyone is an expert. Yeah?

Yes, as TC pointed out there are financial advantages re a pension and mortgages etc to be had, but on balance I wouldn’t do the job for all the tea in China. I would have been well dead by now from stress and probably before the age of 50. Not much good a pension to you then? (by the way I have a pension of a black bin bag)

So, no doubt this figure of 10% will lose its contextual narrative in the weeks to come and that holidays will be mentioned ad nauseum, but i for one wouldn’t be in their pig in the middle shoes – not one bit, so i just hope they settle and get the hell out of dodge city, try and keep their morale up (if they have any left) and move on with their lives.

auld highlander

May accelerating preparations for a no deal brexit,

“Ministers are set to suspend usual Commons business from 12 November and introduce the legislation required to ensure EU-related laws are replaced after Brexit day on 29 March. It is estimated that between 800 and 1,000 pieces of secondary legislation need to be rushed through to ensure the statute book continues to function following the UK’s departure.”

inews.co.uk/news/brexit/theresa-may-accelerates-preparations-for-a-no-deal-brexit-with-rush-of-legislation/

Sarah

@ Frank Gillougley at 10.13: Absolutely right. I have several teachers in my family – teaching in different types of school, and for different ages of pupil. They ALL find that they need to work in evenings/weekends and “holidays”. And the younger the pupil the harder the job is because the teacher is having to train them in social behaviour as well as learning.

I helped out with a school project locally – just for a day with the pupils. I was preparing up to midnight the day before and was shattered at the end of the day itself. And I only had two well-behaved and co-operative young lads to deal with!

Terence Callachan – I submit respectfully that there’s more to teaching than you realise.

HandandShrimp

Do people have to get their brains removed to join SiU. Both SiU and Force for Good seem to be the preserve of reactionary twits, racists, military fetishists and general loons.

Breeks


Frank Gillougley says:
25 October, 2018 at 1:13 pm

There are the EIS interests and agendas
There are LA interests and agendas
There are SG interests and agendas
There are the SQA interests and agendas
There are educational reforms’ interests and agendas
There are school Senior Managements’ interests and agendas
There are the wider public interests and agendas
there are private sector/public sector interests and agendas and
lastly there are teachers interests…

Missed a couple Frank… Don’t forget the interests and agendas of both the BritNats and Propagandists who wish to agitate disruption in a Devolved Portfolio with the specific objective of discrediting the SNP Government.

Robert Peffers

Wings is getting rather like the Westminster parliament.

We have half the Wingers espousing a policy of open arms to even quite obvious Britnats who show even the most false, feint and transparent signs in favour of indy. Even if, like Connolly, they openly state that if it would mean no Brexit it MIGHT be the way for Scots to go. That is there is no commitment to indy but only to it prevents Westminster BREXITing.

The other half want the SG/SNP to sink the boot in heavily when even the dogs in the street know the Unionists are making arses of themselves. Point being if the Scots voters cannot see what the dogs know then they are unlikely to even notice the arses the unionists are making of themselves.

I believe Nicola handled the Dick Leonard idiotic question just about right. As she did every other question asked. I most certainly was not among those Wingers licking their lips and getting the pop corn ready.

I’ll put it another way – if anyone watching FMQs could not figure out for themselves how stupid the opposition questions really are and how correct the FMs answers usually are they have already made their minds up. I will also state that anyone needing Nicola to get heavy handed has also already made their mind up.

What’s the point of reinforcing already fixed minds? However, if anyone works out for themselves, as most Wingers have, how the cookie crumbles then these are the ones we read who comment, “I used to always vote Labour but will never vote for them ever again.

Now consider this swiftly deleted tweet episode. Voters will mainly immediately have adopted one of two views. They either endorse it immediately or they reject it out of hand.

However, there will be a tiny percentage who swither and then decide. These are the potential converts – and converts towards both views.

At the moment the trend seems to favour moves to indy but make no mistakes – there will be movement in both directions and that is where not being too heavy handed or too willing to welcome are bad for the cause of independence.

Nicola is a very smart cookie and always takes the correct action. I’d even bet it is a great strain on the FM to exercise such restraint. The temptation to lash out must be great.

Frank Gillougley

FMQs – Interestingly enough, am I alone in watching the hapless Richard Leonard and thinking that he fits the description once beloved of Glaswegians, of being a Balloon?

I then looked the definition up on Wikipedia and it fitted perfectly!

Richard Leonard is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, air or water. Richard Leonard can be made of many different materials and can come in many different colours. Richard Leonard was initially created out of dried animal bladders. Richard Leonard can be used for decorative purposes or entertaining purposes. Richard Leonard’s properties, including his low density and low cost, have led to a wide range of applications, though none of these have any practicality.

Ther ye’s go – a balloon!

Better get on with the housework now or i’ll be for the high jump.

Legerwood

Monklands Hospital. Couple of points after scanning some of the posts. Firstly, Monklands Hospital became fully operational in 1977 not the 1980s as some have said.
Secondly, it was the A&E department that was threatened with closure in 2007 not the entire hospital.

Teachers’ pay. I posted some details of their pay last night and a link to their full pay scales but here are the details again since some people seem to have much idea about teachers’ pay

Pay for teachers on the unpromoted or maingrade scale goes from a Probationer, point 0, at £22,866 up to the top of the scale, point 6, at £36,480.

Chartered teachers scale goes from £37,611 to £44,727.

Within 7 years of starting and without any further qualifications a teacher can be earning £36,480.

Full pay scales are here:

link to eis.org.uk

For context: nurses start at £22,128 on Band 5 rising to £28,746 The recent pay awards have still to be added.

Junior doctors in Scotland start on £23,672 in Foundation year 1.

cirsium

@Al dossary (4.37am), cearc (6.12am)

At the Euronaval defence exhibition on 22 October in Paris, Steve Allen, assistant chief of staff, carrier strike aviation with the Royal Navy, referred to the UK’s sole aircraft carrier as “65,000 tonnes of diplomacy”. I guess this must be the F.U.K.U.S. definition of diplomacy.

Petra

I missed FMQ’s but heard Toodleoothenoo at the end. He (or someone he was interviewing) said that they couldn’t understand Patrick Harvie harping on about 10% for teachers right across the board. This would mean that Head Teachers who earn £65,000 would get 10% as would the lowest earners. Nicola wants the lowest earners to get a better deal and something was said about pay rises on offer ranging from 5% to 11%.

And as per comments from previous posters, I also take on board the workload that teachers are having to deal with, as I was in the same position once upon a time. On top of the regular pile of paperwork that teachers have to deal with, many dedicated teachers rack their brains constantly trying to find novel ways to enhance learning, come up with ideas and try to follow through with them which often necessitates producing their own materials. This then adds to their workload. It’s like a vicious circle with the teacher being left with the feeling that they’re not doing enough and a sense of dissatisfaction and frustration. There’s no real answer to this, however there’s no doubt that the holidays make a massive positive difference. How do the general public overall view this (a 10% pay / holidays)? Well I reckon that most people don’t have a great deal of sympathy for teachers, due to the fact that many individuals are working in stressful situations and are totally bogged down with paperwork: Nurses being a good example. I’m sure that they would have loved to have been awarded a 10% pay rise and around 12 weeks paid holidays per annum too. Flanagan is pushing his luck (being ridiculous) and his agenda is more about contributing, with other Labourites, in bringing this SNP government down, imo.

………………………

@ Robert at 12:54pm ….. “Verhofstadt.’

He’s on the ball like most other normal people. It doesn’t matter if the Brexit deal is 95% or even 99% resolved. If the Irish issue isn’t resolved the deal stands at 0%.

susan

Maybe Trades Unions have had their day. They may have done some good in the past, but now…

Graf Midgehunter

Gordon Ross in fine form today.

link to youtube.com

Bobp

Cirsium 1.57 pm. Aye and its amazing what one exocet missile could do to 65.000 tonnes of uk diplomacy.

cearc

Terence callachan, 12.00,

‘… and give pay increases each year of ten or twenty or thirty pounds a week…to EVERYONE…’

I absolutely agree with that and have been of the opinion for years that the trade unions have fuelled the widening income gap by always going for across the board percentage increases.

cearc

Tinto and others,

Earthquakes in the last 50 days.,

link to earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk

As with the earlier fracking around the Nottingham area. Lots of small earthquakes possibly exacerbated by the ground being full of holes and tunnels from earlier mining.

Socrates MacSporran

admiral @1.08pm

Please, engage brain before posting. I know it’s called FMQs, because they are: “Questions to the First Minister.”

Thus, in formulating their very-often peurile questions, the likes of the pregnant tank commander, Small Dick Leonard and Wee Willie Rennie, not forgetting the Green around the gills Harvie, are seeking to score political points against the FM and the SNP government.

In Westminster, the same situation applies. So, to get back at the opposition parties, the government can arrange for back benchesr to lob questions at the PM or FM to fire back at the Opposition.

The Tories at Westminster do this rather well, with ridiculous questions getting asked, which allow the PM to look good, and which cut down on the embarrassing questions the Opposition parties could ask.

The SNP ought to have had somebody asking Nicola today something like: “Does the FM think the 48-hour strike by Glasgow DC workers was a disgraceful stunt organsied by the Labour Party and the Unions?”

Nicola could then have reitterated her support for the women’s cause; then praised the efforts of Susan Aitken and the SNP administration in George Square to solve a problem left them by decades of Labour maladministration, aided and abetted by a bad deal which Richard Leonard had brokered, etc.

This would have gone out live on TV, Tooraloothenoo and his “journalistic chums” such as the obnoxious Katrine Bussey would have had no chance to put their own spin on this, and the filtered, Unionist-spun stories put out would have been countered.

It’s not rocket science, it’s politics, and, if the Opposition – including the Unionist media – are going to play dirty – play dirty back, HARDER.

harry mcaye

admiral – An SNP MSP could easily have tabled a question for the FM, a set up question if you like, which we see all the time, for Nicola to whack out the park. Something like:

“Does the FM not find it a bit hypocritical of Richard Leonard to be so scathing of Glasgow City Council’s position on the equal pay issue when he himself was a research officer for the GMB union when they tried to get the women employees to settle for far less pay than they were going to be due”.

Maybe worded a bit better than that but you get the idea!

Robert Peffers

@
Socrates MacSporran says:
25 October, 2018 at 2:56 pm
” … It’s not rocket science, it’s politics, and, if the Opposition – including the Unionist media – are going to play dirty – play dirty back, HARDER.”

Yeah! And all that would do is make the still large percentage of numpties we meet on doorsteps retort to any and every point say, “See aw yon politicians? Thir aw the same.”

What do you then say to change those people’s closed minds that they are not all the same?

starlaw

Socrates MacSporran @ 1.08

Well said, the SNP miss this open goal week after week, they badly need to sharpen up. The Tories in Westminster are experts at this. taking the pressure off the PM and giving her a free reign with an easy question, an almost party political broadcast.

Frank Gillougley

Dear Socrates and Mr. Peffers

I can understand both of your views, however I do think that our First Minister comes across very well by rising above the obvious open goals and playing a different game.

I do believe that the SNP have to be seen to be different and avoid degenerating into the usual tit-for-tat party politics which is a guaranteed vote loser. Folk just turn off. Yeh, you might get vengeance and be vindicated, but have you converted any dunno’s? Doubt it.

Nicola Sturgeon always accentuates the positive. And what a difference today with the ‘other’ one not there.

Yeh it is difficult to rise above stating the obvious. But is that not what the media are there for ??? !!! Oh well, I’ll get mah coat then…

Socrates MacSporran

Robert Peffers, Frank Gillougley

I can accept your point of view, However, when you are playing to the Marquess of Queensbury’s rules, while the guy you are takingon is playing to the Marquess of Donnybrook’s rules – you’re going to lose.

The SNP, unlike the Unionist parties, does GOVERNMENT very well, but, I don’t think they do the darker arts of POLITICS as well.

There is a difference, point that out.

If the media will not play fair, the SNP has to find a way of getting their case across that takes them out of the equation, “loaded” questions at FMQs, which is broadcast live, is one way of doing this.

Petra

Nicola Sturgeon – FMQ’s.

Why did one of her backbenchers not mention the Equal Pay strike?

There could be any number of reasons that we aren’t aware of, such as the issue could have been referred to GCC / Holyrood legal team. Maybe the SNP controlled Council have dragged their heels in paying out, or there’s another issue she didn’t want aired. Maybe she didn’t want to open a can of worms and in the process alienate the strikers further. I don’t know but be rest assured that Nicola Sturgeon would have weighed up the pros and cons before opening her mouth, because it’s not rocket science, it IS politics and we won’t have a clue about what’s going on behind the scenes. Just like the preparations being made for independence, the Civil Service paperwork, that the Tories are desperate to get their claws on.

Robert J. Sutherland

Socrates MacSporran @ 15:40,

I agree. It doesn’t have to be done in a cynical obvious-patsy way as in WM. After all, the GCC equal-pay debacle is a matter of genuine public interest, so a question can be put fairly, and it gives the FM an opportunity to set the record straight in a way that can get through the media that otherwise connives to suppress it.

How she handles the question is up to her. She can play softball or hardball as she thinks best. But if she is never asked in the first place, she obviously can’t say a word.

Clootie

FMQs today.

Nicola gives a detailed explanation of the addiction funding which had not been taken into account by the report into NHS funding. The opposition couldn’t touch her…but not a problem for them. The BBC via toodleoo the noo made sure the final impression left to viewers was of a funding gap.

It appears that the debate at Holyrood is pointless…Brian will tell you what to think.

Aaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!

Juteman

Re FMQs.
The Unionist cabal were waiting on an attack today.
When you don’t play their game it fucks their heads up!
What will the SNP do next?

Socrates MacSporran

Petra @ 3.56 pm

Again, fair points.

This whole business stems from Labour/Trade Union duplicity and lying, and I dare say, as her team starts to go through the records and get stuck into the many bad issues they have inherited, I reckon we may see Susan Aitken’s hair turn white before our eyes.

Sorting-out the wreckage the SNP in Glasgow has inherited, while at the same time trying to run a minority administration, will prove a thankless and long-running task.

On the equal pay: I accept he is, in many ways “an ambulance chaser,” but, Stefan Cross QC, who we have to probably accept as the expert on this unequal pay issue, has not been entirely complimentary on how the SNP has handled this matter since they were landed with it.

I kind of get the impression, the SNP members inside the City Chambers, faced with enemies inside the chamber, and a body of paid workers, mostly union members, who were perhaps very comfortable and looked after by Labour, don’t have their problems to seek.

Let’s hope, outnumbered and harassed though the are, they end up more Rorke’s Drift than the Alamo.

Bill McLean

Kind of agree with both sides re the FM not getting into Leonard and his role in the equal pay stramash. However, look at the numbers of new members the SNP attracted by the walk out at Westminster. Tricky choice. Glad I don’t have to decide!

Ian Brotherhood

It’s that time of year again, ‘lest we forget’.

Check out this tweet via Grouse Beater:

link to twitter.com

sandy

Socrates MacSporran @ 12.53pm.

Methinks you were only looking for amusement/entertainment @ FMQ today.
So was I. However, there are enough buffoons in the Scottish branches of the unionist parties to dig holes for themselves. Subtle amusement for knowledgable true Scots.

Robert Peffers

@Socrates MacSporran says:25 October, 2018 at 3:40 pm:

” … can accept your point of view, However, when you are playing to the Marquess of Queensbury’s rules, while the guy you are takingon is playing to the Marquess of Donnybrook’s rules – you’re going to lose.”

There’s a couple of thing wrong with that analogy, Socrates.

You have assumed the sport of Westminster politics and that of Holyrood are one and the same – but they are not.

That’s a bit like attempting a match up in the ring by the rules of Catch as Catch Can Wrestling the opponents being a Wrestler versus a Boxer.

The Wrestler is going to win unless, just by luck, the boxer gets in a knock out punch before the Wrestler applies the Boston Crab and gets a submission from the boxing opponent. Even a simple Arm Lock renders the boxer impotent.

First of all Westminster is set-up as basically a two party system with a well defined Government and a well defined opposition party. The Lib-Dems are either an irrelevance or throw in their hat to suit their party best. They will enter a coalition with either main party for any sniff of power.

Holyrood was supposed to work by consensus and is designed not to have any party, (and particularly not the SNP), as a majority led government. This worked well for UK/England as long as a unionist party had the most MSPs but not enough to have a big majority.

However, it very quickly descended into a quite different set-up upon, against all the odds, the SNP became the main party for then the real set-up by Westminster became apparent.

There has long been a virtual two party system in operation with the only The Greens showing ever more willingness to fill the role of the irrelevant and, “anybody’s for a price party”, of Holyrood.

The actual two main parties at Holyrood are the SNP and the Unionists with the Greens seeming more and more the, “Onybody’s fir a sniff of power Party”.

You cannot fight Holyrood by Westminster’s rules. The opposition at Holyrood are like some grotesque, conjoined, triplets where, even if one triplet did decide to oppose their conjoined siblings, they will be dragged into the fight as a unionist anyway.

So neither Catch as Catch can or Marquis of Queensferry, (sic), rules can apply.

In essence the list system is stacked against the SNP and that mainly because a fairy large section of the voters have absolutely no idea of what their second vote is meant to do, (and believe me I’ve tried very hard to explain it to much more than a few).

Robert Peffers

@Petra says: 25 October, 2018 at 3:56 pm

” … Why did one of her backbenchers not mention the Equal Pay strike?”

I think Nicola did mention a reason but did not elaborate upon it.

If you can be bothered, and I can’t ATM, you can watch FMQs on YouTube here:-

link to youtube.com

By the way, watch Nicolas’s face when Jackson makes his debut remarks.

CameronB Brodie

re. reactionary twits, racists, military fetishists, general loons, SiU and the nature of Scotland’s social character. Scotland’s civil society is under threat of contagion from reactionary, right-wing, xenophobia that has been warmly embraced in England, by many of those who support Brexit. If you let this filth control Scotland’s schools, then the game’s a boggy.

Mediating racism
The role of the media in the reproduction of racism

link to citeseerx.ist.psu.edu

Beyond the ‘Race’ Concept: The Reproduction of Racism in England
link to citeseerx.ist.psu.edu

Right-wing authoritarianism and stereotype-driven expectations interact in shaping intergroup trust in one-shot vs multiple-round social interactions
link to journals.plos.org

Robert Peffers

@Bill McLean says: 25 October, 2018 at 4:26 pm:

” … However, look at the numbers of new members the SNP attracted by the walk out at Westminster.”

Ah! Bill! There you make a mistake. See my post on the matter in reply to Socrates.

Westminster plays under Westminster rules where such tactics are in the rules. Holyrood plays under different rules because Holyrood is not a virtual two party system and the MSPs are elected under two different voting systems.

Essexexile

NS has a hard earned aura of integrity that is worth it’s weight in gold in politics.
By not addressing the strike issue at FMQs she’s effectively dismissed it as a Labour stunt. Others simply couldn’t get away with that without appearing evasive or aloof.

Alex

Real name Huge Gaffe-struck, obviously.

Pretty piss-poor piece of reporting on Sky News when wee Shuggy forgot to mention he is a Labour MP in the midst of his SNP baaadery. Mind you, he should have been jarred about that.

Another ‘Scottish’ Labour numpty. But tick, tock, tick, tock – goodbye ‘Scottish’ Labour. The lies, deceit, and unfairness don’t work any more.

We’re ontae ye…

Robert Peffers

@Clootie says: 25 October, 2018 at 4:19 pm:

… It appears that the debate at Holyrood is pointless…Brian will tell you what to think.
Aaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!”

Indeed so, Clootie, and Brian usually does so even before FMQ’s begins. Seems the Press/Broadcasters get a press release before things begin. So Brian tells you what to thing before the show, interrupts the FM during the show and tells you what to think again after it ends.

Which is why I watch FMQs on Holyrood TV:-

link to scottishparliament.tv

Or on the Holyrood YouTube Channel afterwards. It is usually on YouTube within minutes after ending. It is quite east to subscribe to the Holyrood Channel on YouTube and that way you get the whole lot in the chamber and all committee meetings if and when you want them.

Iain

It must be a terrible shock to the labour party functaries that their previous “job for life ” environment has fundamentally changed.
No longer a safe seat where the votes were weighed rather than counted.
Their jobs in a safe not challenging union with the option to move over to a nice wee seat on the council are all gone.
All I have to say is “get it right up you “.
You reap what you sow.

Hamish100

Re an open goal at FM questions.
You shoot and you score.

Socrates MacSporran

Robert Peffers and others

I am not comparing Westminster rules with Holyrood Rules. When it comes to FMQs and PMQs, the (unwritten) rules are exactly the same:

If you’re in an opposition party – it’s yor chance to raise a subject which you think can embarrass/hurt the government.

If you’re in government, you are forced to defend yourself, but, if you get a chance you can hit back.

I simply do not field the SNP has been as good as it should be in hitting back. The way to hit back is by a “loaded” question from one of your own back benchers, to allow the FM or PM to granstand and have a go at the opposition party.

With a hostile pro-Unionist media, the SNP struggles to get their message out to the non-political anoraks – the vast majority of the electorate.

If you knew nothing about politics and got the iimited information you did have from the BBC or the pro-Unionist media, you might think the unequal pay strike and march was all the fault of the SNP.

The SNP, trying to get the truth – that this is a long-running Labour/Trade Union fuck-up which they are being left to sort-out – is well-nigh impossible, thanks to the fact the pro-Unionist media, including the BBC edits the story and pictures to suit their narrative.

But, they cannot edit live broadats, so, you get a back bencher to ask a loaded question on the matter, then you get the truth across in your response, having a go at Labour/the Unions and Richard Leonard in the process.

You have by-passed the media and safely got your point over. Tooralooraloothenoo, David Dimbleby, Jackie Bird or Gordon Brewer are not there to interrupt you and lead you away from your point.

Blair Paterson

The tlme when the SNP MPs walked out of the U.K. Parliament the SNP membership went up by thousands they were seeing the SNP do something positive at last they have done nothing since then to rally the troops and anytime someone blogs on here about their lack of action the usual posters come on to defend their lack of action I will not name them because you all know who they are just to say some of the most patriotic of people turned out to be ("Tractor" - Ed)s ???

Clydebuilt

To get folk to listen to their propaganda tonight Glen Campbell and Shareen Nandjiani have a male stripper . . . .

Unfortunately I’ve pencilled in washing my feet!

Tinto Chiel

@Ian Brotherhood: “It’s that time of year again, ‘lest we forget’”

Yes, Ian, the season of poppy fascism approaches. The way things are going, soon folk’ll be getting a white feather from deranged Britnats in the street for venturing out without the requisite buttonhole.

I can’t forget Margaret Thatcher and her appalling death-dealing policies so maybe we could have a competition designing a suitable commemoration for her?

A wee badge of Munch’s “The Scream” could be a runner.

winifred mccartney

Did you hear Jackson Carlaw at FMQ’s ‘unforgivable to my party’…’I quite like the FM’. Would he have said that to a male FM – Is NS supposed to be grateful? Her face did not think so.

I think this is intimidating, misogynistic and a disgrace but of course he is a conservative what else can we expect.

sassenach

Socrates MacSporran

Totally agree about FMQs and asking ‘loaded questions’.

Anything but live output can be (and is!!) manipulated by the media. Why we are not making the case, when we have the ‘live’ opportunity, about Labour and the GCC strike completely astounds me.

frogesque

FMQ’s

Yep, everyone staring at the elephant hoping it wouldn’t drop a really big smelly turd on them.

On balance I think Nicola played it right and left the animal alone. Let SLabbers wallow in their own duplicity and watch the hole get deeper. Lying and cheating on women is never a good long term prospect.

Andy-B

O/T.

Watching the STV news, and how almost gleefully they reported that our NHS is in trouble, even though investment outstripped inflation. Or how terrible our education system is thanks to John Sweeney, one could be forgiven if they thought the SNP government were infact Labour in disguise, and were as they are, hellbent on destroying Scotland.

The only good news it seems that STV news could muster up about Scotland was that Rangers FC are top of their group.