Wings Over Scotland

Good idea. Not fair to hedgehogs!

Very witty, like it!

Hootsman rallies SlabConDem bettertogether behind their hedgehog but says they’re not. The UKOK fraud goes on.

“GRASSROOTS No campaigners are planning to defy the leadership of UK parties by getting together behind a “stop Alex Salmond” candidate in Gordon.

Despite the Conservatives and Labour ruling out a deal to thwart Salmond’s general election ambitions, local party activists say they will back the Lib Dem candidate Christine Jardine, because she is the former first minister’s nearest challenger.
Jardine, a former journalist, is defending Gordon for the Lib Dems following the retirement of Sir Malcolm Bruce.
Although Jardine is defending a majority of almost 7,000, Salmond has been widely tipped to win the seat as Lib Dem support plummets and the SNP benefits from a post-referendum surge.

But the strong No vote recorded in the area has given local Better Together activists hope that they can work together to keep Salmond out.”

absolutely brilliant.
buoyancy.

Roll on……

heedtracker.

Interesting that they would vote in a hopeless LibDem, who will very likely have no influence in Westminster. Looks like ConUKIP Gov likely.

Still the Tories will be pleased to see LibDems MPs and not even need to pretend to listen to them.

Chris – so you found your pencil, but did you find your trousers? 😉

Love the idea of the toon, but portraying the scurrilous unionist parties as wee hedgehogs, is making me feel sorry for them, and that will never do. So in my head I’m seeing them as slugs!

And talking about slugs, could someone, either by pencil or photoshop, put slugs and slime trails on that Tory road poster? (Which I saw a tweet saying it was a pic of part of the German countryside – oh, the irony!)

On the horizon could be queues at foodbanks, shops and factories with big ‘hiring on zero hour contracts only’ signs on them and lines of people queuing outside ATOS and coffins coming out the side door?

Or a bit too gruesome?

But in those 3 parties, the pricks are on the inside!

Great cartoon! As always, catches the mood nicely. Sometimes not so nicely! Pear wee hedggie hogs!

Those three ran the most immoral, insidious, improper, and possibly illegal campaigns against democracy in UK living memory. Payback’s a bitch, as they say.

Good cartoon Chris- great seeing the pricks between a rock & an even harder place 😉

Well done Chris, another brilliant ‘toon. Glad you managed even if it is a day late 😉

What sound will these entities make when squashed?

SLab’s demise? A hippopotamus accidentally sitting on a blobfish.

Lib-Dems – a cleg hitting a 95-mph windscreen.

Tories – a knackered old sparrow having a heart seizure mid-flight in the depths of a huge forest.

From E.F Schumacher…
“Imagine that in 1864 Bismarck had annexed the whole part of Denmark instead of only a small part of it, and that nothing had happened since. The Danes would be an ethic minority In Germany, perhaps struggling to maintain their language by becoming bilingual, the official language of course being German. Only by thoroughly ‘Germanising’ themselves could they avoid becoming second class citizens.
There would be an irrestistable drift of the most ambitious and enterprising Danes, thoroughly Germanised, to the mainland in the south, and what then would be the status of Copenhagen? That of a remote provincial city. Or imagine Belgium as a part of France. What would be the status of Brussels?…
Imagine now that Denmark a part of Germany, and Belgium a part of France, suddenly turned what is now charmingly called ‘nats’ wanting independence. There would be endless heated arguments that these ‘non-countries’ could not be economically viable , that their desire for independence was, to quote a famous political commentator, ‘adolescent emotionalism’, political naivety, phoney economics and sheer bare-faced opportunism.
How can one talk of economics of small independent countries? How can one discuss a problem that is a non-problem. There is no such thing as the viability of states or nations, there is only a problem of viability of people….
You do not make non-viable people viable by putting large numbers of them into one huge community, and you do not make viable people non-viable by splitting a large community into a number of smaller…communities.”

Thanks Chris , brill as always .

Thez nae enuff hedehogs , eh pricks tho’

Ian Brotherhood, 9.13pm
Blobfish again, Ian? 🙂

Love this…not too sure about the ominous black clouds, hope they’re heading for Westminster!

In five years’ time, after another half decade of austerity and gideonomics, that cartoon could very well apply to the whole of the UK — if the SNP play it canny in Parliament and also field candidates in English elections (or at least form an alliance with the Greens, PC and SF).

All this talk of a Lab/Con alliance… Labour are just going to get stabbed in the back once again by their bluer brethren… one almost starts to believe that they are some sort of masochists and that LABOUR LIKES IT UP ‘EM!

Rancid old Guardian kicks off their 2015 teamGB says vote Labour or else Scotland, wonder who they’re going to phone up and bettertogether court but they don’t mention the SLabConDem alliance though. Funny that.

“Murphy said Labour would heavily court those 190,000 voters this month, with personal letters, phone calls and doorstep canvassing: most were older Labour voters in the Glasgow area, where the yes vote was heaviest but where Labour holds a large majority of Westminster seats.

“They voted yes, largely because they wanted rid of the Tories and wanted change,” Murphy will say. “Now they can decide whether to vote Labour to get rid of the Tories or to vote SNP and keep the status quo. At the general election these will be the most important voters in the UK.”

Labour’s analysis was released as the SNP launched a counter-offensive with newspaper adverts showing opposition benches in the Commons covered in tartan to underscore its hopes of taking a swath of key Labour and Lib Dem seats

… Tres drole, mon brave !!

O/T
Does anybody know if Gary Anderson, the new World Darts Champion, is a supporter of Scottish Independence?

Or is he a ProudScotBut…

It was a great game of darts though.

If the unionist parties openly ask voters to vote tactically to keep Salmond out,it will be a major step forward for the independence campaign.

Make it so

Big vote no or else Guardian boost for our next FM Murphy link to archive.today. Its very weird how these guys detest Scottish democracy like this but do they have faith in Murphy with all that talent and lack of ruth:D

“The referendum campaign has had a cathartic effect with Labour plunging to 26%, a full 17 points behind the SNP. In the space of two months a listless Labour party seems to have lost more than a third of it support north of the border. Murphy is a talented and ruthless politician, but again the task is daunting. Even if he managed to claw back to 35% in the next four months and the SNP slipped to 38%, the SNP would equal Labour with 28 seats, a force at Westminster comparable to the likely strength of the Liberal Democrats.

Anybody want to hazard a guess when BBC Jockland is going to mention the National’s headline? They tell us in detail what the English based rags (all of them) are spouting as part of the Mutt and Jeff show while all of the cretinous organisations set about forming Labour’s policy.

Ed Miliband on BBC Breakfast, repeatedly spouting on about the Labour Party running a positive campaign for the GE, against Tory negativity, openly stating that the Tories are guilty of issuing false statements, blah, blah, blah.

As many others have already mentioned, he also sidestepped the question on coalition governments with the SNP (or UKIP), by stating that he only wants a majority Labour government.

The hypocrisy and lies of the Labour Party is astonishing

at times.But anyway, there could be good times ahead, because he has committed to campaigning in Scotland! Wonder what a certain Mr Murphy will have to say to that!

How do the crucial 10%+ of the US voters of Scottish heritage, view the intervention of the US government and collusion in secrecy and lies. Resulting in the deaths of millions worldwide.

BTW Rev Stu I know about houses not working. There I was making a New Year’s Day meal and the kitchen fluorescent bulb began to flicker then went out. Darkness apart from the oven light which was cooking the spuds. An initial camping light (battery) was used then replaced with a desk lamp and a head torch. The latter amused my wife no end.

Ken500
Let’s also not forget that labour discarded an industrial economy to instead build one based on personal credit. It didn’t work out too well in 2008, and yet their solution to a credit problem is to create more credit!

They can laugh at the current slump in oil price but that physical capital will still be there when it’s over. Unfortunately trying to explain the difference between capital and debt leverage to a labour Politician/voter is a bit like explaining quantum physics to a chimp as I found at the polling station on indyref day.

The Green campaign, masquading as LibDems against the Trump Development, the UTG project and the essential AWPR. Green campaigns secretly financed and supported by wealthy feudal landowners against the public interest and wasting £millions of public money. Wealthy feudal landowners buying influence against the public interest, and wasting £Millions of public money.

Such is my disgust at Westminster, that my desire for independence is becoming almost irrational. I no longer care if we are the richest or poorest country in the world, but I need a country where we make our own future whatever that may be.We will manage!! Excellent depiction of the fate I believe the three parties will experience in May.

@ caz m 8.02 safe journey home see you soon.

@ Capella 8.55. Another Nth Lanarkshire experement ( Time Capsule Coatbridge ) all in the name of Charity,(thats the selling point) to disenfranchise the people of Renfrewshire.

Nana Smith says:

link to order-order.com

Cue the next Blue Tory line of attack on their red imposters:

“Milliband is planning to team up with the SNP to thwart English democracy”

If Ed responds by saying he will never work with the SNP (even if it means the Blue Tories retain power), then Labour are stuffed in Scotland. The Red Tories find themselves in an awfully deep hole, me thinks.

The anti AWPR was supported and funded by a 14C feudal landowner who did not want the road near hs estate. Greens masquerading as LibDem Aberdeenshire councillors (along with wealthy landowners/councillors) blocked the road and campaigned against it for 10 years With the traffic problems getting more and more acute.. At enomous Public expense. Appeals etc. The Scottish Gov supported the road without their support it would not be built. The house owners were compensated, some got £million, and they will benefit from the increased prosperity. They will be more jobs created, especially with the downturn in Oil.

Greens (some masquerading as LibDem councillors) also campaigned against the Trump Development, the extended Airport (they shut the airport) and the UTG Project, wasting £Millions of public money in appeals and lost prosperity.

Blair McDougal just told me on Twitter that the 1000 new nurses Labour have promised, over and above whatever the SNP promise, will be paid for from the mansion tax across the UK.

As it would, if collected, raise around £2billion he promised £250 million would come to Scotland to pay for the nurses.

I asked, as the tax would rise about £8million in Scotland, are the English happy agreeing to giving £242million more to Scotland.

No answer as yet.

@Ken500

I can’t speak about Green involvement in Trump or UTG. I did oppose both for various reasons.

As far as the AWPR goes you’re talking mince.

You and many others (except the property developers) are going to be mightily disappointed when you find that the large white elephant that IS the AWPR make no noticeable difference to the traffic in Aberdeen.

“Greens masquerading as LibDem Aberdeenshire councillors”

What sort of tinfoil hat nonsense is that?

Daily Politics show on now…hardly mentioning Scotland. They think Labour might get enough to go ahead with a minority government on its own.

Loving those ukelect.co figures Nana.

Hate to burst the bubble but remember the spectre of postal votes people. They are probably being stuffed now with Red Tory votes.

Caught a read of The Sun in the barbers this morn and read a great editorial by Andrew Nicoll where he called out Slab on their vote No to save the NHS con , their two facedness and also the big lie of vote Labour to stop the Tories getting in.

I now see why its only the Clegg and Crighton of The Rectum who appear on BBC political programmes, despite their rag being second to The Sun for sales.

X_Sticks says:

What sort of tinfoil hat nonsense is that?

All I know about the AWPR is that the junctions will probably need to be remodelled within a year or two of opening. Some of the proposed junction designs are the most ridiculous I have ever seen. They won’t work the way they are supposed to – guaranteed.

All comparable Cities in Europe have a pedestrianised city centre and a by pass road, which is pretty little to ask. Aberdeen/shire (a growth area) were underfunded 30% of all other local authorities funding for over 30 years by Labour/Unionist Cosla The Grampian Health Authorities were underfunded for over 30 years compared to all other Health Authorities in Scotland by Unionists. (trying to keep it secret).

Great cartoon, Chris.

In other news, SNP press release sees Sandra White calling out Smurph on his membership of the Henry Jackson Society. Really hope how shocking his membership is, will be picked up by proper journos

On Murphy’s Mansion Tax nonsense.

Has Miliband told voters in England vote Labour and subsidise Scotland.

As a non elected politician after May 2015 Murphy won’t have a say on Westminster policies and in event of Labour government it will be Andy Burnham who calls the shots on health matters.

It was Labour that introduced the current privitisation health reforms in England, and shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told Holyrood Magazine that we need to get back to a UK wide health policy, so don’t get too attached to your free prescriptions (£8 in England), free eye tests (£25 in England), free dental checkups (£20 in England) and free personal care for the elderly (incalculable), because if you vote Labour as their days are numbered.

@caz-m says: 5 January, 2015 at 3:41 am:

“The Lib/Dems, Tories and Labour have ALL merged into one big Party of the Establishment. Their orders from the Establishment are to make London tick. All else is irrelevant.”

I’ve news for you, caz-m, It always has been thus. The entire history of what was, “Albion”, before the Romans began recording British History has been dictated by elite ruling classes who treated the hoi polloi as slaves, serfs, or villeins, (that’s not villains). The Romans came for British minerals and for slaves. Their methods were to set up tax systems and then tax imports and exports. Hadrian’s wall was not to keep the Caledonia’s out. It was to prevent smuggling. Furthermore, Roman Centurions took vows of celibacy. Which is why there was very little gene pool change after the almost 500 years of Roman occupation.

The Roman elite left and the south Britons invited the Germanic Tribes to come and protect them and to run their country. In effect they replaced one ruling elite with another and thus began, “Angle Land”, (England). There were then several other elite rulers up to and including the Normans. These Normans gave the south the feudal system where the King bestowed land to the Dukes who bestowed land to the Earls and so on down to the Lords of the Manor. Thus the Hoi Polloi have remained slaves to a greater or lesser degree until the present day. Note that genetic testing shows less than 5% of the English population actually have Anglo Saxon genes.

Today we still have the Royalty and the Aristocracy but in 1688 the Parliament of the Kingdom of England, (three countries), had the, “Glorious Revolution”. In which they deposed the monarch they shared with the still independent Kingdom of Scotland. Then they imported King Billy & Queen Mary of Orange, (but removed from them the Royal Veto over Parliament). Thus began the Jacobite Uprisings. It was NOT a rebellion as Scots could not rebel against a monarchy not their own and Scotland was still an dependent Kingdom in 1688. The English Parliament arrogantly imposed the English choice of monarchy upon Scotland and the Jacobite uprisings spanned the Treaty of Union until 1745.

So consider this. The three country Kingdom of England did not end the rule of the Royals and Aristocracy. Instead they just made the three English Kingdom countries a constitutional Monarchy and parliament thus assumed the role of the monarch & the lords. They did, after all, retain the House of Lords and thus continued the evil Feudal System including the imposition of Feu Duty.

In 1706/7 they imposed the Treaty of Union upon Scotland and just assumed that Westminster had and retained sovereignty over Scotland. They thus imposed the feudal system over Scotland. We still have the Royalty, the Aristocracy but in 1688 the Parliament of the Kingdom of England, (three countries), had the, “Glorious Revolution”. In which they deposed the monarch they shared with the Kingdom of Scotland and they imported King Billy & Queen Mary of Orange but removed from then the Royal Veto over Parliament. Thus began the Jacobite Uprisings. It was NOT a rebellion as you cannot rebel against a monarchy not your own and Scotland was independent in 1688.

The English Parliament arrogantly imposed the English choice of monarch upon Scotland and the Jacobite uprisings spanned the Treaty of Union until 1745. So consider this. The three country Kingdom of England did not end the rule of the Royals & aristocracy. They just made the three English Kingdom countries a constitutional Monarchy and parliament assumed the role of the Lords and also kept the House of Lords. They thus continued the Feudal including Feu Duty.

In 1706/7 they imposed the Treaty of Union and assumed that Westminster retained the feudal system over Scotland. As I began this post – Parliament is designed to depute the elected members as our feudal overlords under the guise of being our elected servants. The truth is they remain the masters and the electorate remain the servants. Note how the leaders of all the Establishment unionist parties are mainly from the same elite background. So, just as I said when I began this post – Parliament is designed to depute the elected members as our feudal overlords under the guise of being our elected servants. The truth is they have remained our the masters and we, the electorate, remain the servants. Note how the present leaders of all the Establishment Unionist parties are mainly drawn from the same rich elite background?

Now anyone care to prove me wrong? Before you do consider how many times Cameron says, “My Government, My country, the British Armed Forces and so on. However, the legal standing of everything is actually, “Her Majesty’s Government, Her Majesty’s Treasury, The Royal Navy, Air Force and the Queen’s Soldiers. The Royal Mint and not to forget such as Her Majesty’s Stationary Office and Her Majesty’s Subjects. Now about that removed Royal veto over parliament? Think about it folks. I kid you not.

good afternoon wing-dingers

whats the scores on the doors

quick question if kezia is the dug

is the smurph the dugs baws

Murphy’s pledge to use English mansion taxes for Scottish nurses just appeared in the telegraph. Can’t wait to see the comments. Hehe.

Sorry can’t do the archive link thingy. Maybe someone else could, cheers.

@cynicalHighlander

link to archive.today

And so it begins

The same story on the EBC 🙁

I’m sure other alert readers have spotted this, second quoted paragraph below of great interest?

link to bbc.co.uk

“Elsewhere, Scottish secretary and Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael promised new powers allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in Scottish Parliament elections would be transferred to Holyrood before the UK election.

He also said “good progress” had been made on a bill for Scotland’s new devolved powers, which will be put on hold until after May.”

From SNP….

Labour sums ‘simply don’t make sense’

Labour have shown that they cannot be trusted with Scotland’s finances or Scotland’s NHS after cursory scrutiny saw their spending claims fall apart.

Despite claiming that a mansion tax would generate £1.2 billion across the whole of the UK, Labour in Scotland have claimed that they expect to see £250 million come to Scotland from the policy – more than 20 per cent of the total revenue raised.

The amount of additional funds transferred to Scotland under the Barnett Formula would depend on what proportion of this sum was spent on devolved areas – but even if £1.2 billion was spent in full on devolved areas Scotland would receive far less than the £250 million Labour in Scotland has claimed.

Meanwhile Labour’s promise of recruiting additional nurses has been described as a welcome desire to follow the SNP’s lead. Since the SNP took office, the number of whole time equivalent (WTE) qualified nurses and midwives in Scotland has increased by around 1,700.

Commenting, SNP Westminster Leader Angus Robertson MP said:

“Labour may have a new leader in Scotland, but it seems that their policies remain as nonsensical as ever.

“While Labour’s desire to follow the SNP’s lead in recruiting more nurses is welcome, their sums simply don’t make sense.

“Even if every penny of the money Labour expects a mansion tax to generate was eligible for Barnett consequentials, it would see Scotland gain far less than what Jim Murphy is claiming.

“All Jim Murphy is showing with these ridiculous figures is that he cannot be trusted with Scotland’s finances or Scotland’s NHS.

“Since the SNP took office, the number of qualified nurses and midwives in Scotland’s NHS has increased by around 1,700 and the SNP is already committed to passing on Barnett consequentials from health spending to Scotland’s NHS, so this announcement does not promise any new money whatsoever.

“While Labour tries to pull the wool over people’s eyes by claiming it will spend the same money over and over again, we have delivered real progress for Scotland.”

Labour claiming a mansion tax will raise £1.2 billion across the UK can be viewed at link to independent.co.uk…

The claim that Scotland would receive an additional £250 million can be viewed at link to scottishlabour.org.uk…

Journalists[if you can call them that] seem to have taken to the term insurgents with relish. Bloody cheek!

Fending off insurgents, main parties limp towards closest election in memory

link to uk.reuters.com

Murphy’s 1000 extra nurses.

Milibrain has promised £2.5bn per year extra into the UK NHS, raised partially from mansion tax (£1.2bn), so the Barnett consequentials of this should see Scotland get around £250m extra.

It would then, presumably, be up to the Scottish government to decide where that money was spent. They could spend it on nurses and other NHS services if they wanted to.

Cameron has promised to “ring fence” NHS spending in real terms, which (while not stated specifically) suggests an extra £12.7bn over 5 years if it is to keep pace with current spending. (So, about £2.5bn per year, if the Guardian is correct).

link to theguardian.com

Again, the Barnett consequentials are £250m. And again, presumably, it would be up to the Scottish government to decide where that money was spent.

I just don’t see where Scottish Labour comes into it at all.

Sky News have been running a feature on the election build up today, featuring a graphic I thought was GB minus Scotland as I naively believed they were just concentrating on England today but incredibly that narrow wee bit at the top is meant to be Scotland. I also caught some reporter refer to SNP votes in the North. Yep, got it once again No voters thank you, we are just North Britain now.

Westminster mis-spending and inappropriate policies in Scotland, result’s in a £20Billion+ deficit being allocated to Scotland – money which Scotland neither borrows or spends? They are to give Scotland £250Million. Doesn’t quite add up. Labour/Unionists balance sheet. Not very good at Maths.

best tweet seen today

labour pledge proclaimers to walk 1500 miles

The group of people who decide the outcome of any General Election in the UK will already have met – not to discuss the result, but the strategy.

With low levels of support for the two main Unionist Establishment parties in England, and the shit ready to hit the fan in Scotland, the power brokers will know that the usual toolbox of propaganda and ballot rigging will not suffice.
There is still too much risk because the voters are angry and restless for retribution.
Securing the right result is going to require a bit more.

All the Referendum tactics will be in play at GE15, including the false bribe just before the 7th, but we should expect a little extra.
The stakes are still close to max.

The worst case scenario will be if the next WM Government does not have overall control at Westminster without the SNP. This is what the men in suits will try to avoid at all costs.

This is the reason why a lot of London money will be poured into unionist Murphy’s campaign to keep unionist Labour afloat in Scotland.

The result in Scotland will be the most strategically important of the lot. For the Unionist Establishment,
power MUST reside exclusively in England, at Westminster.

The Referendum result MUST be kept INTACT.

It’s up to us to make sure it doesn’t.

@manandboy

I think you make a very good point about how strategically important the vote in Scotland turns out to be and that this has already been recognized.

No doubt we will find out for definite in the coming weeks.

The ‘thousand more’ satire is beginning :

Slab to pledge to make the Proclaimers walk 1,500 miles (courtesy of @endless_psych on Twitter)

@Papadox says: 5 January, 2015 at 3:59 pm:

Very informative Robert, I have always thought and believed what you state in your post but never had the ability to put it on paper as you have done. Thank you sir.”

Actually, Papadox, I garbled it a bit. I was working three computers at once. Answering email on the wee netbook, editing a video on the main desktop and in between trying to write that potted history on the laptop. I repeated part of the story by a cack-handed cut & paste from the spell-checker.

It is surprising what comes to light when reading history with an open mind. Here’s a strange couple of wee facts for examples. “Scotland Yard”, (recently sold by the Met), was so called because it was originally the independent Scotland’s embassy in London.

Another fact is that the Royal Bruce family owned an area of land that is now part of London’s Civil Service area of Whitehall.

The truth is often unrecognized by being out in the open. I was once asked to do some secret work at Rosyth Dockyard during Navy Day, a normally closed for all Dockyard work weekend. On the day we found ourselves working on a prototype missile launcher under a canvas area fenced off from the rest of the yard by scaffolding. This area was supposed to be a dock gate caisson under repair.

So we sat there amid thousands of visitors hidden away among the crowd putting a missile launcher through it’s paces. Things are often not what they seem.

Purrrr GRRRR!
link to independent.co.uk

Had forgotten about this Stu. Nobody who saw this at the time actually considered that the three hedgehogs would be the individuals rather than the parties. Perhaps Chris should start playing the Lottery…