Tory council election manifesto launched
Posted on
April 10, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
It’s a comprehensive policy document focused on local issues wait no.
We mean the other thing.
Still, at least it’s a very different message from the Scottish Labour one wait no.
We mean the other thing.
Proof positive that these arseholes do not give a shit about local issues.
I don’t normally comment on people’s appearance but…they really do LOOK like smug ToryBoys, don’t they?
Actually Wee Jock, I think some of them, Kyle Thornton especially, have that ‘baw faced hun’ look about them.
Get on with the day job!
Labour and their Tory chums getting on with the day job, wait no.
I never understand how you can be a tory and young. Maybe once you’ve amassed a decent amount of wealth of your own but certainly not before that.
I like “post immediately”. Presumably before you have time to think.
So the Unionists want to make the local elections about Scotref. Wonder what they will say if they lose.
The problem for the unionists is that in 2014 they told everyone how we were better together.
Well now we see the consequences of Tory austerity is having on welfare, jobs and our public services.
So what positive agenda can these unionists now put forward to prevent cuts and protect our public services?
The truth is they really have nothing to offer and hopefully enough people will see this and not be conned.
Rich parents Paul. How come they all looked like that on the morning of the 19th, braying away with their rubber faced pusses?
I see Ross Thompson seems to be the rent-a-quote go-to for BBC Scotland. He is the one that does all the nodding in the background when Murdo or the Mooth gets up to speak. Sometimes, just for variety, BBC leaven that with the part-time MSP/football referee, Douglas Ross or the inimitable Annie Wells.
Either way, not very inspiring. So let it be an SNP all-guns-blazing wipe out of the Unionists this May. They have asked for it given their tactics.
That first poster “how Scotland voted last May” talk about lies and statistics, the SNP had a record amount of votes over a million in the fptp constitunancies and they are still trying to claim SNP peak.
Lying torags
Aye, local government elections are all about local issues, aren’t they? Will the bins get emptied; who’s clearing up the dog-shit; how do we provide services that care for our most vulnerable people in the face cruel cuts imposed by a Tory Westminster government?
Oh sorry, that’s too hard. Let’s talk about the referendum instead.
when will these tory people ever learn.
Local elections are about the streets, the rubbish, the libraries,
roadworks, access to local services, transport.
The Scottish Parliament has decided democratically, ehich is the thing I don’t thimk thry understand, that there WILL be a 2nd referendum. So a Tory vote is a wasted vote and as usual its the non-tory/labour voters who will suffer.
Paul Miller
You are never too old to pull the wings off flies.
Isn’t it very strange that Scott Douglas only mentions POSTAL votes in his campaign flyer for the Local elections.I would have thought that turning up at the polling station to cast your vote would be the preferable method and would garner more votes.
Is there more to this Flyer than meets the eye?. Remember the 2014 referendum. A certain party leader was accused of seeing postal votes before the votes were announced.
The band’s back together:
It’s what Theresa May told them to do when she made one of her great speeches saying make the local elections in Scotland about showing the SNP we don’t want a referendum
By the same token does it mean that if the SNP win against this newest Better Together onslaught the Prime Minister will concede the people actually do want another referendum or will she conveniently forget she said that?
I wonder how many times an English Prime Minister has got themselves involved in Scottish local council elections by issuing instructions of this type
Is it tanks next?
You could just laugh and say ‘now is not the time’, they’re obsessed with referendums etc but this appears to be a coordinated, strategic misdirection of the electorate.
The politics at a council level is what affects most folks daily lives, yet it’s where we see the lowest election turnouts, and the least awareness of the responsibilities of the elected representatives.
Exploiting this, for cheap party-political point scoring is low 🙁
Regardless of your opinion on the Constitutional question, the candidates seeking election here will have as much say as any other layman, the Scottish Parliament or the Westminster Parliament won’t be seeking their special approvals!
It’s exactly this kind of toe-the-tribal-line candidates that makes folk yearn for decent Independents, to stick two fingers up at the whole system 🙂
Slightly O/T
The arguments about how best to use your vote are already getting entrenched as the party literature is in full flow (I’ll do as I always have: pick who I least want elected and rank everyone else above them), so I’d be interested to see a comprehensive voting guide 😉 😉
Paul Miller
You are never too old to pull the wings off flies
Yip . An octogenarian arrived at my door with – local election – pamphlet saying vote No to the referendum.
I spoke him to him kindly to take it back which he refused. I posted it on. I hate waste.
The dishonesty of the Tories all to see.
They Don’t believe in local elections or democracy.
Aye but it is a really big deal yoon culture wise. If they do get Sots do try and vote them out of Scotland’s local governments next month, that’s it, there is nowhere else for UKOK unionism in Scotland, except ofcourse, in Pacific Quay and all the great and good UKOK press newsrooms out there.
Got the same cut-n-paste through in Stirling.
They seem incapable of highlighting local “successes” they have
had in coalition with the Labour Party (Scotland) in Stirling. Perhaps there have not been that many.
They also fail to focus on national success like the bedroom tax, food banks and
of course the punish the fecund poor with rape clause form filling.
Cant think why.
I can see their point.
They have nothing to offer than hostility toward Scotgov so they resort to type and threaten people with something they assume you don’t want.
Unfortunately their whole point is self defeating as local councillors have zip effect on indyref. Not a sausage. Nowt.
They have played their card.
Unfortunately it is a two or a three in the grand scheme of things.
Well SLAB under Murphy started this. They campaigned on local issues during the European elections, Westminster issues during Holyrood elections, Holyrood issues during the GE.
The Tories are just playing catchup.
John munro 10.56am. You got that in one John.
They deny or have never fully grasped the very fabric of democracy – and keep their members in line with lies and fabrications, like the sect they are. They have much to lose.
I can’t understand why, as James Kelly suggests, you need to fill in the complete list of candidates right down to SLAB/Tory/LibDem. Why not just leave the Unionists off the ballot? No votes=no election.
Is the document on the left of the first picture even legal? If it is it shouldn’t be.
Highly misleading especially to those with little or no understanding of STV. No mention of preferred votes for other candidates. It’s almost as if they are trying to convince people it’s a FPTP election.
“Why not just leave the Unionists off the ballot? No votes=no election.”
If you had good information about which Unionist candidate was likely to do well then I suppose you could upset their apple cart by voting for the other ones above the likely winner. I don’t think we’re in that position anymore since Labour crashed.
The irony of telling the first minister and leader of our nation, Nicola, to get on with the ‘day job’ and forget the constitution, while for prospective local council Unionist candidates the only game in town is the constitution!
This kind of thing makes me really angry. Their are IMPORTANT local issues at stake right now, and they are not done by the SNP Scottish Government, and they certainly don’t have anything to do with a referendum. Yet our media are just ignoring this blatant duplicity and lying by both the red and blue tories.
If people listen to this guff, then they are going to be mighty angry when they realise how they have been duped. But of course, neither Labour or the Tories care about the truth or local issues. Red Tories and blue Tories, both issuing leaflets with the same freaking totally dishonest policies It’s all just about SNP BAAAAD.
In a normal country people issuing election leaflets like this would be held to account by the media. Not so in Scotland.
David Mooney
Your right. The Tory X at the rhs gives the impression of First past the post election . Does such leaflets have to be passed by the electoral commission?
Surely the leaflet is for a referendum.
I thought it was the SNP who were obsessed by a referendum ?
This collection of second rate no marks are trying to sell themselves as something they are not. It is on a par with Dr Mengele claiming to be interested in the disabled.
It is sad really that I now actually find myself absolutely loathing these people. Normally I would just be disinterested in them or by them, but there is something quite visceral brought into play by their values that I cannot come to terms with
@galamcennalath
Sir, you have posted many times on this site.
YOU should know that Yoons and Britnats don’t do irony.
Of course it makes sense for the blue tories to make it an indyef issue. They have to corner the hard yoon vote, after all (having nothing else to offer). However, what beats me is why the Labour party are buying into this. They are trying to compete with the torykippers for the hard yoon vote? Geeeez. A hiding to nothing comes to mind.
With the blue tories, fighting the council elections on an anti-ref ticket makes a lot of sense. For the Labour party, it is a guaranteed suicide mission. Why can’t they see this?
The big winners may be the LibDems, who seem to have cornered the market for NO-REMAIN voters (mainly because Labour have left the field wide open). Wot a bunch of dopes. 62% REMAIN in Scotland and 48% REMAIN in the UK represents a huge franchise, there for the taking. And yet Labour shirk the responsibility of opposition, and side with the tories. With the bloody tories!
RIP, Labour. You really ought to have seen this coming. My heart bleeds. 🙂
John Munro 1056am.
Sorry, my understanding was that the ‘H’ word was every bit as bigoted a pejorative as the West of Scot!and ‘F’ word equivalent. There is absolutely no place for that kind of comment on this thread, indeed website. Try to separate your atrocious bigoted opinions from your political beliefs.
“Sorry, my understanding was that the ‘H’ word was every bit as bigoted a pejorative as the West of Scotland ‘F’ word equivalent.”
Your understanding is incorrect.
link to dailyrecord.co.uk
@Robert Kerr
“Yoons and Britnats don’t do” … much, other than troll, bitch and moan.
Show me a Yoon with a positive outlook and I’ll show you where the wild unicorns graze. 🙂
I can’t tell you how relieved I am that our local candidate will not need to fight against all these dishonest fools as he is unopposed and will be elected come what may!
How come they inveigled the Extra to do their dirty work?
Who owns the Extra?
Making sure Scotland remains owned by England has always and always will be the only issue for the three Unionist Parties.
Without that,these Yoon politicians and activists would be exposed for the nobodies they are.
Delivering Scotland to England is the only currency they have.
That is becoming ever more obvious by the day.
You know, maybe I’d consider voting for a unionist candidate, but it’s this obsession with the constitution that puts me off.
I believe there are a number Conservative voters who actually support the idea of Scottish independence and would like a referendum.
Are these leaflets advising them not to vote Tory?
Just a thought…
Re; John Russell@11.19
She, Ruth Davidson tank commander, did say that she knew the result prior to the overall count in 2014, due to having sampled the postal votes, if I remember correctly. She wasn’t accused, it was a direct self admission and she got away with it. Tory, and red tory support for their apparent underhand, dubious practices knows no bounds in their better together, keep Scotland’s resources for ourselves UK.
Independent candidate in Cambuslang East representing ‘Scottish Unionists, Proudly Scottish, Proudly British’. Don’t know whether to put him above or below Tory/Labour in council vote.
The importance of using all your choices in the STV system is simply this.
After your preferred candidate has gained enough votes to be elected, his/her ballot papers are then recalculated to allocate votes to the second choices on those same ballots albeit at a reduced rate.
In other words, although you picked the winning candidate, those votes for your other choices on your ballot remain in play through an elimination process. The elimination process then reallocates the votes of those eliminated to other candidates and so on and so on.
Therefore if you list Unionists last ,then they garner less percentage votes.
Would that be what some call a one issue political party,is this the new model for yoon parties in Scotland the UKIP model.
You might think the s/tories are trying to hide their real policies which come from their westminster boss.
Here in sunny Stirling neither Labour or Tory can have any local policies because they aren’t putting up enough candidates to take control. Any policy statement would be negotiable with their Tory / Labour friends. You cannot make these things up!
True to form for Labour.
Last Council election the Labour candidate said at a husting in my town that he was going to “abolish the bedroom tax”.
That party political ad in The Extra is such a lying pile of pish that it’s pure comedy gold.
“We were told it was a ‘once in a lifetime’ vote by Alex Salmond…”
No, you weren’t, you lying shits! (Notice the use of non-quotation marks)
“… Nicola Sturgeon said ‘To propose another referendum in the next parliament without strong evidence that…'” Blah, blah, blah… (Again, notice the use of non-quotation marks)
Yeah, but you missed out what she also said as part of that same speech, didn’t you, you sneaky shits!
“If there is strong and consistent evidence that people have changed their minds and that independence has become the choice of a clear majority in this country, then we have no right to rule out a referendum and we won’t do that either. No one has the right to stand in the way of democracy.”
“So much for SNP promises.” LOLZ!
“With no evidence of any increase in support for independence…”
Nope. No evidence. None. None at all. LOLZ!
“… and with barely a third of people across Scotland supporting a second independence referendum…”
LOLZ! So, at least 50% is “barely” 33.33% in the land of the Ruth Davidson Scottish Conservative No Surrender party, does it? Maths not your strong point, then, eh.
“Only Ruth Davidson…” “Only Ruth Davidson…” LOLZ!
“Vote Scottish Conservative and help us locally and Ruth Davidson nationally stand firm against the SNP…” LOLZ!
Hey, guys, anything about, you know why people should vote for you regarding, you know, local stuff? No? Oh right! Good luck with that, then…
“We said no. And we meant it.”
Woooo… scary! Ah, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Not!
Absolutely A-one, tip-top LOLZ! LOLZ! LOLZ!
@handclapping
Long time no hear! Hope you are well.
With the labour branch reduced to a twig (saw that on WoS) we must ensure that the Tories are given the same treatment all over Scotland.
The blue Tory message declares:
“EVERY VOTE FOR YOUR CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE IS A VOTE AGAINST A SECOND REFERENDUM”
Filthy lying scum! Local Council Elections have absolutely nothing to do with independence referendums nor do they have any power to stop peoples democratic rights to vote in one.
That pile-o-shite they’re passing off as local election material is not only a deceptive fraud, it’s also aimed at certain bigoted demographics such as the blue-rinse Britnat and OO brigade types.
Looking at the pictures of those unknown candidates it looks to me as if Yon Dim Ruth is creating a squadron of her very own obedient clueless filthy lying replicants.
NO MORE LIBLABCONS!
I remember Kyle Thornton getting the rubber ear when standing in Cathcart last time round.. Another Murdo Fraser in the making I fear.
Had a look at his LinkedIn page…I think he may just be rather generous in his current job management claims although I like the ‘500’ year old company line ( no mention of public sector of course)..:
Graduate Operations Manager
Company Name Royal Mail
Dates Employed Aug 2016 – Present
Employment Duration •9 mos
Location Johnstone, Renfrewshire, United Kingdom
I joined the Royal Mail Graduate Operations Programme in September 2016. The programme puts graduates into a real Royal Mail Operations Management role and across two years, places you in three different locations with enchanted support and training. At the moment I am based in Johnstone managing a team of 56 staff. I undertake a broad set of responsibilities including people management, compliance checks, administrative work and any other tasks needed to ensure our customers receive their parcels, packets and mail when they want them.
Working for a 500 year old company presents unique change management challenges but also has given us a fantastic inheritance as the best and most trusted in our marketplace.
Graduates are given real responsibilities and real challenges at the heart of Royal Mail giving me the chance to learn on the job a whole host of new skills and experiences.
It is now a straight fight between the Tories and the SNP.
Do you support a Referendum or don’t you?
@Paul Miller says: 10 April, 2017 at 11:02 am:
“I never understand how you can be a tory and young. Maybe once you’ve amassed a decent amount of wealth of your own but certainly not before that.”
Strange that, Paul, for most young Tories I’ve ever known had inherited or were heir apparent, to their parents and thus also their grandparents fortunes.
But now you come to mention it many of the young Labourites I’ve known were the sons of former elected Labour people. For example the present Labour in Scotland deputy leader is the son of a Labour councillor.
Easy to spot a Scottish BritNat, they run around the place being proud of everything.
It’s a funny kind of pride that’s actually much closer in meaning to “shame” and “cringe”. Soon as I hear the word “proud” in conversation I’m thinking oh gawwd, here we go…
But let’s be magnanimous and let the Unionists keep the word “pride” in their arsenal. Fair exchange is no robbery as the saying goes, and we totally own the word YES now and forevermore.
The tactics are plain and not stupid. It’s unlikely that the Tories will gain overall control of any council. But they WILL increase the number of their seats substantially, because in a four-member ward it only takes 20%+1 of the vote to reach a quota, and there are many wards where the Tories are at that level.
When that happens, the media will spin it as a triumph for the anti-referendum position, entirely ignoring the fact that control of councils, not seats, is what makes the difference. Ruth Davidson will use that spin to bolster her position.
Labour, as usual, are caught between a rock and a hard place. Fighting on local issues will see their Unionist vote evaporate. So, in a desperate attempt to hang onto something, they have to plug the Unionist position so their remaining supporters don’t desert them.
You’d think it would be more constructive to move to a neutral position on the referendum (while making plain they are anti-independence) and focus on local issues from that perspective. But no.
Quite a few comments about having to vote for all names on the ballot paper. This is not the case. You can vote for as many or as few of the candidates as you like. So vote SNP, Green and/or Independent and leave the unionist candidates blank.
If you haven’t received a leaflet from the Electoral Commission yet, I would advise going to their website and checking out how to vote.
I have a wee mental image of the first Council meeting of a new Glasgow Council that had won the coming election.
Chairperson opens the meeting and reads out the Agenda.
First item on the Local Council agenda is :- What are we gonnae dae aboot yon referendum thing whit wi promised to stoap if we won – onyboady ken?
As per the last thread, they really should be very careful what they wish for.
They are intent on making local council elections all about a national constitutional crisis. What happens if the public take them at their word and the vote goes epically wrong for them?
Where then for Ruth Harrison and the replays?
[…] Wings Over Scotland Tory council election manifesto launched It’s a comprehensive policy document focused on local issues wait no. We mean the […]
So it would appear that everything at Council level is just hunky-dory if that’s all they have to campaign about…
Luigi @ 11:54,
Agree fully with you there. The Tories are using these elections to try to make a case against ScotRef and nothing else, cynically misusing the PR system, as kininvie rightly says. Mere servile puppets of the Mayhem Gang in London with nothing else to offer.
Labour can only lose by copying this, not trustworthy enough Unionists, as one of the Tory leaflets here in Glasgow effectively claims, while also bleeding support on the other side to the SNP.
To paraphrase what a French observer said of the Charge of the Light Brigade (“C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre”), it’s magnificent, but it’s not politics.
I wonder though if both parties are overplaying their negativity-max. It will appeal to the diehard loyalists, but the rest? The LibDems are being far more cautious, it seems. Our local candidate also can’t resist a wee mention of the (non-)referendum, but only amid a bunch of local issues, claiming she will offer objectivity.
I predicted this was what they would do, on Wings some weeks ago.
It is all they could do, to try and attempt to hoodwink the public, after all they could hardly quote their record.
It is a plain fight now against the Tories, against their induced policies that are designed to take any kind of socialism in Scotland to it’s knees. Unfortunately for them Scotland is unlikely to forget.
We need to stop pussy footing with the Unionists and publicly let loose with all the things we can to highlight the damage to Scotland that has been introduced from Tory Westminster.
Going this way shows, just how scared they are of Scottish democracy. They need to feel the pain, and we need to inflict it.
They’re out there lying to and Scaring voters …… While we’re in the hoose talking to each other……
I received a Labour leaflet last week. No mention of the SNP, any divisive referendum or brexit! It was actually quite refreshing.
Would still never for for them, though.
REMEMBER – vote ’till ye boak
Make sure these gobshites get your lowest preference
everyone else preferred before them with SNP or Greens or any other Yesser at the top
While I wish no disrespect to the late PC Palmer and his family – what the hell is going on with our desperate government’s blatant manipulation of the electorate.
Not content with the usual Bread and Circuses we are now being subjected to the DeathofDianafication of the tragic events of a couple of weeks ago.
Vote for us in this vote to make sure you won’t have to vote in another vote!
Macart says:
I agree, the Tories could be making a strategic mistake.
Labour will lose seats and control of councils to the SNP. The Tories stand a fair chance of picking up seats too in the affluent and Yoon-rich wards. They might even gain control of a couple of councils with assistance from other Yoons. They should be sticking to local issues.
Ignoring locally important issues could backfire. Not everyone is stupid. Most are well aware of what councils and councillors do.
There is plenty of evidence that Yoons are willing to vote SNP on local issues, but stick with Unionists for WM. If Tory voters see the SNP as the best people to run local services, some will take that option. They know damned fine it has nothing to do with grand constitutional issues.
When ScotRef comes they will have plenty of opportunity to express their views on the constitution.
Campaigning to stop that via the councils seems at best misplaced and at worst complete lunacy. The voters will tell us what they think of it!
Let me translate the Red and Blue Tory positions
For the local council elections:
Be a good wee Scot and vote against Scots
having the right to make decisions for themselves.
Why wouldn’t you want a Westminster lead party
Deciding what is best for you after England takes
Everything that it wants.
Give your vote to rich English people
And they can sell the NHS off for you,
Make you pay twice to educate your children
and remove the retirement age.
All the money saved can provide you with
Brand new nuclear weapons on your door step!
Calling Bill McDermott.
Just a wee point from one of your posts Bill. You refer to Duglas Ross as a: “part-time MSP/football referee”.
Dougie is NOT a referee, he is on the list of match officials as: “A Category 3 Specialist Assistant Referee” – in other words, he’s a linesman.
The bold Dougie is not yet considered capable enough of being in the middle in a junior game, far less being trustworthy enough to award Celtic and Rangers those penalties they get when struggling.
Linesman – List Tory MSP, the puir wee soul disnae hae muckle gaun fur him.
They have as much chance of winning in East Renfrewshire as i have of being the resident window cleaner in the Kremlin lol
Dorothy Devine:
Apologies, Dorothy, I’m a bit slow at the moment.
“Owner of the Extra”
johnstonpress.co.uk
Peace Always
@Richard Taylor says: 10 April, 2017 at 1:12 pm:
“Vote for us in this vote to make sure you won’t have to vote in another vote!”
So what will be the result at the hustings when a heckler shouts out, “Aye! Fine! You can’t do anything about a referendum – what are you going to do about the bins, the potholes in the roads and street lights and so on”?
If ever any political party has lost the plot these numpties sure as hell have.
David Caledonia
David, I hate to disagree with you, but, there are an awful lot of well-to-do smug UKOK Tories in East Renfrewshire. Don’t be in a hurry to put away your chamois – they could win it.
Obviously, I hope they don’t, but, East Renfrewshire did put Jackson Carlaw into Holyrood – their mental stability has to be questioned and, they could be daft enough to vote-in atory coonsil.
“Every vote for your Conservative Candidates will be a vote against giving you DEMOCRACY”
There sorted. Never really liked that democracy thing anyways, me so a didnae.
Will these wallopers ever tell us what they are actually FOR?
Yoons once again proving that the only day job they care about is talking about independence 🙂
….and what is with the Tories not having anything on their constituency offices indicated their party? The Party that dare not speak its name?
Bob Mack said at 12:13pm:-
“………………..Therefore if you list Unionists last ,then they garner less percentage votes.”
EXACTLY! SIMPLE!— AND IT’S A MUST DO.
I will take great pleasure in placing my FINAL NUMBERS beside the Tory,Labour and FibDem Local Election Candidates.
Come Local Government Election Day these Party Candidates must be placed last.
If you leave them blank—you are giving them an advantage.
You MUST actually vote against them.
Look on the bright side…this way we get two referendums for the price of one.
“…they are still trying to claim SNP peak.”
As opposed to…
link to imgur.com
Why don’t they just jump straight to ‘No Surrender to the IRS/SNP!’?
We need a RIC style campaign to get the forgotten class in the schemes out for this vote (and the next) to rid the political earth of these despicable monarchy/brit loving arselickers.
Meanwhile they are sanctifying the cop who got killed ‘defending the Palace of Westminster’ by parading his corpse through London. They’d had been better giving him a gun in the first instance instead of the faux show getting foisted on us again.
BTW Betty Saxe-Coburg Gotha’s sprogs are out at Vimy Ridge ‘celebrating’ its capture a hundred years ago. Strange…half her family were on the other side that time…Harry at least knew that..remember that time he wore the Africa Korps outfit?
Meanwhile BBC Shortbread ‘celebrate’ 18,000 Scots deaths in 5 x weeks at Arras without the Royal pimps’ presence…what about the other 129,000 we lost during the rest of that blood fest? Apparently they all died for ‘their’ country. No they didn’t..they were cannon fodder and the loss of a quarter of our serving men in four years set us back so badly, we’re still suffering the effects plus the massive emigration after ww1.
So if the SNP do well in the local elections, will Labour and Conservative view it as a vote for a referendum and drop their opposition to the idea?
On the Tory strategy I do think that they are trying to play the STV system to totally rook Labour.
It will really depend on whether Labour and Labour voters are smart enough to see it. I can’t see too many Tories voting Labour.
All hues of Tory in Scotland vote SNP at the Scottish Elections not because the support indy but because the SNP do a good job of running the country.
So, Red, Blue, Yellow Tories – just think what good things will happen to the running of local services with SNP councils (even if you don’t support Indy).
SNP 1,2,3 – you know it makes sense.
Lots of folk commenting here. 🙂
Labour not a popular choice.
link to twitter.com
PS: O/T
Came across this in Fife… don’t worry there were no politicians involved there! 🙂
link to archive.is
Do they really want to make it a referendum on the referendum? They will crash and burn.+
O/T
Approval ratings for leaders in Herald online today Sample size 906
NS +11% …(Angela Merkel +7%)
RD -21%
TM -23%
KD -41%
Lochside says:
10 April, 2017 at 1:39 pm
Why don’t they just jump straight to ‘No Surrender to the IRS/SNP!’?
It has changed, UK 30 years ago was awash with anti war nationalism, lots of amazing movies, plays, books, poems, all kinds of anti war art, now its all about state pro war propaganda, BBC Scotland style,
link to globalresearch.ca
“In 2013 the Royal Statistical Society and King’s College London showed that public opinion was repeatedly off the mark on issues including crime, benefit fraud and immigration. Hetan Shah, the executive director of the Royal Statistical Society, said at the time:
“Our data poses real challenges for policymakers. How can you develop good policy when public perceptions can be so out of kilter with the evidence?”
In fact, Shah ended up being off the mark himself. Good policy was not what misconceived public opinion was about. Public opinion was made that way deliberately and the government controlled it.”
Roll up to Scotland, Aberdeen, catastrofuck SLab ultra unionist, Aberdeen finance big cheese Wullie Young, suddenly announced Aberdeen City has a debt over £1.2 billion, out of the blue.
And that’s excluding the latest white elephant catastrofuck being thrown up in the centre of Aberdeen, by future Sir Wullie, costs over £100 million, universally opposed but so what, nae c__t votes anyway, in Aberdeen?
Neo fascist Voice Of The North Press and Journal reportage, said
4 days ago – Aberdeen City Council insiders have revealed the local authority could … In February, it was reported the council’s debt will climb to more than £1.2billion by … and Town House roof coming in late and massively over budget.”
Vote SLabour, save the UK and because, its only fackin money.
Just proving what I have previously said and that was that the Yoons don’t give an eff about providing local services fairly, honestly and efficiently. They truly deserve the titles of quizzers and tractors Ed!
The other aspect of this is that they want local services provided by their crooked cronies and failing that those services provided for nothing with slave labour. The Yoons are the worst kind of parasites.
joannie says:
10 April, 2017 at 1:51 pm
“So if the SNP do well in the local elections, will Labour and Conservative view it as a vote for a referendum and drop their opposition to the idea?”
There is fat chance in hell of them ever dropping their rabid opposition to Scottish Indy! I would also say that Lib Dooms and the so called Independents or most of them are equally rabid in their opposition to Scots Indy and that getting elected to Scottish Cooncils is just another way for them to line their bloated pockets at the expense of everyone else.
I live in Dennistoun and just received a SLab flyer with a bullet point at the bottom saying “Save Your Bus Pass – Say No to SNP Bus Pass cuts!”
More blatant lies and scaremongering directed at pensioners – SLab just cannot help themselves…
Lochside @ 13:39:
Well, RIC made a big fuss about that, and maybe achieved a bunch of new registrations, but in the event the voter turnout for their efforts was a total bust. All they may have achieved in the end was producing a lower turnout figure than otherwise!
The only real upsurge at the last ScotGE was actually from people who had previously dismissed Holyrood but were now energised by the dawning realisation that it was going to affect their wallets through income taxation powers, and consequently turned out to vote Tory.
Still, the basic idea is right. It’s getting those people to see the self-interest that’s dangling right at the end of their noses, though, and become motivated enough to shift themselves just a teensy bit to actually do something positive about it. It ought to be a no-brainer, but sadly it ain’t.
@Iain More – in that case I hope the SNP call them out on their hypocrisy very very loudly.
I fail to understand why The Reverend and his flock are so outraged by The Scottish Conservatives approach to the council elections. Its obvious that they base their campaign on staunch and steadfast opposition to a second referendum. They are out for Labour’s hard core unionist, anti SNP vote, it is easy pickings and plenty of.
They know indyref2 is the major No1 head ache for the SNP. It defines Scottish politics, the SNP have seen to that, so of course The Tories are going to make it appear as a ‘them and us’ confrontation (a binary choice as they say these days). The Tories are on a winner with this and it is paying dividends now with more to come. Where there were three unionist parties in Scotland there will soon be one. Eventually Nicola Sturgeon will have to call it. If she does, without Westminster’s agreement the Scottish Tories can choose not to participate and the result will be seen as worthless. If NS waits until after the UK leaves the EU and Westminster eventually gives its consent, then the Scottish Tories (by now the only realistic unionist party) will fight it with everything they have and will fancy winning it a second time. That would mean the end of the SNP for good.
The Tories have the wind in their sails and they know it. There is no down side to this for them. The SNP heid bummers know it as well but have no real say in the proceedings except as I say, the date of their own execution.
It is foolish to under estimate the strength of the enemy.
Local press announced 4 days ago that a candidate for the Scottish Unionist Party was standing in the local council elections in my ward of Arran & Ardrossan. THis guy Mr Allison, has previously been a Tory councillor, then joined UKIP and now says his natural home is the Scottish Unionist Party (SUP).
Wiki reveals this:
The SUP campaigns against what it sees as anti-Protestant and anti-unionist policies. The party is strongly critical of parties they view failing to safeguard the Act of Union 1707.
A number of its major policies are to:
Oppose any moves to amend the Act of Settlement 1701, which disallows the British monarch from marrying or being a practicing Roman Catholic.
Abolish the Scottish Parliament.
End state funded Roman Catholic schools in the belief that it will lead to greater social cohesion and an end to sectarianism.
Increase pensions and support for senior citizens.
Reduce immigration and tighter border controls.
Dear God, what are we in danger of becoming?
Get Thatcher mark 2. Go back to the 1950’s. Live in the past. Be governed by a bunch of lying ignorant incompetent, ‘phycho bastards’. There own description. Boris Johnston. Wikipedia Shows the dishonourable, dishonesty.
The Westminster Unionists
Brexit, high illegal Oil taxes. Starving the vulnerable to death. The worst migration crisis since 11WW. Illegally bombing the Middle East to bits for years. Millions of displaced people. Killing children. Refusing access to 30,000 vulnerable children Totally heartless. Ruining the world economy. Causing stress, anxiety and sleeplessness. Worried people. Illegal wars, banking,fraud and tax evasion. Embezzling and wasting public money. Illegally and secretly taking Scottish resources and not paying tax.
More of the same. Nae chance
Vote Tory
If you do not want
NHS/Educated properly funded. Students Loans, social care, prescriptions, minimum pricing, extended nursery education, new bridges, AWPR, railways/improvements, more Council houses. Higher employment, apprenticeships, college trades. Etc, etc.
Richard MacKinnon
If NS waits until after the UK leaves the EU and Westminster eventually gives its consent, then the Scottish Tories (by now the only realistic unionist party) will fight it with everything they have and will fancy winning it a second time. That would mean the end of the SNP for good.”
When the UK leaves the EU means what and when though Richard?
When our EU passports become, I don’t know, souvenirs maybe in 2 years, 5, 10? My shiny new UK 10 year driving licence has a big union jack and the EU fleg too. Most odd, in this toryboy teamGB zone. (no points:D)
This is nice too Richard,
“The Tories have the wind in their sails and they know it. There is no down side to this for them. The SNP heid bummers know it as well but have no real say in the proceedings except as I say, the date of their own execution.”
Does it really look like this to your average Scottish tory?
Meanwhile,
As London’s gophers lie to and deceive the Scottish electorate, whilst masking the fact they have no honest and worthwhile local policies to offer, the SNP devolved government are getting on with the day job.
A day job which, against all the odds, is bringing regular new investment into Scotland AND which is seeing through a programme of building 50,000 new social housing homes throughout Scotland by 2021.
Anyone seen the BUM Bandits reporting those positive issues?
Thought not!
Can yae just imagine it?
With all the utter clusterfuck that is Brexit, the xenophobia, the crass and inhumane ‘rape clause’, the denying of democracy, sending ill people back to work for them to die just weeks later, the hundreds of thousands of more kids about to sink into poverty, the warmongering and bombing, the Dickensian dystopia they are creating –
– can yae just imagine if these sick, sick bastards (sorry – no other word for these fuckers) actually win more seats in the CEs?
What would THAT outcome say about this effing country? About You? About Me?
FFS people! THEY’RE TORIES. They will do what Tories have always done and that is to shaft the poor and gift the rich. NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF THAT.
The only good Tory is a shafted Tory (at the ballot box).
SO – let’s shaft these evil bastards and show them that Scotland hasn’t lost its soul; that we still care in this country for those less fortunate than ourselves.
If we don’t… just imagine it…
Does this mean that when the tories get gubbed at the council elections in May, that they (the tories, red, blue & even yellow) will concede that the people of Scotland do indeed want a second independence referendum and grant permision for one from their dodgy parliament at Westminster?
Dear Richard MacKinnon,
with the traditional Tories and new tory kid on the block, the Scottish Unionist Party, leaflets being put through their letter boxes, the voter reaction in North Ayrshire to the yoons’ anti-Indyref2 but no local policies has seen an interesting phenomenon:
North Ayrshire Council web site revealed on 20 March 2017 that North Ayrshire has experienced the largest growth in new voters throughout the whole of Scotland due to a surge of new young voters registering to vote in time for the local council elections. 16 & 17 yr olds registering to vote in North Ayrshire soared by 138%. North Ayrshire Returning officer said that the council’s innovative policy on getting young voters to register was paying dividends.The Council sent teams into all local high schools to inform 16 & 17 year olds of their right to vote and took forms with them getting the young to register right away. North Ayrshire Council also took to snapchat & twitter to contact the young votes.
I can’t see the young voting to close their own schools and amenities or giving the wealthy pensioners more local cash. Can you?
Ok, so they don’t want another referendum. So, why turn the council elections into a referendum about not wanting another referendum? Mmmmm.
@Richard MacKinnon says: 10 April, 2017 at 2:39 pm:
“I fail to understand why The Reverend and his flock are so outraged by The Scottish Conservatives approach to the council elections.”
Sheesh! Are you for real?
The only part of your post that comes close to truth is the bit where you claim not to understand and that part is very self evident.
Quite simply it is sheer madness for the Westminster Establishment coalition parties to use a United Kingdom constitutional matter as their lead item on an election manifesto for an election of Local Councillors.
Nothing whatsoever that a local councillor can do will affect the United Kingdom’s constitution.
I can’t see the young voting to close their own schools and amenities or giving the wealthy pensioners more local cash. Can you?
But, “The Tories have the wind in their sails and they know it.”
Says a toryboy, vote tory, we’ll charge you all £40+k for your uni fees. We don’t want to, yes you do its for your own good and its because you dont want a second referendum, style of tory campaign madness.
Back, half a century ago, when the Labour vote in this mining area of East Ayrshire was weighed rather than counted, the local Burgh Council elections were preceed by what was known as: “The Greetin’ Meetin'”. This was a public hustings, held in the Town Hall, at which the candidates were paraded to state their case to the electorate.
The Town Council was generally 100% Labour; there was one Liberal – a local business owner – who twice got voted onto the Council on the grounds he was doing a great job as Treasurer of the local junior football team and so, could probably do a good job too on the council’s finances.
So, with very little in the way of policies to argue over, the meeting really did give the electorate a chance to have a greet about the things they didn’t think the councillors were doing well.
Imagine if, today, our various councils held greetin’ meetin’s, and the electorate wanted to know what the candidtes were going to do about the real issues concerning the voters – schools, refuge collections, holes in roads, sewerage etc. How far would the Tory candidates get with their policy of: “oppose a second referendum”? Not very I would suggest.
Their policy of make the council elections a vote against INdyref2 is surely a gift for the SNP – since clearly, the Tories have no local policies.
heedtracker 2.49
Yes it does look to me as if The Tories are more that happy with the situation north and south. They have no opposition at Westminster. They have a mandate from the people, deliver independence. In Scotland Davidson is recognised as the only politician standing up for the union. The SNP may be in power in Scotland and have 56 MPs in London but that is not power. They are tied to a single cause, a vision that is looking more like unachievable and that is going to work against. As I say do not underestimate the enemy.
Postal voting……….
Way too easy to fiddle the result with a few extra chosen votes thrown into the mix.
At the last referendum I was surprised to see that the ballot papers were deposited in what was a glorified tupperware box out of poundland with just a cable tie for security.
Way too easy to tip the vote in my humble opinion.
‘Does this mean that when the tories get gubbed at the council elections in May, that they (the tories, red, blue & even yellow) will concede that the people of Scotland do indeed want a second independence referendum and grant permision for one from their dodgy parliament at Westminster?’
Well here’s the thing: If they DO get gubbed then yes it will. They clearly think they’re onto a winning a strategy. If this proves to be wrong then expect them to try something else. On the other hand, if they do reasonably well from, expect them to continue with it.
According to current Tory doctrine if you have 1MP , 7Constituency MSPs , and 24List MSPs you speak for Scotland and you know what the people are thinking. If you have 54MPs 55Constiuency MSPs and 4List MSPs you cannot possibly represent the will of the people.
This was “Old Labour” doctrine – keep telling the lie and it will eventually be believed. It worked – before the internet. However what it does now is show what a desperate bunch of fools you are. Every day now we are subjected to a new Tory with the same repetitive message.
Vote SNP say No to potholes or other kinds.
Properly funded education, transport, roads, bridges, railways, transport facilities low emissions, renewables, social care, health premises, bus passes, prescriptions, extended nursery care, flood defences, recycling facilities, leisure centres, home improvements, improved insulation, community support. Properly funded essential services. Responsible balanced budget and governance.
@Dick MacKinnon
“I fail to understand…”
We noticed. Now effoff back under yer bridge.
Richard MacKinnon says:
10 April, 2017 at 3:15 pm
heedtracker 2.49
Yes you repeat the same point, that its the end for SNP, they just don’t know it yet, kind of thing sounds all once more into the breech dear tory friends, cry England, etc
But if you’re right, why would the SNP commit suicide like this, voting for indyref2?
Is it one of things that will happen because the tories say so Richard?
Ruth might be “recognised” but 22% is hardly epoch changing is it? That’s even lower than in the Thatcher era of joy for Scotland.
I salute your confidence though Richard. It is a tory world, we just exist in it. And the BBC Scotland gimps worship you too.
Robert Peffers 3.10
There are no rules in politics. They can go on a bouncy castle if they want. Its the count that matters.
@heedtracker says: 10 April, 2017 at 2:49 pm:
heedtracker, you ask Richard MacKinnon –
“Does it really look like this to your average Scottish tory?”
This instantly brought to mind the quotation, “To see through a glass, (a mirror), darkly”, which is defined as to have an obscure or imperfect vision of reality.
The expression comes from the writings of the Apostle Paul. It explains that we do not now see clearly, but at the end of time, we will do so.
Seems quite appropriate to apply this to the entire Westminster Establishment cabal.
“As I say do not underestimate the enemy”
Especially, when you are your own worst enemy!
🙂
Peace Always
@rog_rocks says: 10 April, 2017 at 2:53 pm:
“Does this mean that when the tories get gubbed at the council elections in May, that they (the tories, red, blue & even yellow) will concede that the people of Scotland do indeed want a second independence referendum … ?”
I believe that is exactly what Alex Salmond was saying on the box the other evening when he said May’s claim of stopping a referendum would, “Crumble”.
Robert Peffers says:
10 April, 2017 at 3:31 pm
@heedtracker says: 10 April, 2017 at 2:49 pm:
He’s right though, no matter how Scotland wont vote tory, they still own and run us all. Look at the way BBC Scotland grovels to the tories in Scotland, like the masters of the Scots they really are.
Biggest threat to tory rule is only ever in England and always has been. But look at how far Labour went to the centre right just to get in, as Major’s gov more or less died of old age.
Until Independence Day, Scotland will always be a tory fiefdom, with thugs like Ruth D and their BBC Scotland henchmen to keep order, sap moral, tell us just how shite we Scots really are.
“Sit down,” sneered Ruth D at Scotland’s First Minister, and she did too.
Labour says ‘Put Glasgow First’. Oh aye, where out of the archives did they get idea for a slogan?
Richard MacKinnon @ 14:39,
The only thing you got right in that extraordinary revelation of Tory BritNat thinking is that you intend to trample all over your supposed co-Unionists, poor fools that they are.
All the more surprising then that Labour and LibDems are such willing turkeys for your presumed feast.
As for your presumption that you are any kind of electoral threat to the SNP, it’s laughable. Another sad case of believing (if you really do) your own propaganda. Project anti-indy-on-steroids Brexiteer lunacy may thrill hardline Loyalists like you, but for everyone else it’s a complete turn-off, as you will shortly discover.
You Union boosters are being revealed by your words and deeds as total enemies of democracy, and people here and abroad are increasingly noticing.
Oh, and by the way, Nicola is not going to wait until Britain leaves the EU. What, just to please loons like you? Dream on!
How much does loyalty cost the Labour party
Any party who advertises “Tweet for Labour and get paid for it” is because they can’t get volunteers who believe in them
And the result of this Tweeting for Labour?
Take a look at the First Ministers Twitter account and see first hand what Kezia Dugdales little band of Anonymous Tweeters send the First Minister….every day!
Tories concentrate on Royston Vasey.
@galamcennalath
I agree. Local councils ARE the day job and directly responsible for the running of local communities. The Tories running what should be considered a GE/SE campaign are obviously looking to capitalise on the collapsing hardline unionist Labour vote, but entirely at the expense of local communities.
No local policies. No commitments or statements of local intent other than we promise to hate the SNP. It’s beyond absurd and incredibly reckless both politically and for those communities. Brexit has apparently robbed them of whatever sense they had left. They were always ideologically the self centred party of me, myself and I, but to abandon their responsiblities for the wider constitutional issue is a dereliction of those communities local interests on a grand scale.
Still, they’ve made their bed… etc.
Let’s face it the Tories are just straight out liars these days. Any sense of decency or rational political argument left the party when Ruth Davidson was made leader.
The real problem with Ruth Davidson however, is she believes her own rhetoric. Pumped up by gullible Tory party grandees in London, who fawn over their ‘pet jock’, and who are as stupid as she is dishonest, it is no surprise she likes to tell people the Tories are really popular in Scotland. In reality all hard objective parameters, including electoral results, show she isn’t.
It is delusional, but no matter the result, they will carry on parroting the same lies, since nobody within the Scottish media seems willing to tackle her on her duplicity and bare faced lies. The public see through her though, especially women, given her support for the truly offensive rape clause.
Smallaxe , thank you – that explains a lot! I wonder what the free Daily Mail the Metro will be up to!
Hope you are having a slow day because it is pleasant outside and not because you are nae weel!
With the tories disregarding local politics for their obsession on the referendum they have crossed the Rubicon: there is definitely no going back now. It’s constitutional politics from now on until Scotland regains its independence.
Dorothy Devine:
I’m ok Dorothy, thank you.I’m just getting used to some new meds.
🙂
Peace Always
I regret that I live on a farm 10 miles from a town as it means I cannot be sarcastic to all the unionist canvassers.
Let’s face it the Tories are just straight out liars these days. Any sense of decency or rational political argument left the party when Ruth Davidson was made leader.
The real problem with Ruth Davidson however, is she believes her own rhetoric. Pumped up by gullible Tory party grandees in London, who fawn over their ‘pet jock’, and who are as stupid as she is dishonest, it is no surprise she likes to tell people the Tories are really popular in Scotland. In reality all hard objective parameters, including electoral results, show she isn’t.
It is delusional, but no matter the result, they will carry on parroting the same lies, since nobody within the Scottish media seems willing to tackle her on her duplicity and bare faced lies.
Macart says:
2015 GE Tories got 15%
2016 SE Tories got 22%
I don’t see that as an increase, I see it as different situations getting different results.
Most significantly, in GE 2015 they HAD to campaign as London Tories, while in SE 2016 they did their damnedest to pretend to be anything other than Tories! IMO, that was what got them more votes.
Both elections were post IndyRef2 and before EURef. The only difference was the ‘disowning’ of the toxic London Tory brand.
So now they go into the council elections in full Union Flag flying Brexit Loving UK Tories. That is more akin to GE2015 and will work against them.
Having said that, we are post EURef and the pro Union pro Brixit voters beyond their kernel may vote Tory. This effect might boost them.
Opinion poll for council elections 24 Feb–6 Mar 2017
SNP 46%
Con 19%
Lab 17%
Green 8%
LibDem 6%
Of course that is not a prediction, but does imply the Tories a stronger that 2015, but weaken than 2016 possibly because they aren’t pretending not to be Tories!
There will be no Tory breakthrough in any decade soon IMO!
Richard MacKinnon@ 2.39
hahahahaha away an boil yer heid
you”ve been watching to much tory jackanory
yer just another loon yoon talk sh–e,
eat sh–e, sleep sh–e.
and as proud cybernat said
Now effoff back under yer bridge.
My father-in-law can’t easily buy ball bearings. Bloody EU regulations, all this PC gone mad will change when we are out of Europe, thank God, he says. (No, it is because they are used as shrapnel in terrorist bombs, I had to explain to him.)
There’s plenty confused and chronically misinformed people in Scotland, I wouldn’t write off the Tories yet.
@Richard MacKinnon says: 10 April, 2017 at 3:15 pm:
“Yes it does look to me as if The Tories are more that happy with the situation north and south.”
They may indeed feel happy, Richard, but just last evening I was reading a statement by, Neil Kinnock that he regretted the Labour march of triumph before an election that Labour were certain they were winning but lost.
“They have no opposition at Westminster”. Not true, Richard – The truth is they have no effective opposition at Westminster. That, of course could very well change in no uncertain manner.
In effect the Tory vote depends upon the Labour party voting with them or abstaining. The Northern Ireland situation could have dramatic effects upon the Westminster set-up in the very near future.
The total unionist vote is the real test. It doesn’t matter what the split is. If their total is 40%, it doesn’t matter if it is red tory 22% blue tory 18% or vice versa.
Back to the voting system – sorry…
The problem with voting for all candidates is this: Suppose you vote SNP 1 & 2 and SGP 3 and the others 4,5,6.
The Green candidate is eliminated at stage 3. His/her votes are redistributed. That includes your #6 for the Tory. So the Tory picks up a vote for the next round. If the second SNP candidate is in a tight place, that vote may help the Tory edge the seat by stage 6 (especially since he will also be picking up votes from the other eliminated unionists). It can easily come down to 10 or 20 votes in a tight contest.
If you only vote for the SNP and Green, there are no votes to transfer – so it’s a lot safer.
@kininvie
James Kelly would disagree with your opinion and added two new posts today on this very subject and which I think are worth reading.
link to scotgoespop.blogspot.co.uk
Sorry, but don’t agree with the comments re campaign tactics of the opposition parties concentrating on No to indyref2. I am out canvassing tonight in support of Lorna Binniel, SNP, Falkirk. However, am not greatly enthused about the ins and outs of local council business and view every election through the lense of indyref. If SNP don’t get a majority of votes cast and majority of councillors elected it will be seen as a set back for independence, not a reflection on who is best at organising bin collection, clearing up dog poo, litter picking or graffiti removal. If it was up to me I would have all SNP council election leaflets majoring on the positive case for an independent Scotland and go very hard at highly personalised attack politics against the red and blue Tories.
Cuilean says:
10 April, 2017 at 3:01 pm
North Ayrshire Council web site revealed on 20 March 2017 that North Ayrshire has experienced the largest growth in new voters throughout the whole of Scotland due to a surge of new young voters registering to vote in time for the local council elections. 16 & 17 yr olds registering to vote in North Ayrshire soared by 138%. North Ayrshire Returning officer said that the council’s innovative policy on getting young voters to register was paying dividends.The Council sent teams into all local high schools to inform 16 & 17 year olds of their right to vote and took forms with them getting the young to register right away. North Ayrshire Council also took to snapchat & twitter to contact the young votes.
I can’t see the young voting to close their own schools and amenities or giving the wealthy pensioners more local cash. Can you?
Mmmmmmmm. Could this be the beginnings of the BREXIT backlash so feared by the tories? The young are absolutely raging at being taken out of the EU and this might just be enough to motivate them to vote en mass in May. Young un’s don’t normally bother with any elections, least of all council ones.
If this happens, it could fair take the wind out of the Buffalo Rider’s sails. Could be a nasty spanner in the works for the tories that they may have not accounted for. 🙂
Craig P @ 16:25,
Yes, there is a real danger that too many people think that leaving the EU as a panacea to cure all ills. Been imbibing too much BritNat snake oil oozed out over decades by political porn merchants. One could call it the “Straight Banana Syndrome”.
Although some folk are either so dense or so embedded in self-justification that they will probably never “get it”, more and more are being shocked into a better understanding of the economic realities of life because of Brexit. And will be helped, not a little ironically, by the MSM, who won’t be able to hide away all that upcoming dire news about the economy that everyone is also noticing in their everyday lives.
Juteman says:
Indeed. If the combined pro Indy vote is >50% and the Unionist <50% that will play some part in getting them to shut up about mandates and majorities.
Also, though, it will be good if the Tory vote fails to get above its (inflated) 2016 level. Which should shut them up about Tories being on the verge of challenging the SNP.
@Richard MacKinnon says: 10 April, 2017 at 3:29 pm:
“There are no rules in politics.”
Well actually Richard, there are. Not only rules there are also laws. Now here’s a thing for a good Tory like yourself to consider. What if those several Police voting fraud enquiries going on at present lead to Tory by elections?
“Its the count that matters.”
Now I’m long enough in the truth to know that no party is without dissidents. This Brexit thing is about to become a rather large Albatross around Theresa’s neck.
The EU is only just beginning to show just how anti-England it is rapidly becoming. A few weeks ago that would have been seen as anti-UK but the truth is that much of the EU knew very well that the thing that is united is not a single country but is indeed a bipartite Kingdom with one partner not wanting to exit
The term Brexit is, in itself, idiotic as Westminster is not Britain. It is only the UK part of Britain – ergo the EU is anti-Kingdom of England not either anti-Britain or anti-Great Britain.
N.I. is likely to prove a hurdle for May too as is the trouble brewing in other foreign climes. The English voters are also realising they did not vote for what they though they were voting for.
The undemocratic trilogy of snap,crackle and pop,are all out just to make a fast buck,make no mistake about that.
A strange brew of upper class twits,pretendy punters and the democratically deficient,they all have only one thing in common,love of the filthy lucre.
It is the one thing they love more than themselves,it has brought them together in an unholy trinity,to plan,to scheme,on how to continue with the con,that they are really,faith,hope and charity.
(No one knows what goes on behind closed doors,on what they’re up to,but what we do know is each party normally campaigns autonomously,but here they all are,exposed,revealed as the fraudsters they are,aye I might be stupid,but I’m no daft).
On polling day the question,you should really ask yourself is,do you want your local councillor (at your expense) to make a living or make a killing,to work for you or work for London ?.
I know my answer and so now,does the unfortunate Slabber (who must have drawn the short straw) that chapped my door,away wae a flea in his ear,now waiting for his so called mates,he probably txt them,dinnae bother.
😉
I think the reason the Tories are so vociferous on the “No to a 2nd referendum” isn’t just to win over what’s left of the hard core Labour voting Yoon.
No it’s to try and increase the turnout of their traditional support that voted in the first referendum in vast numbers. This tactic could really boost Tory chances if Indy supporting voters stay at home.
We need to make their tactic backfire and use it as a way to getting Indy supporters to the polls too. We tell them the Tories are likely to increase their vote so that they must vote to stop the Tories in their tracks.
The most important thing we can do in my view is persuade those that support Independence but don’t normally vote in council elections is to get their bum aff the chair and down to their polling station on the day. Be hard on any that seem reluctant, emphasise that it’s in their interests as well as that of Independence overall.
We can all play our part in this. Get them out to vote.
Remember this: How many candidates can I vote for? In this election you can make as many or as few choices as you wish. Put the number 1 in the voting box next to your first choice. Put the number 2 in the voting box next to your second choice. Put the number 3 in the voting box next to your third choice. And so on.
kininvie @ 16:49,
There is a fundamental misconception in your argument that must be “nipped in the bud”, since others may well be susceptible to it too.
You can’t “trip yourself up” with lower prefs. Your lower prefs only come into effect after your higher ones are voided either by winning or losing.
If you have SNP as your second preference (and your first pref. is already elected or rejected), that 2nd pref. will continue to hold fast until that candidate is also either elected or rejected. Any lower prefs. you may have had will not come into effect until that happens, so you can’t possibly scupper yourself by including them.
So in your example, if your 3rd pref. Green gets rejected (say) while your 2nd pref. SNP remains in contention, transfers from the Green won’t include yours, since yours is still “attached” to your 2nd pref. and helping keep them in the running.
Unlike AMS in the ScotGE, STV tactical voting is entirely risk free. (It still depends on enough voters feeling the same way as you do, of course. Hence GOTV: Get Out The Vote! In order to win, there’s no alternative to that.)
Please tell me. Who exactly are obsessed with Indy Ref?
Mmmmmmm!!!.
If these people actually care about local issues they’re managing to hide it very well.
I got a leaflet through the door from The Unionist Party (Never heard of them before).
If elected there will be:
No More Devolution
No More Referendums
A Pro Brexit Voice
They don’t seem to know what local council elections are for.
Good article on the LA voting system at Scot Goes Pop:
link to scotgoespop.blogspot.co.uk
Thepnr @ 17:03,
Yes. That’s how the Tories got their vote up in 2016, by engaging their support. Then it was about economics (income tax) but now? They hope to pick up some pro-Union transfers from other parties as well, to get more councillors elected.
So if the >50% of Unionist first prefs doesn’t work for them, they will try to shift their story to any increase in vote share or the number of councillors they get elected. So Labour has to worry about them too – major losses and another 3rd placing will be a major (and possibly terminal) disaster, and it could very well happen.
Labour voters giving a Tory any kind of lower pref. could be a serious tactictal error that returns to haunt them big-time.
However turnout at local elections is traditionally very low, so whoever succeeds in energising their support most will be the winner. Tory support is traditionally more dependable, perhaps, but must also be getting into diminishing returns now. SNP and Greens have more headroom, if they can only but capitalise on it.
O/T
I must say first of all that I have tremendous sympathy for the murdered pc and his family, but the deification of this poor man after his murder disgusts me.
It seems to me that the establishment are using his death and funeral for their own purposes. They are experts at manipulating peoples emotions as it suits them.
@Thepnr
“No it’s to try and increase the turnout of their traditional support that voted in the first referendum in vast numbers. This tactic could really boost Tory chances if Indy supporting voters stay at home.”
True. I have the sour and bitter experience of two Heldon & Laich Moray Cooncil by-elections to see what happens when the SNP/Indy? vote stays at home. Closet Tories/Kippers get elected in their place, that would be chancers calling themselves Independents.
Apathy is the whoring friend of the Yoons this year.
Ian More totally agree.
@John H 5.50pm
I agree. I was just thinking that during today. Terrorists cause terror but need world wide constant media cover to help. They get it, with “bells on”.
There seems to be a race in the West to see who does mourning the best!
UK is winning hands down.
Just watched the SNP party political for the council elections. Simple, effective and straight to the point. Very good indeed.
See this thing…
wwwwwf.scottishstories.com/”No2indyref”
The more ye look at it, the more ye see..
(and cause it’s gotta capital N anna wee o, it’s NOT ‘No.’)
It’s..
‘NUMBER 2 indyref’
‘NUMBER two indyref”
Tell it to a Tory, ahhh ha ha ha!
Bring it on!
🙂
Number II indyref.
Just came across this link to linkis.com
Correct me if I am wrong but, I’m pretty certain the present Stirling Council is a Slab/Tory partnership.
Don’t know whether to greet or pish masel laughing.
Did Burns every write..? ‘To a Tory’
I believe not.
Ahhh ha ha ha!
This is fun.
X.
“Get In The Ring”
STV. What is it and what should we do when in that ballot booth? Again!
Of the 24 million explanations I almost understand these two:
link to electoral-reform.org.uk
and
link to moray.gov.uk .
That has not stopped an infernal shouting match staged across this sofa from laptop to laptop.
My reading of these two examples says to me that it is best to vote No1 for SNP and to leave all other boxes empty. (Vote No2 for SNP if there is one.)
But, do not vote for any other choices.
Why?
These explanations demonstrate how excess votes are given proportionately to candidates who received fewer votes than your No1 (or No2) votes. You, uncontrollably, vote for the opposition by using your 2, 3, 4, etc votes.
Wheels are coming off the Tory bus. LOL
Ahem…ah think you’ll find this is the Salient part of the argument for placing unionists at the bottom of your ballot paper after ranking SNP and all other independence supporting candidates before unionists.
James at Scotgoespop:
‘As long as you make sure that you rank every single pro-indy and non-unionist candidate ahead of every single unionist candidate, your preferences for the unionist parties will only be taken into account in one very specific circumstance – namely when only unionist candidates are left in contention for a particular seat. If a seat has to be filled, and only unionist candidates are in the running for it, how do you think you’re going to stop a unionist from being elected by effectively abstaining? You can’t – it’s physically impossible. But what you can do is influence the outcome, and and help prevent the most objectionable unionist candidate from winning. It’s possible you genuinely may not have any view at all on which unionist party is the most objectionable, and that’s fine – but I do have a view, and deep down I think most of us do. If it’s a straight choice between a Lib Dem councillor and a Labour councillor, I would prefer Lib Dem. If it’s a straight choice between a Labour councillor and a Tory councillor, I would – just about – prefer Labour.’
link to scotgoespop.blogspot.co.uk
Will the real Tony Curtis please stand up.
link to youtube.com
My posts are disappearing
What can you say about the examples above the line? ‘Let’s send a message’. I think that by this point we’ve received it loud and clear. Conservatives and that is what they are, Tories and their legislation have spoken loud and clear over the past year especially. Austerity UK, Sanctions central and Brexit Britain. A litany of misery inflicted on those who can least afford it.
Most recent examples? The slashing of bereavement benefits. Cutting housing benefits for teens and their perhaps their most appalling and evil act, the rape clause. But y’know, let’s send a message to the SNP, because they’re rank badjins.
Of course it’s up to readers, but who do you believe needs to hear a message more clearly?
I distinctly remember that back in the 60s and 70s “Hun” was used as a pejorative by many teams against their rivals. I was even on a bus once full of Rangers supporters who sang:
“If I had a Tommy gun; I’d shoot every Fenian Hun”
But they’re not bigoted and full of hate, oh no
Don’t know who the Rev is quoting but they have been taken in by the heavily shoulder-chips loaded Rangers men who have propagated this myth though the web media to give themselves something to complain about when they themselves are accused of using bigoted language. A bit like white racists who complain about racism against themselves for the flimsiest of reasons.
Robert J. Sutherland,
10 April, 2017 at 3:41 pm
I voted Yes in 2014. I have never voted Tory in my life. Go back and read what I said. I know you don’t want to hear what Im saying but Im just explaining it as I see it.
If you think Nicola is going to ignore Theresa May and go ahead with another referendum without consent she is entitled to do so. But as I say this has major implications. The first is the unionists will not take part. The second is it would result in a massive Yes with a low turn out and the third is the result will have no legitimacy. Nicola knows this. I cannot see why you cant see it.
Richard Mackinnon,
I noticed you only responded to my last remark but nothing else. I’m glad you voted “yes” last time and I hope you will still do next time, because there will be a next time. I don’t know when exactly that will be, or what Nicola has up her sleeve, but Theresa May will have to concede another because her own lack of mandate can’t stand in the way of a legitimate demand for self-determination by the people of a country (not an English constituency like Maidenhead) that signed an international treaty, as explicitly acknowledged as recently as in the Scotland Act.
May is currently stalling with her little formula because she knows full well that she daren’t issue a blank refusal, since it would create a full-blown constitutional crisis of the first order. She is hoping that the local election results in Scotland can be massaged to back her up, cynically relying on the fact that in Scotland, unlike in England, the upcoming elections are conducted on a PR basis. Why do you think that every Tory election leaflet is hammering on again and again about rejecting a referendum, something that has nothing to do with local affairs? A rather shoogly peg on which to hang a major constitutional dilemma that has to be solved one way or the other before Scotland can move on. The UKGov position is far from secure on this, and for once it is facing someone in Scotland who is not going to forelock-tug, back off and meekly defer for the sake of peace and quiet. Unlike Nicola, the UKGov is bluffing, and the bluff is going to be called, by one means or another.
To return to your original posting, how can you seriously believe that coalescing all Loyalist resistance to indy into the hands of the Tory party is anything to fear? On the contrary! No more hiding behind Labour’s coat-tails, which for all its faults still commanded a fair degree of respect in Scotland back in 2014, but no longer. That recent Ashcroft survey examined by Craig Murray shows that core sentiment in Scotland against UKGov rule is 2:1, so the Tories have a hard hill to climb on their own, all other things being equal.
But they aren’t equal. You entirely miss the giant elephant in the room: Brexit. The Mayhem Gang are building a house of paper over this, and it’s fair looking to rain, and not just a wee shower either. Nemesis is on the way, on both fronts.
Robert J. Sutherland
11 April, 2017 at 12:00 pm
If I failed to respond to an earlier post of yours it is not because I am selective it is because I missed it. In fact I have just checked back and still cant find it. As I have said in the past I find this site difficult to have a conversation on with no ‘reply box’.
We are going around in circles on this. I think the SNP are being painted in to a corner on the second ref question whereas you think May and the Brexiteers are in a mess that is going to explode in the next 18 months. We shall see. Where there is no disagreement with us is that Brexit is the key to it. If it falls apart (and as you say NI is going to be a big problem for them) then inderef2 will be back on the table and the nationalists will see themselves as favourites, (and I might even vote Yes again). But if Brexit looks as if it can be engineered successfully and the EU/EURO in crisis then there is no certainty that a second referendum could be won by the nationalists.
My gut feeling is the SNP are not in control of this process. If a referendum is called and they loose, they are finished and the vision of an independent Scotland is as well. Where would that leave our parliament at Holyrood?
Give your Democratic Vote to us, so that we can stop a Democratic vote! say the Yoons. As for local issues, what local issues?
Richard MacKinnon @ 12:59,
I think you may possibly have confused me with someone else, since I hadn’t mentioned Northern Ireland, but that’s another thorn in the side of the Brexiteers.
I cannot share your rather defeatist gut feeling that the SNP are not in control of this process. It is the UKGov who is not in control, as we have already seen in a very small way over Gibraltar, but the worst is yet to come. So far the Mayhem Gang have got away with quite a lot thanks to a very complaisant UK media, but the phoney war period will soon come to end with a bump when negotiations with the EU27 begin in earnest.
Then there’s Scotland on top. UKGov are desperate to avoid this one in parallel, hence all the Tory banging on about polls in blank defiance of the concrete mandate demonstrated by the vote in Holyrood, and the attempt now to use local elections as a last-ditch stopper.
So who looks the more desperate now? Where does 180-degree-turn Rude Harrison stand in the polls now?
In Argyll and Bute lets focus on local issues on the 4 May
bin-collection
schools
Castle Toward and what it shows about Kilmory
Well… all I can say is that desperation has no limits.
I actually feel embarrassed reading those pathetic pieces of toilet paper.
SNP has my vote on 4th May. No doubt about it.