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Wings Over Scotland


Vote banana, get tractor

Posted on February 17, 2015 by

We’ve had the satire, now the real ones.

steck

We’re working on a diagram.

“Vote SNP, get Labour”.

uteck

“Vote SNP, get Tory”.

labourlie

“Vote Tory, get SNP”.

votetorygetsnp

“Vote Labour, get SNP”.

votelabourgetsnp

“Vote UKIP, get Labour.”

voteukipgetlabour

“Vote UKIP, get Tory”.

voteukipgettory1

“Vote UKIP, get Labour AND the SNP”.

voteukipgetlabourandsnp

“Vote Labour, get Tory.”

votelabourgettory

“Vote Tory, get Labour”.

votetorygetlabour1

“Vote Lib Dem get Tory.”

votelibdemgettory1

“Vote Plaid Cymru, get Labour”.

voteplaidgetlabour

“Vote Plaid Cymru, get Tory.”

voteplaidgettory

“Vote Democratic Unionist, get Sinn Fein”.

votedupgetsf

“Vote Mebyon Kernow, get Tory”.

votemebyongettory

“Vote UKIP, get trade unions”.

voteukipgetunions

“Vote Green, get Labour”.

votegreengetlabour

“Vote Green, get Tory.”

votegreengettory

“Vote Green or Lib Dem or SNP or Tory, get Labour.”

votexyzgetlabour

“Vote Scottish Greens, get Sinn Fein and SNP.”

votegreengetsf

We’re still trying to track down a “vote Ulster Unionist, get Blaenau Gwent People’s Voice”, but we’re sure there’s one out there somewhere. In the meantime, readers, go and have a lie down and a nice cup of tea. We’re on this for you.

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  1. 17 02 15 12:11

    Vote banana, get tractor | Politics Scotland | ...
    Ignored

  2. 17 02 15 12:41

    Vote banana, get tractor - Speymouth
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  3. 19 02 15 22:26

    #BootsOnTheGround | A Greater Stage
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  4. 09 03 15 17:03

    Your New Heroes | A Wilderness of Peace
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206 to “Vote banana, get tractor”

  1. Alan
    Ignored
    says:

    “That’s the beauty of the first-past-the-post system. It’s so straightforward.”

  2. blackhack
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP, Get SNP….That will do for me….

  3. Chic
    Ignored
    says:

    “We’re working on a diagram.”

    your gonna need a bigger sheet of paper !

  4. James Forrest
    Ignored
    says:

    Pmsl. Hilarious.

  5. Doug Daniel
    Ignored
    says:

    “Vote for your favoured local candidate, get whichever local candidate achieved a plurality in your constituency.”

  6. gillie
    Ignored
    says:

    “Don’t vote” seems to be the underlining message.

  7. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    FPTP worked reasonably well when you had two dominant parties capturing 90% of the vote. Now that they are down to 60% and falling, all I can say is:

    What a bloody mess!

    Looking forward to May(hem).

  8. Grizzle McPuss
    Ignored
    says:

    Ho-ho, that Sun editorial is a larf…

    “You may even want to watch Milliband test his antiquated socialism to its inevitable and ultimate destruction”

    WHAT SOCIALISM ?

    Hey journalists at The Sun…WAKEY WAKEY!

  9. mary vasey
    Ignored
    says:

    AYE blackhack- Vote SNP, Get SNP…That will do for me…
    And me AYE

  10. Gary
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote for Pedro..

  11. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    The only true one is, “Vote SNP, Get SNP”

    If enough Scots get their brains out of bed, think this through, and realise only the SNP put Scotland’s interests first, then a bus load of SNP MPs will head South.

    We cannot influence how rUK votes, and how it does vote is actually pretty much irrelevant!

    All that is relevant is, will Scotland have a significant voice at WM?

  12. Greannach
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote Argyll First; Get the South Moluccas Liberation Army

  13. velofello
    Ignored
    says:

    Try drawing up a decision tree diagram on the above Rev. Somehow I doubt if a black pencil on white paper will do. You’ll need colours.

    Doubtless the Establishment are raking over schemes of revision to First Past the Post. Something like – a party has to have a certain minimum membership might do. That could sort out the Greens and UKIP. Then parties must be have UK wide membership, that would eliminate the Ulster parties, Plaid Cymru and the SNP. Oh, and “Scottish” Labour.

    Then the Establishment would just need to define political democracy and job done.

  14. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Another day of vote anyone but, teamGB twaddle. Last week BBC R4 Question Time, Chairchoob Dimbelby tried to mock Salmond with the blue Tory poster up there and Salmond just said he wasn’t sure which of them would be Prime Minister. Tory boy Dimbelby didn’t expect that return, to say the least.

  15. Kalmar
    Ignored
    says:

    The Tory one at the top – well it’s not exactly wrong, and hey if it does take out Cameron and Osborne… Yeah nice one.

  16. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    Of course the recurring humdinger of all ‘vote this and get that’ memes is the persistient shriek from the Ian Smarts, C.J.Sansoms and other assorted roasters that if you vote SNP you’ll get a full-blooded Fascist, racist, totalitarian dictatorship.

  17. Training Day
    Ignored
    says:

    One of the more enjoyable aspects of this farrago of nonsense is the sight of the Red Tories erstwhile referendum allies, the Tory press, turning full circle on Miliband’s losers and subjecting them to the same vitriolic treatment meted out to anyone with the temerity to favour Scottish self-determination.

    We can look forward to pathos-laden pictures of Dugdale in the Daily Mail complaining about her treatement at the hands of the Sun – can’t we, Kezia?

  18. Dr Ew
    Ignored
    says:

    So… good luck with the diagram.

  19. think again
    Ignored
    says:

    Bring back sanity to politics.

    Vote Monster Raving Looney Party or if you don`t know, don`t vote

  20. Davy
    Ignored
    says:

    What a bunch of unionist wankers, they have no sense of doing the right thing, just ME ME ME ME and my party.

    Vote SNP,and put SCOTLAND FIRST, FOREMOST AND ALWAYS BEFORE ALL.

  21. Bill McDermott
    Ignored
    says:

    All this is a major asset for SNP since it pushes the thought that tactical voting leads to unforseen consequences. Hence, the only worthwhile vote is the one where you follow your political philosophy.

    Vote SNP-getSNP

  22. scottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    Voted NO got tory

  23. The Tree of Liberty
    Ignored
    says:

    The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.

    Just remember that.

  24. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh FFS – just vote for what you truly believe in. Vote Scotland.

  25. frankieboy
    Ignored
    says:

    Would they be Scottish bananas?

  26. mogabee
    Ignored
    says:

    Personally, I like bananas!

    I like tractors…but as a snack? Not so much. 😀

  27. bookie from hell
    Ignored
    says:

    The video where Labour have been caught red handed fiddling figures to talk down Scotland’s #NHS has been deleted from @jimmurphymp tweets.

    this needs to be shared

  28. Big Ben
    Ignored
    says:

    Very funny!

  29. Wulls
    Ignored
    says:

    The only one of these that makes any sense is vote SNP get SNP
    Or vote SNP get a party that will actually stand up for the people of Scotland..
    Anything else is a waste of a vote.

  30. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Good grief, headless chickens pretending they’re parrots.

    Howzabout you vote for who reckon represents/reflects/protects your interests best?

    FFS they can’t even come up with an election strategy of their own. They need to copy each other.

  31. Helena Brown
    Ignored
    says:

    Well if everyone voted for the party who best represents their interests these daft things would not work.
    So if you want Scotland to have what was described by GB, vote SNP. If you want a powerless Scotland vote any other.

  32. BrianW
    Ignored
    says:

    That’s going to be a bit of a head f**k getting a Venn diagram to fit that mish mash..

    Good luck with that one – I’ve got crayons if you want.. (it’s all they trust me with at work..lol)

  33. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    VOTE FOR SINCERITY NOT AUSTERITY – VOTE SNP.

  34. cynicalHighlander
    Ignored
    says:

    Roll up roll up for ‘The 2015 Tombola Election’ democracy UK style.

  35. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    So basically just spin round and tick the first box you come to. Well its pointless voting for any party as you get another party in government right? Google Daft Logic should have an app for votingh in a British GE.

  36. Clootie
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote LibDem and you get laughed at.

  37. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    This has to be craziest election ever. I think the Daily Mash got it spot on. Now when someone says “vote SNP get Tory” all that flashes across my mind is the Mash article.

    I just want to yell “Get a grip! Vote for the party that you want not the one you don’t want”

    Vote SNP get Scotland

  38. Auld Rock
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ll go with, “VOTE SNP – GET SNP”. Then with our friends in Plaid and the Greens sort the buggers out. If they choose not to play then sod them. Any of you see ‘UKIP First 100 Days’ and did you notice Scotland was not even mentioned?

    Auld Rock

  39. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    Head spinning stuff.

    Vote SNP. Vote Scotland.

    All the rest are liars! And unionists (middle England)!

  40. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m guessing this has already been posted here but just in case it hasn’t it is an entertaining read.

    http://www.commentisntfree.com/you-meant-it-then/

  41. Gar M
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote Monster Raving Loony Party, get 3 socks in a pack!

  42. Suzanne
    Ignored
    says:

    But – what if I wanted an SNP tractor all along. Then I should vote Mebyon Kernow banana. What was that about a lie down?

  43. Hoss Mackintosh
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s that Vortex thing again – Rev Stu.

    Vote SNP – Get SNP.

  44. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    This must be a Faustian pact to try and deliberately flummox, or put folk off voting. It’s disgusting, and an abuse of their position of influence.

    I really hope people realise that it’s Right wing parties involved in this crap. The left wing are busy pointing out austerity isn’t working, and like SNP, are proposing what they want to reverse austerity.

  45. Tobias Hendry
    Ignored
    says:

    Isn’t the 2nd one “Vote Labour, get SNP”?

    These statements are going to be increasingly mocked the nearer we get to May. The bad news for Scottish Labour is that it seems to be the only strategy they’ve got.

  46. JPfife
    Ignored
    says:

    Isn’t all this just a variation of Buy One Get One Free? And isn’t BOGOF a good deal?

  47. Ali
    Ignored
    says:

    That’s grossly unfair to Slipknot

  48. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    Shona Robison calls out Murphy for lieing about cancelled operations in the NHS, and running down our hard working staff.

  49. Ali
    Ignored
    says:

    “Vote whatever you want, get whatever England wants” is our biggest problem. All being well England will shortly experience the democratic deficit we all live with permanently and start to get the point

  50. Onwards
    Ignored
    says:

    “Vote SNP, get Scotland”

    Yep.

    Vote SNP and give Scotland some power and influence for a change.

    Fellow YES supporters Greens and Socialists, maybe at Holyrood… but for Westminster First-Past-The-Post, then SNP is the only game in town.

  51. muttley79
    Ignored
    says:

    @Training Day

    We can look forward to pathos-laden pictures of Dugdale in the Daily Mail complaining about her treatement at the hands of the Sun – can’t we, Kezia?

    Staring into her P.C! 😀 😀

  52. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    Read the article again. It all makes sense now.

    If you vote for the party you want, you don’t get the party you want.

    If you vote for a party you don’t want, then you get the party you want.

    Come on Wingers it’s obvious!

    Oops I forgot my meds again,

  53. Craig P
    Ignored
    says:

    All my life I’ve voted SNP but got Labour. Just once I’d like to get the candidate I voted for, maybe this year!

  54. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    What does the Sun mean you’ll end up with a Socialist government?
    How horrible if the party in power actually gave a damn about ordinary hard working people.

    Much better to keep them in poverty while topping up the Billionaire’s coffers?

    Unfortunately the Sun has managed to brain wash a generation of voters and they have promoted the winners for every election that I can recall.

    Looks like another Tory Government to me.

    Can’t the public see why Blair and Cameron pander after
    Murdoch and his entourage. They pick who the next government will be so you need to stroke them and support anything that is good for their profit margins.

  55. Pam McMahon
    Ignored
    says:

    All this stuff is going to accomplish is a very low voter turnout, which is maybe the desired objective.

    Thanks for the link, HandandShrimp, what a comprehensive deconstruction of Jim Murphy by somebody who used to know him.

  56. finnz
    Ignored
    says:

    Well I voted for Jack Pack in the last Britain’s Got Talent, and ended up with Collabro.

    Does that count…

  57. Foonurt
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye thurrs ah waant,aboot awe thum.

    Vote SNP ya basturts.

  58. msean
    Ignored
    says:

    You better vote for who you don’t want to vote for or you might get who you don’t want to get.I will vote for who I want without the multi coloured Tories scaring me who not to vote for.

    I am going to vote for the party that looks to my and Scotlands interests.

  59. One_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s a mental idea, why not just vote for the party you believe deserves your vote, a party that puts the voters before themselves, a party that exists purely to improve the lives of everyone, not just its supporters, a party that won’t trick you into voting for another party just so they can cream the system, a party that…

    I could go on, but I think you see where I’m going with this.

    You can either vote to protect your country the best we can, or vote to turn your back on it, it could not be any more black and white.

  60. Imac
    Ignored
    says:

    hahahaha that has cheered me up no end…who said politics was boring!!!

  61. Golfnut
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh, ffs why can’t they bring back the spin doctors, it all used to be so simple, when I was a mushroom.

  62. Onwards
    Ignored
    says:

    SNP for SCOTTISH POWER.

    Works for both influence and further devolution.

    They should be using the Saltire as well as the SNP thistle symbol.

    Screw those who talk about hijacking the flag.
    It sums up the #1 priority more than anything.

  63. Marie clark
    Ignored
    says:

    By jings, they all seem to be in an awful flap. They really are very very scared of an large number of SNP MPs. Thought that they had got rid of us and now look what’s happening.

    Aye, Karma’s a bitch.

    Vote SNP – vote for Scotland

  64. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    “Vote SNP & Get To Ferk London”

  65. Ricky
    Ignored
    says:

    That took some reading Stu.

    I am lost to what the actual message was meant to be . Vote who for what and when ..?

    Fortunately i will be going with the default SNP vote. Maybe others in the SE2016. rUk can vote who they want. In Scotland there is only one way to vote.

    Slab are a figment of some dafties imagination. And big thanks for the read on Murphy HS. great read and bang on too.

    We must be scaring the shite oot of them darn sarf

    🙂

  66. Onwards
    Ignored
    says:

    @Marie clark says:

    “Vote SNP – vote for Scotland”

    I think that concept is the best to run a campaign on.
    SNP need a very simple, non confusing message.

    Not get bogged down with austerity and coalition talk.

    It would be nice to see giant billboards with
    “SNP for Scotland”

    Over a Saltire backdrop.

    Especially if Labour run this ‘YES for Labour’ nonsense.

    Most people will choose Scotland over the Labour Party.

  67. Lesley-Anne
    Ignored
    says:

    I have a wee question. 😛

    What do you get if you vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party? 😉

    I mean of course the REAL Monster Raving Loony Party not any of these Johnny come lately copy cat Monster Raving Loony Parties. 😀

  68. Auslander
    Ignored
    says:

    I voted Monster Raving and now I’m King of France.

  69. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Marie clark says:
    Thought that they had got rid of us

    Defeated and locked back in our wee box at the back of the cupboard. Nae chance!

    Alternatively, if they had allowed the referendum to play out in an even handed democratic manner, then they could actually have got rid of us for good!

    … and now look what’s happening.

    … but they wanted us to stay. We didn’t hide away in that wee box and are getting right into their faces. Magic.

    Aye, Karma’s a bitch.

    Justice demands that after the transgression comes the retribution.

    What surprises me is they seem to have expected to get away with it.

    .

    OT. Scot Goes Pop has a poll for a National Anthem.

    Freedom Come All Ye would be my choice.

  70. Illy
    Ignored
    says:

    Nah, here’s the truth:

    Vote SNP, get Lab/Con tory coalition, because that’s what England votes for.

  71. Macandroid
    Ignored
    says:

    #voteToryGetToryPolicies #voteLabourGetToryPolicies #voteLibDemGetToryPolicies

    #voteSNP get a voice for Scotland at long last!

  72. GrahamB
    Ignored
    says:

    Valerie at 12:36
    Here’s a link to the story
    http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2015/feb/murphy-must-apologise-outrageous-nhs-claims
    Murphy’s original tweet has been deleted but there’s a link to a copy at the bottom of the page. It contains a link to the video but unfortunately it has been removed from YouTube but there’s always a chance ‘an alert reader’ will have captured it before it was deleted.

  73. The Man in the Jar
    Ignored
    says:

    I dont think that we will hear much from “Himself” today. I had a swatch at his twitter feed and he is gorging himself on sweeties.

  74. RogueCoder250
    Ignored
    says:

    It might seem complicated, but really it’s quite simple when you remember that 84% of the UK electorate is in England – 12.5% in London alone.

    That means that ANY vote for a ‘national’ party (Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, UKIP) – REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU LIVE – is 84% of a vote for England. And as we’ve seen, what England wants, England gets.

    The SNP, Scot Greens and SSP are the only parties with a ‘Scottish agenda’. The SNP are by far the biggest, have a successful track record in government, and are already positioned to take the lion’s share of Scottish seats.

    So the decision for any Scottish voter is really very simple; do you want to vote for an England-driven agenda (right or extreme right; austerity, foodbanks, Trident), or a Scottish (centre-left; NHS, free prescriptions, free education, no nukes, equality, and progressive politics) agenda?

    The ONLY sensible vote is for the SNP.

  75. chris kilby
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m SO confused…

  76. chris kilby
    Ignored
    says:

    I do wish they’d make their minds up.

  77. Dorothy Devine
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP – Get SNP and that’ll do me!

    Just been over to Scotgoespop to vote for a National anthem which won’t sound like a dirge when slowed down to a ridiculous level. I want something bouncy and cheery for modern Scotland.

    Macart , may I ask a personal question? ( I’m going to anyway!) See your picture? Other than being very recognisable in a crowd and an identity parade , it doesn’t really look like you does it?

  78. The Man in the Jar
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP or get whatever England votes for.

  79. Wrinleyreborn
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP get SNP, without a doubt. However it would be delightful if both Red and Blue Tories were out numbered by Panda’s in Scotland. Better still if the Tories won England but lost to a Labour and SNP majority. Such a result might deliver a lesson not to mess with the Jocks or Democracy should it be necessary to go to Referendum the sequill.

  80. chris kilby
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote fish get bicycle?

  81. chris kilby
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote Labour, get fucked!

  82. Grizzle McPuss
    Ignored
    says:

    If all else fails…

    “Support your legs…because they support you”

  83. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Don’t know who this Graun bloke is but it gives a clear picture of how hypocrisy works teamGB style.

    https://archive.today/PHF52

    Real world Slab campaign, get them pissed on the terraces again, monster Scottish NHS, oil prices would bankrupt you fools, SNP bad, day in day day out via BBC vote SLab Scotland.

    Fantasy land/London

    “Double down on localism and giving power away
    There have been signs that Miliband is willing to be a prime minister who will reverse the near-permanent centralisation of power into a few hands and a few square miles. By pledging to hand power to communities and local areas rather than pulling levers on Whitehall or in Downing Street, Miliband can explain to the British people that they’re going to get a much greater say over what their country looks like. Similarly, democratic reform (whilst hardly the kind of thing my mates talk to me about in the pub) is an opportunity to tell Britain’s nations and regions that power will flow away from the greedy patronage of the prime minister and towards them. Billy Bragg’s plan for a Lords elected by secondary mandate would be a strong exemplar of a commitment to devolution.”

    Why then do same shills destroy Scottish democracy day in day out etc?

  84. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    liz @ 1.52! A warning please on offensive video content!

  85. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote Tory, get organ grinder.

    Vote Labour, get monkey.

  86. One_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    I think the one thing we can take from all this is, anyone telling us,”vote this get that”, is taking us for fools.

    Let’s not prove them right this time round.

  87. MrObycyek
    Ignored
    says:

    I remember before the referendum Alex Salmond mentioning that a positive campaign would always win over a negative one. Sadly, this was not the case and it seems that this negative campaigning is still the way of things for New Labour and the Tories.

    Despite all that negativity during the referendum
    I still find it incredibly inspiring and encouraging that so many people were willing to vote Yes despite the best efforts, or should that be worst efforts, of better together and the media. There were people that had the courage to see beyond all that scare mongering and were willing to put their vote towards a chance to make a better country not just for themselves today but for the people of tomorrow as well.

    Here is hoping that all those people carry that on in May and we go some way towards changing the status quo.

  88. john king
    Ignored
    says:

    Greannach says
    “Vote Argyll First; Get the South Moluccas Liberation Army”

    Dammit I wanted the South Mollucan Liberation Army

    Oh well I suppose I’ll have to settle for The Judean Peoples Front.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE

  89. jackie g
    Ignored
    says:

    Labour and the BBC at it again?

    I read the link below posted at 1.48pm:

    http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2015/feb/murphy-must-apologise-outrageous-nhs-claims

    a friend has now shown me this from the BBC website

    Cancelled operations Health Secretary Shona Robison says she “regrets” that 1,000 operations have had to be cancelled in Scottish hospitals since the start of the year.

    Ms Robison said it had been a difficult winter which had put additional pressure on beds, adding that 500,000 operations are carried out in Scottish hospitals each year and so the vast majority will go ahead as planned.

    Good old BBC as factual as ever.

  90. john king
    Ignored
    says:

    Mogabee says
    “Personally, I like bananas!

    I like tractors…but as a snack? Not so much.”

    FIGHT!

  91. Free Scotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP, get the satisfaction of knowing you’re supporting a party that cares more about Scotland than all the other parties put together.

  92. Jim Thomson
    Ignored
    says:

    Do you think Murphy noticed that he’d been spouting pish about the NHS (sorry about that image) and then went apeshit at the “team” (forgot to use his newly acquired, utterly false, pale pink voice).

    Maybe there’s a YT vid of that 🙂

    Unlimited entertainment, free of charge 😉

  93. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    I see Jim has made the Groaniard regarding his ill judged Scottish NHS bashing.

    Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

  94. K1
    Ignored
    says:

    Murphy is a danger to society. Whipping up anti Scottish government feeling is all this trumped up arrogant insincere patronising lying faced smug and utterly creepy little nyaff has.

    Vote SNP, for the love of sanity!

  95. manandboy
    Ignored
    says:

    BTW, I have, in the past, been killed with hammers,
    and I do not recommend it to anyone,
    particularly to those who might be nervous
    about a life terminating event.

    The good news is that the process, though terminal,
    can be reversed, as in my own case, otherwise I wouldn’t be here, would I.

    But it is rather expensive, and only a few clinics
    worldwide have the necessary expertise
    to effect a successful outcome.

    Much simpler and wiser to heed Stu’s advice
    and include paragraph breaks.

    It’s given me a new lease on life.

  96. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote Tory Get Austerity
    Vote labour get Austerity.

  97. bookie from hell
    Ignored
    says:

    Guardian

    Jim Murphy has been forced to delete a YouTube video and tweet alleging that four times as many hospital operations were being cancelled in Scotland after it emerged Labour had misread the data.

    The Scottish Labour leader released a video on Monday accusing Scottish ministers of covering up a far higher rate of cancelled operations than in England, after data for the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board (NHSGGC) suggested it was nearly four times greater.

    Posing outside Glasgow Royal Infirmary, the Scottish Labour leader said that was more evidence of growing strain on resources. “Our NHS is too important to be silenced by SNP ministers embarrassed by politically inconvenient statistics,” he said.

    But Labour admitted on Tuesday it had got the figures wrong, leading to demands from the Scottish health secretary, Shona Robison, for an immediate apology to NHS staff at the hospital.

    “Jim Murphy has been caught red-handed fiddling the NHS figures – and he must withdraw these outrageous claims and issue an immediate and unequivocal apology to NHS staff and patients,” Robison said.

    “There are undoubtedly pressures in our NHS, but the last thing staff and indeed patients need is to have politicians touring the country whipping up panic with false claims such as these.”

    Soon after releasing Robison’s challenge on Tuesday, the Scottish government disclosed that it would now publish weekly A&E statistics in line with practice in England as part of a new programme to increase transparency on NHS data.

    In a move to neutralise Scottish Labour’s intensive campaigning on NHS performance in the runup to the general election, Robison said a website called NHS Performs would be set up to allow publication of hospital performance data.

    Labour said its researchers had miscalculated: the NHSGGC figures included operations cancelled for clinical reasons while England’s data was only for operations cancelled on non-medical grounds. In fact, said Robison, the NHSGGC and English figures were comparable.

    But a spokesman insisted Scottish ministers were themselves responsible for the confusion for repeatedly refusing to regularly publish official data on cancelled operations, which could expose worsening performance.

    That forced the public and MSPs to use freedom of information requests in Scotland, while in England this data was routinely released, allowing much greater transparency, a Labour spokesman said.

    Scottish ministers also refused to release weekly hospital-by-hospital data on worsening accident and emergency waiting times, even though those figures were sent in every Tuesday.

    “Somebody made a mistake in interpreting the statistics that we got from a freedom of information request. We don’t get published data although they do in England,” he said.

    “Our argument is that this information is available but the SNP government isn’t making it available to anybody else, including elected representatives.”

    The latest Scottish A&E figures showed that only seven out of 32 core A&E hospitals met the government’s target to have 98% of patients seen in four hours.

    A support team was sent into Royal Alexandra hospital A&E in Paisley after it emerged only 84% of emergency patients were seen in under four hours. About 2,400 people across Greater Glasgow & Clyde waited more than four hours for treatment over the Christmas period.

    telegraph

    Frazer Nelson tweets using labours figures

    Fraser Nelson ?@FraserNelson · Feb 16

    When in power, Scottish Labour rejected Blair’s NHS reforms. Now rate of cancelled operations in Glasgow is 4x England. So Labour blames SNP

  98. Scott Borthwick
    Ignored
    says:

    From the Sun clip: “A quarter predicted Nigel Farage will be Prime Minister. This is a fantasy based on misunderstanding our quirky election system.”

    Quirky? Is that the euphemism we now use for gerrymandering, electoral fraud and carbon-copy policies?

  99. Joemcg
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP get 40 odd Labour M.P.s after the postals have been counted of course.

  100. Foonurt
    Ignored
    says:

    Lik Dunnichen in Hunnurr In The Haun, sicht yoan basturts. Sook thum oan, git roon aboot thum, in feeneesh thum.

    Joab din.

    Vote SNP ya basturts.

  101. jackie g
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Oh Dear i have just seen this headline from Sky news website.

    Ant And Dec Admit Losing Faith In Labour!

    The TV presenters say they would like to vote for Ed Miliband and Labour but they “don’t know what their philosophy is any more”.

    No neither do we.

  102. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    SNP was duly elected to office, therefore oppose their every ambition even by undemocratic or dishonest means.

    The Tory part was not elected to office, therefore ignore that reasoning and form a coalition government even by undemocratic or dishonest means.

    It’s not enough the electorate are telling Westminster politicians they are not wanted as an administration in any form, the electorate must be told what is good for them, and by Westminster’s reckoning elected governments are not good for them.

  103. manandboy
    Ignored
    says:

    With a Scottish Independence Government at Holyrood
    for the first time in 308 years,
    the only sensible, intelligent thing for Scots to do in GE15 is vote SNP.

    Unless McTernan’s ‘CONFUSION STRATEGY’, imported from Russia, is working.

    Actually, I suspect it is.

    Look around, people everywhere, in the media and online,
    are confused.

    In Scotland, people are confused about
    how Scotland should vote
    in a Unionist Westminster election,
    in which Scots are outnumbered by 10 to 1!

    Well done, John.

    Wake up, Scotland.

  104. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    manandboy

    I think they are all at it judging by that mess above. What is great is that Stu, the Daily Mash and others are putting them altogether so that people see it for the mince it is.

  105. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m allergic to bananas, is the reverse true? if not I’m not sure what to do.

  106. think again
    Ignored
    says:

    bookie from hell @ 3.12p.m.

    “But a spokesman (Labour) insisted Scottish ministers were themselves responsible for the confusion”.

    Labour blame SNP for labour stupidity.

  107. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    Joemcg says:
    17 February, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    Vote SNP get 40 odd Labour M.P.s after the postals have been counted of course.

    Ever since the first SNP government in 2007, postal votes have skyrocketed. It continues. The way the opinion polls have been moving recently, I expect records will be broken in May.

    It’s not necessarily due to monkey business (or red rosette monkey business, to be specific) though. It’s just that huge efforts have been made, by one party in particular, to get out its core vote, which these days is generally quite elderly and not so mobile!

    The residential homes across Scotland will receive quite a few visitations, by rather strange people, between now and May.

  108. Will Podmore
    Ignored
    says:

    The Tory/LibDem government is disenfranchising millions of people, including and especially students. Parliamentary elections are increasingly corrupt.
    That all the parties tell lies is hardly news, but it’s still basically a 2-party contest, as recent polls increasingly show. So any ‘left’ votes that take votes away from Labour would help the Tories to win, and any ‘right’ votes that take votes away from the Tories would help Labour to win. So voting Green, CPGB or SNP would help the Tories to win, and voting UKIP or BNP would help Labour to win.
    That’s logic!

  109. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    manandboy says:
    17 February, 2015 at 3:27 pm

    Unfortunately, for McTernan, they (the unionist parties) are all at it, confusing the already confused. Besides, confusion does not lead to effective tactical voting.

  110. Marie clark
    Ignored
    says:

    Well that’s the baw oan the slates noo. Ant & Dec losing faith in the Labour party. Hell’s bells, whitever next.

    Troll alert, slow day at the office perhaps.

  111. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Murphy and the cancelled operations fiasco.

    Perhaps it was an honest mistake by researchers.

    HOWEVER, since allegations came from compulsive liar and were only being promoted to spread negative propaganda about our NHS, it would seem more likely it was another attempt to deceive.

    Same old same old question … what sort of numpty would vote Labour?

  112. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    I think it is fantastic that Labour try to blame the SNP for their own cock up. They asked for the numbers, they ran their own interpretation of them and then they realised they had screwed up and pulled the plug on the show.

    How old are they, four?

  113. Joemcg
    Ignored
    says:

    Luigi-just curious, do you honestly believe there was no “monkey business” involved in having 800,000 postal votes in September?

  114. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Remember folks, this is indeed a “2 party contest” … SNP versus Labour.

    How they vote in the rUK is a complete irrelevance, because rainbow Tories are guaranteed to win there.

  115. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Of course some may wish to live in a two party unitary state. Y’know, people who find it difficult to make a decision and like the simpler choices in life. Cereal or full Scottish, that sort of thing. I understand that some people who think political engagement is a bit hard like cereal. However it must be noted that a vote for red or blue tory, red or blue austerity isn’t a choice, its a damning indictment of the apathy both have inspired in the electorate. Pretty sad some folks willingness to believe thats all there is to their politics, their engagement and their life.

    Others though, may prefer to vote for a more open and inclusive form of politics. A politics where you vote for a party and a system which inspires engagement, revels in choice, difference, consensus. Some folks like to see a full menu out there a la carte rather than table d’hote. 🙂

  116. Scott Borthwick
    Ignored
    says:

    Bookie From Hell, thanks for posting the wording of the Guardian story about Jim Murphy having to pull his NHS YouTube video.

    Is it just me, or are Labour blaming the SNP for Jim Murphy getting caught lying?

    I seem to recall Isabel Fraser pole-axing Richard Baker with a question along the lines of “Which are you? Stupid or incompetent?”

    Or did I misremember that?

  117. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote Morph! Get a big stonner!

  118. The Man in the Jar
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP or put up with whatever England decides. Thats Logic!

  119. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    Joemcg says:

    17 February, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    Luigi-just curious, do you honestly believe there was no “monkey business” involved in having 800,000 postal votes in September?

    Perhaps there was some here and there, but I don’t think it altered the referendum result overall. Huge postal votes have occurred mainly because of the red tory strategy of pulling out all stops to get their old voters out. They have been at this game since 2007 (it worked a treat in Glenrothes). The grey vote is certainly huge, but it’s all they have left – won’t last forever!

  120. jimnarlene
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s already been said but, vote SNP get SNP, and get Scotland.

  121. west_lothian_questioner
    Ignored
    says:

    Well.. I went to a meeting last night and met our candidate for the Livingston seat. I rather liked the lassie, so I’ll be voting for her. All nice n simple. Belief + desire = 1 vote.

  122. The Man in the Jar
    Ignored
    says:

    @Will Podmore

    Genuine question. CPGB who/what?

  123. donald mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Pam McMahon @ 12.52

    I don’t post much on Wings but your post on voter turnout prompted me to mention this subject as it’s something i’ve been thinking about for a while, yet i haven’t seen much mention in the threads on voter turnout.

    The GE will undoubtedly have a lower voter turnout than the high referendum turnout but my gut feeling is that a higher percentage of YES voters will turn out to vote SNP in GE15 in May, and hopefully all 1.6m of us! This would increase the percentages of SNP votes to Unionist party votes IMO. Any Wingers have more thoughts on that? I guess many Lab YES voters would also be moving to SNP as the polls show so the balance may change?

  124. ErinT
    Ignored
    says:

    Access Wings Over Scotland, read Labour Hame

    Almost feel pity for Labour Hame, don’t.

  125. manandboy
    Ignored
    says:

    We all think of ourselves as being ‘free’,
    and not like the slow, the naive and the gullible;
    nor like the anxious very elderly’
    or the tribal members, or the ‘ma faither votit labour’ types.

    But ask yourselves now,
    What did I think about today
    and what thoughts did I have on the subject.
    And, did it come via the Media.
    Did I watch TV News today.
    Read a paper today.
    Listen to the radio today?

    The Media seeks to decide daily,
    not only what we will think,
    but what we will think about.

    John McTernan, Blair McDougal, and all the other
    Unionist PR people, work very hard every day
    to put thoughts into our heads
    about the subjects they choose.

    Still feeling ‘free’,
    thinking your own thoughts?

    Thinking for yourself is seriously misunderstood.

    The Referendum result is proof of that

  126. john king
    Ignored
    says:

    “it’s still basically a 2-party contest, as recent polls increasingly show. So any ‘left’ votes that take votes away from Labour would help the Tories to win, and any ‘right’ votes that take votes away from the Tories would help Labour to win.”

    There is another way Will, move to Scotland and vote for a party that DOES CARE about fulfilling its promises.

  127. ErinT
    Ignored
    says:

    @cynicalHighlander

    Is that your doing? I like it! If you want to be really snarky, you could have the SNP vote always repeat back SNP. :p

  128. Bob W
    Ignored
    says:

    @TMitJ

    Communist Party GB branch?

  129. Jim Thomson
    Ignored
    says:

    In empathy with @donald mac 4:21pm

    Voter registration can be done on-line here:

    http://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

    Don’t let the barstewards steal your vote by discovering that you’ve been “inadvertently” left off your local register. Get in there and REGISTER TO VOTE!

    Even if you are still listed, there’s no harm in confirming it by doing it again on-line.

    Also, remember to select the option for NOT being listed in the open register. Cuts down a huge amount of crapmail.

  130. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ The Man in the Jar

    As Bob W said, CPGB = Communist Party of Great Britain.

    Will P is of course wrong that “voting Green, CPGB or SNP would help the Tories to win” – the last time I voted for a CPGB candidate (Glasgow Maryhill, 1982, council election, and they may have been called something slightly different then) it made absolutely zero difference to the outcome!

    In a first past the post system, where the votes are also matters.

  131. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote for Jims first face
    Get Jims second face!

  132. cynicalHighlander
    Ignored
    says:

    @ErinT

    No look at url Statkeek who posts on UKPR.

  133. gillie
    Ignored
    says:

    What is worse?

    1. Cybernats smearing Jim Murphy

    2. Jim Murphy smearing the Scottish NHS

    3. Both are equally bad.

  134. Macandroid
    Ignored
    says:

    @ muscleguy What is a reverse banana when it’s at home anyway?

  135. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Jim Thomson

    I re-registered online before receiving my letter telling me I had been automatically transferred, and ended up on the roll twice. Since the original entry didn’t include things like my date of birth and NI number, the ERO might never have noticed if I hadn’t told them.

    So I wonder if there will not only be people removed from the register, but also some incorrect duplications. There are quite a lot of people who name their children after themselves, which led to some rather sad mix-ups which I observed while scrutinizing postal vote verifications, so an ERO would not want to just remove people with identical names, any more than they delete people who have moved but not provided them with an old address. They add the new entry, but can’t just randomly remove someone with the same name. I came across someone registered at three different addresses because of that; whoever moved in when he left had not bothered to do anything about it, and why should they?

    Presumably the new system, with its extra information and cross-checking, will eventually sort this out, but it could take a while. I wouldn’t get away with voting twice because the polling clerks know me, but in a place like Glasgow it could happen. Something else we need to look out for?

  136. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Awe we,re missing is the man in the Top Hat, Red Tailcoat, White Gloves, Black Trousers,an ah Big BLOODY WHIP.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCJtRpgFNM

    Take ah bow Charlton Heston.

  137. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Gillie: Cybernats smearing Jim Murphy

    Difficult to make a difference to a man without scruples

  138. Craig P
    Ignored
    says:

    Donald mac – if turnout is lower in the GE than referendum then I worry that it will disfavour SNP. Because the elderly are most likely to vote, yet they are the least likely to support independence (of course this is not an election on independence, which complicated things slightly.)

  139. wee jock poo-pong mcplop
    Ignored
    says:

    Hope you’re serious about a Diagram, Rev Stu. It should be a hoot…

  140. Sunniva
    Ignored
    says:

    I also think a large number of No voters will disappear like snow off a dyke and not vote for either Unionist party. A large number were low information apathetic apolitical OAPs terrorised that they were going to lose their banks and their pensions. Having been reassured by now that this danger has receded, they won’t bother turning up. I also suspect there were a large number of false registrations of people with second homes in Scotland who voted for the Union, and these will probably not bother voting either. So that leaves a high percentage of genuine Scottish resident Yes voters who will probably vote SNP, probably all 1.6 million. Labour will struggle to get their vote out but all the Tories will turn out, all 16% of them.

  141. Lesley-Anne
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry for going O/T here and further apologies if this has already been posted. 😉

    Apparently there is a wee *ahem* opinion poll running for the Daily whatsit about some little insignificant matter about alcohol at football grounds. I have no idea what it is all about but maybe some wiser beings than I who apparently exist on here might be able to fathom it out. 😛

    http://www.scotlandnow.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/poll-should-ban-alcohol-football-5176140?utm_content=buffer9305f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

  142. ex-expat
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote Westminster parties get Austerity and Food Banks

  143. arthur thomson
    Ignored
    says:

    Somebody mentioned something about a two horse race. Did it not turn out to be a three horse race? Well at least one horse, a donkey and a camel that had the hump. Vote SNP get SNP. Then there will be a proper feisty Scottish mare in the mix and it will be such fun watching her deal with their propositions.

  144. Bill Bedford
    Ignored
    says:

    Just goes to show, it doesn’t matter who you vote for — the government will still get in…..

  145. boris
    Ignored
    says:

    Vote SNP gain influence at Westminster

  146. boris
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T: HSBC let Mexican drug lords launder billions in blood money, intentionally helped rogue states, especially Iran, get around U.S. sanctions, and did business with an Al Qaeda-connected Saudi bank. That’s quite a list, and it’s just a partial one for the sake of brevity. So, the FT has to cover the HSBC scandal, while the CEO of its parent is on the board responsible for the bank’s oversight. Not helping matters, Fairhead chaired the board’s Audit Committee, which at the time, was broadly responsible for making sure management’s internal controls were adequate. Those systems failed, and amidst several law-enforcement investigations into its anti-money laundering controls, the bank created a Risk Committee, which Fairhead heads. The FT hasn’t mentioned its boss’s position in its coverage, though to be fair, no one else has either. But it’s the FT reporters who must report on a company that includes the boss on the board.

    http://caltonjock.com/2014/11/15/mexican-drug-cartels-money-laundering-hsbc-new-bbc-trust-chair-appointment-akin-to-putting-bankster-foxes-in-charge-of-the-bbc-henhouse/

  147. donald mac
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Craig P – 5:09

    I had that thought too but I guess the point i’m trying to put across, (badly it seems) is that those who voted Yes last Sept are probably more aware the importance of voting SNP this GE, whereas a GE usually has a low turnout by comparison to the referendum, so it stands to reason the lower turnout would consist of more Unionist voters and the percentages voting SNP could be higher?

    Obviously it’s impossible to predict so that was my thoughts on it. I hope i’m right!

  148. manandboy
    Ignored
    says:

    Strictly O/T

    London’s Grange Tower Bridge Hotel appears be having second thoughts about hosting ‘Rangers” general meeting.
    The Scottish Championship club was forced to find another venue for 4 March after the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in Kensington pulled out.

    ‘Rangers’ announced on Tuesday morning that the meeting had been switched to the new venue near the City of London.
    But Grange Hotels said on Twitter that they are “considering their position in the light of recent information”.”

    Described by Ian Archer in 1976
    as “A Permanent Embarrassment And An Occasional Disgrace”,
    Scotland’s Unionist Establishment Club continues ,
    it seems, to live up to it’s 39 year old reputation.

    Still, as long as we’re Better Together,
    I suppose everything must be alright.

    If Ibrox was located where Chelsea’s ground is,
    I am certain the boil would have been lanced long ago.
    But, like Trident, being so far away in unimportant Scotland,
    it’s better not to disturb the unionist vote
    even though it is a little disturbing in itself.

    Come Independence, Scotland’s ‘permanent embarrassment’
    will be left to us to sort out.

    In the meantime, as voting at the EGM of TRFC,
    formerly Sevco Scotland Ltd,
    continues to pose problems in the English capital,
    the rest of us can make sure
    that when GE15 comes around,
    and unhindered, we vote SNP at the UK AGM.

    You never know, Jim Murphy may step in,
    and do what Jim does best-
    take a BBC Scotland film crew with him,
    and a reporter from the Daily Record,
    and blame it all on the SNP!

    I must say, I’m finding it hard to take
    anything seriously anymore.

  149. Tattie-bogle
    Ignored
    says:

    What has patronising BT Lady got to say about this?

  150. Taranaich
    Ignored
    says:

    Donald mac – if turnout is lower in the GE than referendum then I worry that it will disfavour SNP. Because the elderly are most likely to vote, yet they are the least likely to support independence (of course this is not an election on independence, which complicated things slightly.

    Have the candidates visit elderly folk & nursing homes. We can’t afford to let the established Westminster parties have the run of our people again. I refuse this to be a re-run of the referendum, where terrified old folks fearing their pensions choose the racketeers over their own children.

  151. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Tattie-bogle

    A few days ago (when Harriet Harman’s bus emerged), she didn’t know whom to vote for, but she did like pink. I can’t remember where I saw this, or I’d include a link.

  152. wingman 2020
    Ignored
    says:

    OT but related

    https://uk.isidewith.com/map/ljI/support-for-national-debt#z7

    Vote Unionist-British parties – get Southern policies.

  153. davidb
    Ignored
    says:

    Since the knives are already being sharpened for Ed, I would have thought that he’s only going to keep his job if he wins – which may be unlikely. And if Call Me Dave doesn’t win he is likely to be replaced pretty quickly too – Boris has one of the hereditary Tory seats in the bag remember. And Clegg is odds on to be removed by his own electorate.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see only Eck leading his party at Westminster after May 5th ( and he doesn’t even lead his now! ).

    Vote SNP and show how much you love your country.

  154. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    scotsnewsonline.info/9941/snp-murphy-caught-red-handed-fiddling-waiting-times-figures/

    And what do you think STVs leading story is.

  155. wingman 2020
    Ignored
    says:

    My country has sucked the good years from my bones and rewarded me with a brittle poverty in retirement.

    I paid for Bishops and Lords I didn’t elect and illegal wars that I didn’t support. I fired expensive missiles at foreign families in a rich man’s oil war.
    I paid for duck moats for dick wads to control me, and bonuses for Bankers to break the fabric of our financial system. I bailed banks that were resold at a loss to me.

    And I watched our political system lord over decades of financial and cultural incompetence. A system not fit for the purposes and needs of a modern world, hampered by ancient tradition, debilitated by class stricture and structure. A system choked by nationalistic pomp and circumstance, and run by an ossified establishment.

    It’s a heavy burden for an ordinary man.

    As I struggled to secure a roof and education for my sons, and lived honestly and frugally through each economic crisis, I watched the rich become richer and the poor eke an existence in a corrupt democracy of cash for questions, cronyism, expense scandals, and skimming politicians.

    Westminster sold my railways, energy companies, water and hospitals and I paid tax to private companies to keep them running. All the money I generated over the decades, my personal GDP, was wasted in government ineptitude and inefficiency.

    My sons left for London to secure jobs. I don’t blame them, I blame the system. A lifetime of yoke and boot. A lifetime of housing, heating, eating and education, necessities costed like luxuries. Democratic rights sold as privilege. Manifestoes stuffed with broken promises and lies.

    And through these decades I have had the misfortune to suffer the false prophecies and duplicity of Scottish Labour. The other Westminster political party that daily adds insult to injury by the ridiculous machinations of Murphy and his tame media.

    Westminster presented Scotland with the choice. Look after yourselves, or wallow in Westminster hegemony.

    Scotland can be a ‘Labour Colony’ no more. We have to shuck off these southern establishment chains. Westminster, the BBC, Whitehall, Big Business and London… Vote for them OR vote for Scotland.

  156. Flower of Scotland
    Ignored
    says:

    @Lesley Anne

    The alcohol vote is at 92% NO . It took me a few tries to vote!

  157. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    crazycat

    Harriet harman’s bus isn’t pink – it’s ‘magenta’. Allegedly.

    Greg Moodie has it all sorted 🙂

    http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2015/02/13/its-not-pink/

  158. keaton
    Ignored
    says:

    Have the SNP not done any?

  159. wingman 2020
    Ignored
    says:

    OT Here is a thought for everyone.

    There WAS voting fraud during the referendum. That is a fact.

    The only question that remains is how much there was. From a single fraudulent vote to a significant proportion of the postal vote… Or something in-between? From pensioners in care homes to pensioners scared at home. Or something in-between?

    The GE will be no exception. The only way that Labour will rise in Scotland in May will be through a significant proportion of dodgy voting.

  160. Kalmar
    Ignored
    says:

    Rowson’s cartoon in the Guardian is pretty spot on.

    The mad eye inside the boat is that of Blair.

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/dec/14/martin-rowson-jim-murphy-scottish-labour-cartoon

  161. wingman 2020
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ian Brotherhood

    Stonner or Staunner??

  162. Onwards
    Ignored
    says:

    @donald mac:
    The GE will undoubtedly have a lower voter turnout than the high referendum turnout but my gut feeling is that a higher percentage of YES voters will turn out to vote SNP

    Getting YES voters to turn out and vote SNP is the key point.

    Many NO voters are divided among the London parties.
    This is why focusing on more powers is so important.

    Many of the folks who voted No weren’t enthusiastic or proud about it.
    They want significant devolution, if not independence at this time.

    It can be seen as a kind of redemption, or consolation prize.

    No-one trusts the London parties to deliver without SNP pressure.

    The recent SNP poster summed it up: MORE SEATS, MORE POWERS.

  163. Tattie-bogle
    Ignored
    says:

    @crazycat
    We need her intellect in such confusing matters like these

  164. muttley79
    Ignored
    says:

    Another great political manoeuvre from Jim Murphy. Well done James, what an operator you are! 😀 😀

    https://twitter.com/heraldscotland/status/567738762558722049

  165. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    NHS do an average of 50,000 operations a month and only have to cancel an average 100, especially in winter. That is absolutely amazing. Well done NHS staff and get well all the grateful patients. Absolutely fabulous. Pity about the low life reporters. Hope they don’t need medical attention time soon, except to get their brains tested. Ungrateful low liars.

  166. Helena Brown
    Ignored
    says:

    Wingman 2020 @ 6.02, that was an excellent post.

  167. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Tattie-bogle:
    What has patronising BT Lady got to say about this?

    Ah had barely finished ma cereal, and had ma first cuppa, when ma head was in a swirl. Where to go shpping?

    What tae think is hard.

    Ah mean, carrying home a brace of Waitrose bags or M&S keeps ma head high wi’ the neighbours. But I could really save money going to Lidl or Aldi. Poundstore would be a humiliation. Wha’ would ma neighbours think of them? She is on benefits, that’s what they’d think.

    So Ah called ma husband at work tae ask him what tae think.

    “Yer middle-class, you stupid bitch,” he said. “Go tae Sainsbury’s like awe the ither housewives. An’ don’t call me at work!”

    Thank god fur Jim. He saves me a lot of thinking.

    He’s working late at the office tonight. Again. Sometimes he works awe night long. Thinks I was born yesterday, does Jim. That’s what he thinks.

  168. Helena Brown
    Ignored
    says:

    Crazycat, you saw it on Munguin’s Republic perhaps.

  169. Footsoldier
    Ignored
    says:

    I do wish the SNP would push the message much harder that voting Labour in Scotland has given us the Tories many times, including now.

  170. haud on the noo
    Ignored
    says:

    The bbc really are an utter disgrace.

  171. cearc
    Ignored
    says:

    Boris,

    On newspapers, verity v. self-interest. Have you seen Peter Oborne’s piece about the Telegraph?

    https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/peter-oborne/why-i-have-resigned-from-telegraph

  172. Connor Mcewen
    Ignored
    says:

    What about a G. Moody or BBCSCOTLANDSHIRE cartoon, OOR WULLIE style and slip it into the Sunday Post and deliver it to registered voters over seventy.Yellow SNP leaflets or greens lit.optional.

  173. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    @Wingman2020 –

    Aye, great post earlier there mister.

    And is it stonner or staunner? I’m guessing that the origin of the word is probably ‘stander’, so I’d argue that both would be valid in a game of Scots Scrabble. (In the Morph’s case we can avoid confusion by using any of the many synonyms available.)

  174. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Sometimes patients do not turn up for their operation. Patients get ill or have to cancel because of work commitments. The operation has to be rescheduled. If people get a cold, flu or sore throat any operation has to be cancelled because aneasetic can’t be administrated.

    It is appalling the way the NHS is being attacked. Disgraceful.

  175. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Things have come to a pass when an old Tory like Oborne has had enough of the self serving corruption of the modern media owners.

    He is right about a lot of stories on line on the Telegraph being little more than click bait (which covers about 99% of Cochers output)

  176. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Both STV and BBC Reporting Scotland repeating Labour lies tonight totally misrepresenting the facts
    It got to the point where the odious Eleanor Bradford decided to inform us of..wait for it..”What i personally think” then went on to describe concealment of figures by the Scottish Government
    Dentists treat 3000 patients 12 went slightly wrong, nobody was harmed and not one complaint was made, Another crisis Phew thank god we’re all alright
    Same nurse representing all the nurses in the world keeps turning up everywhere Labour MSPs are with placards to let us know the Scottish Government are rubbish
    Must have a bike Eh?

  177. Paula Rose
    Ignored
    says:

    (this still needs some more pennies – please, pretty please)

    http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/livestreaming-to-may-elections-2015

  178. Cuddis
    Ignored
    says:

    @graham B
    @ Valerie

    Thanks for the heads up and the link to the NHS Glasgow farce.

    The cynicism shining through Jim Murphy’s manipulation of NHS statistics on Glasgow’s cancelled operations compared to those cancelled in England convinces me that MPs should swear an oath of fidelity to their constituents when entering parliament, and be judged by their track record in relation to it.

    MPs already swear an oath when entering office. You can easily find it and it’s many variants online. As far as I can make out, breaching the oath carries no penalties. Instead, compliance relies on personal shame as a deterrent (embracing the oath is a matter of personal conscience). Since few politicians since the Profumo affair have shown the remotest hint of shame, even if up to their snouts in gravy when caught red-handed, this oath is as relevant to the average voter as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

    This is mainly because the parliamentary oath is about allegiance to the sovereign, their offspring and their offspring’s offspring in perpetuity. The ceremony can include swearing on the oath-taker’s choice of religious text. For my money they might as well swear on the 1958 Broons Annual for all the accountability this empty ceremony confers to the office-bearer.

    But what if, in addition to the oath of allegiance, MPs had to swear an oath of fidelity to their constituents? Breaching the terms of the oath would lead to a variety of clearly defined sanctions including fines and de-selection. Wrong-doers would be prominently named and shamed on-line.

    Practical oath taking (as opposed to airy fairy twaddle like an oath of allegiance to the sovereign) is not uncommon. Policemen and doctors do it. Why not politicians? There are also numerous codes of conduct which professional bodies sign up to (though it’s worth taking a look at the NUJ’s code to see how once honourable pledges so quickly lose import and gravitas when toothless.)

    I am way behind the level of political savvy displayed by most Wings contributors so I won’t embarrass myself by suggesting a definitive list of clauses which an oath of fidelity to constituents might contain but three obvious ideas spring to mind.

    1. Serving my constituents will be my first consideration (because nobody votes for party whips)
    2. When promoting policies, I will make available to my constituents, references to the evidence on which these policies are based. Where policies are not based on evidence I will clearly state this (So we’ll not tie their hands on policy making but they should do us the courtesy of presenting the evidence for their policy decisions in a format we can all understand and check ourselves).
    3. I will not knowingly communicate information which is untrue or misleading. Nor should any information be disseminated without due diligence to ensure its authenticity. Where, despite best efforts to validate information, false or misleading information is disseminated, I will issue a written apology and retraction.

    Had such a document been in place at the time Mr Murphy decided to be economical with the truth, he would perhaps have thought twice about misrepresenting Glasgow’s cancelled operations data as callously as he did.

    Reviewing what I have written I can see its a tad wishful, naive even. And from the current state of affairs there seems more chance of discovering a gateway to Narnia at the back of my wardrobe than politicians queuing up to serve the needs of their constituents. But I detect that many of the 45 crave a return to a time (was there ever one?) when voters were treated will genuine respect and those who represented them were honourable men. One day, maybe. Now where’s my cocoa?

  179. McBoxheid
    Ignored
    says:

    Flower of Scotland says:
    17 February, 2015 at 6:05 pm

    @Lesley Anne

    The alcohol vote is at 92% NO . It took me a few tries to vote!

    93% NO now

  180. garles
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ken500

    Have a look at this piece from a American in London

  181. Michael McCabe
    Ignored
    says:

    @ wingman 2020 6:02 Well said Great post.

  182. Jamie Arriere
    Ignored
    says:

    Oops, someone’s been doctoring the Record poll. Now at 69% No. Hmmn?

    “Have the SNP not done any?”

    ‘Vote SNP, get Scotland’ is the only one I’ve seen

  183. Fred
    Ignored
    says:

    Grouse Beater, saw a wummin emerge from Aldi in Robroyston carrying her messages in a House of Bruar bag. Classy or whit? 🙂

  184. Cadogan Enright
    Ignored
    says:

    @jamie 93% a minute ago

    I see Church of England effectively r supporting SNP policy

  185. Cuddis
    Ignored
    says:

    @manandboy 2.54
    Very funny. Glad you recovered from hammer death.

  186. Brian Hill
    Ignored
    says:

    Seems to me, vote SNP and get your voice back.

  187. A. Mylchreest
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m sure Mebyon Kernow appreciate all the publicity you’ve given them, it’s probably raised their profile 200%

    “Deuz agan dydh!” 🙂

    Wonder if there’s anything we could do to help the Welsh see the folly of still supporting their ‘Labour’ branch office?

  188. Dougie
    Ignored
    says:

    So if we follow the various instructions/requests/demands we get this diagram (surprisingly similar to recent polls)

    http://imgur.com/a/HXwtc#UgllF7g

    Looks like the Lib Dem’s, UKIP & Greens are not going to end up with many MP’s, Labour & Tories with the larger share and SNP as the 3rd largest

  189. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Planet Oilshowed how the black oops Westminster/US campaign was used against the Iran PM who wanted a half share of the Iran Oil profits. The historical evidence was examined (the US Gov papers) Churchill UK Gov, intelligence services was used to smear and intimidate and dicredit and topple from power the Iranian PM.

    Just as theWestminster Gov tried to do to Alex Salmond . They used a campaign of lies, corruption and the Shah to discredit the Iranian PM until he was arrested and put in jail. The methods used in Iran (and other places) were exactly the same as the methods Westminster/Unionists used to try to discredit Alex Salmond and the YES Referendum campaign (now coming back to bite them).

    It is an absolute disgrace. Westminster have used these methods all over the world to stop at nothing to cause blood shed and death rather than uphold people legitimate rights to Democracy, fairness and justice. Disruption the world over and prevented world peace. In order for Westminster corrupt members to line their,and their associates, pockets (with public money) and work against the interests of the people they are supposed to represent. Kill their own constituents/fellow citizens, the world over. Just as the Western powers are now doing in the Ukraine. Trying to steal Ukrainian assets. They use exactly the same methods against Putin. Smears, lies and distortion. The same methods that were used against Alex and the SNPYES campaign for the Referendum.

    They will not be getting away with it. Blair/Bush and Brown will be going to the Hague. Where is the Chilcot Verdict which is illegally being held back by corrupt Westminster unelected, corrupt civil servants, until after the Election to try and influence the outcome. Westminster’s Offical Secrets Act. Westminster secrecy and lies. The illegal ‘black opps’ scheme against the truth of the SNP.

    Unionist Parties funded by Hedge Funds, without which they would not exist. The SNP funded by it’s members. Do not be fooled by Westminsters’ secrecy, corruption and lies.

    Ref. ‘Planet Oil’ BBC 2- Tues 10 Feb 2015. The historical facts. The documentation.

    The (secret) McCrone Report/Thatcher’s papers kept secret under the Official Secret’s Act for thirty years. Thatcher’s dirty dealings with Scotland and the Scottish economy. ‘This must be kept
    secret’ written in her own hand writing on the documents. Westminster corruption secrecy and lies which caused unnecessary misery, poverty and deprivation in Scotland. The lies and corruption continue.

    .

  190. Will Podmore
    Ignored
    says:

    John King wrote, “There is another way Will, move to Scotland and vote for a party that DOES CARE about fulfilling its promises.” Would that be the SNP? Did it promise to cut teacher numbers, college places, and NHS beds then? Because that’s what’s happened.
    Teacher numbers have been cut by 3,994, from 52,446 in 2007 to 48,452 last year. (See http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/TrendTeacherNumbers)
    Education body Colleges Scotland said that there were 238,805 Scottish college students in the academic year 2012-13, down from 347,336 in 2009-10. This is a cut of 108,531. Over the same period, the hours of learning delivered by colleges fell from 83.4 million to 73.7 million, a cut of 9.7 million hours, while staff numbers dropped from 20,686 to 13,761, a cut of 6,925 teaching posts.
    The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development found that Scottish hospitals have got rid of beds at a faster rate than almost anywhere else in the western world. In 2007, the average number of staffed beds available in Scotland was 27,735, or 5.2 beds per person. By 2011, there were just 24,760 or 4.67 per person, a cut of 2,975 beds.

  191. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Because that’s what’s happened.”

    Sigh. Evil SNP In “Unable To Magically Conjure Money From Nowhere To Fill Gaps In Budget Cut By Westminster” Shock.

    I’ll be impressed with whines like this when they’re accompanied by a list of what people would cut to fund maintaining the numbers, not before.

  192. Bill McLean
    Ignored
    says:

    Mr Podmore – look up some other statistics – highest patient satisfaction rate in UK – Scotland. Best education system in Europe – Scotland. From your own Office of National Statistics. Fall in teacher numbers down to COSLA and local councils – strangely, mostly Labour. Try not to be too partial to prove your point it simply makes you look childish and foolish!

  193. peekay
    Ignored
    says:

    Posh Dave at it now too…….

    “A vote for anyone other than the Conservatives risks Ed Miliband becoming prime minister, leading an unstable minority government.

    “A vote for the SNP is a vote for Labour in government.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-31539221 @14:41

  194. Will Podmore
    Ignored
    says:

    No Bill (and Stu), Education body Colleges Scotland pointed out that the cuts in the numbers of Scottish college students and of college teachers followed a series of college mergers that created 10 larger regionalised institutions. This was part of the Scottish Government’s wider post-16 education reforms.
    The SNP administration argued that the mergers would deliver efficiency savings and combine teaching expertise with educational reform. The SNP was warned that their proposed reform would cut jobs and student numbers, but it ignored the warning.
    You can’t blame Westminster for this.

  195. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Plodmore: The SNP was warned that their proposed reform would cut jobs and student numbers, but it ignored the warning.

    What a nasty little propagandist you are.

    The changes did make savings, savings made from a plethora of jumped up technical colleges masquerading as quasi-universities, some crowded in the same district in the same street. Loss of student places was confined to short-term foreign students.

    But I see you decline to argue for greater fiscal autonomy for Scotland so that it can expand, re-install and protect free higher education.

  196. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Fred:saw a wummin emerge from Aldi … carrying her messages in a House of Bruar bag. Classy or whit?

    Life imitating art? 🙂

  197. Taranaich
    Ignored
    says:

    “Vote SNP, get Labour” – Tories
    “Vote SNP, get Tories” – Labour
    “Vote Tory, get SNP” – Lib Dems
    “Vote Labour, get SNP” – Tories
    “Vote UKIP, get Labour” – Tories
    “Vote UKIP, get Tories” – Labour
    “Vote UKIP, get Labour AND SNP” – The Sun
    “Vote Labour, get Tories” – Plaid Cymru
    “Vote Tory, Get Labour” – UKIP
    “Vote Lib Dem, Get Tories” – Labour
    “Vote Plaid Cymru, get Labour” – UKIP
    “Vote Plaid Cymru, get Tories” – Labour
    “Vote Democratic Unionist, get Sinn Fein” – TUV
    “Vote Mebyon Kernow, get Tories” – Lib Dems
    “Vote UKIP, get trade unions” – UKIP
    “Vote Green, get Labour” – Tories
    “Vote Green, get Tories” – Labour
    “Vote Green or Lib Dem or SNP or Tories, get Labour” – UKIP

    This is a complete and utter farce.

  198. Will Podmore
    Ignored
    says:

    Grouse Beater ignores the 6,925 lost lecturers’ jobs.
    As someone who works in higher education, I support free higher education, the abolition of tuition fees. That’s what my union, the UCU, works for, across all of Britain.



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