Wings Over Scotland

Not too many wildebeest in Scotland Tasmanian don’t know if you noticed 🙂

He is the coolest cat! The cat all the other cats wish they could be, but can’t.

The worrying thing is, some of the shit being thrown is sticking.
I was speaking to my sister the other day. She works in Ninewells Hospital, and says that all of her workmates are voting No. It’s too risky, is their reason.
Most folk only get their news through old media.

turnip-ghost 
At least you now have the infi to inform of the ral situation. Always usefuk tobkeep un mind that if people are just scared they can be changed with real ibformation.
I know two have gone from fear  to Yes and  another who was No and is now thinking about the new info.

Treated to a re-match between Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp and Daniel Johnstone

on GMS this morning. Once again Daniel Johnstone trotting out the usual Better Together crap about added costs. One thing that caught my ear, was the repeat that foreign currency transactions costs his business £ 15.00 each time he has to make a payment.

Now the obvious, as pointed out by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp , was that as we would be in a currency union, there would be no need for ‘foreign currency transactions’ . The Second and most damming point that Daniel Johnstone couldn’t answer was the fact that Scotland has over  £ 90 Billion’s worth of export sales each year and with Sterling languishing in the very bottom of the 200 currencies due to its balance of trade, take out Scottish Exports from the Sterling zone and you have one very sick junk currency. So in fact it would be in everyones interests to agree to a Sterling zone currency union.

The less obvious to many, is the fact that Daniel Johnstone , the BBC’s current ‘favourite stick’ Daniel Johnstone , actually pays a bank to arrange payment of foreign currency. He maybe a ‘Edinburgh Businessman’ , but he is certainly not the brightest ‘Edinburgh Businessman’. These days its de rigueur to not pay any transaction fee. You see companies that have payments to make in another currency use a foreign currency exchange company that go on the market and they work the numbers so you get a preferential rate and don’t pay a transaction fee (I know as my business makes payments to overseas companies)

Hamish is fully house-trained and receives a balanced diet of sustainably sourced, vitamin-rich cat food which keeps teeth and mane in perfect condition … with the occasional unionist thrown in (usually screaming) as a wee treat now and then.
Not many wildebeest in Scotland.

Perhaps there should be a ‘Yes’ stall in the main shopping concourse at Ninewells.  Thousands pass through there daily – it would make sense on a ‘bang per buck’ basis.

Some more information for the ‘Don’t knows’ Apology if its been posted before
link to theguardian.com
 

Just watched George Osbornes Austerity Farm on BBC 2
Oink Oink!
An auld animation but still as relevant today, took a long time for the rest of the animals to wake up but they did (eventually) wake up.
should be sreened Scotland-wide on the week leading up to the vote along with The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black.
A Yes vote would be a certainty.
Down with Ingsoc!

Ninewells, ask them how happy they will be when their funding is cut and the Scottish NHS is forced to go private under a British/Tory/labour/Lib Dem government.

Looking at the Labour party in Scotland I would have to disagree. There are numerous Wildebeests in Scotland mostly on the front benches! 

@ Norrie, Marcia, Juteman.  What we are dealing with are people who are frightened of change in their lives. People who are frightened never achieve anything. We must work to help them overcome their fears. Applied psychology.

@ Edward, Now we know where not to shop !.

o/t stu do you like the wee box thingy
somebody stop me
dont blame me it was ARCHIES fault
wrong one back soon hang tight

The Herald is having a Gardham moment and attacking the SNP plans for the EU by quoting the remarks of Van Rompuy.

A thought occurred to me regarding Van Rompuy and made the following comment on the Herald (which might get deleted by the mods as they usually do):

I find it strange that the real story is Van Rompuy’s involvement in the relationship between Spain and Catalonia. During the press conference in which he remarked about Catalonia. He prefaced his remarks that any decision would be between Spain and Catalonia. So then why bother making ANY remark at all about Catalonia? He had been in Spain to accept an Honorary doctorate the day before (12th) in Madrid from the University of San Pablo. His dabbling in Spanish affairs could come back to haunt the EU, for it is widely known that the Spanish government will not hesitate to squash the aspirations of the Catalonian people by ANY means at its disposal and that includes military. Hopefully it will not come to that. But if it did, do not be surprised by the Spanish government citing the EU as backing the Spanish regime of Mariano Rajoy.

What I’m stating is something that is just flying under everyone’s radar and that is the apparent stance of the EU regarding Catalonia and Spain. The Spanish mind set is such that it will see and treat the remarks from Van Rompuy as tacit approval to take ‘any action’ it sees fit to ensure that Catalonia does not achieve its goal of independence.

The Spanish government will want to be as they usually want to be, very macho and will threaten any means at their disposal to prevent Catalonia from becoming an independent state. Those threats will become action, as the Spanish will feel that they are backed by the EU. If military action does happen and I hope it doesn’t, but with the Spanish, anything is possible. Could end up being the worst period for the EU

thats not the wrong one enjoy 
sleep i need sleep

Juteman.
Re Ninewells voting no: Having close relatives that work there as well and on the feedback I have is that there is a section of the employees that are largely from the Dundee Labour heartlands similar to where George Galloway originated from.
 
I also think that these people are ill informed regarding the consequences of their futures if a no vote succeeds.

Juteman, Just read your post regarding Ninewells Hospital staff and I’m on the case as a Yes Dundee ambassador! Just off the phone to Ninewells to enquire if they have some sort of community lounge which we could hire for a question and answer session / Yes Cafe style event where folk can come along and have questions answered etc.

Unfortunately, no one available to talk to as it’s the weekend and the receptionist didn’t sound too helpful, but I’ll call again on Monday and see if I can get something arranged!

Can’t say I’m surprised at the attitude of doctors, consultants etc as they probably stand to gain when the NHS is eventually privatised, some of the consultants already do private work but I’m really surprised at the attitude of ancillary staff and nurses, they are the ones who will end up out of a job when NHS funding is inevitably cut after a no vote.

People don’t really understand how it all works and I’m positive that most people in Scotland, including people within the NHS itself don’t realise that the NHS has always been a separate entity in Scotland but following a NO vote, will either end up assimilated into the English NHS as Westminster will move to limit Holyroods powers, or will have it’s funding cut as the more profitable areas of the NHS are sold off down south.

This needs to be explained to everyone concerned, but the media and Westminster conspire against us!

@Heather:
Good for you, the tide is slowly turning but people like yourself are vitally important to get the message across.
For what it’s worth I am looking forward in joining the YES campaign in 2014

What’s this with the wildebeest? Hamish is a lion which is a kind of cat, right? Not a Scottish wildebeest?

There’s no wildebeest in Tasmania either. They were probably shot to extinction, like the Thylacines.

@Heather.
Great stuff. I’ll make sure my sister knows if an ‘event’ happens so she can tell folk about it.

I know someone who works as clinical support worker, though nlt at Dundee, and she is not keen to discuss Independence but says she is a yes. I suspect most of her work mates will be no folk. Going on what I hear, the staff do long shifts and dont want to bother with politics, and they are not aware that NHS Scotland is not part of the uk nhs. They will get a huge shock when their wages are cut if theres a no vote because at the moment they actually get paid quite well for their hard work. 

As far as I am aware most consultants do private work as well as nhs. NHS Scotland will be ripe for the picking if it is a no vote, the vultures all waiting in the wings. Brrrrrrr.

Re the Herald EU scare, I’ve had a couple of posts get through moderation but one got expunged. This was one where I pointed out that the story had been written in such a way as to avoid the obvious question re Westminster not asking for a ruling. I also pointed out that the headline implied total certainty when the paragraph below said that it was merely the claims of unionists.
 
the Herald has an iron clad policy that any post, however reasonable, which disputes the facts or the tone of an article, even if true, gets deleted and if you persist you get put into moderation. This is the most insidious part of the mainstream media No campaign, it’s impossible to dispute their claims, because the only place where most people can see your point is in the mainstream media and they won’t publish it.

@juteman,@Hetty – that’s funny you should mention the staff at Ninewells.  I was talking recently to a YES supporter who works at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley where the same situation applies.  It seems incredible to me but many staff seem to be unaware of what is happening to the NHS in England and Wales and what is coming down the line if there is a majority for NO.  They do not yet realise that the referendum is not a choice between change and the status quo,  it is choice between two types of change.  

Tasmanian says
“What’s this with the wildebeest? Hamish is a lion which is a kind of cat, right? Not a Scottish wildebeest?”
Wildebeest would be Hamishes main (not exclusive) prey, were he to be roaming the Serengeti plain.

‘Yes’ vote on the first link huffingtonpost is 88%