Trust in the Scottish Government has climbed from 61% to 71% over the past year, according to the latest annual Scottish Social Attitudes survey.
Trust in the UK Government, on the other hand, is at just 18%.
To engender trust in one's ability to govern and do the best for the country is surely the quintessence of what governance is about. The team in Edinburgh has clearly achieved this.
So... when we can just persuade Scots how much better life would be if that level of trust could be justified in ALL governmental functions...in matters, for example, of, foreign affairs, taxation, military and social security... we shall have our country back...
That should be in 2 years' time...give or take...
I am always amazed that we can be provided with surveys that show such continually high confidence in the Scottish government but yet when the question of Independence is asked the percentage drops to around 35%.
ReplyDeleteWhy do people have confidence in the Scottish government but no confidence in Independence?
Surely if a government has around 70% confidence from the public then obviously they are doing something right. Therefore, if the government is doing things right now, before Independence, why do people suddenly have a lack of confidence in the SAME government when the question turns to Independence?
Good question, Arbroath.
ReplyDeleteOff the top of my head I'd say that whether or not you are satisfied with the government is something that can be judged by the outcomes... for example:
* that you don't wait so long for a hospital appointment;
*that your granny gets a bus pass that gets her out of the house;
* that the government is making up your housing benefit so that you don't lose your house;
*that for the first time in a long time council houses are being built in your town;
*that your kid is getting a better education;
*that really exciting developments are taking place in your town, etc.
Whereas the question of independence is so heavily briefed against by the 'too wee, too poor, and too stupid' brigade at the BBC, who of course are TOTALLY impartial.
So much so that people believe that they are too pathetic to run their own country... that they need the English, in the form of David Cameron and George Osborne to tell them what to do... mad though it sounds given what a piss poor job they are making of it in the UK.
On the other hand it could just be that in the event of 'the other party' forming the government, Johann Lamont would be the first minister...
Oh god!
Arbroath 1320@ 6:50 said:
ReplyDelete'Surely if a government has around 70% confidence from the public then obviously they are doing something right. Therefore, if the government is doing things right now, before Independence, why do people suddenly have a lack of confidence in the SAME government when the question turns to Independence?'
Fear of the unknown. The last Scot who knew what it was like to live in an independent Scotland probably died early in the last quarter of the 1700's.
All the nats need do is persuade the fearful and that's you're majority. You won't change the Unionists, the like being subordinate - they're comfort junkies.
Take your place amongst the nations, Scotland.
Steve
I agree with both you Tris and anon. We are living in a Scotland in the 21st Century where to electorate are MORE terrified of the unknown, Independence, than they are of retaining a Tory government in Westminster.
ReplyDeleteThe fearful in Scotland don't seem to care about all the cuts to services etc being introduced by Westminster that are coming down the line. In my view THIS is in fact the GREATER factor to be concerned about.
There is NOTHING, in my view, an Independent Scotland could do that would come even close to the disaster that we are currently witnessing emanating out of Westminster!
Yes Steve...fear of the unknown is a terrible fear...
ReplyDelete*would we be able to pay all the pensions, the unemployment benefits, the child benefits, the widows' pensions, etc, without England?
*would there be money for roads, schools, hospitals, drugs, etc, without England?
Reasonable questions, and reasonable worries. A lot of the press coverage suggests that the oil will run out a week next Tuesday, and what will we do them? [Of course Scotland is the only country (or state) that has oil but no oil fund. Texas, Alaska as states within the USA have their own oil fund. Scotland has nothing while on the other side of the North Sea, Norway with less oil than Scotland has trillions of Krones.] But Scotland would be the 6th richest country in the world according to figures produced by the OECD, something Alistair Darling never makes reference to, and the oil won't run out for at least 40 years, by which time we will have an oil fund, and have developed other energies...
We will be able to pay our way, but the press and unionist politicians lie through their teeth, because it is in their personal best interests to retain the status quo.
Yes Arbroath ... Darling told us we would face an uncertain future in an independent country, whereas with the UK? And a mad Tory government? We will be safe as....erm... yeah
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that Alistair and his wants to sit in the HofL,get therr hundred quid a day, and be call Your Lordship... and if there is an independent Scotland his chances of this are ZERO.
tris(and the loony toon aby 1320)
ReplyDeleteyou and other disillusioned Nats conflate support for a Scottish Government with support for an extremist Nationalist agenda.
Which all evidence show the Scots reject.
Trust in Devolved Government within the United Kingdom does not mean lets follow the Nats into Economic disasters and social breakdown.
Nicola the women who was rejected totally in her own bailiwick.
And come the day will be annihilated in the Referendum (if it ever happens)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/06/9925/9
thought that having a Scottish Parliament gave Scotland a stronger voice in the UK
suggesting that, for the first time, public perceptions of the devolved institutions are living up to their early expectations.
devolved institutions not independent ones.
O.K. Niko, what, EXACTLY, is extremist about:
ReplyDeleteWanting FULL control of ALL our own taxes?
Wanting FULL control of ALL our own expenditure?
Wanting FULL control of ALL our own oil?
Wanting FULL control of ALL our own Military?
Wanting FULL control of ALL our own International affairs?
Wanting FULL protection from horrendous Westminster cuts for our young?
Wanting FULL protection from horrendous Westminster cuts for our elderly?
Wanting FULL protection from horrendous Westminster cuts for our infirm?
Wanting the ability to make our OWN choice about NOT entering into ILLEGAL wars.
Wanting the right to get rid of ALL nuclear armed submarines in Scotland.
Wanting the right to set our own tax levels.
Wanting the right to set our own Business tax rates.
Wanting the right to set our own A.P.D.
Wanting the right to our own OIL FUND! You know the fund that EVERY other oil rich country has except us. Now why would that be Niko?
How's that for a few ideas about WHY I believe in an INDEPENDENT Scotland. Perhaps once you have answers as why Scotland should NOT have these rights you'd be happy to explain them to us here!
Wanting FULL protection for our young?
AB1320/tris/anon
ReplyDeleteThe “too wee, too poor, too stupid” mantra is not a BBC/MSM creation. For generations it has been ingrained in the “ordinary” Scot’s approach to politics and is based on fear.
For many years, A Scot’s political activity consisted of voting now and again and was defined by their masters. I think they never really believed that their ballot was secret.
In rural areas, if you worked on a farm or held a small tenancy, you voted for the Laird’s man (usually a Tory who stood for the Union and the Empire). Otherwise, you could find yourself no longer required or shifted to a starveall holding.
If you worked in the mills, collieries, shipyards, etc. you voted as the Trade Union wanted you to (usually non-socialist Labour who also stood for the Empire and the International) for the same reasons. Sometimes, e.g. Greenock, it was the Liberals (see Tories above).
This is where the fear factor comes from and it has not yet gone away.
This “vote how we’ve aye voted” thing has been challenged by the emergence of the SNP as a new force who are more effective than the sad rumps of what is left of the Con/Lab/Lib parties and this is why people are beginning, but only just beginning , to question their generation-long adherences to the establishment. But many do not realise how much things have changed.
So 70% are happy with what our semi-independent country does but of these 30% are still too afraid to throw off the shackles of their ingrained allegiances. (Sorry, that’s not completely true – the Tories and Liberals are gone now, it’s the ingrained Labour element that needs to realise that they are not too poor or stupid to prosper in a new Scotland).
Can this be done in two years?
(It’s great to see Niko come along and confirm all I’ve said – QED)
Your probably right about the "too wee, too poor" mantra" Barney. However, from what I've witnessed over the last few years neither the BBC nor the MSM have done anything to dispel this myth, if anything they have done everything possible to maintain it.
ReplyDeleteThe one aspect that you touch on but neither the BBC or MSM do is the situation regarding Labour voters. This could be a very significant voter section to gather into the YES camp. I have every confidence this is in fact achievable.
In fact I have read numerous posts on various sites that confirm my initial thoughts that there are a great many Labour voters out there who will vote YES in 2014.
I believe that we will win the vote in 2014, and I have NOT read or seen ANYTHING from the NO camp that gives me the slightest doubt to the contrary. This can be evidenced by none other than the NO camps pro union launch video. That video was full of nothing more than pathetic excuses FOR the union but in reality their reasons were hopeless. I could NOT believe this was the NO camps launch video, it was more like a comedy video.
Isn't half the problem that the SNP are effectively a victim of their own success?
ReplyDeleteBy providing a competent government, they have insulated us against the worse of the coalition and most Scots don't realise how desperate things are (and it is getting worse) south of the border. It makes the choice between a tory government and the unknown (and Darling's "it's scary out there" mantra doesn't help) that bit more difficult.
The saving grace is that the Bitter Together campaign is so devoid of hope and aspiration that it only preaches to those who have dependency ingrained to their very core. On an aside, I had thought a possible tactic for the Yes team, despite it's negative connotations, would be to parody the videos the BT have produced but they are so unbelievably bad (did they deliberately set out to make the participants look like half-wits?) that they are beyond parody. We've one guy voting for dependency because of rolls n sausage and sausage rolls (this was filmed before the Halls announcement), another who's voting for dependency to protect his ancestors (where most of us act to protect our descendants) and other examples of people who haven't given their argument any thought whatsoever.
Niko: Would you like to answer these questions above?
ReplyDeleteWould you also like to say what you think is so great about being a part of this quagmire of corruption and greed that is the UK?
Hi Barney Thomson...Welcome to Munguin's and thanks for contributing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the BBC didn't start this, but they take it to their very hearts, and repeat it night after night.
And it is, as you say, ingrained in us.
We are, in short, downtrodden, and yet, if you ask the average Scot if they are as clever as their Danish, Maltese, Irish, Icelandic, Norwegian, counterpart, they will say, 'Yes, of course'.
Somehow underneath, though, when the subject of independence comes along, they aren't sure that they could run without the English to be in charge.
So, that is without David Cameron, Oliver Letwin, George Osborne, Francis Maude, Theresa May, Mrs Thatcher, Norman Tebbit and their likes... all I would imagine, hate figures in Scotland...we couldn't make it. We need their brains to get us through. But the Icelandic or Norwegians can produce prime ministers and governments that don't need the English.
It's crazy.
The Westminster set up is a cesspit of greed and corruption. New details emerge every day of how these people have feather bedded themselves, while taking from the poorer.
We don't hear much of the successes of Norway, and although Iceland and Ireland were never out of the news when the crisis broke, I hear very little about them now.
The was not much coverage of the way that the Icelanders dealt with their problems; the court cases; the removal of the incompetent government.
It seems to suit BBC and the rest of the press to concentrate on how terrible they were, rather than how efficiently they dealt with the crisis, and how they did it without good old England.
I dunno how you remove centuries of engrained inferiority complexes from people... but a proper free press, and a national tv company that was unbiased would be a good start.
I wrote a great long answer to you Arbroath and lost it as I posted...
ReplyDeleteJust of it was that the No campaign has nothing to offer but the same old....
The rich will get richer because that is what happens in Britain under the Tories and under Labour. [Blair said he had no problem with the rich getting richer, as long as the poor got richer at the same time (actually that doesn’t work) however, he forgot about trying to ensure that the poor did actually get richer.]
We will have more socially inclusive stuff taken away because the country can’t afford it, whilst it CAN afford good things for the rich. We will have hate propaganda for the unemployed and the disabled so that when they take away their benefits no one will feel bad about it... we’ve already had that, there will be more, and then they will start on the old...that other great consumer of public money. We will continue to have hate propaganda about their immigrant problem (not ours), about Europe, about anything that doesn’t fit into the Henley, Wimbledon, Ascot season.
They will organise a baby for a royal whenever things look bleak, because there is nothing that cheers the working classes and northerners up so much as seeing some fairy princess or prince ... it takes them away from the drudgery and poverty for a bit and makes them all dewy eyed and patriotic.
How they must laugh at the plebs in Downing Street. Gullible fools. In any other country they would be on the streets, not coo-ing over some duchess, and celebrating the fact that she’s just like us because she wore a jacket twice.
But that’s what they can offer us. That and nuclear weapons and the ability to obliterate one Chinese city, if America lets us... then there is war with Iran and Syria, in which Britain will, of course be punching above its weight, paid for by the taking away of Incapacity Benefits...
They can offer us a cesspit of filth, greed and corruption... but they ahve to find a way of dressing that up.... Get out the union jacks
Hi Forteanjo. Welcome to Munguin's Republic and thanks for your contribution.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good point there.
John Swinney's amazing ability to make money go a long way, has made our lives tolerable, but I suspect that even Mr Swinney won't be able to protect us from everything that the fool Osborne will throw at us.
Life in England must be hell... my particular worry would be the health service if I were unlucky enough to live there.
I know Darling's argument is that the unknown is scary. It's a poor argument intellectually, but it's the only one he's got, and it works with gullible people. What he fails to mention is that the future is unknown, even with mother England.
What will they cut next so that the royals, the lords, the governing elite in London can continue to play like 19th century empire owners?... What will they do next with our oil money to big themselves up? Who will be the next target of their hate campaign. They have targeted the unemployed, sick and disabled... who next?
I was laughing at the parody idea, although it has such potential for backfiring that I'd regrettably advise against it.
I'll bet, though, that there are some Scottish comedians writing good parodies right now... probably best to leave it to them, I think, rather than have ourselves tarred with the brush of negativity... or taking the Michael out of "supposedly" normal Scottish people.
Pity. It would be fun....
A "What did they ever do for us" style-ad would be good though....
Ah yes good old Darling and his "it's scary out there" diatribe.
ReplyDeleteJeez.
If that's how he feels about Independence then how does he feel every morning when he wakes up, after all it's SCARY out there in the REAL world!
Perhaps that why he has white hair and dark eyebrows. The thought of going out into the real world every day scares him to death and his hair's gone white with that fear!
Best he stays home in bed methinks. :lol:
As for Blair saying that he had no problem with the rich getting richer, just so long as the poor got richer as well. What a chancer that money grabber was!
Of course he was right, he DID have no problem with the rich getting richer, after all he had his eyes set on becoming one of them after Downing Street.
Hmm, no let me see what is he doing now, oh that's right raking in the millions!
Lordy...Darling... I bet Gordon Brown will stay well away from the Tethered Together campaign now that his arch enemy has showed up in charge of it.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting for them to meet though....
As for Tony Blair ..the sooner he's standing in front of a firing squad (after a fair trial of course) the better it will be.
Oh don't worry Tris, neither the two will meet. Dear old Broon the Loon is too busy traveling the world telling anyone who will listen (jeez they must be a REALLY sad bunch!) how he "SAVED THE WORLD!"
ReplyDeleteAs far as that warmonger is concerned I did read the other day that he is alleged to have said to a journalist that he would love to return to number 10!
What part of WE DON'T TRUST YOU! does he NOT understand?
Hello,
ReplyDeleteGreat development in scootland and UK.
Thanks to share.
Pleasure :)
ReplyDelete