Sunday 21 October 2012

FIRST MINISTER ON THE ANDREW MARR SHOW


44 comments:

  1. Why is it the BBC can talk in real time to correspondents halfway around the globe yet, invariably, there is a quite considerable delay on the line on any interview held north of Kilsyth?
    Was Marr's transmission routed via the satellite on the outskirts of the Asteroid Belt?
    This nonsense even occured yesterday, fer Chrissakes when Nicola was being interviewed - from the Twilight Zone of Pacific Quay to the Outer Limits of Perth.

    Bill Pickford

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  2. Hi Bill... Nice to see you here. I think Cynical Highlander answers the question pretty well.

    We tend to get second rate everything here.

    They'll have sent up some old OB equipment that they no longer use in England.

    You'd have thought that Marr would have known where the FM was though.

    From what I hear you're better off doing your interviews with Marr at a distance. I guess Alex would be alright, but Nicola might well take the over sexed Mr Marr's fancy.

    Good interview though. Covered a few bases and hopefully anyone watching will have the answers to borders, EU, Nato, the £, leasing land to RUK and the position on the crown.

    It was interesting to see that Alex pointed out that the next Scottish government (hopefully an independent one), may not be SNP. If it is Labour, perhaps they will agree to Nuclear weapons, to paying for them and sod the old and the sick.

    Mind you, I have faith that an independent Labour party in Scotland would be a little less right wing, no longer needing to appeal to the 30 million or in SE England. It would be nice to have a labour party that tailored its policies to the people in Scotland.

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  3. CH... STV site is down...

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  4. Not for me tris just tried the link, maybe your previous warning over BN.

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  5. Got it now, CH.

    Ha ha....

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  6. Alex will do anything anything to gain Independence including having mass Nuclear weapons and a Scottish labour government

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  7. Hello Anon

    Chaps on somebody's door and runs away.

    Very incisive political point you made there, very grown up way you put it, too.

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  8. From a guy who pretends to be. A gorrila.

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  9. James McLaren to a guy who pretends to be nowt, just like your comment.

    Have a god look at my photos or is your computer resolution so crap that all you see is the gorilla?

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  10. unless you are Niko trying to be funny?

    Jeez, there could be two of them?

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  11. LOL Wolfie... nah, there couldn't be, could there?


    No it has to be Niko. The punctuation alone gives him away.

    Niko: I'm not sure what you mean, given that the video makes it clear that we won't have nuclear weapons under Alex.

    As for there being a Labour government, all he said was that the SNP didn't have a god given right to form the government.

    I imagine that once Labour in Scotland is split from Labour on RUK, they may well return to their roots and we need not worry about where the weapons.

    Actually I'd not thought of it before, but the idea that these weapons, which are actually American weapons in all but the fact that we pay for them, should be situated in America, makes a lot of sense.

    Then the whole of these islands would benefit from having a vast amount more to spend on things that actually matter, instead of paying for David Cameron to seem important.

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  12. This NATO thing is another non-issue. Just another exercise in absolutism in political reporting and badinage.

    The notion that you can be in NATO but not hold nuclear weapons isn't a new idea, other countries are already doing it, but again, according to the press and unionist parties, Scotland is uniquely unable to to do it.

    Its another big meh from me.

    And yes, I am actually a cow.



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  13. Taken from a comment on Wings blog.

    This was written by Ed Milliband’s father (Ralph) just after the evacuation at Dunkirk:

    ‘The Englishman is a rabid nationalist. They are perhaps the most nationalist people in the world… When you hear the English talk of this war you sometimes almost want them to lose it to show them how things are. They have the greatest contempt for the continent in general and for the French in particular. …. ’England first’ – this slogan is taken for granted by the English people as a whole. To lose their empire would be the worst possible humiliation.’

    Tried to post it here but not at home.

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  14. In fact, the weapons are both American and British.

    The missiles are American and only leased until fired. That so saying, they could theoretically be "stored" in the USA as well. The warheads are supposed to be British and under the UN Nuclear Proliferation Treaties, sorry I can't be more specific than that, cannot be stored in a third country. I know that this must be flouted daily with US nuclear bombs in the UK and Germany, not to say Turkey (?) etc.

    So, if Scotland renounces nuclear weapons I think Cameron is really stuffed unless and quite probably they do a closed doors deal to store them in a French facility designated as UK territory or a US one under the same type of agreement. A French one would make more sense as it could be sold as a pooling of nuclear weapons with a demonstrable reduction in missile, not warheads, numbers.

    The way the £, the € and the $ stagger on day by day defies both gravity and logic so, anything is possible, theoretically.

    Surely there cannae be two Nikos unless he has a multiple perosonality.

    Sorry Nikos if it was just you, I thought it was a normal singular idiot.

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  15. I don't much want to be in Nato, but I'm not that bothered if it soothes some people's minds about an isolated Scotland. In any case, no decision is made. It is simply now SNP policy to join Nato and not have nuclear weapons. Presumably the Tories and Labour would join Nato and keep England's American controlled weapons.

    The important thing is who wins the first general election after independence.

    Pa, if you're actually a cow, why are you not making a Moo sound?

    "Meh" is a kind of sheep sound, isn't it?

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  16. Meh, Moo


    Don't confuse Niko.

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  17. Absolutely bang on CH.

    The Xenophobia in England/Britain is breathtaking. I'm sure Mr Miliband's dad got it dead right for the time. But even today the English in particular, but other races in the UK seem to detest foreigners, but the French in particular.

    I've a notion it's jealousy: that Frenchmen can wear nice clothes, and smell nice without compromising their masculinity. And that without any effort at all a typical French woman can wrap a scarf around her neck and look chic.

    I wonder at Scots sometimes. It shows how anglicised we have let ourselves become that we adopt this enmity, with no thought to the fact that there has always been a friendship, an alliance, between France and Scotland.

    (I dunno what's happened to poor old Niko's Bar. Maybe the health and safety people have closed him down.)

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  18. Oh right. Thanks for that explanation about the weapons and their ownership, Wolfie.

    They say that the cost of moving them would be astronomical, but unless I miss something, surely moving them to France, or America, however they legislate for the territorial problem, would be peanuts?

    In the meantime, I see us having continued problems in the Middle East. Syria is bound to escalate now, and Iran too. Israel could take the initiative and try to wreck Obama's re-election in the hopes of getting a right wing, pro-Israel president (who won't give their prime minister a hard time).

    The Arab springs don't look to have worked out particularly well. I was speaking to a Tunisian guy in Paris recently and he is really worried about the future of his country.

    So we could be dragged into all these conflicts. And nuclear weapons will do us not one bit of good.

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  19. Wolfie...All Niko needs to know is that Pa thinks he's a farmyard animal. Niko should empathise there; he thinks he's a socialist!

    :)

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  20. So you snp peacenicks are now happy to have innocent people nuked to a cinder just as long as the wmdS. Are kept over the border .
    Oh well snp morality is a strange one.
    Look us NATO peeps just nuked a million people women and children as well.
    Nah! It don't matter cos Alex said they wiz stored. Out of Scotland so
    So we have no need to feel rotten about all. The innocent civilians



    And there you have it down on tris animal farm.

    Moo,bah,miaow,

    As. Groucho Marx. Said. "if you don't like my principles I have others"
    Oh and by the way welcome to nu-labour.
    I knew you would get there in the end

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  21. Tris, I don't think it would really cost anything to relocate the nukes in Coulport to France or America. All they need do is load up their subs and se3nd them off to France or America on a series of "exchange" visits and there you have it, nukes relocated free under normal operating procedures.

    Your so concerned about SNP morality and its open, free and democratic vote to join NATO perhaps you could answer these questions?

    1) When are NATO going to fire their nukes Niko?

    2) Who are they going to fire their nukes at Niko?

    3) How will NATO get their plans to fire nukes past the 26 non nuclear members of NATO Niko?

    4) Will the 26 non nuclear members of NATO ever agree to the firing of the nukes Niko?

    5) Will the U.N. agree to NATO firing its nukes Niko?

    6) How will the U.N. react to NATO firing its nukes Niko?

    7) Do you really think that the rest of the world will sit idly by as NATO fires its nukes Niko?

    8) Don't you think the rest of the world will have something, quite a lot actually, to say about NATO firing its nukes Niko?

    9) You are obviously more than happy to sit under NATO's nuke umbrella, or are you Niko?

    10) What are your preferences on NATO and its nuke umbrella?

    11) Are you quite happy to have nukes on the doorstep of Scotland's largest city Niko?

    12) If you are not happy to have nukes in Scotland where should they be stored Niko?

    13) Who do you suggest are the people who will be burnt to a cinder Niko?

    14) Do you really think that NATO could survive in its current format if they fired their nukes Niko?

    15) So you think it is wrong for Scotland to join NATO sand its associated organization, Partnership for Peace, Niko?

    16) You obviously think Scotland should not be a member of any peace organization then Niko?

    If you are going to reply to my post Niko then remember there are SIXTEEN questions that you must answer not just the odd question that you want to answer.

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  22. Arbroath 1320 Niko will have to set 16 different commissions as that is the Labour way to see what there rich Tory friends think.

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  23. I've been away on my holidays, my moo isn't as bovine as it should be, arguably because I passed a great many sheep on my travels.

    Indeed, Niko will be thrilled to know, I had a captive audience of young minds (who will now all be able to vote in 2014) and I took the time to impart some truths about Scottish politics.

    They know my views so know what buttons to press to get me going on a rant. Sometimes though, they do show an interest.

    Where there was doubt and a predisposition to the status quo, now there is light.

    They said if we all persuaded one no voter to vote yes...

    ;-)

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  24. Abroarth 2-0

    I dont have a prob wid Nukes quiet happy to store them in me back yard
    and if needed use them.

    Now that seems not to be the snp and your dishonourable position.
    you lot say we will join NATO but when it comes a conflict we wont honor our word to our allies,,te! he! he! snigger!

    I see so what commitment treaty whatever will an Independent Scotland keep to once they have agreed to????

    Or does Scotland just keep its word when it suits and if not just ignore any treatys etc.




    I suggest you read this it will answer many of your questions but you like the snp will not like the answers

    http://www.nato.int/docu/handbook/2006/hb-en-2006.pdf

    pa truth and Scottish politics i refer you to Arbroath

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  25. Funny thing is Niko I was asking YOU the sixteen questions NOT NATO. So perhaps once you've convened your sixteen commissions you'd like to get get back to us on YOUR answers to the sixteen questions.

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  26. Some folk deliberately get confused.

    I will vote Yes in 2014.

    The SNP could have it in their 2016 manifesto that they will keep the nukes, and build chemical weapons too. They could even say that everyone in Scotland will have to dye their hair neon pink.

    I will vote for the Scottish party in the 2016 GE that has policys that i like.

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  27. As usual, your argument Niko has no basis in reality.

    How the holy hell (if I can put it that way) can Norway (for example) honour its NATO responsibilities being as it has no nuclear weapons either? Heck, even Greenland is a member and its doesn't have nuclear weapons either, or much of anything else to wage war on NATO's say so, are they supposed to throw snow balls?

    I imagine Scotland will honour its responsibilities well enough, unless witless unionist think this is yet another thing we're uniquely unable to do.

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  28. I think I'd suit pink hair, it would go with my udders.

    ;-)

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  29. "I imagine Scotland will honour its responsibilities well enough, unless witless unionist think this is yet another thing we're uniquely unable to do."

    Sad to say, I think they do. I think it is something to do with Stockholm Syndrome.

    Either that or evidence of APOPTOSIS.

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  30. O/T

    Over on Labour Uncut, they are arguing the case, (cf Starbucks) of taxing these multinational companies where the money is earned.

    I think the SNP would give that a big thumbs up wrt Scottish Oil.

    http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2012/10/22/forcing-the-likes-of-starbucks-to-pay-where-you-earn-would-help-tackle-tax-avoidance/comment-page-1/#comment-16066

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  31. Lordy Niko. I have no objection to your criticising the decision of the SNP to change its policy on Nato.

    At some stage Labour must have changed it policies on umpteen things.

    There's nothing wrong with that. Times change and people do to. Parties must move with the times if they are to represent people who have done so.

    What I do have a bit of a problem with Niko, old thing, is someone from the Labour party talking in superior tones about morality.

    That's either a joke or it's beyond credibility.

    However, I see by the last line, it is a joke....

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  32. Indeed CH. Not to be missed.

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  33. Good questions, Arbroath. You won't get good answers though. You won't even get answers, good or bad!

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  34. Aye Juteman.

    First we get independence... then we sweat the little stuff.

    Pink hair... ew er...

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  35. Ahhhh well done, Pa. How many was that?

    I think I've persuaded 2 or 3... I'm going for 50, just incase some supporters are a bit on the lazy side.

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  36. I'll have a look at that after I've finished my report Wolfie. Thanks. Seems like a good idea.

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  37. NO, ch, not in a million years... and that video needs as wide publicity as we can give it.

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  38. I remember when Neil Kinnock (leader of the labour party) announced on live TV he would remove nuclear weapons immediately, even to having the british nuclear submarines surface where-ever they were right now and sail for home ASAP.

    I believe that knocks Niko's arguement clean out, also is Niko a relative of "SM753" or just a clone.

    Cheers Davy.

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  39. Hi Davy....

    Aye, once upon a time, labour used to believe in stuff like that.

    Whatever happened to them?

    Oh yeah, they discovered that policies like that didn't sit well with the South East of England. So they became Tories instead.

    And we all know that Tories would sooner give up Nanny's jam roly poly that give up their nukes!

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  40. Beat me to it C.H.!

    Agree with you Tris that this video MUST be spread as wide and as far as possible. It is short and to the point but it does get the point across excellently.

    If any one is free on Monday 5th then the BBC are looking for audience members for their "referendum" debate. There are no details of where it is to be held yet or of who the panel members are.
    I wonder how "balanced" the audience will be?

    Will everybodies favourite two audience members from Q.T. make it into this audience I wonder. You remember the members, Mr. "I must shout my comment" oil will run out in 2027 and Mr. "please wear sun glasses when looking at my shirt."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-20027122

    Sorry Juteman, I'm no so sure that I agree with the dying of hair neon pink. :D

    Don't worry Tris I asked the questions feeling pretty confident Niko can't/won't answer the questions. As we have all witnessed in the past when HE is asked the questions HE consistently FAILS to answer them. Typical Labour policy methinks. Shout, yell and bawel but fail to come up with any answers to questions THEY are asked.

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  41. Thanks for the heads up about the debate. It really is too early to be having it though.

    The time for that is in the run up to the vote, not now (in my opinion).

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