 |
| Can I be in this part of it together? |
 |
| I'm probably more likely to be the hungry man... |
 |
| Really can't have people of his class going to prison. Where would it all end? |
 |
| Sounds like the governor of the bank of England who said unemployment in the north was a price worth paying for stability in the City. |
 |
| There's a lot of money in poverty and suffering you know. |
 |
| Note: English figures. You know the score England... UK interchangeable. |
 |
| Probably till 2020...roll up, roll up... |
 |
| Good how Gideon has increased the standard of living of... hmmm ...those on more than £1050,000 |
 |
| Please can I be reborn in Monaco? |
 |
| It's ok... the disabled can pick up the tab. |
 |
| Something else when you are dying and that is how you look back at your country. |
 |
| Add to that all manner of roads and bridges all over England, which we all subsidise. |
 |
| Bless him, he doesn't want a job after politics in North Wales does he? |
 |
| With apologies to sheep, wolves and pigs everywhere. |
 |
| Benefits to be capped at £18,000 for families except this one. |
 |
| Too good not to put in. But it is flattering him some. |
 |
| If only they were this cute we might like them a little more. |
Stop Press:
Apparently with immediate effect.
I'd like to be able to say something constructive and nice about her, but frankly I can't think of anything.
She treated opposition as exactly that and nothing more. Whatever the government proposed; she opposed. Her obvious hatred for Alex Salmond and the SNP pervaded everything she ever said. The leader of the opposition needs to be better than that for the money we pay them!
She performed badly in the chamber; she was appalling on television and she failed completely to make any kind of mark on the mess that she took over as leader.
She appears to be angry with London Labour for failing to understand that the centre of political life in Scotland is now in Edinburgh, and for not giving her power to deal with Scottish matters.
The trouble is it's too late to be saying that now. That should have been dealt with when the problems arose. In theory she was in charge of Labour in Scotland. MSPs, councillors, MWPs and MEPs... She came over as weak and ineffectual, cowed by Ed Miliband, for heaven's sake. She should have put her foot down with London and told them to butt out!
I can say that i respect her for standing down now, and giving her successor 18 months to bed in before the general election in Scotland. There, I've said something nice.
Och, I am so upset I thought Niko would have been here supporting the loss of face which is Johann Lamont, well not that she had much to lose.
ReplyDeleteAhhh... he turned up late, but he turned up.
DeleteI cannot think of any thing nice to say about her, except bye bye. She was an ineffective, odious, cretinous, Londons glove puppet in Scotland; waste of space.
ReplyDeleteShe is standing down because of London interference in SLab matters, the irony.
The night of the long knives, will kick off soon, goodbye Slabour.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTeLePbB08
Well, I tried to find something nice to say about her and I couldn't.
DeleteI could say that she was held back by Red Ed the Weirdo and his coterie, but, really that won't do.
She should have demanded that Labour in Scotland not be there to suit HIS ambitions, and that as SHE was the boss in Scotland, things would be done HER way, a Scottish way, or else.
If she had maybe they wouldn't be facing meltdown now. Unlike any of her predecessors she actually had the power to do that. But she folded to London's demands.
I am astonished. She is genetically programmed to resign.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I wish I'd thought of that, Marcia.
DeleteShe certainly wasn't genetically programmed to lead.
Helena and nats
ReplyDeleteWell she led the Scots through the ' NO ' lobby when all seem lost for the union
so in that she gained a victory over the snp and Alex salmond which will stand
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
whatever if any gains the snp/nats may make they are but crumbs
from the Union table the main meal Scotland remains and will always
remain bound into the body and soul of the Union.
She didn't lead anyone anywhere Niko. Let's be honest.
DeleteYou can attribute the No victory to many things matey, (I'd suggest the vow did it, so... Cameron, Miliband, Brown, Clegg) but Johann Lamont is not one of them.
You are absolutely right though, in the second part of what you said. Anything (if anything) that they offer is only crumbs from the Eton Boys' tables. Scotland remains subject to England and the Tories. Maybe Ms Lamont would be facing a different future if she'd actually listened to what her constituency wanted...
Rid of Tories and Tory policies;
Affordable rents;
A living wage;
Some decent jobs that don't involve zero-hours and selling Virgin media;
A minimum wage that actually pays enough to buy food;
Rent controls;
Proper state run education and health;
Nationalised railways and buses;
Decent treatment of pensioners and those on other benefits.
An end to tax avoidance by the rich;
Punishment of bankers;
An end to Scotland being dragged into wars, killing Muslims and building up hatred.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHey Niko you need not make it Helena and the NATS I am one of them so just Helena will do.
DeleteI told you before she won a skirmish she would never win the WAR, goodness she was missing most of the time.
Never mind Niko, with a failure like G., Brown, no relation thank God. You will lose the next skirmish. Love to the dug.
Oh and Proud Scots but seem to be those who most like to quote Scots Poetry. I am as I like to say, no impressed.
Helena
DeleteI have been fighting the nats for a wery long time I know the nats
the nats are enemies of mine Helena your no nat.
you after making sure your all ok and fine and dandy
no risk to yerself have jumped on the nat bandwagon.
Many nats have been prepared and have risked or
sacrificed much for the cause you have just turned
when the going looked easy.......
Another person promoted (?) beyond her abilities just like their previous leader. I see that the Scotsman (I still read it in the hope that tris, Nikodemous, Highland Mighty, Conan, Fifi and the Spook make a come-back) are suggesting that Murphy, described as a 'big hitter' may take over. I'm not sure exactly what qualifies him as a big hitter, anyone?, and on the face of it Jackie Baillie could comfortably fill that role - she always makes me laugh and surely no-one takes her seriously?
ReplyDeleteYou're a bit more savvy about the Labour Party than I am John.
DeleteI've read that Murphy is being considered for the job in Scotland.
I've also heard that Curran is doing a tour of Scotland promising that Slab are to ditch the Tory nonsense and become a socist party.
Given that Murphy was a hard right winger, almost a carbon copy of Blair without the looks, who in his turn was a carbon copy of Thatcher without the handbag, how on earth would they expect him to take Slab back to being a party of the people... unless 'the people' are those at Gogarburn or Merchant City?
Jackie Baillie for leader... that's what I say.
It's not over till Jackie gives us a wee tune...
In any case, I'd say Murphy wants to be something important in London.
Under Ed he had no chance, because he was Blair's man, David miliband's mate. But Ed may not be long for that job... and who knows who may take over. Jim Murphy Foreign Secretary calls...
Does anyone think he'll want to be in charge of Slab, a pretendy party in a pretendy parliament in a pretendy capital of a pretendy country?
http://www.commentisntfree.com/do-ya-feel-lucky-punk/
Deleteis worth a read...
John, trying to have a discussion on the Scotsman is a waste of time...as for Fifi...
DeleteSlightly OT but in the same vein as exploitation of the poor.
ReplyDeleteI was in several charity shops in Perth recently and wow the prices were very high. I commented on this to one of the women serving. She admitted that she was a volunteer and felt the same as me. She told me it was now big business that was running the charity shops in Perth (all 26 of them) They were in competition with each other and she had been given a sales target. She was a volunteer and she told them that but they insisted that they had to have sales targets. Her shop was raising funds for a hospice and until recently all of the proceeds went to the hospice, but recently they had changed to having paid staff and profit targets.
So, we give our stuff to the charity shops for free. In my mind so that others directly benefit. But not so, it seems anymore, we are lining the pockets of the charity business.
OT always ok here, Anon. Specially when interesting like this one is.
DeleteI've always given to charity shops. I hate throwing things out and I genuinely believe in recycling, but it's made me think twice.
I need to do some more research into this, because I'm certainly not up for giving things to companies to make profits.
If anyone else has any info about this I'd be pleased to know.
I think that probably people's best bet is to avoid the high street kind of shops and go for the little charity shops for local thing (there's one around here for the Boomerang Club, which has youth facilities and a lunch club for the elderly).
Thanks for the warning, we have given a lot to the British Heart Foundation and we have also supported Barnardos, mostly because they are handy. My friend worked for Chas and one thing I have noticed with them is that they are extremely polished with their shops these days. Looks more like little boutiques than anything else.
DeleteOne sure fired way to lose the support of the poorer people is to make it a business and push the prices up.
DeleteAs for sales targets.... for heaven's sake. In a charity shop where you could walk in and see 20 things you like and want on one visit, and on another see absolutely nothing that was of use to you....
How ridiculous. Way to lose volunteers.
I am surprised that the volunteers are still working for them.
DeleteI suspect Baron Martin of Springburn is stalking the corridors of power with dagger drawn in order to augment his support for a new leader.
ReplyDeleteNice to know that their Noblenesses House will be occupying itself with matters from such a far flung region of their noble empire..
Delete"I say Carruthers, isn't that the place where they paint their faces blue, or is it the one where they stick bones in their lips? Damn it all, jolly nice dinner, what? Pass the port. That Murphy chappy will do alright up there. Probably speaks the native mumbo jumbo. I say, pass the port again, what?
You rang my lord?
Just a thought, though... perhaps the Noble baron has the job fixed for his son and heir The Hon. Paul Martin Esq?
DeleteGlad you got there in the end, Tris!
DeleteI'm not that fast, but I plod on and eventually get there John...
DeleteDaphne Broon didnt jump- she was pushed by militwat!
ReplyDeleteAparently the Oban result was the final straw...
Well, she certainly left him looking like a crock of sh*t, for all his troubles.
DeleteNow he has to work out whether they should have another no hoper from Edinburgh as the leader, or whether they should compound the problem of London Labour being seen as controlling everything for the benefit of the Southeast by getting Murphy, Brown or Sarwar (the three I heard mentioned today) in from London to sort the mess out.
Given Miliband's misreading of virtually everything, always, I suspect he'll think Jim Murphy will do the job.
Just what they want, a right wing, war mongering, Palestinian hating, bitter anti-SNP, anti decency candidate who wants to be in London.
Lady Lamont of the Shaws
ReplyDeleteBaroness Lamont of Upper Househillmuir.
Lady Lamont of Upper Silverburn.
Think the second has a nice ring to it-Slabour's next leader has to be Mrs Margaret Currant Bun.
Hmmm... I think her resignation statement may have put her elevation to the aristocracy on hold at the moment.
DeleteMilipede can hardly be too pleased with her. She is more likely to get her noble blood transfusion from the Eton boy.
Stinky rotten nasty wasty nats
ReplyDeleteHow horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging our own graves and trying on V-masks here in Westminster because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.
Ed Miliband.....quote
LOL BLess him...
DeleteDoes he actually know what has happened?
Or is he staring open mouthed wondering who the hell this Lamont creature is?
tris
DeleteThey just cant seem to give up on Thatcherism its like a mesmerising
influence on them drawing them on like sirens towards the rocks.
That and holding the center ground of politics (wankers ) which
as politics move further to the right just means they move rightwards
with it...............
I mean once upon a time British politics was firmly on the uncaring right
and people came forward and LED people towards a just and fairer
place......they led through self sacrifice and hard times they led
even when they were in a minority they did not just follow the crowd.
Its called leadership not fecking followship.
Lets be honest would todays Labour party create the NHS which
they constantly praise.....no they fecking wouldnt
Absolutely agree, Niko.
DeleteThe problem though was laid out clearly by Peter Mandelson before he was an aristocrat.
He said (after 17 years of Thatcher and Major) that if Labour wanted ever to get back into power it had to appeal to the voters of the South East, reasonably affluent, house-owning, share owning, two cars...continental holidays, etc.
Labour couldn't afford to alienate them by threatening redistribution of wealth. That was the start of the divide.
To do that the party had to ditch most of the principles that made it what it was... public ownership; universality, etc.
It might have worked if they had done it with some heart... but although they started to (minimum wage, gay rights) they didn't carry it far enough (they refused Barbara Castle's demands for a living pension, they refused to renationalise anything).
Blair took it too far. He became a Tory party. He thought that in the North, in Scotland and in Wales, there would be no where for the traditional Labour support to go, and so they would say with Labour.
Blair was right for a while... But, the older traditional..."I voted Labour all my life, like my dad before me" are dying off, and the younger ones are looking at Labour and saying... what party of the working classes... ? Minimum wage £8 in 5 years' time? Benefit caps? Means testing? Not rent controls?
The irony of Johann's resignation is that it can be encapsulated in her anger at Slab being run by the London office, for the benefit of the London office, with little regard to her or Scotland's sensibilities ... and sometimes not even giving her a say. Strangely she seemed content for that happening with the country, but not with her party...
Who do you think will be the next leader?
I'd add that I want to see a good leader of the opposition.
DeleteI was happy enough for second raters before the referendum, but now I want a good opposition that will work with and against the government as appropriate for the good of the people.
Enough with all this spite for spite's sake.
So no jokes like Jackie Baillie, or Kezia Dugdale.
Sarwar FAV for new Scottish Lab Leader say WILLIAM HILL
DeleteEvs Anas Sarwar
5/1 Kezia Dugdale
6/1 Gord Brown
7/1 Jim Murphy
12/1 Doug Alexander
Nico
DeleteNew Labour being Thatcherite, that's one of your better posts.
It is the disease, eating away at a once proud socialist organisation, the rot is terminal and Labour including it's northern outpost are doomed.
What amazes me is that the hot tips for new Scottish leader are; with the exception of Kezia Dugdale, MPs. Not one of those are going to give up an MP position to become an MSP. Now its been claimed that they don't need to be a MSP to be leader of the Scottish party. This maybe true, but it does present labour with one almighty headache. Namely, that they will need to assign an MSP to be the Leaders spokesperson to Holyrood. This position would be effectively a honorary position carrying no authority. That unfortunate soul would answer to the deputy leader, who in turn answers to the leader, who are effectively backbench MPs. At a stroke labour positions itself as really not taking the role of a Scottish party or indeed its role in Holyrood all that seriously. Imagine the crisis should they win - the leader would not be allowed to stand as first minister, the role would be effectively given to someone with no powers who answers to two labour backbench MPs. This wouldn't be labour shooting itself in the foot, this would be labour blowing its own foot off.
DeleteBrilliantly summarized, James.
DeleteThe trouble is that they have no one who is up to much in Edinburgh, because:
they send their best to London;
they were routed at the last election and lost many of their bigger hitters;
because they did so badly in constituency MSPs they picked up a few list MSPs who never expected to get the job and really aren’t up to it.
So who are they going to choose?
The only people who might make a mark are London MPs.
(Dugdale and Marra are too young and inexperienced. Look at the mess Ruth has made compared with Annabel, although because it's the Tories no one much notices.)
So Anas, Jim, Gordon, Dougie.
Anas... not much use. Was slaughtered by Nicola in debate. In any case he’s even younger that Marra and Dugdale.-
Jim... who, when he was junior minister in Europe for London Labour and was summoned to Downing Street in a reshuffle, (allegedly) said to a colleague "anything but Scotland".
Gordon. I saved the world, the Uk and the universe... and you want me to give up my globetrotting to save Slab, and work under Miliband?
Dougie... dob in your sister, roundly disliked.
And then as you say, who does FMQ...? Baillie, Dugdale, Martin? And what for? There is no salary for a deputy. Deputy FM doesn't get a salary, only as a Cabinet member. But they put themselves through that every week...
And in any case, you are back to square one. You still have a second or third rater taking on Sturgeon, by anyone's standards a pretty fiery performer who thinks on her feet.
Surely they have got it into their heads by now that Scottish Labour needs a separate identity to English Labour. It was one of the lessons they were supposed to have learned in 2011.
Having a backbench Labour MP as leader for a year would be a disaster for them.
James Kelly (Scot Goes Pop) has a good piece on this, and rightly points out that Alex Salmond was leader of the SNP whilst at Westminster, so it can actually work.
The trouble is that the SNP have never had a problem with their identity as Scottish. Labour does have that problem, and having a London MP in charge will only compound it.
tris
ReplyDeleteWho do you think will be the next leader?
Does it really matter ?
Probably Anas Sarwar
Enough with all this spite for spite's sake.
Thats it ruin all my fun .
Well he will not be leading FMQ's so who will be taking the pain, Anas will not give up his Father's fiefdom and the money.
DeleteKezia Dugdale is hotly tipped, now that just might be fun.
Well, it may be Anas, although I have to say I though he was inept at best when he was in debate or doing tv interviews.
DeletePlus he's another one of these millionaire Labour men. Whilst that doesn't mean they can't be committed to socialism (Tony Benn was despite the good school and noble father), it probably makes it more difficult for him to relate to foodbank life, or to be seen to relate to it.
And as Helena says, it makes you wonder who would be his deputy to tackle Nicola Sturgeon.... Jackie, Kezia.
In my opinion Malcolm Chisholm is the best man for the job, but he's too much of a socialist for London's liking. He's respected by his constituents and political opponents alike.
tris
ReplyDeleteSomething like this
See ole whatsaname jacked the job in just gave there notice in and left.
Yeah well they were gonna give em the bullet anyway.
Not a good way of replacing a Leader of a National party whom
support and sustain you.
As i suggest it has all the hallmarks of a unpopular, uncaring. autocratic
do as i say out of touch leadership/management style.And as a
motivational technique it is a total disaster I have always found. but then
the kind of respect embedded in old working class culture is these days
in very short supply.
PS
Whats with the robots to post pain in the erse
some i am unable to read
What is this about robots?
DeleteI haven't set up anything in posting.
I'll look into it, but I'm guessing that the Blogger site is playing up again ...
Nico... I've been through all the settings. Nothing has been changed. There are no recognition codes ... It must be Blogger playing up.
Deleteemail me if you're still having problems
It seems that in the meantime Jackie Baillie will be reading out questions sent up from London at FMQs. I like Jackie, she's my kinda gal and looks as if she enjoys a pint or two!
ReplyDeleteStrangely John she has one of those hard as nails but soft as fat can be faces you just would never tire of slapping, just to hear the noise it would make.
DeleteI always thought she was a strange choice for a Minister for Health.
I am looking down from the moral high ground having lost nearly a stone and a half with one more to go.
I used to rate Jackie Baillie until I discovered that it was no coincidence that her name ended in LIE.
DeleteShe shamelessly lied about Faslane, and has done so over health matter time and time again.
We all know politicians bend facts to suit their argument ... we all do actually, not just politicians. But she deserves a medal for the barefaced way shoe does it.
Congratulations Helens. Hope you're feeling the benefits of it.
Aren't the Conservatives something else, they got the Lib Dems in a crushing embrace, got them to announce all the bad things and accept stuff which they had actually said they wouldn't like Tuition fees. Now they have done for Labour here in Scotland. Even the stupidest could see what was going to happen but the man with two brains and a big clunking fist couldn't. They have stuffed you Gordon, and you Alistair and all you companions. Who is likely to have majority in Parliament in 2015, well the Tories and even if they don't they will get into be with Ukip who will take seats off Labour and who cannot get into bed with them. Then we will have Evel and Labour will need to have a majority of an extra 42 English MP's to get any bill passed. Well the Tories might be stupid but what does that make Labour.
ReplyDeleteYou know they would not be in this state today if they had actually campaigned for Independence or at least stayed neutral.
Wee laugh, Who lost Niko, we didn't actually, you know. We are still out there fighting and not with each other.
Someone, or some people, in the Tories seem to be quite bright.
DeleteThey have managed to squeeze the Liberals to a point where at least for a few parliaments they are back to being nonentities.... a rump, like in the old days of Joe Grimond.
And they played a blinder with the devo super-max.
I doubt it's Cameron. I don't think he's clever. I think Osborne may be, and of course there's Lynton Crosby.
But they sewed up Brown good and proper.
Vow....
Ha ha ha ha.