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| Puts a whole new meaning on "It's a crime that he's unemployed". |
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| Good to see that we punished the people who caused the last crash, and are causing the next one. Oh wait... |
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| Aye Danny, you're important right enough. You and Gideon together. What a team! |
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| Dave, solver of problems. |
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| How does this man function in the real world? |
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| Another of Danny's right wing mates. |
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| Yeah, nice one, Anas... |
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| I see that the guy with the 8 (it was 10) YES badges was pulling Dimjim's chain! |
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| Two cheeks of the same butt. |
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| And they will support you on Trident too. You're practically the same party. |
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| See Eck got a new job? |
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| That's Britain. As it always was, and always will be.
+++++++++++++++++
It appears that the opposition don't understand finance or the various constraints put upon the Scottish government by Westminster.
It also seems that no one reminded them that the underspend had actually been reported to parliament in June of last year. Does their finance spokesman not pay attention to finance matters?
As has been demonstrated so often in the past, their researchers don't seem to be up to the mark.
Sadly, none of the other parties seem to have a grasp on finance either, otherwise they would surely have pointed out the error of the Labour attack, which Dugdale threw, yet again, at the First Minister on Thursday.
I thought it was worth putting up John Swinney's comments about the underspend in full:
The Scottish Government firmly believes Scotland will
prosper best when all revenue raised here stays here.
Meantime, there is an obligation upon us to ensure what
funds the UK Government does allocate to Edinburgh are managed responsibly.
That’s why this government ensures that we put every penny we receive towards
improving the lives of people in Scotland.
In contrast, Brian Wilson’s comments (Perspective, 10
January) betray the same problems understanding public spending that must have
bedevilled the Labour Party when they managed Scotland’s finances.
Mr Wilson’s colleagues managed to forget to spend £700
million in one year and left more than £1 billion in a Treasury bank account
which could have supported our economy and public services.
Thankfully the SNP secured the release of that money.
I can assure Brian Wilson, and your readers, that if the
£444m of underspend he refers to was all money over which I had control, then
every penny of it would be being invested properly to mitigate the impact of Westminster
cuts and welfare reforms.
The £444 million underspend against the annual
accounts-based budget, reported in the Final Outturn Report and in the media
last week, also reflects variances in Annual Managed Expenditure programmes and
other technical non-cash accounting budgets – for example depreciation and
impairments.
So such underspends therefore do not reflect a missed
opportunity to spend more on public services – much as Mr Wilson
and his Labour colleagues try to claim otherwise. The reality is that the fiscal
underspend the Scottish Government has available from 2013-14 to invest in
public services is only 0.5 per cent of our budget, or £145 million.
Far from keeping it a secret, I announced it to Parliament
in June, and confirmed that it would be carried into the next year – and that
every penny would be allocated to support people in Scotland.
On top of that, some £31 million of financial transactions
was also brought forward to support vital investment in housing and
regeneration. This is funding restricted by Treasury rules and can only be used
for the provision of loans or equity investment beyond the public sector
and has to be repaid to HM Treasury in future years.
We agree that Scotland’s schools and hospitals are worthy of
the best possible levels of investment and, until we are responsible for our
own financial affairs, they deserve better than the successive real-term cuts
to which Scotland’s budget has been subject and which the Labour Party clearly
intend to continue.
JOHN SWINNEY
Deputy First Minister
|
What an excellent piece Munguin an Tris, pulls no punches, some I would love to land on some people mentioned. How Danny Alexander, that purveyor of all things bad for the Tories imagines that people will forget what he has been involved in. Oh heck, of course they will, well some of them will, any amount of stupidity with politics. The mischief making continues apace, of course we are all supposed to forget the money sent back to Westminster by the Lab/Lib Dem pact before 2007, just think how much use that underspend would have been.
ReplyDeleteIt's the way that Danny seems to have been keen to remind people that he was an important part of the treasury team, Helena, but now seems to be wanting to distance himself from virtually everything they do.
DeleteCoalition can't be easy, I'd admit, but Danny is just so bloody obvious.
I'd say he was a gonner come May.
But of course he'll probably get to go to the Lards. After all, there's only 800+ of them. There's probably room for a few more. And in the £3 billion renovation of the Palace of Westminster I'm sure they will make their lardships' dining rooms and bars a little larger to accommodate the every growing bunch of failed politicians and generous donors.
Did anyone else see Jacques Perritti's BBC2 documentaries on the rich? Available on iplayer for those without licence. I know it's the Beeb but let's not cut off our noses. Basically and he interviews several leading economists tickle down is nonsense, what we are seeing is flood up. One tax consultant states that UK is the world's best tax haven for super rich.
ReplyDeleteDoes nayone know any guiilotine manufacturers? (MI5/GGHQ - that's a joke btw)
Thanks for the tip, PP.
DeleteTrickle down is good in theory, but I never thought it really worked in practice. Those who have money are far too fond of holding on to it.
They tell me there are still some guillotine manufacturers en France! Just in case, you know.
THEY don't want them back, even if it appears from Wings' survey that WE don't actually want rid of them... (Munguin shakes his furry head, somewhat sadly, and in bewilderment at the gullibility of the human race.)
tris and the other nat slaves
ReplyDeleteIf you are reduced as Swinney has been to
The £444 million underspend against the annual accounts-based budget, reported in the Final Outturn Report and in the media last week, also reflects variances in Annual Managed Expenditure programmes and other technical non-cash accounting budgets – for example depreciation and impairments.
to complicated technical explanations you have most likely lost the argument
using language/jargon most normal scots are unfamilar with only makes it
seem as the usual flim flam all political partys use.
Goes without saying (although i am going to ) if john swinney read out
the phone book all the nats would cheer and exclaim the brilliance of his
mastery of economics.............having another agenda to pursue
and of course we ask
WOT ABOUT THE PRICE OF OIL NOW SNP ??
What about it Niko?
ReplyDeleteIt's about what it was in 2009.
How can Britain afford to be a nuclear weapons power now that it has no income from oil?
Pity they didn't save just some.
Even a tenth of what Norway saved would be a godsend.
Good to see a Yes van parked in Dundee City Square today.
ReplyDeleteThey were collecting for food banks.
I felt guilty when I saw it, as I had just spent £200 on a pair of new shoes. :-(
Juteman
Deletewery snp you spent it felt guilty but still spent it
and made a joke of food banks
No... read it again.
DeleteEver done anything self indulgent Niko, and then sharply been reminded that there are people worse off that you?
I'm sure there people from all political parties and none who do that.
I've walked past a guy begging in the street having just spent £10 on something for my dinner...and thought... if I'd only spent £5, I could have given him the other five.
Anyway. You ... nor I, have any idea what else Jutie does for charity. SWo we shouldn't judge.
It was anything but a joke. I'm sorry if it came across like that.
ReplyDeleteI was just trying to point out the horrible divisions in our society.
Anyway, my £200 shoes will last for ever, as they can be re-soled again and again.
You are a complete twat, Niko. You seem to have got worse since you 'won'.
Juteman
DeleteApologies if i offended you.............but must say if you had won
we would all being eating our own shoes under snp misrule
and financial mismanagement .
tris
There I have kissed Jutemans erse in mea culpa of my bad behavior
Good Niko. I'd have hated to have report you to Mr Brownlie!
Delete:)
You are a complete twat, Niko. You seem to have got worse since you 'won'.
ReplyDeleteSeconded.
I'm not sure what they won though...
DeleteI'd not be inclined to call getting Jim Murphy as leader a win by any stretch of the imagination!
At least Ms Lamont was sometimes believable as a Labour person. Jim is just not believable at all.
I wonder if either you Tris, or the "Great one" himself (Munguin), has any idea about when austerity cuts are in fact NOT austerity cuts?
ReplyDeleteI only ask the question because as you, and his great lordshipness himself, knows only too well just about every Labour M.P., who could be bothered to turn up for the vote on the £30 Billion worth of austerity cuts planned by the the BLUE Tories, voted with their hearts and followed the BLUE Tories through the AYE doors. When questioned about why she supported the BLUE Tory austerity cuts a certain Margaret Curran *ahem* claimed that she was not voting for austerity cuts but was in fact voting to *cough* "balance the books!" It does not take much to confuse me these days, as you know, but bloody heck she voted FOR £30 Billion of austerity cuts but they are NOT austerity cuts
they are balancing the books!!!
Just another wee aside Tris. Someone was listening to BBC Radio Scotland this morning, yes I know but hey each to their own. Any way apparently he heard them say that Norway had a problem with their oil fund, remember them, because, hope you and Munguin are sitting down for this, the Norwegians have *ahem* too much money in their oil fund!!!
I always knew that the BBC made up their stories but there are fairy tales, FAIRY TALES and now it seems BBC news items! LOL
I heard that about Curran, Arbroath. In fact I'm sure it was on Twitter (maybe even from you?).
DeleteI was somewhat taken aback by it. For a start £30 billion won't even start to balance books that are in the red to the tune of £1,500, 000,000,000.
It would be like taking out a mortgage of £200,000 and trotting along with a 10p piece and saying to the bank manager that you were balancing the books.
Even if it were a small step towards blancing teh books, it doesn;t really matter. The truth is that the poor will be made to suffer yet again, adn Margaret and her merry men voted for it. I seriously hope the silly bat loses her seat in May. Serve her right if she had to live on a lot less than the money she gets at the moment.
But, in any case, Margaret Curran isn't the brightest candle in the box. In fact she is incredibly dim. I don't think she understands much about anything. She trots out the lines she's given and. on the rare occasions when she is actually challenged (say by Andrew Neil) , falls flat on her silly face.
I did hear recently that Norway wanted to get rid of some of its money. The fantastic amount they have is causing problems for their currency. It makes the Krona so hard that no one can afford to buy anything that they produce. It's a bit like Switzerland, which has been struggling to keep the value of the ChF down. So in this case I think the BBC might have had an element of truth there... shock and awe!!!
Of course they could just spend it, but what on? The probably have everything they need. I suspect they will be obliged to step up their foreign aid to reduce the size of their fund. For them the fall in the oil price is a blessing.
Oh, for the sound management of the Norwegian government.
Dear Niko,
ReplyDeleteAs you are probably aware there will shortly be a general election and I wish to seek your advice as to whether I should vote Tory or NewLabour. I've noticed that over the last couple of years they supported each other in opposition to the dastardly attempts to break up the greatest country in the world. I have noticed them gaily tripping hand in hand into the Westminster lobbies in order to keep their jobs. No, that should read "for the benefit of their constituents". Really what I want your advice on is which of their policies are so different that will sway me one way or another. The issue is further complicated by the fact that I find Ruth Davidson and Jim Murphy equally attractive!
Your friend and greatest admirer,
John the Undecided.
tris and the others
ReplyDeleteHow Westminster helped squander Scotland’s black gold
The collapse in North Sea oil prices is being used to score cheap political points by the SNP’s opponents
North Sea oil prices is being used to score cheap political points
Hell yeah same as the snp/nats they weaponise Oil
and now its blown up in there face.........BOOM !!!!
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/18/labour-squanders-scotland-oil-revenues
John
On the way you put it
IT DONT MATTER WHO YOU VOTE FOR
YOU WILL STILL GET THE SAME MASTERS
Ruth Davidson and Jim Murphy equally attractive?
DeleteThat's a worrying development!
Yes, the oil is being used Niko as it always has been. Thatcher used it to make people unemployed; Blair used it to finance wars and wars; and Brown and Cameron used it to bail out the London financial industry.
Unfortunately none of the rest of us got much out of it.
Pity we weren't Norwegian!
ReplyDeletesnp poll lead starts to fall......down and down as in the referendum
bye bye snp Westminster wipe out.........oh dearie me
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/
Finally the Panelbase Scottish poll in the Sunday Times has topline Westminster voting intentions of CON 14%(-1), LAB 31%(+3), LDEM 3%(nc), SNP 41%(-4), UKIP 7%(nc). The SNP lead of ten points would still be pretty good for them by historical standards, but it’s a drop compared to the very large leads they’ve been showing in other Scottish polls since October,
Yes, it's beginning to dawn on voters that Murphy is really a nationalist who has Scottish interests - not his own - at heart. They will also have noticed that Fifi is a scaled-down version of Margaret Curran and is not in any way right-wing as her contributions to the Scotsman used to illustrate on a daily basis. The road to Damascus with one-way traffic is getting fecking crowded.
DeleteOK... I'll vote for Fifi la (sic) Bonbon... The spirit of Hardie in female form.
DeleteShe's impressive at FMQs. Not a hint of malice or hatred there. (She was only joking about the first minister being able to find Aberdeen on a map). Sharp as a button, not to mention cute as a razor. And it's not her fault if her finance spokesman doesn't understand finance. There have been a few of them.
And clearly as Jim is an out and out nationalist who will tell the Brits to get their horrible weapons out of our waters and wrest devo super max from the hated Tories, he's the man for us.
Never mind my 10 YES badges, I'm off to the Poundstore to get an unpaid workfarer to get me my membership.
Niko.
DeleteThis is the first full Scottish poll. The rest have been sub-samples. This is more likely to be accurate.
I've always said that I doubted the polls that were showing Labour with 5 seats and the SNP with 50+ were a bit pie in the sky.
And by the time the BBC has played its role of fixing it for the Brit establishment, and the Daily Nail and Sun have added their 2p, the lead will be much reduced.
http://scotgoespop.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/snp-lead-by-10-in-first-full-scale.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+ScotGoesPop+(SCOT+goes+POP!)
Delete