Showing posts with label Peter Murrell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Murrell. Show all posts

Sunday, 10 January 2016

SNP BAD FOR HAVING DECENT (IF SOMEWHAT ELDERLY) CLOTHES

What happened on Saturday was Nicola Sturgeon and other senior politicians went out to visit some places which have been damaged badly in the floods of the last few weeks.

As you can see from the photographs Nicola went to people's houses and talked to them, hugged them, and she brought with her news that the Scottish Government will be making grants available to people who have lost goods ...to the value of £1,500. Not a massive amount, but three times what the British government is paying out to their flood victims

With people still living in houses full of foul smelling sludge, their furniture and carpets ruined and dampness everywhere... wondering if it is over or if there is more to come, you'd have reckoned that the press might have seen this as a reasonably good way for these politicians to be spending their Saturday.

But you have to remember that these politicians were SNP. Which immediately made caring about people BAAAAAAAD.

What The Daily Telegraph, from the comfort of Sark, was interested in, was how much Nicola's outfit cost. A Barbour Jacket worth £179 and a pair of Hunters Boots at £130. What an extravagance! Clearly the Telegraph wasn't in the least interested in people who have no homes, or whose homes are mainly mud. They probably think everyone in a bit of a mess goes off to their summer home in Tuscany or books into Gleneagles.

Apparently Cameron, although he had a pair of Hunters just like Nicola's, sent someone out to buy a pair of £12.99 wellies from ASDA before he visited English flood areas (I say areas rather than victims, because Dave seemed to avoid ordinary victims close up). Ever the PR man, he thought he would look too posh in his Hunters, so he spent an extra £12.99 trying to look ordinary. 

Nicola, just put on the boots she had and got on with hugging. She also dealt with the criticism of her wear with customary good humour:


@biscuit_ersed @JournoStephen @horton_official I blame @PeterMurrell - he bought me the Barbour jacket for Christmas a couple of years ago.


I confess - I bought the Barbour jacket. What I now want to know is - who bought her the wellies??

We make a lot of noise about how much politicians earn, how much they can salt away, and how much they charge us for their moats and duck houses, but everyone knows that government ministers are reasonably well paid, as they should be. We all know too, that people like Cameron is personally very rich. He can easily afford to buy expensive clothes, cars, houses. There's no point in his likes pretending that they have to wear ASDA wellies or fly Ryan Air cattle class, as he has in the past. 

As long as they use their own money, we really don't care what they wear or how they travel. Most specially if we are trying to dry out the kitchen so we can switch back on the electricity.

What was even more amusing was that, as Doug Daniel noticed,  a Labour councillor, who owns a Porsche, though it worth sharing a tweet about Nicola's millionaire clothes costing all of £309. A Porsche, if you please!
Nicola's Barbour jacket was, as she said, a present 2 Christmases ago from her husband. Ruth Davidson can confirm how much it cost. She has one the same, only it's never been the headlines in a national so probably it feels a little let down. 


Alex Salmond got no mention for not having any wellies, nor indeed a Barbour!


In the meantime someone discovered that Fluffy has, indeed been out looking at the floods. There all you Dumfries people who thought the wee soul had got lost... He was in that dub all the time... and it's not a tan, it's rust!

Friday, 10 October 2014

SNP LETTER TO THE SMITH COMMISSION

Lord Smith of Kelvin
The Smith Commission
7th Floor One Atria
144 Morrison Street
EDINBURGH
EH3 8EX


Dear Lord Smith

I am writing on behalf of the Scottish National Party to communicate our views about the additional responsibilities the Scottish Parliament needs in order to fulfil the Vow of the Westminster party leaders to deliver "extensive new powers" for Scotland.

The SNP continue to advocate Scottish independence, and believe that Scotland will one day become an independent country. But of course we accept the referendum result, which means that independence is not part of the Commission's considerations.

We wish formally to associate ourselves with the 34-page set of proposals sent today by the Scottish Government, and which I enclose herewith.
Speaking on behalf of the cross-party No campaign, Gordon Brown said in the days leading up to the referendum that within two years there would be "as close to a federal state" as is possible in the UK, and that we would have "a modern form of Scottish Home Rule".

If the Vow is to be honoured, we believe that this 'maximalist' language requires the maximum self-government for Scotland within the Union to be delivered, on the basis of the detailed proposals sent by the Scottish Government. This involves a limited number of core areas reserved to Westminster, with all other powers decided in Scotland (which
also reflects the formula of the original 1998 Scotland Act, which listed reserved rather than devolved responsibilities).

Furthermore, this approach is one that commands widespread public support - across supporters of all political parties - as demonstrated in an opinion poll commissioned by the SNP and conducted by Panelbase after the referendum.

The poll - which is also enclosed with this submission - asked if people believe that the new powers coming to the Scottish Parliament should include the following: -

Control of all taxation raised in Scotland?
Yes: 71%
No: 19%
Don't know: 10%

Control of all areas of government policy except for defence and foreign affairs, which is sometimes referred to as 'Devo Max'?
Yes: 66%
No: 19%
Don't know: 15%

Control of the welfare and benefits system?
Yes: 75%
No: 17%
Don't know: 8%

Control of policy regarding the state pension?
Yes: 65%
No: 25%
Don't know: 10%

Control of oil and gas tax revenues generated in Scottish waters?
Yes: 68%
No: 21%
Don't know: 11%

Control of broadcasting policy?
Yes: 54%
No: 30%
Don't know: 16%

Guaranteed consultation by the UK Government with the Scottish Government when deciding the UK's stance in European Union negotiations?
Yes: 72%
No: 16%
Don't know: 12%

The proposals set out by the Scottish Government are powers for a purpose - giving Scotland control of the policy areas necessary to build a more prosperous economy and fairer society. And they also reflect a widespread public demand for maximum powers -which was instigated by the No campaign during the referendum, and which have been well documented in the period since.The SNP believe that these are the proposals Scotland needs at this stage in our nation's constitutional journey.

With my best wishes and kind regards.


Yours sincerely

Peter Murrell

Scottish Government page here