HOW SCARED WE ALL WERE?

And yet, when I last caught sight of her, Nicola still had two arms... Funny how things turn out, eh?

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I remember looking at this and thinking that Labour's relationship with council tax freezes was a bit on/off. And, yes, as John Swinney announced that he had agreed another year of tax freeze with the local authorities, Sarah Boyack was at it again:

 “The SNP have broken local authority finance through their sustained and underfunded council tax freeze that actually costs people more money as charges to deliver services are increased to provide vital funds.

"Since 2008 almost 35,000 jobs have been lost within councils as the SNP continue to grasp power back from local authorities.

"Under the SNP's prolonged, underfunded council tax freeze the rich prosper and those who most need the support of councils lose out."

She appears to have forgotten that it was a Labour Party pledge at the last general election, and that it was a Glasgow Labour pledge at the local elections.  

Of course, if Labour really wanted a progressive tax to pay for local government, they would use income tax, the simple philosophy of which is, the more you earn, the more you pay. 

But, presumably based on the Bain Principle (this is what you get when you elect a silly little man to parliament and let him tweet) they voted against it.

So, thanks to Bain, even if your income is only £10,000 pa, and you pay only a few pounds a year income tax, you may well be paying £1,000 in council tax.

Definitely one of Labour's less bright male members.

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I distinctly remember David Cameron demanding that the Scottish government meet the demands of the Electoral Commission regarding the wording of the referendum question. 

I got the impression that he was less than happy, when Alex Salmond complied 100%. 

The same body went on to say that it wanted to see an open and honest debate and to that end both sides must provide details of their visions for the future. The Commission set a deadline for that information to be fully available.

Well, Alistairs? 

We await your "vision" of Scotland within the UK, with interest?

You have until Saturday. Otherwise you have failed to meet the requirements of the Electoral Commission.

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If I remember rightly, farming and fishing was something that was sacrificed by Mrs Thatcher when she "allegedly" handbagged Europe into giving super rich, super important Britain the kind of rebate that the poor countries got. 

Of course, if you were (a that time) the 6th largest economy in the world behind the USA, Japan, Germany France and Canada, you couldn't really expect to get the kind of rebate given to Portugal, without some payback.

The payback was less for farmers and a lot less from fishermen.

Now it seems that within the UK (where all EU negotiations are carried out by London, despite us having an entirely separate fishing and farming policy) Scots get a raw deal from the unionists. Around €100 less per hectare than the UK. I'm sure Thatcher, for all her evilness, never did that to us. I wonder who did.

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Makes you proud, doesn't it?