Monday 29 December 2014

NICOLA AND JOHN TRUSTED TO GET THE BEST DEAL FOR SCOTLAND

So, along with the news that Scots would like to see the SNP hold the balance of power in the London parliament in the hopes that they will get the best possible deal for Scotland, we can also welcome polling which shows that voters trust Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney to stand up for Scotland.

A Panelbase poll commissioned by the SNP found that 59 per cent of those asked trusted Nicola Sturgeon – compared to just 27 per cent who said they did not. This gives an overall positive rating of +32 points, with positive ratings among men, women, and people of all ages and social groups.

Nicola also has a positive rating among those who voted No in the referendum, with 43 per cent saying they trust her.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney also had very good ratings, with 42 per cent saying they trusted him compared to 28 per cent who did not – a positive overall rating of +14 points.

In contrast, new Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy had a positive overall rating of just +2 points. While 39 per cent said they trusted him, 37 per cent said they did not. In news that will not surprise some, Mr Murphy showed more Tory voters trusting him than Labour voters. 

Strangely, Patrick Harvie had a bad rating of -6 points. Ruth Davidson was at -25 points and Willie Rennie at -31 points.

Looking at the London politicians, Labour leader Ed Miliband’s ratings were negative (-45 points overall with an horrific 63 per cent saying they did not trust him).  David Cameron was also unpopular, with an overall rating of -52 per cent (not surprising for a Tory PM in Scotland), while more worrying for the Liberals, Nick Clegg was the least trusted of all with -64 points overall. 74 per cent say they do not trust him and only 10 per cent say they do. What a disaster for him and the Liberals going into the next London election.

Nicola Sturgeon showed positive ratings of +14 among people who voted Labour in 2011, while poor old Ed Miliband had negative ratings of -3 among Labour voters.

Of course people will insist that a poll commissioned by the SNP will be biased, but I’m not sure how biased you can make a question which simply asks if you trust someone to stand up for Scotland’s interests.


The sample size was 1018 and the polling was conducted by Panelbase between 18 and 23 December.

Maybe Mr Kelly will do a more learned analysis of the figures...
******************

WELL DOH...HA

I’ve just read this from Humza Yousaf… “Scottish Government is being attacked by Scottish Labour for staying in a hotel in Doha, not realising Gordon Brown was staying in exact same hotel for the same conference - hypocrisy knows no bounds!”


Come on, Labour. Get your act together. 

49 comments:

  1. Very surprising about Patrick Harvie, good results for Nicola and John though give Labour time to start firing off the nasty smears and slurs!



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    1. Yes Morag. I was really surprised about Patrick. I'd have thought he was a solid guy, and Nicola indicated as much when she walked about him in her road show. Furthermore, at least in Dundee, the cheer for him raised the rafters.

      The smears have started. I haven't hear any other reports of it, but Humza said on his Facebook page, that they were criticising him for staying at a good hotel in Dubai where he was, I think with businessmen, bringing in vast amounts of work for Scotland exports from Scotland have increased by 80%). Gordon Brown was staying at the same hotel, whether that was on expenses from the UK, or from his charity, I do not know, but somehow we were paying for it... and we'd have been paying for his round the clock bodyguards to stay there too, not to mention the fact that Mrs Brown appears to be in attendance most of the time. Humza on the other hand would almost certainly have been alone.

      I wonder who cost more? I wonder who did more good?

      Delete
    2. Morag

      oh yes smears i have had boxes of these delivered this very day


      http://adweek.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/25/mud1.jpg

      Delete
  2. Let's recap: 2m new jobs, maj are full time, we're richer than ave US taxpayer. ‪#‎Labour‬ wrong on every count ‪#‎GE2015‬. Oh yes, and fastest economic growth in developed world. Austerity has worked. And SNP were just as wrong about it as Labour.

    http://thetim.es/1BfKtgF

    Scotland needs to stop its unhealthy addiction to socialist fantasy-land politics.

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    1. Dear silly Deano

      Mayhap you can explain the part domestic spending (via more borrowing and
      using up savings ) artificially low interest rates, Osborne abandoning his monetary targets and backtracking on the automatic economic stabilizers .
      with the historically ball breaking current account deficit.......

      played in your austerity fanatasy


      We are so rich er why are you not living here in the UK reaping the rewards
      of austerity???

      Delete
    2. Dean: Zero hour contracts; short term jobs; jobs which pay under a living wage and mean that people have to get social security to pay the rent; and as Niko says, debt worse than any other western country, getting worse by the day, and interest rates that starve the old of income on their savings; the lowest retirement pension in the developed world after Mexico and a chancellor who makes promises and breaks them like they were bread straws.

      Yep, the good old UK is doing grand, and most of my friends leaving university are looking for jobs abroad.

      Delete
    3. Niko,

      Osborne has halved UKs unsustainable borrowing. He's cut in half UKs rising borrowing. I agree it isn't enough, but why do you care? Aren't you an old socialist? Why do you want deep cuts in spending?

      Aren't you guilty of condemning the Tories for not being tough enough? Would your Labour lot be even tougher on welfare? Red Tory?

      http://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2014/12/team-osbornes-answer-to-fraser-nelson-on-the-deficit.html

      Delete
    4. "Yep, the good old UK is doing grand, and most of my friends leaving university are looking for jobs abroad."

      In honesty I can't argue with that, I've ended up working in China as an ex-pat haha... :P

      Delete
    5. You'll be missing hogmany tonight... Chinese New Year isn't till February 19.

      :)

      How is it going with leaning to speak Chinese?

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    6. Slow, but I'm beginning to pick stuff up.

      Delete
  3. Having problems posting here, hence my lack of, apparent, presence,

    A Guid New Year to yin an aw, especially Niko who has soldiered manfully down his boggy path the year and surely must find that the path of about to peter out, round about the 8th of May, incidentally my birthday.

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    1. I'm sorry to hear that Panda. And yeah, I wondered where you were, although I've noticed your postings on Wings, so I knew you were OK.

      Bonne année à toi aussi...

      Delete
  4. Patrick Harvie is a bit of an enigma.

    At heart I do not believe he is an independista and would desert the YES cmp at the smell of DevoConMax. A bit like Ian Macwhirter?

    Many people will rate him high, possibly of the newer intake of the Greens but longer in the tooth independentistas hold him a little in suspicion. Remember the budget votefiasco he presided over in the 2007 on Parliament when he made impossible demands before he would support the budget vote.

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    1. Well, yeah, I can see that.

      I think there are a lot of people who would support a proper devolution settlement though. It was always the most popular of the options, until the moron Cameron withdrew it.

      As I've said many times, it's not my preferred option because of all the policies that the Uk governments of either colour stands for, the two that would be retained in England after devo max (like say Jersey or Guernsey have) is foreign affairs and defence.

      As both of these are more of less decided in Washington DC, and are not to my taste, and are extremely expensive, I want no part of them, but I've always accepted that in a free vote that is what would be chosen.

      The right to alter some road signs doesn't really cut this!

      But I agree... he was a pain over that budget.

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  5. tris

    Didnt Alex get wonderful approval ratings pray tell what did happen to him .
    Must admit reading headline thought you meant John Brownlie i waz disappointed

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/30/downing-street-files-oliver-letwin-poll-tax

    you should read this all nats will be confirmed in at least one there
    prejudices

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    1. Their, Niko, not there, there as in over there or their trousers for goodness sake are you the right Niko, or the fake one, Take more water with it.

      Delete
    2. Helena

      This explains

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G45RQ5b4W78

      Delete
    3. Good article Niko. Oliver Letwin, Eton and Cambridge.

      Strangely, having been responsible for the policy that ended Thatcher's career, the idiot Cameron has him as his policy chief! You couldnt make it up.

      I don't really think it's a prejudice, Niko. It was the truth.

      As for Alex... He stood down when his side lost the referendum. He's moving forward. I've just been told that Mr Cockburn of Ukip is standing against him... Eck should enjoy that!

      Delete
    4. Niko, too noisy. Pity you do not take their advice though.

      Delete
  6. tris and you lot


    What sold it to Thatcher however was the fact that as Letwin pointed out it would also unite the cabinet as “since the radicals would be able to trumpet the Scottish experiment,

    THE SCOTTISH EXPERIMENT ffs

    The truth is that is how the Westminster elite of all political parties view
    Scotland..a far away land of which we know little................
    and care less.

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    1. Which is why, we want to get away from Westminster.

      Delete
    2. Ah now Niko, are you beginning to understand. Even Tories in Scotland were scunnered by her. I know this because a workmate of mine had a father in law who worked for James Hamilton and who sent his papers back.

      Delete
    3. Let's experiment with an unfair tax... on the Scots!.. it's a bit like their experiment of having their nuclear arsenal as far away from the Queen and the House of Lords as they can.

      Delete
    4. 'Scottish experiment'...

      I read David Torrence (you know him, the hottie in those mental jumpers) book 'We in Scotland', and he explains the poll tax wasn't an 'experiment'. Indeed most of those mythical Thatcher 'impositions' actually originated in St Andrews house. I.E the Scots Tory 'old gents'. So far from it being Thatcher imposing evil policies on Scots, to experiment, it was simple political incompetence by the Scots Tories.

      They were running so scared of having to revalue the old domestic rates (the Tory voters'd end up paying a LOT more) that they grasped for what they thought would be a more popular alternative.

      So not the myths of evil Tory experimentation. Just incompetence, foolishness and incredible naivety.

      Delete
    5. I've certainly read that the Scottish Secretary was very much for poll tax and was happy for it to be trialled in Scotland. As you say rates revaluations were dreaded...

      However, it appears from the state papers that the original idea came from Olly, and Mrs Thatcher liked it, and went with it, despite the horror of people like Douglas Hurd and ken Baker, to mention but two.

      Letwin always seems to me to be 2d short of a bob. I mean who in the world would think it was acceptable to walk through a park answering letters and stuffing private and confidential constituent correspondence in the bin?

      Still, his parents were friends with the Thatcher woman.

      I'd quite like to read that book though.

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    6. Niko

      It was Magnus Pirrie who dreamed it up and the Blessed Oliver Letwin who convinced Maggie.

      Delete
  7. Interesting figures, but as Niko said strangely that Alex had a very high approval rating, but only the brain washed regarded him as a hate figure, though that would be saying that these folk actually had a brain to wash mmmmm.
    Patrick Harvie, well I am a bit like our Panda, I fear his commitment to Independence. I worry that should someone offer him something he prefers better, he would be off. Perhaps that is what people see. I like some of the green ideas, some are not practical. They would rather nothing changed than heaven forfend they build a road. It would be great if we have all our old railways back, but it isn't going to happen. I would love to see every house in Scotland sporting photovoltaic cells, every little helps.
    I loved that Willie Rennie, my personal horror, shares some of his approval rating with David Cameron, considering that the Lib Dems are working so closely with him.

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    1. Yeah, poor wee Willie... I wonder if he'll have a seat next time round in Scotland!

      Apparently Alex was not popular with women, but men liked him well enough.

      Nicola is popular with both it seems.

      Not sure who Jim Murphy is popular with... after all he's the only opposition person who has a plus rating..so someone must like him. It must be the Murphy bounce. It maybe comes from the Tories.

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    2. Nice to see that since the referendum the amount of women joining the SNP has gone up from 33% to 44%. Perhaps it is just me but I found in both times I have been a member, was one way back in the 80's before I got inveigled into the Union and had too much to do what with my job and the Union that I gave up. Any way women always seemed to the fore in the SNP, I cannot talk about other parties because I have never been interested in joining them.

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    3. I honestly don't know, but I think it's a fairly women friendly party. The whole of parliament in Scotland is fairly woman friendly, open and modern.

      The FM is a woman, her cabinet is equally male and female; the leader of the Conservatives is a woman; until recently the leader of Labour was a woman. Both the Conservative and Green leaders are gay.

      The government has a minister who is of Pakistani origin (Humza) and one who is of Italian origin (Marco)

      Delete
  8. Considering that the MSM press has demonized Alex Salmond for years, I am surprised that the difference is so small.

    When I was young there was definitely still an attitude that politics and policies were above women's pay grade, and so many women took their attitudes from the MSM and the BBC. I know the MSM (including TV) is still pushing personality based propaganda but I was wondering if access to the internet has made any difference. I am curious if the difference applies across all age groups but I cannot find any statistics.

    It would be much more healthy for democracy and the country if we got away from the cult of personalities, and to that end I recommend this site.

    http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/

    You may wish to wait until they extend coverage to SNP, Plaid, & NI.

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    1. I agree with you to a certain extent BJS, but personalities do come into politics.

      I understand that everything has been dumbed down in the last 10 years or so...perhaps more. The royals have become a soap opera, and it is to their benefit, because Kate Middleton having babies is much more acceptable to the populace than the Queen trying to get money set aside for the poor, to heat the palaces, or changing the laws on apprenticeships to suit her own households.

      And that's bad. In a televisual age, we have come to care more about what people look like than what their substance is... and yes, in the case of Blair for example, the personality projected... young(ish) man, educated, good looking, kids, "call em Tony" (get rid of the stuffiness of the establishment)... was hiding a nasty right-wing warmonger, who seems only to have cared about his own greatness, and wealth.

      Yet, personality does matter in a leader.

      Maybe if we had known what lay under the smiles and glad handing of Blair in 1995, we'd have be more careful...

      On the other hand, the alternative was more John Major!

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    2. PS. I bookmarked that site.

      At the moment it's, as you said, a site for English based parties, but it will be interesting when they add the Scottish Welsh and Irish parties.

      Thanks.

      Delete
  9. Greetings, civilisation, hope you are all well and had a grand capitalist Christmas. I notice the only one who missed me whilst on my travels was my dear friend, Niko! However, I though I'd have a wee(?) dram to wish you and yours all a great New Year. Now what sensation will I select? Buckie or Bunnahabain? Bunnahabain is it, then! Slainte agus bliadhna mhath ur! That went down well, shall I have another........?

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    1. 4.06 is a tad early for seeing the new year in is it not, John... or does the year start early in the wild wilderness in which you reside?

      I think if you rread back carefully, you'll find a few references to you being missing from your friend Tris... but if you prefer to only read Niko's comments, that is, of course, your business.

      However, in the spirit of this time of the year, Munguin and I will have a Bunnahabain with you... Pour them out. (Munguin likes a double.)

      Delete
    2. It's never too early, hic!
      A fine choice of malt. Alas, my favourite malt is now verboten, as the bastards that own the distillery declared for No. :-(

      A happy new year to all that frequent this den of moral degeneration.

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    3. Bonne année

      Indépendence

      and other seditious, but democratic, stuff.

      Delete
    4. Jutie... I know a couple of people who have stopped their favourite tipple becasue of that... Laugh is, where were they going to move to?

      Munguin takes exception to the moral degradation comment, but only because he's not quite sure what it means!

      Happy New Year :)

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    5. I wondering who it is you think could wait until 2016 CH????

      John?


      Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...

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    6. Et oui, bonne année à toi aussi...Panda.

      with plenty of seditious democratic stuff....

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  10. Juteman

    Who owns Highland Park?

    otherwise, go for a Suntory owned malt.

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  11. A happy 2015 when it arrives.

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    1. And the same to you Marcia. May it bring everything you want.

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  12. Replies
    1. Have a good night Conan...

      See you in '15!

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