If you wrote a farce based on these people, producers would tell you to go away and try again.
The will of the Scottish people they are always on about seems to be of much less importance sometimes.
British Rights. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oxymoronic.
Pretty much sums it up.
I'm sure Kez is on it now.
I tweeted this to the Met. If Wings is in trouble for calling the McFadyen hack from the Daily Diana 'a disgrace', shouldn't these people be in prison for plotting assassination? Certainly, I'd be wanting to know what Kemp had cooking.
Says the man who's never been right about anything, ever. A failure on several continents. I bet when someone asks if he wants tea or coffee he calls it wrong!
...Despite the purge of anyone suspect, including people who had been members for over 50 years. So first off, Congratulations Mr Corbyn.
SO NOW WHERE TO?
Where does this leave Labour? And for us in Scotland, perhaps more importantly, where does that leave Kezia?
Will the rebels accept the 'settled will' of the membership, or what's left of it now it has been purged? Or will there be another rebellion next year? And will they, this time, find someone a little more credible to put up as leader? (With respect neither Eagle nor Smith seemed to me to be remotely likely to win a general election. Both were decidedly third rate.) But there are potential leaders on the right of Labour, not least Hilary Benn or the guy that lost to Ed Miliband, his brother, David. Will someone like Benn be prepared to put himself forward, for possible humiliation, against a man who has twice won with massive majorities, in a party that seems to be set on returning to a left of centre politics? And would Miliband give up his massive salary in New York to possibly be humiliated again and be left as a mere MP on a fraction of what he now earns? Or will the right wingers leave Labour and elect their own leader as New Labour, or even New Improved Labour? (Now don't laugh. Persil has been doing it for years.) Possibly leaving the current Labour party as a rump, while New Sparkling Labour forms the official opposition, but with few members and no money. Will Kezia be saved by the apparent fact that Scotland was the only "region" to vote for Smith? Or by the fact that in an amazing volte-face, she now thinks he's the man to lead Labour to a UK election win?
And what will happen to the ex-Shadow Secretary of State? Will he, like his boss, (*is she his boss or is Jeremy his boss?) suck up to the man they think is a disaster, or will he remain a rebel and maybe even stand himself next year? (Well we all need a laugh!) * Quick question to Niko: If Labour in Scotland has autonomy, and they disagree about something, what does the ex-SoS do as Scotland's only Labour MP? Is he whipped with English and Welsh MPs or as a Scottish MP of Kezia?
Kez's speech put a brave face on it, but clearly, as the pictures show, her heart isn't in it. How long will all this mess last and what will be the outcome? Over to the brilliance of Munguin's readership...
There is a well-known PR aphorism. If you tell people not to think about pink elephants, under no circumstances think about pink elephants, then guess what is the one thing they can’t stop thinking about?
No matter how much you try NOT to think about pink elephants and how much effort you expend, pink elephants are all that you can think of.
(I so pinched that from Soppy Sunday – just the cutest little orang ever)
That’s why media trainers get their clients to focus on what issues they want to get across, don’t mention anything they want to avoid talking about and ignore any attempts by interviewers to derail them. Which makes the Ruth Davidson aka Conservative and Unionist Party’s constant banging on about a second independence referendum all the more puzzling. Granted the SNP have just launched their “listening exercise” but the Ruth Davidson party have been banging on about independence for much longer than that.
Still, it makes you wonder who their comms person is and what they are playing at. Maybe they think they can scunner us by mentioning it so often we are sick of the sound of the phrase “indyref2”.
But solid Nos will never vote Yes, solid Yessers can never hear the phrase often enough and that just leaves the devo-maxers for whom never have so many been promised so much for so long with no sight of it ever happening (to misquote Churchhill who was once the MP for Dundee. I can only assume it was once a very different place. Perhaps Munguin can advise?)*
Gordon Broon has been back saying we need devo-max despite him telling us previously it had already been delivered. We’d ask him to clarify if we cared what he thought. Except we would not be allowed to – his pronouncements are delivered at invitation only events and the only way to get an invite is to be the type of person who’d never ask him why he did nothing about it when he had the power.
Speaking of comms types, Kezia has a new comms director, Alan Roden (the t is silent). He comes straight from the Daily Mail. So if you ever thought BLiS press release were incoherent ramblings, it least now you can amuse yourself looking for Daily Mail influences. Leggy pins, ample assets, washboard abs and bikini ready body being several of the more erudite phrases associated with that newspaper (sic).
It’s been said he’s not as right wing as his former employers but is very anti-SNP and ultra-unionist which suggests Kezia is trying to get the loyalist vote back from the Ruth Davidson party. The problem is that like or loathe her Ruth is better at what she does than Kezia, at least at the moment.
That said Kezia did speak well when attacking the Tories for their part in Brexit and EVEL (watch from about 5.45 in).
That was a very interesting debate as one by one EVERY leader stood up and gave the Tories pelters. And Ruth had no option but to just sit and take it. Now if only they could all, but particularly Labour who have been played like a fiddle by the Tories, realise that the Tories are the real enemy and attacked their policies (In Wales they talk about Tory cuts in the Senedd which may not be unconnected to the fact they have a Labour led administration. But in Scotland it’s SNP cuts obviously!) more often then we might have an opposition that is a damn sight more credible.
Yes, when the SNP does wrong, point that out, heck even suggest how they might get it right. Thing is the SNP might even adopt the suggestion. Which is great. Until the Bain principle means you don’t support your own suggestions and spout SNP bad instead and another couple of voters leave for the SNP or the Tories depending on their inclinations. That’s why you came third in seats if not votes. Still I suppose it is asking too much for Labour to fight the Tories, they have to conserve their energies for fighting each other and their membership.
It won’t be long now until the Labour leadership results are out (probably sooner than we think given the number of folk that have been banned from voting). It appears likely Corbyn will win again. If the membership has any sense the CLPs will then start deselecting the Blairities. Because if a house divided can’t stand, then a party where the MPs don’t represent the members view’s or support their leader is one that will never get elected. And until independence, that means more Tory governments we don’t want. And that is the elephant in the room for soft Nos – pink or otherwise.
*Ed note: Winston Churchill was indeed MP in Dundee from 1908-1922 in a multi-member constituency he shared with a Labour member; Churchill himself found it convenient to be a Liberal at that point. He was replaced, ironically, by a Temperance supporting MP (Edwin Scrymgeour of the Scottish Prohibition Party) in 1922. I understand that as an MP he was not particularly useful, spending his rare visits to the area visiting relations, the Earl and Countess of Airlie at their nearby castle. Interestingly he was daft enough to blank the owner of the local press, D C Thomson, when they met in the town one day. Mr Thomson was accustomed to greater respect and returned forthwith to his office to declare that Churchill should not again be referred to by name in any of his newspapers, as indeed he was not until he became prime minister and won the war single handed.
Hmmmm, perhaps it would be a little troubling if your own imagined character DIDN'T agree with you.
Certainly the person who brought your imagined character to life isn't really with you on the Corbyn issue.
No no, I'm just recycling the old ones. You lot are far too dim to notice.
Nuff said.
Power at any cost?
Scotland flag at a peaceful demonstration in Palestine
And again...
The need to be more Tory than the Tories is worrying.
So, that sounds not too bad then...
The argument for the London assembly to discuss and debate is strong, and the use of Royal Prerogative may seem weak, but the conditions appear to have been clearly laid out PRIOR to the vote.
So other countries do have them... but not quite so many.
So what rights exactly do the Tories want to get rid of? Or is it their ever present hatred of anything that isn't British (or American) that makes this such a priority, even to the point of risking the Good Friday Agreement?
But be 5 minutes late for an appointment with the DWP, and there will soon be action taken.
Fortunately Labour hasn't wasted the last few years fighting over their leadership.But wait...isn't crime down? Isn't there record satisfaction with the health service? So maybe the time was being used wisely. And, by comparison, how's that all going in the UK? Jeremy Hunt? How're the crime figures in England and Wales again? Real change now would be for them to stop stabbing each other in the back.
Dear Monica, Have you ever organised one of these events? I ask, because I have and I know what it involves. And what happens is that the organisation requests certain things of the minister or official. Will you open our new wing; talk to our staff/pupils/6th form or whatever? Oh and would you sign the book on the way out, or say a few words over our new library... or whatever! Normally the minister/official does his/her best to comply with as many of these requests as limited time will allow. Jack McConnell and Margaret Curran (separately) were both most accommodating to our requests when they visited our premises to talk about career opportunities for people living in areas of multiple deprivation. I suspect that in this case the head teacher requested that the First Minister give up 5 minutes to have a few selfies with the girls she was talking to about equality in careers. In fairness, regardless of your politics, Nicola must be a bit of a role model for a teenage girl who wants to make a career for herself. And the FM, being the kind of person who will always make time in her day if she can, agreed. You have to wonder if Ms Dugdale would have said ... "NO, I'm far too important and busy to take selfies with school children". And the answer is, no, of course she wouldn't. Just like Nicola she'd have said "Yes of course I will". If you want to have a go at the first minister try to up your game a bit, Monica. Try politics for example. Don't quibble about 5 minutes of Nicola's time. It makes you look incredibly petty. And most of all don't pick on something that your own leader would have readily agreed to. That just makes you look silly. Maybe one day someone will ask YOU to be in a selfie. Yours sincerely Tris
I'm not going to be getting into the rights and wrongs of an English railway company's policy in transferring responsibility for the opening and closing of doors on their trains, becasue frankly I don't know enough about how they operate to make an informed decision on safety, or on the likelihood of the guards being paid off, or having their hourly rate reduced, because of lower levels of responsibility. But I really never thought to see a Labour man encourage the Tories to crush the unions, unless of course he thought that in highlighting the problem he could perhaps encourage some votes for Mr Corbyn to transfer to the right winger Owen Whatsit.
I wonder what McTernan does for a living these days. I know hewas employed by Jim Murphy in the run up to, and the duration of, his extremely brief period as leader of the Scottish branch office. What happened when Murphy was, shall we say, less than successful in that role, is unclear, but McTernan seemed to be persona non grata at the court of Kez. And who could wonder at that...she didn't have 40 seats to lose. (Although even without McTernan's help she managed to lose 13!) He now writes a column for the mad twins at the Daily Telegraph, but we suspect that that would hardly keep body and soul together. Private Eye reported that the remuneration for his ex-colleague, "Bomber" Tom Harris, doing exactly the same job, was as little as £20,000. He is also an "associate" of this organisation! But who knows. Maybe McTeacake has desires to return to the front line. And why not the Tory Party? After all he can be credited with a few massive coups for them already as Scottish Labour will testify. And... While
describing himself as a "socialist", McTernan has expressed an
extensive range of views inimical to traditional Labour ideology, such as
advocating privatisation of the NHS and London Underground, calling for
the widespread closure of libraries, opposing the Living
Wage, demanding a third invasion of Iraq and opposing
renationalisation of railways, despite those positions being contrary to
official party policy). In 2015 the left-wing Labour MSP Neil Findlay accused
McTernan of being willing to "say anything in the media for money"
And his Wikipedia page(above)shows that his soul is already theirs!
We identified a few eejits last week. There was Braden Davy, who thought that the UK would be able to identify and target military personnel only with a nuclear bomb.
Then there was the Tory party who announced that they would give you a MUG if you gave them £25, becasue people in kitchens and living rooms all over the country wanted the Tories. (People anywhere else don't!) Or something!
Before that there was the Labour party, who have been promising more autonomy to SLAB for as long as there have been ravens in the Tower of London, telling us that Scottish Labour was to get more autonomy. Yawn! Who knows, one day Kez might get to choose whether she wants tea or coffee with her rich Tunnocks tea cake, but don't hold your breath Kez!
At that point John suggested the posts might be named "Identify the Idiot". Munguin liked the idea and approved it at the weekly board meeting (more work for Tris providing the board with champagne, oysters and petits fours).
Without further ado then, I present to you today's example in what will probably be a long series of such articles under John's heading. It still qualifies although it was clearly sent some weeks ago.
Rather obviously removing one of the superfluous sources of the world's nuclear weaponry is unlikely to make the bombing and destruction of another city more likely. Au contraire, I would have thought.
But surely Kezia remembers that her own party members wanted to get rid of Trident and voted for that to be Scottish Labour policy at their conference. Therefore, whether she likes it or not, it is Scottish Labour Party policy (if there is such a thing). Bit silly, but almost believable that she thinks that it's bad that the SNP has that policy, but good that Labour has it.
Possibly of course, she's just grateful that English Labour voted to retain the nukes, and she's just grateful that idiot Scots don't get to call the shots.
Additionally, it might have occurred to her that her boss is also in favour of ditching the beast.
So, you really have to wonder at the stupidity of this tweet:
Please note, John, that the board recommended that there be a small remuneration for this and I'm happy to inform you that the Czech is in the post, or rather on his bike, and on his way to you. Not sure how he'll get across the water as Munguin provided no travel expenses.
SCOTTISH LABOUR TO BE GIVEN GREATER AUTONOMY, AGAIN!
Sorry, Scottish Labour, just how many times have we heard that?
I seem to remember Iain Gray being slapped down for assuming that he had some authority in Scotland. Indeed I recall that he had the temerity to suggest that he was the leader of Labour in Scotland. Gordon Brown was having none of that. HE was the leader of Labour in Scotland, and Mr Gray was the leader of the party in the Scottish parliament. Only the geographical distance between the two saved poor hapless Gray for a Nokia round the lughole!
Then Johann Lamont was to be given real power to steer Scottish Labour in a direction more in line with Scottish sentiment, only to resign after the referendum, complaining that she was kept out of the loop by London, that her staff were sacked without her knowledge, and that she sometimes had to wait weeks for a decision from London on the stance she should take on given situations (by which time they had passed). She said, in short, that it was impossible to run the organisation as a branch office.
Next came the short-lived Jim Murphy, who told anyone who would listen (the BBC probably) that he was his own man and nobody would tell him what to do. Except that they did, and very publicly too! And then Jim lost all but one of Scotland's 41 Labour seats in the UK parliament, most of which had been in their hands for near on 100 years.
Now Kezia Dugdale is to have much more autonomy. Heavens, if each of these leaders got progressively more autonomy, surely Kez must, by now, have more power than the President of China. And Hillary Clinton thinks she's going to be the most powerful woman in the world? Think again, sweetie!
You know, back in the early days of Holyrood there were those who simply assumed that Labour would always form the major part of the government of Scotland. Then over the past few years, that they would always form the main opposition to the government of Scotland.
Now the notion that they will always manage to be the third party is beginning to be in doubt.
I've been known to disagree with the views of Henry McLeish, but on this one why on Earth don't they listen to him. It's the only way forward.
So, tomorrow (or today if you're reading this in Thursday) is election day. Suddenly after what seems like months of campaigning, it's here. There's no doubt that, in terms of news coverage, it has been overshadowed by the British referendum on Europe, which the first ministers of the Celtic nations asked David Cameron to postpone so that the twos sets of campaigns wouldn't coincide, and which he, with customary lack of respect for any of us, refused to do.
Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland just aren't that important to the dodgy one. But for us this is important. How we run health, education, law and order, the environment, transport, and much more... and later in the parliament... a measure of social security and tax policy, will be decided tomorrow (today). This wasn't ever a "pretendy wee parliament", well not unless you lived in England or the Bahamas, or wherever Mr Connelly put his head of an evening, and it's certainly not now. This is real stuff, real politics that affect our every day lives.
And our votes matter.
I've put off writing anything about the election until now, and coming late to the party means that it's difficult to find anything much to say that hasn't been said more eloquently or most authoritatively by others, so sorry if you've read it all before.
Opinion polls show and opposition parties have already conceded that the SNP will be the biggest party in parliament. The Labour Party and the Ruth Davidson Party (formerly know as the Tories) have openly set their sights at being the main opposition party. There's not even been a pretence that they were aiming for Bute House. At least not since Kez said something about wanting Nicola's job and her desk, and then even Labour people shook with laughter. Up and down and round and round they have gone in the polls, battered by scandals from London or Edinburgh: The leader of the RD Party (Dodgy Dave) and the drawn out saga of Daddy's offshore dealings; the Tories tearing themselves apart over Europe; Labour's internal strife over Mr Corbyn; Kezia's consideration of voting for independence in certain circumstances, denied within the hour of her saying it, but jumped on by the leader of the RD party as evidence that they, and only they, were the party of the union, and of course, most recently, the engineered scandal of anti-Semitism in the London party.
So nothing is certain; we just don't know who will come second and who third. No one has had much to say about Wee Willie, but the Liberals will come in 4th or 5th, I expect, if anyone's interested. Patrick Harvie has had a good campaign and he hopes to better his parties 2 seats.
Now as an independentista (I won't call myself a nationalist, because I don't think I am), I've been happy with the idea that Nicola will be returned as First Minister, but I find all the "certainly" a bit worrying. And this is why. If there was thunder and lightning and snow, floods, a volcanic eruption from the Dundee Law, and a tsunami tomorrow, somehow I would go and vote, but not everyone would or will.
Some folk will forget; some people will be too busy; the rain might put some off; the bairn's sick...or that late meeting at work on the night of the club darts competition might mean getting to the polling station is more difficult. And some will say... oh well, it's in the bag anyway, so what will one, or rather two votes matter? So my message is, it's not in the bag. There are constituencies on a very slender majority. Didn't I read somewhere that one constituency had a majority of just 8? Let's not take anything for granted. We need every vote. So please vote and, if you've a neighbour or a friend or relation who has difficulty getting out, make sure you offer them a lift, or contact your local SNP office and ask someone to pick them up.
Every vote counts.
I'm not clever enough by half (or so Munguin says) to write about why both votes should go to the SNP, but if you are in any doubt, both Scot Goes Pop and Wings have written about the dangers of giving your list vote to a tiny minority party.
Like most other bloggers I wouldn't dream of telling anyone how to vote. Everyone has their own views, their own priorities, and everyone will interpret the pros and cons of tactical voting on the list howsoever they see fit. All I can tell you is I'm not gambling with the result. I've read James and Stuart and I know what I'm going to do. I want an SNP government under Nicola Sturgeon, and that is what I will vote for. With both votes. So good luck everyone in your constituencies throughout Scotland. I guess many of us will be awake till the votes come in and we know our future.
Pity it doesn't quite fit with their attitude at the UK elections in May last year when they took a very Tory line on immigration.
Now Munguin's Republic understands that the UK can't accept every single person who is fleeing oppression, war, poverty and destitution or any combination thereof.
(I mean it's not like Brits would ever have had to flee anything like that, is it? Ask the Highlanders, the Irish (Brits at the time) fleeing the famine, or the folks who had the audacity to not wish to change their religion every time the king changed his! Or more recently ask the economic migrants who, after the Second World War, decided that life in America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or South Africa seemed a better bet for their family!)
As the UK felt obliged to involve itself enthusiastically in every single war that has caused these hardships, I think it should be equally enthusiastic about helping to deal with the tide of misery that they and their allies have left behind.
And throwing money at Turkey or Lebanon to continue to house these people in massive concentration camps simply won't cut it. Safer than a war zone they may be, but life is hell there too.
The kids in question, of courses, are not in Turkey or Lebanon. They are in France and in some cases their parents are in the UK. Who knows what horrors they face as children alone. Perhaps the Establishment should be more aware of that than most of us.
But we don't suggest that the UK do what rich countries are doing. The UK can't afford it, although they always have money for a war, which is strange or possibly even magical. Ask Harry Potter.
But surely, when it comes to children, they should pretend that they have hearts instead of cash registers, hard though that might be.
**********
Last year, clearly before she got her state-funded dresser (strange how the Tories don't seem to mind social security when it benefits them!), Mrs Cameron attended the Save the Children Gala (looking like she'd fallen out of the dressing up hamper...you begin to see why Dave got her someone to put on her clothes for her...total embarrassment). Instead of showing any interest in the children needing to be saved, the Daily Mail went into full blown slurping sycophant mode...
Maxi-mum style! Samantha Cameron dazzles in designer floor-length skirt as she attends the Save the Children Winter Gala (Dazzles as in hurts your eyes. Her lady in waiting has a little more class, although probably less money.)
Samantha Cameron wore a vibrant printed skirt at Save the Children ball (yep we can see that!)
She attended Alice in Wonderland-themed night without husband David (Oh, hint hint. Marriage in trouble...remember it's the Daily Mail. Brainless readership with lots of lonely time to fill)
The 44-year-old mother-of-four dazzled in a daring designer outfit (Always get in the age, becasue that's REALLY NEWS, and the fact she's a mother of four and yet still able to go out for a night on the town! Lucky to have all those servants, huh?)
