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And now? (Not the White Paper thread)

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  1. Instography
    Member

    Not sure I can really see how a Scottish paper called The National will hold the Scottish National Party to account. Seems to have aligned itself pretty closely.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  2. crowriver
    Member

    "UKIP mania is now the main thing now that the 'problem in the north' has been seen off!"

    Just as I. and others, predicted.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  3. chdot
    Admin

    I predict UKIP will get nearly 10 MPs next year and SNP about 20.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  4. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    First past the post really is a wretched voting system.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  5. crowriver
    Member

    @chdot, sounds about right.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  6. chdot
    Admin

    "

    ALISTAIR Darling has warned that handing full power over income tax to Holyrood would increase borrowing costs for the entire UK and end in a “flood of tears”.

    "

    http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/alistair-darling-warns-over-income-tax-devolution-1-3614003

    Posted 9 years ago #
  7. le_soigneur
    Member

    Going by the first edition, The National is worth 30p a day - quite a good profile of Hassan Rouhani, pieces on the Clutha Bar & Radical independence giving as much prominence to the Green Party as the SNP.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  8. chdot
    Admin

    "The National is worth 30p a day"

    Presume you got the digital version.

    Good 'experience'?

    Posted 9 years ago #
  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    The BBC is entirely neutral in the matter of the selection of the next controller of the Scottish accounting unit of the Labour party;

    http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/79247000/jpg/_79247534_hi024849373.jpg

    I love the forthcoming quote from the next controller in the article;

    He will add: "Even before the Smith Commission reports, we should agree to the full devolution of income tax to Scotland, if that is what emerges."

    Time itself bends to Mr Murphy's will....the force is strong in him.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-30187369

    Posted 9 years ago #
  10. le_soigneur
    Member

    @chdot Yes, good enough for me to sign up for more.

    It would be nice to be able to subscribe to more than 5 editions at a time. At least they can't be accused of trying to lull you into an annual subscription by default :)

    Posted 9 years ago #
  11. chdot
    Admin

    "

    George Foulkes (@GeorgeFoulkes)
    26/11/2014 10:42
    @GeorgeFoulkes has been appointed Honorary Treasurer of charity @ClimateParl a global network of legislators concerned about climate change

    "

    Posted 9 years ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

    "

    'Radical' Scottish land reform announced

    "

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-30193791

    Posted 9 years ago #
  13. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Radical would be removing CAP subsidies to grouse and deer playgrounds. Radical would be setting a limit on the amount of land one legal entity can own. Radical would be challenging laws that retrospectively legalised land grabs after the clearances. Don't suppose the House of Lords would play nice on that though.

    It's a start, by our little parliament.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  14. chdot
    Admin

  15. chdot
    Admin

  16. chdot
    Admin

  17. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    So every time I think the last vestige of my trust in British institutions has been crushed into the ground by experience I keep finding spare atoms that are yet to be anihilated.

    BBC R4 Today programme has a ten minute slot on the Smith Commission. Scotland has three parties of government sitting in two parliaments - Conservative and Unionist, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National. The commission has an eloquent chair. So who gets ten minutes of softball questions without one mention of the block grant or Barnett? The Westminster Labour MP for East Renfrewshire Jim Murphy.

    Why him? He holds no position of note and has never spoken to the Smith Commission. Answers on a Union Jack please.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  18. SRD
    Moderator

    @LivingStreetsEd: MT @axfou: paras 65-67 on devolution of speed limits, traffic signage and transport police. Good news for cycling + pedestrians !

    Posted 9 years ago #
  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

  20. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Smith Report clearly gibberish just five pages in;

    "The Scottish Parliament will be made permanent in UK legislation and given powers over
    how it is elected and run. The Scottish Government will similarly be made permanent."

    There exists no mechanism to make any legislation permanent in the United Kingdom. Not unless the constitution is to be altered wholesale and written down.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  21. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Interesting take on the Smith Commission's tax parts;

    http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2014/11/27/scotlands-tax-solution-is-the-worst-possible-for-everyone/

    Technically incorrect about money creation - that's done by commercial banks, not the state - but still interesting.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  22. Instography
    Member

    I think he's wrong about the role of income tax. What he describes in his six purposes may apply to tax as a whole but not specifically to income tax. But he also doesn't seem to acknowledge that the position he describes as the worst possible outcome was the position proposed by the Scottish Government for independence. Scotland would have control over revenue raising but the control over money - monetary policy, banking regulation etc - would remain with Westminster. I understand that he favoured a different position but he could at least acknowledge that on this the SNP has got what it wanted.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Instography

    Not sure where the SNP come into it.

    "In saying so I stress I was in favour of independence and felt Scotland should have embraced its own currency: little else made sense in September."

    Posted 9 years ago #
  24. Instography
    Member

    Maybe I've just been reading too many comments from Nicola and Swinney about how rubbish the Commission's report is, ignoring the fact that they were on the Commission and presumably agreed the report. They come into it because the tone of his article reads to me like this is the fault of the Smith Commission and not what would have happened if Scotland had voted Yes. So, if it's the worst possible outcome now, it was also the worst possible outcome then.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  25. chdot
    Admin

    "Why him?"

    Simple answer is that he is the most pushy of current candidates for leadership of the 'SLP'.

    But no obvious answer as to why he got so much time on Today.

    When he gets elected (well some people will be voting because 'he is the best of the three' others 'because he is the worst'...) he will have trouble controlling "events" - even more than whatever remains of 'his' party -

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/scottish-independence/smith-commission-labour-anger-grows-at-milibands-uturn-on-ceding-powers-to-holyrood-9888619.html

    Posted 9 years ago #
  26. chdot
    Admin

    "

    The Smith Commission thought it had agreement on powers for much more flexibility on Universal Credit in Scotland. Then, late in the day, Whitehall started a push-back.

    "

    http://blogs.channel4.com/gary-gibbon-on-politics/breakneck-speed-uk-takes-shape/29731

    Posted 9 years ago #
  27. chdot
    Admin

    As seen on Twitter (don't know who did it).

    Posted 9 years ago #
  28. Instography
    Member

    Do they spell out what their pie segments are based on?

    Posted 9 years ago #
  29. The Boy
    Member

    It's a twittershop. Of course they don't.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  30. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    "Simple answer is that he is the most pushy of current candidates for leadership of the 'SLP'."

    That would explain why he was pestering the BBC to get on, but not why they chose him.

    The choice revealed either astonishing political naivety or open political collusion. Did the representative of Her Majesty's Government in Scotland Alastair Carmichael not wish to express himself? The First Minister herself? The Prime Minister? The Deputy Prime Minister? The leader of Her Majesty's Opposition? The High Steward of Scotland? None of those had a view on these proposed new constitutional arrangements so it was left to a backbench opposition MP?

    Posted 9 years ago #

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