@chdot
Look in the comments. NEC member; 'Option 1.....BUT OPTION 2 REALLY'.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
CEC election 2017 (May 4th)
(1269 posts)-
Posted 7 years ago #
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"Seems to think reducing urban car use is a vote winner"
Should be a vote winner - SHOULDN'T be a party issue.
This time round there will be no Burns and Hinds - they have helped to keep some of their councillor colleagues 'in line' to not oppose the increases in the cycle budget to 10%.
The SNP part of the Capital Coalition has gone along with this.
After the election, who knows.
'National' politics will definitely affect the way many people vote - 'Lab terrible', 'SNP BAD', 'Ruth not bad for a Tory', 'do/not want Brexit/IndyRef2' etc.
At least everyone has more than one vote and the Edinburgh electorate is allegedly sophisticated...
Vote/don't vote. Vote for/against the rosette. Vote for a person. Vote for one, more, none of the above.
Afterwards of course is when things are clearer. Who got elected, which party/ies can be a majority/minority/coalition administration.
At the last CEC election I managed to predict the seats per party numbers correctly (judgement plus luck - I didn't get some actual councillors right).
This time, too difficult. I expect the Greens to get more seats, if only because there are more seats with four councillors. That's not to say that all wards with an addition will get a Green councillor.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"Look in the comments. NEC member; 'Option 1.....BUT OPTION 2 REALLY'."
Can't see, deleted?
Some entertaining comments (higher class than EN), can't tell how many are from Labour sympathisers!
Posted 7 years ago # -
Bots who are labour sympathisers?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Can't see, deleted?
No - think he's referring to the post by DrScottThinks: "Option 1 with a clear statement opposing #IndyRef2."
Posted 7 years ago # -
"
17-year-old Labour activist Ben McKinlay says while there is a time and a place for constitutional debate we have to stop it dominating Scottish politics, and especially the upcoming local elections.
"
http://labourhame.com/dont-let-the-constitution-be-a-distraction-from-local-elections/
Posted 7 years ago # -
"Bots who are labour sympathisers?"
Is that possible?!
Posted 7 years ago # -
"think he's referring to the post by DrScottThinks"
OK, don't know if he is 'NEC member' or not.
"
I have lived in Colinton/Fairmilehead for 15 years and cycle the length of the ward every day on the way to work.
"
Posted 7 years ago # -
@chdot
Yes, I was lampooning DrScottThinks cos what else can you do? He is on Scottish NEC.
Many of the articles are thunderous 'the electorate must come to its senses now or face a future without us' things. Mark Lazarowicz an honourable exception.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"Mark Lazarowicz an honourable exception"
He was (for a short time) CEC Transport Convenor. Presume he's still a Spokes member.
Is less tribal than most/too many Labour insiders/supporters - so is probably 'out of step' with whatever passes for groupthink.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I see from Dr Scott's blog that he is a cyborg. This explains some anomalies I detected in 2014.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The old rule of thumb was that if you had to tell people you have a PhD then you don't deserve it.
Possibly different in the Hawaiian shirt wearing cyborg community?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Of course this is NOT Edinburgh -
"
A CITY architect will be appointed if the SNP wins control of the council this year, the party has said.
The post, inspired by the success of Copenhagen and other cities in Europe, would oversee new developments and promote quality public spaces.
"
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/15126653.City_Architect_idea_to_make_Glasgow_wonderful
Don't think giving anyone a new (revived) title will make much difference.
Edinburgh used to have a City Design Champion, but it's good that the SNP/Glasgow is thinking about 'being more like Copenhagen'.
Posted 7 years ago # -
This is about the tram project (and arms-length company tie,) but the whole business of what councillors need to/should know is always an issue.
"
“Sometimes it is difficult to know what information should be given to councillors – it can be a difficult line between what is operational and what is a policy matter.
“But it does seem there were certainly some people in the council who knew things we as senior councillors were not told.”
"
I know councillors who (I think) should know better, being persuaded that things are 'operational, not policy' - so they 'don't interfere', when they should be demonstrating that they want things done differently (and they are the elected people with some sort of mandate).
The power dynamic between politicians and civil servants/officials is fairly universal, but there are many instances where 'Edinburgh' has been badly served.
Of course they are also examples where officials have done things without explicit approval resulting in good outcomes that politicians can take some credit for.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Different PR/voting system but article has some relevance to LA election.
"
“The main reason why the SNP lost out was that the party failed to win a number of key constituency contests - in particular, two in Edinburgh and one in Fife, Aberdeenshire and Dumbarton - that the party should have won, given the national swing.
"
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-lost-majority-not-caused-by-green-list-vote-1-4379746
Posted 7 years ago # -
A city architect for Glasgow - yeah, that usually works out pretty well:
Posted 7 years ago # -
"
Meanwhile, among those who are certain to vote in May’s Scottish council elections, 46% said they would back the SNP, with the Conservatives coming in second place with 19% support, ahead of Labour on 17%, the Greens on 8% and the Liberal Democrats on 6%. Ukip, the pro-Brexit party, polled 3%.
"
Posted 7 years ago # -
If that poll was reflected in CEC seats it would be 29, 12, 11, 5, 4.
Don't think SNP likely to get even as many as 25 (but who knows!)
A coalition would need 32 seats for a majority.
I think something like 23, 15, 15, 7, 3 more likely
On that basis SNP/Lab continuation possible/likely - if there are the personalities to broker some sort of deal. It's to be hoped that a majority of SNP councillors 'like' the idea of ActiveTravel
IF Tories get more seats than Lab, then SNP/Tory coalition would be interesting...
Posted 7 years ago # -
This assumes that the the Russians really care which party is in power in Westminster. Why would they?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Every national government works to further its own interests. This can be through bi-lateral co-operation, working through international bodies, diplomacy or other means. The Russians aren't really interested in which party is in power - they are interested in whoever is in power pursuing policies that are to their benefit.
The last year has been a belter for Russia - the election of Trump and Brexit have stopped any eastern expansion of the EU, taken the heat off action in Ukraine and Syria and generally thrown western democratic institutions into something resembling chaos. This is all to the benefit of Russia. Did Russia cause all this - no. We would be daft to think they didn't try and help it all along though.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The article says "Attacks against our democratic processes go beyond this and can include attacks on parliament, constituency offices, thinktanks and pressure groups and individuals’ email accounts.”
But again, why would the Russians bother? What would be the benefit to Putin of hacking the account of some local MP or consituency office? Aren't we all just going along with officially-led paranoia about this? Of course the Russians are no angels, but no doubt we're doing our best to hack Putin's communications too - and I doubt if we're bothering to try to hack the communications of the member for Nullograd South. Anti-hacking advice may help keep us safe from old-fashioned criminally motivated hacking, so I'm all for it - not because of some largely imaginary danger from the Russians or whoever this week's foreign villain happens to be.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Or how about this:?
"GCHQ makes up its own fake news to further its own interests"
"GCHQ makes up the latest 'threat' to the UK to justify its own existence, justify more funding, etc."
After all they can't be questioned or held-accountable by anyone, since that would "jeopardise national security"
Posted 7 years ago # -
Each side's spies make work for each other, whilst enjoying getting one over on the opposition...
It's long been common practice for them to dig up/create dirt on individuals who it may be useful to have influence over both now and in the future. Now the internet lets you do that from the comfort of your own laptop, it must be an efficient way of yanking chains and puling strings; and MPs are a relatively small group that have a reasonably high chance of being influential (even the wild-eyed career backbenchers, as recent events have shown).
Posted 7 years ago # -
Clearly it's an international conspiracy -
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/11/farage-assange-shameless-illiberal-alliance
Posted 7 years ago # -
Just spent a very entertaining 15 minutes teasing the local Tory candidate who says he is quietly confident. Ward going from 3 to 4 seats so maybe he is right.
His final question was a cracker.
If not giving my first vote to conservative (correct) would I give my second vote to conservative or SNP. (SNP)
Asked him about nick Cook, told him about 20mph helping fuel consumption as not braking nor accelerating. I think he will ignore that and continue agreeing with the frothers about 20mph on slateford road.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago #
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Wot straight into the bin?
Posted 7 years ago # -
I posted this just for you. It's a good shot, chdot.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Don't know what to say!
Posted 7 years ago #
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