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We need a Scottish Parliament election thread

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  1. gembo
    Member

    PArties implode over time

    Keir Hardie started as a liberal and was accused (with some proof) of accepting Tory Gold.

    I had tremendous Zoom with Prof Big Whyte who is organising the protection of the rolling contract staff and being criticised by UCULeft/SWP for arguing for salary cap on professorial salaries, including his own. SWP do not like this. Alex Callinicos who inherited the SWP from Tony Cliff is a professor, did you know,, his salary will pay for the paper. If only selling the Socialist Worker on a picket line could lead to a general strike and then a revolution.

    Is wee Nicky now spinning they fell out as she refused to collude in a cover up?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    “Something very odd has happened and the question is what.”

    I think some things is more likely.

    But?

    To what extent was/is it individuals with personal reasons? To what extent (if any) they have been ‘encouraged’ or hijacked is not clear.

    Was/is there any fear that AS could ’return’? IF so, was that likely - or worth worrying about?

    Of course there are the other suggestions - ‘NS is a Unionist plant’ and/or ‘just the usual deep state/Westminster Establishment sowing discord to remain in power’.

    More credible (and visible) are SNP internal divisions about tactics for progressing the Independence cause - and the optimum pace. Covid has messed that up and made (some people’s) frustration sharper.

    That said, it’s also clear that non-party SG officials have been involved throughout.

    The joint/separate involvement/actions of the senior married couple are less than transparent.

    Events involving AW and JC just add to the complication, confusion and murk.

    Do I care (about all this)? Fundamentally no.

    Do I want a competent set of governments (down to local level) to deal with current problems and (more importantly perhaps) future ones?

    Yes.

    Do I expect any particular party or group of individuals to deliver?

    Mmm

    Posted 4 years ago #

  3. gembo
    Member

    Attempts to resurrect career of former anti-Semite Neale Hanvey have crashed and burned after a week.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  4. SRD
    Moderator

    Alex Callinicos is Zimbabwean. just saying.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  5. gembo
    Member

    @SRD this I did not know. Is he prof of sociology at Birbeck? Googled, prof of European Stiudies at Kings College London

    Stone me, his grand papa was the Second Lord Acton (liberal party)

    Posted 4 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    No idea if this is relevant here.

    “

    Evidence of the monarch’s lobbying of ministers was uncovered by a Guardian investigation into the royal family’s use of an arcane parliamentary procedure, known as Queen’s consent, to secretly influence the formation of British laws.

    ...

    But documents unearthed in the National Archives, which the Guardian is publishing this week, suggest that the consent process, which gives the Queen and her lawyers advance sight of bills coming into parliament, has enabled her to secretly lobby for legislative changes.

    “

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-queen-lobbied-for-change-in-law-to-hide-her-private-wealth

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/how-archaic-process-of-queens-consent-is-still-used-on-modern-laws

    Posted 4 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    “

    Britain’s enemies are attempting to use social media to tear the “fabric of society apart”, one of the country’s top generals has warned.

    ...

    Sanders’ comments came after a report published last year by MPs on the intelligence and security committee found there had been “credible open source commentary” suggesting Russia tried to influence the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

    “

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/07/uks-enemies-trying-to-tear-society-apart-via-social-media

    Posted 4 years ago #

  8. crowriver
    Member

    Ah yes, that explains why the Scots want to break away. Nothing to do with how we've been treated for decades, no no. Not a scintilla of democratic deficit in the Union, no. Brexit has nowt to do with it either. Must be the pesky Russians and Chinese.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    The UK of GB[&NI] has a long history of overthrowing governments it objects to so I suppose they start from the assumption that everyone else does the same and maybe they are correct? Except for Iceland and Ireland and Costa Rica and....

    Posted 4 years ago #

  10. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Mr Salmond will not give evidence to the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, that is on his mistreatment by the Scottish Government.

    He would have had to swear to tell the whole truth but if he did that he'd have been prosecuted for breaking the confidentially order protecting the identity of one of the people behind his mistreatment. Contempt of court or perjury: take your pick.

    Beautiful bit of Kafkaesque machination.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  11. crowriver
    Member

    "Except for.....Ireland "

    Well the Irish government might not have tried to actively overthrow the UK government, but Ireland as a polity...? Hmm.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Ireland the state never attacked anyone to my knowledge? Might have turned a couple of blind eyes to various things in the north of that island?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  13. gembo
    Member

    Kenny Mackaskill on C4 news was perhaps breaking in some new teeth as his pronounciation of ahhhlso and Scahhhtland were odd

    Though he did reference GUBU. Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre Unprecedented which is always worth a look see. Warning violent Irish murder

    Posted 4 years ago #

  14. LaidBack
    Member

    I wonder what viewers in England make of this somewhat involved story? Think Kenny was suggesting that Holyrood has higher standards than the museum in London. Compared the case to one with a murder in Ireland which I found melodramatic.
    (I only had sound on as TV is kept upstairs)
    Mentioned that Scotland has other pro-Indy parties - is he thinking of moving to one?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  15. crowriver
    Member

    "Might have turned a couple of blind eyes to various things"

    Well the British state is on record as having actively helped or enabled "various things" on the other side during The Troubles, so fair enough I suppose.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  16. crowriver
    Member

    Also Irish President (and Taoiseach) De Valera literally fought the British in 1916, and he was later political head of the anti-treaty faction which included the IRA. So, not while he was head of the government, but on his way there he certainly attacked the Brits. Not that I have a problem with that...

    Posted 4 years ago #

  17. minus six
    Member

    Well the British state is on record as having actively helped or enabled "various things" on the other side during The Troubles

    like enabling UVF death squads in the eighties

    ensuring we were legitimate targets while working in london

    Posted 4 years ago #

  18. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @crowriver

    But De Valera was as British as you or I at the time? I was referring to Ireland the modern state, post Irish Free State. They leave folks alone by and large.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    I see on BBC website a man who left the following review on Trust Pilot

    just another scam solicitor

    Has been fined £25k

    Judge had strange Masonic sounding name that might have been a misprint

    judge Master David Judge. (Not real surname)

    Posted 4 years ago #

  20. crowriver
    Member

    @IWRATS, that's certainly true. Ireland neutral in most things military, as I suggest should be an independent Scotland. However most Snippers seem to think doing a Norway and joining NATO/hosting US bombers to "send a message to Russia" is the way forward...

    Posted 4 years ago #

  21. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I think Stewart McDonald quite fancies taking the salute as the missile transporters parade down Princes Street but we can ignore him. Seems to have been selected as some kind of obscure joke.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  22. crowriver
    Member

    P.S.:- The only "message" Norway sends to Russia by hosting US strategic bombers is "don't forget to nuke us first on your way to the US". See also Faslane.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    So the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints has run into the long grass, as one might imagine it was intended to.

    They decided they couldn't publish and therefore couldn't consider the evidence submitted by the person the Scottish Government designed an unlawful retrospective rulebook to ensnare. That because of the Section 11 order covering the identity of a person at the heart of the Scottish Government.

    That evidence is freely available on the internets to anybody remotely curious. As is the identity of the protected person due to jigsaw identification by the Crown Office.

    Whole thing's totally mad.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  24. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19076639.alex-salmond-inquiry-chair-linda-fabiani-tells-former-fm-chance/

    Posted 4 years ago #

  25. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    When did Andy Wightman become a 'Nationalist'?

    The outrageous demands made by Mr Salmond are all detailed in the letter from his solicitors to the committee on the Parliament website.

    404 - File or directory not found. How curious.

    Have to use the copy on Wings then.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  26. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-tories-face-cronyism-accusations-after-ps150000-donor-wins-lothians-list-seat-endorsement-3128233

    Posted 4 years ago #

  27. gembo
    Member

    How does this tory crony differ from other tory cronies?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  28. chdot
    Admin

    Dunno, except it’s usually (allegedly) for business or personal (like ‘honours’) benefit.

    This is (apparently) a different sort of benefit/opportunity.

    May backfire.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  29. crowriver
    Member

    If this were to happen in any other country, Brit journos would call it corruption. But here, apparently it's merely cronyism, which I understood to be about who is friends with who, rather than who "donated" to who.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  30. chdot
    Admin

    “

    The Holyrood inquiry into the Scottish government’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond is in crisis after deep divisions emerged over publication of his evidence to the investigation.

    During a tense four-hour private meeting on Tuesday, the nine-strong committee voted by five to four against publishing a statement that Salmond says is an essential part of his case alleging that Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code.

    “

    It says here -

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/09/holyrood-inquiry-split-over-publication-of-alex-salmond-evidence

    Posted 4 years ago #

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