CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

We need a Scottish Parliament election thread

(1355 posts)

No tags yet.


  1. Rosie
    Member

    @Frenchy - groan. "Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero Energy spent on green transport policies."

    Posted 2 years ago #
  2. SRD
    Moderator

    Fergus Ewing out must be a good thing?

    Posted 2 years ago #
  3. crowriver
    Member

    Every cloud...

    Angus Robertson as Culture minister though? Fiona Hyslop wasn't exactly brilliant in the role, but a former defence spokesman and member of the Intelligence and Security Committee?

    Posted 2 years ago #
  4. crowriver
    Member

    Oh yeah.

    Keith "My Proudest Moment Is Not Paying Multiple Fines For Refusing To Pay Skye Bridge Tolls" Brown as Justice Secretary?

    Someone who literally thinks it's okay to choose which laws they want to obey is Justice Secretary. That's a joke. An ideological one. But a joke nevertheless.

    Almost worse than him being in charge of the Transport brief.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  5. Frenchy
    Member

    Someone who literally thinks it's okay to choose which laws they want to obey is Justice Secretary.

    I (naively?) suspect it's quite hard to find a politician who isn't at least willing to pay lip service to the notion of disobeying unjust laws.

    The problem is, of course, which laws each politician thinks is unjust.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  6. crowriver
    Member

    @Frenchy, which is fine as far as it goes. But putting such a politician in charge of Justice?

    I mean, I know we have a UK Home Secretary who seems to have no qualms about breaking the law. To say nothing of the UK Prime Minister's cavalier attitude. That doesn't mean it's then okay for the Scottish Justice Secretary to not only be okay with their own past lawbreaking (however "unjust" said law may have been or not) but also on record as boasting about breaking the law...

    Posted 2 years ago #
  7. chdot
    Admin

    “okay with their own past lawbreaking (however "unjust" said law may have been or not) but also on record as boasting about breaking the law...“

    Might make him more concerned about good legislation and better enforcement...

    Posted 2 years ago #
  8. crowriver
    Member

    @chdot, I suppose might make them keener to stop people like their former selves from flouting the law. Not sure whether that's good, bad or just hypocritical: poacher turned gamekeeper?

    Posted 2 years ago #
  9. crowriver
    Member

    Maybe folk are politicked out, but still surprised nobody posted this yet.

    ---

    SNP discussing formal cooperation deal with Greens

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57257631

    Posted 2 years ago #
  10. Stickman
    Member

    Tories are replacing Cllr Webber with Graham Hutchison on Transport Committee.

    (Spotted in a motion to council today)

    Posted 2 years ago #
  11. Dave
    Member

    Do we know if Hutchison will be as prone to raising vexatious motions against any kind of cycle lane, while telling the locals how much they support green travel at the same time?

    Posted 2 years ago #
  12. SRD
    Moderator

    his twitter feed is holyrood elections, criticism of hamas rockets, and a 'happy eid'.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  13. Stickman
    Member

    I seem to recall @harts giving him a proper schooling over cycle funding/lane design a while ago.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  14. HankChief
    Member

    His questions in committee are pretty on message for the party he represents, but on local issues I've found him pretty engaging and helpful - in particular the Dalmeny chicanes.

    I got him out on a bike a couple of years ago and he has met with the Gogarburn BUG (which is more than Cllr Lang has done despite being in both of their ward).

    https://twitter.com/hank_chief/status/1043915273345146881?s=19

    https://twitter.com/CllrGrahamHutch/status/1136276411449315328?s=19

    Posted 2 years ago #
  15. gembo
    Member

    Counciloony Veberloonie was the high point of tory looniness in my unhumble opinion

    Posted 2 years ago #
  16. crowriver
    Member

    Ahem, shouldn't most of this be in the CEC Elections thread? Even though the change at the Council is caused by Webber being elected to the Parly...

    Posted 2 years ago #
  17. LaidBack
    Member

    Another day and another sign that the relationship between Scotland and the rUK is changing.

    https://www.thenational.scot/news/19339218.unionist-spin-doctor-paul-sinclair-panned-tweet-attacking-lorna-slater/

    In a tweet from the Scottish Greens, Slater is quoted as saying: “We all saw how Thatcher’s closing of the coal mines abandoned whole communities and left people destitute. We have the option not to do that."

    Sinclair took issue with this statement, tweeting: “Lorna Slater was 15 and living in Canada when Thatcher left office.”

    Many social media users were quick to leap to Slater’s defence, pointing out that “she can read”.

    Others said that the former Labour spin doctor appeared not to have “grasped the concept of studying history”.

    Dr Sara Rich Dorman, a senior political lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, wrote: "Amazingly, I grew up in Canada in the 70s and 80s and knew all about Thatcher’s policies."

    Responding to Sinclair’s post, Scottish Greens media manager Tom Freeman wrote: “Irrelevant. You can still see the impact on the communities abandoned by Thatcher today.

    “Unless Paul’s point is that only people who were born in Scotland should talk about it, which seems pretty blood and soil nationalist to me.”

    Slater herself replied: “Wait until he finds out I've got views on civil rights, women's suffrage, the Highland clearances and imperial colonialism…”

    Posted 2 years ago #
  18. chdot
    Admin

    It is understood nearly all the key policy discussions, around areas such as spending, climate, conservation, transport and local government, are close to being agreed. One source said the two sides “were 95% there, but the last few percentage points are the hardest”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/03/sturgeon-on-brink-cooperation-deal-scottish-greens

    Posted 2 years ago #
  19. chdot
    Admin

  20. SRD
    Moderator

    I find it really odd that they say "a north east MP' instead of 'a conservative MP'?

    Posted 2 years ago #
  21. chdot
    Admin

    Well it is The Courier.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  22. chdot
    Admin

    SNP and Greens agree new power-sharing deal

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-58272209

    Posted 2 years ago #
  23. Frenchy
    Member

    The SNP's national executive committee is due to meet on Saturday and the Greens have scheduled a meeting of their membership for Saturday 28 August.

    Not explicitly mentioned is that SGP members will be voting on whether to accept the proposed deal at that meeting.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  24. chdot
    Admin

    “SGP members will be voting on whether to accept the proposed deal“

    Has been mentioned elsewhere.

    It will be interesting to see how controversial this is with members.

    Many years ago there was the possibility of a similar deal at CEC (with Lab not SNP).

    A Green chairing a committee was an option. A Green Cllr said to me that they wouldn’t exchange principles for “baubles”.

    Things may have changed…

    Posted 2 years ago #
  25. chdot
    Admin

    Previously

    Posted 2 years ago #
  26. Yodhrin
    Member

    @chdot Well, you'd hope they've managed to secure more out of the deal than merely a couple of junior ministerial posts - if they've managed to move the SNP's active travel spending and timetable closer to the Green manifesto for example that'd be good, and if we're being really optimistic it might provide a way for the administration to climb down from their farcical roadbuilding pledges without losing too much face.

    Previously I believed that the Green membership vote might be what scuppers things, but it looks like the "gender critical" wing are coming out of the SNP's woodwork to try and rabble rabble the membership about "undemocratic backroom deals", so it's a toss up whether the Greens will shoot themselves in the foot or the SNP's grump brigade will try to sabotage it.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  27. crowriver
    Member

    The draft agreement and policy platform between the Scottish Greens and the Scottish Government has been published.

    https://greens.scot/sites/default/files/SG%20SGP%20Talks%20-%20Draft%20Policy%20Programme%20-%20FINAL%20-%20OFFSEN.pdf

    Posted 2 years ago #
  28. chdot
    Admin

    Scottish Tory net-zero spokesman Liam Kerr said the Green manifesto from May’s election was a “doctrine to start a war on working Scotland”, after it proposed a move away from North Sea oil and gas, and the end of new road-building projects.

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-greens-deal-two-green-msps-to-become-government-ministers-under-agreement-to-hold-independence-referendum-within-five-years-of-end-of-covid-pandemic-3354175

    Or not…

    Posted 2 years ago #
  29. LaidBack
    Member

    Whatever happens it won't be easy.

    I think the Tories are in a state of shock as they become more and more irrelevant here. In England their lead is untouchable and our neighbours have only one Green MP. That surely must change as parts of the south are likely to bear brunt of climate change.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  30. Yodhrin
    Member

    Well, shit, I hope they put an exemption for ancient tenements in their "from 2025 you have to upgrade your home to meet EPC C to sell it" idea, or I'll be stuck in my flat forever, unable to move out - do they have any idea how much it costs to retrofit these old buildings? No matter how much they "upscale" the grants it won't be covered. Especially if you're stuck in a conservation area, jesus the windows alone would cost so much that the remaining value of the flat wouldn't be enough to buy a new home, and that's before you factor in the interest on the loans I'd have to try to secure to finance the works since like most people I don't have a hundred grand just sitting in my bank account.

    Posted 2 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply »

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin