lost in space Posted January 19 Posted January 19 2 hours ago, manaliveits105 said: The best goes on - a quick google confirms the guy is right To be fair the SNP Scottish Govt have had a lot of legal bills. Legal action to allow men to access womens spaces (Oh, Matron!!! ......) Legal action to stop the truth coming out about Sturgeon/Swinney in Salmond enquiry SNP have got to prioritise you know - the safety of the public comes way down the list.
Dennis Denuto Posted January 19 Posted January 19 3 minutes ago, lost in space said: To be fair the SNP Scottish Govt have had a lot of legal bills. Legal action to allow men to access womens spaces (Oh, Matron!!! ......) Legal action to stop the truth coming out about Sturgeon/Swinney in Salmond enquiry SNP have got to prioritise you know - the safety of the public comes way down the list. Those figures are not accurate though, it is not true to say none have been mad safe...... One has been made safe, 4 others have been started (no idea when). So by my calculations that is more buildings than court cases.
lost in space Posted January 19 Posted January 19 7 minutes ago, Dennis Denuto said: Those figures are not accurate though, it is not true to say none have been mad safe...... One has been made safe, 4 others have been started (no idea when). So by my calculations that is more buildings than court cases. So ONE has been made safe - I wonder who lives there???? 4 others started - so somebody has had a look then and said "Ohhhhh, that going to cost. I'll send you an estimate". Other info would be helpful - like when will they all be finished.
Dennis Denuto Posted January 19 Posted January 19 6 minutes ago, lost in space said: So ONE has been made safe - I wonder who lives there???? 4 others started - so somebody has had a look then and said "Ohhhhh, that going to cost. I'll send you an estimate". Other info would be helpful - like when will they all be finished. Christ, you want the Ferries, cladding, independence, gender woo woo all at the same time. There is only so much incompetence we can fit into a week.....
Dennis Denuto Posted January 19 Posted January 19 BTW I hope you didn't think I was actually defending them that they had completed one out of 1500, it is clearly not good enough.
lost in space Posted January 19 Posted January 19 5 minutes ago, Dennis Denuto said: BTW I hope you didn't think I was actually defending them that they had completed one out of 1500, it is clearly not good enough. They are indefensible.........
Dennis Denuto Posted January 19 Posted January 19 4 minutes ago, lost in space said: They are indefensible......... As a supporter of Independence I can assure you I find it even more frustrating than you do...
Libertarian Posted January 20 Posted January 20 Kevin McKenna nails it. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/holyrood/25778361.snp-lost-way-12-years-power/ Kevin McKenna How the SNP lost its way after 12 years of power What drew many Labour supporters to independence in 2014 — and what has happened to that promise in the years of SNP dominance that followed, asks Kevin McKenna. It’s rarely mentioned now why so many Labour voters came out for Scottish independence in 2014. More than 30% of us did so. A motley suite of reasons are cited for this migration, including the simplest one: that some were beguiled by the romanticism of being in at the birth of a newly-independent nation. I suspect though, that the overwhelming majority of us saw in independence the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for creating a Socialist Republic. None of us would have voted SNP in normal circumstances. For us, nationalism too often begat exceptionalism and attracted some who were motivated by anti-Englishness. Even so, the SNP itself seemed leftish enough and had in their ranks some politicians of genuine stature and ability, not the least of whom was their leader, Alex Salmond. And so, we viewed the SNP as the relatively harmless vehicle for achieving independence, to be discarded as soon as the missives were concluded. Now, nearly 12 years on from the first referendum, it’s become clear that independence has become a side-issue for the SNP, to be dusted down and polished immediately prior to a Holyrood election. John Swinney’s declaration last week that a pro-independence majority would provide a mandate for a second referendum had all the depth of a tweet on Donald Trump’s Truth Social. What you’ll see over the next four months is the five-yearly natural phenomenon of SNP hack politicians dutifully peppering their social media posts with the independence word, having buried it almost entirely since 2021. It’s the political equivalent of the periodical synchronised emergence of cicadas. At this point, less than four months out from the Scottish elections, few would bet against the SNP of making it five in a row. This would mean they’d been in power for just shy of a quarter of a century. As such, it would make them the luckiest party in the modern history of democratic politics. In other countries, political parties must earn the right to govern. Their mandates rest on having been competent managers of the nation’s economy and public services. On top of that, they’re more or less seen to conform to the Advertising Standards Authority chief maxims: legal, decent, honest and truthful. The challenge for the opposition in seeking to replace them lies in having an imaginative, soundly-costed manifesto and a charismatic leader. Sometimes, the electorate simply decides that the incumbents have been in power long enough and that it’s time to see what the other lot can do. It’s been the SNP’s great good fortune that these general rules don’t really apply to them. The prospect of Scottish independence remains beguiling to a large proportion of the electorate and the SNP have been master manipulators of this. In his new book, The Case for Optimism, Jim Sillars explains the main reasons why the current state of England has made this task easier. “The English state to which we are attached as an appendage is in one hell of a state,” he told me last month. “It’s a very unhappy, divided country. Look at the institutions that hold it up. You start with the royal family and see this major pillar crumbling before our eyes. You then look at the internal crises and divisions which are hollowing out the Church of England. “Meanwhile, the BBC is now held in contempt by many people, forced to admit its manifest failings in ritual humiliation. Britain’s military is a hollowed-out husk, while the moral authority and discipline of the Metropolitan Police has been dismantled. The academic elites and its top universities and educational institutions hold their own country’s history in contempt.” By all other measures though, the SNP have manifestly failed and failed miserably. They have delivered nothing of any consequence during their long time in power. In several important areas, they have made Scotland worse. Drugs deaths have risen by around 20% while child poverty and homelessness are running at a scandalous rate. Their much-touted Promise has failed care-experienced children. The educational attainment gap hasn’t shifted, meaning children from our most disadvantaged communities reach adult life two goals down. By every health delivery benchmark they routinely fail: the most recent being the five-year wait for NHS hip operations. Their ministers now routinely flout the basic requirements of decency in public office. Scotland has a Justice Secretary whose contempt for the child victims of sex grooming gangs is such that she distorted the words of an academic specialist to justify her decision to refuse a public inquiry. She belongs to a government that refuses fully to implement last year’s Supreme Court judgment that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex. Their contempt for the law extended to the people of Scotland. While telling the country they’d accepted this judgment, they were clandestinely seeking to challenge it. This is flat out lying on an issue of profound importance to women. In recent days, Scotland’s First Minister once more placed the rights of male rapists above the safety of vulnerable women in Scotland’s only female prison. He is openly contemptuous of Scotland’s Information Commissioner (and thus the people of Scotland) in refusing to release written evidence about the party’s botched investigation into Alex Salmond. If they don’t comply by Thursday, he’ll refer the matter to the Court of Session. In Scotland the country’s main jurisdictions: quangos; public boards, the police, the civil service and the judiciary become instruments of a vast and complex system of patronage such as existed at the courts of medieval monarchs. Appointments to the most important and influential offices in the land are doled out on the understanding that the individuals thus rewarded ditch subordinate the interests of the people to those of their SNP paymasters. in other nations it’s called corruption. They all adhere to a psycho-philosophy where human rights have become instruments to oppress freedom of expression and freedom of conscience. The SNP are not legal, decent, honest and truthful. Rather they’ve been found to be illegal, indecent, dishonest and untruthful. Their malignant influence has turned Scotland into a mafia state. They are unfit to be entrusted with something as precious as independence.
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 20 Posted January 20 28 minutes ago, Libertarian said: Kevin McKenna nails it. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/holyrood/25778361.snp-lost-way-12-years-power/ Kevin McKenna How the SNP lost its way after 12 years of power What drew many Labour supporters to independence in 2014 — and what has happened to that promise in the years of SNP dominance that followed, asks Kevin McKenna. It’s rarely mentioned now why so many Labour voters came out for Scottish independence in 2014. More than 30% of us did so. A motley suite of reasons are cited for this migration, including the simplest one: that some were beguiled by the romanticism of being in at the birth of a newly-independent nation. I suspect though, that the overwhelming majority of us saw in independence the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for creating a Socialist Republic. None of us would have voted SNP in normal circumstances. For us, nationalism too often begat exceptionalism and attracted some who were motivated by anti-Englishness. Even so, the SNP itself seemed leftish enough and had in their ranks some politicians of genuine stature and ability, not the least of whom was their leader, Alex Salmond. And so, we viewed the SNP as the relatively harmless vehicle for achieving independence, to be discarded as soon as the missives were concluded. Now, nearly 12 years on from the first referendum, it’s become clear that independence has become a side-issue for the SNP, to be dusted down and polished immediately prior to a Holyrood election. John Swinney’s declaration last week that a pro-independence majority would provide a mandate for a second referendum had all the depth of a tweet on Donald Trump’s Truth Social. What you’ll see over the next four months is the five-yearly natural phenomenon of SNP hack politicians dutifully peppering their social media posts with the independence word, having buried it almost entirely since 2021. It’s the political equivalent of the periodical synchronised emergence of cicadas. At this point, less than four months out from the Scottish elections, few would bet against the SNP of making it five in a row. This would mean they’d been in power for just shy of a quarter of a century. As such, it would make them the luckiest party in the modern history of democratic politics. In other countries, political parties must earn the right to govern. Their mandates rest on having been competent managers of the nation’s economy and public services. On top of that, they’re more or less seen to conform to the Advertising Standards Authority chief maxims: legal, decent, honest and truthful. The challenge for the opposition in seeking to replace them lies in having an imaginative, soundly-costed manifesto and a charismatic leader. Sometimes, the electorate simply decides that the incumbents have been in power long enough and that it’s time to see what the other lot can do. It’s been the SNP’s great good fortune that these general rules don’t really apply to them. The prospect of Scottish independence remains beguiling to a large proportion of the electorate and the SNP have been master manipulators of this. In his new book, The Case for Optimism, Jim Sillars explains the main reasons why the current state of England has made this task easier. “The English state to which we are attached as an appendage is in one hell of a state,” he told me last month. “It’s a very unhappy, divided country. Look at the institutions that hold it up. You start with the royal family and see this major pillar crumbling before our eyes. You then look at the internal crises and divisions which are hollowing out the Church of England. “Meanwhile, the BBC is now held in contempt by many people, forced to admit its manifest failings in ritual humiliation. Britain’s military is a hollowed-out husk, while the moral authority and discipline of the Metropolitan Police has been dismantled. The academic elites and its top universities and educational institutions hold their own country’s history in contempt.” By all other measures though, the SNP have manifestly failed and failed miserably. They have delivered nothing of any consequence during their long time in power. In several important areas, they have made Scotland worse. Drugs deaths have risen by around 20% while child poverty and homelessness are running at a scandalous rate. Their much-touted Promise has failed care-experienced children. The educational attainment gap hasn’t shifted, meaning children from our most disadvantaged communities reach adult life two goals down. By every health delivery benchmark they routinely fail: the most recent being the five-year wait for NHS hip operations. Their ministers now routinely flout the basic requirements of decency in public office. Scotland has a Justice Secretary whose contempt for the child victims of sex grooming gangs is such that she distorted the words of an academic specialist to justify her decision to refuse a public inquiry. She belongs to a government that refuses fully to implement last year’s Supreme Court judgment that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex. Their contempt for the law extended to the people of Scotland. While telling the country they’d accepted this judgment, they were clandestinely seeking to challenge it. This is flat out lying on an issue of profound importance to women. In recent days, Scotland’s First Minister once more placed the rights of male rapists above the safety of vulnerable women in Scotland’s only female prison. He is openly contemptuous of Scotland’s Information Commissioner (and thus the people of Scotland) in refusing to release written evidence about the party’s botched investigation into Alex Salmond. If they don’t comply by Thursday, he’ll refer the matter to the Court of Session. In Scotland the country’s main jurisdictions: quangos; public boards, the police, the civil service and the judiciary become instruments of a vast and complex system of patronage such as existed at the courts of medieval monarchs. Appointments to the most important and influential offices in the land are doled out on the understanding that the individuals thus rewarded ditch subordinate the interests of the people to those of their SNP paymasters. in other nations it’s called corruption. They all adhere to a psycho-philosophy where human rights have become instruments to oppress freedom of expression and freedom of conscience. The SNP are not legal, decent, honest and truthful. Rather they’ve been found to be illegal, indecent, dishonest and untruthful. Their malignant influence has turned Scotland into a mafia state. They are unfit to be entrusted with something as precious as independence. Wow . That’s an excellent summary of the corrupt SNP . Thanks for posting
Gundermann Posted January 20 Posted January 20 28 minutes ago, Libertarian said: Kevin McKenna nails it. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/holyrood/25778361.snp-lost-way-12-years-power/ Kevin McKenna How the SNP lost its way after 12 years of power What drew many Labour supporters to independence in 2014 — and what has happened to that promise in the years of SNP dominance that followed, asks Kevin McKenna. It’s rarely mentioned now why so many Labour voters came out for Scottish independence in 2014. More than 30% of us did so. A motley suite of reasons are cited for this migration, including the simplest one: that some were beguiled by the romanticism of being in at the birth of a newly-independent nation. I suspect though, that the overwhelming majority of us saw in independence the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for creating a Socialist Republic. None of us would have voted SNP in normal circumstances. For us, nationalism too often begat exceptionalism and attracted some who were motivated by anti-Englishness. Even so, the SNP itself seemed leftish enough and had in their ranks some politicians of genuine stature and ability, not the least of whom was their leader, Alex Salmond. And so, we viewed the SNP as the relatively harmless vehicle for achieving independence, to be discarded as soon as the missives were concluded. Now, nearly 12 years on from the first referendum, it’s become clear that independence has become a side-issue for the SNP, to be dusted down and polished immediately prior to a Holyrood election. John Swinney’s declaration last week that a pro-independence majority would provide a mandate for a second referendum had all the depth of a tweet on Donald Trump’s Truth Social. What you’ll see over the next four months is the five-yearly natural phenomenon of SNP hack politicians dutifully peppering their social media posts with the independence word, having buried it almost entirely since 2021. It’s the political equivalent of the periodical synchronised emergence of cicadas. At this point, less than four months out from the Scottish elections, few would bet against the SNP of making it five in a row. This would mean they’d been in power for just shy of a quarter of a century. As such, it would make them the luckiest party in the modern history of democratic politics. In other countries, political parties must earn the right to govern. Their mandates rest on having been competent managers of the nation’s economy and public services. On top of that, they’re more or less seen to conform to the Advertising Standards Authority chief maxims: legal, decent, honest and truthful. The challenge for the opposition in seeking to replace them lies in having an imaginative, soundly-costed manifesto and a charismatic leader. Sometimes, the electorate simply decides that the incumbents have been in power long enough and that it’s time to see what the other lot can do. It’s been the SNP’s great good fortune that these general rules don’t really apply to them. The prospect of Scottish independence remains beguiling to a large proportion of the electorate and the SNP have been master manipulators of this. In his new book, The Case for Optimism, Jim Sillars explains the main reasons why the current state of England has made this task easier. “The English state to which we are attached as an appendage is in one hell of a state,” he told me last month. “It’s a very unhappy, divided country. Look at the institutions that hold it up. You start with the royal family and see this major pillar crumbling before our eyes. You then look at the internal crises and divisions which are hollowing out the Church of England. “Meanwhile, the BBC is now held in contempt by many people, forced to admit its manifest failings in ritual humiliation. Britain’s military is a hollowed-out husk, while the moral authority and discipline of the Metropolitan Police has been dismantled. The academic elites and its top universities and educational institutions hold their own country’s history in contempt.” By all other measures though, the SNP have manifestly failed and failed miserably. They have delivered nothing of any consequence during their long time in power. In several important areas, they have made Scotland worse. Drugs deaths have risen by around 20% while child poverty and homelessness are running at a scandalous rate. Their much-touted Promise has failed care-experienced children. The educational attainment gap hasn’t shifted, meaning children from our most disadvantaged communities reach adult life two goals down. By every health delivery benchmark they routinely fail: the most recent being the five-year wait for NHS hip operations. Their ministers now routinely flout the basic requirements of decency in public office. Scotland has a Justice Secretary whose contempt for the child victims of sex grooming gangs is such that she distorted the words of an academic specialist to justify her decision to refuse a public inquiry. She belongs to a government that refuses fully to implement last year’s Supreme Court judgment that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex. Their contempt for the law extended to the people of Scotland. While telling the country they’d accepted this judgment, they were clandestinely seeking to challenge it. This is flat out lying on an issue of profound importance to women. In recent days, Scotland’s First Minister once more placed the rights of male rapists above the safety of vulnerable women in Scotland’s only female prison. He is openly contemptuous of Scotland’s Information Commissioner (and thus the people of Scotland) in refusing to release written evidence about the party’s botched investigation into Alex Salmond. If they don’t comply by Thursday, he’ll refer the matter to the Court of Session. In Scotland the country’s main jurisdictions: quangos; public boards, the police, the civil service and the judiciary become instruments of a vast and complex system of patronage such as existed at the courts of medieval monarchs. Appointments to the most important and influential offices in the land are doled out on the understanding that the individuals thus rewarded ditch subordinate the interests of the people to those of their SNP paymasters. in other nations it’s called corruption. They all adhere to a psycho-philosophy where human rights have become instruments to oppress freedom of expression and freedom of conscience. The SNP are not legal, decent, honest and truthful. Rather they’ve been found to be illegal, indecent, dishonest and untruthful. Their malignant influence has turned Scotland into a mafia state. They are unfit to be entrusted with something as precious as independence. McKenna, champion of the Catholic Church, talking about male rapists... Apart from that, he's been writing this article for the past 12 years. Sure, SNP not above criticism, but who does McKenna think would do a better job?
lost in space Posted January 20 Posted January 20 1 hour ago, Gundermann said: McKenna, champion of the Catholic Church, talking about male rapists... Apart from that, he's been writing this article for the past 12 years. Sure, SNP not above criticism, but who does McKenna think would do a better job? The article is a bit over the top - we are not really a mafia state!!! I did laugh at your comment "writing this article for the past 12 years" - Yes he has rather. Much of what he says is true though, even if he does exaggerate at times. He doesnt come up with an alternative - the article isnt about that - its how bad the SNP have become. As an alternative to this piece - can you give us a list of improvements that the SNP has made since 2014????
Ray Gin Posted January 20 Posted January 20 2 hours ago, Gundermann said: Maybe the future isn't so scary. Maybe. 257 Reform is terrifying.
Dennis Denuto Posted January 20 Posted January 20 46 minutes ago, lost in space said: The article is a bit over the top - we are not really a mafia state!!! I did laugh at your comment "writing this article for the past 12 years" - Yes he has rather. Much of what he says is true though, even if he does exaggerate at times. He doesnt come up with an alternative - the article isnt about that - its how bad the SNP have become. As an alternative to this piece - can you give us a list of improvements that the SNP has made since 2014???? I don't understand why the SNP have not just dialled down on Independence and some of the less popular policies and tried to get the NHS and Education on the up, it is the best way to turn things around and convince voters of your competency - get waiting lists down and get education standards up, stop obsessing about who can or can't go into a toilet!! Do I ask too much?
lost in space Posted January 20 Posted January 20 51 minutes ago, Dennis Denuto said: I don't understand why the SNP have not just dialled down on Independence and some of the less popular policies and tried to get the NHS and Education on the up, it is the best way to turn things around and convince voters of your competency - get waiting lists down and get education standards up, stop obsessing about who can or can't go into a toilet!! Do I ask too much? Yes, you do ask too much - of the SNP. They is nothing to suggest they can do the things you ask.
Dennis Denuto Posted January 20 Posted January 20 1 minute ago, lost in space said: Yes, you do ask too much - of the SNP. They is nothing to suggest they can do the things you ask. Well if you look at the devolved and UK Governments then there is nothing to suggest anyone else can either, the only thing that will change will be the Scottish Government will have a boss in England, that might be a good thing, might not matter, but replacing the SNP is likely to change very little imo.
lost in space Posted January 20 Posted January 20 4 minutes ago, Dennis Denuto said: Well if you look at the devolved and UK Governments then there is nothing to suggest anyone else can either, the only thing that will change will be the Scottish Government will have a boss in England, that might be a good thing, might not matter, but replacing the SNP is likely to change very little imo. The only improvement would be the scrapping of Holyrood - but thats not going to happen - too many MSPs and their advisors and their civil servants would be out of work. A change of govt at Holyrood would at least mean that the top priority would no longer be Independence - and they could focus on the NHS and education.
Dennis Denuto Posted January 20 Posted January 20 8 minutes ago, lost in space said: The only improvement would be the scrapping of Holyrood - but thats not going to happen - too many MSPs and their advisors and their civil servants would be out of work. A change of govt at Holyrood would at least mean that the top priority would no longer be Independence - and they could focus on the NHS and education. Wow I didn't realise you were an extremist!!
manaliveits105 Posted January 20 Posted January 20 4 hours ago, Libertarian said: Kevin McKenna nails it. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/holyrood/25778361.snp-lost-way-12-years-power/ Kevin McKenna How the SNP lost its way after 12 years of power What drew many Labour supporters to independence in 2014 — and what has happened to that promise in the years of SNP dominance that followed, asks Kevin McKenna. It’s rarely mentioned now why so many Labour voters came out for Scottish independence in 2014. More than 30% of us did so. A motley suite of reasons are cited for this migration, including the simplest one: that some were beguiled by the romanticism of being in at the birth of a newly-independent nation. I suspect though, that the overwhelming majority of us saw in independence the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for creating a Socialist Republic. None of us would have voted SNP in normal circumstances. For us, nationalism too often begat exceptionalism and attracted some who were motivated by anti-Englishness. Even so, the SNP itself seemed leftish enough and had in their ranks some politicians of genuine stature and ability, not the least of whom was their leader, Alex Salmond. And so, we viewed the SNP as the relatively harmless vehicle for achieving independence, to be discarded as soon as the missives were concluded. Now, nearly 12 years on from the first referendum, it’s become clear that independence has become a side-issue for the SNP, to be dusted down and polished immediately prior to a Holyrood election. John Swinney’s declaration last week that a pro-independence majority would provide a mandate for a second referendum had all the depth of a tweet on Donald Trump’s Truth Social. What you’ll see over the next four months is the five-yearly natural phenomenon of SNP hack politicians dutifully peppering their social media posts with the independence word, having buried it almost entirely since 2021. It’s the political equivalent of the periodical synchronised emergence of cicadas. At this point, less than four months out from the Scottish elections, few would bet against the SNP of making it five in a row. This would mean they’d been in power for just shy of a quarter of a century. As such, it would make them the luckiest party in the modern history of democratic politics. In other countries, political parties must earn the right to govern. Their mandates rest on having been competent managers of the nation’s economy and public services. On top of that, they’re more or less seen to conform to the Advertising Standards Authority chief maxims: legal, decent, honest and truthful. The challenge for the opposition in seeking to replace them lies in having an imaginative, soundly-costed manifesto and a charismatic leader. Sometimes, the electorate simply decides that the incumbents have been in power long enough and that it’s time to see what the other lot can do. It’s been the SNP’s great good fortune that these general rules don’t really apply to them. The prospect of Scottish independence remains beguiling to a large proportion of the electorate and the SNP have been master manipulators of this. In his new book, The Case for Optimism, Jim Sillars explains the main reasons why the current state of England has made this task easier. “The English state to which we are attached as an appendage is in one hell of a state,” he told me last month. “It’s a very unhappy, divided country. Look at the institutions that hold it up. You start with the royal family and see this major pillar crumbling before our eyes. You then look at the internal crises and divisions which are hollowing out the Church of England. “Meanwhile, the BBC is now held in contempt by many people, forced to admit its manifest failings in ritual humiliation. Britain’s military is a hollowed-out husk, while the moral authority and discipline of the Metropolitan Police has been dismantled. The academic elites and its top universities and educational institutions hold their own country’s history in contempt.” By all other measures though, the SNP have manifestly failed and failed miserably. They have delivered nothing of any consequence during their long time in power. In several important areas, they have made Scotland worse. Drugs deaths have risen by around 20% while child poverty and homelessness are running at a scandalous rate. Their much-touted Promise has failed care-experienced children. The educational attainment gap hasn’t shifted, meaning children from our most disadvantaged communities reach adult life two goals down. By every health delivery benchmark they routinely fail: the most recent being the five-year wait for NHS hip operations. Their ministers now routinely flout the basic requirements of decency in public office. Scotland has a Justice Secretary whose contempt for the child victims of sex grooming gangs is such that she distorted the words of an academic specialist to justify her decision to refuse a public inquiry. She belongs to a government that refuses fully to implement last year’s Supreme Court judgment that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex. Their contempt for the law extended to the people of Scotland. While telling the country they’d accepted this judgment, they were clandestinely seeking to challenge it. This is flat out lying on an issue of profound importance to women. In recent days, Scotland’s First Minister once more placed the rights of male rapists above the safety of vulnerable women in Scotland’s only female prison. He is openly contemptuous of Scotland’s Information Commissioner (and thus the people of Scotland) in refusing to release written evidence about the party’s botched investigation into Alex Salmond. If they don’t comply by Thursday, he’ll refer the matter to the Court of Session. In Scotland the country’s main jurisdictions: quangos; public boards, the police, the civil service and the judiciary become instruments of a vast and complex system of patronage such as existed at the courts of medieval monarchs. Appointments to the most important and influential offices in the land are doled out on the understanding that the individuals thus rewarded ditch subordinate the interests of the people to those of their SNP paymasters. in other nations it’s called corruption. They all adhere to a psycho-philosophy where human rights have become instruments to oppress freedom of expression and freedom of conscience. The SNP are not legal, decent, honest and truthful. Rather they’ve been found to be illegal, indecent, dishonest and untruthful. Their malignant influence has turned Scotland into a mafia state. They are unfit to be entrusted with something as precious as independence. Fair comment Looks like we need independence with what’s happening with Reform but it’s not going to happen with the current snp leadership at the wheel
scott herbertson Posted January 20 Posted January 20 1 hour ago, Dennis Denuto said: I don't understand why the SNP have not just dialled down on Independence and some of the less popular policies and tried to get the NHS and Education on the up, it is the best way to turn things around and convince voters of your competency - get waiting lists down and get education standards up, stop obsessing about who can or can't go into a toilet!! Do I ask too much? Not really https://www.gov.scot/news/nhs-waiting-lists-fall/
lost in space Posted January 20 Posted January 20 31 minutes ago, Dennis Denuto said: Wow I didn't realise you were an extremist!! As in the Monty Python sketch - "what has Holyrood ever done for us" - Well apart from..............??????? (Please fill in the spaces)😐
Libertarian Posted January 20 Posted January 20 53 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said: Fair comment Looks like we need independence with what’s happening with Reform but it’s not going to happen with the current snp leadership at the wheel
Dennis Denuto Posted January 20 Posted January 20 42 minutes ago, lost in space said: As in the Monty Python sketch - "what has Holyrood ever done for us" - Well apart from..............??????? (Please fill in the spaces)😐 This is not my own work, obviously - 1. Health & Social Care Holyrood controls NHS Scotland and social care policy. Major provisions and reforms Free prescriptions (2011) Free personal care for the elderly (from 2002 – world-leading at the time) No NHS patient charges for eye tests Free dental check-ups Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol Smoking ban in public places (2006 – first in the UK) Mental Health Acts strengthening patient rights Integration of health and social care (Health & Social Care Partnerships) Scottish Medicines Consortium decisions independent of England COVID-19 public health response (distinct from England) 2. Education & Lifelong Learning Schools No tuition fees for Scottish-domiciled students Curriculum for Excellence Free school meals: All P1–P5 pupils Targeted expansion to older pupils Free school milk Expanded early years childcare: 1,140 hours per year for 3–4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds Named Person policy (later repealed, but notable) Further & Higher Education Free university tuition for Scottish students College bursaries and student support Apprenticeship expansion Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) grants and loans 3. Social Security & Welfare (Post-2016 Powers) Holyrood now runs Social Security Scotland, delivering devolved benefits. New or replacement benefits Scottish Child Payment Best Start Grant (replaced Sure Start Maternity Grant) Best Start Foods Carer’s Allowance Supplement Disability benefits replacing PIP/DLA: Adult Disability Payment Child Disability Payment Funeral Support Payment Winter Heating Payment (replacing Cold Weather Payment) Mitigation of the “Bedroom Tax” More frequent and flexible benefit payments 4. Housing & Tenants’ Rights Abolition of the Right to Buy (2016) Stronger tenant protections Rent pressure zones Temporary rent freezes & eviction bans (during cost-of-living crisis) Homelessness rights: Legal right to permanent accommodation Affordable housing programmes Energy efficiency standards for homes Empty Homes Initiative 5. Justice, Policing & Legal System Police Scotland (single national police force) Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Distinct Scots criminal law No juries of 12 only – Scotland uses 15 Unique “not proven” verdict retained Abolition of short prison sentences (presumption against ≤12 months) Victims’ rights reforms Hate crime legislation Named Domestic Abuse offence Minimum age of criminal responsibility raised to 12 6. Transport & Infrastructure Free bus travel: Over-60s Disabled people Under-22s Railways policy and partial nationalisation ScotRail publicly owned Major infrastructure projects: Queensferry Crossing Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route Glasgow Subway modernisation Active travel funding Road safety targets Low Emission Zones 7. Taxation & Public Finance Holyrood has partial tax powers. Taxes it controls or varies Scottish Income Tax rates and bands Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) (replaced Stamp Duty) Scottish Landfill Tax Council Tax policy Small Business Bonus Scheme Local authority funding settlements 8. Equality, Rights & Social Policy Same-sex marriage legislation Gender Recognition Reform Bill (passed, later blocked by UK Government) Period Products (Free Provision) Act – world first Incorporation of UNCRC (children’s rights) (partially blocked, then amended) Domestic abuse reforms Ban on smacking children Named human rights framework Race Equality Framework LGBT+ inclusive education guidance 9. Environment, Climate & Land Legally binding climate targets Net Zero by 2045 target Land reform acts Community right to buy Scottish Forestry Marine protection areas Deposit Return Scheme (planned, later constrained) Peatland restoration Rewilding and biodiversity funding 10. Economy, Jobs & Industry Scottish National Investment Bank Enterprise agencies: Scottish Enterprise Highlands & Islands Enterprise South of Scotland Enterprise Fair Work framework Living Wage promotion Business grants and COVID support Support for renewable energy sector Creative industries funding 11. Culture, Language & Sport Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act Funding for BBC Alba Creative Scotland National collections and museums Sportscotland funding Major events support (Commonwealth Games, etc.) 12. Local Government & Communities Community Empowerment Act Participatory budgeting Community ownership of assets Local place plans Funding for islands and rural areas Islands (Scotland) Act 13. Democratic & Constitutional Developments Proportional representation (AMS) Votes at 16 (Scottish elections & referendums) Independence referendum (2014) – legislated by Holyrood Distinct Scottish political mandate Parliamentary committees and scrutiny In Simple Terms Since devolution, Holyrood has: Removed costs (tuition fees, prescriptions, bus travel) Expanded rights (housing, children, equality) Created a distinct welfare system Taken a different policy path from Westminster Provided services tailored to Scottish priorities (I was tempted to do them one at a time Monty Python Style)
Gundermann Posted January 20 Posted January 20 5 hours ago, lost in space said: The article is a bit over the top - we are not really a mafia state!!! I did laugh at your comment "writing this article for the past 12 years" - Yes he has rather. Much of what he says is true though, even if he does exaggerate at times. He doesnt come up with an alternative - the article isnt about that - its how bad the SNP have become. As an alternative to this piece - can you give us a list of improvements that the SNP has made since 2014???? What has any party done since 2014? Yes, all the article does, like many over the past decade is whinge about the SNP. Yet, they're the most popular party here by some distance. Maybe washed up auld hacks who can't offer positive alternatives help this happen? Esp when us voters look around at the other parties and think, 'no thanks'.
Gundermann Posted January 20 Posted January 20 4 hours ago, Ray Gin said: 257 Reform is terrifying. Still better than 300+ on 30% of the popular vote.
lost in space Posted January 20 Posted January 20 51 minutes ago, Gundermann said: What has any party done since 2014? Yes, all the article does, like many over the past decade is whinge about the SNP. Yet, they're the most popular party here by some distance. Maybe washed up auld hacks who can't offer positive alternatives help this happen? Esp when us voters look around at the other parties and think, 'no thanks'. The only party who can do anything in Scotland is the SNP, since they are in power. They are becoming less popular (as shown in the Gen Election). They will have the most votes though in May - because so many (45%?) want Indy - not because the SNP are maintaining popularity.
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 20 Posted January 20 (edited) 8 hours ago, Gundermann said: McKenna, champion of the Catholic Church, talking about male rapists... Apart from that, he's been writing this article for the past 12 years. Sure, SNP not above criticism, but who does McKenna think would do a better job? It’s very clear you issues with the Catholic Church , who were a major institution perpetuating abuse , throughout the centuries . However they are now trying to get their act together and attempting to move on . I’d maybe respect your views regarding that religion if at times you express even the mildest condemnations of non Christian religions . You never do though . Edited January 20 by JudyJudyJudy
lost in space Posted January 20 Posted January 20 2 hours ago, Dennis Denuto said: This is not my own work, obviously - 1. Health & Social Care Holyrood controls NHS Scotland and social care policy. Major provisions and reforms Free prescriptions (2011) Free personal care for the elderly (from 2002 – world-leading at the time) No NHS patient charges for eye tests Free dental check-ups Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol Smoking ban in public places (2006 – first in the UK) Mental Health Acts strengthening patient rights Integration of health and social care (Health & Social Care Partnerships) Scottish Medicines Consortium decisions independent of England COVID-19 public health response (distinct from England) 2. Education & Lifelong Learning Schools No tuition fees for Scottish-domiciled students Curriculum for Excellence Free school meals: All P1–P5 pupils Targeted expansion to older pupils Free school milk Expanded early years childcare: 1,140 hours per year for 3–4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds Named Person policy (later repealed, but notable) Further & Higher Education Free university tuition for Scottish students College bursaries and student support Apprenticeship expansion Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) grants and loans 3. Social Security & Welfare (Post-2016 Powers) Holyrood now runs Social Security Scotland, delivering devolved benefits. New or replacement benefits Scottish Child Payment Best Start Grant (replaced Sure Start Maternity Grant) Best Start Foods Carer’s Allowance Supplement Disability benefits replacing PIP/DLA: Adult Disability Payment Child Disability Payment Funeral Support Payment Winter Heating Payment (replacing Cold Weather Payment) Mitigation of the “Bedroom Tax” More frequent and flexible benefit payments 4. Housing & Tenants’ Rights Abolition of the Right to Buy (2016) Stronger tenant protections Rent pressure zones Temporary rent freezes & eviction bans (during cost-of-living crisis) Homelessness rights: Legal right to permanent accommodation Affordable housing programmes Energy efficiency standards for homes Empty Homes Initiative 5. Justice, Policing & Legal System Police Scotland (single national police force) Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Distinct Scots criminal law No juries of 12 only – Scotland uses 15 Unique “not proven” verdict retained Abolition of short prison sentences (presumption against ≤12 months) Victims’ rights reforms Hate crime legislation Named Domestic Abuse offence Minimum age of criminal responsibility raised to 12 6. Transport & Infrastructure Free bus travel: Over-60s Disabled people Under-22s Railways policy and partial nationalisation ScotRail publicly owned Major infrastructure projects: Queensferry Crossing Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route Glasgow Subway modernisation Active travel funding Road safety targets Low Emission Zones 7. Taxation & Public Finance Holyrood has partial tax powers. Taxes it controls or varies Scottish Income Tax rates and bands Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) (replaced Stamp Duty) Scottish Landfill Tax Council Tax policy Small Business Bonus Scheme Local authority funding settlements 8. Equality, Rights & Social Policy Same-sex marriage legislation Gender Recognition Reform Bill (passed, later blocked by UK Government) Period Products (Free Provision) Act – world first Incorporation of UNCRC (children’s rights) (partially blocked, then amended) Domestic abuse reforms Ban on smacking children Named human rights framework Race Equality Framework LGBT+ inclusive education guidance 9. Environment, Climate & Land Legally binding climate targets Net Zero by 2045 target Land reform acts Community right to buy Scottish Forestry Marine protection areas Deposit Return Scheme (planned, later constrained) Peatland restoration Rewilding and biodiversity funding 10. Economy, Jobs & Industry Scottish National Investment Bank Enterprise agencies: Scottish Enterprise Highlands & Islands Enterprise South of Scotland Enterprise Fair Work framework Living Wage promotion Business grants and COVID support Support for renewable energy sector Creative industries funding 11. Culture, Language & Sport Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act Funding for BBC Alba Creative Scotland National collections and museums Sportscotland funding Major events support (Commonwealth Games, etc.) 12. Local Government & Communities Community Empowerment Act Participatory budgeting Community ownership of assets Local place plans Funding for islands and rural areas Islands (Scotland) Act 13. Democratic & Constitutional Developments Proportional representation (AMS) Votes at 16 (Scottish elections & referendums) Independence referendum (2014) – legislated by Holyrood Distinct Scottish political mandate Parliamentary committees and scrutiny In Simple Terms Since devolution, Holyrood has: Removed costs (tuition fees, prescriptions, bus travel) Expanded rights (housing, children, equality) Created a distinct welfare system Taken a different policy path from Westminster Provided services tailored to Scottish priorities (I was tempted to do them one at a time Monty Python Style) Well, it's my own fault - I did ask!!😆. I could go through the list and debunk most of them. However, life is too short. I did like "take a different policy path from.Westminster" - NOT even claiming a better path - just different! Free tuition - aye we bring in a million Chinese so a few Scots can get an education. Free buses - aye, great for rich OAPs. Free - prescriptions - aye as the vast majority of people in UK. etc, etc
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 20 Posted January 20 1 minute ago, lost in space said: Well, it's my own fault - I did ask!!😆. I could go through the list and debunk most of them. However, life is too short. I did like "take a different policy path from.Westminster" - NOT even claiming a better path - just different! Free tuition - aye we bring in a million Chinese so a few Scots can get an education. Free buses - aye, great for rich OAPs. Free - prescriptions - aye as the vast majority of people in UK. etc, etc I know . If we had time we could rip most of it apart . Nothing is “ free”
XB52 Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Another by-election win for the SNP but, once again, a worrying amount of people voting for reform.
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 23 Posted January 23 3 hours ago, XB52 said: Another by-election win for the SNP but, once again, a worrying amount of people voting for reform. Democracy eh ?
XB52 Posted January 23 Posted January 23 18 minutes ago, JamboGlen said: SNP, stronger for Pakistani grooming gangs Another racist for the ignore list, thanks
JamboGlen Posted January 23 Posted January 23 1 minute ago, XB52 said: Another racist for the ignore list, thanks Anything I dont like is racist. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/06/snp-minister-lied-grooming-gangs-keeps-job/
JamboGlen Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Trump has his Epstein files whilst John has his Salmond files https://news.stv.tv/politics/scottish-government-facing-legal-action-over-nicola-sturgeon-inquiry-evidence?fbclid=IwdGRjcAPgR25jbGNrA-BHaWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHnK1qygiLXDWHM-N7iECTT7oneOiJPe5VmZk4OVmEG5ocR3LjwCQdnAQlO2__aem_0iSbaozu0hZn_2gQ5_44ew
Gundermann Posted January 23 Posted January 23 27 minutes ago, JamboGlen said: Trump has his Epstein files whilst John has his Salmond files https://news.stv.tv/politics/scottish-government-facing-legal-action-over-nicola-sturgeon-inquiry-evidence?fbclid=IwdGRjcAPgR25jbGNrA-BHaWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHnK1qygiLXDWHM-N7iECTT7oneOiJPe5VmZk4OVmEG5ocR3LjwCQdnAQlO2__aem_0iSbaozu0hZn_2gQ5_44ew Being slow to release files - and Scot Gov should face the consequences, if allegations are true - is the same as being part of an international network of noncery for the rich and royals?
JamboGlen Posted January 23 Posted January 23 17 minutes ago, Gundermann said: Being slow to release files - and Scot Gov should face the consequences, if allegations are true - is the same as being part of an international network of noncery for the rich and royals? Maybe not quite up there but trying to jail a political opponent is fairly high up on the list of dodgy behaviours.
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Scottish criminal justice system is a binfire thanks to the crooks at the top . SNP https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/15832482/firebomb-thug-spared-jail-age/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=scottishsunfacebook&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZnRzaAPgVSRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEebp0c3AZtXu8T7gCCaFdNuZKBn51YmTQUfqJCg0ZK7r5drmuO8h2M4WMmGO4_aem_3obV7Gurpu8G42zvxoJCkg
JamboGlen Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Just now, JudyJudyJudy said: Scottish criminal justice system is a binfire thanks to the crooks at the top . SNP https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/15832482/firebomb-thug-spared-jail-age/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=scottishsunfacebook&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZnRzaAPgVSRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEebp0c3AZtXu8T7gCCaFdNuZKBn51YmTQUfqJCg0ZK7r5drmuO8h2M4WMmGO4_aem_3obV7Gurpu8G42zvxoJCkg Can vote at 16 though upon receiving your bus pass bribe.
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 23 Posted January 23 1 minute ago, JamboGlen said: Can vote at 16 though upon receiving your bus pass bribe. Yep . They see corrupt as hell . Bribery , corruption , lies , various offences committed by a few of them but still the deluded vote for them . Incredulous .
Malinga the Swinga Posted January 23 Posted January 23 4 hours ago, JudyJudyJudy said: Scottish criminal justice system is a binfire thanks to the crooks at the top . SNP https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/15832482/firebomb-thug-spared-jail-age/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=scottishsunfacebook&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZnRzaAPgVSRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEebp0c3AZtXu8T7gCCaFdNuZKBn51YmTQUfqJCg0ZK7r5drmuO8h2M4WMmGO4_aem_3obV7Gurpu8G42zvxoJCkg He's 19 and isn't a child. Should be in jail but now he is presenting better I'm sure he will prove a real asset to Scotland and won't revert immediately back to crime as soon as he can. If he'd posted something our government didn't like on social media he'd have faced more serious action.
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Just ignoring a lawful freedom of information request . That’s the SNP
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 23 Posted January 23 1 hour ago, Malinga the Swinga said: something our government didn't like on social media he'd have faced more serious action. Aye
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 29 Posted January 29 (edited) They have sunk to a new low i thought it was impossible but silly me pressurised a kids cancer hospital to open early just before an an election She ,”honest John “ and Robinson should be in the jail Edited January 29 by JudyJudyJudy
manaliveits105 Posted January 29 Posted January 29 Get rid of those currently running snp - new leadership team with no Sturgeonite hangers on and Indy is there for the taking.
John Findlay Posted January 29 Posted January 29 46 minutes ago, JudyJudyJudy said: They have sunk to a new low i thought it was impossible but silly me pressurised a kids cancer hospital to open early just before an an election She ,”honest John “ and Robinson should be in the jail You will get shot down as you have taken the story from the Express.
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 29 Posted January 29 14 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said: Get rid of those currently running snp - new leadership team with no Sturgeonite hangers on and Indy is there for the taking. And no alliances with the weirdos greens and they would . Makes you wonder why they don’t eh?
JudyJudyJudy Posted January 29 Posted January 29 3 minutes ago, John Findlay said: You will get shot down as you have taken the story from the Express. Aye they like to shoot the messenger ! Distracts away from the actual issue
JamboGlen Posted January 30 Posted January 30 On 20/01/2026 at 11:05, Ray Gin said: 257 Reform is terrifying. Pleasing
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