Chaos in Scotland.

[FD2]

Is this the beginning of the end for the SNP? Have Scottish voters finally seen through the SNP's lies, incompetence and whining? Well done Labour!

Labour has won a massive victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... ults-live/

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ael-shanks

Anas Sarwar’s party beat the incumbent SNP by almost 10,000 votes on a bruising night for Humza Yousaf.

There was a swing of 20.4 per cent from the SNP to Labour who won a majority of 9,446, overturning an SNP majority of 5,230.

Defeat is an embarrassment for Mr Yousaf in his first electoral test as SNP leader, while the results as a major boost for Mr Sarwar and Sir Keir Starmer as their party looks to regain lost ground in Scotland at the next general election.

The winning candidate, Labour’s Michael Shanks saw off the Nationalist challenge of Katy Loudon.

The seat which was vacated when former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier was ousted in a recall petition.

Ms Ferrier was kicked out of the party for breaching Covid regulations by travelling between London and Glasgow after testing positive for the virus.

[CharlieOneSix]

That is excellent news, However it does nothing to oust the SNP's dominance and ability to f*** everything up in Scotland. The 2% voting numbers for the Green Party make a mockery of how they are able to prop up the SNP at Holyrood.

Speaking to people over the last months I get the feeling that there is going to be a lot of tactical voting when we have the next General Election in Scotland in May 2026. The only party that can get the SNP out is Labour. I've never voted for them and don't like their policies but they are the lesser of two evils in my view. A vote for the Conservatives in a Scottish General Election is a total waste.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

So.., Labour is the lesser of three evils?

..and the Greens are..four evils!

I'll start again.
Among the evils are such diverse parties as, the SNP, the Greens, Labour, The Conservatives..and nice red uniforms.

[FD2]

That is excellent news, However it does nothing to oust the SNP's dominance and ability to f*** everything up in Scotland.

Plus 1. At least Labour are not whining about 'FREEDOM!' from the English yolk. Seeing how pathetic the Conservative governments in Westminster have been for the U.K. I think it certainly was 'any party except the SNP'. A majority of Scots dislike the Tories and I can't see them making significant headway north of the Border in my lifetime.

Allison Pearson usually writes a good column. Here's part of her last one:

A former Cabinet minister I spoke to the other day summed it up rather well. “I can’t bear to go out and make excuses for that lot,” he said. “That lot” being our present government which is putting on an uncertain show of unity in Manchester where, according to media reports, the Tory faithful are in attendance. Are they really? I doubt it. I see lots of ambitious young men with lustrous hair, but hardly any salt-and-pepper stalwarts. Very few Tories are faithful any more. Like a serially cheated-on wife, we view the excuses of our errant party with a weary distaste bordering on disgust.

“Oh, so you’re going to crack down on crime/wokery/fat cat civil servants now, are you? Marvellous, darling. Where have I heard that one before? Funny you only say you’re going to make it up to me when there’s an election coming.”

Conference promises are like kiss-and-make-up-roses purchased in a garage forecourt on the drive home from the mistress’s flat. They are cheap and they never blossom.

The new Tory Unfaithful are tired of being taken for granted, sick of their views being ignored. Again and again, we have voted for immigration to be reduced. Again and again, Tory manifestos have pledged to cut immigration. How is that working out? On Nov 23, we expect an announcement that net immigration over two years will hit one million (Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch warns me “it will be considerably higher than that”). In other words, a Conservative government has pretty much opened the gates and let in a city the size of Birmingham since 2021 in flagrant disregard of the wishes of its own voters. Speaking at a fringe meeting at the party conference earlier this week, Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister admitted that the post-Brexit points system (with a ridiculously low salary requirement; why on earth didn’t the UK copy the tough Australian model?) had resulted in “unsustainable” numbers of migrants legally coming to the UK and some decisions had been “naïve”. You don’t say!

In a brave, barnstorming speech, Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned of a “hurricane” of migrants coming to the UK, saying that politicians had been “far too squeamish of being smeared as racists” to reduce levels of immigration in the past. A clear admission that a dominant leftist “Be Kind” ideology has captured minds, even those of Tory ministers, stymieing the legitimate concerns of the British people for whom kindness and consideration appears to be optional.

Most people could not care two hoots about HS2 (except wishing all the billions had been more wisely spent), but they really mind about crazy numbers of new arrivals (and their extended family) putting pressure on public services when the NHS has started advising GPs not to refer sick people to hospital. After 13 years of Tory government, our health system is in a frightening state of collapse, a tenth of the population is on a hospital waiting list, thousands are dying avoidable deaths, 40 per cent of maternity units are deemed unsafe, and Rishi Sunak’s bright idea is to fine people who miss a GP appointment. What GP appointment, Prime Minister?

“But Labour will be worse” no longer works as a bogeyman to scare the Tory tribe back into the polling booth. One wag described the choice between Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer as, “Which Kray twin do you prefer?” Although one can’t help feeling a little wistfully that, unlike Rishi and Keir, Reggie and Ronnie would at least have got a few things sorted in their forthright East End fashion.

Of course, a Labour government can be relied upon to be ghastly – I expect we’ll all have our designated pronouns tattooed on our foreheads beneath our Pride berets - but the country is in such a parlous state that the Conservatives really haven’t left them an awful lot of scope to be worse. Taxes are at their highest rate for 70 years and corporation tax, so difficult for businesses struggling to get back on their feet after lockdown, is an investor-repelling 24 per cent.

Liz Truss drew a huge, enthusiastic crowd at the conference with her unrepentant call for growth, including the sensible idea of putting corporation tax back to 19 per cent. Our drip of a Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt (a puppet so unconvincing he was rejected by Gerry Anderson for being too wooden), says nothing can be done on taxes. Is he perchance any relation to the Jeremy Hunt who, when he was running for the Tory leadership, promised to cut corporation tax to 11 per cent?

The Tory Unfaithful are damned if they’ll go out in the rain to deliver leaflets for the likes of Hunt whom they loathe with a passion. Why would they lift a finger to assist the bunch to whom they gave a cracking 80-seat majority and who, apart from Brexit, have failed to use that ringing endorsement to do anything remotely Conservative? Think of all the great reforming work that could and should have been done. It’s a national tragedy.

I confess to once voting for Labour - for Bliar - and still blush to think about it.

[tango15]

What struck me most about that by-election was the number of candidates - 13 of them! There must be some reason why people pay their £500 fee in the certain knowledge that they will lose it, especially as we are constantly being told that no-one has any money. Is it just for the 'glamour' and excitement of being on the stage when the results are announced - and by extension in the media spotlight? It's not just in Scotland either. I notice that there is an ever-increasing list of candidates in the English by-elections, too, most of whom will certainly lose their deposit.
I'm not quite sure why the Labour Party is getting so excited about winning a seat on a 37% turnout...

[Karearea]

What struck me most about that by-election was the number of candidates - 13 of them! There must be some reason why people pay their £500 fee in the certain knowledge that they will lose it, especially as we are constantly being told that no-one has any money. Is it just for the 'glamour' and excitement of being on the stage when the results are announced - and by extension in the media spotlight? It's not just in Scotland either. I notice that there is an ever-increasing list of candidates in the English by-elections, too, most of whom will certainly lose their deposit.
...

Is it a plot by certain parties to split the vote from the main alternatives?...

[CharlieOneSix]

.......I'm not quite sure why the Labour Party is getting so excited about winning a seat on a 37% turnout...

A dreadful turn out - an electorate of 82,104 and only 30,531 bothered to vote. It will be those from the 51,573 non-voters who will moan most about the state of the country......

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

It does not matter what the candidates' policy proposals are if they are all incompetent, and therefore incapable of carrying them out.
Hence, there is no point in voting.

That's the situation over here, and I suspect in Scotland too.

[G-CPTN]

There must be some reason why people pay their £500 fee in the certain knowledge that they will lose it, especially as we are constantly being told that no-one has any money. Is it just for the 'glamour' and excitement of being on the stage when the results are announced - and by extension in the media spotlight? It's not just in Scotland either. I notice that there is an ever-increasing list of candidates in the English by-elections, too, most of whom will certainly lose their deposit.
...

Is it a plot by certain parties to split the vote from the main alternatives?...

In order to become an elected politician, it is necessary to expose oneself to an election.

Deciding not to participate because it is judged that the candidate doesn't stand a realistic chance doesn't cut the mustard.

[CharlieOneSix]

In view of the exceptional weather conditions that started in Scotland on Saturday, the Justice Secretary and Minister for Resilience Angela Constance chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Committee and said...

This afternoon I convened SGoRR in recognition of the severity of the situation which will continue to develop over the next 24 hours.

So that's alright, she chaired a meeting....but did she actually do anything? Tea and biscuits, I suppose, whilst they muttered to themselves how dreadful the weather was.......

[OneHungLow]

In view of the exceptional weather conditions that started in Scotland on Saturday, the Justice Secretary and Minister for Resilience Angela Constance chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Committee and said...

This afternoon I convened SGoRR in recognition of the severity of the situation which will continue to develop over the next 24 hours.

So that's alright, she chaired a meeting....but did she actually do anything? Tea and biscuits, I suppose, whilst they muttered to themselves how dreadful the weather was.......

Well, despite their utter futility, at least they didn't call their moribund organisation something like Boomslang, er sorry, Rinkals... no, oh yes, COBRA!

The minister has called an emergency COBRA meeting. Do they all sit hissing at each other?

Might as well for all the good the useless barstewards do!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_O ... fing_Rooms

The Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) are meeting rooms in the Cabinet Office in London. These rooms are used for committees which co-ordinate the actions of government bodies in response to national or regional crises, or during overseas events with major implications for the UK. It is popularly referred to as COBRA.

A committee of committees...

COBBLERS might be more appropriate!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

A committee of committees...

..and after the next failure, they will appoint an Oversight Committee to the committee of committees.


That's what they've just done here, anyways.

[G-CPTN]

Lessons will be learnt . . .

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

House!


Yousaf holds a policy meeting to discuss the way forward

should i proceed stupidly.jpg (5.28 KiB) Viewed 1447 times

[CharlieOneSix]

At the SNP conference in Aberdeen the SNP's debate on 'new' ideas to achieve an Independence referendum resulted in this.......

One dissenting delegate, Graeme McCormick, described the whole debate as "flatulence in a trance".

At least one of them had some common sense!

[OneHungLow]

Reggie I didn't get to where I am today by not being able to recognize a "monstrous carbuncle" when I see one!

Stella McCartney’s bid to swap her Notting Hill townhouse for a secluded Scottish retreat has hit the rocks after locals objected to plans for the modernist mansion, describing it as a “monstrous carbuncle”.

More than 50 objections have been submitted to building proposals to redevelop the Commando Rock site nestled in the Scottish Highlands.

The row was sparked by proposals first submitted by McCartney’s 52-year-old husband Alasdhair Willis, with angry residents insisting the building’s glass-fronted contemporary design would clash with the “architecture of the area”.

Residents also raised issues with the property’s ecological impact and how it would restrict access to a beach “used extensively by locals and holiday-makers”.

According to a design statement submitted by the architecture firm Brown & Brown, the split-level property would be constructed with a “contemporary and complimentary mix of” materials, including Scottish stone, concrete, and weathering steel “which would pick up on the colours of the landscape”.

Angus MacDonald, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Fort William and Ardnamurchan who is objecting the proposal, urged the couple to put forth a more “eco-friendly design” in a statement to The Times.

“It would be better if the building was more blended in, perhaps with a turf roof. It’s on a promontory with Scots pines at the end and local people would prefer it if those were not cut down,” he added.

Locals said they are worried about the impact of the modernist construction – separately described as a “scar” and “carbuncle” in comments to the council – on the flora and fauna of the area, including the destruction of otter holts and unnecessary felling of “precious” mature Scots pine trees.

Angus MacDonald, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Fort William and Ardnamurchan who is objecting the proposal, urged the couple to put forth a more “eco-friendly design” in a statement to The Times.

“It would be better if the building was more blended in, perhaps with a turf roof. It’s on a promontory with Scots pines at the end and local people would prefer it if those were not cut down,” he added.

Locals said they are worried about the impact of the modernist construction – separately described as a “scar” and “carbuncle” in comments to the council – on the flora and fauna of the area, including the destruction of otter holts and unnecessary felling of “precious” mature Scots pine trees.

Brown & Brown’s design statement suggests the couple’s new sea-facing home “will retain the wild nature of the site” overlooking the Roshven Bay on the west coast.

The daughter of Beatles legend Paul McCartney and the late environmentalist Linda McCartney, Stella is the founder of the eponymous, sustainable British luxury label. She has previously campaigned against the use of fur in fashion as well as deforestation.“Privacy is of prime import to the applicant, which was a chief reason they acquired the site. The secluded nature of the site would be retained, with the house being largely unseen outwith the site, and primarily only visible from the water.”

The planning committee is still reviewing plans for McCartney’s Scottish holiday house, with a decision on it expected at a later date.

The wretched thing looks like a Second World War gun emplacement!

[Karearea]

weathering steel “which would pick up on the colours of the landscape”.

= "goes rusty".

Seems to be a Thing, it's used here in fearfully modern constructions too.

[OFSO]

Our physiotherapist, husband and adult children travelled from Spain to Scotland last week and today we received a WA showing them swimming of the east coast of Scotland today.

[FD2]

I read one article that said she had had connections with Scotland for many years - does her father's holiday cottage on the Mull of Kintyre count?

It seems that if you are rich enough you can buy a beautiful piece of land in a remote area and then proceed to ruin the place. Your sycophantic 'friends' will praise you for your wonderful vision in creating such an amazingly blah blah blah house blending blah blah blah with the blah blah blah environment etc etc.* The people who live and whose families have scraped a living there for generations will not be able to be heard against a battery of expensive lawyers, who will fight any planning refusals tooth and nail. Annoying reporters will besiege the area hoping to get photos of the new celebrity couple which will be published in the red tops, because they are somehow in the national interest. It would be very cheering if the local council's planners told them to shove off to somewhere their money will allow them to erect this monstrosity, or maybe Shetland Islands Council would allow them to put this up on Foula!

How money talks - Trump and his golf course at Balmedie. Google 'You've been trumped' to find a streaming channel. The SNP shamefully gave in to him.

* Brown & Brown’s design statement suggests the couple’s new sea-facing home “will retain the wild nature of the site” overlooking the Roshven Bay on the west coast. See what I mean?

[OneHungLow]

I read one article that said she had had connections with Scotland for many years - does her father's holiday cottage on the Mull of Kintyre count?

It seems that if you are rich enough you can buy a beautiful piece of land in a remote area and then proceed to ruin the place. Your sycophantic 'friends' will praise you for your wonderful vision in creating such an amazingly blah blah blah house blending blah blah blah with the blah blah blah environment etc etc.* The people who live and whose families have scraped a living there for generations will not be able to be heard against a battery of expensive lawyers, who will fight any planning refusals tooth and nail. Annoying reporters will besiege the area hoping to get photos of the new celebrity couple which will be published in the red tops, because they are somehow in the national interest. It would be very cheering if the local council's planners told them to shove off to somewhere their money will allow them to erect this monstrosity, or maybe Shetland Islands Council would allow them to put this up on Foula!

How money talks - Trump and his golf course at Balmedie. Google 'You've been trumped' to find a streaming channel. The SNP shamefully gave in to him.

* Brown & Brown’s design statement suggests the couple’s new sea-facing home “will retain the wild nature of the site” overlooking the Roshven Bay on the west coast. See what I mean?