Toepoke
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Posts posted by Toepoke
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11 hours ago, Hertsscot said:
What a waste of taxpayers money. Should be coming out of her pocket
I'd settle for a swimsuit photoshoot as compen.
8 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:SNP Scottish income tax fantasy of Labour MSP Michael Marra and Malcolm
Where to start with Michael Marra’s comment about the Scottish Government’s Budget being “based on the economically and fiscally illiterate assumption that income tax can be used to plug the hole left by the SNP’s failure to grow the economy”.
It is, of course, a most politically convenient assertion from MSP Mr Marra, Scottish Labour’s party spokesperson on finance.
However, it does not stand up to scrutiny.
Mr Marra should know, surely, that the fortunes of the economy in Scotland are inextricably linked to those of the UK as a whole.
The Scottish Government does not in reality have major economic levers under the current set-up.
READ MORE: Alarming talk on future of free university tuition in Scotland
Of course, it has some devolved economic powers and has done a good job with some of those, as can be seen with Scotland’s success in attracting inward investment. There was a sensible acceleration of infrastructure spending from Holyrood in the wake of the global financial crisis, although the capacity to boost such expenditure unilaterally is severely constrained by the devolved funding arrangements.
In short, the Scottish Government’s economic powers are small potatoes indeed. And they most certainly pale into insignificance relative to the wrecking ball the Conservative Government has taken to the UK economy.
Mr Marra, as someone who would presumably in many other circumstances highlight the huge degree to which Scotland is intertwined with the rest of the UK, should realise that this wrecking ball has hammered the economy north of the Border as well as every other part of Britain.
You would think Mr Marra and his Labour colleagues in Scotland might want to highlight the great damage caused by the Conservatives.
However, most of the time, they seem entirely wrapped up in pointing their fingers at the SNP and its junior partner, the Scottish Greens.
You could with some justification take the broad view that Scottish growth should be expected, under current arrangements, to amount to the expansion in the UK as a whole minus the drag from Scotland’s particularly acute demographic situation. Scotland faces particular challenges when it comes to the size of its working-age population, and notably the outlook for this. The population is ageing throughout the UK, but Scotland faces particular difficulties.
Of course, free movement of people between the UK and European Economic Area countries was a crucial means by which Scotland could tackle or at least mitigate this challenge.
This great benefit was removed by the Tories’ hard Brexit. And Labour, unfortunately, has made it clear it will not bring it back, having ruled out the UK rejoining the single market if it wins power.
And this red line for Labour means that the blow to Scotland’s exporters from Conservative policy, with the hard Brexit resulting in the loss of frictionless trade between the UK and EEA countries, will also not be reversed or mitigated in any way.
To be fair to Mr Marra and Labour, they did not cause the Brexit damage.
However, they have made it clear they will not address it, and that is lamentable.
Obviously, for political reasons in Scotland, you can see why Labour wants to point the finger at the SNP and accuse it of failure on the economic front.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Astonishing silence from Labour
This, however, seems somewhat disingenuous from Labour. Surely it must know the blame for what has been visited upon Scotland lies at Westminster.
It was the Tories who delivered the hard Brexit. Then again, with Labour making a big noise about not rejoining the single market, we can perhaps see why Mr Marra would not want to shout too much about that.
In fact, he and his Labour colleagues might not want to talk about Brexit too much at all to the electorate north of the Border, given the big vote in Scotland to remain in the European Union.
READ MORE: Denial after denial from brass-necked Tory arch-Brexiter
The UK’s economic output has fallen short of that of similar countries by about 5% since the 2016 Brexit referendum, economists at investment bank Goldman Sachs observed last month.
Another dreadful thing delivered by the Conservatives (from 2010 onwards) which has laid Scotland low is grim austerity, with savage cuts to welfare and public sector pay freezes and caps.
You could be relatively “economically illiterate”, to use one of Mr Marra’s own phrases, and still realise that such policies have taken many billions of pounds out of people’s pockets and thus weighed very heavily on aggregate demand and growth over the years.
Surely Mr Marra must be aware of this effect? Austerity has hampered the whole of the UK, although Scotland looks to have been one of the worst-affected areas, given the make-up of this savage programme.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts the UK economy will this year record the second-weakest growth among the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations.
The UK is expected by the IMF to expand by just 0.6% in 2024, marginally ahead of the 0.5% forecast for Germany.
France is forecast by the IMF to grow by 1% this year. The US is projected by the IMF to expand by 2.1% in 2024.
There is, of course, plenty of scope for valid debate over how much people should be taxed and how money should be spent in the context of the quite limited devolved fiscal powers of the Scottish Government.
In Scotland, higher earners pay more income tax. However, you can see instantly some benefits in terms of spending, including free university tuition for people living in Scotland and the Scottish child payment.
In recent times, it has become increasingly frustrating to hear those who should know better paint a picture that the Scottish Government has some kind of huge economic and fiscal powers.
And it is, frankly, utterly demoralising to hear Mr Marra’s assessment of Scotland’s finances and economy.
Thought Malcolm had made the Herald for a minute 😄
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3 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:
I am actually quite amazed by that. I thought Kilmarnock would be rife with orange walks and orange lodges.
Any idea why this is?
Tends to be a thing in the neighbouring villages rather than the town itself. When I was a kid in Kilmaurs I used to watch them pass and be quite impressed with the sound and colour of it, oblivious to the history behind the marches. I also used to wonder why the kids I recognised on the march were amongst the thickest at the school.
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25 minutes ago, ThistleWhistle said:
Don't half make it convoluted:
How does Women's Euro 2025 qualifying work?
The qualifiers will see each team face the other teams in their group home and away.
Group winners and runners-up from each League A group automatically qualify, with the remaining seven places taken by the best-ranked sides from all three leagues.
All third and fourth-placed teams from League A will go through to the play-offs.
The top three teams in each League B group will also make the play-offs. If Switzerland finish in the top three of their group, then the best ranked fourth-placed team from League B will go into the play-offs.
From League C, the five group winners and three best-ranked runners-up will reach the play-offs.
The 28 teams making the play-offs will be whittled down to seven, with the first round being split into two paths.
The eight sides from League A will be drawn against the eight sides from League C. The six best teams from League B will face the six lowest-ranked teams from League B. Both sets of matches are two-legged.
In the second play-off round, the remaining 14 teams will be split via seedings. The seven nations with the best ranking will be drawn against the other seven teams. The winners of those fixtures will qualify for the finals
Cheers! I wasted half my dinner break trying to work it out from Wikipedia.
12 of the 16 League B teams go into the playoffs. And as Switzerland aren't eligible it's possible to finish bottom of the group and reach the playoffs. Bizarre system!
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1 hour ago, er yir macaroon said:
I think this was meant as ball into feet (and head) to link up play. He was unbelievably good at flicking balls on to send the striker clean through.
Ian Rush would agree with this.
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Serbia, Slovakia and Israel in our Euro 25 qualifying group.
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2 hours ago, Orraloon said:
I think 20,000 is more than normal.
Definitely. Really surprised me how many have sold for an inferior package to last time.
I bought some individual tickets yesterday but there wasn't that great a seat selection left at all.
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The second was always my favourite...
Amazing construction for the time...
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36 minutes ago, N4Footsoldier said:
but now it just seems like the whole of football is at war with the handball rule.
I've been saying for a while (probably on this thread already) but for me the simple fix is to punish all handball offences with an indirect free kick, with the exception of when it's a clearly deliberate act (eg. Suarez v Ghana).
When a team are getting a penalty for the merest flick off a defender's arm, the sanction is far heavier than it should be.
(Also under current VAR stipulations it would mean most handballs wouldn't be pulled up by the video refs).
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4 hours ago, Big Ramy 1314 said:
I'm no ragin. I'm used to the corrupt officials in Scotland. It's a way of life for ra Celtic supporter...
Just the four trebles in a row wasn't it?
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Thought the north east was free of this cultural phenomenon?
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15 minutes ago, scotlad said:
According to this, Galloway and his team sent out two versions of election material; one to voters with Muslim names and one to voters with non-Muslim names:
That truly is the measure of the man. 🙄
The old Scottish Labour tactic, depending where they were campaigning SNP stood for "Soon No Pope" or "Soon No Protestants".
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5 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:
Paul Pogba banned for 4 years due to doping offence
The French Gary O'Connor ...
If only Gary O'Connor had a World Cup winners medal.
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3 hours ago, Orraloon said:
The Home Internationals against Wales and NI were PATG back in the 70s. It was never anywhere near a full house for those games.
Fair doos, my old man used to take me to the stand back then 😀
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17 hours ago, DoonTheSlope said:
Cash turnstiles worked for decades.
Been going to Hampden since the 70s and don't remember a Scotland game ever being PATG.
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11 hours ago, Kirk said:
Killie deserved a point at least tonight, outplayed rangers in the first half and gave a good account second half. Same as before against rangers we gave away 2 quick goals.
Could have been out of sight at half time too.
Also the refereeing/var is appalling, rangers should have had a penalty for hand ball if not 2.
We had a good second penalty shout for the trip on Donnelly. And what looked like a professional foul by Diamonte on Polworth went unpunished.
Anyway it's good to be giving the Old Firm a challenge after some of the games last season. McInnes has needed time but is now putting his stamp on the team.
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3 hours ago, StirlingEgg said:
£31 million 'set aside' to cover security for mps. What budget does that come from when there's no money? Who benefits from that nice wee contract? People working in A&E for example get verbal abuse, physical assault and spat on regularly but they have to strike to get their basic worth recognised.
TBF two MPs have been murdered doing their jobs in recent years.
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2 hours ago, Barney Rubble said:
Home match packages
- Match packages should contain competitive games only (qualifiers/Nations League/play-offs). No bundling of friendlies into packages.
- Match packages should build in a tangible discount for SSC members. Otherwise what's the advantage to members of paying a lump some several months in advance of the fixtures? Has to be win-win for SSC members as well as the SFA.
Friendlies
- Tickets for home friendlies should be sold separately and individually, and priced at less than competitive games.
Great points, 100% agree 👍
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1 hour ago, Texas Pete said:
I could be wrong as I have bought the available package for the last few campaigns but I don’t think this has been the case for several years.
Yep checked back through emails, last time round in 2022, the five match package went on sale 30th November, all matches went on individual sale to the SSC members two weeks later, then in the January for general sale.
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7 hours ago, dan cake said:
A few of my group bought season tickets last time and only attended the England game, mostly folk that live outside Scotland and didn’t want to miss out on tickets for the Euros.
Wow, not even the Spain game! 😮
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4 hours ago, Orraloon said:
Ah right. 👍
I didn't buy the package last time round. I'm sure we used to get a discount for the package in the past though?
I think there was yep.
Last time with there being four actual qualifiers plus a friendly against England, there was still quite a bit of interest in getting the package despite the lack of a discount.
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22 hours ago, Orraloon said:
You get a discount for being a member, but this time round there is no extra discount for buying the five match package.
There wasn't any discount buying the package last time either. Although it was a fiver a game cheaper than now.
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On 2/23/2024 at 5:28 PM, Hertsscot said:
I'm sure a swap deal could be arranged. I'm sure some bits would be happy to abandon Westminster.
Yeah we could get Berwick back.
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Why do they bother taking the Calcutta Cup out of the cabinet? 😁
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2 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:
That kinda defeats the point of making them non transferable. Why go to the bother of making them non transferable if a screenshot will get someone in ? I hope it is, but it just seems pretty daft to me.
Member tickets weren't supposed to be transferable previously either. Hopefully they're not going down the UEFA route of tying tickets to a specific phone.
The news thread
in Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere
Posted
I first saw the story on the ITN news last night, they showed the minister on VT but didn't even mention her name!