Holyrood Elections 2021 - Page 10 - Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Holyrood Elections 2021


Recommended Posts

Wings has dropped any plans to start a list-only party.  I suspect that ISP and AFI have stolen a march on him.

However, he says the reason is it would get in the way of him exposing the conspiracy around Alex Salmond, which tells you everything about his priorities and motivations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, aaid said:

Wings has dropped any plans to start a list-only party.  I suspect that ISP and AFI have stolen a march on him.

However, he says the reason is it would get in the way of him exposing the conspiracy around Alex Salmond, which tells you everything about his priorities and motivations.

I read somewhere that he said that having a Wings list party wouldn't in his opinion advance the cause of independence - basically he is saying that NS doesn't want indy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, aaid said:

Wings has dropped any plans to start a list-only party.  I suspect that ISP and AFI have stolen a march on him.

However, he says the reason is it would get in the way of him exposing the conspiracy around Alex Salmond, which tells you everything about his priorities and motivations.

I'm growing increasingly suspicious of him and his motivations, ditto the likes of AFI and the ISP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back on Topic here,   This election is going to be massive for Postal Votes. Election Officials are preparing for this.

They also expect the count to be done the day after/days after.

Polling stations/Voting booths could be open all weekend. 

However the expectation is there will/could still be restrictions in place. 

Election is 12 weeks away. 

 

Can you please register for a postal vote and get as many people you know to register as well. (Yoons excluded 😉)

 

No conspiracy theories here please. 

Gonna just register and vote , gonna Please.. 👍

 

Please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, stocky said:

Back on Topic here,   This election is going to be massive for Postal Votes. Election Officials are preparing for this.

They also expect the count to be done the day after/days after.

Polling stations/Voting booths could be open all weekend. 

However the expectation is there will/could still be restrictions in place. 

Election is 12 weeks away. 

 

Can you please register for a postal vote and get as many people you know to register as well. (Yoons excluded 😉)

 

No conspiracy theories here please. 

Gonna just register and vote , gonna Please.. 👍

 

Please.

I saw a comment earlier that hadn't occurred to me.

Even in May, the chance will still be there that you might have to immediately self-isolate, hopefully the chance will be less but there will still be a chance.  If you're self isolating, you obviously can't leave the house and it might be too late to arrange a proxy.

I'd recommend everyone apply for a postal vote.  Remember that you can still vote in person if you have a postal vote by dropping it off at the polling station on the day.   My local council has a "drop box" in the Town Hall and for the last few elections, I've dropped my vote off there on or around election day.   You don't even need to get it in the post days in advance if you don't want to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, aaid said:

I saw a comment earlier that hadn't occurred to me.

Even in May, the chance will still be there that you might have to immediately self-isolate, hopefully the chance will be less but there will still be a chance.  If you're self isolating, you obviously can't leave the house and it might be too late to arrange a proxy.

I'd recommend everyone apply for a postal vote.  Remember that you can still vote in person if you have a postal vote by dropping it off at the polling station on the day.   My local council has a "drop box" in the Town Hall and for the last few elections, I've dropped my vote off there on or around election day.   You don't even need to get it in the post days in advance if you don't want to.

I am always reluctant to vote by post. Not because I think there is anything dodgy going on, just because I like to see my vote going in the box. I feel it would be so easy for a postal vote to go astray. I live  next door to the polling station right enough , it would take longer for me to go to a post box. So will probably do as you suggest and apply for a postal vote but drop it off in person. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

I am always reluctant to vote by post. Not because I think there is anything dodgy going on, just because I like to see my vote going in the box. I feel it would be so easy for a postal vote to go astray. I live  next door to the polling station right enough , it would take longer for me to go to a post box. So will probably do as you suggest and apply for a postal vote but drop it off in person. 

I applied for a postal vote about 20 years ago as I was going to be away for that particular election.  Might just be my local authority but I've been down as a postal voter ever since.   As I said, recently, I've just handed mine in at the town hall, no different from putting it in ballot box.

Do miss the whole drama of going into the booth though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, aaid said:

I applied for a postal vote about 20 years ago as I was going to be away for that particular election.  Might just be my local authority but I've been down as a postal voter ever since.   As I said, recently, I've just handed mine in at the town hall, no different from putting it in ballot box.

Do miss the whole drama of going into the booth though.

I have stood outside the polling station on a few occasions representing the SNP with my rosette.  Mainly cos I live in a Tory area and like to piss them off as much as I can with my warmest smile 😁
I got talking to both the Tory and Labour reps on one occasion , the Tory guy was the actual candidate,  it was a roasting day and I went into the house and brought out bottles of water for them. They were a little suspicious to say the least 😁 

A couple of months later I was in a pub in Leith Walk in Edinburgh , for the Hibs/ St Mirren game, and who is not standing at the bar next to me but the Labour bloke. He was a St Mirren fan too. So its always good to be nice to folk as you never know where they might turn up 😁

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This election will be so different.

Usually the SNP have lots of  people - 

who deliver leaflets,

canvass.

get the vote out on day

Target letters etcetc 

This year we wont be able to do this, ALL election material will be delivered by the Royal Mail, There will be no canvassing or voter identification,.

This will benefit the Tories, as they have laodsa money and naebidy on the Ground.

the SNP have loadsa membership funds but will lose out on local targetteed deliveries

The wee parties will struggle here. 

So it sorta equals the Tory and SNP out at this level, as i stated above the SNP have a phenominal election machine that is now redundant. Ie Both SNP and Tories could probably afford 3-4 mailshots, noone else can

I repeat , please get a postal vote and USE it... tell all your non yoon mates to do thE same 😉 

I have been a postal voter election moniter in the past, IE watching the count, the counting is safe.

 

Edited by stocky
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's looking like the Fabiani inquiry isn't going to reveal much more than what we already know. So I think NS is probably going to survive this one. The Hamilton inquiry might be a bit more tricky for her though. Let's assume for a minute that James Hamilton does find that NS broke the ministerial code. I'm not predicting that this will happen. Just a "what if" he does.

Is there any procedure in place which would stop NS doing something like this? 

She holds her hands up and says something like "I accept the findings of the Hamilton inquiry and it would appear that I did break the ministerial code. I didn't realise that I was doing it, but I apologise profusely for having done so. In accordance with the ministerial code I will resign as FM. But, I also give notice of my intention to try to be re-elected as FM at the upcoming election. I will let the people of Scotland decide if I am a worthy person to be FM of Scotland"

Anything to stop her doing that? She might have to fight off a challenge for SNP party leader? But I'm fairly sure she would win that.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

It's looking like the Fabiani inquiry isn't going to reveal much more than what we already know. So I think NS is probably going to survive this one. The Hamilton inquiry might be a bit more tricky for her though. Let's assume for a minute that James Hamilton does find that NS broke the ministerial code. I'm not predicting that this will happen. Just a "what if" he does.

Is there any procedure in place which would stop NS doing something like this? 

She holds her hands up and says something like "I accept the findings of the Hamilton inquiry and it would appear that I did break the ministerial code. I didn't realise that I was doing it, but I apologise profusely for having done so. In accordance with the ministerial code I will resign as FM. But, I also give notice of my intention to try to be re-elected as FM at the upcoming election. I will let the people of Scotland decide if I am a worthy person to be FM of Scotland"

Anything to stop her doing that? She might have to fight off a challenge for SNP party leader? But I'm fairly sure she would win that.

 

Of course only last year an enquiry found that Priti Patel had broken the ministerial code but Boris Johnson declined to accept that and of course she is in position.  There's no law which says if you breach the ministerial code you have to resign - it all depends I guess on how egregious the breach was, how much you are prepared to tough it out and how much support you have, both within your party and in the country.

If - and this is only speculation - it came down to did you know on the Thursday or the Sunday, while the media and opposition will jump up and down, how much will the general public care, particularly if it comes down to a case of one person's interpretation of events against another - worst case here is that Geoff Aberdein's version and her version differs and those who have taken a view will believe who they want to believe.   In fact given that there were three people present, if there's any difference of interpretation, it will be two vs one.

Where she could be on dodgier ground is - if you take everything at face value - is not reporting the meeting(s) with Salmond immediately.

She's been consistent in regards of her actions there and motivations.   It does seem to me that there is possibly a conflict between two competing requirements.   The first one is that all government "business" should be recorded - and there's good reasons for that - so as soon has she became aware of the details she should've informed the Permanent Secretary.

The other side of that though is not to interfere or to be seen to be interfering in the investigation and she judged that even by letting the PS know that she would aware, that could have an indirect influence on the investigation.

If this is the case, then it would be interesting to know how James Hamilton would interpret her actions as far as these two competing and contradictory requirements were concerned.

In this case, I'd think most fair minded and impartial people would think that not influencing the investigation would be the more important objective as opposed to maintaining a paper trail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...