The news thread

[Grim Jim]

1 hour ago, phart said:

Wasted his money.   Wrong breed.

 

[Ally Bongo]

It's basically an expensive "Rough" Collie costume - nae transitioning going on

For that money in Asia i heard you could get a life like sex doll that talks to you 

Plus real Border Collie's hide behind doors when you enter a room then bark

[aaid]

It’s going to be hilarious if the don’t get the numbers for the recall petition for Margaret Ferrier.  I suspect that BBC Scotland will self combust.  

[Ally Bongo]

4 minutes ago, aaid said:

It’s going to be hilarious if the don’t get the numbers for the recall petition for Margaret Ferrier.  I suspect that BBC Scotland will self combust.  

I cannot believe that British Labour will not be able to get the numbers in Rutherglen

[aaid]

9 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

I cannot believe that British Labour will not be able to get the numbers in Rutherglen

It’s not a comment on whether or not they’ll get the numbers, it’s a comment on how much BBC Scotland have been wetting themselves in anticipation. 

Edited July 31, 2023 by aaid

[TDYER63]

30 minutes ago, aaid said:

It’s not a comment on whether or not they’ll get the numbers, it’s a comment on how much BBC Scotland have been wetting themselves in anticipation. 

I rarely listen to Radio Scotland but a couple of weeks ago I caught a bit of it and they had some guy on talking about this , some ex newspaper editor I  think , and it was like a political broadcast for the Labour party. I lost count of the number of times he reiterated how they needed a certain percentage to vote and how it was not a forgone conclusion it would be met so not to take it for granted . 

[Ally Bongo]

22 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

I rarely listen to Radio Scotland but a couple of weeks ago I caught a bit of it and they had some guy on talking about this , some ex newspaper editor I  think , and it was like a political broadcast for the Labour party. I lost count of the number of times he reiterated how they needed a certain percentage to vote and how it was not a forgone conclusion it would be met so not to take it for granted . 

Surely it's just a case of going round the Orange Lodges and Rangers Supporters clubs

[TDYER63]

15 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

Surely it's just a case of going round the Orange Lodges and Rangers Supporters clubs

Of course it is but there is no point in taking chances is there. I have little sympathy with Margaret Ferriers situation but its not the BBC’s job to be judge and jury.

I try to not get sucked in too much to the ‘BBC hate us’ debate but when you hear reporting like that its easy to see why they are so disliked by independence supporters. 

[scotlad]

17 hours ago, aaid said:

It’s not a comment on whether or not they’ll get the numbers, it’s a comment on how much BBC Scotland have been wetting themselves in anticipation. 

I'm not sure which would be funnier - them not getting the numbers to trigger a recall or the byelection going ahead and Labour still failing to win the seat!

49 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

Of course it is but there is no point in taking chances is there. I have little sympathy with Margaret Ferriers situation but its not the BBC’s job to be judge and jury.

I try to not get sucked in too much to the ‘BBC hate us’ debate but when you hear reporting like that its easy to see why they are so disliked by independence supporters. 

I do and I don't.  She did a stupid thing and potentially put a lot of other people at risk; additionally she made her party, who were trying to enforce quite tight restrictions at the time, look bad, and she really can't complain about them suspending her (if indeed she is).

On the other hand, part of me feels she's been punished enough.  She's been thrown out of her party, her career as a politician is surely on its last legs and she's already been tried and punished by a court of law.  Trying to have her sacked altogether smacks a bit of double jeopardy to me.

[aaid]

7 minutes ago, scotlad said:

On the other hand, part of me feels she's been punished enough.  She's been thrown out of her party, her career as a politician is surely on its last legs and she's already been tried and punished by a court of law.  Trying to have her sacked altogether smacks a bit of double jeopardy to me.

Would you have thought it was double jeopardy if Boris Johnson hadn’t chosen to resign rather than to accept the punishment of the House and trigger a recall petition?

[Alibi]

2 hours ago, scotlad said:

I'm not sure which would be funnier - them not getting the numbers to trigger a recall or the byelection going ahead and Labour still failing to win the seat!

I do and I don't.  She did a stupid thing and potentially put a lot of other people at risk; additionally she made her party, who were trying to enforce quite tight restrictions at the time, look bad, and she really can't complain about them suspending her (if indeed she is).

On the other hand, part of me feels she's been punished enough.  She's been thrown out of her party, her career as a politician is surely on its last legs and she's already been tried and punished by a court of law.  Trying to have her sacked altogether smacks a bit of double jeopardy to me.

I agree with this.  What she did was wrong, but what Prince Charles did was at least as bad, and don't get me started on the hundreds of other public figures who broke the rules but don't seem to have been treated the same way.  Same as all the folk charged in connection with the Alex Salmond trial reporting were on the anti-establishment side.  Why is Dani Garavelli not getting her collar felt?

On Ferrier, I find the feeding frenzy pretty disgusting.  You expect it from Labour, but to see the SNP persecuting one of their own one who has already been punished more than once is disgusting, and even worse they are going round encouraging folk to vote for a recall.  Doubly disgusting given the double standards applied to Patrick Grady where they mainly supported him for his sexual misconduct.

[aaid]

3 minutes ago, Alibi said:

I agree with this.  What she did was wrong, but what Prince Charles did was at least as bad, and don't get me started on the hundreds of other public figures who broke the rules but don't seem to have been treated the same way.  Same as all the folk charged in connection with the Alex Salmond trial reporting were on the anti-establishment side.  Why is Dani Garavelli not getting her collar felt?

On Ferrier, I find the feeding frenzy pretty disgusting.  You expect it from Labour, but to see the SNP persecuting one of their own one who has already been punished more than once is disgusting, and even worse they are going round encouraging folk to vote for a recall.  Doubly disgusting given the double standards applied to Patrick Grady where they mainly supported him for his sexual misconduct.

Did you actually read the report into what Patrick Grady did and did not do?

Edited August 1, 2023 by aaid

[TDYER63]

2 hours ago, scotlad said:

I'm not sure which would be funnier - them not getting the numbers to trigger a recall or the byelection going ahead and Labour still failing to win the seat!

I do and I don't.  She did a stupid thing and potentially put a lot of other people at risk; additionally she made her party, who were trying to enforce quite tight restrictions at the time, look bad, and she really can't complain about them suspending her (if indeed she is).

On the other hand, part of me feels she's been punished enough.  She's been thrown out of her party, her career as a politician is surely on its last legs and she's already been tried and punished by a court of law.  Trying to have her sacked altogether smacks a bit of double jeopardy to me.

Regardless of how folk feel about what she has done, Scottish independence will play a big part in the vote. Many Labour voters will be sticking the boot in just to get a pro independence MP out. However if Margaret Ferrier had been  a Labour MP in the olden days , pre SNP dominance , and she did this, she would be fully protected and these same people finding some way to make excuses for her. I do believe she is a good MP. A lot of people will not be voting for the right reasons . 

I know she has already had a hard time and  I have absolutely no axe to grind with Margaret Ferrier generally, but ffs , what she did was totally idiotic , you need to question the decision making ability of someone in her position. The rules she broke were hardly in a a wee subsection of the covid guidelines. 

[Ally Bongo]

21 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

Surely it's just a case of going round the Orange Lodges and Rangers Supporters clubs

Wasn't even close

Labour gain thanks to the SNP

[aaid]

9 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

Wasn't even close

Labour gain thanks to the SNP

Only 14% of the electorate signed the petition.  

[stocky]

4 minutes ago, aaid said:

Only 14% of the electorate signed the petition.  

I'm sure when they knew they had enough then they stopped asking people to sign 

 

14 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

Wasn't even close

Labour gain thanks to the SNP

Not really SNP fault here. 

Stupid action by MP.

 

I fully expect labour to win it tho 

Edited August 1, 2023 by stocky

[vanderark14]

On 7/27/2023 at 3:15 PM, TDYER63 said:

I have heard loads of folk with similar experiences . People who normally pay the bill quarterly and can usually cope with the standard higher winter bill but with the huge increases are concerned about the winter bills and now want to pay the same amount every month for a bit of consistency. However the monthly payment’s they are being quoted are way higher than the combined bills. With the higher interest rates being paid on sterling deposits just now the energy companies will be coining it in. 

a friend of mine is over £1K in credit and his energy firm are making it very difficult to get his own money back. Spent an hour on live chat to be told he has to call a number between 9 and 5 for his own safety. 

[scotlad]

6 hours ago, aaid said:

Would you have thought it was double jeopardy if Boris Johnson hadn’t chosen to resign rather than to accept the punishment of the House and trigger a recall petition?

Unless I'm mistaken, Boris Johnson didn't go to court and accept their punishment though, did he?

Neither was he expelled from his party group and sent to Coventry by then (again, unless I'm mistaken) so I don't think the two cases are completely analogous.

[scotlad]

3 hours ago, TDYER63 said:

Regardless of how folk feel about what she has done, Scottish independence will play a big part in the vote. Many Labour voters will be sticking the boot in just to get a pro independence MP out. However if Margaret Ferrier had been  a Labour MP in the olden days , pre SNP dominance , and she did this, she would be fully protected and these same people finding some way to make excuses for her. I do believe she is a good MP. A lot of people will not be voting for the right reasons . 

I know she has already had a hard time and  I have absolutely no axe to grind with Margaret Ferrier generally, but ffs , what she did was totally idiotic , you need to question the decision making ability of someone in her position. The rules she broke were hardly in a a wee subsection of the covid guidelines. 

Completely stupid, I agree, and I'd like to know what she was thinking (maybe she'll finally make that clear).

By all accounts she was a good MP and a committed campaigner, so she's obviously both a bright person and someone of integrity, so I think it's safe to say what she did was out of character.  The only thing I can think of as mitigation is she was ill, not thinking clearly and panicked, thin though that excuse is.

[scotlad]

1 hour ago, stocky said:

I'm sure when they knew they had enough then they stopped asking people to sign 

 

Not really SNP fault here. 

Stupid action by MP.

 

I fully expect labour to win it tho 

Aye, I don't think they had any choice but to suspend her, really. 

They've hung her out to dry since then though, which I don't think was necessary at all.

[Rich NATA]

2 minutes ago, scotlad said:

and panicked

That's precisely what I think she did.

[aaid]

5 minutes ago, Rich NATA said:

That's precisely what I think she did.

She panicked when the test came back positive.  She probably shouldn’t have gone to London in the first place having taken a test though.   I’m not sure what the exact legality was but it’s not the smartest move - or to go to mass or to a restaurant.   Should’ve stayed in the house. 

[Ally Bongo]

Former First Minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said: 

"The recall petition was double Westminster standards from the off. Other MPs did exactly the same as Margaret Ferrier and have gone unpunished, the current and past Prime Ministers held and attended parties and were merely fiscally fined and faced no censure whatsoever from Parliament for those acts themselves. 

There is not a family in Scotland that wasn’t impacted by Covid, whether through personal loss or the mental impact lockdowns had on the country. Three years ago Margaret made a terrible mistake and it is understandable that people were angry about this. 

However, she is the only person on all of the islands to face the complete and final end of her political career for a single mistake, with all the good she has done set aside and counting for nought. No reasonable person should think that fair or equitable.

The recall process itself is a democratic disgrace. Why should 14.66% per cent of the constituency be sufficient to call a by-election? Over 85 per cent of the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West did not want one or did not care.

Throughout this whole saga the Labour Party have been arrogantly pounding the streets of the constituency as sheep dressed in wolves clothing ready to turn a nationalist seat into a unionist one and hypocritically promoting their naked self-interest as if it were a public duty. The problem is unless there is a dramatic change in direction, their plan will work.

It’s time for Humza Yousaf to shake off the legacy of his predecessor and a constituency which contains Hamilton, with all its historic resonance for Scottish Nationalism, is the ideal place to make a change.

The by-election must be fought by a single nationalist candidate standing on a Scotland United platform for independence.

In that way there would be a fresh start for an independence campaign in this constituency and a by-election fought on the future of Scotland, not on the track record of the SNP administration.

Humza needs to act now to avoid a human mistake from Margaret Ferrier becoming a serious set-back for the entire national movement. The ball is in his court, should this election be fought with one candidate representing the independence movement or will he choose to put party before country?"

[aaid]

17 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

Former First Minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said: 

"The recall petition was double Westminster standards from the off. Other MPs did exactly the same as Margaret Ferrier and have gone unpunished, the current and past Prime Ministers held and attended parties and were merely fiscally fined and faced no censure whatsoever from Parliament for those acts themselves. 

There is not a family in Scotland that wasn’t impacted by Covid, whether through personal loss or the mental impact lockdowns had on the country. Three years ago Margaret made a terrible mistake and it is understandable that people were angry about this. 

However, she is the only person on all of the islands to face the complete and final end of her political career for a single mistake, with all the good she has done set aside and counting for nought. No reasonable person should think that fair or equitable.

The recall process itself is a democratic disgrace. Why should 14.66% per cent of the constituency be sufficient to call a by-election? Over 85 per cent of the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West did not want one or did not care.

Throughout this whole saga the Labour Party have been arrogantly pounding the streets of the constituency as sheep dressed in wolves clothing ready to turn a nationalist seat into a unionist one and hypocritically promoting their naked self-interest as if it were a public duty. The problem is unless there is a dramatic change in direction, their plan will work.

It’s time for Humza Yousaf to shake off the legacy of his predecessor and a constituency which contains Hamilton, with all its historic resonance for Scottish Nationalism, is the ideal place to make a change.

The by-election must be fought by a single nationalist candidate standing on a Scotland United platform for independence.

In that way there would be a fresh start for an independence campaign in this constituency and a by-election fought on the future of Scotland, not on the track record of the SNP administration.

Humza needs to act now to avoid a human mistake from Margaret Ferrier becoming a serious set-back for the entire national movement. The ball is in his court, should this election be fought with one candidate representing the independence movement or will he choose to put party before country?"

Here’s an idea for Alex Salmond, how about *he* gets behind Katy Loudon or does he think that his 1-2% entitles him to choose who will be the candidate. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by aaid

[Ally Bongo]

15 minutes ago, aaid said:

Here’s an idea for Alex Salmond, how about *he* gets behind Katy Loudon or does he think that his 1-2% entitles him to choose who will be the candidate. 

Everyone knows that there is no way the current SNP will put the country before the party and agree to a Unity Candidate

Everyone knows that the new SNP candidate on their own will get hammered and it wont be down to Labour being popular

Seeing this from within the SNP is extremely unattractive

 

Sarah Masson

 

@_sarahmasson

 

It’s by election time, baby