Will Scotland Leave the UK?

[jfman]

SNP (and independence) at their highest level ever in Yougov polling for the Scottish Parliament election despite Red Card Ross being coronated as Scottish Conservative leader and the exams “fiasco”.

[Sephiroth]

Sod 'em (the secessionists). It's even more tedious than the EU thing and, dare I say it, the BLM thread.

What are they thinking? Where's their dosh coming from? What oil? Swapping UK governance for EU governance?

[Carth]

Fish & Tourism probably . . . oh and Irn Bru

[jfman]

No whisky section in Waitrose, chaps?

Might be offset by a trade deficit in Buckfast though.

Originally Posted by jfman

SNP (and independence) at their highest level ever in Yougov polling for the Scottish Parliament election despite Red Card Ross being coronated as Scottish Conservative leader and the exams “fiasco”.

Red Card has been in post for mere days and I’d be surprised if he, or the exams fiasco (why the “”? it is undeniably a feck up on a grand scale) will filter through quickly under present circumstances.

Our left-leaning members were quick to claim Boris’ popularity has been merely the rally round the flag effect inherent to any major crisis, but oddly enough they’re all still in awe of Nicola Sturgeon, whose decision making on Covid issues has been near identical to those taken in Westminsterland. The Natbots on social media have been waxing lyrical about differences that amount to a few days here or there, or a few more or a few less people in any given space.

Election time will bring it all out ... exam estimates that were 20% over-egged was a blatant political hot potato to all those with sight of it long before results day but they let the moderated grades out and then had no choice but to damage the credibly of the vast majority of accurate grades by backtracking. That’s A-grade political ineptitude. Meanwhile the £230 million ghost ferry MV Sannox slinks into a dry dock in Greenock, more than twice its budget already spent, more than 2 years late and still not in service thanks to an ill-judged deal to save a shipyard run by one of Nicola’s mates. Ferguson couldn’t cope with the job, scot gov owned Cal Mac couldn’t make up its mind what it wanted ... a perfect storm with Nippy sitting at both ends of it.

They’re a sad shower and a poor excuse for a government, and if Red Card Ross (assisted by the newly ennobled Ruth Davidson) play it right they will get a very hard time in next year’s election. Their message needs to be, “we already know there isn’t going to be another Indyref, so let’s talk about...” and then relentlessly target schools, hospitals, police, island ferries, and everything else the SNP has violently screwed up while spending the last decade or more obsessing over independence at the cost of everything else.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

No whisky section in Waitrose, chaps?

Might be offset by a trade deficit in Buckfast though.

I buy my whisky from Sweden - Box or MacMyra.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Chris

Red Card has been in post for mere days and I’d be surprised if he, or the exams fiasco (why the “”? it is undeniably a feck up on a grand scale) will filter through quickly under present circumstances.

Only pointing out that there's no Red Card bounce, that's all.

My use of "" is to represent that I think the "fiasco" is broadly manufactured given the system proposed wasn't substantially different from that proposed in England (Tories) or Wales (Labour).

Our left-leaning members were quick to claim Boris’ popularity has been merely the rally round the flag effect inherent to any major crisis, but oddly enough they’re all still in awe of Nicola Sturgeon, whose decision making on Covid issues has been near identical to those taken in Westminsterland. The Natbots on social media have been waxing lyrical about differences that amount to a few days here or there, or a few more or a few less people in any given space.

Cases are lower per capita and deaths lower per capita. Nor are the Scottish Government urging everyone 'back to the workplace' to get buying coffee and muffins to get the economy going.

These nuanced differences could be the difference between a chaotic winter of 'whack a mole' lockdowns or relative stability, while observing some restrictions.

Election time will bring it all out ... exam estimates that were 20% over-egged was a blatant political hot potato to all those with sight of it long before results day but they let the moderated grades out and then had no choice but to damage the credibly of the vast majority of accurate grades by backtracking. That’s A-grade political ineptitude.

So what alternative mechanism exists? Poor schools didn't become good schools overnight. Every year students open their results to disappointment.

This is where the criticism falls down - the lack of alternative ideas and vision.

13 years of mudslinging hasn't worked in persuading SNP voters back across to a Unionist party

Meanwhile the £230 million ghost ferry MV Sannox slinks into a dry dock in Greenock, more than twice its budget already spent, more than 2 years late and still not in service thanks to an ill-judged deal to save a shipyard run by one of Nicola’s mates. Ferguson couldn’t cope with the job, scot gov owned Cal Mac couldn’t make up its mind what it wanted ... a perfect storm with Nippy sitting at both ends of it.

They’re a sad shower and a poor excuse for a government, and if Red Card Ross (assisted by the newly ennobled Ruth Davidson) play it right they will get a very hard time in next year’s election. Their message needs to be, “we already know there isn’t going to be another Indyref, so let’s talk about...” and then relentlessly target schools, hospitals, police, island ferries, and everything else the SNP has violently screwed up while spending the last decade or more obsessing over independence at the cost of everything else.

I'd love to see the Scottish Conservatives offer an alternative vision however I suspect they will not and the same old tune plays out next year.

Your first line "we know there isn't going to be another Indyref" immediately a) talks about independence and b) irks a substantial part of the population who think it's right for Scotland to decide it's own future (be that independence or not) as and when it chooses to.

It's essentially a trap, and the SNP have them hook, line and sinker. Unionists saying "we know what's better for the people of Scotland" paradoxically increases the SNP vote.

Unionists shouting into the echo chamber of unionists doesn't appeal to the soft end of the 50% of the SNP vote.

[jfman]

Oh dear oh dear. Red Card and Baroness-to-be Davidson have at least the political nouse to see that the Scottish people don’t like rank hypocrisy.

Tweets about the exam “fiasco” and associated retweets getting deleted right, left and centre this morning. But mainly on the right.

[Taf]

The daily Poison Dwarf Half Hour Party Political Broadcast on UK-wide BBC TV midday prime time has made all my Scottish friends change channels.

Originally Posted by Taf

The daily Poison Dwarf Half Hour Party Political Broadcast on UK-wide BBC TV midday prime time has made all my Scottish friends change channels.

She’s marmite, that’s for sure. The polls may have swung slightly the other side of the separatist divide in recent weeks - doubtless entirely because of Covid - but Scotland is still, essentially, split right down the middle thanks to 6 years of her agitating and fostering division rather than healing. She has caused a mess that will take a generation to fix and if (a mighty big if) there was another referendum, delivering a Yes vote, then Scotland would become a very unpleasant place to live for years into the future. For all the Nats’ banging on about separatist movements in places like Norway, successful votes to hive off part of a nation state are invariably carried by comfortable, sometimes overwhelming, majorities. A Yes by a whisker is the worst possible outcome, for all involved.

[1andrew1]

If the Conservatives wanted to up their vote in Scotland, they could do worse than support the Scottish whisky industry.

The Scotch whisky industry has attacked the UK government for its “inexplicably slow” action against hefty tariffs imposed on whisky imports by the US government.
In an unusually critical statement, the Scotch Whisky Association accused UK ministers of prioritising post-Brexit trade talks with the US rather than fight against the 25% tariffs imposed on Scotch whisky and other goods by the US last October, in a dispute over European subsidies for the planemaker Airbus.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...?ocid=msedgntp

[Sephiroth]

Parliament could set a condition that it needs to be a 55% of the population vote for the granting of independence. There would be howls and the like from the Scottish Nats (and the Russians), but they can be ignored by Parliament.


---------- Post added at 16:45 ---------- Previous post was at 16:44 ----------

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

If the Conservatives wanted to up their vote in Scotland, they could do worse than support the Scottish whisky industry.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...?ocid=msedgntp

Good point. (As I said before, mine's Swedish whisky).

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Chris

She’s marmite, that’s for sure. The polls may have swung slightly the other side of the separatist divide in recent weeks - doubtless entirely because of Covid - but Scotland is still, essentially, split right down the middle thanks to 6 years of her agitating and fostering division rather than healing. She has caused a mess that will take a generation to fix and if (a mighty big if) there was another referendum, delivering a Yes vote, then Scotland would become a very unpleasant place to live for years into the future. For all the Nats’ banging on about separatist movements in places like Norway, successful votes to hive off part of a nation state are invariably carried by comfortable, sometimes overwhelming, majorities. A Yes by a whisker is the worst possible outcome, for all involved.

In almost any other democracy, and certainly those multi-party systems, splitting the country “down the middle” and carrying 50% of the vote consistently after 13 years in Government that would reasonably be considered resounding success.

What Brown would have given for that in 2010. I’m sure Boris would settle for that in 2022/7.

[Sephiroth]

I would love to see 52/48! Either way.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I would love to see 52/48! Either way.

I’m not convinced the four years, or more, of circuitous discussion would be worth it. Can only test Paul, Mick, Hugh, Chris and Maggy’s patience levels so many times...