SNP in secret attempt to challenge Supreme Court ruling on sex

I will probably vote Tory. They are the only ones that have done anything to protect women’s rights and challenge the SNP government on other issues too. Labour seem to be becoming increasingly authoritarian. SNP, Greens and Lib Dem’s all a huge ‘no’. Reform is like a rather dangerous game of ‘lucky dip’. Will need to see the candidates though.

I don’t have a vote in the Scottish elections. However, the likes of Ruth Davidson have given me the impression that in Scotland, Tories are still traditional (relatively) moderate small c conservatives, with whom I could honestly debate and disagree but still work with and accept in government. If there was someone of the calibre of Baroness Davidson on the ballot paper I could be tempted to vote for her/him.

You’re forgetting ferries, airport, overseas ‘embassies’, the bribe to get Yousef’s in laws out of Gaza, millions given to LBGT+ Youth Scotland to push gender ideology in schools despite having been headed up by a major paedophile and done pretty much nothing to look at their processes after that, plus of course all the other third sector ‘charities’ they pay to lobby their own ideas back to them.

Council heads might be paid too much but in general the SNP have made huge cuts to council budgets (which pays for education and social care) and planned significantly more such cuts in their last budget.

Think I'm going to have to have an email question for the candidates. Never see any MSP ones on the doorstep, round here it is SNP and Lib Dem. SNP definitely not on & LD not much better.
As you say, its the list vote too that needs thought, makes my head hurt!

I've always been grateful to the brave suffragettes who fought and died for our vote, and have always used my vote for almost 50 years. This is the first time I have struggled to find a candidate I can vote for.

Look for any independent and/or hold your nose and vote tory (least bad choice between gender woo and reform). I'm voting tory on my list vote as im in murdo fraser area and hes been good on this, still haven't made my mind up about the 1st past the post vote as im waiting to here back from some of the independents

Please , please don’t vote for the SNP. They are incompetent, utterly vile , greedy and liars.

I reckon we need to start ranting more, tbh.

I agree that I'm happy - in principle - to pay a bit more in tax, if services etc are commensurately better.

However, I'm not happy for it to be pissed away on fucking quangos and gigantic salaries for shit useless council high heed yins. The wastage on shit legislation alone is eye watering. DRS, anyone? GRR? Millions pissed away.

The council tax issue is also worsening - no raises so our services get hacked to the bone, raises so working people get yet another penalty for fuck all return.

I think efficiencies is what is needed, and fewer £80k salaries for soi disant public 'servants' would be a good place to start.

In most of Scotland the candidates are Green, Labour, Lib dem, SNP, Tory and Reform. If you're left of centre Labour are the least worst option in my view (my Labour MP might actually be GC, my SNP MSP unfortunately is not and will probably win again), if you're to the right of centre the Tories haven't been great on women's rights, but are generally better than Reform. I'm still considering spoiling my ballots, but think I'll probably go with least worst option so the worst options get a smaller share of the votes.
I'm not denying we live in a democracy and are fortunate compared to many countries, but the voting/political system could certainly be better. Six political parties and none of them genuinely have women's needs and rights as a priority. We're half the country, not a tiny minority!

My husband and I are actually happy about the fact we pay more income tax up here compared to if we still lived in England as long as that's been used where it's needed (health, education, social care). When they brought in the tax band changes and for a while after there were some sizable surveys that showed the majority of higher earners were actually supportive of paying more tax. I know we don't get to choose how our taxes are spent, but it is so frustrating to see it being pissed away on court cases and employment tribunals trying to strip women of our human rights. It's the double insult of trashing women's rights whilst wasting parliamentary time and huge sums of money that could be focused on supporting children from disadvantaged backgrounds or improving access for disabled people etc. So many better things.
How privileged, selfish and arrogant do you have to be to be prioritising a tiny group of deluded "trans" people over all these other groups?!

Sorry for the rant. I just got out of an hour long meeting where I was constantly talked over and patronised by four not very bright men. I'm currently extremely irritated.

The SNP will then treat your vote for them as a vote for independence.

😂😂😂😂😂

They just say that…

Lists only need just over 6% of the vote to get a candidate (see most Green MSPs). So unlikely to be a waste for Tories.

I think it's worth voting for one of the good Scottish conservative MSPs. Some of them do actually challenge the Scottish government in Parliament and in the press. This brings the issues to people's attention. They have been fighting back on trans issues. If there's a real risk of Reform getting in in your constituency, then you may feel that you have no choice but to vote SNP, as arguably the lesser of two evils. The SNP will then treat your vote for them as a vote for independence.

I'm thinking Labour for my vote in hope of reducing the number of inevitable protest (and genuine) Reform votes. The thought of a lot of Reform votes is depressing.

Unfortunately I do think lots of people just default vote for SNP without any deep thinking. I've said before when I calmly explain why I don't vote for them anymore and won't vote again for them in casual chats I usually just get puzzled bemusement back. Women's rights clearly just don't feature as an important detail even to those who wouldn't agree with the stuff the SNP is doing, it's just about having money, local jobs and council stuff that directly impacts them. The bigger picture is always lost. The SNP will count on this and just coast through unless Labour and/or the Tories really promote their campaigns to highlight all the problems in an accessible way for the casual voters. There's not long to go so I doubt they will.

Have to be offline for a while, not flouncing! Will be back to consider things afresh 🤔

The former a wasted vote in most of Scotland. The latter a genuinely frightening prospect.

Tories, Reform.

Depends on your candidates. Including list candidates.

He not only voted for the GRR, but was one of Shona Robison's lapdogs (see bottom of image)

So? What do you suggest for a sex realist voter?

spoiling your ballot paper is how we ended up with a UK government who got only 20% of the vote, and no viable opposition.

With a few exceptions who won’t get re selected, the SNP are a block, and a thoroughly corrupted one at that.

Does anyone know whether MSP Ben McPherson is one of the captured? Holding a ministerial post I sadly expect so.

Still pondering whether my only choice in May will be to spoil my ballot paper.

Or even basic general knowledge. I once was sent to see a consultant dermatologist because of a mosquito bite on my arm that had never healed. I was bitten whilst in Rome.

The consultant whispered to her junior ( presumably so I wouldn't hear) that " there are no mosquitos in Rome".

When I was an undergraduate, students were barely tolerated by faculty and the administration. The money came from research, and students were a necessary sideline to doing research. We knew we were zeros and the lowest of the low. So we had to run to keep up.

Now, students are customers and profit centres, paying enormous fees. They expect and pay to be spoonfed and feted as the most important people in the building.

i think it builds a different mindset.

Oh, he knows his biology ABC, I'm sure, any number of technical terms were fired at me.
It was actually a pure politics forum, so not really appropriate for a game of biology ping pong.
Just the assumption I wouldn't know about DSDs, or even wilder, he truly considers a boy with a DSD that is brought up as a girl, develops male anatomy, would be "accepted" as a girl or at the very least a "girl adjacent" third gender, and that these traditional societies are somehow more enlightened and less hateful than those in the West.
Conflating biological fact with social justice and anti colonialism.

I am a scientist and from what I’ve observed from new graduates is a fundamental lack of curiosity. I think it is part of the commodification of education and the siloed approach to work - as long as you learn/know/do your bit well, you don’t need to know about anything else. Reading round the subject and showing an interest in things outside your sphere seems almost discouraged.

The standouts are the newbies who are constantly asking questions, or noticing something isn’t right and sorting it out without prompting (eg “I noticed we were always running out of methanol so I’ve arranged with stores for them to bring up a couple of bottles per week so we always have some in the lab”). They are the ones that get the first choice on juicy new projects, rather than the ones whinging about having to go to stores again because the solvent cupboard is empty. The proportion of standouts to jobsworths is diminishing year on year though.

When I was a new graduate sometime in the last ice age it was expected for you to take the initiative, and not out of the ordinary. The newbies we get are all clever, qualified and pleasant people but they require far more spoon feeding than I’d expected for someone with a graduate degree.