To ask if you are voting SNP?

[SpiceAddict]

How do you think they are going to 'end austerity'? How will this be financed? You can't just suddenly invest more in infrastructure etc to create more jobs if there is no.money.

If it is going to be financed by stopping trident, then we will lose US support - not really a good idea....

Labour are going to increase tax for higher payers, mansion tax etc in order to fund their investments.

I live in Yorkshire and we really don't get the support for SNP. They don't make sense to me, but as they seem to be so popular, please can someone actually why?

I am scottish and love my country, for that reason I will not be voting SNP. I also think the majority are intelligent enough to see past the rhetoric and the deeper a hole the SNP dig the more see how scarily controlling their politics are.

The behaviour of the scottish government surrounding various issues over recent years has shown the MSPs to be utterly uninterested in the will of the people almost to the point of sweeping democracy out of the way altogether.

There is a growing sense in Scotland that we are in danger of sleep walking into a fascist state if we continue to allow the SNP to keep awarding themselves power over us.

We voted to remain part of the UK but are being treated as if our opinion is irrelevant.

Public figures who question SNP policies are forced into keeping quiet through threats of budget cuts etc. Politicians within the party who question policy are given the boot.

The terrifying recent introduction of a corporate parent for every child in Scotland is the perfect example; the bill was forced through with minimal press coverage and not one single MSP voted against (there were a very few who abstained). The public are slowly starting to realise that this will not just be relevant to those families considered to have "issues", it is a fact that every child here now has a state appointed legal guardian who has nothing to do with that child's family. This concept is utterly disturbing as well as proving nigh impossible to implement in a practical sense. Due to the sneaky way the Act was passed it will take a lot of screw ups and time before this will be undone.

Donald Trump's efforts to terrorise locals and destroy wildlife were supported by and forced upon us by the MSPs against the local authority's wishes.

Edinburgh Council are in dire straits but calls for public investigation are being ignored.

The SNP have created division where there was none and this approach of trying to divide us to conquer us is not working. Scotland is smart enough to see through the bull, we consider our country too valuable to trust to a group of controlling fantasists. SNP lack the evidence to back up their figures, they have been repeatedly proven wrong on finance and their promises can't mean a thing without the money to back them up. There is a difference between talking a good talk and actually walking the walk!

Tamerlaine should I be glad that thumb screws and witch-hunters in general are now banned? (joke!!!)

And I'd wholeheartedly encourage you to do something about it in some other capacity, because I don't think that railing about it continually on mumsnet is going to get the results you're looking for.

Please, take it to the press, raise it with your MP/MSP, complain to every public and professional body you can.

The people of Edinburgh who have and continue to suffer have tried just about everything, including petitioning their parliament and asking their many elected representatives - unfortunately, currently Scotland is the type of country that wants to sweep things under the carpet.

Scottish newspapers, particularly the Evening News, report on it regularly. It has been on BBC Scotland. Its in the courts regularly. But the bloody Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government simply refuse to tackle it. You might find this unbelievable - compare it to similar scandals involving Westminster in recent years, and think about how long they took to uncover (and are still taking).

But I do think that publicising it as much as possible, including on mumsnet (although some people strangely do seem to object) is unobjectionable.

I am quite happy with the names adult idea, as a parent and a teacher.

Ok, Chandler. As I said, I don't know much about corruption in Edinburgh City Council. So, why don't we assume that you're entirely right, and the all the citizens of Edinburgh suffer eternally.

I'm really not convinced that harping on about it publicising it on mumsnet is a terrifically useful strategy. But let's say that it is. Let's say that it garners great results.

So far, this takes us to the other nub of the matter. You ask "Can you imagine that happening in London?".

Er, yes. Yes I can. To the extent that your concerns about Edinburgh City Council are legitimate, I can imagine that corruption exists to some similar degree throughout tiers of governmental and corporate governance elsewhere, throughout managerial cadres and professional bodies.

As you point out, we would "compare it to similar scandals involving Westminster in recent years, and think about how long they took to uncover (and are still taking)."

So, for the sake of argument, assuming you are right and Edinburgh City Council is hopelessly and irredeemably corrupt, I don't see how this particularly distinguishes Scottish politics from politics elsewhere. And given that you mention similar scandals involving Westminster, I don't think you do either.

Tamerlaine So, for the sake of argument, assuming you are right and Edinburgh City Council is hopelessly and irredeemably corrupt, I don't see how this particularly distinguishes Scottish politics from politics elsewhere. And given that you mention similar scandals involving Westminster, I don't think you do either.

Err, right. I didn't say that, but what do you want? That people should not talk about matters involving Scotland that you personally maybe find a bit tiresome?

You do realise that the whole point in having devolution and a Scottish Parliament is not just to produce laws but to be more accountable and transparent to public scrutiny? Do you not have any concept of how important stuff like this is? Particularly in a country in which the Government is constantly clamouring for more powers?

The point in mentioning stuff like this is that the SNP constantly pedals the notion that Scotland's government is far less corrupt than Westminster, far more effective, more answerable to the people, and so on. It simply isn't. This affects people's lives. I realise that might be inconvenient to the Scottish political class and their hangers on, and it might be much better if they would just shut up, but there you go. Real people, real lives.

Do you have any other banned subjects? Or more pertinently, who appointed you examiner-in-chief?

Happy to discuss any other relevant matters. What about recent ECHR case law finding the Court of Session at fault? But if you are posting on a thread like this, why on earth don't you find out about stuff which is going on in what is presumably your own country?

Iggi999 you really don't mind that your child now has a third corporate parent not of your choosing?!? Someone who can legally object to your chosen method of raising your children and act on those objections without consulting you?

Also as a teacher how many children are you now expected to take responsibility for? Are you prepared to act equally for them all and cope with the fallout if you have the misfortune to be responsible as a legal guardian for a child who comes to harm?

Tamberlaine, children are being injured and killed in Edinburgh's schools due to financial ruin and general mishandling of infrastructure management. In the small community that is Scotland's capital that is a really big deal.

Ok. So you have nothing to say here about the real crux of your fixation with Edinburgh City Council on these boards. Which is that you want to argue that the degree of corruption in Edinburgh City Council is unparalleled, but also that your claims are entirely credible, because there are parallels elsewhere. And that this has some unique relevance for Scottish politics (the relevance is that it demonstrates Scottish politics is not unique).

Tamerlaine Ok. So you have nothing to say here about the real crux of your fixation with Edinburgh City Council on these boards.

I've posted on many topics relating to this and related threads, not just Edinburgh City Council.

I think it is you who has a fixation with suggesting people have obsessions with Edinburgh City Council. You have repeatedly posted the same thing over and over again tonight on this thread. You appear to have no other reason to post than City of Edinburgh Council.

Which is that you want to argue that the degree of corruption in Edinburgh City Council is unparalleled, but also that your claims are entirely credible, because there are parallels elsewhere. And that this has some unique relevance for Scottish politics (the relevance is that it demonstrates Scottish politics is not unique)

And I think, from the very familiar outpouring of waffle and fudge demonstrated above, that it is becoming more than a little apparent what your particular interest is.

'Jenny said I should do what Darling asks. He’s in charge after all. It’s not really good journalism but what the hell does journalism matter? This is much more important.'

And your point is? Alan Cochrane was intelligent enough to realise there needed to be united front in the face of the nat threat. He was brilliant during the referendum.

I'm surprised that you should ever grow tired of discussing Edinburgh City Council, Chandler.

I have no particular 'interest' here, as you suggest. I'm just a bit tired of all threads about Scottish politics being dragged into discussions about Edinburgh sodding city council.

And yes, when you really press on the points you seem to make about all this apparent corruption they do turn into waffle and fudge because you don't seem to have any particularly insightful or useful conclusions to draw about all this high corruption.

Is it that Scottish politics is not uniquely free of corruption on a local or institutional scale?

Strawman.

I think the fairly obvious point is that Scottish politicians are just as corrupt as any at "Westmonster" despite the rhetoric to the contrary.

I agree that this is quite obvious.

I disagree that it takes a bazillion posts about Edinburgh city council to point this out.

And I'm not sure that there really is all that much rhetoric to the contrary, and that it's a bit of a strawman.

"Yes to SNP. And disgusted with today's events. So much so I joined them this afternoon. Formerly a Labour voter, recently a Yes voter, for me it's still a big step. But the powers that be are in full smearing force, just like the last days of the Referendum."

YY, it's been a disgusting few days of events for NS. I'm appalled by it all, and glad that there is not an inquiry been started. She doesn't mince her words.

Well done starwars for seeing the light.

Me to Blowinahoolie, a disgusting attempt to smear NS hopefully will backfire - someone is lying, and it isn't Nicola.

"I also find the way she and AS talk a bit affected, as in the adopt this very casual, slang, central Scotland way of speaking which I'm sure isn't typical of a former law student or Edinburgh economist from Linlithgow."

I'd rather have someone in power who speaks in her true tongue, 'slang' 'casual' or otherwise. If she's doing a good job of running the country, efficient, then what on earth has her accent got to do with anything?! I know many people who speak in slang but I would trust them with my life, it's no bearing on whether or not they are good at what they do in their lives!

Eck sounds like most people who I've heard in the streets of Linlithgow, go there every so often so I'm aware of the local accent there.

"I don't think the French want to appear unprofessional / incompetent etc"

Shite! What do they have to gain by lying to cover up for NS?! It's not their fight is it?

Believe me blowinahoolie there's nothing more id like to see than the Scots language spoken as it should be, and if it could be given tge proper recognition it deserves as a separate language from English one day, then great.

But glottal stops on the letter "d" e.g. In 'Scotland" does sound pretty unusual to an was coaster. I know a few people from Linlithgow, all of whom speak in pretty strong accents, and id say they were closer to Fife and Midlothian than an Irvine accent! Its sounds quite unusual, and I cant help noticing there is almost a Scottish "political accent" now.

If only NS could be persuaded to glottal stop her "g"s and "l"s too, she might get her wish of Scotland becoming part of the Nordic Council, as she would give the Danes a run for their money!

*east coaster - damned phone

If Edinburgh City Council is so corrupt, move out of the area then and you will not be liable to pay them council tax any more!!! It's not difficult is it? If you're not happy with a region or country, move on with your life. Get over it. It's not with this morbid pre-occupation TheChandler honestly, it's not.

I personally would not live in Edinburgh because of the high rate of council tax and shoddy services you get with it. But that's just my opinion (have relatives who live there, that's how I know!).

*worth. Cannae spell today!

I thought Chandler had moved.

Anyway since when was the answer to get all your opponents to leave the country!
That will be a whole new problem for Scotland as this rumbles on by the way.

Are you saying East Coasters don't use glottal stops? Or West Coasters?

Oops, didn't see update.

Come and speak to my Edinburgh-born-Fife-bred 7-year-old then.

Finding it hard to let go of the inverted snobbery re Linlithgow. It is in the middle of the Edinburgh / Glasgow train line, very des res and cosmopolitan and so the accent is diverse. I have lived there and my family are "locals". Feel like I am feeding the irrelevance now though!

Corporate parent idea sounds appalling and very socialist. Nanny state at its worst.

I don't like Scotland's recent changes in property law either which would put me off ever buying there now.