To really really hate the SNP.

[Twooter]

Got that off my chest.

I really like Ruth too. She seems to have a lot of integrity. (And a lot of fun tank driving, playing rugby etc etc)

Something about Patrick Harvey that I just don't like. Sleekit sums him up.

Ruth should start her own party 😀 It makes me sad that she is a Tory.

Same here queen. We also lost a very effective hard working MP, who was replaced by an absolute fanny, just because she was wearing a yellow rosette. It's a bit of a tragedy for Scotland really that so many really decent people lost their jobs to the detriment of the local community.

Look at that fuckwit McGarry and Michelle Thompson to name just two.

Tbh it's our Labour councillors who have been embroiled in scandal after scandal. There's a constant cycle of fraud allegations and the sums involved are astronomical it makes McGarry's look like small change yet there has been hardly any coverage of it. I'm so angry and frustrated by it, it almost makes me want to become a politician.

The councillors in Edinburgh (mainly labour) have been utterly dreadful. Couldn't run a piss up in a brewery (even with the obligatory brown envelope).

Oh yes there were plenty of labour snouts in the trough too. I hated the entrenchdness (is that a word!) of the labour councils. I think politicians need to be kept in their toes and not get too comfortable as that's when the corruption seems to creep in.

They couldn't even find the brewery QueenLaBeefah, not even with the wind blowing the smell straight in to their snouts.

Reasons why the SNP are detestable:

1 Forcing another referendum. Wholly undemocratic
2 Named Person. Very weird as destined to fail, anyone up for their child having the Head of Cults Academy as NP? But very scary as it's flying under radar.
3 Glasgow. They love us, voted Aye y'see. But they hate us enough to cause 1500 job losses.
4 Education. Both measurable and implicit. Nicola Sturgeon spoke to the girls at Aqsa Mahmoud's private school about leadership. She's not at Smithycroft doing the same with the pupils in the mother and baby unit. I'm alright Jill.
5 Police Scotland. No words.

It's terrifying that they're this bad but totally adored. Almost cult like. Say what you want about Tories but at least they are transparent.

ASAS if they're not transparent how do you source the information that makes you hate them so much?
And are you saying you would rather vote Tory? Because although I do like Ruth I never forget that NATALT.

Oh hello, that didn't take long did it

The transparency issue is in the lack of information they provide. WHY do we all need named persons? WHY not just strengthen services for those at greatest risk by oh I don't know taxing those who can afford it?

YANBU I hate the SNP. They are all smoke and mirrors. Devious. Despicable. I think people who vote for them will end up feeling the same as a lot of people who voted for Blair do now.
A lot of their policies are headline grabbing.
So free prescriptions - great -pity about them not meeting the cancer treatment targets...again. I have a long term health condition I have in the past had lots of dealings with NHS in England and Scotland. A couple of years ago I was the emergency medical unit of my local hospital and for the first time I really saw the NHS at breaking point (they couldn't find even a trolley never mind a bed for an old lady they thought was about to go into cardiac arrest - that bad). And this wasn't in peak flu season, it was at what should have a been a quiet time of year. I had to wait 5 days for a standard scan because the Dr I saw had a daily quota that had been exceeded. Oh and my consultant retired as soon as they could - has emigrated to New Zealand where they will carry on working - as they put it no point in waiting for Nicola to take away any more of their pension.
Education

No tuition fees - great but as others have said, less funding for college courses, not really benefiting the poorest students, who maybe can't afford not to work for 3-4 yrs.
Nat 5 fiasco...need I say more?

Curriculum for excellence. Children from poorer areas are now doing even more badly than they were before. So they are introducing national testing at primary level -because the lack of testing is obviously the problem.
The curriculum requirements for High schools are so packed that they can't actually fit them into the school hours.

Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme instead of disclosure - fantastic idea - except IME the system is creaking under the pressure - taking months for even updates to come through, never mind original registrations and staff can't actually start work without their an update for the new setting...leaving schools etc short staffed.
Early years - 600hrs free early learning for 3 yos - my personal bugbear and I think sums up the SNP perfectly....rushed through before the independence vote. The councils weren't in a position to implement it in time.
600hrs sounds like a lot, a headline grabbing figure. But it works out at 15.789 hrs per term time week - an increase on the previous 12.5hrs per week. But is is less than 50 min a week more than the 15 hrs that had been available in England for ages - if you put it that way it doesn't sound quite so great does it?
It works out as 5 sessions of 3.1579 hrs or 3hrs 9.47min per week. So lets call it 3hr 10 mins for simplicity -that's 10 min a day more than in England and 40 mins more than the previous 2.5hrs. And that helps parent back to work how? . It is now being billed as 'Early learning and childcare' so they can lump it together into longer sessions...so less education and more childcare.
And I'm not even going to start on Police Scotland -or the council tax freeze.
I really truly hate them ...they sold independence as great for the poor in Scotland but the figures didn't stack up (even without the oil price crash) and the White paper was a wish list...
If they had won the vote everyone in Scotland would have been worse off for at least a generation. And the people who would have suffered most would be the poorest in society...and they were the ones fooled into believing it would be good for them.

They are a despicable party - Yanbu.

There are lots of things I don't like about them - far too controlling, interfering, divisive & patronising. They are not transparent and lie through their teeth about a lot of things - instead of answering any questions they just fling mud and try and divert the issue. NS always has a smug smile/smirk on her face and she swaggers when she walks. I believe she is very clever according to close friends who know her but even they don't know why she sticks with SNP - maybe she's a big fish in a small pond?

i don't like that all the MPs vote together and as such pass laws/legislation with no effective sense checks - we need our own version of the HoL.

ASAS I'm not sure what you mean by 'that didn't take long' - could you explain? We were already discussing the alternatives to the SNP when you posted.

As for your comment about transparency, either the information is available or it's not. If you just want to vent then feel free. I thought you might have wanted a dialogue but from your response, I'm guessing I was mistaken.

Personally I always think it's better to offer a solution than just moan especially with something as important as poltics
Anyway, I would be interested to know if you see the Tories as better because tbh if we start listing the Conservative Party's policy failures then to misquote Jaws we're going to need a bigger thread.

ASAS when you say taxing those who can afford it who do you mean?

NS always has a smug smile/smirk on her face and she swaggers when she walks
Isn't that a bit Mean Girls?
So Peggy which party do you support? Who passes your non-swaggering walk test?
can you see how ridiculous and sexist that sounds?

When there's a decent alternative to the SNP I'll consider voting for them. Tories: not a chance. I'd struggle to name a single proposed policy from Scottish Labour. I have no respect for the Lib Dems as a party after going into coalition with the Conservatives and failing on their tuition fee promise.

I care about education and health. Look at England: privatising health, insane junior doctor contacts and massive tuition fees. Look at Scotland: free prescriptions, not as privatised, better working conditions for doctors, free tertiary education.

I prefer how Scotland is doing things. I don't agree with every SNP policy but I think generally they're getting it right.

I'm glad the op hates the SNP. Another reason to add to my list why I love them.

I can't believe Ruth Davidsons' one and only fan turned up to post on this page either. Or is it actually you Ruth? Who gave you the job anyway? It wasn't the voters. That's for sure. Lol

Aplace why is it sexist to not like someone and how they come across?

It's not sexist to dislike someone but you commented on appearance and gait. 'Swaggering ' is traditionally associated with men so your post read as though you were criticising NS for her face, for not having a 'feminine' walk and for being confident. If that isn't what you meant then perhaps you can explain?

JohnThomas a few posters said they liked Ruth, including me. I've never voted Conservative in my life and never will but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate that Ruth generally performs well in debates and is adept at working with the media.

All this negative campaigning is dull and counter productive. I know it could be said it was successful in the referendum campaigns but actually the status quo is always more likely to win especially when they deliberately don't engage with future planning. The swing to the SNP afterwards was as much a reaction to the negative campaigns as it was to the poor quality of the other parties' policies, as it was about support for the SNP.

Is it impossible to have a reasoned discussion online about politics without it being swamped by anecdotes presented as facts, personal attacks and claims of sock puppetry? Does no-one else find this 'yah boo sucks' level of political debate boring?

Captain, to my mind the snp's u turn on abolishing council tax is every bit as bad as the lib dems u turn on tuition fees, the snp don't keep their promises either. Yet they are forgiven, why is that? They are keeping a tax they called a Tory policy, regressive and unfair.

They voted with the Tories against Labour's proposed 1p increase in income tax, a progressive policy. Yet they claim to be the progressive party in Scotland.

They say one thing yet do another. The Tartan Tory is making itself obvious!!

Aplace when has commenting on someone looking smug commenting on their appearance? I've not mentioned anything about how she looks. Tbh I thought AS also looked smug, he was quite affable though and I liked his character unlike his policies. As for the swagger - i associate it more with little neds thinking they are the big I am when the reality is they look like planks - nothing at all to do with men.

I hate them too:

Education: cuts to FE provision, screwing around with exam system, rushing through new nursery hours without putting staffing in place (and without it making any difference to helping people back to work), free tuition which means Scottish students hardly ever consider travelling to England/Wales for university any more, and also means fewer Scottish places due to need for lots of fee-paying overseas students.

Police Scotland: centralised at vast expense and to the detriment of 'local' policing, where police knew their local population.

Freeze on council tax for years - ridiculous!

Named person - why? I don't even understand what the he'll it will achive that isn't already in place.

Hypocrisy: don't want to be ruled by Westminster, but happy to be in Europe. Want more powers then refuse to use them when they get them (eg tax raising powers).

Dishonest: eg say they won't vote on English issues in Westminster then vote against Sunday hours extension - the only reason being to screw Cameron over. As many, if not more, dodgy dealings as any other party but paint themselves as the honest and decent party (back handers, cronyism, exploitation of vulnerable). Total manipulation and gagging of Scottish press (I know this from the horse's mouth).

Blaming Westminster for everything that has gone wrong! NS even said last week that the latest figures showing how Scotland would be in financial black hole if we had gone independent was because we were still under the rule of Westminster. What?

The only thing NS has got going for her is she's quite a good public speaker, but even that is showing holes now.

I really hate them. Will be voting Labour or Lib dem in GE. Have no problem with Lib Dems and the compromises they had to make as a coalition parry. Baffled that Lib Dem supporters hated the coalition when Lib Dems supposedly believe in PR/coalitions, which by their nature require massive compromise. Much preferred the compromises of a coalition than the unilateral decisions of a single party, especially the Tory party.

V sad that I now feel differently about some of my friends due to their hero worshipping of the ghastly SNP.

waves to Scottish Labour HQ

Ho should I vote for if not the SNP? What does Scottish Labour offer the people of Scotland?