To ask scots if they actually like Nicola sturgeon

[Karen85]

Just out of curiosity really because she and her voice make me cringe when i hear her on tv or radio.

Love scots though please don't get me wrong.

I hate nationalism of all kinds - it's an accepted form of xenophobia in my opinion however I think that at least Sturgeon has an image of trying for Scotland. That being said the education system is now not fit for purpose and there has been a mass centralisation over the past few years.

Not a fan of May but a big Davidson fan-boy. I feel sorry for Dugdale even though I think she's well intentioned.

So the only reason we aren't bombed by Russia or n Korea is because of trident? They're that scared of us bombing them if they bomb us first? I don't believe that.
Westminster will never allow Scottish independence because it has no where to put trident. They will keep it in Scotland by any means. You believe we have a democratic vote in referendums or even GE's it's all a con. We are constantly being manipulated. Democracy is the biggest lie sold to civilised society.

NHS funding does come from from Westminster, indeed more NHS funding comes from Westminster than gets passed onto the NHS in Scotland by the Scottish Government.

She may see a few Gaelic speaking areas north of Stirling but she only sees the NE as a cash cow (for which she has a shock coming with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs which she fails to acknowledge).

Having spent some time trying to figure out the education governance review consultation I do not believe they are actually interested in genuine consultation.

I don't need party emails or propaganda.

Trident is something I am on the fence about. Can see both arguments.

SNP want to be in NATO (a nuclear alliance something for any years they did not want but changed their minds when they knew too any supporters wanted it) but don't want trident in our waters but have agreed that as part of NATO membership we have to allow nuclear subs to dock on our shores. Alex Salmond said he would allow that and not want to know when they were docked At least at the moment we know they are there.

I also think the SNP would agree to th still be housed on the Clyde in the event

Agreed Scaffleen

How many other European countries have nuclear missiles?

Why would Scotland be a target (independent Scotland) in any case?

Sorry hit post too soon.

I also think the SNP would agree to them being housed in the event of indy if RUK paid a lot of money in rent so to speak.

Regardless of if you agree with them or not they exist and currently faslane is where they are housed and at present there is no where safe to put them plus I would think it wouldn't be as simple as just getting ride of them I suspect our membership of NATO would prevent the UK solely making that decision. Again something the SNP failed to address other than they won't be housed on the Clyde.

How many other European countries have nuclear missiles? France.

Why would Scotland be a target (independent Scotland) in any case? Why wouldn't it? It would give strategic access to England and the heart of Europe. And also just because they can. And agree it's not as simple as saying "no thanks" we'd need to remain a member of Nato or are we just not bothering with that either?

So, is the reason we don't need any of that stuff because we are all friendly and happy and welcoming so who'd want to do anything bad to little old us?

I am by no means an expert and would suggest there is more involved than just going back on an agreement but Ukraine had nuclear weapons.

It did give them up and from what i rember they did so after a promise from the U.S. and Russia not to use force or military action against them, something Vladimir Putin went back on when the Ukraine was invaded.

Again i'm not suggesting their lack of nuclear weapons was the reason Russia invaded them and as far as I know they didn't use nuclear weapons but perhaps this is a reason SOME people would not be happy to give them up.

Nowhere safe except in Scottish waters?! I mean come on.

Democracy is the biggest lie sold to civilised society. It certainly is when the democratically elected body just ignore the democratic decisions of the people who voted.

The largest cache of nukes in the west is in Scotland. That isn't a deterrent but a target IMO

So it's not an objection to nuclear weapons as such, just nimby-ism?

I think to be honest the biggest threat to Scotland sometimes is the massive fecking chip on it's shoulder.

At present yes it is. It really isn't a case of just parking them anywhere. Faslane is massive complex site. I have a family member who works there (on the subs too) he says while of course another site could be used it would take billions and many years to do so safely. So at present no there is no where safer.

Put it this way if an indy Scotland demands they are moved and they are housed somewhere else in England that isn't safe and there is an accident Scotland won't escape the fallout. By all means be against them but be sensible in your arguments and accept they currently exist here and elsewhere in the world and they won't be gone overnight.

Sorry I don't know what nimby-ism means?

I haven't read the whole thread, but I work for a Scottish local authority and am in a position to know that the state of council services cannot be laid at the feet of any one political party or leader. It is a combination of systemic inertia and inefficiency combined with the black hole in council finances caused by a massive increase in population, people living longer and needing to use council services/the NHS much more, while the % of tax-paying working age citizens decreases.

And as for Scots saying that NS is running the NHS into the ground, have you looked at the state of the English NHS recently?

Sorry I don't know what nimby-ism means?

Not In My Back Yard - where people don't mind a thing existing, they just don't want it in their back yard.

I mean that councils go along in their slow, infuriating, frustrating way doing things the same way as they've aye been done with absolutely zero interest in politics.

I personally am against nuclear weapons existing. It's not nimbyism (on my part).

TooExtra

I appreciate that there are socio-economic factors for local government that would exist for any party in power, however, the council tax freeze imposed by the SNP certainly hasn't helped. It would be wrong to say that their time in power has not had a negative effect on financing in local government.

It's been stated before on here and I haven't checked, that the SNP have made up the impact of the freeze on local governments by giving extra funds from central government. i have no reason to believe that isn't the case, however if they could afford that contribution and the freeze hadn't happened then loads of services could have been saved or introduced.

Thanks 😊
Not nimby-ism from me then. I want them gone from the UK as well as Scotland. Our govt (UK or Scot) have no input as to firing the damn things and they don't work anyway. They cost too much. And they make us a target.

..and I'm not against the councils having their attention focussed on savings they could make.

I don't think we can compare our NHS to England's. We have a population of around 6 million compared to their 60 million.

I won't say I blame NS for any issues the NHS has as I think they are too complicated to know exactly where the blame falls and when the problems started but just because ours isn't as bad England's doesn't mean we shouldn't be questioning failures when they do happen.

In the forthcoming council elections a number of councillors are now standing as independents, not SNP, in protest at their policy with Local Government and Education.