To be irritated that John Swinney is going to spend next week banging on about Gaza?

[Fragmentedbrain]

Why fix your own shit schools, prisons, councils and health service when you can fly the Palestinian flag at Holyrood for free I guess.

Attention-seeking wee wanker.

There is so much going on in the world, people are being massacred because of their religion every day, but you only want to show your compassion when it comes to Gaza.

Why is this? Are you just doing it because it is fashionable? Are you doing it because other massacred people are predominantly Christians? Are you doing it because you don't understand?

John Sweeny is a toon Councillor. He has no power in the world. No one is listening to him. He could make a difference in Scotland to the poor, to education, to small business, just to pot holes. But he is virtue signalling madly and after reading this thread I can see why.

To be honest, I think people in Scotland (and the UK generally) are feeling like shit and just really fed up. Roads are shocking, NHS waiting lists are dire, cost of living is through the roof, services are being cut despite a massive rise in council tax (13.5 % in the west of Scotland where I live taking mine to £349 a month yet bin collection is reduced and we’ve now to pay extra to get garden waste collected).

There’s zero general maintenance so the public bins are overflowing, grassy areas don’t get cut and graffiti not removed. Workforce in Glasgow to deal with maintenance has been cut from nearly 200 to about 30. The place just looks a mess.

Fly tipping massively on the rise. Police don’t attend lots of reported crimes. Classes are overflowing in (some) schools. Can’t get a GP or dentist appointment for love nor money. ££££s being spent on illegal migrants while the number of homeless on our streets is increasing. There’s now tents in the street in Glasgow city centre which I’ve never seen before in over 50 years (yes there were homeless folk in tents etc but generally not in the middle of Buchanan street!

You get the drift. And yes, these problems individually are NOTHING compared to the awful situation in Gaza but when your everyday life is just getting harder and harder, despite working hard and paying a fortune in tax, you just want to see your own politicians actually doing something about it.

And you can accuse people of being thick/racist/ill-informed etc, but that’s irrelevant because people will vote based on their own perceptions rather than “facts” - a famous philosopher once said “there is no truth, only perception” so if people perceive our politicians care more about Gaza than their own people, then that will be reflected in their vote. Trump is testament to that.

It’s the reason why Reform are appealing to a wider range of voter. Even if what much of what they are spouting is shite, if people believe it, they’ll vote for it - as per Brexit.

I myself feel politically homeless but I really worry we will end up with Reform in power.

I'd not be calling other people ignorant when you don't know the difference between arc and ark.

I think the scottish Govs pretty poor. I don't get why these minute countries like NZ and Scotland want to appear to be world changing - other countries like the Netherlands, Denmark make changes to immigration to suit their population. Don't throw millions into transgenderism. They just get on with doing the best to make a fair and successful country, which they have, in a calm and determined way. without all the fanfare and attention seeking.
If they improved education in Scotland they'd improve health and drug problem.