Are any of you angry with N.S.

[Torvean32]

In Aberdeen she locked us down at 77 cases. We were fully locked down. 5 mile travel ban. Nobody in or out if the city unless for work/care. The lockdown lasted 3 weeks with no spread.

The cases in Glasgow were extremely high before NS took action.

So I'm asking , if you dont live in Glasgow are you annoyed that the central belt ( and related areas) spread could have been avoided?

Not angry. Scottish govt doing their best in difficult circumstances. Damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t..

[quote Arkadia]@Srictlybakeoff,
On education all they have done is... Oh gosh. What have they done? Whatever they have done given the results they could have employed their time better. On the plus side on education they cannot blame the evil English. The problem is that nobody cares about education, neither the parties nor the voters (not significantly, at least), so they get YET another free ride. I know, the "opposition" exists only on paper, but still...

They (the SNP) seem to wrapped up in constitutional issues, gender recognition matters and policing thought (and your allegiance to Scotland) that there is no time for anything else, like how to improve our lives. What has the SNP done for ME? Nothing at all, except free toll bridges, free hospital parking and free prescriptions. But that was stuff from over a decade ago. Now what do they do, they sow division and distrust, hate and acrimony, lies and deceit.

So, yes, those who vote SNP want independence (fair enough), plus in Glasgow they probably want easier access to dole money. For what other reason would you vote for Black or Ferrier? (I hasten to add that the Covid incident is neither here nor there, but it gave me the chance to read Margaret's illustrious CV).[/quote]
I usually vote for a party that I think will be good for society as a whole - not just what they will do for me.
www.businessforscotland.com/scotlands-nhs-outperforms-the-rest-of-the-uk-heres-why/
The NHS is Scotland is very far from perfect but in a better position than the rest of the U.K.

Your comment about Glasgow voters wanting easier access to dole money is ignorant and judgemental.

Arkadia is also wrong with Margaret Ferrier as she doesn't represent a Glasgow constituency either.

However, I have been heartened to see that there has been a higher number of posts from people with not so extreme and ill informed views the last couple of days. There is hope...

@MumofHunter

You literally said that those living in our biggest city would vote for a turd if it had an SNP ribbon on it.

Are you denying that there are people who have an allegiance to the SNP and will vote for them no matter what? Same as the old Labour strongholds back in the day.

Do you think people really considered whether people like Natalie McGarry or Margaret Ferrier were MP material before they marked their X? The fact that people voted for them kind of proves my point!

And yes I appreciate MF does not represent a Glasgow constituency. Still not really MP material.

@GreyishDays

It feels like people do have a reason in mind though?

That Glasgow was “yes city” and also has an SNP administration, as well as her own constituency, and she was reluctant to piss them off.

The SNP fans on here continue to do nothing to convince me they aren’t just blindly following a cult. Can’t take any criticism of the party or leadership and take personal offence when people do criticise. I find it quite baffling tbh.

This thread is going the same way as the others, unfortunately. Scotsnet is not representative of Scotland at all.

In my view (and I'm sure in most people's) saying a city voted for a political party so they could access the dole easier.. or that the same city would vote for a turd...goes beyond merely criticising a political party. It's displaying a rather abhorrent attitude towards others.

@Scotslassie1
I agree . Those comments are indicative of a very unpleasant superior attitude towards a whole group of people. It goes beyond being critical of a political party. Have to laugh at @MadameBlobby now taking the moral Hugh ground after her comments

I voted for MF, live in her constituency. Of course I think she should go now after the covid incident but prior to that, my view is that she is an extremely hard working, committed and kind person. I’m interested in what you know about her history that suggests she is not MP material, @MadameBlobby? On recent events, I think she’s made a foolish mistake out of fear. Yes I think she should resign but I don’t think we need to vilify her.

@Merename, I am sure she was/is very dependable and hard working. According to Wikipedia "Before her election to Parliament, she was a commercial sales supervisor for a manufacturing construction company in Motherwell."
Also she was friendly with NS and likely an activist in the party. Everything is perfectly fine, but perhaps she would have been more suited as a city councillor. Probably they were not really expected to win that seat, so (just like with Mhairi Black) she was pretty much making up the numbers.
Lo and behold, she was elected, but what does she really bring to parliament, except being yet another spokesperson for the SNP reading what is likely stuff written for her by party central (just like the apology she issued)?

I think by far the biggest reason for the SNP having such a majority - which is unhealthy in any government - is that the other parties have failed to see that independence is actually interesting. As in, you might not decide to vote for it in the end, but let’s properly engage.

And by not facing up to it, Labour and Tories appear - and ARE - patronising, and exist now only to snipe.

Meanwhile SNP gather up the votes because those who are still on the fence regarding Independence, but want to discuss it properly, or want to hope, whatever, don’t really have a political home.

I think it’s been a huge misjudgement since before indyref on the part of the other parties. Look how engaged everyone was. They’re pretending that didn’t happen.

As a result the SNP comes across as the only party willing to listen to people, and I don’t believe for a second they do, and I don’t believe they deal in solid facts either. But they get away with it all because no other party will allow a decent discussion of what independence could look like.

@nibdedibble, yes, you could have a point. The SNP is really just like the Brexit party or UKIP, they share the same aim and use similar means to achieve their ultimate goal (and we have all seen how it ended up with Brexit). But also all this sowing division and mistrust has to end. Personally I am sick and tired of it and I wish we could go back to dear old boring politics were you bothered with health or schools or roads or whatever actually impacts our lives.

I'm angry with the idiots who voted for her.

The thing that really pissed me off was going to sleep in Ayr and waking up in the central belt.

You can't blame Sturgeon alone, the whole of the SNP are spending time in the pandemic thinking about how to break up the UK. But in the meantime screaming for every penny they can get.

[quote Arkadia]@nibdedibble, yes, you could have a point. The SNP is really just like the Brexit party or UKIP, they share the same aim and use similar means to achieve their ultimate goal (and we have all seen how it ended up with Brexit). But also all this sowing division and mistrust has to end. Personally I am sick and tired of it and I wish we could go back to dear old boring politics were you bothered with health or schools or roads or whatever actually impacts our lives.[/quote]
No, nothing like those parties, in that they govern (whether you like it or not) and would be part of a government post-theoretical-independence. And their ultimate aim - unless I’m being spectacularly blind - isn’t to dupe the population into voting for something that’ll line the pockets of themselves and their cronies. I don’t see, for example, a leader who touts racism and stands in front of knock-off Nazi propaganda posters. So get a grip and don’t bring me into your hating, thanks.

@nibdedibble, the anti-English racism that is fostered by the SNP is fine, then, and so the endless "us (good) Vs them (evil)" rhetoric, where "them" are blamed for everything (whether "everything" is fact or fiction is irrelevant, the important is to blame ENDLESSLY). I wonder... what is SO different in the way UKIP/Brexit party and the SNP behave?
Brexit party and SNP share the same goal, to secede from something. If anything the Brexit party will have emboldened the SNP because, they will say, if they made it, so can we.
And the SNP's aim is not to dupe the population into believing that the land of milk and honey is just within reach.
The Tory party is in government and is part of the not-so-theoretical post Brexit Britain. But hey, they are all in it just for themselves, huh, not just like the innocent SNP little lambs.

I’m not going to say that no Scottish person has ever been a dickhead and gone off on one about ‘the English’ but if you think the SNP is actively fostering anti-English sentiment amongst the population, that’s a bit paranoid. And it doesn’t respect the feelings of the many originally English people who’ve moved here and have voted for them.

It’s certainly a convenient trope but it’s not really true on the ground. There are definitely Scots who are bloody awful, but they are vilified by the rest of us for their idiotic nonsense. Sorry if you’ve run into any, I mean that genuinely, there are some right cunts about.

No, not angry at NS.

Just FYI, the SNP does not have a 'majority'.

And yet again, we see the pro-independence = divisive, pro-UK- not divisive cliche rear its head.

Politics is, by it's very nature, divisive. You are never going to agree on everything all of the time, yet over and over, people or parties who subscribe to what is evidently now the majority view, are accused of 'sowing division' and such.

Get back in yer box and eat yer UK cereal, eh?

As a result the SNP comes across as the only party willing to listen to people, and I don’t believe for a second they do, and I don’t believe they deal in solid facts either. But they get away with it all because no other party will allow a decent discussion of what independence could look like.

I think there's a lot of truth in this @nibdedibble. I would have loved it if the generation talked about at the time of the first referendum had been even vaguely adhered to because the independence question has fostered the kind of division that you never get from schools/hospital policies, but the fact is that support for independence is starting to grow and so we need to have a realistic, fact-based conversation about what this would really entail. The flat refusal of Westminster to even engage with the question and some of the recent communications surrounding Scotland is starting to look arrogant even to Unionists like me, and it allows the SNP to completely control the narrative. I think they have made independence support or not a matter of personal identity rather than a policy decision that is debated rationally, hence people will always vote with their 'team' without even necessarily caring about/understanding all the finer details. It's the only reason I can think of why the SNP remain popular despite being well past their sell by date. I personally believe their narrative is a complete distortion and based on unrealistic hopes and dreams, but if no one else is talking about it, their version doesn't get the proper scrutiny it so desperately needs.

Imagine if Labour and the Tories could accept that they need to engage. Politically we’d be having a much better discussion about the future, hopefully better informed. There would be votes lost but votes won. I saw one young council candidate for Labour taking this line recently, so perhaps it’ll be the young ones who change it in time.

Anyway, dream on nibdedibble....and this is about NS anyway, who’s saying R0 is below 1 now (just) so hopefully the New Year will bring about a less fraught situation.

I laughed when NS said it was undemocratic for Scotland being refused to get a second referendum on independance.
I think NS lack of respect for those who voted no says it all.
Let's say the vote had gone the other way. Would no voters be allowed to start a campaign to re-vote.
Alex Salmond threw his toys out of his pram the day of the no vote.

The thought of an independent Scotland with NS is one on my worst nightmares.

Most people in Scotland voted for a second referendum. Do you not know this? It's not the first minister's decision.

Mhari Black is my MP she is actually really good and I say this as a Labour Party member and voter. I had an issue last year and contacted my labour councillor and MSP and just got dingyed but when I contacted Mhari Black's office it was sorted out that day and it was an issue my councillor could have easily dealt with, I'm a labour member as I said but it pained me to vote for the Labour candidate over Ms Black as she is much closer to my own left wing politics than the Labour option but I wanted a labour government.

I'm not angry with NS and think she has done better than any of the other leaders in the UK. I don't support the SNP but may vote for them in the next scottish elections as I think it is now time for another indyref. I campaigned for NO last time but am now leaning towards Yes, I suppose it will depend on how things go in the next 6 months but I feel the Union no longer serves the people of Scotland.