A great piece in Holyrood mag about the depressing state of the SNP

[ASmallMovie]

It's a really good piece for anyone interested...

www.holyrood.com/editors-column/view,something-rotten

That link comes up with a “page not found” error message, OP.
The current state of the SNP doesn’t depress me, btw - I’m thrilled to see them fighting amongst themselves like rats in a sack, while messing up everything from education to the economy, it should help to cut their votes!

I got the article by going to the home screen and scrolling down. I'm not a fan anyway so I'm as delighted as PP.

The only depressing thought is that this opportunity to get rid will be wasted due to ineffective opposition and media and we end up back at square 1 with years to wait on any other opportunities to take advantage of. Currently the perfect storm if you are not a snp fan.

It depresses me that they're still looking to be reelected despite behaving like rats in a sack.

Ah sorry about the link.

It depresses me as I was a reluctant convert to independence but completely accept that for others it’s a welcome state of affairs.

I can’t tell you how depressing I find the whole of Scottish politics. It would be great to live somewhere where the whole debate and voting wasn’t around independence and actually on future plans for communities, education, innovation etc

For me it's like finding the wee guy behind the curtain on the wizard of Oz, or maybe more like people starting to see that the emperor is in the nip.

They have been in power too long but there is no effective opposition

But holyrood is not designed to be a one party operation. If people shared their vote round as expected then we get back to it operating as it should.

So whilst I agree the opposition isn't great, if the power was shared properly then it might help

As a minimum it needs a 2nd chamber if SNP get a majority or near majority this time.

WaxOnFeckOff, please not a second chamber. We already waste £100 million a year on the first one!
I’d much prefer closing the whole failed expensive devolution mess and revert to the Scottish Office and direct Westminster rule.
The UK is one country - it is divisive and counterproductive to have a competing assembly with a nakedly separatist agenda working against our interests.

I don't disagree but if we keep down this line, we can't go on with a one party state and no 2nd chamber or similar. So we either need to get back to a wider spread of voting across parties or have the appropriate checks and balances in place.

I think the principle of the UK nations running their own processes (health, education etc.) was a sensible one, and if it was being run as intended there would be far fewer issues. Unfortunately, as said by PP, it's been completely hijacked by nationalists who use all their power to further a separatist agenda and tend to ignore the basic functions like running Scotland (and actually haven't even taken control of all their devolved powers because its a bit too hard).

If Scotland were to vote for independence (and I personally think its a terrible idea) the Holyrood set up is clearly not fit for purpose. It lacks the basic checks and balances that an independent legislature requires and too much power is in the hands of the SG, resulting in the many examples of sloppy, poor quality legislation that comes through here. Some kind of additional chamber would be needed in those circumstances.

@Babdoc

WaxOnFeckOff, please not a second chamber. We already waste £100 million a year on the first one! I’d much prefer closing the whole failed expensive devolution mess and revert to the Scottish Office and direct Westminster rule. The UK is one country - it is divisive and counterproductive to have a competing assembly with a nakedly separatist agenda working against our interests.

Agree with this . Maybe a super council to deal with smaller things but main issues should be dealt with from London. Why pay for extra layers of government . Also think MPs should be paid a lot more but only allowed to have their MP job so that would concentrate their minds

ASmallMovie: thanks for bringing this article to our attention, it’s spot on. Hadn’t heard of Holyrood.com, and I thought some of Mandy Rhodes other editorial pieces were brilliant and well worth a read. She’s absolutely nailed current Scottish politics

yes, I hadn't heard of them either. DH and I doing our bit disseminating it to some friends and family who were living on the cusp of voting for them.

There is no effective opposition. That's not the fault of the SNP

There is no effective opposition. That's not the fault of the SNP
totally agree. snow. Was a life-long labour voter, but couldn't vote Scottish Labour now. they are a shambles - nothing to say and nothing to vote for. their 'raison d'etre' is to crush snp and they never talk about anything else. last election leaflet trough my door mentioned snp 5 times and didn't mention their own leader once - or any of their polices. Euro election they put leaflet through door that didn't even mention Europe, just snp, snp, snp, blah blah blah

@Chasingamy

I can’t tell you how depressing I find the whole of Scottish politics. It would be great to live somewhere where the whole debate and voting wasn’t around independence and actually on future plans for communities, education, innovation etc

SO this- oh to have innovation at regional governance level.

But holyrood is not designed to be a one party operation.
that's right and it did operate successfully for a long time with good representation across the board, and for smaller parties too. To me the snp government has done some good things and some bad (well aware i'm well in the minority here). However, much as i'd prefer them to stay in power rather than anyone else, I don't think it's healthy to have such a huge majority. the other parties have to come up with something better/more than destroying the snp though to change things.

@happygolurkey

There is no effective opposition. That's not the fault of the SNP totally agree. snow. Was a life-long labour voter, but couldn't vote Scottish Labour now. they are a shambles - nothing to say and nothing to vote for. their 'raison d'etre' is to crush snp and they never talk about anything else. last election leaflet trough my door mentioned snp 5 times and didn't mention their own leader once - or any of their polices. Euro election they put leaflet through door that didn't even mention Europe, just snp, snp, snp, blah blah blah

This is the problem. The opposition parties don't have policies. Look at Douglas Ross' page online. He shares newspaper stories re the Salmond case constantly and their manifesto had the FM and The SNP on it fifteen times. No reference to the NHS, education, business, infrastructure. Nada.

Completely agree. The opposition in Scotland are crap. No policies, no ideas, nothing except constant attacks on the SNP. The SNP absolutely deserve to be held to account, to be questioned and to be put through the mill but sadly it's never quality criticism it's always just playground bullshit and inflammatory attacks designed to rile up the 'wee nippy' brigade.

I think all the parties are crap, tbh.

@StatisticallyChallenged probably. What bothers me is why are Labour so crap? Here and in England. The SNP and the Tories are making an arse of lots of things. Surely now would be the time to swagger in and be brilliant. Where are they? So disappointing! I wonder if it's time to let go of my belief that I'm a natural Labour supporter.

Exactly . It's hard to take the leader of the opposition seriously when they're constantly sharing articles from The Sun. Unfortunately, they're just focused on removing Holyrood as they don't agree with devolution. It's quite like Farage working in the European Parliament.

There just seems to be an astonishing lack of competence, let alone actual inspirational talent. Why are all the parties so filled with numpties?

StatisticallyChallenged, I think the lack of talent among all parties at Holyrood is because any politician with brains and ambition would prefer to have a seat at Westminster, rather than in a regional council with delusions of grandeur!