Yikes! Alba Party - anyone voting for Salmond?

[PrelovedWithValue]

Not a chance in hell will I be putting my X next to a party led by him.

@WouldBeGood

Is Tommy Sheridan a candidate now?

Possibly not. That was maybe just a scurrilous rumour. I'm struggling to find confirmation.

He is a member but not a candidate. Although I guess nothing is certain until the deadline for nominating candidates passes.

Thanks! I’m struggling to keep up

Neither a member nor a candidate afaics. Merely confirmed SNP1 and Alba2 as his voting intentions. So bit of a stretched narrative going on. All sorts vote for all parties and some say they're doing one thing and do something completely different.

GG is anti Scottish Independence and has his own List Party . Safe to say he is in no way aligned with Alba.

(Alliance for Unity for anyone looking for a List option where their preferred pro-Union option is likely to trade between List and constituency. Mixed bag of Left and Right candidates all pledged to represent as Independents except on the issue of Indy).

@MissBarbary

Gender critical women are still waiting for Alba to announce their stance on reform to the gender recognition act. For many it is the most important policy when they decide how to vote

Are gender critical women prepared to overlook sexism , racism , antisemitism and anti- science views as long as Alba candidates say trans women aren't women?

Jim Walker certainly knows what a woman is - given his go to choice of gendered insult for Sturgeon.

Labour, LibDems, Greens and some Conservaties are signed up to TWAW which seems anti-science to me. There's also a deliberate conflation going on (both on this thread and in wider social media) with candidates, members and public figures who have announced they will vote Alba.

All the gc women I know are very aware of the differences. They're also very aware of the elected representatives in other parties and what their language has been towards women and their attitude towards women's rights. It's not about saying TWAW - only someone who doesn't care about women could try to reduce this battle to such a flippant remark.

It's about a consolidated attempt to undermine women's rights which has so far diluted protections for women through the public boards shenanigans; removed funding from women's aid centres and refuges if they refused to extend their services to men; replaced single sex toilet facilities in schools with mixed sex provision contrary to advice from Amnesty; Plan, etc; seen women reported to the police for tweets and threatened with expulsion from political parties if they don't please the student TRAs.

It's early days but as I said upthread if Alba is gc then there is no such thing as bad publicity. Daily announcements about candidates; people deliberately trying to conflate candidate announcements with nothing of the sort - it all raises Alba's profile. And if it makes more of the general public aware of the gc argument - that can only be good. The people who care enough about policy to know women's rights have been thrown under the bus, have been working to raise the profile of the issues for a long time. Some sections of the MSM may be shying away from publicising the gc arguments but all the publicity around Alba will eventually allow it to filter through and only the deliberately obtuse would try to pretend the mainstream parties aren't all mired in racism, sexism and anti-science views/scandals. They're all a cesspit but I'll still vote and I'll vote for parties that recognise sex. This is a dangerous tipping point. Too many of our rights have already been eroded. I'll hold my nose and vote for any party that is making an attempt to stop it.

Alba have another sterling candidate.

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh - she was found guilty in 2015 of professional misconduct by theScottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunaland fined £3,000 for showing "disregard for the rules" in running a trust and ignoring a conflict of interest when she and her business partner borrowed money from the trust.

only someone who doesn't care about women could try to reduce this battle to such a flippant remark

That's my flippant remark? Not the Alba candidate flippant remark calling Sturgeon "a cow"?

Tasmania Ahmed-Sheikh changes allegiance more than I change my socks!

So, she wasn’t able to manage to run a law firm, but people should trust her to run the country?

@WouldBeGood

So, she wasn’t able to manage to run a law firm, but people should trust her to run the country?

That's correct. She couldn't manage a 2 person band law firm without dipping into clients' money.

A vote for Alba is a vote for someone who admitted to behaving inappropriately towards women. If those women were your daughter/wife/sister would you still vote?

A vote for SNP/Green/Labour is a vote to deny there is such a thing as a woman.

@BlackForestCake

A vote for SNP/Green/Labour is a vote to deny there is such a thing as a woman.

This is ridiculous.

Why?

StarryEyeSurprise did you read Nicola Sturgeon's piece on 'transphobia' in the Scotsman? Sounds like she's going to be 'educating' the non believers .

@BlackForestCake

A vote for SNP/Green/Labour is a vote to deny there is such a thing as a woman.

I agree with this.

But I think the SNP are the most dangerous on this as they’re in government with their Gardening Wing so I’m going to vote for whoever can beat them in my area.

@BlackForestCake

A vote for SNP/Green/Labour is a vote to deny there is such a thing as a woman.

I also agree with this, and can't quite believe we've got to this point. This mind set (that women aren't defined by biological sex) is already doing damage to women's rights with the conflation of sex and gender and now the HCB. And did I read somewhere that an organisation for rape victims was denied funding for refusing to sign up to this nonsense?

@BlackForestCake
“A vote for SNP/Green/Labour is a vote to deny there is such a thing as a woman.” This is true. I’m finding it really shocking that people aren’t up in arms about this situation! The thought of another term of SNP/Green’s at the helm will be catastrophic for women and children’s rights.

StarryEyeSurprise did you read Nicola Sturgeon's piece on 'transphobia' in the Scotsman? Sounds like she's going to be 'educating' the non believers

she says in that article transphobia is a problem, which i don't think anyone could argue with surely?

she also says, after pointing out there is opposition to grc in all parties:

“But what I don't say and I've never said, is that anybody who is raising concerns is by definition transphobic, because I don't believe that is the case.”

That seems reasonable doesn't it? Contrast that with the Labour party and Greens who are basically saying anyone with concerns can leave the party. SNP have some strong voices expressing women's concerns, like Joan Mcalpine. FPFW thanked her recently for helping them win their fight against the cencus changes in England - it was Joan who first raised awareness about it by raising it in the parliament here.

@happygolurkey completely reasonable.

While I'm not 100% happy with the situation that we find ourselves in, this idea that women no longer exist is hyperbolic and unhelpful. It's also not true.

[quote forfucksakenett]@happygolurkey completely reasonable.

While I'm not 100% happy with the situation that we find ourselves in, this idea that women no longer exist is hyperbolic and unhelpful. It's also not true. [/quote]
Agreed. It is completely hyperbolic and unhelpful.

are labour definitely TWAW, because I thought they were at least quiet on the issue unless I've missed something?

Tbh I don't think transphobia is as much of an issue as Sturgeon is making out. Women are coming in for far more abuse without Sturgeon commenting. The SNP have jumped on a very zeitgeisty bandwagon with the GRA despite many senior policy types having serious reservations.

Labour in Scotland and UK wide are committed to critiquing the Gender recognition proposals in Scotland and indeed proposals from the Tory Govt in WM. I haven't seen anything which suggests that they have moved away from this.

Polarising the discussion into extreme sloganeering on either side is unhelpful because the issue is about finding a balance of rights and obligations for everyone and related practical measures and protections to support them.

My concern is that the SNP have shown a willingness to sacrifice reasoned debate towards measured consensus for political expediency in having pushed on with what even they accept is a flawed HCB. Given the position of the Greens they had a majority to push this through and the Opposition parties did well to even get the changes and future review commitments they did.