Thread 7 - No pitch forks or Pom Poms - Scottish political shenanigans

[TheShadowyFeminist]

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It sounded good in that women were talking about women, their rights and the things that matter to many of us.

I think I'm so used to any political party or set up not allowing women to talk about things that matter to them without interruption or censure that I admit I'm quite stunned by the talks I heard.

It makes me want to see all the Alba women candidates in every hustings between now & the election so that the issues that are being ignored by every other party can get proper airing & decent challenges made on why it's not being questioned that no one else is properly touching this conflict.

But it would be nice to see the actual policy. Cos sound bites are too easily pushed when they're a distortion or misrepresentation of what the actual policy is.

@SempreSuiGeneris - not rose tinted, as I work in this area. But even then your example in Derbyshire includes misogyny, which the HCB does not, and GRA reform is not on the cards in England except to make it “kinder”, but it does not include self ID.

Even then, a HCB as the SNP have put together is a long way from a scheme where the police gather data in one part of England and Wales. That would be like a tail wagging the dog.

Scotland has legislated this in - Nowhere near that south of the border.

I'm glad to hear that lex re England, that's much, much better. No clause ending freedom of speech in your own home either.

Re: lack of long term foreign investment in Scotland, one of the first things my employers look at when deciding on which countries to invest in is the level of income tax. They just don’t invest in high income tax jurisdictions as it would be hard to bring in relocate the management team to oversee the investment to a night income tax country. The differences between the Uk tax rates and the Scottish rates may seem small, but the effect on long term investment is significant. England would get the nod over Scotland time and again..

If anyone wants some disturbing reading tonight head on over to Wings over Scotland and have a wee read about Stonewall Scotland and the funding it gets from Scottish Government .

This was mentioned in the Alba women's conference by candidate Margaret Lynch.

It's been highlighted already, in FWR threads but it's been jumped on by SNP supporters as a 'gotcha' to demonstrate that Alba are bigots.

The problem is, the information that's been highlighted showing Stonewall Scotland & LGBT Youth Scotland are members of ILGA who supported the 'feminist declaration' which advocates for the 'elimination of laws/policies... including laws limiting legal capacity of adolescents' which covers a whole range of things, including 'consent to sex'.

I tuned into the Alba conference because I'm interested in what their women's policy is - still don't know but the speakers were good on this area. I'm very keen to hear more of what the other parties have in terms of policies for women but so far, the engender hustings was dire & left me underwhelmed by their failure to even want to talk about key issues, but all at pains to express support for GRA reform.

I think making this a far bigger storm (to try and frame Alba as the bigots party) is having the Streisand effect instead. It's been flagged on FWR & none of the signatories supporting this paper have even bothered to comment or respond. But now, so keen are the SNP to keep hammering down the Alba party for any reason, they're fuelling the interest & it all shows up the actual document that does support what Margaret Lynch says.

This meme keeps coming back to me. The SNP/ALBA cycle of screaming at each other continues. Only this time, it's shining an uncomfortable light on third sector funding too.

This article is interesting The Mendacity of Hope in relation to the SNP by Mandy Rhodes.

And the ILGA stuff is really worrying. Fiona Robertson defending it vociferously on Twitter.

I looked up the ILGA Rainbow Index from an FOI - needless to say most of it redacted.

As some wag on Wings said “ The ILGA Rainbow Index - the voters of Ayrshire , Auchenblae and Aberdeen talk of little else”

That piece by Mandy is spot on.

Now we are heading to the halfway point in this election (albeit momentarily suspended) it's not relenting on the absolute shit show that Scottish politics is. And Mandy captures the malaise that's settled into the political landscape.

I was sceptical of the pause due to the death of Prince Phillip, but now I'm kind glad of it. Even either the pause, the bile & negativity is just depressing.

I came on to post that piece by Mandy. It's spot on.

More SNP corruption with Fergus Ewing alleged to have had a secret meeting with Lex Greensill, very much like David Cameron and Hancock. With the addition of Gupta, to whom state support was given for his businesses, now in difficulties because of the collapse of greensill.

Once again, there appears to have been no record of the meeting, over dinner in Cail Bruich, and no officials in attendance.

Why are they all so bloody dodgy?!

They really need to tighten up the code around lobbying & meetings being recorded. When it's clear meetings have taken place & not recorded, there needs to be a significant sanction. Otherwise it's far to easy for MSPs & FMs alike to with hold relevant activity that should be open to scrutiny, knowing there's no real comeback on behaving this way.

That Mandy Rhodes article is a very depressing read. All the more so because I agree with every word of it.

What's even more depressing is that after 14 years of stagnation the SNP are heading for another majority. The SNP have no intention of improving Scotland. They need to keep people dissatisfied to increase support for Indy.

Link to tweet with article

I can't work out if this is a double bluff, or a double double bluff.

Some UK ministers believe PM should force a new independence referendum fast amid pandemic job losses & economic turmoil to try to emphasise risks of Scotland going it alone. One said: "The time to do it would be in the middle of economic chaos"

Sturgeon doesn't want a referendum. Salmond does. Johnson doesn't to grant a referendum. His ministers are saying he should grant one while there's instability & chaos.

Of all the parties with an interest in this, the only one to gain from this double or double double bluff is Salmond.

I can't read the whole article as I've hit my limit.

Shadowy - article archived here, although it doesn't capture the comments: archive.is/SUv7e

Don't understand/agree with your "double bouble bluff" comment about Alba, though - I think they have been the clearest of all the parties for Holyrood 2021 re intention, although limited because none of the parties have revealed their manifestos yet, and Alba is disadvantaged because we can't look back to theirs in the meantime from prior elections (which actually could be misleading anyway).

I guess I'm just frustrated with the knot tying strategy arguments around independence. It's like a long slow torture where people are disingenuously using arguments or positions while strategising on the very question of independence itself. I'd agree that Alba are clearer on their aims & focus, but entirely without any clear assessment of the many aspects that could mean chaos or financial disaster (at least in the short - medium term) i.e. spelling out the process & how they'll tackle the main contentious areas.

The lack of manifestos is definitely not helping my frustration! I'd like to see all of them, now, so I can see what on earth they're all basing their plea for our votes on.

Johnson being convinced to gamble a referendum because we're in a pandemic, while sturgeon is using the pandemic to avoid an indyref all smacks a bit of Cameron reacting to UKIP agitation on EU, and I don't think a reactionary indyref is the best way to resolve the question of independence or not.

Mandy Rhodes absolutely nails exactly how I feel about the SNP right now. She brings it all together brilliantly. I wish she had a bigger platform.

@riverrunning thank you for the link.

I did actually find the article again, it was actually funding from UK reduced by less than the cuts passed into local authorities by SG

www.thinkscotland.org/thinkpolitics/articles.html?read_full=14530

Link to tweet with article

Ministers' Covid error 'turned care homes into morgues

"The actions of the Scottish government during the early months of the pandemic turned “care homes into morgues”, a trade union leader has said"

Is an apology sufficient here? Public enquiry would be more appropriate I think.

Unsurprising - I see the SNP tweeting about land reform post Indy again and Andy Wightman pointing out on Twitter that they already have the powers needed to have land reform here.

The spending and taxing situation is the same.

they already have the powers needed to have land reform here

This election is going to be full of these little retorts, isn't it? Which is what happens when the main party has been in power for so long & still trying the 'but Boris' stance.

Dismal isn't it? What is the SNP's track record for resolving complex issues and not a) either kicking the can down the independence road or b) blaming Westminster?

HCB, Salmond prosecution, hardly showcased any competence in governing.

I did read somewhere that it suits them if things are going badly. They can blame WM and offer Indy as the solution.

(Apologies if that was on here, I’m getting mixed up!)