SNP in secret attempt to challenge Supreme Court ruling on sex

[Igneococcus]

I couldn't despise those fecking weasels more if I tried:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/89b42f06-fc36-4f06-98b1-d7b93c175463?shareToken=e40f182647b48214917896a4ae34328b

The NHS app is a prime example of the SnP failure. They could have gone with the app available in England and had it for years already. But they didn’t because they wanted an entirely independent Scottish app developed in Scotland. So there is still no app and people still rely on paper letters that can’t make it through the snow of the last week, and them phoning up when stuck in the snow and leaving messages on answering machines hoping it won’t push them back down a multi-year wait for treatment. Still having to phone up GP practices for test results etc etc. All because the SNp prioritises being different over getting things done.

I had a thyroid issue which required travel to Glasgow many times (three hours by train there and then three hours back but at least I can work on the train) a few years back and they sent a cancellation letter to me the day before the appointment 2nd class. Even 1st class wouldn't have made it in time for the 5am train. They had three phone numbers for me, three! One appointment for an ultrasound guided biopsy, the consultant wasn't in a room with an US and her colleague who was in a room with a US wouldn't let her use it for the five minutes it would have taken to perform the biopsy. So many NHS problems are because of things like this.

Its a very risky move that is very likely to backfire as when a judge (this judge or a higher crt judge on appeal) throws out their request for an order of incompatibility, it becomes a death nel for all the TRA arguments and will force both the uk government and the snp government to implement the SC ruling, it will also scupper all the TRA attempts to overturn it as it is compatible with human rights laws

Every failed party in Britain is or will be rewarded with losing power. The Tories, next, Labour. But this won't ever remotely threaten the SNP.
I could actually see Reform winning on the vote share the SNP does, and because of a 6 way atomised vote, Farage and his crew stay in power even if Reform fails.
Reform becomes the defacto. ENP (English National Party).
The main party in England so by extension the perma-majority party.in govt, and the main party/opposition in Wales/Scotland.

Ironically Reform actually occupy a lot of the same ground as the SNP used to. The SNP never used to be left wing and Reform aren’t wed to Scotland remaining part of the UK. They aren’t an independence party but a nationalist one and I suspect would prioritise that over maintaining the union.

I can see Reform and the Tories after 2029 mimicking the SNP and Scottish Greens before their breakup.
Reform become the defacto English National Party with plenty of Welsh support and main opposition the SNP.
Like the SNP, a core 30% support with atomised 6-way opposition keeps Reform as the permanent party of govt.
And like the period of govt where the Scottish Greens were co-opted into govt, the Tories enable Farage.

Reform would in no way be a defect English National Party in Scotland!!!

My GP practice used to not fill my repeat prescription every so often because I needed updated blood pressure tests. Did they tell me this? No. They would just not do it and leave me to chase the pharmacy, chase the GP practice - and because it would sometimes get missed anyway (or even get sent to some other, random pharmacy!). I wouldn't always know it was because of the blood pressure issue. Eventually I asked the GP practice why they didn't just contact me about the blood pressure. Response - "We don't have your permission to use your phone number." Unbelievable! What's it there for then, just to look pretty on the form?

I'm saying that Reform inhabit many roles. They are the default English National Party in England, and the Brexit torch bearers for the whole UK.
They likely become the (just) dominant party in Wales, now supplying the anti-Labour role with the Tories below insignificant. Toe to toe with Plaid.
In Scotland, they edge towards becoming the relevant opposition to the SNP.
All three of these roles, in terms of votes and MPs harvested, means Reform have three active sources of popularity, and with the multi party atomised nature of UK politics from now on, become the dominant force.

It's known that in opinion polls left-wing parties do better than they will in the elections, and right-wing parties do worse in polls than in elections. See also the independence vote, where it was predicted to be a close thing, and in the event there was a decent majority in favour of the NO vote. Presumably this will mean that Reform will do better in elections than they do in the polls, and SNP and Green will do worse. Not that I am rejoicing at the prospect of Reform getting seats.

Well, we've seen what an SNP backed up by the Scottish Greens means for Scots.
God speed to Malcolm Offord and Reform at the polls.
Time for Scottish voters who've had no voice up until now to really start to be heard.

I know that polls have a left wing bias but it's quite a big gap in A&B. 37% to 23.3 for the next (LibDem), Reform third with ~21 but according to this site Labour won't get any votes at all, so who knows.
One of the local SNP councillors recently left the SNP saying the party pays no attention to their members.

The SNP has been a top down institution for years. The MSPs all pledge not to contradict the leadership and only vote with the party. They are profoundly undemocratic.

Not so different from Reform?

Our pharmacy (within the surgery) is pretty good and we now have the option to pick up prescriptions from a wee machine in the wall (like an ATM machine, so useful not having to get there before they close) and you really have to check everything is there and then ring the next day to ask why something is missing.
Our GP and pharmacy provisions are actually pretty good so far it's just when you need something a bit more complicated it will involve travel and things fall apart.

No, I would say they are very different. The both dictate policy from the top but when it comes to voting - Reform have already lost two of their MPs. The SNP always presented a block vote where MPs and MSP didn’t even have to engage with the topic, let alone constituency concerns, and just followed party directions. I strongly suspect Farage will find directing his party will be like herding cats. His candidates are rebels rather than conformists.

Oh, very different in temprament. I meant more the top down heirarchical structure. I very much look forward to Reform breakthru in Scotland and going on to establish themselves as the proper opposition to the SNP. In any normal situation, the gravitational laws of politics would normally have meant that years of abject failure in Scotland would mean the SNP suffering the same fate as the Tories.
But being "not Tories or Labour" gives the SNP the same cover that Farage currently gets as the "anti uniparty choice", and having a fractured opposition gives the SNP the electoral advantage that Farage will get in 2029 as the 50% left vote splits over 4-6 parties, and Tories tacking to Reform for 2029 means they will potentially be of use to Farage as the Scottish Greens were to Sturgeon prior to Isla Bryson/Self ID ignominy.
The similarities are striking.

The difference is, the SNP with the Greens never needed to worry if their legislation would pass - the votes were guaranteed. It has been in many ways an elected dictatorship. Reform and Tories won’t have that luxury. Reform in particular, will have to win over all their MSPs for every piece of legislation.

Reform is a limited company (not a political party in the historical sense) solely owned by Nigel Farage.

You're taking me too literally. I'm talking about a rigid top down structure. Not the legal details. Yes, re being a PLC, Reform are unique.
One correction, Farage doesn't own 100% of Reform shares, I believe split with Zia Yousuf and a third (?) individual? Richard Tice?

Reform are not a PLC - they are a private company. You'd need public oversight and scrutiny for a PLC and that does not suit the way of Nigel one tiny bit.

So, if there's one thing evident in this country the 'historical' way of doing things are destroying the country, maybe it's time for something new, it is the 21st Century after all. One things for certain Reform couldn't do a worse job than the current parties are doing.

I'd like them to do well in Wales, not necessarily win the Senedd but win enough seats to hold the main stream parties to account for the incredibly bad job they've done for the past 25 years.

So allowing the country to be run by private companies is progress ?

I guess it would be just an admission of how it really is anyway.

And if any SNP MSP's do have the courage to vote with their own free will and/or actually represent the views of their constituents, they are punished. See - the 9 SNP GRR rebels. Scottish Labour are bad for this too - Claire Baker and Carol Mochan were punished for voting against the GRR whip.

I suspect I speak for quite a few Reform Agnostics or Reform Adjacents. The party aka Nigel's Plaything will have to "democratise" ahead of the GE. Many will not vote for a party where the leader/PM can't be turfed out.
Have no issue with interesting new ways of doing things (Farage parachuting experts and leaders in their field into the Lords, and then helicoptered into senior Cabinet posts...I'd rather have a Lady Birbalsingh as Education Secretary even if not an MP than the duly elected but frankly execrable Phillipson).
Farage has hinted he'd run the UK as a business, with an expanded Office Of The Prime Minister, the PM as a kind of CEO, and a board of experts at Chancellor, Education, Trade, Energy, Farming etc.
And a Grand Restoration to overturn the HRA, GRA and EqA.
Buckle up...