General Election 2015

[Ceres]

 

[Ceres]

here is carmichal lying to the press, he is struggling to keep a straight face



absolute scumbag!

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

^^

And that's totally unrelated to the politically savvy Diane Abbott's attempt to groom Mhairi Black (whom she is sitting next to) of course, nothing at all.

Are we saying the SNP didn't orchestrate a game of musical chairs hours before the opening of parliament?

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

here is carmichal lying to the press, he is struggling to keep a straight face


absolute scumbag!

He doesn't even try does he? Smiling/smirking all the way through it.

 

[Shambles]

... People are getting sanctioned over venial mistakes...

I was unaware that the benefits, unemployment and welfare sector was a subset of the Vatican and run on the traditional "Three Strikes & That's You in Purgatory" system.

 

[DrGreenthumb]

Nationalists almost always have a tradition of being right wing, it comes with the territory. The SNP used to be no exception to this. So to come to parliament and childishly pick the only icon of socialism in there to attack...what do you expect me to say?

Nationalists have pretended to be socialists before. Germany, 1930s.

 

[Ceres]

Nationalists have pretended to be socialists before. Germany, 1930s.

The SNP are not the nazis, just look at the tories plan for the country, prescreening of anyrthing broadcast on tv by a censor, collection of everyones phone, email, webbrowsing etc, , removing the human rights act, the list goes on and it is really worrying.


A major reason I voted for them is that they seem genuine and know their role is to represent their constituents and fight for their interests. You can't say the same about any of the other big parties.

Scottish independence would be a nice bonus, that's all.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Nationalists have pretended to be socialists before. Germany, 1930s.

I'm not having anything to do with this. I'm not calling the SNP Nazis.

The SNP/Skinner thing goes back to 1979 when Skinner was one of the people who voted against a devolution vote. Now, whether you think he was right or wrong to do so, he had his reasons and those reasons were he saw devolution as damaging to the Left.

Fast forward to last week and he's not exactly wrong is he? If the first thing they do in the Commons is attack the only real voice the Left has in there?

Remember, I was one of the few, the only, English people to NOT blame the SNP for Labour's defeat. I am for devolution in Scotland. I support your cause. Don't come shitting on mine.

And it is about a cause not a seat Felix. You bring up David Owen as if I'm supposed to go 'oh yeah, didn't think of that'? Fuck David Owen. The HofC is, and always has been, full of David Owens. David Owen never spoke for the working class or socialism. David Owen was the Establishment. Of course I support Skinner taking his seat so Skinner could be more effective against the Tories.

 

[Ceres]

regarding charmicael : seen on the interwebs :

"The only way this will get any major coverage is if Mhairi Black opens a can of Irn Bru in Westminster, whilst wearing a Carmichael is a liar T Shirt.

media coverage of this is shockingly scant and I think there ought to be a full investigation into the scotland office and mundell.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Yes but is the media coverage shockingly scant because its an issue where the SNP were the injured party (even though it could surely be argued Labour were the more injured party it was just Miliband was too fucking myopic and stupid to see it) or...

...the SNP were the party injured by MI5 (and that's what is really being covered up).

Anyway, it's not totally being ignored. Because this is the page you got the Irn Bru quote from (coz I was just reading it myself)

Byelection fears grow for last Lib Dem MP in Scotland

 

[Vurtual]

(to skip back a bit) You've got to separate the nationalisms up a bit: There's the conservative type of nationalism which is about preserving the authority of the state cos of the past, tradition and/or racial identity (whatever that is) - then there's the other type of nationalism, the 'good' nationalism, which is where a country comes together and collectively stands up for itself against external/imperialist forces (like national liberation movements (PLO, IRA, PFJ (fuckin splitters!)). There's often large overlap between these (even in the same person), but they are usually easy to distinguish in practice ('by their fruit ye shall know them' (i miss the theology thread)). Even the good type of nationalism doesn't sit well in the long term with the ideology of much of british socialism, but that's probably as much a problem of the intellectual socialists ('why don't these workers just line up and behave the way the dialectic says they should?!')

The snp made the effort to distinguish their nationalism as 'civic nationalism' (ie nationalist for the nation of everyone who happens to be in scotland at any given time) and i think that's totally appropriate to how most scots are thinking think about it these days - the actual tartan/shortbread/cybernat types are a minority i'd say (or even a bunch of MI5 bots).

 

[Vurtual]

...But well done Scotland for getting wise to the shit, the manipulation n giving Westminister the finger!

Oh n i was wrong over my opinion about immigrants. I fell under the spell of the media n i was just asxwrong as the workers who blame people on benefits for all of UK's problems.

TDLR sorry

Evey

Good post. And good for you seeing through the media spell about immigrants I think people who have experienced oppression of the government (eg by being low paid/on benefits/taking drugs) should automatically recognise the world's immigrants as kindred spirits (we're all the 99% ).

I think (most of) the people who complain about immigration are probably good-hearted people (everyone is really) - they just don't realise immigration isn't actually the root of the problem, and that they're being manipulated to avoid spotting the real culprits (imo obviously).

 

[Ceres]

Scottish nationlism is very beningn on the whole, its not nationalism of the kind that produced the BNP or EDL. The SNP supports immigration and recognises it is a good thing for the country.

@stonehappymonday : its ridiculous how the report exonerates the 'civil servant' who produced the memo. They also seem to have remained namelesss aswell. You would think it was in the public interest that a taxpayer funded inquiry costing 1.4 million quid would make the names of those involved part of hte public record.

there have been protests in orkney and shetland, the guy is due to have a surgery with his constituents on thursday - can u imagine how that might pan out haha.

edit: also found out Iain duncan smith wrote a book, the reviews are quite funny http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devils-Tune-Iain-Duncan-Smith/dp/1861056664/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[Shambles]

The SNP are not the nazis, just look at the tories plan for the country, prescreening of anyrthing broadcast on tv by a censor, collection of everyones phone, email, webbrowsing etc, , removing the human rights act, the list goes on and it is really worrying.

Pleasing irony to be had in the fact that the Tories twin obsessions with massive cuts and mass-survellance don't always play nice together - http://i100.independent.co.uk/artic...-being-switched-off-to-cut-costs--l1WnrJnXuZb

Unfortunately it's really just a case of (presumably only very temporarily) shifting slightly away from relatively useless forms of mass-suvellance with far more emphasis being placed on more centralised, more intrusive and more deeply concerning forms of electronic surveillance

 

[Ceres]

heh yeah I had read that about the cctv. The tories are fucking stupid. These cuts when they are finally announced, people are going to be ANGRY.

A banker, a Daily Mail reader, and a benefits claimant are sitting at a table sharing a plate of 12 biscuits. The banker takes 11 of them and says to the Daily Mail reader "Watch out for the benefits claimant - he wants your biscuit"

 

[Ceres]

Breaking…Willie Rennie: I hope that fair minded people will give Alistair Carmichael a second chance
By The Voice | Sun 24th May 2015 - 2:28 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie has just issued this statement acknowledging the seriousness of Alistair Carmichael’s actions but saying that the Orkney and Shetland MP deserves a second chance.

I have discussed the serious nature of the publication of the Scotland Office document with Alistair Carmichael. He fully understands the impact it has had on his reputation. He deeply regrets his actions, has accepted responsibility for his error of judgement, apologised to Nicola Sturgeon and the French Ambassador and declined his ministerial severance payment.

I have known Alistair for almost thirty years and have worked closely with him in parliament for almost a decade. I have always been impressed by his energy, dedication and professionalism. He has served Orkney and Shetland for fourteen years and has been elected on four separate occasions. It is clear to me that recent events are an aberration.

As a liberal I believe that people deserve a second chance. I hope fair minded people would agree that Alistair Carmichael should be given that second chance.

Yesterday, the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party Executive met and gave Alistair Carmichael its support. He has my support too.

Alistair will now get back to his job representing Orkney and Shetland.

lol. you couldn't make it up could you. Bunch of areseholes!

 

[felix]

GTF, Ali. :D

 

[Ceres]

Down with this sort of thing!

Good on them, I hope the people of shetland and orkney send him packing.

 

[felix]

All of that "56" merchandise (manufactured in sweatshops, according to the Mail on Sunday ) is going to be out of date soon.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Nicola Sturgeon on the Daily Show

Nicola breaks America...

Nicola Sturgeon has proved her comedy credentials in the United States, despite being compared with Saddam Hussein, after risking a late-night audience with the Daily Show’s combative host Jon Stewart.


Monday night’s interview on Comedy Central’s hugely influential satirical news programme marks another spike in the Scottish National party leader’s burgeoning international profile, as she becomes the most senior serving UK politician to appear on the show.

Stewart, whose trademark style is to mercilessly tease guests, made the comparison with Hussein after Sturgeon joked she had “ordered an inquiry” into why the SNP won just 56 out of 59 Scottish parliamentary seats in the UK’s recent general election.

The host responded: “You think you’re Saddam Hussein? You get 99%?”

“I think you should always aim for more,” Scotland’s first minister shot back.

Sturgeon also took her host to task after the Daily Show website described her in error as a comedian.

She told Stewart in mock outrage: “You billed me on your website as a comedian, so you’ve raised all these expectations that I’m going to be funny.

“And I’m a politician, and as you know, politicians are rarely very funny.”

But Stewart parried: “You need not worry. They thought I was going to be funny for 17 years.”

Sturgeon went on to joke about America’s military record after Stewart questioned her about Scottish oil reserves, asking: “How much are we talking about here? May we invade you?”

She told the audience: “I think this is progress because you just heard there Jon, presumably on behalf of the United States, ask permission to invade an oil-producing country. It doesn’t usually work that way.”

Stewart laughed and said: “See that, you are a comedian.”