@ScottishGreens@Wen Will you be standing in SNP marginal seats? If so, sorry I won’t chip in, even though I’ll probably vote Green post Indy. Scotland can’t afford a split Indy vote.
@patrickhadfield I think that, (thanks to Terry Pratchett) the expressions you are looking for are "Oh! Random fluctuations in the space/time continuum!" and "Aargh! Primitive and outmoded concept on a crutch.".
@Wen odd that: “Among the proposals that survived the cull was Woodcock’s call for “protective buffer zones” around “defence companies and energy providers”. It happens that Woodcock works for lobby groups that represent both arms manufacturers and fossil fuel companies.” Coincidence, I’m sure.
Fun fact: England is the only country in the world to have fully privatised its water and sewerage systems.
Via the Financial Times: "Scotland—which has its own state-owned water company—massively outperformed its neighbours with water standards similar to much of Scandinavia."
@Wen@alanferrier As the FT put it “Scotland, which has its own state-owned water company, massively outperformed its neighbours, with water standards similar to much of Scandinavia.” And that with higher investment and no dividends.
"After so long in office, with so very little to show for it, you need far more than to rely on the mantra of “competency.” That is the bare minimum anyone should expect from any government. It is not, by any measure, a vision or a strategy for political growth" -- Jonathon Shafi, in the @TheNational
But which government is he talking about?
(I'm encouraged to see Shafi being more of a voice in #ScotPol again; I've ae been impressed with him)
@simon_brooke@TheNational Not sure I see the point of his railing at a party that by its very philosophy and the breadth of its church is ever going to be as progressive or socialist as he wants when there is already a party closer to his ideal - the Greens. A bit like me demanding the Tories should be more left wing 😉
What is first thing you want to change after Scotland's Independence Day? I don't mean the change Labour go on about which seems to mean carrying on with the Tory project. No I mean real change relevant for the Scottish people which we can't do as a small part of Westminster. #ScottishIndependence
@IndyRichard Nationalisation of energy generation.
Land reform and break up of big estates.
Reform of emigration to encourage and welcome incomers.
Banning of corporate lobbying in parliament.
If anyone has ever taken the trouble to read the comments (when allowed) below any article on Scotland will have realised, many, if not all, readers (they definitely seem to have done so) take a rather different view.
One more for their collection of ‘balanced articles' I suppose, along with Crace, Rowson and many more.
@Wen It's a sad reality that however balanced or non-corporate the Guardian tries to be on almost any other topic, when the subject is Scotland they seem to slide to the right to join the union-at-any-cost crowd.
@alanferrier As you posted a few days ago - “The way a government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it.”
I wonder if the current SNP stramash may actually be a good thing, reset the party, and get the focus properly back on independence. #snp#IndependenceIsNormal
@Wen Frankly pretty fed up of the focus on mitigation over an actual push for Indy. That’s pulled the carpet out from under Yes groups and taken us no further forward. A lot of hard-won momentum has been lost.
“ . . pro-independence parties should not be standing against each other in a first-past-the-post election . . . it really is particularly odd that the SNP and Greens, who are forever waxing lyrical about how much they get on and about the extreme importance of the Bute House Agreement, seem hellbent on knocking lumps out of each other at the general election like never before.” https://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-red-letter-day-as-neil-mackay-may-not.html
@ScepticalScot1 Indeed. I don't see the point of any party standing which doesn't have a chance of a win. Gesture politics in a GE under FPTP is such a waste of time.