Thursday
Apr302015
by 
Josh
Josh Hook, line and sink 'er - Josh 324
Apr 30, 2015 Josh ;)
Apparently there is a General Election on. Good luck everyone!
Click the image for a larger version
Update: Hilarious!
Apr 30, 2015 Josh
Reader Comments (28)
I thought she had made it quite clear she did not want any of them, anywhere near her.
If she believes the Green Anti Fracking lobby, she should be encouraging fracking along the line of Hadrians Wall. The tectonic activity could create a nice deep sea loch, to make Scotland truly independent of the rest of the UK, severing all links with power supplies, for the sake of power in Scotland.
"for the sake of power in Scotland."?
Except there won't be enough, as the Scottish government wants to turn off three of the remaning four 'proper' power stations......
They won't even be able to update their twitter feeds.......
The fun part is when the SNP are asked how they going to pay for paving the streets of Scotland in gold post independence , they resort to claiming the money will come from 'their oil'. And yet on the other hand claim to be against 'evil fossil fuels ' and state that Scotland will get all its energy needs from renewable sources, it would be fun to watch them try.
But give the SNP credit they gone a long way on the back of claiming its 'all the fault of the English ' while promising the Scots that can have their cake and eat it . However time will tell and once they no one else around to blame but themselves the Scots may really start asking the SNP the type of question they do not wish to answer.
Josh, did you see the debate?
Miliband is doing his best to resist the Sturgeon's siren song.
He is not angling for her.
[J: it's a whole can of worms, isn't it]
The SNP: Haggis flavoured Murdoch for dummies.
Leveson Report: Alex Salmond had 'striking' willingness to lobby for Rupert Murdoch
Alex Salmond displayed a “striking” willingness to lobby the Government on behalf of Rupert Murdoch after developing a relationship of “mutual respect and admiration” with the media mogul, the Leveson inquiry has found.
Rupert Murdoch and Alex Salmond enjoy a relationship of “mutual respect and admiration”
The First Minister last night claimed he was exonerated after the report ruled there was not enough evidence to say definitively that he agreed to lobby for the takeover in return for the Scottish Sun supporting the SNP at last year’s Holyrood elections.
But Lord Justice Leveson noted that talks on both BSkyB and the Sun’s backing took place in the same conversation, which was conducted in the context of a “warming” relationship between Mr Salmond and News Corp.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9712278/Leveson-Report-Alex-Salmond-had-striking-willingness-to-lobby-for-Rupert-Murdoch.html
come on, the SNP has leaders with names like Salmond and Sturgeon, there has to be something fishy wih that lot. It's like they're parody Bond villains with villain names like Villenous MacVillain the Third.
Yes, Martin S, they're floundering.
Church of England has just announced divestment , but the BBC said 12 million surely they mean billion
"Religious body to withdraw £12 million from coal and tar sands as it opts "
UK politics up to now has been "Promise once thing/and do another"
Now in 2015 your vote decides
Same/Same/Same/Same or Real Change ...so stuff it to the establishment and media.
BTW on the news Miliband is quoted as "There will not be a deal with the SNP"
- Tacked on end of news "SCIENTISTS SAY the chances of (central England) having an exceptionally warm year is 13 times more likely cos of climate change"
..yeh , where are the calculations & I wonder what Ladbrokes think of them ?
mind you if the 2015 figures have already been decided Russian election style, then of course the propagandists could make a prediction like that.
Hang on, there's a Natalie Bennett profile on that BBCNews page promoting the "warm year is 13 times more likely" scare
flippin heck look at that link it's hardly impartialThat newspage looks more like something out of the Greenpeace Magazine
Hey, the BBC must be over its 1000-uses licence for the dirty power station cooling towers photo, cos it actually uses a beach photo instead.
Martin S and others. At least you also now get a drink of sorts with the SNP.
Cllr. John Beare - fifedirect - Councillor Surgeries
www.fifedirect.org.uk/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=cllr.display...
Cllr. John Beare. (Chair, Standards & Audit Committee. Chair, Fife Planning Review Body). Scottish National Party (SNP). Party: Scottish National Party (SNP).
(The spelling is correct. He is a Dubliner and has been with SNP for some years and in favour of an independent Scotland.
Having stopped listening or watching the BBC I've rather enjoyed this election.
But unfortunately, what the experience has taught me, is that even though I'm very sceptical, I must have been strongly influenced in the past by the BBC: both in the issues on which I chose my vote, but also (and far worse) who I actually voted for. Because by the constant intrusive and heavy handed selection of what issues to debate, the BBC are "leading the electorate by the nose" to consider the issues they think are important.
Josh
You are a genius.............
knr: "The fun part is when the SNP are asked how they going to pay for paving the streets of Scotland in gold post independence , they resort to claiming the money will come from 'their oil'. And yet on the other hand claim to be against 'evil fossil fuels ' and state that Scotland will get all its energy needs from renewable sources ..."
If Scotland had a serious media and not a media-lite who when they stopped talking about rangers-celtic or the latest celeb weren't gullibly obsessed with global warming
... the SNP Energy policy would be a laughing stock.
If we had a real media, it would be obvious to everyone that you can't be both pro oil and anti-fossil fuel.
See the meanie from Yellow Submarine?
Last year's vote against independence was despite oil being over $100 a barrel at the time and no one forecasting a drop in prices, now its $60 a barrel the logic for independence is even more flawed. So you have 2 possible scenarios playing out at the moment (or more likely a combination)
1. There is a real change in sentiment towards independence regardless of the consequences.
2. Presented with the opportunity to screw Westminster out of more funds with little risk voters are going SNP so Scotland can still get extra funds etc. Come another independence vote the answer will remain No.
My thinking is that it is 2, and just like the Quebec separtatives eventually the SNP will lose support once the ruse is outed.
"... the SNP Energy policy would be a laughing stock."
And the rest of it.
http://100snpfailedpromises.weebly.com/
Interesting video clip the other day of Nicola Sturgeon standing up in what Billy Connolly describes as that 'wee pretendy parliament', responding to a question as to whether there was going to be a second referendum on Scottish independence.
Her response was along the lines of: 'What this election on May 7th is all about...'
At NO POINT did she say that there would not be a second referendum.
So - Andrew et al in a country just north of England - get yourselves ready for such an event any time soon...
Well BoFA your thinking is flawed like most of your fellow little-englanders. The independence-seeking Scots are less concerned with prosperity than the democracy denied them when they vote massively against the Tories yet are still governed by them. The only prosperity argument made was that Scotland was self-sufficient pre-Thatcher and then had the industrial heart having been torn out of Scotland by Thatcherite goons who later had the cheek to laugh at Scots for being unemployed, having made them unemployed in the first place! Scots GDP has now recovered thanks not to Westminster but to huge work by the SNP promoting 'Scottish' as a high-quality brand throughout Europe and that results now in massive sales of food and drink to the continent while English food and drink remain universally scorned. Oil is not now the main (never mind only) export Scotland can rely upon.
Quite why so many English try to project an air of superiority over Scots is beyond me. It's as if they possess no mirrors. So despite being better educated and more inventive per capita, Scots still cannot somehow be trusted to conduct their political and industrial affairs as well or better than other small states with fewer natural advantages? Surely this is an argument that defies common sense! Indeed while the deficit in England has grown ever-stronger and while the RoUK government saddled us all with this huge debt, the SNP has been balancing their books every year despite all predictions to the contrary. The reason the pound fell prior to the independence referendum was because the rest of the world assumed that England was dependent on Scottish oil and that the English would lose out, not the other way around.
As for where the money is to come from; has anyone stopped to ask where the money for Trident , HS2, Afghan wars or quantitive easing (or numerous other stupid vanity projects) come from?
And as you have all been reminded many times, the energy policy of Scotland is decided only in Westminster. Only the SNP and Ukip have so far railed against closures of fossil fuel plants. So how does this square with the policy for renewables? Well it's really quite simple; the renewables energy is a 'target' - one made in full understanding that the National grid clearly now favours England. If they get a bit more subsidy for renewables it's only a slight redress for having Longannet closed thanks to a Tory-privatised energy structure, a Labour/Tory combined deafness on casino capitalism in the City of London and a Tory government closing it's eyes yet again to industrial sacrilege North of Watford - something they wouldn't stomach if it was closer to home.
And of course all this talk about Labour relying on SNP is not too different from the old refrain of Labour relying on Scots labour MP's. Yes Tories showing their indifference and/or belittlement of the Scots once again. No wonder Tories are detested in Scotland and no wonder nationalism is on the rise. If SNP do get 50 MP's out of 59 then not only is it an indictment of the 'first past the post' system that the Tory/Labour parties just loved when it favoured them, but it's also pretty much a good mandate for independence regardless of any new referendum.
SNP are creepy
OPPOSITION politicians and rank and file officers have rounded on Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House in the wake of a highly critical report into the force’s use of stop and search powers.
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie told the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) his party no longer had confidence in Sir Stephen and called on him to “change his ways” or go.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/politicians-and-officers-attack-police-chief-1-3735742
CONTROVERSIAL plans to scrap the centuries-old principle of corroboration in criminal trials have been set aside following a Scottish Government U-turn.
Justice secretary Michael Matheson said he would remove the provision from the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill currently making its way through the Scottish Parliament.
His predecessor Kenny MacAskill had pushed for corroboration – which requires two independent pieces of evidence for a case to come to court – to be removed as a way of increasing conviction rates in rape cases.
But Mr Matheson said he wanted more time to consider the move following the publication of a report by Lord Bonomy which looked at legal safeguards.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/u-turn-over-plan-to-scrap-corroboration-1-3749791
Andrew
This is a stupid post of a meaningless cartoon. It is stupid because the cartoon bears no resemblance to reality and therefore has no meaning. Cameron, Miliband, Clegg hoping to catch Sturgeon? What crap. How does that square with political reality. I have no idea what Josh is intending to say and I doubt if he has either.
Every so often your anti-SNP stance encourages you to post on the subject of the SNP. Usually what you say about the SNP has little to do with reality either but it encourages the anti-Scottish watchers to vent their bile. A number of the posters merely show their ignorance of matters Scottish including some (English born) who live in Scotland. I include you in that group.
Why not make it clear that the overarching energy policy EN1 permits the Scottish government ( the wee pretendy one) to approve or not planning applications for energy generation. They have no power beyond that and planning decisions are expected (by Westminster) to take account of EN1.
[Josh: There has been a fair amount of speculation in the media this last week about what will happen when if, as expected, there is no clear majority for one party after 7th May so the cartoon was an attempt to capture that. The cartoon shows Nicola Sturgeon, who has had great General Election campaign, as being the one to 'catch' with the other parties 'floundering' (H/t Michael Hart) about in a sinking boat - so it is pro-SNP not anti. Re Miliband see here. And I am a Scot by the way.]
The independence-seeking Scots are less concerned with prosperity than the democracy denied them when they vote massively against the Tories yet are still governed by them. James G
1. A democratic vote on Independence voted No in 2014. That was supposed to be for a generation but as usual the goalposts are moving.
2. What the SNP has on offer is not Independence but swapping from Westminster rule to EU rule.
3. All parts of the UK at some time or another do not get to be ruled by the party they voted for, its what you get with democracy.
4. If Scotland gets Independence will they offer an Independence vote to Shetland and other non SNP areas'
Met Office and Julia Slingo on Trial for Misconduct in Public Office. Maximum sentence is Life imprisonment.
http://metofficeontrial.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you JamesG for your reality check. Like most people I know I am appalled at the overt racism of Cameron and his cronies Clegg and Miliband. Quote simply they are driving droves of voters into the SNP camp. I can't decide whether this is because they are stupid or whether they have an ulterior motive. It seems clear that in reality they are not unionists.
Well BoFA your thinking is flawed like most of your fellow little-englanders. James G
Thank you JamesG for your reality check. Like most people I know I am appalled at the overt racism of Cameron and his cronies Clegg and Miliband. Guirme
The irony of being called a little-englander by a 'Non Racist' is not lost on me.
SNP are creepy, crawly control freaks. The whole idea of Police Scotland should ring alarm bells. The fact they are supported by Murdoch/ Sun should do the same.
Josh
Thanks for the explanation. It does not make the cartoon any better. It is still without much relevance. Cameron will not be angling for the support of the SNP after the election. He already knows he will not get it. Nor will Clegg be angling for the support of the SNP. In what bizarre context do you think that may occur? Miliband will accept the support of the SNP on a vote by vote basis should he become PM. He knows he can do so because the support has been offered. The reason has been given - to exclude the Tories.
What I object to is not the appearance of political partisanship on a blog - Andrew can put up what he likes. I object to the misrepresentation of the truth that is allowed to flourish here following such posts. As I said in my post the SNP is limited in power to the approval or otherwise of planning permission for energy generation plants and is expected to act in the context of EN1. They have done so. Read the posts that follow your cartoon. A number have nothing to do with energy but are posters letting off steam about the SNP. A number are about energy and are from people who have no idea about the SNP "energy policy". That policy is strictly limited to the terms of EN1. It is Westminster that controls energy policy. When I read some of the posts above and others that have repeatedly appeared on this blog I wonder whether what I am reading stems from the ignorance of the poster or an underlying racism or both. There have been many occasions when Andrew has had the chance to correct misapprehensions about the SNP and its energy policy (which is aspiration not reality) but he has failed to take it. So I ask the same question with regard to you both -is it ignorance or intolerance or both that permits the SNP to be blamed for an energy policy it does not have in reality?
It does not seem to be well known that while the UK deficit is around 5% of GDP, the equivalent figure for Scotland is over 12%. With the revenue from N. Sea oil fast falling to near zero, oil does almost nothing close this and with Longannet closing the balance of electricity payments will bomb.
The economic case for Scottish Independence was always flaky. It now looks Grecian. It is deeply ironic that Scotland didn't try for independence in the 1980's when it made sense, but waited till now when it makes anything but.