Salmond and Sturgeon Want the English Fish for More Fat Subsidies

Generali

skintmacflint wrote: »

Bad enough when it's from Joe public, but from an MP it's a disgrace.

But Pete Wishart is an MP and at Christmas tweeted
'Merry Christmas to all Yessers and Nawbags alike. We are one Scotland etc.'

Pretty typical from him mind you.

There has been several missteps from SNP councillors as well. Makes me wonder what type of people we have running our councils and how they operate and regard the people they represent. On both sides of the equation.

Perhaps I'm missing something of the Scottish vernacular but I don't see what's offensive about that.

.string.

skintmacflint wrote: »

The 'long game' is a tactic used by SNP to claim anything which turns out in their favour even via serendipity was part of their planned 'long game'. Salmond has used this tactic to his great political advantage over the years. Great ruse until your political opponents get wise to it which they have.

Interesting - it's recognisable as a ploy but I'd not realised it was part of the SNP User's Manual! I

.string.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Probably the same people that are so cretinous as to believe Scotland could afford to pay for a socialist paradise, and that Scotland doesn't already have an even bigger budget deficit than the UK.

To paint a picture, the gap between the line below and the grey bars, is how much EXTRA Scotland would have had to borrow over and above the UK budget deficit each year, just to maintain the previous actual and currently planned levels of 'cuts'.



That's the money that Westminster subsidises us with, even after a geographic share of oil revenue.

I'm struggling to absorb that chart. Do you have a link to get more background - thanks.

browniej

Generali wrote: »

Perhaps I'm missing something of the Scottish vernacular but I don't see what's offensive about that.

Try looking up bawbag and you might understand why nawbag would be considered offensive.

Generali

browniej wrote: »

Try looking up bawbag and you might understand why nawbag would be considered offensive.

Ah yes, I see. I know what a bawbag is. I had a Scottish girlfriend for a number of years so am quite conversant with Scottish slang. I didn't put them together.

Yup, that's quite rude from someone who is senior in the party.

I suspect that having 35-40 first-time MPs will lead to quite a few loose cannons in Parliament, especially when they're a little 'tired' on a Friday/Saturday night. I predict some great fun to be had over the next 5 year cycle.:D

ruggedtoast

Is the unionist separatist thing good natured in real life up there? It seems to be very rancorous in the online sphere. But then a many of the most voracious internet trolls wouldn't say boo to a goose in real life.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

.string. wrote: »

I'm struggling to absorb that chart. Do you have a link to get more background - thanks.

Apologies, forgot to add the link, here's the background in full explaining the chart and the fiscal black hole that FFA would impose on Scotland.

He notes, as have many on here, that the Scottish deficit is actually forecast to be £14.2 bn, the figure of £7.6bn is proportionally how much bigger the Scottish deficit will be than it would be if we had the same deficit forecast as the rest of the UK, ie, 4% of GDP.

Well first of all let's clear up a common misconception; the £7.6bn is not Scotland's forecast deficit; the forecast deficit is £14.2bn (8.6% of GDP).

The £7.6bn is the amount we'd have to find (through tax rises or spending cuts) to match the expected deficit level of the rest of the UK (4.0% of GDP). That is what FFA would require us to do (give or take - we would likely have some limited borrowing powers but if we're sharing a currency we have to follow similar fiscal rules).

Secondly let's recognise that this is a forecast and therefore uncertain. However we start with a £4bn known gap and the only assumption that drives Scotland to get worse than UK is oil; most of that is already know so its hardly a controversial forecast.

Thirdly what does £7.6bn mean? Well if "Westminster Cuts" of £30bn are scary then consider this; Scotland's share of those cuts would be about £3bn but this £7,6bn is in addition. The IFS figure implicitly assumes that part of the deficit decline caused by the oil decline is offset by the "Westminster cuts".

Finally - as ever - this really is all about oil. For context the graph below shows actual North Sea Oil revenues over the last 34 years + 3 year OBR forecast. The green line is the approximate level of North Sea Oil revenue required for Scotland to offset our higher spending versus the rest of the UK. Put simply, if oil is above that green line we are better off fiscally autonomous; when its below it we're worse off.



The gap between the green line (£9.7bn) and the grey bars (actual North Sea revenues) is roughly the size of the "black-hole" caused by fiscal autonomy.

Source is obviously the IFS and OBR data, however the commentator here does an excellent job of explaining it in easy to understand terms.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Generali wrote: »

Perhaps I'm missing something of the Scottish vernacular but I don't see what's offensive about that.

browniej wrote: »

Try looking up bawbag and you might understand why nawbag would be considered offensive.

Of all the offensive things that particular SNP politician has said, Nawbag is probably one I'd be least upset about.

Leanne1812

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Is the unionist separatist thing good natured in real life up there? It seems to be very rancorous in the online sphere. But then a many of the most voracious internet trolls wouldn't say boo to a goose in real life.

Although you'd never know it reading the last few pages of this thread we are all living very peacefully together. I nor anyone I know have experienced abuse or violence no matter what our political views are. The picture of the vandalised window & door is certainly not representative of what's happening around the country. Isolated incidents portrayed as mainstream by Hamish. I think he's well and truly rattled by the polls which are pretty consistent no matter how many tactic changes the party leaders try to trot out.

Online abuse is one thing but I'd imagine for most of us our daily lives are unscathed by the election frenzy.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Leanne1812 wrote: »

Although you'd never know it reading the last few pages of this thread we are all living very peacefully together. I nor anyone I know have experienced abuse or violence no matter what our political views are. The picture of the vandalised window & door is certainly not representative of what's happening around the country..

Nonsense...

The Nationalist bullies and thugs are out of control...

In fact it's so bad even journalists are being targeted for intimidation as they are reporting in Scotland.

Sky’s Political Editor Faisal Islam claimed that an independence supporter had questioned his suitability for reporting on the rally because he was not Scottish.

Islam’s claim, which was made on Twitter, was accompanied by a similar complaint by his Scottish Sky colleague Niall Paterson, who said he had been described as a “quisling p****” by a Yes activist

Islam tweeted: “Only place in the world I have been questioned about suitability to report a story on basis of nationality – not UKIP, an SNP rally.”

“Some straight forward dark nationalism, not just on here, at an SNP rally: e.g. ‘Why don’t Sky send a Scottish reporter?’ in Aberdeen,” he tweeted.

When he was asked by another Twitter-user who the culprit was, Islam replied: “Someone in the front row of a Sturgeon rally in December.” “Saying I shouldn’t be reporting because of nationality is nationalism clearly and dark, yes.”

Paterson joined the discussion saying: “even Scottish reporters’ suitability is questioned when their home is in London, despite moving back north for eight months”. Paterson then tweeted that he had been called a “quisling p****” at the Glasgow CBI dinner, an event during the referendum that had seen a large crowd of Yes supporters demonstrate outside.
.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/journalists-abused-over-nationality-at-snp-rally-1-3743120

Not content with just bullying and intimidating Journalists, the nationalists are now trying to threaten the very existence of BBC Scotland...

The party's culture and media spokesman Pete Wishart last night confirmed the Nationalists would look to create a new Scottish public service broadcaster as part of any Westminster pact.

There would also be serious concerns over the Scottish Government exerting political influence over the new broadcaster.

With just three weeks to go until the crucial vote, the SNP leadership has recently ramped up criticism of the Corporation.

Last weekend, former First Minister Alex Salmond accused the BBC of "bias" and renewed SNP calls for it to be devolved to Edinburgh.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/569919/SNP-want-axe-BBC-Scotland