The New Fat Scotland 'Thanks for all the Fish' Thread.

antrobus

In other news, Brent crude is down to $46.

http://news.sky.com/story/oversupply-sees-seven-month-low-for-oil-price-10921442

A_Medium_Size_Jock

Education under fire again:

Overall, the percentage of school leavers going to either further or higher education has fallen from 62.5 per cent in 2013-14 to 59.7 per cent in 2015-16.
The Conservative education spokeswoman, Liz Smith, said: “The number of young people going on to positive destinations is one of the First Minister’s go-to statistics when she is under pressure. Now she can’t even say that is increasing. The likelihood of a school-leaver ending up at university, college, training or work is still far too dependent on their background.”
Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: “Nicola Sturgeon promised to make education her top priority. Instead the gap between the richest and the poorest has grown as opportunities for school leavers are closed off.”

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/little-progress-made-on-education-attainment-gap-in-scotland-1-4481500

mayonnaise

A_Medium_Size_Jock wrote: »

Really?
Wrong yet again - it is still there.
People may read and judge for themselves.

I said it's closed.
And it is.
Yawn.

.string.

A_Medium_Size_Jock wrote: »

The original thread is still there.
But no-one now posts on it.
What happened?
IMHO readers saw that while you may indeed lead a horse to water there is little you can do if that horse persists in not drinking.


While we may not agree on much I for one welcome your return and hope that - politics aside - all is well with you.

Ah, but you should know how to make a horse drink.








You liquidise it.

A_Medium_Size_Jock

mayonnaise wrote: »

I said it's closed.
And it is.
Yawn.

But as for why it was closed ................
Nothing at all to do with ping-pong back & forth, plus some refusing to accept being proven wrong then?
As it appears you are attempting here with the back-and-forth for no good reason.
Like I said earlier, "People may read and judge for themselves. "

Are you becoming obsessed with one poster?
Would you care to explain why?
Have you any comment relevant to Scotland or will you persist in targetting one poster?





Back to Scottish news and I see the SNP have announced their Westminster front-bench team:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-40345262

ThinkingOutLoud_2

A_Medium_Size_Jock wrote: »

Are you becoming obsessed with one poster?
Would you care to explain why?
Have you any comment relevant to Scotland or will you persist in targetting one poster?
]

Does that make said person the "Poster Boy or Girl" of their campaign?

elantan

https://twitter.com/JasonGroves1/status/877552084782075906





Some things just make me laugh out loud

Shakethedisease

Tromking wrote: »

The Tories are too toxic in Scotland you said!

That's the point I was making Tromking... people aren't voting for Tory policies.

Unfortunately for you, Sturgeon`s and the SNP's obsession with indyref will keep that topic live, Davidson will have to do nothing.

Unfortunately for Davidson, without the constitutional question she has nothing further to offer the Scottish public on devolved areas. Davidson is nothing without Sturgeon or the SNP. She needs them, but hopefully it'll be low profile time for the SNP for a while. There are no immediate elections or refs for a few years now. Time to take a breather from constant campaigning since 2010. Three general elections, two Holyrood elections, two referendums and council elections. Davidson and the new Tory MP's should have their time in the spotlight for a while.

On the things that matter to Scots, thanks to Barnett Scotland is protected from the worst excesses of Tory austerity and if the stories coming out of Westminster are true then expect a slight loosening of the purse strings.

I think you'll need a functioning Govt first.

On top of that Davidson seems to be not backforward in coming forward in speaking up for Scotland to her Westminster colleagues.
You seem to be stuck in a pre-2015 time-warp.Scotland has changed.

Scotland has changed, and it's not going back to 'normal' after 2014 now. And a pre 2015 time warp would see the SNP with 6 MP's not 35. So am not really sure what you mean.

And it's not binary politics. Corbyn and left wing politics are also a factor. There's a curious mix at the moment in Scotland between left/right, leave/remain, union/indy as well as party political loyalties. Davidson however doesn't come under Conservative party politics anymore, she is firmly in the union camp above to the exclusion of everything else.

Shakethedisease

ilovehouses wrote: »

Maybe they voted Tory for the policies, maybe they voted Tory as a unionist play, maybe they voted Tory because they were the least worst option.

They voted for, and I quote 'Ruth Davidson's Conservative party candidate' <--- insert candidate name. Davidson only has one policy.

What we know for sure is that someone who voted Tory didn't vote SNP.

Unless Brexit turns out to be a complete dog's breakfast then it's not going to be the silver bullet that makes Scotland decide she wishes to be independent.

Sturgeon has gone quiet because there's a watching brief on Brexit (it's a fiasco so far so she might get lucky). Otherwise the SNP need to think of another reason why it's imperative for Scotland to leave the Union.

Complaining about 'Westminster' has been done to death and Brexit isn't doing it for the electorate. Perhaps it's an issue for the next generation of Scots to decide as promised.

The second ref is only on the table as a result of Brexit though. There was nothing much otherwise that Sturgeon could do in light of the way Scots votes went in the EU ref ( 62% can hardly be ignored in favour of 38% in any ballot ). She did offer to take it off the table if there was a way Scotland could stay in the Single Market but was ignored. Sturgeon is quiet now because she and everyone else need a breather and to let Brexit negotiations and Tory/DUP deals take centre stage for a while.

Get this straight though, there are people and political parties such as the SNP that will always want Scottish independence. But the immediacy of any second ref is only the result of Scotland possibly being taken out of the Single Market. Something which Sturgeon and the SNP regard as a potentially catastrophic economic event for the UK as well as Scotland.

Interestingly Davidson is now ( flip flopping ) advocating exactly what the SNP has been saying for the last year re the Single Market. As are half the UK Labour party and a fair number of Tories too.

If the UK stays in the Single Market then there is no rush to a second indy ref. It's the hard Brexit no Single Market, no customs union no deal/better than bad deal approach to negotiations.. which will guarantee one though should it happen.

After the Brexit dust has settled if there's no indy ref as a consequence ( ie UK stays in Single Market ) then it's pretty much demographics in Scotland that will ensure independence at some point.

Firetastic

Well I don't really put my tuppenceworth in on these political threads but here goes.

I like Ruth Davidson but somehow I wonder would the Scottish Conservatives have done so well without the Indy Ref 2 drum beating? I voted Conservative and I was sort of happy they did well but feel it is more down to the above reason than suddenly they've become really popular.

If Sturgeon took the idea of a second Ref right off the table and started fixing the problems in Scotland I don't think they'd lost as many seats as they did.