SNP & Brexit???...
 

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[Closed] SNP & Brexit????

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teamhurtmore - Member
Given that people focus on the wrong things when criticising the SNP (not that anything is their fault), what are the headlines today?...

The same headlines we get every day.

It's either SNP Baaad!

Or SNP Very Baad!

Result? Very few people believe them anymore.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 12:31 am
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Aye it really is funny epicyclo. Especially as the SNP baaaaaaad stores are usually made up or simply wrong. 2 recent ones spring to mind. Scottish labour claiming half a billion of cuts in the scottish NHS when budgets are rising and also the labour attack on the SNP MPs for claiming excessive expenses and not attending the chamber when actually the SNP mps take much less in expenses and attend more than labour!

The thing is there are huge mistakes out there that they could be attacked on - but these tend to be populist policies so no one attacks them. I know of two NHS issues that have cost lives due to poor policy from the SNP but due to the ignorance of the snps enemies or thir craven inability to go against illinformed public opinion they miss the open goal

fuds, diddies and bampots the lot of them


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 12:57 am
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The recent PISA results are a stick that the SNP are getting beaten with,but TBH;the SNP should have looked at the propoals to introduce CFE that they were going to inherit and said "Nah;yir all richt min." It is one of those Embra tram ones that they inherited where Labour at sitting on the side going SNP BAD without the slightes sense of irony or self awareness. I may have said what a clustershag CFE is to Mike Russell,ex Ed-Sec at my parents house one New Year... 😳


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 4:49 am
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Result? Very few people believe them anymore.

More fool them. Whitewashing history doesn't make things go away, unless you subscribe to the irgnorance is bliss school. We know who the main disciple there is.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 7:51 am
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Leave it to the Glaswegians and they would either deep fry or drink the warheads...

Glasgow has quite a few excellent high technology companies, world-class precision engineering, and space technology experts.

I'm sure we could bodge a simple nuclear missile.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 8:04 am
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Anyway Scottish budget week this week. So what's on the cards?

After the failure of raising stamp duty - well done getting less revenue! - whats on the cards for MRT for top earners, and tax thresholds this week?

Her growth advisor seems to be doing a Bojo and going off-script re the warnings against alleged/promised tax plans. Who will win......?


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 11:30 am
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teamhurtmore - Member
More fool them. Whitewashing history doesn't make things go away...

Well as most Scots know, or at least Highlanders raised traditionally, history as taught isn't much more accurate than those headlines.

It has been thoroughly rinsed, glossed over or whitewashed, and that's why the independence movement isn't going to go away.

As tjagain says, there's plenty the Red and Blue Tory media could use against the SNP if only they did a bit of digging instead of relying on made up or misrepresented stories.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 1:36 pm
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Given that most of the SNP baaaaaad stories in the press are provably false who is the fool? The sceptic who looks at multiple sources and tries to get to the facts or the person who takes scare stories in the unionist press at face value unquestioningly because they fit their narrative?

Its always interesting to read the same story in the scotsman ( staunchly unionist) the Herald ( sceptical slightly pro independence) and the National ( staunchly pro independence) ( and thats without considering the Wail and the express who simply make up lies)

I have seen the same item reported as a blow for the SNP and a boost for the SNP


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 1:41 pm
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Those who rely on WoS

But at least education wasnt glossed over this week epic, and Swinney put his hand up. What about the budget question - will they bottle it on their tax policy or not?

So we have one revenue reducing tax policy - air duty - offset by keeping the threshold for the top rate below the UK. Winners, eh?

When do you think that pre independence will get past 5 regions? Do you think any will make 60% in favour? Given all the non-reported momentum and support, the answer must be now and yes. So why is Nicola so pessimistic?


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 1:47 pm
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tjagain - Member
Its always interesting to read the same story in the scotsman ( staunchly unionist) the Herald ( sceptical slightly pro independence) and the National ( staunchly pro independence) ( and thats without considering the Wail and the express who simply make up lies)

I usually get a chance to glance over the newspaper headlines each lunchtime. The Telegraph is as bad as the Mail, all they do is vent their bile about either the SNP or the EU/foreigners. It is so comically overblown I hope that most readers are wise to it, but I'm not sure they are.

A coworker occasionally buys the National. It seems like a depressingly wasted opportunity for the independence movement. The editorial team seemed to have looked at the often vitriolic, tribal, petty and exaggerated anti independence rhetoric in many newspapers and decided that the best way to counter it was to do the same but be pro independence. Plus the covers are frequently cringeworthy. I personally don't support independence but the cause deserves a better standard bearer than the National.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 2:01 pm
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I agree chris. I suspect the national will not last long and it appears to be simply SNP good in response to SNP bad we get from most other papers Picking the truth as a midway point between it and the scotsman is reasonable as a start point tho


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 2:05 pm
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Anyway has anyone yet resolved the Wales, NI problem? Or is the UK now simply England and Scotland?


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 2:19 pm
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Who are they? 😉


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 2:22 pm
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Wales goes with England. NI have to chose between Scotland and Eire.

IMO the best bet for NI is to give it special status as an independent protectorate guaranteed by both Eire and England.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 2:22 pm
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What about their wishes, or do they not matter - like a referendum result?


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 2:25 pm
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tjagain - Member
Wales goes with England. NI have to chose between Scotland and Eire.

IMO the best bet for NI is to give it special status as an independent protectorate guaranteed by both Eire and England.

[url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/12/england-wales-eu-brexit-article-50?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter ]A solution from the Guardian...[/url]

That would solve a lot of issues.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 4:27 pm
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While throwing up a whole heap more. As most of the comments on that article note it is a ****ing retarded idea that only the Guardian could genuinely write about with any seriousness.


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 5:27 pm
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Has this thread fallen off the front page? Can't have that - CFH something to stimulate him 😉


 
Posted : 12/12/2016 9:50 pm
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So still no comments on tomorrow's budget - is it unimportant? Come on my left-of-centre Scottish friends, some predictions for the "historic" budget and tax rates in particular. Some assumptions:

1. The SNP has been voted in on a left of centre mandate (no really)
2. They are anti-austerity
3. There is a deficit issue
4. Top tax rates for the filthy rich are below the EU average (anyone mention a "low-tax, low wage economy"?)
5. etc

So, Derek Mackay will address this how?

Will he increase the MRT on the filthy rich to 50p?
How about the rise in the basic rate proposed by the other left-of-centre party? 1p, nothing, more?
And where will he set the filthy rich threshold? In-line with manifesto or more radical?

He has to make sure that he can deliver on Nicola's promise to local councils for a "fair deal this time around"

Looking forward to something radical - will be a good test case for the rUK. He wont bottle it will he? Reality not rhetoric this time, surely? He has taken a few more months breathing space to get this right after all!


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 10:03 am
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teamhurtmore - Member
So still no comments on tomorrow's budget - is it unimportant?...

Nothing is as important as independence.


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 4:24 pm
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Perhaps - ends and means and all that.

In the meantime, what do you reckon for tomorrow? Important first step, so you can see whether the SNP are what they say they are. We shall see...


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 4:29 pm
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You're the self appointed fact geek Thm why don't you tell us how many "extra months" Derek Mackay has taken for his budget?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 4:35 pm
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Sep...Oct....Nov....Dec....errr (although we know that we are talking about drafts etc as he wanted more thinking time)

still no problem with delay, much better to get this one right - first impressions and all that!

so what do you reckon on tomorrow?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 4:43 pm
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I am sure THM will tell us everything thats wrong with the budget despite his proven ignorance of Scottish politics, of the actual powers of Holyrood and measure this against his liking for taking right wing economic theory as fact. He will then leaven this with some condescension.

fortunately I won't see it unless someone quotes him


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:01 pm
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fortunately I won't see it unless someone quotes him

Really, you haven't mentioned that before?

For when someone quotes - we are talking about a left of centre government raising already low tax rates on top earners to fund better services, since antiquated issues such as Laffer Curve effect dont exist. No excuses for simply copying the RW Tories is there?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:04 pm
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If this thread is anything to go by, the SNP will be relieved that expectations are non-existent, so they will probably get away with matching the Tories except for thresholds. It must be lovely to have such a pliant electorate!!


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:06 pm
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nothing worth quoting TJ but you nailed his MO still some folk just cannot change - i include you and me in that FWIW as some of us can do self awareness

I seem to recall that Jesus fella has some strong views on the wealthy
and I seem to recall he had a message about what to do with your enemies and turning the other cheek

he is an example to us all especially the christians amongst us


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:10 pm
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So still no answers, shame. It would have been interesting to hear some "informed" local knowledge. Never mind...


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:11 pm
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yes it would and i am sure you would have embraced them and taken them on rather than just smarm and patronise them to within an inch of their lives

STrange how no one takes you on anymore ..probably your towering intellect rather than your tone 😉


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:14 pm
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although we know that we are talking about drafts etc as he wanted more thinking time

Perhaps he was waiting till the oil price went back to $110 so he could make the numbers balance ?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:33 pm
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I dont think so, but here is his chance to differentiate the SNP from the nasty Tories - I hope he takes it, but doubt it!


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 5:36 pm
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Any budget of course needs more than a whipped party to get it thru so some searching for consensus will be needed. got to keep the greens onside and hopefully the greens have learn't from the last minority SNP administration where they ended up sidelining themselves and the tories actually engaged with the SNP and ended up with some input into policy. Such are the politics of PR and minority governments

Labour of course are still incapable of engaging constructively with anyone at Holyrood as they still feel the SNP stole their ball so won't play with anyone.


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 6:09 pm
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The Scottish Greens have set out plans to introduce a new 60p rate of income tax for Scotland's highest earners.

Meet them half way or side with the Tories and leave it unchanged?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 6:21 pm
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Greens unimpressed today

And Patrick Harvie from the Scottish Greens put forward an amendment saying "the SNP's manifesto proposals on tax make no significant changes to current income tax rates and thresholds", saying Holyrood should "support a tax system that will challenge inequalities in wealth and income".

looks like a stalemate brewing


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 6:48 pm
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Easy to differentiate the SNP from the Scottish Conservative Unionist Party Thm. I think it would have been foolish of MacKay to bring forward budget proposals before studying Hammond's autumn statement.
On an earlier point did you manage to find out how many bankers were jailed yet?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 8:10 pm
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On tax? We shall see...

True - so he took his time sensibly. No need to rush such important decisions

No - have you? Let me know if you have the answer. Cheers


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 8:17 pm
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gordimhor

they are both run by women with shortish unpermed hair, not a handbag in sight and have "scottish" in their name. Easy to confuse


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 8:30 pm
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The Scottish Greens have set out plans to introduce a new 60p rate of income tax for Scotland's highest earners.

The SNP said a 50p rate would cost them £30m in lost revenue, 60p would probably push that up some more as more of the waverers/marginals would go


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 8:52 pm
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The SNP said a 50p rate would cost them £30m in lost revenue,

How come, that's not on script? They dont believe in the Laffer Curve surely? A true LW party that is anti-austerity is surely not going to bottle raising what is currently a low MR level of tax on the filthy rich!!


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 9:20 pm
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TJ's weak attempt at sarcasm above ironically highlights an important point. You could imagine Ruth Davison and/or George Osbourne signing this

Oh, and it does use my preferred term for the Laffer curve idea - Taxable Income Elasticity.

So our radical LWers are really not that different from the nasty Tories after all!! Unless Mackay proves us wrong tomorrow.

We shall see.....


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 9:41 pm
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tjagain - Member
Any budget of course needs more than a whipped party to get it thru so some searching for consensus will be needed.
And the outcome if no-one supports the government's budget proposals?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 9:47 pm
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We could see tomorrow scotroutes....

...an intriguing stalemate??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-38304774

Others can provide the WoS link


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 9:50 pm
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Anything wrong with the Scottish budget is proof we need full fiscal autonomy,

Without that the juggling act of whatever flavour of Scottish govt we have is dependent on what the English controlled Westminster govt lets us have.


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 10:54 pm
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So, Epi, somebody else's fault. The nationalist Scot is the picked upon Scot. Get that chip off your shoulder.


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 11:36 pm
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Dunno really scotroutes. They keep trying until they get a vote thru? the SNP are far to good political operators to present a budget unless they know its going to go thru. They managed it in the previous minority administration. compromise and consensus?


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 11:44 pm
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Statement of fact from epicyclo Gowrie. the "tax raising powers" are designed to be virtually useless and a trap for the nationalists.


 
Posted : 14/12/2016 11:46 pm
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tjagain - Member
Dunno really scotroutes. They keep trying until they get a vote thru?
A couple of attempts then call for a Vote of Confidence and trigger an election?


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 12:09 am
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a trap for the nationalists.

Yup put them in charge of something and then watch them do nothing except complain 8)

The SNP are well aware they can't put taxes up or the jobs will just move South of the border.

TMH's link shows Scotlands greater income equality, ie they have less high earners. We could improve income equality by asking all the rich people to move abroad taking their jobs with them.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 12:23 am
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David Davies was before the Select Committee today. What's clear is that Northern Ireland and Gibralter will be getting speical arrangements (Davies said the EU had raised the Irish issue and thought it very important to protect the peace process). As such it's perfectly natural for Scotland to ask "what about us, what can we get" ?


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 12:26 am
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scotroutes - thats the other option I guess. Can you remember how they did it in the first minority government? IIRC a fair amount of horse trading behind the scenes that labour and the lib dems wouldn't join in with " the Bain principle" AKA labours death song


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 12:35 am
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Jamba - the scottish government do not have the powers to make a fairer tax system. Its a very limited and restrictive changes they can make that will not raise much money - not for the reason you think but because of the cost of administering it. But then that wouldn't fit your narrative would it.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 12:38 am
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Gowrie - Member
So, Epi, somebody else's fault...

Yes. It's the fault of anyone standing in the way of Scotland having full control over its finances, ie the 3 different colours of Tory, Red, Yellow, and Blue with the help of the Proud Scot Butts.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 12:54 am
 br
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IMO any direct tax scheme that takes +50% of gross earnings is immoral.

We keep been told to take responsibility for ourselves (only this week we've been told we should save up for Care), but how can we do this when we're left with less than half of what we've earned?

I live in Scotland.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 8:03 am
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IMO any country that lets it citizens be cold and hungry when there is plenty of money in the economy. A country that keeps its pensioners in poverty is immoral. a country that cannot provide for the poor the sick and the needy is immoral.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 8:08 am
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The list is long (of excuses) but it is mighty.

But let me get this straight, since I am merely an Englishman with a total ignorance of Scottish affairs. Nicola is resisting increasing the top rate of tax on high earners not because she believes - as many RWers/people who do the analysis do - that it will reduce the level of revenue earned (the Tory argument and the one put forward in print by the Scottish Government, see link above) but because it would be too expensive to administer? Why on earth did she not say so, it would have saved all the debates and compromise.

IMO any country that lets it citizens be cold and hungry when there is plenty of money in the economy.

Two solutions from the Left end of the spectrum

1. raise income taxes on high earners, especially if they are below average anyway. Plenty of evidence of how this works and lots of appetite, "I would happily pay more tax for better services" etc
2. Tax owners of more than one property v heavily since they distort the housing market. How moral is it for anyone to have more than one property when people are forced to live on the streets nearby?

Odds on either being introduced by a left-of-centre, anti-austerity government?


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 8:15 am
 br
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[i]IMO any country that lets it citizens be cold and hungry when there is plenty of money in the economy. A country that keeps its pensioners in poverty is immoral. a country that cannot provide for the poor the sick and the needy is immoral. [/I]

How we spend isn't really connected to how we tax, with the exception of only that how much we tax rules how much we can spend.

The two are separate issues and should be treated separately.

Anyway we can't be poor:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/08/parliament-champagne-soars-_n_5104787.html


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 1:10 pm
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BR - its no coincidence that most european countries tax higher than we do and have better provision for the poor, the old, the disabled and the needy


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 1:12 pm
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Raise income tax then - its a left-of-centre government after all.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 1:13 pm
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b r - Member
IMO any direct tax scheme that takes +50% of gross earnings is immoral.

I agree. A flat rate is fairest on earnings from toil.

The answer is to remove the loopholes that allow the big corporations and the wealthy to avoid tax.

It'll never happen with the current Westminster govt because the [s]bribes[/s] political donations, consultancies and fact-finding missions paid for by the big corporates has too many politicians in their pockets.

Scotland could do that if it had full fiscal autonomy.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 1:58 pm
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No rabbit from a hat - as promised largely in the manifesto. At least, an emphasis on education there.

So even the left of centre prefer lower taxes than Europe for the higher paid and low corporation taxes. No wonder the Tories don't get a look in - others already implement their ideas!!

I agree. A flat rate is fairest on earnings from toil.

It would certainly be an interesting experiment, especially given how expensive tax collection is and how complex they make it.

A nice "progressive" flat rate system has a lot going for it.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 3:05 pm
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I'll just leave this here. Rather a nice speech from a slick political operator. He knows how to push the buttons. Can you imagine anyone else in the UK political scene making this speech?
[quote="wee Eck"]

THERE have been two fundamental shocks, turn-ups or surprises in European history in the last 1,000 years. The first was Leicester City winning the English Premier League last season. And the second was in 1297 when a rag-tag and bobtail army of Scottish peasants laid low the might of Plantagenet chivalry at Stirling Bridge.

This, it should be said, was not absolutely unique. The Flemish peasants did much the same to the French a handful of years later at Courtrai. However there is no doubt that Stirling Bridge was a turn-up for the books and the reverberations from it whistled around mediaeval Europe.

Rather like Leicester City, William Wallace came down to earth with a bump the following season at Falkirk. However, in the meantime how did he and his co-Guardian of Scotland, Andrew De Moray, celebrate their historic victory? I can see you are thinking a giant ceilidh is coming on. Well, no – they actually wrote a letter to Lübeck, the headquarters of the Hansiatic League and here I paraphrase from the Latin: “There has been a change, we are back in charge. Could we have our trading concessions back and, listen, be nice to our two merchants who are carrying this letter.”

The Hansiatic League was the mediaeval equivalent of the single marketplace and the Lubeck letter is the equivalent of the Scottish First Minister saying to today’s European Commission: “Look, we don’t like the idea of full English Brexit, we didn’t vote for it and we are not having it. We hope to be in charge soon.”

Wind the European time clock forward some 450 years, and we find a Scots gentleman, bored out of his mind tutoring a Scots nobleman, writing from Toulouse in France to his friend saying that he was starting to write a new book. The bored Scot was Adam Smith, the friend was David Hume and the book was the Wealth of Nations.

The point is that in the 18th century Scotland was at the centre of the development of European thought and the age of rationality represented by the Scottish Enlightenment ushered in both the French and American revolutions.

Wind that clock forward another century and a half. We find Scotland, 100 years ago, at the centre of European conflict. Our losses as a percentage of the population from the carnage of the Great War are only matched by those of Germany and France.

There are villages in the North East and the Highlands of Scotland where of young men of fighting age no less than half were killed or seriously injured.

And therefore more than most, we have huge interest in the peace to which Europe has contributed over the last 65 years.

The purpose of these three separate stories is to emphasis that Scotland has for a millennium been a European country. In trade, in cultural and scientific advance and development. In peace and in war Scotland has been at the heart of Europe.

Therefore to be told now that against the wishes of the Scottish people that these connections are to be severed, that we are to be reduced to the role of at best a bystander, is not just democratically unacceptable – it flies in the face of our history.

It should not just be unacceptable to Scotland – it should be unacceptable to Europe.

There are many negative things about the Brexit process. It will be intensely damaging to the United Kingdom. Brexit offers nothing but salt and vinegar, as President Tusk memorably put it.

However one of the worst aspects is how the time and effort of Europe will be preoccupied in dismantling part of the European project. What a waste when Europe’s eye should be on the challenges of the present and the future. Europe should be galvanising to repair the weaknesses in the project – a project which Robert Schuman pointed out 66 years ago will not be made all at once or in a single plan.

However, there is an aspect of Scotland’s story which should bring hope to the rest of the continent. We hear a great deal about how the established order is under siege from the forces of right-wing populism. How liberal values, progressive politics and respect for the judiciary are on the retreat across Europe, and indeed the planet.

However, in Scotland it is progressive pro-European forces who are in the ascendency. The protest against the establishment is expressed in liberal values, and the European Union for all its faults is regarded as a positive thing.

As President Juncker said himself, Scotland has earned the right to be heard. And, as he mentioned to me today, to be listened to in Brussels.

Scotland is not unique in this. In a number of countries forces of change have also emerged from the autonomist left. And yet how have European institutions responded? The answer is not well. When the reactionary vandals are at the gates of the Treaty of Rome then help from all progressive Europeans should be treasured and valued.

We need a Europe where dissent is channelled into fresh hope. We need to lift again the tattered flag of a social Europe. We need to fuel once again the idealist vision that propelled Maurits Coppieters himself – where self-determination of peoples, linguistic and cultural diversity, peace and democracy, could all find a home in a united Europe.

In the coming weeks, the Government of Scotland will be publishing a paper on Scotland’s way forward. How we can maintain our European connections, how the UK could accommodate this without countermanding to the Brexit process across England.

What we need now from the rest of this continent is not just goodwill and encouragement. We need vocal support and the realisation that we have to turn the tide away from all that Brexit represents if we are to build a European home with room for all its nationalities.

Or as Hamish Henderson once put it, in his great anthem, Freedom Come All Ye:

So come all ye at hame wi Freedom

Never heed whit the hoodies croak for doom

In your hoose a’ the bairns o Adam

Can find breid, barely-bree and painted room.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 5:48 pm
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Bojo obviously


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 5:59 pm
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tjagain - Member
I'll just leave this here. Rather a nice speech from a slick political operator. He knows how to push the buttons. Can you imagine anyone else in the UK political scene making this speech?
As President Juncker said himself, Scotland has earned the right to be heard. And, as he mentioned to me today, to be listened to in Brussels.

With that statement Jucker becomes the dirt stirrer.

Yep, in other part of the world such statement become the root cause of civil war when the naive ones literary take on board such a poisonous statement.


 
Posted : 15/12/2016 6:09 pm
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Live now


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 11:41 am
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If she focused more on making Scotland a better place to live then attracting migrants would be somewhat easier. As it is a lack of decent jobs and housing stock hardly make Scotland an attractive proposition.


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 11:48 am
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Dragon - do you live in Scotland?

Right now the home office is trying to deport two american families who have settled here, built businesses here and added to the community

Plenty of good houses at non stupid prices. JObs are available if in short supply.

This thread has given me loads of laughs. People whos blind hatred for the SNP and reliance on english press for their information insisting black is white and arguing from a mix of ignorance, cant and condescension


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 12:01 pm
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Full proposal here

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/9234/0

You might not like them/her but at least they're doing something pro-active and talking openly about their plans, unlike the headless chickens in Westminster.


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 12:15 pm
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Well said BOb - and of course in answer to Dragon it is absolutely critical to the wellbeing of the people of scotland and of our economy that we remain in the single market.

So it is trying to make Scotland a better place to live and work and also the single most important issue facing scotland right now


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 12:19 pm
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While I don't disagree with NS trying to set out Scotland's case there is no way Westminster will cut Scotland a special deal.

It would be political suicide.

No deal means 2nd referendum becomes inevitable


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 12:36 pm
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Dragon - are you English and do you even live in Scotland?...Plenty of good houses at non stupid prices.

You can even have more than one and make it more expensive for those trying to get on the ladder!

This thread has given me loads of laughs. People whos blind hatred for the English and reliance on WoS for their information insisting black is white and arguing from a mix of ignorance, cant and condescension

Me too!

But on a serious point, this is quite remarkable. Having read the introduction (thx for the link bob) it is largely factual. 😯

Of course it avoids the ridiculous situation of being a separate member of the EZ but as an aspirational piece (missing out the practical stuff) not a bad effort. 7/10


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 12:46 pm
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2nd refrendum will only happen if the poll point to a win. Sturgeon also has to address the SNP voters who want out of the EU.

Sturgeon is a cautious politician by nature unlike Salmond who is a gambler


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 12:47 pm
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Bob, its easy to talk. Much harder to actually do things - rhetoric is cheap, reality quite different

eg, easy to argue that being in the EU (under Dave's terms) was better than we will end up with, but so what? thats gone. We have to find the best solution from a bad situation. No point pretending that the unachievable is achievable unless you have time to write a full 670 pages...


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 12:47 pm
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Plenty of good houses at non stupid prices. JObs are available if in short supply.

Neither of which seem to be attracting people to Scotland. I have never seen anybody from the SNP address what they think actually needs done. It's easy to say "we need control of X, Y and Z to fix this" but there have never been any suggestions as to policy decisions that might be made. Which makes it all an easy, but empty, argument.

I find their Brexit paper to be rather unsurprising and uninspiring (reading just the summary details), but at least they have published some discussion on the matter. The paper is rather undermined by a number of their panel criticising some of the key options. So we know all the favoured options aren't practical, which makes it seem like a bit of a vanity exercise to ensure that the SNP can claim that Westminster is ignoring Scotland.

The whole issue around Northern Ireland (and why Scotland is in a different position) has been completely missed in trying to score points against the UK government.

I don't see why the UK govt can't present openly something similar. An analysis of the options facing the UK, even if their eventual decision making and strategy is kept quiet.


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:14 pm
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Sturgeon also has to address the SNP voters who want out of the EU.

What, both of them?


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:14 pm
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I don't see why the UK govt can't present openly something similar. An analysis of the options facing the UK, even if their eventual decision making and strategy is kept quiet.

Any open discussion is going to be difficult for the Tories as it's likely to undermine public support for Brexit and the pro-Brexit side of the party won't want that.


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:16 pm
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Neither of which seem to be attracting people to Scotland.

Quick scan of the office floor around me

A Polish girl and and Italian girl working for me
3 Dutch guys
2 French guys
2 American girls
1 Lebanese guy
1 Latvian guy
1 Chinese guy
1 Spanish guy

No doubt countless others who I don't work directly with and don't know they're foreign.

But yes, absolute no one is attracted to Scotland.


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:27 pm
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epicsteve - around 30% of those who voted SNP in the last holyrood election voted out in the EU election


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:28 pm
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The whole issue around Northern Ireland (and why Scotland is in a different position) has been completely missed in trying to score points against the UK government.

Scotland would be in a better position if the Scottish Resistance threatened to blow some things up?


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:30 pm
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epicsteve - around 30% of those who voted SNP in the last holyrood election voted out in the EU election

Doesn't matter how they voted for Holyrood though does it? What matters is how they voted on independence.

The problem in Scotland is that the SNP are the only remotely competent party so when voting for Holyrood or Westminster they do get a fair amount of people voting for them that don't necessarily agree on Independence or even Brexit.


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:32 pm
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I know a couple of people who voted for independence, then voted to leave the EU. For both of them, independence trumps everything - an independent Scotland in the EU is much preferable.


 
Posted : 20/12/2016 1:36 pm
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