Ivo den Bieman Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Here's 3 things the SNP could do that would give them the appearance of a radical cutting edge without costing too much: 1. Raise income tax by 1p to cover the cost of protecting local authority spending on education. I'm sorry, but people have to see that if they want good public services then they come at a cost. This fantasy land of magical public services being provided without an increae in tax needs to be broken. For 30 years, as voters, we have expected Scandianvian style public services on Thatcher levels of tax. it doesn't work. 2. Urgently re-visit the Forth ferry crossing /hovercraft crossing which, if it had actually been invested in, would be taking a lot of the strain off roads. The SNP are addicted to roads; majorly the wrong long term transport and environmental strategy. 3. nationalise Trump's fucking golf course and let it go back to nature, without compensation, thereby drawing a line under Salmond's shameful kow-towing a few years ago and active intervention to promote the buffoon's fantasy bullshit about "thousands of jobs being created". None of these policies are hugely radical or frightening of too many horses. But ti woiuld get people talking about the SNP as a radical party of government, willing to take bold decisions, rather than the dour penny pinching grey suited pragmatists they are becoming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Here's 3 things the SNP could do that would give them the appearance of a radical cutting edge without costing too much: 1. Raise income tax by 1p to cover the cost of protecting local authority spending on education. I'm sorry, but people have to see that if they want good public services then they come at a cost. This fantasy land of magical public services being provided without an increae in tax needs to be broken. For 30 years, as voters, we have expected Scandianvian style public services on Thatcher levels of tax. it doesn't work. 2. Urgently re-visit the Forth ferry crossing /hovercraft crossing which, if it had actually been invested in, would be taking a lot of the strain off roads. The SNP are addicted to roads; majorly the wrong long term transport and environmental strategy. 3. nationalise Trump's fucking golf course and let it go back to nature, without compensation, thereby drawing a line under Salmond's shameful kow-towing a few years ago and active intervention to promote the buffoon's fantasy bullshit about "thousands of jobs being created". None of these policies are hugely radical or frightening of too many horses. But ti woiuld get people talking about the SNP as a radical party of government, willing to take bold decisions, rather than the dour penny pinching grey suited pragmatists they are becoming. Nationalising a golf course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 What do you want them to do? E mail you an itinerary of their activity? Shouldn't it be immediately obvious what impact a majority Government is having on a country? It's obviously not as easy as it is for the Tories at Westminster as they've got to work in the confines of devolution, but you should be able to pin point SOMETHING in the way of an impact. I'm genuinely struggling. I don't get that at all. The way I see it they can only work within the legal framework Westminster gives them and fight for as much as they can until such time as we're independent. Independence is the big vision, in effect. The referendum is probably the last big thing the SNP did and I agree that was their big vision. They obviously lost it, but at least it presented a vision that many got behind. They've said themselves that independence is on the back burner, which says to me they want to focus on governing what they can at the moment. What's the long term plan? The budget released last week didn't make it immediately clear to me, 'not taking polls for granted' doesn't either. I want to see a positive vision from the SNP, one which we know has to be in the union, but positive none the less. The SNP will likely get my vote next year anyway - the only party that might win me round is the greens, and that's only because Patrick Harvie is standing in my constituency - I just want more clarity on Scotland's future under the SNP government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlion Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Is there any hope for SLAB? Do any young people still vote for them? The generation who have no tribal loyalty to Labour, and who witnessed their utter contempt for Scotland during referendum campaign, are unlikely to just start voting for them. Their "best of both worlds" claim has just been further and further blown apart as Scotland's requests in the Smith Commission and afterwards were turned down. The sight of scum like Darling being rewarded with peerages has also soured people towards "socialist" Labour. "Best of both worlds" = a Scottish Parliament whose remit Westminster has authority over, and which hasn't even existed for twenty years. I really believe that the declining British Nationalist parties see the end in sight. It will now be their goal to extract as much from "Jockestan" before they lose it. Blair certainly thought this when he and Dewar pushed through border changes before the Scottish Parliament was established (prior to which we presumably didn't have the "best of both worlds", and must therefore have been in an awful position, which Labour and the Tories still blindly supported). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 I second the three points Ivo's suggested and add a fourth: kill every landowner in the country and take their land back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortar Bored Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 You wont see any tantrum's from me,i respect peoples democratic rights to vote for who they want. If that's the case, why oh why do you constantly quote publications that have @1% of scots as readers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fide Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 If that's the case, why oh why do you constantly quote publications that have @1% of scots as readers? Because he's a thundering nitwit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortar Bored Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Here's 3 things the SNP could do that would give them the appearance of a radical cutting edge without costing too much: 1. Raise income tax by 1p to cover the cost of protecting local authority spending on education. I'm sorry, but people have to see that if they want good public services then they come at a cost. This fantasy land of magical public services being provided without an increae in tax needs to be broken. For 30 years, as voters, we have expected Scandianvian style public services on Thatcher levels of tax. it doesn't work. 2. Urgently re-visit the Forth ferry crossing /hovercraft crossing which, if it had actually been invested in, would be taking a lot of the strain off roads. The SNP are addicted to roads; majorly the wrong long term transport and environmental strategy. 3. nationalise Trump's fucking golf course and let it go back to nature, without compensation, thereby drawing a line under Salmond's shameful kow-towing a few years ago and active intervention to promote the buffoon's fantasy bullshit about "thousands of jobs being created". None of these policies are hugely radical or frightening of too many horses. But ti woiuld get people talking about the SNP as a radical party of government, willing to take bold decisions, rather than the dour penny pinching grey suited pragmatists they are becoming. It's laughable, but I agree with you on 2 of your 3 points ( in principle) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivo den Bieman Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 why is it laughable? :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivo den Bieman Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 I second the three points Ivo's suggested and add a fourth: kill every landowner in the country and take their land back. you'd think this was the SNPs actual policy, given the Daily Mail's propensity to interview pearl-clutching fedual aristocrats who are only too eager to tell them of the coming "Mugabe-style landgrab" and "they're out to do us all in" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 you'd think this was the SNPs actual policy, given the Daily Mail's propensity to interview pearl-clutching fedual aristocrats who are only too eager to tell them of the coming "Mugabe-style landgrab" and "they're out to do us all in" Mate, I would stop supporting it if it didn't end up Mugabe-esque in practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Rational Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 You would be better off surrounding the course with things like a rubbish dump, traveller sites etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baxter Parp Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 I second the three points Ivo's suggested and add a fourth: kill every landowner in the country and take their land back. Raising tax by a penny raises taxes on the lower paid by 5% and the upper ranges by just 2-3%. Which is why Swinney didn't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivo den Bieman Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 That's what tax thresholds are for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Here's 3 things the SNP could do that would give them the appearance of a radical cutting edge without costing too much: 1. Raise income tax by 1p to cover the cost of protecting local authority spending on education. I'm sorry, but people have to see that if they want good public services then they come at a cost. This fantasy land of magical public services being provided without an increae in tax needs to be broken. For 30 years, as voters, we have expected Scandianvian style public services on Thatcher levels of tax. it doesn't work. 2. Urgently re-visit the Forth ferry crossing /hovercraft crossing which, if it had actually been invested in, would be taking a lot of the strain off roads. The SNP are addicted to roads; majorly the wrong long term transport and environmental strategy. 3. nationalise Trump's fucking golf course and let it go back to nature, without compensation, thereby drawing a line under Salmond's shameful kow-towing a few years ago and active intervention to promote the buffoon's fantasy bullshit about "thousands of jobs being created". None of these policies are hugely radical or frightening of too many horses. But ti woiuld get people talking about the SNP as a radical party of government, willing to take bold decisions, rather than the dour penny pinching grey suited pragmatists they are becoming. 1. Given teacher numbers are protected, and they can't even fill those posts, and there is 100s of millions going into non teaching resource what exactly is it you are spending your education tax on. How much would it raise? 2. How would replacing one mile of road in a network take the strain off roads? 3. Whilst I would love to see this happen what is the legal mechanism for achieving this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 That said, a little humility from the SNP's supporters wouldn't go amiss. The SNP don't have a monopoly on knowledge and would be better respected if they learned to tolerate differing points of view a little more. I have been "Yes" since the late 1980s and the SNP has come on so much since that time. But there are elements of their talk-left-act-right agenda that may come back to haunt them in the medium term. I think they are wrong on council tax and wrong on income tax. They also need to be careful not to let complacency and arrogance in. That's what killed new Labour at the turn of the century, with a similarly massive majority. Well, that and Tony Blair going mad. No one expects anything other than a vast SNP win next year. But a victory delivered on the back of a now slightly tarnished lustre and the laughably pisspoor quality of the main opposition parties can ring slightly hollow. Time for the SNP to be a bit bolder I think, rather than creeping around trying not to offend anybody. A visionary plan for a second majority term is needed along with the guts to see it through. Without getting in to specific policies I agree with the general point you make. The SNP are not nearly as radical party in actions as they are in words. I think many like myself will forgive that up to a point as we see independence as being the ultimate goal and the SNP as the vehicle that can deliver that, however there will be a tipping point where members and supporters will look for tangible examples of the difference from the alternative parties. I also think that complacency could become an issue and it is essential that party members like myself, and, more importantly, longer standing party members, are prepared to offer a critical analysis unlike their SLab counterparts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardyBamboo Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 That's what tax thresholds are for. They don't have control of the thresholds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crùbag Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 SNP doing well despite the onslaught from the media about the FRB and other patent nonsense. Derek Bateman's got a good blog on it: http://derekbateman.co.uk/2015/12/21/press-prima-donnas/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baxter Parp Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 That's what tax thresholds are for. Can't change them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baxter Parp Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Without getting in to specific policies I agree with the general point you make. The SNP are not nearly as radical party in actions as they are in words.I think many like myself will forgive that up to a point as we see independence as being the ultimate goal and the SNP as the vehicle that can deliver that, however there will be a tipping point where members and supporters will look for tangible examples of the difference from the alternative parties.I also think that complacency could become an issue and it is essential that party members like myself, and, more importantly, longer standing party members, are prepared to offer a critical analysis unlike their SLab counterparts.I'm interested in what radical policies you think the SNP can and should implement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.