Polling: 2017 General Election, Council Elections and Independence

[John Lambies Doos]

I saw that earlier.
Apparently the snp are on schedule to "scrape" a majority.
There was a time when I would be very happy to be enlightened by quality journalism and Ian Bell is much missed but when you see the like of that, is it any wonder that many will look elsewhere for sober reflections on the data. 
 

Then it's really up to the Scottish Government & the Greens to change this narrative. Plenty of time.

[John Lambies Doos]

Also just to add, when you hear terms like knife edge etc, it encourages people to go out and vote, less apathy

[NotThePars]

Maybe the more excitable SNP supporters should lay aff the "BORIS WILL ONLY RESPECT AN SNP MAJORITY" stuff then. Feel like I'm gonnae be posting this every three or four days.

[craigkillie]

An SNP majority would be terrible for Scotland. As much as they're the best option, they're still fairly terrible on a number of issues, and god knows what they would have inflicted over the last few years if the other parties (especially the Greens) hadn't been there to reel them in a bit.

[jakedee]

An SNP majority would be terrible for Scotland. As much as they're the best option, they're still fairly terrible on a number of issues, and god knows what they would have inflicted over the last few years if the other parties (especially the Greens) hadn't been there to reel them in a bit.

Would only be "terrible" in an iScotland.
Until that occurs...

[Highland Capital]

3 hours ago, Bob Mahelp said:

Excellent polling for the good guys, but I notice that The Herald's headline is 'SNP majority on a knife edge'. 

Given that gaining a majority in Holyrood is high on impossible under almost any circumstances, you can see how the narrative is being set up here. When the SNP fall short of a majority.....and we end up with virtually the same make-up in Holyrood as we have now.... the headlines will be all about 'SNP failure' and how Scotland voted to save Unionism or some guff like that. 

We live in a very strange society in Scotland, when the continued success and popularity of the SNP can somehow be judged a 'failure'. But that's how it's going to be set up.

That's something that really annoys me.  Some people treat a parliamentary majority as if it's some kind deity, when really what it is is the remnant of an old fashioned, largely undemocratic system.  Getting a majority in any PR system is usually almost impossible and in many countries getting one is unheard of with coalitions happening all the time - I think Finland is currently run by a coalition of five different parties.

1 hour ago, NotThePars said:

Maybe the more excitable SNP supporters should lay aff the "BORIS WILL ONLY RESPECT AN SNP MAJORITY" stuff then. Feel like I'm gonnae be posting this every three or four days.

It's funny how SNP supporters always bang on about how independence is bigger than the party apart from at election time.

Edited March 22, 2021 by Highland Capital

[craigkillie]

25 minutes ago, jakedee said:

Would only be "terrible" in an iScotland.
Until that occurs...

Until that occurs we still have to live in this country and are subject to the laws and policies that the SNP majority would vote through without checks or balances.

[jakedee]

Until that occurs we still have to live in this country and are subject to the laws and policies that the SNP majority would vote through without checks or balances.

I would rather live in a country where the SNP put through policies without checks and balances, rather than the alternative that is available just now, being a Conservative Govt. with a huge majority pushing through laws and policies that the majority of the Scottish electorate reject time after time.
Not perfect.

[speckled tangerine]

31 minutes ago, jakedee said:

I would rather live in a country where the SNP put through policies without checks and balances, rather than the alternative that is available just now, being a Conservative Govt. with a huge majority pushing through laws and policies that the majority of the Scottish electorate reject time after time.
Not perfect.

Or as far as the Conservatives think- don't bother with parliament at all:

"The bill also has a specific section on one-person protests, which can also be subject to restrictions by police, based on the noise level, route, disruption etc. It gives the home secretary, Priti Patel, powers to create laws, without parliamentary approval, to define “serious disruption” to communities and organisations, which police can then rely on to impose conditions on protests."

That's very fucking worrying. That, to me, is passing through the looking glass into facism. If this "anti-protest bill" goes through as stands I could not give one shiny shite what Ross and all the other Tory arseholes say about Sturgeon, the SNP or bollocks like a "one party state".

If the Tory Govenment is seriously allowing itself to create laws on ANYTHING, never mind public dissent or protest without due scrutiny, that makes this country no better than any banana republic you care to mention.

[Jeff Venom]

Wondering if this is the Tories paving the way for some kind of great big TTIP-style trade deal with the US, so that the gov can't be sued if protestors get in the way of corporate profits?

[KingRocketman II]

4 hours ago, Bob Mahelp said:

Excellent polling for the good guys, but I notice that The Herald's headline is 'SNP majority on a knife edge'. 

Given that gaining a majority in Holyrood is high on impossible under almost any circumstances, you can see how the narrative is being set up here. When the SNP fall short of a majority.....and we end up with virtually the same make-up in Holyrood as we have now.... the headlines will be all about 'SNP failure' and how Scotland voted to save Unionism or some guff like that. 

We live in a very strange society in Scotland, when the continued success and popularity of the SNP can somehow be judged a 'failure'. But that's how it's going to be set up.

 

 

aye. the last straw for me with The Herald was a tweet which read "what is your opinion on Nicola Sturgeon's conduct? our readers have a dim-view" . This was informed by their letters' page. The letters they chose to publish.

Whatever pretence of neutrality and objectivity completely given up on. f**k them. If they go under it will be a shame for such a long standing previously reputable newspaper but the current owners and editors only have themselves to blame. 

Imagine running a newspaper in Scotland in 2021 and thinking that there is no place in the market for a neutral, objective broadsheet.....

[speckled tangerine]

1 minute ago, KingRocketman II said:

 

Imagine running a newspaper in Scotland in 2021 and thinking that there is no place in the market for a neutral, objective broadsheet.....

That's the crux though. When was the last time you bought a paper? The only folk I see buying them are almost uniformly over 60, picking up a Daily Heil with half a dozen rolls. Other than that is a workie buying a sun. 

They're appealing to a diminishing demographic. The younger folk get their news elsewhere and sticking things behind a paywall only hastens the inevitable.

[Gordon EF]

1 hour ago, Highland Capital said:

It's funny how SNP supporters always bang on about how independence is bigger than the party apart from at election time.

Independence itself, of course, is. Gaining it any time soon is almost entirely dependent on the SNP.

[GordonS]

36 minutes ago, KingRocketman II said:

aye. the last straw for me with The Herald was a tweet which read "what is your opinion on Nicola Sturgeon's conduct? our readers have a dim-view" . This was informed by their letters' page. The letters they chose to publish.

Whatever pretence of neutrality and objectivity completely given up on. f**k them. If they go under it will be a shame for such a long standing previously reputable newspaper but the current owners and editors only have themselves to blame. 

Imagine running a newspaper in Scotland in 2021 and thinking that there is no place in the market for a neutral, objective broadsheet.....

Sadly there's no money in telling people the news and current affairs any more. Most folk will only pay for news if it confirms their opinions. So there are two types of general newspaper in the UK - those losing money, and those owned by offshore billionaires who aren't trying to make money from their newspaper, they're trying to change the political environment so that they can make more money from their other businesses.

It's very successful.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I saw that earlier.
Apparently the snp are on schedule to "scrape" a majority.
There was a time when I would be very happy to be enlightened by quality journalism and Ian Bell is much missed but when you see the like of that, is it any wonder that many will look elsewhere for sober reflections on the data. 
 

The Herald is now a chip poke. Columnists like Struan Stevenson and Brian Wilson are expected to maul the Nationalist agenda but when you see what has become of Iain McWhirter and Kevin 'Did I Tell You I Was Religious' McKenna it's time to look elsewhere for some balance.

[John Lambies Doos]

The Herald is now a chip poke. Columnists like Struan Stevenson and Brian Wilson are expected to maul the Nationalist agenda but when you see what has become of Iain McWhirter and Kevin 'Did I Tell You I Was Religious' McKenna it's time to look elsewhere for some balance.

This will be this Struan Stevenson..

https://www.struanstevenson.com/

[scottsdad]

On 18/03/2021 at 18:32, jamamafegan said:

 

 

Lol

 

From Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday:

The Johnson Government’s attempt to muscle in on the Monarchy, and to hijack the flag, is nearly as bad as the Blair creature’s. Not only do Ministers appear on TV with enormous Union Jacks in their spare rooms (which, of course, all normal people have), the ludicrous new Downing Street press room is also crammed with clusters of national flags.

This is plainly wrong. Government press briefings in a two-party parliamentary democracy are bound to be partisan. The Prime Minister may fantasise about having a White House, a West Wing and a personal jet, but he is not Head of State, and the flag represents the whole nation, not just the bit that voted for him. This is more presidential than the real president.

I am pretty certain that when I attended White House press briefings in the Clinton era, even they didn’t display the Stars and Stripes in the small, scruffy room they used. This stuff matters. If it becomes unpatriotic to criticise the Government, you are not in a free country.

The Government is not the nation.

[craigkillie]

2 hours ago, jakedee said:

I would rather live in a country where the SNP put through policies without checks and balances, rather than the alternative that is available just now, being a Conservative Govt. with a huge majority pushing through laws and policies that the majority of the Scottish electorate reject time after time.
Not perfect.

No, the alternative to an SNP majority is an SNP minority government, which requires compromise to get policies though and therefore allows the SNP to get through most of the good stuff (including any bill for an independence referendum) but prevents the worst stuff (eg OBFA, the exams postcode lottery).

The fact that the Tories are a bunch of c***s doesn't mean the SNP get a free pass every single time.

[Gordon EF]

I'd always prefer a minority government that needed the votes of at least one other party to get stuff through. Keeps them on their toes, keeps them in check and encourages compromise when it's required.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I'd always prefer a minority government that needed the votes of at least one other party to get stuff through. Keeps them on their toes, keeps them in check and encourages compromise when it's required.

In normal circumstances I can understand that - I just think that for this election it is important that they get the majority to deny the Tories any get out.