Whilst I'm glad that she correctly pointed the finger of blame at the UK government, I take umbrage at the fact that she also blamed the Scottish Government for the deaths here due to "lack of preparation". No mention whatsoever of the fact that Westminster refused to devolve the powers to deal with it themselves until three months after the pandemic started - and even then finding that Hancock had instructed PPE suppliers in the UK to prioritise England over the devolved nations. It's little wonder that we want away...
Have just read through the report and have to take back my comments about Hallett - it was the BBC who chose to interpret her words as an attack on the Scottish government in their online article. I guess I should have realised - they're guilty of such 'interpretations' on a near-daily basis, yet strangely don't do the same for Northern Ireland or Wales.
Good grief - Trump's cohorts want to introduce a gun ban in the US. But only for his enemies - his friends will have open season... please log in to view this image
It didn't take Labour long - they've just sold off "the last remaining chunk of National Gas". Aussie bank Macquarie now owns the lot. https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2024/07/29/national-gas-macquarie-labour/?
And now they've copied the Tories and decided to hit pensioners by removing their Winter Fuel Payment. I certainly don't remember seeing that in their manifesto - or them mentioning it during their party political broadcasts.
Just one of those things that governments can do when they are a bit short of cash. Lost mine when some clever sod decided that as the French islands have departmental numbers, they could be taken into account when working out average temperatures. With this information the Tories stopped payment to us, but if you live in Spain or Italy for example, where the winters are not as cold, you still get it. Must say though that it seems bonkers to be giving a millionaire £200 a year, paid for by those far worse off.
Can a government ever be short of cash though? The problems seem to stem from how they spend what they create. The last Labour government pumped, from memory, £175 billion directly into failing banks via quantitative easing - which effectively ushered in austerity and hit the long-suffering taxpayers hard. I remember thinking at the time that the banks would have ended up with the money anyway had the government used the money to help those with mortgages instead of filling the pockets of bankers. The same probably applies to the last government with the PPE scandal and Covid 'loans' - money mysteriously found and then equally mysteriously found its way into the pockets of the already-rich. And don't start me on the money now being used to fund Israel's illegal activities in Gaza - or being wasted on Trident and/or nuclear power stations. The SNP's Scottish government may have its faults but at least it does look after Scotland's citizens far better than any previous government has. The £90 million per year spent mitigating Westminster's Bedroom Tax/Benefits cap is now being added to in order to ensure that pensioners here are paid the Winter Fuel Payment. Without that I dread to think how many old folk would die this coming winter.
I simply can't get my head around the whole Gaza business and how what seems like the world is turning a blind eye. Presumably money talks? This thread about Israel's Olympic athletes just sickens me and is one of the reasons I won't watch the Olympics - and firms my belief that sport and politics should never mix. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1818834877027909639.html
As you might expect, French TV news leads with every success that one of their athletes has. A close second is the behaviour of the right wing thugs in the UK; News outlets have become used to reporting on demonstrations here, where there is a government policy that has gone down badly, but they are at a loss to say exactly what is so objectionable in the UK. I am rather glad that I have not seen any locals who wanted me to explain what is going on, as I am not sure if I know any more than they do.
I think it's a mixture of brown people existing + 'divorced with no access to the kids' energy. They'll calm down when Fartrage/Tommy 2 names tells them to.
Rather an unfortunate choice of words on her part ''Little England Elites'' - allowing for the fact that she has a University education and is a member of parliament which is probably in stark contrast to the social origins of Tommy Robinson and most of the members and followers of the EDL who would probably classify her as part of the elite. Also we have developed a tendency around the so called f word, where use of the word ''Fascist'' has lost all historical meaning and is simply bandied around as a slur for anyone we don't like. How many people would remember today that the first Fascists were inspired by Georges Sorel and the Italian syndicalists, and the consequent idea that a national socialism was possible ie. that fascism was nothing other than socialism deprived of its cosmopolitan and democratic leanings (with a bit of violence thrown in) ? The problem is that there is no such thing as a generic ''fascism'' common to all cases and is just used to describe any kind of racial violence - despite the fact that the first fascists (ie Italian) did not fit race into their ideology - Franco didn't either. It is perfectly possible to be a fascist and not be a racist - just as the reverse is also possible (racist but not fascist). In fact this is closer to the original version - also not commonly recognized is the anti capitalist nature of the beast - namely that the ideology has at least some left wing origins. Until we understand that last point we will never understand how so many working class youths are attracted to this ideology. Speaking more plainly labelling Robinson with the label ''Fascist''lends him an importance which is grossly disproportionate. They are just a group of racist yobs (there have always been groups like this in England) don't make them out as more important than that because that's what they want.
As an SNP MP at the time she made her speech, she was making the point that the then Tory government had leaders that were taking powers for their own use, and ignoring Parliament in general, and Scotland as normal. As we have seen recently, some of those ex-leaders are still pushing their message, that the thugs are using in their chanting. There are countless attempts to define just what fascism is, someone described it as trying to nail jelly to a wall. I certainly wouldn't describe people like Robinson as much more than a racist thug, but where he gets his backing from, I believe to be disturbing.
