@peterbrown@GlasWolf How many folk are Singer employing in Scotland now? How much tax do IBM employees pay in Scotland today?
They are outwardly divested, leaving rubble and waste. No one invests in a country they do not live in to put money into that country's economy; on the contrary, they seek to take money out. If they fail, and go bankrupt, we're worse off; if they succeed, and pillage us, we're worse off.
"After so long in office, with so very little to show for it, you need far more than to rely on the mantra of “competency.” That is the bare minimum anyone should expect from any government. It is not, by any measure, a vision or a strategy for political growth" -- Jonathon Shafi, in the @TheNational
But which government is he talking about?
(I'm encouraged to see Shafi being more of a voice in #ScotPol again; I've ae been impressed with him)
Well done Ross Greer.
There is a reason we are now a member of the Scottish Greens.
This is the way to call out someone like Forbes, not for her religious views, but for how she manifests them.
The nasty types will use her Christianity to excuse her regressive beliefs, and Greer being a devout Christian himself exposes that for what it is. :progress_pride:
"I fiercely opposed a Kate Forbes leadership bid last year, and remain very much of that persuasion. I think she is in many ways a capable leader, and can understand her appeal. But I will never support a candidate that vocally opposes social progress, and have seen the pockets of the right-wing that this kind of narrative appeals to" -- Kelly Given
Last toot aged well, so the SNP have installed an openly homophobic (and seems likely Forced birther) Deputy FM. The press that have been singing Forbes are going to use her to destroy the SNP's progressive credentials and they will not have a defence against it.
What is first thing you want to change after Scotland's Independence Day? I don't mean the change Labour go on about which seems to mean carrying on with the Tory project. No I mean real change relevant for the Scottish people which we can't do as a small part of Westminster. #ScottishIndependence
@IndyRichard I think the first changes I'd want would be:
Real redistribution of land to communities #LandReform;
Systematic advantaging of workers' co-ops over companies limited by share in public contracts and in taxation;
Reform of local government (and of local taxation) resulting in at minimum a five-fold increase in number of councils, with each deriving the majority of its revenue from its own taxation;
Decentralising of real power from Holyrood to local government.
"breaking Scotland from the shackles of #neoliberal thinking should be very high on its agenda, and yet it keeps getting leaders who seem more than happy to embrace that approach, and make Scotland suffer for it" – @RichardJMurphy
My friend Lesley Riddoch writing about "real policy differences between John Swinney and Kate Forbes" in @TheNational this morning.
Sorry, Lesley, but if JOHN SWINNEY is being presented as the standard bearer for the LEFT of the #SNP, then we're in much more trouble than I thought we were.
Some of the analysis on recent events in Scottish politics is just bizarre, and if there's one thing it shows clearly, it's that the political models that seems to make sense under a first past the post system just don't apply here. In fact, they don't apply well anywhere, which is partly why politics more widely is so messy at the moment. In my latest piece for Bylines Scotland I look at how Scotland's situation provides insights into what's going on. https://bylines.scot/politics/beyond-left-and-right-making-politics-make-sense/?feed_id=1069&_unique_id=66308ac1c21dc#ScotPol#UKpol
I take pictures at SNP events sometimes. Here's John Swinney during an election in Partick a few years ago. He has a benign headmasterly vibe... One of the good guys I think. And he's about the most experienced government minister anywhere in the "uk".
@tomclearwood He is. My sister, who knows him, rates him. He's generally a 'safe pair of hands'; the stint he did as education secretary was definitely not stellar, but it was a tough brief at the time for reasons beyond his control.
But him in charge would mean more cautious, centrist policy, and that's not what I believe we need now.
Listen, at 4:33 into this programme, to how many of the vox-pop voices, supposedly recorded in Dumfries today, have distinctly southern English accents. I know Dumfries well: there are English voices there, certainly, but they're a distinct minority. What are the BBC playing at here?
"this is why any government in Holyrood is destined not to deliver. It can't, because London created a system that was bound to fail as a way of securing continuous control whilst ensuring that blame would be directed inward in Scotland itself, as might well happen now" -- @RichardJMurphy
As the electorate across Britain abandons the #Tory party, it seems a strange -- even perverse -- time for the #SNP to rebrand itself as the Scottish Conservative party.
Green Party representation in Holyrood relies heavily on list votes from, predominantly, SNP supporters who won't look kindly on them for, as they see it, sabotaging the BHA. This means there's little likelihood of a pro-independence majority at the next election.
@iaruffell@Alternatecelt@sfscotland@alanferrier The thing is that, although the SNP does indeed have some very right wing senior politicians, the overwhelming majority of its electoral support is on the left. So if it abandons its leftish facade, even if that is now only skin deep, its electoral support could collapse.
I feel bad for Humza Yousaf, got the job at a difficult time and I havent seen a politician be on the receiving end of more hateful abuse than he has.
But I am glad that there was a line drawn when it comes to people talking about being progressive vs their actual actions.
I would like the SNP to take this chance to address the fact that being a progressive party and having reactionaty hate campaigners represent that party is not sustainable, but not expecting much on that front
"When that old order fell, it took the form of a well-earned landslide, and a clear step towards something genuinely new. After a decade and a half, the Bute House Agreement breathed new life into those fading hopes. Now it seems more likely that real change will come crawling out of a tomb, in a faded red rosette"