British Politics

I'm a big fan of the idea of subsiding buses (and all public transport) but it doens't work unless they are publically owned. The private companies will try to turn the subidy into profits rather than a better service. They will continue to run down services everywhere except the (most) profitable routes.

Searching for something I came across this gem re Sunak.

lol

The Scottish Government is not competent to draft legislation. They haven't got the people or the experience.

Well, Sunak will indeed lead the Tories into the next election. It's just that they'll get wiped out in the process, gaining just 169 seats to Labour's 385, according to YouGov as reported in the Telegraph. Given the state of the Labour front bench, this is not necessarily very good news, but there we are.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

They can't even get the basics right.

There's still a major **** show to come down the line, the Hate Crime legislation that was passed in 2021. Here we are 3 years later and the police are saying they still aren't ready for it's introduction. It's going to be a disaster and there will no doubt be legal challenges to follow.

I was referring more to ElClueless's description of Sunak as "young, likeable and extremely competent".

Even his own MPs don't think that much of him:

He's quite young and fairly likeable, and arguably more competent than his last two or three predecessors, which wouldn't be hard, but he's likely to get wiped out anyway. I think a report today, which I now can't find, suggested that Labour will need an unprecedented swing of over 12% even to gain a majority, but by the look of things that could actually happen. Maybe Labour will struggle more than people think, with too many votes in safe seats and not enough in marginals, but the big concerns seem to be (a) what kind of government Labour would run, since they've adopted the safety tactic of not saying anything that might put people off, and (b) what happens to the Tories after the likely defeat, with a possibility of a hard swerve to the right.

We must be talking about different Rishi Sunaks.

I'm referring to the one who threatens to tear up peoples human rights in a desperate bid to hang on to his failing leadership.

Probably not important for now, given the likely outcome of the next election. But there may be a concern that, once in opposition, the Conservatives will turn harder against human-rights law. (May was quite keen on doing away with all that, if I recall rightly, although she wasn't able to.)

Nice guy Sunak when he doesn't realise the cam is on:

DO YOU KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MOTHER'S PISS

Given the huge issues around secrecy within the Scottish Government Ciaran Jenkins asked Sturgeon back in 2021 to confirm emails, whatsapp messages etc would be prvoided to any upcoming enquiry. We get the usual surly Sturgeon response...

And of course it's confimed that Sturgeon along with senior SNP MSP's who were involved in covid decision making deleted all their whatsapp messages. None are available. This is on a far worse scale than anything Westminster done in terms of destroying or hiding evidence and the worst part about it all is that it was pretty much expected, hence the question back then.

In one of the few exchanged we do have we see a senior civil servant pointing out in a chat that discussions are subject to FOI requests and we have the clinical director, Jason Leitch, saying he deletes them every night before bed.

A further exchange again shows a senior civil servant telling staff to delete messages as they are discoverable by FOI. A major criticism of the Scottish Parliament is that the Civil Service have become politicised given the length of time the SNP have been in power and this confirms it.

Yes, but there's NHS issues and then there's social-care issues, and there's also an awkward border between what the infirm and dying would rather have professional carers do and what they would rather have family members do. Sometimes they'd rather die at home but they can't because you can't fit in the necessary round-the-clock care team and equipment at home. Generally no one wants to die in hospital with tubes sticking out all over and only callous young medical staff around, but death at home can be difficult and messy.

It's good that Sturgeon has gone, but there's no sign that ScotGov is getting any better.

Well Humza prides himself on being the 'continuity candidate' so there's no change. Here's another example that came out today of how the Civil Service is complicit in this as well. The Times ran a story about Jason Leitch deleting his whatsapp messages every day. Scottish Government denied this was the case to the Times and other journalists. Today we have Leitch confirming that is was indeed true.

While I'm on I might as well post confirmation that the National see Owen Jones as their useful idiot to attack Labour.

Starmer and Sarwar apparently have a big Scotland problem at the time Labour in Scotland are *checks notes* polling their highest in almost a decade and forecasts currently have them increasing their seats at Westminster from 1, to 28.

Here on the left we would like to make clear that when we criticse starmer it is not because we think he is doing badly in the polls or unlikely to do very well in the unpcoming election.

Thank you

So what exactly is Sarwar's big Scotland problem and how does it manifest itself?

I have no particualr knowledge but as it's the labour party these days I'm going with Principles and Policies. (In context it seems to be with respect to independence, referendums and democracy)

The same reasons Owen Jones (and me) would criticise Starmer. Definitely not poll ratings

edit: It manifests itself as doing nothing useful and everything festering and/or getting worse for the future.

So you're answering on behalf of Jones but have no idea what he's actually referring to. Okay...

Just seen your edit, can you expand on this in terms of Sarwar?

Indeed. If you think OJ or any of us dont think Labour is doing well in the polls and likely to do very well at the election then it is you who has misunderstood.*

Edit: I dont have strong views or knowledge on Scottish Independence but as an anology I felt very strongly about the EU. Labour/ProEUers failing to address it (and even exploiting tory discomfort) was a catastrophic mistake. Took a few decades.

* it's like somone attacking your arguement and caliming you're an idiot because the world is in fact round. I dont need to know what you were saying to know they have misunderstood you.

The reason Jones has been roped into the National is because Labour are doing so well in the polls. I'm sure he knows that and he's there to attack Labour as best he can.

So you are still unable to explain what Starmer and Sarwar's Scotland problem is? It's easier to address this at the outset rather than go down a route we've seen a few times before on here...

My only point was that OJ isn't arguing that labour aren't doing well in polls. You seemed to suggest he was.

Sorry but that all I have.