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Scottish Election 6 weeks away.

(339 Posts)
Granny23 Wed 24-Mar-21 15:30:21

Now that the brouhaha around Salmon has been resolved and become yesterdays chip paper, it is time to turn our thoughts to the forthcoming Scottish Election. As a life long supporter of the SNP and Independence movement, I am confident of a good outcome for us. With a failed vote of no 'confidence' in the First Minister, the latest opinion poll giving a 6 point lead to YES re Independence and a further 12,500 members joining the SNP in the past week there are 'reasons to be cheerful' and hope for a future free of the shackles of an incompetent/corrupt Westminster Government. For me the only current dilemma is whether I should vote SNP 1& 2 or give my list vote to the Greens.

It is probably wishful thinking but I hope any responses to this post will come only/mainly from those Grandsnetters who will be voting in this election.

Alegrias1 Mon 19-Apr-21 13:06:37

He seems nice.

www.heraldscotland.com/news/16399120.meet-pro-union-activist-worked-orange-order-denies-jews-murdered-gas-chambers/

Got expelled from UKIP for being too extreme. Berates people on Independence marches and calls them paedophiles and braindead. Denies the gas chambers existed.

Personally, I think it's all down to Ruth Davidson and the Tories. (Of course I don't but I don't have double standards either, so.....)

Extremists on all sides.

FarNorth Mon 19-Apr-21 11:30:37

she did send many old people into care homes without Covid tests did she not ?
As did the rest of the UK in its Four Nations approach.

Cathymac Sun 18-Apr-21 20:38:58

Varian. I agree with you . I think a major constitutional change should require a much higher percentage than let’s say 51 % voting in favour. It’s not something that can be altered easily in a few years time , as for example in an election , if the voters change their minds. A close majority causes division as it is not decisive enough .

varian Sun 18-Apr-21 19:09:48

grannypiper

No but the whole of the U.K did and we voted to leave.

Not quite. 17 million out of a UK population of 67 million were persuaded to vote leave.

Quite apart from the manipulation of the vote by foreign interests who had their own agenda, it was utterly irresponsible for Cameron to allow such an important constitutional change to happen without a supermajority - eg a two thirds majority of a 75% turnout such as would be required to alter the constitution of your local gardening society.

Galaxy Sun 18-Apr-21 17:15:00

But that impacted on the EU so therefore they should have been able to vote by your comparison.

grannypiper Sun 18-Apr-21 17:12:18

No but the whole of the U.K did and we voted to leave.

Alegrias1 Sun 18-Apr-21 16:34:15

Did the whole of the EU vote on Brexit?

Gannygangan Sun 18-Apr-21 16:33:16

Is there any reason why the whole of the UK can't vote on this?

I do have Scottish parents. Never lived there myself.

But it will affect us all.

So why don't we all vote?

I could be totally wrong but I think the SNP might get their way if that was to happen.

Alegrias1 Sun 18-Apr-21 16:30:27

I was referring to your comment about her disappearing off to Portugal.

Anyway, your experience of Scotland is entirely different to mine and we'll have to agree to differ.

grannypiper Sun 18-Apr-21 16:20:32

Alegrias1 I can't remember the last time i wastold to eff out of my own country by a Conservative, can't remember the last time i was spat at by a Labour supporter. Here in the central belt bigotry is loud and proud. I have a relative that is of the ardent snp type, i won't call him a supporter because to be honest he is so blinded that if Sturgeon told him Westminster had painted the sky green he would believe her without looking out of the window to check. He can't discuss any of their policies, he can only repeat the party line. His little brigade on SM are just the same, will abuse people that dare to question the snp, will call them the most awful names but can never ever take part in a debate. It is so imbedded into them that anyone who is not with them must be tory scum, that anything that is wrong in Scotland is Westminster's fault that they can't accept that their party has made mistakes and that is scary. As for slandering someone, she did send many old people into care homes without Covid tests did she not ? and that is what killed so many of our elderly.

Alegrias1 Sun 18-Apr-21 16:00:24

Yes, I know Aveline. I'm trying to show that when there are complaints about how awful the "Bravehearts" are, it immediately gets described as the SNP's problem. But the extreme Unionists are never held up as the Conservative and Unionist party's problem. Nobody tries to lay the blame at Ruth Davidson's feet, or Douglas Ross's.

It's double standards. There are extremists on both sides.

Aveline Sun 18-Apr-21 15:53:23

Alegrias it's too easy to find nationalist images but here's two random ones.

SueDonim Sun 18-Apr-21 15:36:04

I so agree with you, Grannypiper. We’ve mostly lived in Scotland for over 40 years and three of my children were born here. That was not been enough to stop the racist abuse though. We now live in an area with people who have a broader outlook on life, thank goodness.

It was a very clever move of the SNP to decide to substitute ‘English’ with ‘Westminster’, to avoid the accusations of racism, but I can see through that ruse.

Alegrias1 Sun 18-Apr-21 15:25:17

Oh yes, all those quiet, non-threatening Unionists keeping their political preferences to themselves.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2755259/Scottish-independence-referendum-Orange-Order-descends-Edinburgh.html

Aveline Sun 18-Apr-21 14:34:02

It's not a fantasy Alegrias it's much worse since before the last referendum. It's horrible how unpleasant it all is now. There's a lunatic fringe to the SNP, the 'brave heart brigade', often appearing on marches with blue painted faces in snarling threatening poses which do SNP no favours. Quiet Scots just retreat away from all this and keep their political preferences to themselves. That's what happened at the last referendum.

Alegrias1 Sun 18-Apr-21 13:20:44

I'm sad to read what you have written Grannypiper.

Many years ago, just after I was married, so maybe 35 years or so, we were at an event and I sat with my DH (born in England) and two friends - one as Scots as they come, but with a "posh" accent, and one English born but a would-be Scot. When we all declined to get involved in a particular event, we all got called English ****s and told to b***** off home. The culprits got a mouthful from me in very earthy Doric about how they were a disgrace to this country and they needed to change their ideas or get back to their caves.

Plus ca change I guess. Nothing to do with the current SNP approach, although many like to fantasise that it is.

If people disagree with a party's policies or manifesto promises, all well and good. But slandering a person's morals because you don't agree with them politically - off limits.

grannypiper Sun 18-Apr-21 13:08:26

As a Scot living in Scotland i could never bring myself to vote snp. My DH is English ( who supports independence) has been abused in shops, restaurant's and in the street, often being called a "English c**nt ( seems to be a favourite of the braveheart yelling group) I myself have been called it too, we are often told to "f**k off back to Westminster. He was refused service in a pub in our local town last summer and told for his own safety he should leave. I did not grow up in a Scotland like this, the country has been dragged to the gutter and the snp have taken it there, it suits there need. Sturgeon will never take the blame for the state of our education system, our health service, our drugs deaths and our poverty, everything is Boris's fault, Westminster's fault or the pandemics fault. Even this morning she was asked about the care home deaths in Scotland and her reply was "it's worse in England" She doesn't have the decency to answer the families of those she sent to their deaths. She can't tell us where the money is coming form to fund her utopia. She still won't tell us who would be guaranteeing the currency she intends to use because she doesn't have a clue. She still believes the E.U are desperate for Scotland, they are not. She wants independence even though she knows the country will e bankrupt, but she would be off to her Portuguese villa they day after we became independent. I can't trust a word she says.

Parsley3 Sun 18-Apr-21 11:14:22

I have my ballot papers before me. I have a choice of 14 parties and 2 independents but for the first time ever I have no idea who is getting my votes. The Labour candidate is inching ahead at the moment because he is a local lad but that is hardly a political reason to favour him.

suziewoozie Sun 18-Apr-21 10:16:12

Alegrias1

Herald on Sunday this morning is reporting that some Tory backbenchers are urging Johnson to call a snap indy referendum. If he did, it would be sneaky, but clever. Could they do that after all the focus that's in this campaign about avoiding another "divisive" referendum?

You are talking about Johnson?

Alegrias1 Sun 18-Apr-21 09:44:59

Herald on Sunday this morning is reporting that some Tory backbenchers are urging Johnson to call a snap indy referendum. If he did, it would be sneaky, but clever. Could they do that after all the focus that's in this campaign about avoiding another "divisive" referendum?

Aveline Fri 16-Apr-21 22:41:04

The transgender issue definitely deserves a thread of its own but it was interesting to hear that as a single issue is enough to put someone off voting LibDem. The rights of women as a sex seem to be at risk in Scotland. Quite apart from 'self declaration' of gender seeming to be the thing for SNP, women as a group were excluded from the Hate Crimes Bill - you can say what you like about women but God forbid you say anything about any other group even in the privacy of your own home. So yes. This topic deserves to be in this thread too.

Alegrias1 Fri 16-Apr-21 20:40:43

I'd certainly be interested to understand it better.

varian Fri 16-Apr-21 20:38:15

I'm not for a minute suggesting you leave this thread FarNorth but I think the transgender issue is one which might need a thread of its own

FarNorth Fri 16-Apr-21 20:06:33

varian I have made very few posts in the 5 pages of this thread.
The ones I have made today are relevant to the discussion and are not lengthy. There is no reason why I should go to another thread.

Alegrias1 Fri 16-Apr-21 20:04:10

I read the Margaret Lynch article and then went down a rabbit hole trying to understand what is going on and TBH, just got completely lost. Its a morass and nobody is coming out of it smelling of roses. varian has it right when she says "All political parties have many proposed policies in their manifestos and we have to balance up what we might agree or disagree with."

But I can't agree with voting for more Lib Dem candidates; Rennie is our local MSP and I find him an embarrassment, its like he's really in over his head and after the "persuade Boris Johnson" comment I am even more convinced of that.

Oh me, what a mess we're in.