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What has the SNP done for the Highlands


Alex MacLeod

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You could say

What has it not done?

The Highlands are short of cash for the upkeep of schools, many small and uneconomical situated throughout the small villages.

. Many weak bridges, small roads to maintain, massive bills for snow shifting.

Freezing council tax means council employees struggle to get a fair pay rise. Expenses like building regulation approval's, or planning applications going through the roof to help the council meet its obligations. Freezing council tax does nothing to help small authorities with massive land mass and very small populations.

The SNP are using the massive amount of cash provided by the British government to buy votes with no concern for the running the Highland council / Their only concern is for the areas that most of their MSPs represent. It was quite noticeable that in the Highland region not one area returned a Yes, and some areas where well over 70% NO; Indicative that the general population in the Highlands are sick their antics and misinformation.

This Forum is way out of line with the people of this area.

Inverness voted yes.

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Results for the separate areas of Highland region have never been made public so it's just speculation. Inverness voting YES could easily be true.

However, if as Laurence claims, some areas were well over 70% NO, then the second part of his statement (that Highlanders are sick of the SNP) simply doesn't/can't hold true.

The final total of 53% YES makes it almost an arithmetic impossibility for even 2 areas to have as high a NO percentage as 70%, even if the 2 areas were the ones with the smallest electorates. If it were true, the other areas would have to be almost neck-and-neck.

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If the people of the Highlands were sick of the SNP, they wouldn't keep for voting for them at elections!  Polls are seemingly showing that they'll win in Inverness next year (knocking Danny Alexander down to third - hooray!) and almost certainly will win here in Scottish elections next time as well.

 

Ross-shire will probably stay LibDem, but that'll be more down to Charles Kennedy than any real party loyalty.  If he stood as an independent, he'd probably still get back in.

Edited by Renegade
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Let's face it - there's not a lot to choose from at the moment.

Labour, rudderless and led by a man who looks like mr Bean, sounds like Mr Bean and makes marginally less sense than Mr Bean, the Posh Boy dominated Tories, the LibDems who have utterly discredited themselves, UKIP which seems to have taken over from the Monster Raving Loony Party and the SNP who have no interest whatsoever in you or me because the only thing they are capable of thinking about is separation.

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Let's face it - there's not a lot to choose from at the moment.

Labour, rudderless and led by a man who looks like mr Bean, sounds like Mr Bean and makes marginally less sense than Mr Bean, the Posh Boy dominated Tories,

Labour Party in particular to get its act in gear and provide a credible challenge to the Posh Boys who currently comprise the administration.

But unfortunately, having abandoned its traditional political ground and elected a leader who both looks and sounds like Mr Bean, ther Labour Party does have some way to go.

Aye Charles, old age doesn't come alone eh?  :whistle:

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Let's face it - there's not a lot to choose from at the moment.

Labour, rudderless and led by a man who looks like mr Bean, sounds like Mr Bean and makes marginally less sense than Mr Bean, the Posh Boy dominated Tories, the LibDems who have utterly discredited themselves, UKIP which seems to have taken over from the Monster Raving Loony Party and the SNP who have no interest whatsoever in you or me because the only thing they are capable of thinking about is separation.

yes Charles, once again we must bow to your superior intellect. Please share some of your wisdom and tell us what other political parties have done for you and me that the SNP haven't. I'll help you along here. Tories - sent our soldiers to their deaths in wars we didn't need to be involved in. Labour - destroyed our heavy industry and left many destitute. Lib-Dems - dont think they've ever done anything. SNP - well they should be shot. After all they've had the audacity to run our country better than any other party before them. And I include the disasterous years when it was Secretary of State who had the control.

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Let's face it - there's not a lot to choose from at the moment.

Labour, rudderless and led by a man who looks like mr Bean, sounds like Mr Bean and makes marginally less sense than Mr Bean, the Posh Boy dominated Tories, the LibDems who have utterly discredited themselves, UKIP which seems to have taken over from the Monster Raving Loony Party and the SNP who have no interest whatsoever in you or me because the only thing they are capable of thinking about is separation.

yes Charles, once again we must bow to your superior intellect. Please share some of your wisdom and tell us what other political parties have done for you and me that the SNP haven't. I'll help you along here. Tories - sent our soldiers to their deaths in wars we didn't need to be involved in. Labour - destroyed our heavy industry and left many destitute. Lib-Dems - dont think they've ever done anything. SNP - well they should be shot. After all they've had the audacity to run our country better than any other party before them. And I include the disasterous years when it was Secretary of State who had the control.

 

I am sure that Kenny MacAskill, Alex Neil, Michael Russell and maybe one or two others will be very reassured by what you say there Alex since this must surely mean that they will keep their jobs and avoid Sturgeon the Surgeon's knife.

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If a third world country like China (or second world if you want to be a pedant) can complete massive infrastructure projects, such as building an entire high speed rail network from scratch in just a few years, why can't we? Too many chiefs.

 

I wouldn't even object to the A9 temporarily becoming a toll road (£2 per journey wouldn't break the bank) if it sped up the process.

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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would be a better place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would be a better place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Spot on 157. We are where we are because in the 2011 election, which to the vast majority was overwhelmingly about schools, hospitals, law and order etc, this single issue pressure group also slid the word "referendum" into its manifesto.

Because Labour in particular but also the other mainstream parties were in such disarray, this bunch of single issue obsessives got an overall majority. The very next day this "referendum", which much of the electorate wasn't even aware of or rated as a relevant election issue, became the only thing that mattered and has been boring the @rse off most of us ever since.

The reality is that, of the 44.7%, even the majority of them couldn't actually give much of a toss about separation. I think most of them voted Yes because it was one of just two options or the people telling them to do so were offering them more subsidy from the public purse..... or simply because they had seen that wonderful example of historical accuracy which is Braveheart!

And now the SNP have firmly been told NO they are still in denial about that and, whilst they continue to attempt to undermine the process of increased devolution in pursuit of their unique brand of grievance politics, our public services continue to suffer from neglect.

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would be a better place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Spot on 157. We are where we are because in the 2011 election, which to the vast majority was overwhelmingly about schools, hospitals, law and order etc, this single issue pressure group also slid the word "referendum" into its manifesto.

Because Labour in particular but also the other mainstream parties were in such disarray, this bunch of single issue obsessives got an overall majority. The very next day this "referendum", which much of the electorate wasn't even aware of or rated as a relevant election issue, became the only thing that mattered and has been boring the @rse off most of us ever since.

The reality is that, of the 44.7%, even the majority of them couldn't actually give much of a toss about separation. I think most of them voted Yes because it was one of just two options or the people telling them to do so were offering them more subsidy from the public purse..... or simply because they had seen that wonderful example of historical accuracy which is Braveheart!

And now the SNP have firmly been told NO they are still in denial about that and, whilst they continue to attempt to undermine the process of increased devolution in pursuit of their unique brand of grievance politics, our public services continue to suffer from neglect.

If the snp hadn't brought the referendum, I'm pretty sure you'd be on here banging on about a manifesto pledge being deserted.

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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would be a better place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Spot on 157. We are where we are because in the 2011 election, which to the vast majority was overwhelmingly about schools, hospitals, law and order etc, this single issue pressure group also slid the word "referendum" into its manifesto.

Because Labour in particular but also the other mainstream parties were in such disarray, this bunch of single issue obsessives got an overall majority. The very next day this "referendum", which much of the electorate wasn't even aware of or rated as a relevant election issue, became the only thing that mattered and has been boring the @rse off most of us ever since.

The reality is that, of the 44.7%, even the majority of them couldn't actually give much of a toss about separation. I think most of them voted Yes because it was one of just two options or the people telling them to do so were offering them more subsidy from the public purse..... or simply because they had seen that wonderful example of historical accuracy which is Braveheart!

And now the SNP have firmly been told NO they are still in denial about that and, whilst they continue to attempt to undermine the process of increased devolution in pursuit of their unique brand of grievance politics, our public services continue to suffer from neglect.

If the snp hadn't brought the referendum, I'm pretty sure you'd be on here banging on about a manifesto pledge being deserted.

 

Absolutely not! If they had just got on with what they were elected to do - deliver devolved services - we would all have been spared the most divisive, long winded and tedious episode in Scottish history and I would have been delighted.

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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would be a better place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Spot on 157. We are where we are because in the 2011 election, which to the vast majority was overwhelmingly about schools, hospitals, law and order etc, this single issue pressure group also slid the word "referendum" into its manifesto.

Because Labour in particular but also the other mainstream parties were in such disarray, this bunch of single issue obsessives got an overall majority. The very next day this "referendum", which much of the electorate wasn't even aware of or rated as a relevant election issue, became the only thing that mattered and has been boring the @rse off most of us ever since.

The reality is that, of the 44.7%, even the majority of them couldn't actually give much of a toss about separation. I think most of them voted Yes because it was one of just two options or the people telling them to do so were offering them more subsidy from the public purse..... or simply because they had seen that wonderful example of historical accuracy which is Braveheart!

And now the SNP have firmly been told NO they are still in denial about that and, whilst they continue to attempt to undermine the process of increased devolution in pursuit of their unique brand of grievance politics, our public services continue to suffer from neglect.

If the snp hadn't brought the referendum, I'm pretty sure you'd be on here banging on about a manifesto pledge being deserted.

 

Absolutely not! If they had just got on with what they were elected to do - deliver devolved services - we would all have been spared the most divisive, long winded and tedious episode in Scottish history and I would have been delighted.

 

 

And you blame the SNP because too many Scottish voters are incapable of reading much more than words of more than two simple syllables written in big writing at the top of an MSM article.........like "UNION GOOD, SNP BAD"?   

 

I blame those who have been paid to teach them useful abilities like reading.....and clearly have failed to do so......otherwise they could have read manifestos.......or even the bullet points of them....don't you agree?

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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would bejust etter place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Spot on 157. We are where we are because in the 2011 election, which to the vast majority was overwhelmingly about schools, hospitals, law and order etc, this single issue pressure group also slid the word "referendum" into its manifesto.

Because Labour in particular but also the other mainstream parties were in such disarray, this bunch of single issue obsessives got an overall majority. The very next day this "referendum", which much of the electorate wasn't even aware of or rated as a relevant election issue, became the only thing that mattered and has been boring the @rse off most of us ever since.

The reality is that, of the 44.7%, even the majority of them couldn't actually give much of a toss about separation. I think most of them voted Yes because it was one of just two options or the people telling them to do so were offering them more subsidy from the public purse..... or simply because they had seen that wonderful example of historical accuracy which is Braveheart!

And now the SNP have firmly been told NO they are still in denial about that and, whilst they continue to attempt to undermine the process of increased devolution in pursuit of their unique brand of grievance politics, our public services continue to suffer from neglect.

If the snp hadn't brought the referendum, I'm pretty sure you'd be on here banging on about a manifesto pledge being deserted.

Instead they have abandoned many of their other manifesto pledges to concentrate on seperation...maximum 18 kids per class - my son has 31 in his class, scrapping the council tax is just 2 that comes to mind. Over the last 7 years I have watched the mess they have made of our nhs. We need a government in control in Scotland that will work for the interests of every person in scotland and not just those backing their separatist agenda.

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Who would you suggest?

A very legitimate question because I really don't see any solution emerging from that half billion pound talking shop at Holyrood.

The problem with politics far too often is political parties. People vote for candidates to "represent" them but the reality is that the successful candidates are simply functionaries of their party whose will they are content to serve in the intetrests of their own reselection and political survival. As a result the governmental process takes place not for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of the political parties.

In earlier decades Labour, its strings firmly pulled by the trades unions, governed through a network of party fiefdoms while the Tories have always looked after the interests of their posh chums.

Nowadays in Scotland the SNP, which rivals the Masons in its internal party control freakery, is only interested in separation and allows the manner in which it administers various devolved matters to be dictated totally by what is likely to con as many of the people as much of the time as possible into support for that.

So ironically here we have a Scottish National Party which doesn't actually give a toss about the lives of the Scots because it regards that as wholly secondary to its obsession with separation.

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Who would you suggest?

A very legitimate question because I really don't see any solution emerging from that half billion pound talking shop at Holyrood.

The problem with politics far too often is political parties. People vote for candidates to "represent" them but the reality is that the successful candidates are simply functionaries of their party whose will they are content to serve in the interests of their own reselection and political survival. As a result the governmental process takes place not for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of the political parties.

In earlier decades Labour, its strings firmly pulled by the trades unions, governed through a network of party fiefdoms while the Tories have always looked after the interests of their posh chums.

Nowadays in Scotland the SNP, which rivals the Masons in its internal party control freakery, is only interested in separation and allows the manner in which it administers various devolved matters to be dictated totally by what is likely to con as many of the people as much of the time as possible into support for that.

So ironically here we have a Scottish National Party which doesn't actually give a toss about the lives of the Scots because it regards that as wholly secondary to its obsession with separation.

 

A very legitimate question which you haven't answered!

 

Of course the SNP has separation as it's key aim but they will only ever achieve that if they govern a devolved parliament well.  There will only ever be a referendum if the Scottish Parliament agrees there should be one and that will only ever happen when the SNP has a majority in a Parliament which is elected on a PR basis.  That's a big ask and they will only achieve that if they are perceived as making a good job of being a Government at Holyrood.

 

At the last Scottish election there were a lot of people who do not want an independent Scotland but who voted SNP because they felt they had done well in their previous term of office as a minority Government.  To be fair, I think they have done a pretty reasonable job on the whole, although what they are best at is trying to be all things to all men (and women) and then blaming everyone else and particularly the UK Government when things go wrong.  The NHS is an example of that.  Despite the fact that Scotland receives significantly more resource per head for public services than the rest of the UK, the SNP claim they are being starved of funds for the NHS by Whitehall.  However, NHS managers argue that it is not so much the level of funding but what the SNP Government expect the NHS to deliver that is the problem.  For instance, the Scottish Government sets targets for orthopaedic waiting times which Health Boards can only meet by buying packages of care from private healthcare providers.  That's an expensive way of addressing something which is prioritised not for good clinical reasons but because it is easily measured.

 

But the SNP have a dilemma that if a devolved Parliament is delivering good government, the electorate may not see the need for independence.  The SNP need a devolved Parliament not to work too well.  Can they keep their broad appeal and continue to blame others when things go wrong?  Frankly, I doubt that many who voted SNP at the last Holyrood elections and who voted NO in the referendum will vote SNP again.  Meanwhile, the surge in SNP membership may well force the party into a more left wing stance than the current leadership would like.  They may win the next election but they'll not be able to keep their balancing act together for long.

 

But back to the original question.  I think the impact of the SNP Government on the Highlands has been pretty neutral and I'm not expecting it to get better than that.

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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would be a better place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

 

Are you CB's long lost identical twin ?

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Who would you suggest?

A very legitimate question because I really don't see any solution emerging from that half billion pound talking shop at Holyrood.

The problem with politics far too often is political parties. People vote for candidates to "represent" them but the reality is that the successful candidates are simply functionaries of their party whose will they are content to serve in the interests of their own reselection and political survival. As a result the governmental process takes place not for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of the political parties.

In earlier decades Labour, its strings firmly pulled by the trades unions, governed through a network of party fiefdoms while the Tories have always looked after the interests of their posh chums.

Nowadays in Scotland the SNP, which rivals the Masons in its internal party control freakery, is only interested in separation and allows the manner in which it administers various devolved matters to be dictated totally by what is likely to con as many of the people as much of the time as possible into support for that.

So ironically here we have a Scottish National Party which doesn't actually give a toss about the lives of the Scots because it regards that as wholly secondary to its obsession with separation.

 

 

 

But the SNP have a dilemma that if a devolved Parliament is delivering good government, the electorate may not see the need for independence.  The SNP need a devolved Parliament not to work too well.  Can they keep their broad appeal and continue to blame others when things go wrong?  Frankly, I doubt that many who voted SNP at the last Holyrood elections and who voted NO in the referendum will vote SNP again.  Meanwhile, the surge in SNP membership may well force the party into a more left wing stance than the current leadership would like.  They may win the next election but they'll not be able to keep their balancing act together for long.

 

 

 

On the contrary, what the SNP are achieving is good, fair and effective governance at Holyrood both for it's own sake and the good of the nation and also to demonstrate that we can be rather efficient at running those limited aspects of government already devolved to Scotland and, accordingly, would in all likelyhood run all the levers sovereignty much more effectively and in the interests of the majority of Scots than from England where the majority, though not all, of the population have different aims and values as well as different basic political philosophies from the majority, though not all, of Scots.

 

They seem to be doing rather well in that quest given the considerable increase in support for independence in the last two years, the huge surge in membership since the referendum and their historically high standings in the polls of voting intentions for both the Westminster and Holyrood parliaments.

 

It seems to me not to be a difficult balancing act but more a case of steady as she goes probably helped by the fact that whilst Alex Salmond seemed to rub a number of people up the wrong way, Ms Sturgeon seems to have a broader general appeal.

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If the SNP cared less about independence, Gaelic, William Wallace and 1314 and more about what is happening today then they would get on a lot better and Scotland would be a better place to live. But sadly the SNP and their followers are stuck in the past and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

 

Are you CB's long lost identical twin ?

 

No he isn't.... it's just that you Nats don't seem to have come to terms with the notion that there are actually lots of people out there who have no time for the SNP's saltire waving, haggis munching obsession that history has somehow let them down.

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Who would you suggest?

A very legitimate question because I really don't see any solution emerging from that half billion pound talking shop at Holyrood.

 

 

A very legitimate question which you haven't answered!

 

 

I think I have, inasmuch as I have suggested that the calibre of politics in Scotland at the moment is such that I really just don't see any satisfactory solution at all.

 

(PS - is it OK to say things like that again or am I still in danger of being dragged before the Uncaledonian Activities Committee of the referendum era to be sentenced to five years in the St Kilda Gulag for preaching seditious "negativity" and "anti Scottishness"?)

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Who would you suggest?

A very legitimate question because I really don't see any solution emerging from that half billion pound talking shop at Holyrood.

 

 

A very legitimate question which you haven't answered!

 

 

I think I have, inasmuch as I have suggested that the calibre of politics in Scotland at the moment is such that I really just don't see any satisfactory solution at all.

 

(PS - is it OK to say things like that again or am I still in danger of being dragged before the Uncaledonian Activities Committee of the referendum era to be sentenced to five years in the St Kilda Gulag for preaching seditious "negativity" and "anti Scottishness"?)

 

No Charles this is not your tough Tories in power here, 2 years reduced to 1 year with good behavior will be enough.  Now I am away to have my haggis :scotland:

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Remember that political party which made good on all its promises...

Such a phenomenon has never existed in the history of politics :laugh:

 

My attitude to them comes with apologies to George Orwell - "All parties are chancers, but some parties are bigger chancers than others."

 

(Even more true now that the LIbDems have even stopped being "bloody nice blokes".)

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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