Hollyrood Elections - Matchday Thread

[clacher_holiday2]

polling begins in a few hours for most of you.  i hope theres a decent turnout for once and that labour get given a severe kick in the balls by their traditional support in the west... but we all know that wont happen and the very best the snp (or whoever it ends up being) can only hope for a tiny margin of victory and nowhere near enough to secure a majority

i voted by post already, so lets have an exit poll here while we're at it for boredoms sake...

first vote - snp

second vote - snp

shall be on here again tomorrow for a few hours through the night to see just how its going as the results start pouring in.  imagine the bbc site will have some swanky idiot proof graphics online later but i cant find it just now..

maybe im the only person whos bothered?

[Yngwie]

I noticed on my ballot paper that for this election the SNP have apparently changed their party name to "Alex Salmond for First Minister!"  Never seen anything like that before, but I suppose the rules must allow them to put anything they want in the field next to the candidate's name.

[Harry Chibber]

I'll be voting SNP also, not so much against Labour but very much against conservative!

[Alex MacLeod]

I'm with Harry and Clacher

[DJS]

Vote 1 SNP

Vote 2 SNP

[Guest sophia]

Looks like a landslide here.

My votes went days ago to the SNP party and candidate.

However, I fear the usual supects will swing it for the establishment.

There are many ways in which they can do it.

From the Sun "monstering" the SNP to Brian Taylor (the rotund BBC Scotland political editor) giving a rosy glow to Labour at every turn its sickening to see such stark disparity in opportunity.

[Kingsmills]

First vote SNP, second vote SNP.

Unmfortunately, the population of our country are such a craven lot that they will be frightened, at the end of the day, into voting Labour in as the largest party once more believing in the scare tactics being peddled on their behalf by much of the tabloid press.

It's so frustrating that so many of our countrymen carp and whine about policies imposed at Westminster but are scared to take responsibility for their own destiny.

[Joe DiMaggio]

SNP in all

[Guest donmac298]

SNP - just back from voting.

[The Mantis]

Must admit I've had a hard time deciding what which way Brian Taylor swings (apart from being a supporter of the Arabs). He once stood amongst us at Somerset in the good old div 1 days, a sunny afternnon and a 3-3 draw.

It's Time!

[ictrmd]

I also voted SNP.

I'll be following the results as they come in tonight because I've got a uni project due tomorrow! A welcome or unwelcome distraction I'm not sure, at least I'am less like to fade early and go to bed!

[clacher_holiday2]

ive actually been shocked with some of the tabloid coverage of the campaign with regards to the snp, its been disgusting and totally unfair as we all know.

will be around to watch the labour votes pile in about 2am, then ill probably fade away, hope im wrong of course

[Yngwie]

If this thread is anything to go by SNP will get more than 90% of the vote - or is it just that their supporters are more vocal?  :024:

[caley100]

Jist bak from the pub, an i voted the stupid buger that bot me a pimt so there ye natinilist crerw..ha ha who wose he  mmmmm

met kenny adie tho and the lush pollers were good...oh deer the missuss is shoutin..feck

[clacher_holiday2]

doesnt look like the snp will win by enough of a majority to be dominant in the parliament, we knew that anyway though.. will be close overall between them and labour but nothings actually changed

nevermind 'sleepwalking to independence', scotlands been in a bloody coma for 50 years

[Charles Bannerman]

Looks like a stunning victory for the SPP... the Spoiled Papers Party. It seems the tradition of Flodden, Darien and Argentina 78 lives on!

[f*ballers wife]

oh my!!!

interesting.... now tell me all you guys who voted SNP.... did you vote for the party and all its manifestos or did you vote for the man?

personally, i vote for the man every time, its almost irrelivant what they say at ''head office'' cos if the man on the street isnt up to the job in hand, no point in voting for the party.

is that how you do it... or is that just a ''girlie'' way of doing it?

my vote went to fergus btw!

[Yngwie]

These days all British elections are effectively "presidential" elections based on the leaders' popularity, as there is no longer any difference between the ideologies of the mainstream parties. The exception to this are the "single issue" parties like SNP and Greens.

[Mee]

SNP and SNP

FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!

A turning point in our history, I'm getting steaming tonight!!!

[Guest sophia]

Yngwie,

Haven't taking in much of the coverage then, the SNP are not a single issue party!

Ahem - Stop the World we want to get on!

The coverage this afternoon was a delight. Loads of tedium on the radio (Sorry Charlie but the BBC Radio Scotland coverage was shambolic) then Alex Salmond moving me to tears with his oratory and then the last two regional declarations within seconds of each other.

Quite like following ICT actually. Football is our proxy vote for life.

What a great day for our country, I hope we are finally witnessing the death throes of shop stewardism and red cronyism that has done Scotland such a disservice these last 50 years.

Its interesting to compare the views on here with our former and current Chairmen.

David Sutherland famously threatened to move Tullochs to England should Scotland gain independence. When pressed I believe he admitted that the transfer of jobs would amount to his accounts department of 1/2 a dozen or so.

Our present Chairman put his name to one of those grubby negative newspaper adverts designed to sap optimism. I believe all that put their names to these spreads, for whatever reason, are tainted.

Alex McLeish, in particular, should have run a mile from putting his name to a piece alongside Tommy Gemmell who famously tried to deny Inverness a place in the Scottish League on the basis that it was too difficult to take his Albion Rovers team to Huntly for a Scottish Cup tie. It seems the Highlands [sic] presented logistical problems that were too difficult for big teams [very sic] to overcome.

[DJS]

A historic, remarkable and exciting day.  I honestly thought Scotland would lose its bottle but not so.

Interesting we now have two ICT fans at Holyrood - Dave Stewart and Dave Thompson.

[clacher_holiday2]

Looks like a stunning victory for the SPP... the Spoiled Papers Party. It seems the tradition of Flodden, Darien and Argentina 78 lives on!

yes because the snp had agents within the electoral commission 2 years ago when they first decided to count the ballots with a scanner :017:

another astute argument against independence from the literary genius that is charles bannerman, why am i shocked.

[Guest donmac298]

sophia, good post.  Your comment "death throes of shop stewardism and red cronyism".  I'll give you an example.

We were building a frigate called the Phoebe (F74) in Alexander Stephen & Son in Linthouse, just downriver from Govan and I had to drill holes in an item of equipment in the engine room.  I picked up a drill and a Welder/Plater tapped me on the shoulder and told me not to go any further.  I was too naive to realise he was serious until he again tapped me on the shoulder and said "that is my job, you drill one hole and my men will walk off this ship".  Needless to say I put the drill down. 

The name "Red Clydeside" could not have been more true.  Among many other examples of militancy there was also the likes of the nightshift in British Leyland, Bathgate arriving for work with sleeping bags.  I'm afraid the central belt mentality hastened the demise of industry in that area.  No dis-respect to the younger generation but unlike myself they do not really know what it was like.  Thank goodness those days are over. 

As regards the voting on Thursday, I can understand technical problems and spoiled papers but late delivery of voting papers when we have known for months the date of the elections?  Very suspicious, to put it mildly.   

[Charles Bannerman]

Sophia: "death throes of shop stewardism and red cronyism".  ?

I'm not so sure about that. I think most of these things are dead anyway.

Maggie Thatcher more or less saw off "shop stewardism" in the 80s although I admit that this analysis perhaps somewhat reduces any relish of the demise!

As for the "red" bit, I think New Labour largely got rid of that ("means of production and distribution" etc) in the run up to the 97 election when they nicked Tory policies so they (New Labour) could become electable.

That leaves the "cronyism" bit and you very probably have a point there.

It's an interesting irony indeed that both sides of the Old Firm should sign up to the "protect the Union" ticket. Predictable on one side, less so on the other.

It's also an interesting point you make about Tommy Gemmell's attempts to keep Inverness out of the Scottish League. That's also a very good illustration of the kind of attitude the Central Belt has to the Highlands which makes me, as a Highlander, rather wary of independence and indeed of what the scottish parliament might get up to. This sort of impinges on the Culloden thread which was running here a few weeks ago. Historically we in the Highlands have never really had any favours from the central belt. Indeed wasn't it one Master of Stair who was up to his armpits in the engineering of the Massacre of Glencoe?

Quite frankly I'm sometimes a bit less suspicious of the English than I am of the Cenrtal Scotland Mafia - with the conspicuous exception of when the English won't shut up about 1966, which is presumably now going to be revisited with gusto every time one of that team expires!

I didn't hear any of Radio Scotland's election night coverage because I was watching TV but I'm sure it wasn't all that bad. I would certainly say that election coverage, by its very nature, tends to be a bit "shambolic" or at least Seat of the Pants, made more so by the utterly shambolic nature of the count itself. Coverage of the results from the Highlands and Islands in the Friday morning local Highland bulletins was excellent.

Clacher... I was just quoting a few well known examples of the Scots having delusions of canine testicles and thrn messing up big time.

[The Mantis]

Never mind Culloden- I'm off to the Battle of Falkirk  :021: