Hollyrood Elections - Matchday Thread

[Guest donmac298]

I am also a bit wary, Charles and hope that it would not become a North/South divide as has existed in England for years....Watford Gap and all that.

[Guest sophia]

Blimey Charles, I didn’t expect you to dissect my dissertation!

The red to which I referred is the rump of municipal representatives that dominate the body politic in West Central Scotland.

Thanks for spotting the allegorical nature of my Tommy Gemmell tale.

If we were to continue to use football to imitate life then surely we have nothing to fear in the future. We in the Highlands have a decent representation throughout the leagues and have enough numbers to fight our corner.

No longer do we have to accept crumbs (“The Scottish” once a year) from the table.

It’s the same in politics, we have enough yellow of whatever shade to stand against the red and blue of the South.

I don’t think we need feel inferior or in the need of “favours” any longer.

Perhaps I was a bit harsh on your BBC colleagues and I should have exempted the local opt out bulletins. It’s hard to imagine that Jimmy Boyle once tried to bin them.

I was frustrated by national coverage at the culmination of the election. As the final votes came in from Inverness and Edinburgh the presenters were not able to give snappy feedback. I counted the votes on my fingers and although I new they couldn’t hear me, I yelled at my radio what the final count meant for the parties and us!

When the ubiquitous Gary Robertson suffered a jump the shark moment when summing up Alex Salmond’s speech from the lawn it seemed to me that we were not getting the coverage we deserved at such an important time.

Perhaps it was just a long day or maybe we were all caught out. I certainly went to bed on Friday morning fearing the worst.

So with no thanks to Gordon Brown and whatever deal he made with the Sun we’re now blinking into the sunlight of “the early days of a better nation”.

[clacher_holiday2]

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.

[Charles Bannerman]

Sophia... you seem to be commendably well informed on a very wide range of issues! (And I can't remember the last time I spotted the word "allegorical" on this forum.)

[Kingsmills]

Surely that would have been the last time you yourself employed it Charles.

[Mee]

Sophia & Charles - a match made in heaven  :023:

[Guest sophia]

Charles, who knows where flattery will get you!

Mee, the Greens just about held their own. Is your mood green?

New dawn eh (by the way what is an old dawn?)

I see that an Aberdeen stripper is going to be charged with carrying an offensive weapon.

A trunchion!

Everything has a context, I'm not sure that the local PF has thought this one through.

Still I suppose pillars of the community have to uphold principles.

[Mee]

Aye, pity there's not more Greens, around 16 or 17 would do  :003:

[Guest sophia]

Mee,

Before you can tackle your jealously you have to acknowledge it!

[The Mantis]

Mee-aow!!!!

[Mee]

You're very welcome to him Sophia, I can't think of any other poster who would relish the challenge of living up to your high standards of spelling and punctuation quite as much as Charles  :001:

Since I'm back on this thread, isn't it fantastic that the unionists and Sinn Fein have got it together to form a parliament in Northern Ireland. I heard Ian Paisley had publicly commented that he admired the way things were running in the Republic and he could see various benefits for his own country (or part of a country depending on your point of view)!

And isn't it totally DISGRACEFUL that the Lib Dems refuse even to talk to the SNP unless they totally drop their no 1 policy, a referendum on independence. A chance for Scots to democratically express their wishes for the future. As if they hadn't lost enough credibility with their treatment of Charlie Kennedy!!! I think we might be witnessing the slow death of the Illiberal Undemocrats (and not just because they're all in their 70s)

[Guest sophia]

Mee,

I concur completely with you.

Dr Paisley, after years of vilification, signed up when he said that he would.

Good luck to the good folk of Norn Irn as they spend their windfall.

Another Doctor might describe the Liberal's Scottish stance as illogical.

They are making a public stand on the constitutional point but I'm sure that they have some other agenda.

[clacher_holiday2]

sadly, like labour, they have alot of votes to lose in scotland.  which is what on the face of it seems to be the reason neither want to put the independance issue on a ballot paper for us.

what is annoying to me is the fact that in an independant scotland they might actually have a chance of someday being in goverment or becoming the main opposition to labour, maybe its not enough for them?

under paddy ashdown they had a leader with both credibility and passion for the party, which theyre never likely to see again, even then they couldnt pick up anymore support.

wasted votes.. well done inverness west  :017: