Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bee
You as well?
:greengrin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bee
You as well?
:greengrin
What John Swinney and Kate Forbes have to address is why the SNP are plummeting in the polls and why they have dwindling membership numbers.
Even before Nicola Sturgeon's resignation the rot had set in, if you look at all the disasters in the SNP they all have a Green source behind them.
The Greens have gone into government, they don't like roads or building roads, the A9 promises are reneged on which is huge in the Highlands.
The gender recognition act, the failure to accept very reasonable amendments can only be explained by Green pressure.
The unworkable bottle return scheme was implemented by a Green minister, the Green tail was wagging the SNP dog under Nicola Sturgeon much to the detriment of her government.
I think the fact that Forbes is in there addresses all those issues? If they were not changing direction she wouldn’t be there.Quote:
Originally Posted by 147lothian
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Defending Mathesons fraud seems to be his first major decision and questioning the committee that had two SNP Msps integrity. Said he's committed to backing gender self ID last week if able, Kate Forbes said last Friday she'll wholeheartedly endorse" the Scottish government position, so contrary to lots of screams against her. So far so continuity and I'm worried Forbes is just being used as a token and Murrells Swinney and Co will still rule allQuote:
Originally Posted by Ozyhibby
As far as I know he only questioned one person on the committee? Either way, it was terrible politics and he should have stayed away.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stairway 2 7
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith_M
Itinerary for Thursday nights........
Deploy the safety gear (American football helmets and pads)
Stick the goldfish upstairs
Stick the dug in the coolbox
Kill the cat, no point trying to save it as history shows it never makes it. It also negates the pressure of trying to explain to the vet why it has a dart in its head.
Deploy the TV screen protective shield (two old pallets and chicken wire) note to self....The TVSPS system needs further adaptions, very good for large objects dugs, kids etc but completely ineffective against a dart attack.
Commence watching the Fiona Bruce it's a talk show but don't dare talk if you're not going to champion my beloved husbands £3m a year contracted Tory Party.
Phone an ambulance
Start cleanup operation.
:greengrin
Are numbers dwindling to any great extent?Quote:
Originally Posted by 147lothian
One poll, albeit small numbers, earlier in the thread show an increase and I doubt the SNP, or any other party, publish membership numbers on a weekly/monthly basis. So how do we know?
4 years ago snp were 50 % points ahead of Labour on yougov they are now 10 behind. Even if you say they are even the fall has been spectacular. The membership numbers also fell of a cliff at the same time. Think the bookies have them loosing about half their seats as the favourite. The fall would seem unbelievable if you were to say it in 2020Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack
Genuinely haven’t watched Question time or bbc news for years. Used to be a regular meaningful and balanced watch. Unrecognisable now which reflects the Tories having taken over the place in terms of controlQuote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bee
So the first full Scottish poll since the election called has Labour 5 ahead of the SNP in Scotland. Think Labour clearly a bit ahead looking at the last 3 polls. Will tighten but they need to have a good 5 weeks and next week will be Matheson. If Matheson cared about the SNP he would have walked last year instead of dragging two FMs through this
https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1794813812157100191
Green behind reform 😲
LAB: 35%
SNP: 30%
CON: 17%
LDM: 10%
REF: 4%
GRN: 3%
SNP membership numbers really are dwindling at a great extent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack
SNP membership numbers in 2019 were 125,000
At the end of December 2023 ie just 5 months ago SNP membership numbers were 69,235
https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,e...der%2072%2C190.
In March24 they were 72,178 confirmed due to the leadership contest so all good, they're on the rise, Saltires at the ready folks :greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by 147lothian
What are Scottish Labour numbers?Quote:
Originally Posted by 147lothian
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Keith Brown doubles down on Swinney's support for Matheson and now a deal is being discussed with the Greens to reduce the proposed punishment. So much for Swinney changing things. The same sort of party before country arrogance and sense of entitlement that preceded New Labour's downfall.
Without reading all of the reports on this isn't it the case that Swinney has said that he is guilty but the punishment is excessive? So not really supporting Mathieson, more questioning the length of punishment
He said his friend had made a mistake. A mistake. Stealing tax payers money and repeated lies about it to try and cover it up would certainly not be described by Swinney as a mistake if a member of any other party had done it. And nor should it be. In Swinney's world the real villains are the select committee. That's straight out of Boris Johnstone's playbook.Quote:
Originally Posted by weecounty hibby
YesQuote:
Originally Posted by weecounty hibby
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He downplayed everything he said it was just a mistake to wrack up the bill, that's a lie as Matheson admitted he was streaming out his data which is against parliament rules.Quote:
Originally Posted by weecounty hibby
He said Matheson paid the bill so there was no cost to the public purse, that's deliberately missing the part where he tried to Rob the tax payer by putting it on expenses.
He said he didn't agree with the sanctions as someone on the committee was prejudiced against Matheson, he didn't mention to SNP MSPs back Matheson loosing his wages the vote was unanimous.
He said Matheson has had enough punishment and shouldn't resign as he's had reputation damage and had to quit his ministerial role, ho hum don't try and diddle the tax payer.
He didn't mention Matheson admitted to lying to the press and parliament to defend his kids, no one was blaming his kids he let them use his data.
He's defending the indefensible anyone of us would have lost our jobs, in Westminster there would be a byelection, a single mum diddling the tax payer doesn't get to just pay it back and forget about it.
Swinney is showing loyalty to a friend but he's FM, Matheson should have walked last year but he's selfish, he'll get bombed at next election
Matheson is thief pure and simple, had this occurred in any other employment, he would have arrested for theft or attempted theft and sacked for gross misconduct. One rule for politicians again.
This is an absolute **** show. It could be a marketing managers dream for the SNP with drookit Sunak calling an election on, of all days, the biggest Independence Day celebration in the world, Sarwar taking cash out his family business which seems to be the Scottish equivalent of a sweat shop and Wes Streeting proclaiming on National TV that all roads lead to Westminster in regards to devolved NHS problems. Yet these eejits are feeding a narrative which will run for weeks without any positive outcome. Mathieson needs to stand down sharpish.
It's just ridiculous. But it's trademark Swinney. He made a good start but a couple of weeks on and it's falling apart already. Mathieson isn't even a competent Minister.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bee
I'd respectfully disagree. Part of the tragedy of all this is I reckon he was the best health secretary we had had for a while.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hiber-nation
Not according to my ex colleague who worked in Health at the time. But he's a grumpy so and so 😁Quote:
Originally Posted by marinello59
:greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by Hiber-nation
You might want to retract that, for all sorts of reasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bee
Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
You're right of course....duly done. :greengrin
I see the SNP will now vote for Mathesons suspension. Interesting that it was Forbes who announced it.
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U turn from Swinney saying in Parliament that he could not support the ban. Using up so much political capital on the indefensible. It should really be a byelectionQuote:
Originally Posted by Ozyhibby
After failing to agree a deal with the Greens Swinney knew there was no way he could whip his MSPs to vote against sanctions when the vote was going to be lost. The game was up, his friend will have to face the consequences of his actions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozyhibby
Of course he let Forbes announce it, Teflon John is never wrong as we saw during his disastrous tenure as Education Secretary.
Double u turn SNP to vote against Matheson getting a fine, well Swinney did say he's a good friend so perhaps expected. They should lose the vote as all other parties for the ban. What a first two weeks of the 6 weeks campaign this will be
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/..._type=web_link