Scotland – Page 12 – Slugger O'Toole

Manifestos and how to avoid dealing in meaningless small minded political tropes?

Mick Fealty on April 23, 2015, 12:29 pm

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listen to ‘#SluggerReport Daily: “Manifestos, costed but meaningless?”’ on audioBoom Ah I think I have finally got my workflow right. So here’s an audio copy of this morning’s #SluggerReport Daily (213 LIVE viewers). You can pick up most of them on Audioboom here. The local anchor for today’s report is the apparently bonkers proposal from the DUP manifesto to build a tunnel from Northern Ireland to Scotland, more broadly though it is this excellent piece from academic, former Labour spad …

Mr Cameron, The Tories & ‘compassionate’ conservatism: compelled to justify neoliberal politics at #ge2015?

Chaminda Weerawardhana on April 22, 2015, 9:26 pm

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As the 2015 British general election campaign gathers momentum, the prospect of a hung parliament looms large. Concerning Scotland, the 2014 Scottish Referendum may have produced a result that was to the satisfaction of supporters of the ‘no’ campaign, but the Scottish National Party’s subsequent rise as an extremely decisive contender in national-level politics could be described as the seminal consequence of #Indyref. Irrespective of the ultimate election result, the SNP, led by the articulate Nicola Sturgeon, is definitely set …

#SluggerDaily Report: Two wee dugs called the SNP and Scottish Labour…

Mick Fealty on April 20, 2015, 1:56 pm

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listen to ‘#SluggerReport Daily – Scotland's Biggest Winners and Losers…’ on audioBoom This morning’s #SluggerReport Daily on Scotland, keep an ear out for my two wee dug’s theory towards the end… iPhone users can hear the ‪#‎SluggerReport‬ LIVE every weekday at 10am only on the Periscope app. This is a ‘redux’ version which you can also find on Slugger’s new Audioboom channel: http://buff.ly/1F19vVv. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet …

How solid is the SNP polling rise and [what] does it mean for a future minority Labour government?

Mick Fealty on April 20, 2015, 7:41 am

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Polls are polls, ie just snapshots in time. If they indicate anything reliable it’s in the trends they show over time. So over time Ashcroft’s latest marginal in Jim Murphy’s East Renfrewshire indicates the Scottish Labour leader may be inching towards political destruction: Jim Murphy in trouble according to the latest Ashcroft poll. pic.twitter.com/Z0QxeNMME6 — Britain Elects (@britainelects) April 17, 2015 If we take the polling at face value then Labour appears to be facing its own 1997 in Scotland, with …

That Scotland Office Memo. Who leaked it? And was it actually wrong?

Mick Fealty on April 6, 2015, 7:00 am

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So, interesting times. Some people clearly take the view that the Secretary of State at the Scottish Office is up to something. But the truth may be more interesting than that: A SCOTLAND Office civil servant was behind the leaked memo that claimed Nicola Sturgeon wants David Cameron to remain as Prime Minister. Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael has fingered an official in his own department for releasing the note. But the Lib Dem refused to name the individual now at …

ITV leaders’ debate was “UK Politics Unplugged” in cacophonous sound and vision…

Mick Fealty on April 3, 2015, 8:32 am

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So, some quick post election debate thoughts: The sentiment where I was watching was why can’t we have women politicians as articulate and as politically attractive as Leanne Wood and Nicola Sturgeon. Although it was pot luck the Plaid Cymru leader got to perform the takedown on Nigel Farage over foreign HIV patients getting NHS treatment, it was what people will remember her by. Much as the SNP and Plaid gained profile, it comes at the detriment of Carwin Jones …

“Granted, that reality wears tinfoil but that’s an essential protective measure these days.”

Pete Baker on March 25, 2015, 8:07 pm

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[But the tinfoil works? Doesn’t it?! – Ed] That’s what they say… In the Spectator, Alex Massie takes a look at the state of Scottish politics in the aftermath of the referendum for Scottish independence – and the resulting ‘No’ vote. One of the most notable features of Alex Salmond’s account of the closing stages of last year’s referendum campaign is his hatred of the press and, indeed, the media more generally. Newspapers which run inconvenient stories are ‘anti-Scottish’ and journalists who …

Assembly’s ‘consent’ for National Crime Agency Order is a challenge to the Speaker

Pete Baker on March 23, 2015, 4:22 pm

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In a Parliamentary written answer last week (16 March), the Secretary of State gave an update on the progress of the Draft Order in Council which will extend the operation of the National Crime Agency to Northern Ireland. Here’s what Teresa Villiers said. The Northern Ireland Assembly recently agreed to the making of an Order which will enable the National Crime Agency (NCA) to be fully operational in Northern Ireland. That Order has been considered by Committees in both the …

Apathy about politics is the new politics of Northern Ireland, it seems.

Mick Fealty on March 19, 2015, 3:00 pm

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Liam Clarke has been raiding the University of Edinburgh’s Academy of Government recent survey for insight on Northern Ireland, and he’s come up with what on the face of it are some surprising figures: The latest figures to show the decline in our political dynamic is a survey from the University of Edinburgh. It showed that, in Scotland, 76% intend to vote in May. It is 63% in England, 64% in Wales and 55% here. That is a huge change; …

Votes for the SNP bind them closer into the Union

Brian Walker on March 11, 2015, 3:27 pm

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Votes for the SNP in the general election would bind the SNP closer into the Union especially if Labour form the government. This was becoming even clearer from the analysis of the gap between Labour’s and the SNP’s austerity plans by Paul Johnson of the Institute of Fiscal Studies. ( Times £) What is clear is that there is a really quite substantial difference between Labour and the Conservatives. We can put it in the order of £24 billion of spending a …

Calm down, Alex Salmond is not Attila the Hun

Brian Walker on March 7, 2015, 6:17 pm

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The appeals to Labour to put the Union first and spurn an SNP deal coming from Tory warhorses John Major and Ken Baker sound very statesmanlike. But what do they really mean, with Labour just ahead of the Tories in the forecasts? First, based on all the predictions of main party scores and an SNP landslide, Labour could not form a minority government without some form of SNP support. The Conservatives are stubbornly behind in the polls even though they’re running …

Belfast, shipbuilding, and the game of billiards that changed the world

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on March 6, 2015, 7:52 pm

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It is almost universally known that Belfast played a pivotal role in the history of shipbuilding. However, amidst the mania for all things related to the most famous ship built in the city, it can often be overlooked that Belfast produced ships that didn’t sink, too. It may not have the fame of RMS Titanic, but the development and launch of RMS Oceanic and her sister ships in 1870 may have been one of the most pivotal developments in world …

“By standing firm against the London-Dublin Tory axis, Sinn Féin achieved a welfare system better than the one in Britain…”

Pete Baker on February 15, 2015, 6:46 pm

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According to Sinn Féin national chairperson Declan Kearney, [Don’t mention the Dark Side! – Ed] …Sinn Féin from 2011 onwards opposed the proposed welfare cuts and insisted welfare protection was absolutely fundamental for all citizens. “That is why Sinn Féin politically campaigned against welfare cuts alongside trade unions and grassroots communities. “This principle guided our strategy during the Stormont House negotiations and why, in December last, when the other four Executive parties agreed to a deal on welfare, Sinn Féin …

Why having lost #IndyRef the SNP are now winning Britain’s ‘long peace…’

Mick Fealty on February 13, 2015, 10:22 am

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For Scots unionists, the Independence Referendum must have been the nearest thing they’ve experienced to war. The idea that exercised many was the potential sudden and traumatic loss of nation. Yet having lost that argument (with a business case that would have fallen apart on first contact with the world outside the United Kingdom), the SNP are merrily winning almost every other argument going. You’d half be forgiven for thinking that losing was in the game-plan, since the follow through …

Scottish voters gambling on nobbling UK Labour and having them in Government?

Alasdair McKillop on February 5, 2015, 3:24 pm

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The Labour Party does not have its troubles to seek, particularly, it must be said, in Scotland. Polling by Lord Ashcroft in 16 parliamentary constituencies that voted Yes or nearly voted Yes in last year’s referendum added unsightly detail to an emerging picture. Fourteen of the seats analysed are held by Labour, with the remaining two held by the Liberal Democrats. Based on the responses, the SNP were predicted to take all but one of the seats, with only Willie …

Labour’s Scottish Play – the onward march of the SNP

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on February 4, 2015, 10:38 pm

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Election watchers and political anoraks have been spending much of the day absorbing the eagerly-awaited Scottish constituency opinion polls from Lord Ashcroft. The SNP have been polling very strongly in national Westminster opinion polls since the failed independence referendum, and have consistently polled leads over Labour of over 20%. The big question for those trying to make sense of the upcoming election has been “Do these strong national polls for the SNP translate to possible gains in a first past …

Sinn Fein has the chance to be the biggest Northern Ireland party at Westminster this year

Jim Fitzpatrick on February 3, 2015, 7:52 am

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I wrote this piece for the Sunday Business Post last week. Some took it as a prediction that Sinn Fein will take their seats at Westminster. That’s not what I’m saying – in fact, the reference to fantasy politics at the beginning gives an indication of how likely I believe that move will be. However, I can’t quite fathom why Sinn Fein seems unwilling to cross this particular rubicon. Perhaps the party feels the need to hold on to at …

Bercow’s #DigitalDemocracy report – how does it challenge NI Assembly?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 26, 2015, 11:58 pm

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The Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy issued their report Open Up! on Monday. The brain child of the House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, the commission has no powers and no teeth other than the persuasiveness of their recommendations. The report is centred around five targets: By 2020, the House of Commons should ensure that everyone can understand what it does. By 2020, Parliament should be fully interactive and digital. The 2015 newly elected House of Commons should create immediately …

A spirit of genuine power sharing is needed to make more powers work for the Scottish Parliament

Brian Walker on January 22, 2015, 6:08 pm

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Power sharing of the genuine sort is clearly needed to make work the complexity contained in the 44 draft clauses of legislation to grant sweeping new powers to the Scottish Parliament. But not for a while yet, if ever. David Cameron’s visit to Edinburgh to present the Command Paper was marked by political jostling much more complicated that the heady simplicity of Yes or No in the referendum. It was preceded by the Chancellor yesterday pledging to try to bar Scottish MPs …

Open Government: In what practical ways can citizens increase their engagement?

Mick Fealty on January 21, 2015, 8:29 pm

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How to make Open Government practical or realistic possibility? As Matilda has pointed out there’s no pro forma method for going forward. In some countries it’s felt that it’s better if citizen start things, because few trust the government, and in other places, vice versa. In research into priorities amongst #OpenGovNI network members participation comes out as the top priority followed closely by knowledge, and vision and openness and data. In practical terms though, the question ahead of the network will …