De-listed by the listee

Well, I wasn't going to bother mentioning it, but seeing as the ever-fair Jeff at SNPtacticalvoting has raised the thorny issue of Kezia Dugdale's censoring policy.

Kezia took something of a hammering on a list of reasons why Labour are great - which is at least a step up from the usual, "Labour are great and everyone else are rubbish" that I've come to expect from the red corner.

Of course, the follow up post from Kezia where she chastised all the respondees to the list was such a moment of comedy genius, that I clean forgot how miffed I was at my comment not making it onto the blog, plus I do have a real life, I suppose.

I didn’t want to have to do this, but since the commentators have lowered themselves to a banal reproduction of lists to try and rubbish the existence of the Labour Party and suggest that somehow the centre left of politics is natural ground for the SNP…

before she goes on to write a list. LOL!

Anyway, just for posterity and in relation to the original list post, I tried to comment:

Selective Quotes
You can't whine (well you do actually I suppose, but you shouldn't) about selective quoting then try that "didn't mind" crap. I thought you were supposed to be intelligent?

Council Tax
If you hadn't noticed, people are struggling to pay their bills these days - I suppose home ownership is anathema to you, but making us all homeless won't help.

George Mathewson
If even half the things on this wikipedia entry on George Mathewson are true, then I'm truly glad to see him involved in the Council of Economic Advisors and anywhere else Scotland can get him.

The Budget
The SNP are a minority government trying to run the country by consensus, as it demands. Get on board and help out instead of carping.

Daily Mail
Are Daily Mail readers considered unworthy of consideration in your brave new world?

Trade Unions
I'm not a member of a trade union and I'm far more left minded than Tony Blair ever was (Checked with political compass too!)

Wonder which bit failed the reasonable test and whether such a delicate temperment is really suitable for parliament?

Well that's the answer to that one then...

Chris Jones commented here

Or are you just another career policy wonk, in it for the sake of the partisan fight, the cosy little club and the salary

I guess that's taken care of here.

Terry Responds...

My recent exchange with Terry Keely has provided the following answers from Terry, interspersed with the original questions.

These aren't the actual words used by Salmond in the Ian Dale Interview ?

"We didn't mind the economic side so much. But we didn't like the social side at all."

I don’t understand what you are getting at with the ref. to Salmond (the spiv’s) words.

You don't own a former council-house?

I don’t own a former council house,

The economy was not in need of an overhaul when Thatcher came to power?

The economy was not in need of an overhaul.

The Tories weren't wiped out in Scotland during the Thatcher years, whilst they remained the dominant party in the UK?

The Tories were not wiped out.

Iain Gray did not raise the prospect of pact with the Tories, as reported in the Scotsman

Iain Gray did not raise the prospect of a pact with the Tories.

So, there you have it, humble apologies to the good councillor.

The Union Dividend

Is it my imagination or do the Labour party still hold an absolute abhorrence for Margaret Thatcher? The wailing & gnashing of teeth (teeth will be provided!!!) over the comments Alex Salmond made to Ian Dale got me thinking... (you have to imagine a slow passage of time here, perhaps the whistling of the wind and the distant tone of a church bell).

If they really hate Baroness Thatcher with such unreserved vitriol, and they know that the Tories were utterly wiped out in Scotland over the course of her reign as Britain's longest serving post-war Prime minister, and the only woman ever to hold that post.



How did she manage to stay in the top job for all that time?
Why do the Tories still fawn over her and hark for her return?
Why did Tony Blair wish to be seen as the natural successor to her?
Why does Gordon Brown express such unstinting admiration for her?

Who are middle England? and why does what they want cause such consternation?

Calum Cashley

I like Calum Cashley's Blog. We're all treated like adults. It kind of goes like this "Here is an issue. Here are some important points. You make your own mind up." Sometimes the posts are over long - maybe I've got an over short attention span... - maybe I'm just as guilty of rambling - but they're jam packed with actual facts that you can go and check out or you can just take his word for it. Never seem him publish a lie. What I really like about it though is that for almost all of his posts I can imagine him chortling away as he rips the pish out of his next target with quiet sincerity yet again.

Liar Liar pants on Fire...

Following his recent slating of Alex Salmond for the unpardonable folly of uttering these two sentences.

"We didn't mind the economic side so much. But we didn't like the social side at all."

I left a comment with home-owning, class warrior Terry Kelly:

I'm surprised that as one of the many thousands of Scots who has taken advantage of the right to buy your council house at a vastly reduced cost, you are not in agreement with Salmond.

The economy needed an overhaul, but the way Thatcher went about it was abhorrent to Scots - hence the Tory party was wiped out entirely in Scotland, but remained the dominant force in England.

The social aspect of Thatcherism was what really set Scotland against her. No reasonable person could honestly take umbrage at that view point, particularly not someone when Labour are considering entering a pact with the Tories for political expediency, whilst the Tories still worship Thatcher, Gordon Brown has expressed his unstinting admiration for her (over tea at downing street) and Blair declared himself the natural heir to Thatcher.

Terry's response has been:

There is nothing here absolutely nothing which is true, not a single thing.

Well, if that's the case I'll withdraw the points which aren't true. I await with baited breath an update on the following response:

Really? Which bits have I got wrong?

These aren't the actual words used by Salmond in the Ian Dale Interview ?

"We didn't mind the economic side so much. But we didn't like the social side at all."

You don't own a former council-house?

The economy was not in need of an overhaul when Thatcher came to power?

The Tories weren't wiped out in Scotland during the Thatcher years, whilst they remained the dominant party in the UK?

Iain Gray did not raise the prospect of pact with the Tories, as reported in the Scotsman ?

Petulance and Excrement

I was listening to the radio and heard the BBC interview with Stewart Maxwell - the SNP minister for sport, who much to the chagrine of Labour, has declareed that he thinks that Scotland should have its own Olympic team. Given that he also thinks Scotland and Scots are grown up enough to look after their own affairs and make the right decisions regarding the nurturing of our assett-rich little corner of the globe, this really shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. In answering the obvious question about what he would say to those athletes who prefer to represent Britain, he reasonably opinined that Scotland was an appropriate level of representation for international competition, as anyone who regularly attends Hampden or Murrayfield will testify (unless we're playing the All Blacks of course - population of NZ anyone? Should NZ join Australia to form a trans-tasman federation?)

Mr Maxwell replied: "What I would say to them, do Irish athletes want to rejoin the UK and be part of the UK team?

"Do we want to get rid of the GB team and have a European team because a European team would sweep the board?

"So I think you have to think about whether or not it's appropriate in the level you represent your own country in. I think it's quite right you represent your own country."

I make the point though that in his interview Stewart Maxwell was the model of diplomacy. Courteous and reasoned.

Kezia Dugdale describes it as : in one petulant, beligerent outburst,the Nats have lost the rag and demanded a separate Olympic team once again.

Hardly!

Meanwhile over in Paisley, home-owner (** removed **) Terry Kelly tells us that Alex Salmond's interview with Ian Dale,

The SNP has a strong social conscience, which is very Scottish in itself. One of the reasons Scotland didn't take to Lady Thatcher was because of that. We didn't mind the economic side so much. But we didn't like the social side at all.

in which he opines that Scots found the Social aspect of Thatcherism much more distasteful than her economic policies directly, was unpardonable folly.

Execrable indeed, Terence!

They do seem a very excitable bunch don't they...

** Terry informs me that he did not buy a former council house