Sorry, not anti-English.
Anti-English national football team.
That’s all I’ve seen and that’s just people expressly cheering for the team playing England at football.
If you count that as xenophobia then it’s rife. We clearly hate the English…………football team.
Never actually seen anyone give two hoots about who is playing England at rugby, cricket etc though. Just football.
I’ve never seen anyone actually being disparaged for just being English (presumably it happens as there are idiots everywhere, but I’ve personally never encountered it).
That presumption is at least partly based on the observation that the Scottish parliament hasn’t used it’s tax-raising powers since gaining them. It will be interesting to see what happens when further taxes are devolved.
It’s not so much that it’s anathema to Tories to raise taxes achieve certain social policies as that there’s not the connection between high taxes and social equality that the left tends to think, unless one’s aim for equality is to make the majority of people poorer. And I doubt any modern economy will balance their books, that would be needlessly crippling it.
It’s not the right that are fighting attempts to simplify the benefit system and increase ease of access, for example.
There’s a good reason why it has not used its tax raising powers as of yet, and we both know it.
We also both know that raising the higher tax rate would not make the majority of people poorer.
You realise parties can spend the money on whatever they want so can make any correlation they wish between taxation and social justice?
(until they actually get their hands on the true figures when elected to power and realise we are almost broken beyond repair - which is what I’m sure happened to the incumbent government)
And we also both know what I meant when I said balance the books.
There’s little point debating all this anyway as I’m as likely to join the Conservative party and adhere to their tenets as you are to join the SNP.
Fill the rest of us in. Because absent other information, the cynic in me would guess that using their tax raising powers would take away from a Santa Claus image they might want to project.
Let us get away from petty bickering and consider the latest FACTS.
Support for the SNP in Scotland has surged to record levels and a majority now back independence, a poll suggests.
Some 47% of people in Scotland intend to vote SNP at the general election, against 27% who will vote Labour, 16% who will vote Conservative and just 3% backing the Lib Dems, a YouGov poll for the Sun found.
The SNP’s support is 4% higher than the last YouGov poll and up 27% on its 2010 figure.
The results - released on the day Scottish Labour elected MP Jim Murphy as its new leader - would see Labour’s Scottish representation in Westminster reduced from 41 to just seven.
Meanwhile, 52% would back independence, once undecided and abstaining voters are excluded, amid widespread scepticism about the latest devolution offering.
Some 51% said the powers in the Smith Commission on devolution do not go far enough, against 23% who said the balance is right and 14% who said it goes too far.
YouGov chairman Peter Kellner told the Sun: “This looks like something bigger and longer lasting than a post- referendum blip.”
…
"Today’s poll also makes clear the scale of the disappointment that is felt across Scotland at the Westminster parties’ failure to meet people’s aspirations for more powers.
“It even indicates that Jim Murphy’s own seat would be vulnerable on these poll ratings.”"
Getting some separatists into Parliament doesn’t guarantee another referendum. And as far as them being kingmakers, any party that aligns with them will be losing support hard and fast outside of Scotland would be my bet.
See what the LibDems did for power. If Labour is faced with the choice between gaining SNP support for supply and confidence rather than a further election, guess which they will choose. The possible problem of doing less well at the polls in 2020 will not affect the calculation- who knows how much attitudes may change anyway in five years!
It will not lead to independence from that alliance but there will be a cost in further devolution of powers.
I’m surprised you’d want to see happen to the SNP what’s happened to the Lib Dems.
Anyway, I’m still hopeful that there would be cross party support for any measures necessary to prevent the SNP furthering the cause of independence, a cause that the Scots decisively rejected, and one that has minimal support in the UK as a whole.
That article attempting to spin a majority not supporting independence into one where a majority do, by excluding large numbers of people, is pretty terrible as well.
But we’ll see at the election. Sadly, it looks like far too many of both Scottish and English voters will vote for nationalists, rather than for the Tories like any sensible person would… Or even Labour, which would be silly but at least justifiable.
The problem here is that it could lead to a worst case scenario where the rest of the UK, or at least England, actually gets seriously pissed off with the Scots (not just vaguely irritated like now), and either tries to remove some of the devolved powers come 2020, or starts supporting their independence to get rid of the thorn in their side. Which would both have the same effect of irreparably distancing the countries, and damaging both when an inevitable hostilely negotiated independence happens.
It is unlikely to happen as they have a second string to their bow- being an incredibly successful and popular Scottish Government.
Hour view of politics is amusing if a little biased.
Did you see the latest Scottish poll showing it was not a temporary post referendum bounce, but a sustained change in attitude with a consistent 52% for independence over the past three months in three separate polls!
The poll you linked to only shows a majority for independence if you leave out the undecideds, so you quoting it to claim it supports your view shows your bias.
Anyway, the UK government should, and I hope will, act in the interests of the whole country, not just on the views of a large minority of people from a small region (<10% of the population of the UK is in Scotland). If the SNP acts to hold Parliament hostage due to the views of under 5% of the population of the UK, it will be showing its contempt for democracy. Although it’s already showing that by refusing to accept the result of the referendum, as are you.
They can’t bind anything beyond the end of the existing parliament. Basically, if you want more powers devolved to Scotland, and to keep them devolved, you should be showing how that will benefit the UK. Something you seem hugely uninterested in, because of your lack of respect for your country (the UK) and for democracy (Scotland wants to remain in the UK).
Clutching at straws. Most polls exclude don’t knows. Certainly compared with the pre referendum polls, the post referendum polls (all three of them) suggest a majority for Independence. There is no evidence that don’t knows are biased in either direction.
Although Parliament is supreme, if an undertaking is given ( in this case that the Scottish Parliament and devolution of powers is entrenched, I imagine that it would be very difficult politically to renege on that. It would be likely that the Lords would treat it as a constitutional change and cause the Government to go to the country before implementing it.
Politically I cannot think of any act that would cause more support for independence than a Westminster government reneging on a solemn and binding agreement.
I’m British, I just live in Sweden. As my Mother is from Scotland I have been going there regularly for the past forty years. Never has it felt foreign and there are far more similarities than differences. All countries have regions that feel vastly different from each other. As I said, the difference between North and South England are very different from each other.
I have been. Hell, last time I was in Glasgow I was told to ‘fuck off back to England’ by a drunk woman at a party. As a kid I remember running around where my Granda lived in East Kilbride and someone shouting at me calling me a ‘wee English bastard’. The recent referendum has seen the worst come out from some of my relatives and, yes, it does mean I have had to break off contact with some of them.
The majority of Scots are not in favour of independence, they are either against it or undecided.
They do not. They voted to clearly say so, and by continuing to campaign for anything, you are ignoring that vote.
That may be true, but in the event that Scottish devolution was harming the rest of the UK, I would expect parliament to do it anyway, and to bypass the Lords if necessary. Whether than would increase support for independence would depend on many things, not least whether devolution was also harming Scotland, whether Scots felt that Independence would stop that harm or increase it, and whether they felt that accepting some level of harm was an acceptable trade off for independence.
Ultimately, though, the point is that whatever happens with Scotland, whilst it remains part of the Union all decisions must be made for the benefit of the Union as a whole. Now, if there’s no way to do that which will satisfy a majority of Scots, then independence may be the necessary answer. I don’t personally see any circumstances where it would benefit either side, and anyone pushing for it, IMHO, wants to cut off their nose to spite their face.
Plenty could change by the mid 2030s, when the question is likely to next be asked, though.
And should those people vote who have an opinion, the NAtionalists might well win. The Scots would never accept the limit put on the 1979 referendum.
Democracy does not count the votes of the undecided aND WON’T VOTE.
If and when there is a further referendum it is hoped that both sides will have learnt and there will be a choice between Independence, Home Rule and status quo. If that had been the case this time, I am pretty certain that Home Rule would have been chosen.