Wednesday 26 October 2022
The Laird Report Episode 19, 2022 is earmarked as a year of tragedy and pain for the UK
The sense of loss in the UK is tangible, we are seeing change, we are seeing decline, is this the dark before the light, or is this, the prelude to a winter of discontent. Is life, society and mankind about to collapse, to be replaced by tyranny?
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Operation Branchform, SNP staff, present and former to be re-interviewed by Police Scotland investigating SNP Party finances, this development in the slow moving case is said to be directed by the Crown Office, Scotland’s prosecution service, is this another false dawn for action, or is the storm about to erupt?
When former Nicola Sturgeon was cornered like a rat by the Holyrood press pack, you could see in her demeanor that she extremely uncomfortab...
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On the 31 st July 2023, I did a blog post called ‘political death looms in Rutherglen’, my contention was that the by-election on paper see... -
On the 11 th of June, SNP MSP Nicola Sturgeon was interviewed by police; she was in fact arrested, not interviewed as a witness but arreste...
All agreed on this and well done. By the way, I worked on nuclear power stations in the 80's and British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) was world leading; equalled only by the French. That was squandered and I knew at the time it was a great mistake to do that. We'll agree to differ on JRM. I reckon his constituents might go for a LibDem next time.
ReplyDeleteThe UK has come perilously close to bankruptcy, first with Covid and then with Liz Truss's mini-budget. That's why she had to be got rid of quickly. The spreadsheet men are back in charge at Downing Street and my feeling is we will get back on a positive trajectory where debt is a decreasing proportion of GDP pretty soon, maybe within a year or two. A windfall tax on energy companies is something that I reckon should be looked at seriously as it would make life a lot more predictable for many. They are making increased profits due only to a war in Europe and so that cannot be right, can it? The outlook for Holyrood is much less promising. Where are our spreadsheet men? Everything is shoot from the hip and Kate Forbes is another History graduate. Two years from now all that can be predicted about Scotland's outlook is that it will be a lot worse than it is now. I'm usually a glass half-full man but I feel that is where we are.
ReplyDeleteThis chap is boss of Shell: Mr van Beurden added it was “sensible” and a “societal reality” that governments will try to help people struggling with high prices.
ReplyDeleteHe said: “I think therefore [it’s] also a societal point we have to accept that governments will raise taxes for that.
“Therefore I think we should be prepared and accept that our industry will be looked at for raising taxes in order to fund the transfers to those who need it most in these very difficult times. We should not be surprised. We should be helping governments to design the right policies.”
The profits of this single company rose from £4.5 Billion to 9.5 Billion per Quarter on the back of the war and nothing else. It sounds as if he's expecting to be called in to pay more and if all others do the same then the pensions triple lock and all the rest of it sounds a lot more manageable for Sunak. Governments tend to do what the public want and there is a public expectation that people will be protected by society and so I think this will get done. The sooner the better.
I don't know if you watched BBC Reporting Scotland tonight, but they ran a story on the Glasgow Soup Kitchen which you featured during the summer. I cannot remember the name of the chap who runs the soup kitchen, but he's a tough operator and I wouldn't argue with him. Anyway, he's asked the Council for the use of indoor premises to see them through the winter. Ther are plenty of vacant shops around town and that was what he was looking for. The Council offered him some honky-tonk hall down a dark lane somewhere and so he turned them down and went to the Press. Good for him. A young Council guy went on camera at the bottom of the marble stairs inside Glasgow City Chambers to promise him that premises were being found for him and they would be suitable. Guaranteed. That's how you do it, George. As I say, he's one of these chaps that warrants some respect for what he does and so good luck to him. That is an example of the true spirit of Glasgow.
ReplyDeleteNever saw it, to be honest, gave up on the BBC News when they went too far away from news towards opinion. I support the soup kitchen under the bridge getting a place, I have used these services myself, and know some of the people who help out. They also do CAB style advice which is important as well. I recent got interviewed by a reporter for piece, she was collected views on services, and what this means for users who use them. She said she was doing it for Glasgow Live, but no guarantee I would make it to her final article.
DeleteThey moved location from under the bridge to outside the City Chambers for yesterday's story. It was one of the main stories on RS and all at the soup kitchen spoke very powerfully. These are the type of stories that always resonate here and I expect that the soup kitchen guy (whoever he was) will get what he wants. There are plenty of vacant shops in the city centre. He wants somewhere which is respectable, well-lit, accessible and warm. Not difficult at-all for the Council. He's done practically everything for them.
DeleteHow many use the soup kitchen each day and rely upon it? How many transgender folk are there in the whole of Scotland? (my guess is it will be less than 100No) Should all at Holyrood not be spending more of their time on soup kitchen business and much less of their time on transgender business? It seems to me that Holyrood has lost all sense of direction and purpose in recent years.
DeleteI notice that John Swinney has managed to unearth a replacement judge for the Scottish Government's Covid Inquiry and so it can presumably get started. England's started last month and they will show us all how to do a government-led Inquiry. No replacement legal team yet, just a replacement judge. These people get paid hundreds of pounds per hour and still don't want to work for the Scottish Government. It is a sign for me that the liberal professions in Scotland have been hollowed-out by the SNP and by that I mean Sturgeon and Swinney. None of the professions work any longer and they have all been got-at by Sturgeon and Swinney. It took hundreds of years for these professions to establish themselves here and they have been chopped down in ten-years by the SNP. It is not only myself that is noticing this and there must be a groundswell of professionals in Scotland who are unhappy with the way the country is being run. These professionals are there to serve the public interest don't forget. They are not trained monkeys taught to repeat: "It's not Nicola Sturgeon's fault and it's not Jeane Freeman's fault". I think we are at a tipping point just now and last night's reaction to the gender reform vote shows that the public have seen enough now.
ReplyDeleteJohn Swinney: “From my own and the First Minister’s interactions with Lord Brailsford, I am in no doubt that he has the necessary leadership skills, integrity and experience to continue the work of this Inquiry." I'm sure Lord Brailsford doesn't care what Sturgeon and Swinney think about him. Both of these two have been found severely lacking in the integrity department and I'm only surprised that both are still here - still hanging-on like unwelcome limpets.
ReplyDeleteSunak's not going to COP 27 because he has to balance the books. If he needs to find 40Billion for next year, then the IMF will want him to identify 50Billion to give him some float and that's the way it works. Foreign aid is being looked at among other things and so that's what he means when he says that difficult decisions ned to be made. It is not all Truss's fault but much of it is. Arrogance has been replaced by pragmatism at last. It was only a matter of time and if it hadn't happened when it did, or if Boris returned to number 10, then it may have been an IMF bail-out that was required for the UK. The guy appears to be a grafter, a meticulous cause and effect numbers man and a team-player and all of these things were sadly lacking in Truss and Johnson.
ReplyDeleteGeorge - Captain Huge Mallet has been warned that he is at risk of being accused of negligence if he doesn't start communicating and so he is communicating with great ferocity. I remain hopeful that the bent lawyers that stiffed you many years ago will be proven to have stiffed me too. I will of course keep you updated and you will be one of the first to know.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Susan Aitken didn't cross the road to meet-up with the Soup Kitchen folk earlier in the week. Nevertheless, both she and Sturgeon are attending COP-27 in Sharm El Sheikh later in November. Crossing the road to show your support would have taken half an hour and would have cemented the Council's support for this vulnerable group. Instead of doing that and by attending one of the world's top holiday resorts with Sturgeon instead, just looks immensely self-serving to me.
ReplyDelete"If you had a highly paid job, could travel the world at public expense, was able to blame someone else for your failures & avoid scrutiny thanks to legal and media compliance why would you want to spoil it with a dodgy referendum?" - George Foulkes
ReplyDeleteIf you were a Council Tax payer in Glasgow, would you rather your money was spent by the Council on sending Susan Aitken and a couple of Council flunkies to Sharm El Sheikh for ten-days, or would you rather it was spent on paying the electricity bill for the Soup Kitchen? It's sad predicament for a once proud city to be in the grip of SNP corruption but that, sadly, is the way of it.
ReplyDeleteBang on cue wee Greta has pulled-out of going to Egypt for COP27. Says it's only for bull-shitters. King Charles isn't going either and neither is Sunak. It's only for bull-shitters.
ReplyDeleteMy main memory of the Queen is also the Silver Jubilee. I have never seen her, but I do remember 1977 with the punks walking about wearing tartan and chains and the poster with the safety pin on her nose. They say the 1970s were bad, but my memory is the complete opposite. Today, 2022, I've never known things to be so miserable. Compared to 1977, 2022 is like existing in some dark dungeon, where it's pointless to leave as it's just as awful outside. You name it, it's here, from people terrified of electric bills to people just fed up. At least in the 70s, we had pubs to drown our sorrows, but today people can't even afford to do that. Mind you, that's if you manage to find a pub in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, there are many houses with coal fires although many have been bricked-up over the years. We have a fire station just down the road which is manned by local guys on-call. One of them is the local joiner who is a guy I know. He was telling me that he remembers when he used to be called-out to 3 or 4 chimney fires per year. Nowadays he is hardly ever called-out to a chimney fire. We still use the coal fire and the price of coal has gone from £20/bag to £30. A big enough increase but nothing in comparison to gas. Needless to say, coal is being burnt again and fireplaces are being opened back-up. We ordered coal yesterday and the chap has never been busier. That said, a bag of coal can last you as little as 2-days, maybe 3-days at the most. The fireman will be busier too as these chimneys will be dirty and full of leaves and other debris. I can remember when we stayed in a tenement in Holmlea Road in Cathcart, there were coal bunkers on each landing and folk used to padlock them so that their neighbour couldn't steal their coal.
ReplyDeleteProbably two entirely needless foul-ups have ruined things for this year:
ReplyDelete1. Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget required a government U-turn to appease the IMF. When that happens, governments have historically never been re-elected and so the Conservative Party are just running down the clock for the next 2-years.
2. The war in Ukraine is probably the most pointless of all wars and has ruined the world economy in the short to medium term.
I'll tell you an interesting story while we are waiting: I bought a wood-burning stove about 15-years ago. At the time, they were being advertised as being eco-friendly and so-on. I never really accepted that, but I bought one anyway. It has turned-out to be fabulous and it runs all day and night on smokeless coal. One thing they didn't tell me when I bought it was they produce huge amounts of 'micro-particulates' which is what is produced by diesel exhausts, only a wood-burning stove produces much more than any diesel exhaust does. Occasionally, when I open the door, I break into a cough which lasts for several minutes and so they are very far from healthy. They may look healthy enough, but they are not. There's a big house along the road here which has 14No wood-burning stoves and so God knows what that chap's life expectancy is. You need a chimney of course for one of these things, but all things considered, they're OK and at times like these we are living through just now, probably a very good idea.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite childhood memories involves the smell of wood burning.
ReplyDeleteWhen Sir Graham Brady went to see Liz Truss at Downing Street she said: "It's pretty bad, isn't it"...Brady said: "Yes it is"...Truss said: "Do you think it is recoverable"...Brady said: "No, I don't think it is". That ended the shortest reign of any UK PM.
ReplyDeleteIt just shows you though, everything works on a balance and when you upset the balance with unfunded tax-cuts for the rich, everyone loses confidence and thinks the UK has lost control. An expensive lesson for many of us.
One thing the above comment makes clear is that once the financial markets lose confidence in you, you are finished. I was watching Nicola Sturgeon at yesterday's Ferguson shipyard inquiry which was held at Holyrood. Does anyone think that the financial markets would have any confidence in her, if she and Kate Forbes took over from Sunak and Hunt? It would make what happened during the Truss and Kwarteng days look like a nursery school party. It looks very much to me like the days of maximum SNP are over for good. The next vote in Scotland will be the UK GE vote in two years time and a good vote for the Labour Party then will be the end of Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney. I have no time for the Labour Party by the way and consider them a fairly self-serving bunch, but I will accept just about anything to see the end of Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney. They have caused immeasurable damage to Scotland's reputation for honesty over the years.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Ferguson ferries contract - one essential pre-requisite for getting on any tender list is that you can provide an insurance backed performance bond up to the contract value. If you cannot do that then you don't get to submit a tender. These are the hard and fast rules and they have been in place literally for decades.
ReplyDeleteNo harm to Fergusons but they could not provide an insurance backed performance bond and so they shouldn't even have been allowed to tender, let alone win the contract.
When Nicola Sturgeon was asked about this yesterday she said: "Well they provided acceptable alternatives" - there are no acceptable alternatives. There are no alternatives full stop.
Richard Leonard appeared to be head of the inquiry team but he really doesn't have a clue. The questioning was class-room stuff. Someone like Jim McColl himself would have tied Sturgeon in knots within minutes. We are all kidding ourselves with Holyrood. It is nowhere near good enough to represent us Scots.
Jim McColl has spoken: the contract was £50m over budget when the yard was nationalised; the contract will probably end-up £300m over budget. Expert engineers like Jim McColl tend to have an eye for detail that passes all at Holyrood by.
ReplyDeleteSomeone is getting wealthy thanks to this shipyard.
ReplyDeleteThe Carry on Ferry will not be stopped.
Kier Starmer said at the weekend that we ought to get used to training our own doctors and nurses again and get ourselves out of the habit of recruiting abroad. Whether people are for or against Brexit, many in the UK agree with that and that is part of what ending freedom of movement withing the EU was all about. The SNP have created a great fuss about it and claimed that we are disrespecting the contribution made by those already here, but Kier Starmer didn't say that. I went to university in the late 70's and almost everyone in my class was Scottish. That is no longer the case and I believe that the figure for home students is now around 25%-30%. I'm not a bigot or anything like that but I think that Starmer is right and we need to get that number back up to around 70%-80% and that is what Scottish universities are for.
ReplyDeleteOver a decade ago, I was blogging on this very fact, I used my experience of seeing what rolled through the medical faculty when I taught and worked at University of Glasgow.
Delete"Meanwhile the leader of Glasgow city council the SNP’s Susan Aitken and two staff members will fly out on Tuesday to Egypt to the COP27, and stay in a five star hotel and resort, the jolly by the SNP leader at the GCC is expected to cost over £7,000 pounds of taxpayers cash, they will stay at the five star hotel and resort for four days".
ReplyDeleteHas she sorted-out a winter-time gaff for the Glasgow Soup Kitchen? No?
Regarding the projected cost of the Ferguson ferries (estimated at somewhere between £250m and £350m). A replacement Royal Yacht has been designed and has just been shelved due to austerity, but the cost was £250m and that was for one which was twice the size of the old Royal Yacht, 11,000 with 70 crew. So, we've been stiffed by these ferries. If you don't know what you are doing, stay out of engineering because the cost of balls-ups are extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteI just learned that Liz Lloyd (remember her?) is in Sharm El Sheikh too along with Nicola Sturgeon and Susan Aitken. They'll have about a dozen vapid flunkies with them too. They've just promised to send an extra £5m in aid to developing countries. I'm sure they can spare the Glasgow Soup Kitchen an empty shop in Glasgow ten-grand to pay the electricity bills this winter?
ReplyDelete