On:
In: Grant Thoms

Commentators North and South of the border are, grudgingly or not, acceding to, even applauding, Nicola Sturgeon as the stand-out Leader (again), of the 2017 General Election.  Launching the SNP’s 2017 general election manifesto in Perth, Nicola Sturgeon outlined the key policies at the heart of the document. The manifesto includes commitments to:  An alternative to austerity that will release almost £120 billion for public spending over the next parliament, achieving a current budget balance by the final year of the parliament  Protect public services, including a plan for additional NHS spending across the UK that would, by 2021/22, increase the NHS Scotland budget byRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

This morning (Tuesday 23rd May) I awoke with no other thoughts in my head other than finish leafleting the village and prepare for an appointment in the afternoon. Switched on laptop to check mail and social media. SHOCK! Our youth, our future had been attacked, killed, injured and maimed for life. Out of nowhere at what should have been an enjoyable night, as they should have been going home chattering and singing. Understandably all political parties called a cease to campaigning. I have wandered round all day, not really settling to any task. There has been so much silence and too much time to thinkRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

DIVIDED LABOUR PLEDGES WHAT SNP ALREADY DELIVERS SNP LEADING UK POLICY DEBATE – AND LEADING OPPOSITION TO TORIES AT WESTMINSTER Commenting on Labour’s manifesto launch, SNP Depute Leader and candidate for Moray, Angus Robertson said: “Labour are pledging today what the SNP are already delivering for the people of Scotland. “Scrapping hospital parking charges, free tuition, publicly-owned water, ending the Bedroom Tax, increasing renewable energy and expanding free childcare will all seem familiar to voters in Scotland – because they are already happening under an SNP government. “And on Scotland, Labour can only mimic the Tories’ anti-independence obsession. “In Scotland we don’t need a poorRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

Dave Thompson At the Spring Conference in Aberdeen this year I was sitting beside Veronica Thompson, wife of Dave Thompson, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch until he stepped down at the 2016 Scottish Elections.  The Conference hall was packed, and I remarked to her “Very few people in this hall will know who Dave Thompson is and what he achieved” This set me thinking and this May is the 10th Anniversary of the dramatic SNP win in May 2007, with one seat more than Labour, so I dusted down the old SI file and brought up the report from John Jappy – published inRead More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

My last piece touched upon the way that people interact with politicians on social media and the last few weeks have proved no exception. NHS Highland took the difficult and considered decision to change the previously consultant led maternity unit at Caithness General Hospital to a midwife led community maternity unit on safety grounds due to tragic incidents in the past. A pressure group, Caithness Health Action Team, was set up locally to fight what they saw as a downgrading of local services and several protests have been held. Several months on, this pressure group now agree with the report which stated that the statusRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Just when you thought that the Nasty Party had been put away along comes an election campaign to shatter such illusions. For a number of years David Cameron worked very hard to lose the Tories the label of “the Nasty Party” which Michael Howard etc had deservedly earned. Annabel Goldie and then Ruth Davidson had done their bit to help lose that tag and earn a bit of electoral credibility and crucially acceptability. That work has, at least in Scotland, been undone over the course of the campaign for the Council Elections. Now the Tories have a toxic mixture of: past membership of the BNPRead More →

On:
In: Kay Ullrich

Well, jings, crivens, help ma Boab, another Election!  And here’s me thinking, “now is not the time!”  Theresa wants to be the absolute ruler!  Chairman May we presume!  “The country is coming together” she says, “but Parliament aren’t united.”   Obviously she and her dastardly Brexiteers are not great believers in a parliamentary democracy.” Let them dae as their telt,” seems to be the way forward in Toryland. What a jolly wheeze, let’s have no opposition.  It must be the SNP opposition that’s worrying them, as the Labour Party has been about as useful as a chocolate teapot when it comes to holding the Tories toRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Being my turn this week I thought what can I write about? Schools on holiday, Parliaments in recess. Just leaves local election campaigns and believe me you don’t want me to go there! Then I looked at today’s newspaper. Another cash cow in the public system, halted by the SNP and wanted to be reinstated by a professional body. I had absolutely no idea that health service consultant doctors were being given a performance bonus of up to £75,000 per year. I am not a total innocent in the health care world. In a previous life I was a nurse. I sort of drifted intoRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms

A leading light of a pro-European Tory Group described the rush to implement Brexit, whilst casting aside the implications of Scotland and Northern Ireland voting to remain, as ‘the English majoritarian mindset’. Herein lies Theresa May’s greatest problem. To satisfy the anti-EU bloc, she must be seen to drive forward the Brexit agenda and in doing so, trammel the concerns of Remainers in any part of the UK but especially the Celtic fringe, if she, as a former Remainer, is to retain power.   In a move that was lifted from the Thatcher playbook, the Prime Minister declared: ‘Now is not the time’ and withRead More →