Rab Bruce's Spider

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     I know it is not good for my mental health, but I do try to keep up with news reports from a variety of outlets, including some with distinctly right wing leanings. It’s often hard not to swear when I read some of the stuff, but it does give an insight into the thinking of those who have been emboldened by the likes of Trump, Farage & Johnson.   I read one article the other day which insisted that Europe was being held back economically because of its deep-rooted DEI Wokeness, and advocating Trump-style solutions. I managed to dismiss it as just a little more barking mad than some articles.   Then I came across one which was perhaps more disturbing because it showed that, in some people’s minds, neo-liberal capitalism is still seen as providing the answer to enriching society.   This piece was about what has happened in Chi...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social   Labour’s performative cruelty in releasing videos of them deporting people is clearly a response to the threat of Nigel Farage who seems destined to be the UK’s next Prime Minister. It makes me wonder who is advising Keir starmer. Have they learned nothing from what happened to the Tories? No matter how far right the Tories ran, Farage was always able to outdo them. It was probably a threat the Tories could not cope with because they were so accustomed to being the voice of the Right. “You can’t out-Tory a Tory” was a common refrain. However, Farage and his fellow extremists took it one better, and the Tories have become largely irrelevant as a result of chasing the xenophobic element within the UK electorate.   And now Labour seem to be making exactly the same mistake. Surely it would be better for them to promote proper social policies which actually i...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social   There are so many examples of the UK Labour Government shafting Scotland that it is difficult to keep up. The fiasco over the Grangemouth refinery has even got the local Labour MP angry with his own Party, and that’s without taking into account Anas sarwar’s brazen lies about saving the refinery during the election campaign.   The other thing Mr Sarwar doesn’t get questioned about nearly often enough by the UK media in Scotland is his lack of control over the MPs who allegedly report to him but who, in practice, do as Keir starmer tells them. And Keir Starmer never tells them to do anything which might assist their Scottish constituents. Indeed, their main role seems to be to trashtalk Scotland at every opportunity. They do this, of course, to denigrate the SNP Scottish Government, but they rarely take into account the role of Westminster in most of the ...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     So today is the day that Donald Trump has set for all federal employees to return to working in the office even if there aren’t enough workspaces for them to use. Working from home is, apparently, inefficient and unproductive, so workers need to be in the office where they can be supervised.   This is very similar to the claims made by other people in both business and politics. Who can forget Boris Johnson’s characterisation of WFH as involving trips to the fridge to stock up on snacks?   Now, some people do enjoy the atmosphere and environment of office working, but many people find that working from home is not only better for their mental wellbeing, it actually makes them more productive. With no stress of commuting, and being on hand to take in online shopping deliveries or simply to be around for domestic pets, it suits some peopl...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     The news coming out of the USA is, sadly, as bad as any of us feared. Donald Trump is, as he promised, acting like a dictator. He is removing rights, sacking people all over the place, enforcing deportation and generally confirming that he despises anyone who is not white, male, Christian and heterosexual. His racism was evident for all to see in his hateful comments about the aviation crash which he blamed on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. In other words, the people either flying or working in ground control were not the right type of people. Considering we don’t even know the identity of those involved, his comments were utterly bizarre. It should not need to be said that making political capital out of a tragedy is the behaviour of a psychopath. As some have pointed out, he is also trying to deflect from his own culpability because he has been ins...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     The Unionist onslaught against Scotland has been unrelenting, and it is appalling that it is left to Prof Robertson to counter the propaganda on his Talking UP Scotland website. I really wish the SNP’s Rebuttal Unit would be a lot more prominent, but we’ve been asking for that for years now without the SNP doing anything serious about it. So the attacks continue, with the Unionists submitting one Freedom of Information request after another, then selectively highlighting anything they deem negative, with the compliant media gleefully trumpeting their findings. They do this, of course, because the majority of the public still relies on the mainstream media for their news, so negative stories sink into the consciousness, portraying Scotland as a basket case. Almost all of these so-called news articles can be debunked, but the public rarely gets to know abo...

  by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     By now, most Scots who voted for Labour in the 2024 General Election must have realised that, as many of us warned would happen, they were lied to. The meaningless slogan of “Change” was simply an attempt to portray them as Not the Tories, with Scottish Branch Office Manager Anas Sarwar being one of the few who actually tried to put a little meat on the bones. He never actually said what change was coming, but he did promise no Austerity, and he insisted his MPs would stand up for Scotland. How hollow those promises must sound now. Fortunately for Anas sarwar, nobody in the media will challenge him about these broken promises.   The UK Labour Government have shown that, while they aren’t on the scale of the Tories, they are quite happy to accept bribes – sorry, gifts and donations . Worse, though, they have shown themselves to be politi...