Rab Bruce's Spider

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     A recent poll has suggested that Reform now hold a slight lead over the SNP in Scotland. The lead was marginal, and the sub-sample quite small, so it’s not time to panic yet, but what we are seeing is that Scotland is not immune to the rise of fascism. Promoted by the UK media at every opportunity, Nigel Farage has been attempting to outflank Labour on the left. It’s not a difficult task since Labour are far more right wing than in their past incarnations, but Farage has cleverly attracted media attention with the announcement of policies which most people would be in favour of. Scrapping the 2 child Benefit cap and reintroducing Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners are things that Labour should have done but have prevaricated on, using the excuse of needing to stick to artificial, self-imposed fiscal targets. In practice, they have frequently let slip th...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     Sir Keir (Knight of the Realm) starmer seems to have gone full Enoch Powell with his latest xenophobic pronouncements. As usual, he has got completely the wrong end of the stick when it comes to finding solutions for the UK’s perceived problem with immigration. For starters, immigration is good, but if you are going to claim that foreign workers are undercutting UK workers, the best solution would be to ensure that the types of jobs British subjects (not citizens) won’t do are far better paid. That might attract more people to do these jobs. Even then, we’d still need immigration to keep our social services operating, although Labour seem to have moved so far to the right that public services are used more as a dog-whistle slogan than as something to be maintained.   As far as I can see, all Starmer is doing is telling the voting public that Nig...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social   There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in the world at the moment, but I want to take a look at UK domestic news. The headlines over the past few weeks have been bleak, with plans to cut social security for the poor and disabled, with NHS England facing sweeping staff cuts and more privatisation which will have a knock-on effect on Scotland, alongside news that many families cannot afford healthy food for their children, and with reports of an epidemic of shoplifting. Yes, there’s plenty more, but what I think all of these things have in common is poverty.   When people are struggling financially, their health, both physical and mental, can suffer. This forces a few to turn to crime like shoplifting, and means that many will struggle to hold down a job or will take on extra jobs just to earn a bit of extra cash. But poor mental health, exhaustion r an unh...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social   Readers of this site will know that I am no fan of Keir Starmer. He is, in my opinion, a very right wing ultra-Unionist who despises Scotland except for what he can wring out of our country for the benefit of England. When it comes to democracy, he will always have a complete blind spot regarding Scotland’s right to self-determination because, like every other UK Prime Minister, he knows how much England relies on Scotland’s resources which they can currently take without payment. When you add to that the long list of broken promises and the number of U-turns he has done, it is very easy to regard him as little more than a puppet for moneyed interests.   Having said all that, I must give credit where it is due and say that, at time of writing, he is doing an excellent job on the world stage. Of course, international politics being the way they are, this ...

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 ...