Rab Bruce's Spider

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social X/Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider   It’s amazing how so many people have such short memories. Driven by the media, particularly the BBC, Reform continue to do well in the polls, and we cannot kid ourselves that Scotland is immune to their agenda. This is despite so many Tories defecting to join Reform, including some who have held ministerial positions in the former Tory Government.   I’m so old I can remember when people were prepared to vote for any party in order to get the incompetent and venal Tories out of Government. The problem back in those heady days was that far too many Scots forgot how Labour had lied to us in 2014. In spite of warnings from those of us who did remember, a lot of voters decided to give Labour another chance. Yet now, clearly disgusted by the bungling and cruelty of the new UK Government, they are looking to Reform to provide an al...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social X/Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider   There was some encouraging news for Yesers from the latest poll reported in The National, with Yes still in the lead, and with the majority of young people supporting Scotland becoming a normal, self-governing country. Whether we will ever get the opportunity to exercise our democratic will remains to be seen. Personally, I am not confident that it is going to happen any time soon. Westminster will do everything in its power to retain control of Scotland because they know they need our natural resources, and the thought of paying for them rather than simply taking them is abhorrent from the Westminster viewpoint. I must also say that John Swinney’s claim that an SNP majority in the Holyrood elections next year seems like a political stunt. The chances of achieving that majority are extremely slim under the Holyrood voting system, and...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     If you’re not dismayed by John Swinney’s latest plan for turning Scotland into a normal, self-governing country, you maybe missed the detail. Or perhaps John Swinney is relying on the fact that most people don’t fully understand how the Holyrood voting system works, and he’s hoping to gain another 5 years as First Minister without actually having to do anything about gaining independence.   Swinney has said that a majority of SNP MSPs at the Holyrood elections next year will be the latest mandate for independence because the Westminster Government could, apparently, not resist the clear will of the Scottish people. Let’s put aside the fact that Westminster is famous for ignoring the will of the Scottish people on a whole range of topics, let alone independence, and focus on the practicalities of gaining a majority of SNP MSPs.   First, ...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     What a shambles in the House of Commons. Keir Starmer has essentially pulled the PIP section of his latest attack on disabled people, although he managed to get his Bill passed despite it including provisions to remove the Health Benefits part of Universal Credit, a feature which will still cause a great deal of harm to many people but which even the Labour rebels seemed to think was acceptable. I know my voice will make no difference, but I want to put on record that I do not think this is acceptable at all.   As for the PIP changes, they have not been cancelled; they have merely been deferred, although I have a feeling they might be quietly dropped in a few months’ time.   Yet again we see Captain U-Turn realising at the last minute just how dreadful his social policies are. Keir Starmer is often accused of being a Tory at heart, and ...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social     I read an article on the STV newsfeed this morning which seemed to gleefully celebrate the fact that around one-third of Scots believe crime is increasing in their area. I wondered what could have caused this perception since crime has been decreasing over the past couple of decades, with the rate of solving crimes increasing.   Looking at the various statistics, it is true that there has been a slight increase in crime rates in Scotland but that is largely because crime fell during Lock Down when it was harder for people to go out to commit crimes. So, although there has been an increase, the levels of reported crime are still lower than they were before Lock down.   It is also true that some types of crime are on the increase. We all know that fraud, especially online fraud, is a growing danger, but that is a worldwide phenomenon, and...

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...