Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

1,681 thoughts on “One of the Following is True

1 5 6 7 8 9 17
  • Dave Lawton

    “LITHIUM is set to transform the country’s economy following a fresh scramble for the mineral by foreign companies after new deposits were discovered around Harare, Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister, Engineer Fred Moyo has said.”

    Well Lithium will certainly boost Cornwall.Claims that Cornwall is sitting on a multibillion-pound lithium bonanza are due to be tested after a start-up ­project that plans to drill for the metal raised £1m from a trio of experienced mining investors.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/08/13/lithium-start-up-finds-backers-cornish-project/

  • Republicofscotland

    Jeez, if I read or see anymore pics of the two old codgers, (70 years married) who’ve lived a pampered and cosseted life, at the taxpayers expense, I think I’ll throw up.

    Talk about propaganda to turn ones head.

    • Tony_0pmoc

      RepublicofScotland, Yeh, but the paid us very well, and we will get a further payment when we are 100 years married.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    This is beyond bizarre…

    “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Socialist….

    Then they came for the Jwees, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Jwee.”

    Then they came for The Muslims, and I did speak out (even though I am not a Muslim) (the evidence proves they didn’t do it)

    Then they came for The Christians – and then I came to the conclusion “They” are absolutely f’cking mad.

    Who are “They” ? I don’t believe in Satan, but it seems “They” do. I think most of them are American (ex European – we put them on the boats and told them to F’ck Off). The criminals were much nicer – we merely sent them to Australia – but we couldn’t stand the religious lunatics’ nagging.

    Apologies to The American Indians, and the Aboriginies. We seriously fcked up. It’s entirely the fault of us English.

    “Ridiculous! YouTube censors Christian videos because content describes and supports values of Russian Faith”

    https://www.sott.net/article/368495-Ridiculous-YouTube-censors-Christian-videos-because-content-describes-and-supports-values-of-Russian-Faith

    Tony

      • Tony_0pmoc

        Yeh, but she has got “5,000 friends and an additional 5,000+ followers”, but I am not “That” impressed with only 50,667 shares, and as The American media increasingly makes itself look ridiculous, it opens up new opportunities, for younger and far more dynamic British competition…

        Like I said – “I can do that – gissa job” (well my lad actually)

        Meanwhile…

        http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/fundraiser-winter-2017-please-support-this-poor-poet.html

        Tony

      • pietra

        It is only chilling if you are one of those (not that I believe you are among them) who endearingly believe the twaddle about the “democratising power of the web”, that the Internet is some sort of neutral tabula blanco, like a pencil and sheet of paper, upon which any free agent may scrawl a word of subversion. It was invented by DARPANET for heaven’s sake, specifically as a means of retaining central USA control at times of unwanted decentralisation (specifically on “the day after”). And they have had almost 70 years to perfect it.

        The essence of the Internet is not farcebook or gargle. It is the hardware. Any stray soul with a sense of mission can pick up a ploughshare and forge it back into a blade in a time of tyranny. But who among us has satellite launching facilities? Undersea cable-laying ships? Ever known an ordinary bloke to get away with erecting a cellular mast?

        The only hope is that Russia and China can hurry up and complete their utterly independent Internets. (And for obvious reasons, this is a far from ideal solution.)

        • fred

          No.

          Packet switching was developed for the military in the 1960s as a way of communicating in times of war. That is only a very small part of the internet, the rest evolved, a lot of people in different fields worked on it, not least amateur radio enthusiasts. The web didn’t arrive till much later, early 1990s, invented by a professor at Oxford University.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    “On the subject of an ageist society, off subject but it might lighten the mood

    Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting.

    Well, for example, the other day, my wife and I went into town and visited a shop.

    When we came out, there was a traffic warden writing out a parking ticket.

    We went up to him and I said, ‘come on, how about giving a senior citizen a break?’

    He ignored us and continued writing the ticket.

    I called him an arsehole . He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn-out tires.

    So my wife called him a shit head. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windscreen with the first.

    Then he started writing more tickets. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

    Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home.

    We weren’t too concerned about the vehicle’s owner because of the sticker on the back window which read “I support Jeremy Corbin ”

    We try to have a little fun each day now that we’re retired. It’s important at our age”

    I voted Labour so it wasn’t me

    https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/at-the-end-of-the-day-825/

  • Stu

    The Irish Border issue seems unsolvable.

    Much has been said about a hard border violating the Good Friday Agreement but the fact that Vardaker’s solution of Northern Ireland remaining in the Single Market and Customs Union apart from GB also clearly violates the GFA has not been remarked upon.

    It is going to be very difficult to impose any solution on Northern Ireland and any major change to the GFA surely requires another referendum. If the EU is serious about no progress on a trade deal until this is resolved it may well bring down the government early next year.

    • frankywiggles

      The Irish border is hardly a creation of the noblest and wisest minds in Christendom. It has no geographical logic and was put there in laughably undemocratic circumstances less than 100 years ago purely for reasons of sectarian bigotry. That is the only reason “Northern Ireland” ever came into being. The fact it has endured even this long as a province of a state that lectures the world on liberalism and democracy tells you much about how much the British establishment is genuinely committed to those principles.

      • Stu

        Your argument is slightly undermined by the Irish Civil War (which killed more people than the troubles) and the resulting Irish constitution both of which offer strong proof that including the 6 counties in an independent Eire would have resulted in massive bloodshed. The Protestant population in the North was armed, largely industrial and would have been the recipient of a lot of support from GB both financially and on the ground from WW1 veterans. Throwing the Unionists into the mix of the Irish Civil War would have been a disaster.

        • frankywiggles

          No, my argument is that the all-ireland election of 1918 delivered a huge democratic mandate for a free, united, 32-county nation. That democratic expression was simply ignored by the British government, which instead bowed to the threat of orange terror and carved out an unhistorical, explicitly sectarian statelet.

  • BrianFujisan

    Sharp Ears

    You are very Veg…. Kool ..

    The Shetlands are a very Hurtful place for me…

  • Republicofscotland

    Scottish ministers still haven’t received a copy of the Westminster’s impact assessment bill on Scotland due to Brexit, that covers 58 prominent sectors, even though the Governor General appointed to Scotland Fluffy Mundell promised they would.

    Why is Westminster so reluctant to release their finding on the matter, could it be that the predicted results are so economically devastating to Scotland’s economy that they darent release the figures? Yes I think that’s the case.

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/15675223.Scottish_ministers_still_haven___t_seen_Tory_Brexit_analysis_despite_repeated_promises/?ref=mr&lp=10

  • Republicofscotland

    Today Hammond in his Budget speech, is expected to announce that Police Scotland will no longer need to pay VAT, thats cost Police Scotland, and other emergency services £140 million quid since 2013.

    It’s also expected that Hammond will announce that the VAT exemption will be down to the hard lobbying of the 13 Tories from Scotland campaigning for its removal.

    However it’s unlikely that the SNP’s four years and over a 139 calls campaigning to have the unfair tax removed will feature in Hammond’s speech.

    Hammond/13 Scots Tories, appears to be taking a leaf out of Richard Leonard’s book on taking credit where it isn’t due.

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/15675229.SNP_warn_Tory_MP_glory_hunters_not_to_take_credit_for_police_VAT_U_turn/?ref=mr&lp=4

    • reel guid

      Yes Ros. If the Westminster government can exempt Police Scotland for VAT now then why didn’t they do it in 2013 when they were first asked to?

      The answer is they didn’t want the SNP getting credit for their lobbying effort. But now with 13 Tory MPs they can spin it that this group works on Scotland’s behalf. Like I said before, it’s the politics of extortion. ‘Vote Tory and Scotland will get consideration’. It’s all window dressing anyway. Scotland is being trashed by the Tories.

      • Republicofscotland

        reel guid.

        Yes by actively denying Scotland VAT exemption on its emergency services, Westminster knowingly put the saving of lives at risk by damaging them finacially.

        What kind of government would do such a thing?

    • fred

      13 Tory MPs do in 6 months what 56 SNP MPs couldn’t do in 2 years.

      It was the SNP power grab responsible for Scottish police and fire paying VAT in the first place.

      • JOML

        Yes, Fred, and this perfectly illustrates how Scotland’s MPs can be ignored in Westminster. Like reel guid states, this is the politics of extortion i.e. vote SNP and Westminster will punish you. The benefits of the union, ignoring the negatives, are clearly conditional and any grown up nation should move on.

        • fred

          What it says is you get nothing by trying to bully Westminster. The SNP government were warned that centralising Police and Fire services would lose their VAT exemption, they went ahead anyway then tried to bully the British government into changing the rules for them.

          The SNP went into Westminster thinking they could throw their weight around, bully and intimidate till they got what they wanted. The Scottish Conservatives showed what you can do with a spirit of friendship and co-operation.

          • JOML

            Fred, you appear to overlook that both the Tories and Slab were also proposing a single police force in Scotland back in 2011, again illustrating that Scotland is not in control of our destiny, even when the main political parties agree. However, you keep up your hatred of all things independence! ?

          • Republicofscotland

            “The SNP government were warned that centralising Police and Fire services would lose their VAT exemption,”

            All the main Scottish parties pledged at the 2011 Holyrood election that if elected they’d amalgate Scotland’s police into a single force. The SNP, Labour and Tory manifestos all proposed the move.

          • Republicofscotland

            Yeah Fred you must really really proud of Nick Clegg’s record in government with the Tories.

      • Republicofscotland

        It’s nothing more than political chicanary by the Tories, especially when the 13 Tories had virtually nothing to do with campaign.

        However the charging of VAT on Scotland’s emergency services has absolutely nothing to do with the money, exemptions already exist for Highways England, Academy Schools and the BBC.

        No it’s all about damaging the SNP governments reputation, the consequences of the Westminster governments actions, also endangered the lives of those living in Scotland including you Fred, by impinging on the ability of the services to carry out their functions properly.

        Impingements you wholeheartedly agree with, shame on you Fred.

        • fred

          It was the SNP who knowingly and deliberately made Scottish Police and Fire liable to pay VAT.

          112. The FM states that if the new bodies are subject to VAT, the cost of that payment would be a recurring annual cost of £21.5m90 for the single police service and £4m for the single fire service.91 These costs have been factored in to the FM. Should the new single services be able to recover VAT then this would lead to lower costs and higher savings.

          113. A key issue raised by stakeholders was the ability of future single services to recover VAT. At present, the police forces and fire services are able, under section 33 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (“the 1994 Act”), to recover any VAT costs incurred. The FM states that the proposed move to a single police and fire service may alter this.

          http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/48609.aspx

          They knew and they did it anyway.

          • Republicofscotland

            All the Scottish main parties, if (elected) would’ve done the same thing.

            Westminster put lives at risk, no doubt some folk died due to the 100s of millions of pounds denied to our emergency services.

            It’s shameful the likes of you agree with that, hang your head Mr.

          • JOML

            That’s right, Fred. If only we were independent and had control over our own VAT, we’d be able to determine a taxation regime that suits our own goals.

          • fred

            While member nations are given some leeway on implementation the basic VAT regulations are laid down by Europe.

          • Kempe

            Overall control of VAT lies with the EU who have dictated limits for the rates charged and whose eventual intention is to “harmonise” VAT across member states so good luck with that.

          • JOML

            Kempe, my comment on VAT was in the context on whether it was applied to the Scottish police force or not, rather than VAT in general. Otherwise, point taken!

          • fred

            The Scottish government had control. Customs and Excise told them how they could centralise the forces and still remain exempt. The Scottish government ignored them.

          • Republicofscotland

            Kempe the British government could if they wanted to reduce VAT from 20% to 15%.

            Although the UK charged 0% VAT on domestic fuel bills in 1991, the Conservative government introduced a VAT rate of 8% in 1993. This was later lowered to 5% under Labour.

          • Republicofscotland

            “However, this was widely held to be unworkable for a number of reasons, chiefly that it would have required 32 local authorities to agree the exact division of a police bill of around £500m a year between them, all with their own competing agendas, demands, local pressures and political axes to grind.”

            “(The impossibility of the situation would have been greatly amplified a couple of years later when local government fractured and several authorities left COSLA.)”

            Courtesy of Wings.

            https://wingsoverscotland.com/a-nation-of-hostages/

            Of course the SNP MP’s at Westminster asked the Tories, and your Libdem sidekicks when they were Cameron’s minions, a staggering 140 times to over five years to make an exemption.

            Yet we are meant to believe a handful of minor Tory yes men and women from Scotland swung it, aye right.

          • fred

            I’m sorry but when you start posting links to wingsoverscotland is when you lose all credibility.

          • Republicofscotland

            Looks like the PSNI pay very little if any VAT.

            “1.9 Value Added Tax

            Income and expenditure is shown exclusive of Value Added Tax, which in most cases
            is recoverable from HM Revenue and Customs, in accordance with the Value Added
            Tax Act 1994. Irrecoverable VAT is charged to the relevant expenditure category or
            included in the capitalised purchase cost of non-current assets.”

            https://www.psni.police.uk/inside-psni/our-departments/finance-and-support-services/financial-services-branch/annual-statement-of-accounts/

            Contained in the March 2016 Financial statement, its a PDF file page 65 and onward contains account figures.

        • fred

          “Looks like the PSNI pay very little if any VAT.”

          They don’t have the SNP screwing things up for them.

  • BrianFujisan

    I Don’t Do Shell Fish…. But my dad ..after a dive.. Brought back, Lobsters. and crab…with Em Claws that would Severe A fully Grown Woman or Man’s … arm.and leg…. I frefer Martial arts.

  • JOML

    Hammond wants driverless cars on the road by 2021, bringing cars into line with the overall UK economy.., going without a driver for sometime now.

    • Tony_0pmoc

      JOML,

      Driverless cars are a completely stupid idea. You are far better off with a horse and cart. The horse knows exactly where you live and can make sensible decisions when something completely unexpected happens. Computers are exceptionally stupid, especially when they are installed in a car. Earthworms are far more intelligent than computers, and apparently anyone in The UK or US Governments.

      Tony

  • Habbabkuk

    At the moment of writing this, Labour (Mr Corbyn) is replying to Chancellor Hammond’s budget speech in the House of Commons. Pretty feeble stuff so far, no specific counter-proposals to anything the Chancellor proposed and just a lot of quoting figures (eg on rough sleepers and so on) without any indication of what Labour would do to solve those problems (of course it wouldn’t do anything other than massage the figures); Scotland seems to have done quite well – shame, really, ‘cos they would whinge and whine even if every man jack of them were to be given £1 million!

    • Republicofscotland

      “Scotland seems to have done quite well”

      Habbabkuk.

      Really! What makes you think that?

      If only Westminster was as generous to Scotland as Washington is to the Knesset, now that’s what I call doing well.

      “Taking account of today’s announced changes, next year’s (2018/19) revenue budget still facing real terms CUT of £239 million – imposed by the UK government.”

      https://mobile.twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

      • Habbabkuk

        RoS

        “Really! What makes you think that?”

        ___________________________

        Simple – what he said in the budget speech. Didn’t you listen to it?

        BTW – I fail to understand the relevance to Scotland of your reference to the Knesset but never mind, I’ll let it pass.

        • Republicofscotland

          Habbabkuk.

          A very indepth and worthy reply there, I think you’ve missed your calling as an accountant, or tax officer. ?

      • Ba'al Zevul

        If only Westminster was as generous to Scotland as Washington is to the Knesset, now that’s what I call doing well.

        You are misinformed.

        If we look at the difference in total revenue collected and public spending in Scotland, there was a deficit of around £15 billion in 2015/16, whether or not the North Sea is included.

        That’s around 10% of Scotland’s GDP in 2015/16. In comparison the whole of the UK’s deficit was 3.8% of GDP in 2015/16.

        Using last year’s Scottish government figures, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) projects that the deficit would be around 6% of GDP by 2020/21, including the North Sea. It says that:

        “Scotland is largely insulated from the consequences of the substantial gap between the government revenues it generates and the government expenditure undertaken in or on behalf of Scotland. This is because the Scottish government gets most of its funding in the form of a block grant from the UK government, and the UK government uses revenues from across the UK to pay for non-devolved items like social security benefits and defence.”

        US aid to Wasrael for 2017 is projected to b $3.4Bn.

        So, (wearily) tell us once more how an independent Scotland is going to earn its keep?

      • Habbabkuk

        Yeah, sure, sure RoS – but the real question is : who’s going to stop them? Certainly not a lot of indignation on the internet 🙂

      • Republicofscotland

        JOML.

        Just think, the illegal Iraq war would never have happened if Saddam had spouted the same gobblyedegook over Resolution 242 as Israel has.

        Saddam.

        Errrr…..We invaded Kuwait, to erm… create a safe boundry, and um……to prevent acts of force….ahem.

      • Republicofscotland

        Habbabkuk.

        Bravo, spoken like a true supporter of the oppressive apartheid military regime.

      • giyane

        Habbabkuk
        “who’s going to stop them? Certainly not a lot of indignation on the internet ”

        Do we need any further evidence after this question that the religion that guides the state of Israel does not believe in its own Creator? Israel does not have exclusive rights to being a theocracy which does not believe in God. Saudi Arabia is a corporation for the self- preservation of the family of Saud. While MBS proclaims a future of diversification for the country, he has locked up anyone who has diversified and stripped them of their assets.

        Bonkers. But there again in the Middle East , for the bonkers, there is always safety in numbers.

    • Sharp Ears

      I thought he sounded very powerful. The speaker had to quieten the baying and jeering from the Deep Blue benches to enable him to speak They had really enjoyed Hammond’s music hall performance. Hammond was not interrupted.

      At the moment, John McDonnell is fending off a double header from the BBC attack dogs, La Kuenssberg and Neil. They lost.

  • Sharp Ears

    Jeremy Corbyn made a powerful response to Hammond’s attempt at a budget.

    Even Kuenssberg was unimpressed by Hammond.

    ‘Budget 2017: No political drama from ‘Box Office Phil’

    It wasn’t a drama – it wasn’t a Budget that would inspire queues at the Box Office.

    No surprise. When “Box Office Phil” was given that nickname, it wasn’t because he has a reputation for delivering political thrillers. ‘

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42084795

  • Republicofscotland

    The former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić, nicknamed the “butcher of Bosnia”, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    More than 20 years after the Srebrenica massacre, Mladic was found guilty at the United Nations-backed international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague of 10 offences involving extermination, murder and persecution of civilian populations.

    His trial spanned four years at the Hague.

    • Tony_0pmoc

      Republicofscotland,

      Strangely enough, I was reading about the troubles in Yugoslavia last night, written by someone who was a UN Military observer there. I bought the book a couple of years ago. It is extremely large. It was written by a Russian born in Switizerland who lives in Florida. I occasionally quote him, though I forget his real name, and often disagree with him. Despite that, he has never banned me, from his blog, though some of his moderators have told me to behave.

      Isn’t it time for ANTHONY CHARLES LYNTON BLAIR to appear on trial in The Hague, because it seems you Scottish are not going to prosecute him – and he is your Scottish disreputable piece of human? slime

      I admit some emotional connection to the people of Serbia – cos I nearly married her….many years before US/UK/NATO bombed the shiit out of her Family in Yugoslavia. I am still in contact with her, but could never tell her of some of the atrocities that I know went on during that war. It would break her heart.

      I was hoping her kids would prosecute him, because they were both trained in Law in Manchester, and are highly successful.

      http://thesaker.is/special-report-the-truth-about-srebrenica-20-years-later/

      Tony

  • Tony_0pmoc

    To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed with Paris, when I first visited it in 1963, and then again in 1970, but I completely loved Amsterdam, and have been back to Amsterdam since, and want to go again.

    Maybe Dmity Orlov like me, ain’t too keen on The French (even though my family origins are 50% French and my Mum grew up in France).

    He has just written a very powerful “Doomster”, essay – but there again, he is trying to publish his and other’s Doomster books. I often agree with him, but is Paris really like this. I haven’t been back to Paris since 1970.

    Did Dmity bet his house, shirt and family on the price of oil going to $1,000 a barrel? Oh dear. I wonder how his boat plan sales and relationships with his American investors are going , now that he has moved back to Russia. So far as I can tell, he didn’t tell them, he just went. Will the boat bits still turn up? Will Americans be allowed to buy Russian? Otherwise, he has probably got his American stuff right, and is extremely sensible about getting the hell out of The USA.

    But has he ever been to Paris? – cos this is what he just wrote..

    “And now that Paris is turning into a tent city bum squat infested with roving gangs of troglodyte migrant youths and the banks of the Seine are becoming encrusted with human feces—ah, that sweet smell of social and cultural collapse!—the French edition is flying off the shelves almost frighteningly quickly for such a specialty subject. (As I’ve warned my readers before, when you notice that my message has gone mainstream, it’s time to grab the duffel bag of spam, gold bullion and shotgun shells, gas up the pickup truck and head for the hills.)”

    http://cluborlov.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/the-new-subnormal.html

    Tony

    • K Crosby

      Paris looks like a C19th proto-facist imperial capital, with none of the ramshackle charm of Italian cities.

    • Macky

      Blair is not the only one iro Iraq, and let’s not forget those responsible for Libya & now Syria.

        • j

          Very slow going. Everybody loves the work but they’re all too broke to pay me a living wage for it.

          Very intriguing piece there, defies a glib appreciation. (Meaning, I like it, and I’d like to think about it before attempting to make a detailed comment.) Any more to hand?

        • Ba'al Zevul

          Looks like it would be a bastard to dust, Brian. 🙂
          OTOH, the first interesting post on this thread for a while. Thanks.

          • BrianFujisan

            Ba’al

            Cheers Dude.. Its Absolute muder to Dust, and transport..

            I was once in communication with the Nez Perce Nation, and they agreed to accept the Sculpture, Cant remember with battle site centre it was now, Big Hole Battlefield..or Bear Paw Battlefield..Anyhow, As you could imagine, There was no way i could aford to have this work packaged and sent..I tried for funding but no one was interested.. I quite fancied escorting it..then Trading for a Blanket..:) It all fizzled out in the end.

          • Ba'al Zevul

            Suggestion (as long as the piece isn’t stuck together with meltable materials):
            Place sculpture in container of similar depth. VERY carefully pour in molten investment casting wax ( eg http://www.eagerplastics.com/flexwax.htm ) to top of piece, and wait until completely cool and solid before wrapping (in the container, for added rigidity) and sending. Add instructions to recipient for gently heating the package and draining off the wax. (Hexane or a similar solvent may be needed to remove the last film of wax) This will end in tears if your customer is in the Mojave Desert in summer, of course – use a higher melting-point wax.

            No, I haven’t tried it. At your own risk.

      • BrianFujisan

        cimarron

        Thank you

        the lies at 2;50 mins are chilling

        then later we find that he is friends with the monsters.

    • K Crosby

      It mirrors the gleichschaltung of TradBBC in the 1980s; a great shame as well as a great crime.

  • Sharp Ears

    Mark Lewis, the solicitor in the Wallis Simon’s case, has been on Sky News with his partner, Mandy Blumenthal, talking about the stem cell treatment for his multiple sclerosis he received in Israel.

    • Sharp Ears

      …..Wallis Simons case…

      Why does predictive text stick apostrophes into some words ending in ‘s’?

      ________

      The solo presenter this morning, Jonathan Samuels, was friendly to Wallis Simons but conducted a noticeably aggressive interview with John McDonnell. Hardly let him speak

      • giyane

        Let’s hope the whole process of being dragged through the courts over nothing by this piece of shit will clarify the victim’s mind about the true nature of Zionism. A lesson well-learned. It has taken me three months to get over being falsely accused by Unite Students. The reality is that it takes an honourable man a long time to recover from being falsely accused and metaphorically kicked in the balls.

  • fred

    “I wonder if any poor people will ever vote for Nicola Sturgeon
    again?”

    Yes the brainwashed members of the haggis eating Braveheart cult will keep on voting for her so long as she keeps dangling the independence carrot in front of their noses.

    The SNP MPs and SMPs will be seen pissed out of their heads on subsidised single malts as usual, minimum pricing won’t affect them at all. The poor unemployed person who just had enough money left to buy a bottle of cider after doing the weeks shopping is the one who will suffer.

    Fascist pigs.

    • Republicofscotland

      First you railed about the Scottish government wanting VAT removed from its emergency services, which endangered services and ergo lives.

      Now you complain about minimum prices set on alcohol, which again could save lives, by detering those mostly likely to drink too much.

      I wonder Fred, who sounds more like a fascist?

      • fred

        The VAT on Scottish Fire and Police services made no difference whatsoever to their operational budget, that remains the same whether they pay VAT or not.

        Minimum pricing is Corn Laws and blatant about it and the Scottish distillers are going to suffer when other countries retaliate, that is why they fought it in the courts.

        If alcohol is bad for you why do we spend so much tax payer’s money promoting it? Fucking hypocrites.

        • Republicofscotland

          £35 milllion a year paid in VAT Fred cost faced by Scottish police and fire services has to be paid out of their budget. Money that could used on front line services to save lives.

          https://beta.gov.scot/news/police-and-fire-vat/

          Fred also said.

          “If alcohol is bad for you why do we spend so much tax payer’s money promoting it? Fucking hypocrites.”

          Moderation Fred, alcohol drunk in moderation, no one is attempting to dissuade people from doing that.

        • fred

          The Scottish Police Service accounts 2015/16.

          http://www.spa.police.uk/assets/128635/293627/spaara201516

          The SPA is working on the basis that Scottish Government will continue to fund the VAT costs, but it will still result in the revenue budget gap widening in future years.

          Now just which part of “The VAT on Scottish Fire and Police services made no difference whatsoever to their operational budget, that remains the same whether they pay VAT or not.” didn’t you understand? VAT comes out of Revenue Budget and is covered by the Scottish Government. And if you post links try to post links that back your argument don’t just post a link that looks official and hope nobody checks.

        • Republicofscotland

          “VAT comes out of Revenue Budget and is covered by the Scottish Government.”

          Yes Fred money that Finance Minister Derek Mackay in my link has said could be invested back into our emergency services.

          So in essence its monies lost to the services, wasn’t that my point in the first place?

        • fred

          Any money the Scottish Government spends could be invested in the Operational Budget, the money they spend promoting a language nobody understands could be invested in the operational budget, every penny the Scottish Government spends could be invested in the Police and Fire Operational Budgets if they wanted to.

          So what?

      • Kempe

        Rationing by price. It always hits the poorest hardest whereas the wealthy will hardly notice.

        I’ll be surprised if it works. It’ll either just leave people with less to spend on other things or open the door to shady characters running booze and baccy trips across the border.

        • Republicofscotland

          Fred.

          That’s a ridiculous claim, it would be foolish for Westminster or Holyrood to consider a hard border between the countries, even after independence, it would damage trade on both sides.

        • fred

          When did Nationalists give a fuck about what’s best for Scotland? They just want separation from the hated English. How many Scottish firms are they boycotting now?

        • Rob Royston

          It works on many people unless they are already hooked on drink. I used to travel offshore through Norway many years ago. If we had to overnight in Bergen, usually caused by fog in the field, they used to give us a 100 Kroner each each for buying a few beers. At that time this would buy around six or seven beers.
          I remember one night after the first round lots of people declared that they would not pay such high prices. When we moved to the restaurant and were sitting having our meal a couple of late comers sat down with a bottle of wine on each of their trays. Someone enquired how much that had cost and the lads said it was on the room. I’ve never seen such a stampede in my life as they all rushed to the counter to get their freebies. It was so embarrassing watching the greedy pigs.

        • Republicofscotland

          “When did Nationalists give a fuck about what’s best for Scotland? ”

          Fred.

          I think you know in your own heart that the SNP would not still be in government after 10 years if they weren’t doing something right.

          On your second point, I’ve very seldom come across people who support Scots indy who have anything bad to say about the people of England, it just doesn’t factor in.

          The Westminster government yes, but not the people of England.

          However Fred we quite clearly know how you feel about Scots, especially down and out piss stained ones sleeping in the doorways of London.

    • Deepgreenpuddock

      Fred aND BOOZE
      Well it is certainly a problem. I have a Grain of sympathy for your POV although am pretty sure its little to do with protecting the rights of poor people to the pleasures of cheap booze, who preferentially purchase the strong (POOR QUALITY) mass -produced cider and beer and fortified ‘wines’.
      There is an element of hypocrisy for sure-I know of a fair number of well-to-do alkies, but would you not agree that booze fuelled anti-social behaviour is worth inhibiting? Would you not agree that the aim of reducing the dire effects of excessive alcohol s virtuous. The self imposed ill- health of people imposes on others( the tax payer you seem so concerned to protect).
      It makes a mockery of the idea of the NHS.
      But for donkey’s years there was a huge hypocrisy about tobacco. Dostoyevsky had a pop at the dire health effects of tobacco in Crime and Punishment-revealing that tobacco was generally known to be harmful, as long ago as mid 19th century, if not quite the details of its carcinogenicity.
      However would you not agree that there has been a huge improvement in the well-being of many people(and children), relieved of the pressures of a rampant criminal tobacco industry, with not a second thought of the disastrous impact their product had.
      Again smoking was much more pronounced in poorer cohorts of the population and the shift away from smoking has had a likewise greater effect among those not now smoking.It could be argued that it unfairly impacted on the poorer smoker.
      The point is that benefits have accrued from the actions of central government, and where there is similar overwhelming evidence of the impact of alcohol abuse, it seems appropriate to legislate or take action to moderate the problem.
      Yes I do slightly regret that poor people’s drink is penalised more and it might have been better to apply the rule more widely but there are practical considerations. An extra two pounds on a bottle of malt is not going to do much to dissuade malt drinkers already shelling out £50 a bottle. 50p on a bottle of Prosecco?
      So hold you nose a bit, and accept that doing the right thing is not always easy or perfect. Alcohol, like tobacco and heroin and other substances are addictive and addiction is frequently associated with harm at both the personal and group level.

    • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

      We should point out to him the collapse of Lord Bute’s government when it tried to introduce a tax on cider. The alternative financial wheeze of taxing imports to the colonies was equally unsuccessful. Traditionally the Tories have sided with the big brewers against cider ,for example ,by subsidizing the grubbing up of cider orchards. The EU then mandated the end of comparatively lower tax on cider than beer.From paying sixpence(2.5 p) a pint for almost ten years,I would have to pay with £5 a pint for the .same quality nowadays. I now have to make my own to maintain my standard of inebriation.

1 5 6 7 8 9 17

Comments are closed.