[ritchiebaby]

John Swinney had already been confirmed as the SNP Party Leader and today was elected First Minister of Scotland. There were the usual other candidates to become FM, but they had no chance and surely knew that.

He is widely regarded as a safe choice to lead the SNP Government until the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026. There will apparently will be no deal with the Greens, so it will be a minority Government up to then. It's not really a problem as the SNP have done it successfully before.

His new Cabinet will show us where he's heading, with Kate Forbes expected to be offered a top job as a reward for her support. The FM will have to deal with the same problems simmering away in the background as Humza Yousef had, but I'm sure he will handle them with dexterity in his business-like manner.

[0762]

Re the upcoming General Election, CND starting a campaign to only vote in candidates who back a nuclear free Scotland - a great idea!! Well that gets rid of any Tory, Labour or Libdem chancers who are already undemocratic when it comes to debating the Scottish constitution or the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland.

There's a CND picture, at the start of their campaign article - it shows a part of the radioactive legacy that the UKG has given Scotland - seven out of service, redundant nuclear submarines, parked up at Rosyth dockyard beside the Forth bridges.
The first of the redundant subs arrived at Rosyth in 1980, that’s 44 years ago!
In a nutshell, the UKG didn’t know what to do with them, so there they lay.

In total, there are 27 redundant UK nuclear submarines. There had been a plan to scuttle them all just off Scotland's West Coast, but international pressure forced the UKG to abandon that plan.

Two years ago, the UKG gave a commitment that Rosyth Dockyard will be nuclear free by 2035. IF they keep to that commitment, to actually meet their obligations to safely dispose of these radioactive hulks, then it will have taken 55 years since the arrival of the first. FIFTYFIVE YEARS!
The UKG boasts that it is being responsible with the UK's nuclear deterrent.
Being responsible would mean having a full lifecycle plan, from first building the things to their ultimate disposal. They didn’t have a plan.

[ritchiebaby]

A plan??? Surely the mere thought of a plan would give the Tories the heebie-jeebies. They can't see past the end of their snout in the trough, so they're incapable of having a plan worth pursuing. Any long-term plans mooted are doomed to failure because of short-term thinking.

[hibeejim21]

I'm deeply bored with this election already.

I'd like to vote for the SNP as they seem to be the only left leaning,non genocide supporting outfit available but i just can't go John Swinney, another one of Sturgeons yes men who have taken independence nowhere and came up with bullshit like the named person scheme, or that farce with the bottle return scheme.

[ritchiebaby]

I feel your pain, jim, but I'll definitely be voting SNP.

In my constituency (bottom right on the map), they were around 5k votes behind in 2nd place to the Tories. The danger to the SNP will be that John Lamont will garner a lot of personal votes, rather than Tory votes.

To be honest, if Labour were in 2nd place, I'd be voting for them, so I'm a floating anti-Tory voter.

[0762]

I'm not on this board often any more, but must respond to the negative feel of this GE. First of all, read the SNP manifesto and what it says, particularly the 1st para regarding Scottish independence which is the bigger target for the many people in Scotland who support indy or are interested in the prospect of Scottish independence - it is relevant in the overall scheme of things and contrary to what a lot of unionist charlatans are shamelessly and undemocratically saying on a regular basis!! Some of the extreme comments coming from Britnat or unionist political and other sources are absolutely outrageous TBF!!! One crass inciteful comment yesterday was the one that Scots who don't regard themselves to be British should be deported - a disguised racist remark (by an idiot and a minority one as far as I'm concerned) to all Scots who regard themselves as Scottish!!! As for BBC QT's biased anti-Scotland host, Fiona Bruce - she should've been sacked last year, not impartial at all and hates the SNP or any SNP representative!! Regarding John Swinney? I'd judge him on performance and what he says!! I think he has done OK as far as I can make out and note he drew reasonable applause from a York audience tonight in a BBC Election Debate. I would argue a certain stability has been established by John Swinney and btw I'm not an avid fan. It is still good to see a certain settlement/gravitas gradually pervading the ranks of the SNP and the SNP govt. Also the only logical vote to really choose is the SNP one anyway!! Vote for any other undemocratic Scot political party attached to a dictating London head office???? Smell the coffee!! Follow your gut on this FGS and my message to any indy associate is "DON'T FRAGMENT THE VOTE AND SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THE EVENTUAL BIGGER PRIZE"!!! Indy is an important cog in the whole macro-economic mechanism of dealing with the major issues/probs that are affecting the Scottish people and a huge move towards a well-being economy that is favoured by over 70% of Scots (based on various poll results re this particular topic). We are big enough, smart enough and rich enough to govern our own country, Bella Caledonia. To anyone who doubts this assertion - please try to watch Lesley Riddoch's film about Denmark titled "The State of Happiness" - roughly the same size of country, similar population size, but Scotland has far more natural resources - be seriously enlightened!! Note: this film has been viewed in the past few months by sell out audiences through the length and breadth of Scotland. LOVE SCOTLAND, PROUD TO BE SCOTTISH - POSITIVITY PERSONIFIED!! TELL A FRIEND.

[ritchiebaby]

A chastening GE night for Swinney and the SNP. Despite the SNP/Independence diehards promoting Independence at every opportunity, it probably was a mistake by the SNP to put it to the forefront of their manifesto and campaign, when the general voting public had other priorities.

In my constituency, John Lamont (Con) even increased his majority by over 1,000 from 2019.

[0762]

https://www.believeinscotland.org/uk_gov...inscotland

On a Sportsbabble Abstract Board that looks like it has been unimpressively "dead" for months, I'll post this vg BiS article anyway for the few Scot readers who occasionally peruse through this forum - Energy pricing is unfair to Scots - another exposure of the limitations of devolution and where we really should be going to attain a far better future away from Westminster interference/diktat, regular anti-Scotland political attacks from their predominant pro-Union/English press-media ad nauseum. An enlightening read from Believe in Scotland. A case of "smell the coffee" for still too many politically illiterate Scots. SAOR ALBA ASAP!!