Public Meeting

[John S]

Hi All,

As you may be aware in 8 months we get the opportunity to vote for a new council here in Argyll & Bute and a new First Minister in the Scottish Parliament. During that time I will make a number of posts on the forum to alert you to up and coming events, issues and information about the election. For those of you who take a dim view of politics I apologise in advance. I dare say opponents to my party will get hot under the collar about launching a political debate here but perhaps it might be interesting and may help people decide whether to take the time to vote or not. I'll be happy to answer any questions I can and perhaps get some of our Elected Representatives to register and answer the ones I can't

Anyway - Jim Mather , who is the SNP Shadow Enterprise & Economy Spokesman & Highlands & Islands MSP will be holding a Community Surgery on Friday 15th September in the White Hart Hotel, Campbeltown at 7.30 pm

Jim wants to listen and respond to the issues that concern local people, If anyone wants to come along please do.

Meanwhile the SNP in Argyll & Bute would welcome new browsers to there website and forum - http://www.argyll-snp.com/forum/

There is more information on the national site - http://www.snp.org/

[general jack o'niell]

[John S]

Aye General Jack, I know you really come from a tradition of floating voters, Along with the scouder and jock the boat.
Hope you can make it along on the 15th.

I take it you mean Duncan Hamilton - the only Douglas Hamilton I know of is lord James the Baron of Selkirk and he's definitely a one nation tory.

Dunkie has risen above politics in to the lower echelons of the press with a column in the Hootsmon.
see http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=113

[general jack o'niell]

[dedalus]

Sorry guys the scottish parliament should be shut down and preserved as a monument to Scottish stupidity. It only serves to remind us that we do not have the collective wit to organise a glorified multi storey car park on budget let alone run a country. Sack the lot of them and spend the money somewhere sensible instead. Please feel free to remind me of one .... just one ......good thing that has come out of the scottish parliament. ( apart from the entertainment value provided by the ssp which obviously should be transfered to Broadway as a musical.)

[John S]

Hmmm..... let me see - What about the Protection of Children act, the Land Reform act, Ethical Standards in public life act - Granted hardly mind blowing, but the real power to effect meaningful change, if you agree change is needed, still lie at Westminster.

The issue being are we best served by these meaningful powers being dispensed from London? if the answer is no, as I believe, will we be better of if we take these powers for ourselves?

I believe we can be if we try.

What about you dadelus? Perhaps that would be flying to close to the sun for you. or was it Daedelus who thunk that.

[dedalus]

I see you don't know your Joyce. But Ill let that pass


Holyrood has to do something or the country will get wise to the fact that its a just a paid for ego trip for a few little hitlers --- so they bring in some new laws " look we did something" Like the man says you dont need common sense when you have rules

Protection of children hmm..... mine are pretty well protected thank you - maybe if we didnt have a system that encourages single mothers and discourages community and collective responsibility we wouldnt need such an act. Our society is disconnected by a nanny state that tries to bring a law in for every eventuality leaving no responsibility or authority with the community. .

Land reforms - so a few teuchters got rich suddenly "hoad me back"

ethical standards in public life.


ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha

good one

pmsl on that one....... almost as much as every time I hear Jack Mcconnell speak

lets bring a "Scotland owns the moon" law - it would make as much difference.

lets face it scotland has become a laughing stock cos its run by 4th rate politicians. Westminster is not perfect it has way too much government going on ( what was it 3000 public relations people?.......I have absolutely no words.......none) but like it or not we have a British economy and no amount of political tinkering by those TW@TS in Holyrood is going to make a blind bit of difference to any of us .........any of us that actually contribute to the economy that is - oh and you'll be happy to give up all of our subsidies will you? Tell you what the SNP should state that if they come to power in Scotland ( thats an oxymoron I know) they will give up all pro Scottish subsidies immediately ..................The scottish economy cannot survive on its own ............but then again when did any modern day politician know anything about wealth creation - all they know is how to spend taxes.. creation is someone elses problem.

[John S]

I see you don't know your Joyce. But I'll let that pass

Ulysses did'nt spring to mind when I read your posts - more like Homer - Simpson that is.

Protection of children hmm..... mine are pretty well protected thank you - maybe if we didnt have a system that encourages single mothers and discourages community and collective responsibility we wouldnt need such an act

Lost me here dedalus can you explain how single parents are being encouraged and collective responsibility discouraged by having a Scottish Parliament

ethical standards in public life.


ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha.ha

good one

Yes David McLetchie seemed to think so

Tell you what the SNP should state that if they come to power in Scotland they will give up all pro Scottish subsidies immediately ..................The Scottish economy cannot survive on its own

There are no pro Scottish subsidies, only London ones in the other direction. Wealth creation can start as soon as we have power over our own economy and can create a environment where businesses can grow and prosper.

[general jack o'niell]

[John S]

I know that! I have my contacts. Although I thought The Professor was more of a fixer than a windger. Come-on Professor what’s your Big Idea???

[general jack o'niell]

[dedalus]

Homer simpson? lol

thats a cheap shot

shouldnt expect more from a party who's mascot doesnt even live or pay taxes here ( godsh holy troushersh Peacshy)

and dont get me started on SE - a job creation scheme for the middle classes - better to drop thier entire budget from a plane over the country than the crap they get up to.

Whilst the politicians arnt looking the whole country is decending into chaos - a benefits economy where Single motherhood and "going on the sick" are lifestyle career choices. Sure we have genuine sick people and single mothers - but the harsh reality is it pays too well to sit on your ass in this country. Be careful what you ask for cos thats what you get - I am sick of seeing companies who cant get decent staff - in areas of high unemployment...I have employees who wont do overtime cos they get thier pay topped up by the government anyway and they just get it taken off them if they do the extra hours - how insane is that?

Tell me have you any Poles in C'town yet? SNP being so big on Scotland in europe and all - where will the gaelic be when our second language is Polish? I hear they are even taking the high tech jobs in Inverness. No offense to the asylumgrants only..... cant we send some of our useless Gets to Poland in return - Im thinking a polish doctor gets swapped for a Govan junky?......watcha think?.......Hell Id let 10 thousand in if they took our MSPs - foolish idea I know who'd want such illiterates - maybe they'd take the junky tho.

country's goin to the dogs I tell you no wonder people are up and leaving.

[John S]

Your points prof. are all valid concerns but where are the controls that can effect change the public sector is now 54% or there abouts of Scotland’s GDP this comes about because the only controls the Labour and their Liberals colleagues have are over public sector, quangos and limited infrastructure.

No fiscal control means we have no other means of improving the lives of the people who live here through wages rather than benefits. The means of attracting and keeping companies and institutions here is short term grant rather than long-term competitive advantage, and there’s the rub competitive advantage. As long as we stay fiscally connected to the Westminster government we will never be allowed to compete for business and will always be a regional branch of UK PLC.

Your concern over benefit dependency is understandable but i cannot accept single parents being used as scapegoats. Many of the single parents I know work hard enough for two and then go home to all the parental responsibility. I don't know what age your kids are Prof. but I hope they don't ever find themselves alone with a child and you as the sympathetic grandpa.

The benefit system for people is no different than the investment grants for large companies if they are ill conceived and the intended recipients use them you cannot blame the recipients. Blame lies in the concepts, which lie in the political institutions. That is not the executive or uk governments for these are just frameworks blame lies in the labour and liberal parties.


Reversing the damage done as a result of playing with half a deck is not going to be straight forward but it can start like this:

1. Establish a government committed to attaining complete fiscal control for Scotland
2. Lower corporation tax and business rates
3. Reduce red tape and refocus the enterprise structures
4. Encourage innovation and access to capital.

Immigration will be a part of delivering a sustainable Scotland, depopulation stifles economic growth, Poles, English, even returning Scots will be required. Every small nation, which has gained its independence in recent years, have found repopulation essential to feed the growth that having control of the fiscal powers brings.

Where environments are created to encourage wealth creation for the benefit of the whole population everyone wins this is not a new concept but the forgotten lagacy of Adam Smith, which the Tories never uttered

[Bobbie En Tejas]

Can I come too?

[John S]

I'm sure you would have something to offer Rab..