Wednesday 3 August 2016

WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN?

SCOTTISH LABOUR TO BE GIVEN GREATER AUTONOMY, AGAIN!


Sorry, Scottish Labour, just how many times have we heard that?

I seem to remember Iain Gray being slapped down for assuming that he had some authority in Scotland. Indeed I recall that he had the temerity to suggest that he was the leader of Labour in Scotland. Gordon Brown was having none of that. HE was the leader of Labour in Scotland, and Mr Gray was the leader of the party in the Scottish parliament. Only the geographical distance between the two saved poor hapless Gray for a Nokia round the lughole!

Then Johann Lamont was to be given real power to steer Scottish Labour in a direction more in line with Scottish sentiment, only to resign after the referendum, complaining that she was kept out of the loop by London, that her staff were sacked without her knowledge, and that she sometimes had to wait weeks for a decision from London on the stance she should take on given situations (by which time they had passed). She said, in short, that it was impossible to run the organisation as a branch office.

Next came the short-lived Jim Murphy, who told anyone who would listen (the BBC probably) that he was his own man and nobody would tell him what to do. Except that they did, and very publicly too! And then Jim lost all but one of Scotland's 41 Labour seats in the UK parliament, most of which had been in their hands for near on 100 years.

Now Kezia Dugdale is to have much more autonomy. Heavens, if each of these leaders got progressively more autonomy, surely Kez must, by now, have more power than the President of China. And Hillary Clinton thinks she's going to be the most powerful woman in the world? Think again, sweetie!

You know, back in the early days of Holyrood there were those who simply assumed that Labour would always form the major part of the government of Scotland. Then over the past few years, that they would always form the main opposition to the government of Scotland. 

Now the notion that they will always manage to be the third party is beginning to be in doubt. 

I've been known to disagree with the views of Henry McLeish, but on this one why on Earth don't they listen to him. It's the only way forward.

Thanks to Oor Jim on Twitter for the artwork!

16 comments:

  1. It all started with Wee Wendy snarling "Bring it on!" and Big Gordie pulling her choke chain and giving her a smack with a rolled up copy of the Labour manifesto.

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    1. Damn, aye. I forgot Wendy. She was the one with a brain the size of a small plant, wasn't she!

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  2. Is this the strategy she picked up in America?
    Her new powers, over the brach office, will be watered down as much as the Smith commission; thus mean bugger all.

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    1. I reckon she may be allowed to water the office plants without asking London!

      Seriously though, there can be little in the way of independence when they are tied to the purse of London. And to which party will she be in thrall? The proper Labour Party with Jeremy Corbyn as leader, or the Pretendy Labour Party under Hilary Benn, or whoever takes over the Tory wing of the labour party?

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  3. Tris, whats this Capcha sh**e, been pressing buttons for 5mis going round in circles.
    Whats wrong with just signing in like before.
    INDEPENDANT

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    1. I've not added Capcha, Dinosaur.

      Is anyone else having problems?

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  4. The last paragraph says it ALL!!!!!!!

    Skint, and probably unable to pay their rent without a London bail-out.

    Scottish Labour complete with the CRINGE! They are too WEE (intellectualy), too POOR (bankrupt! no money for the wages next month) and definately too STUPID, SCOTTISH LABOUR a talentless example of self destruction.

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    1. Seems to me that they have to make a choice. It might be hard at first to manage without English money, but they might get some extra members, and extra money, if they tried angling their policies to Scottish people instead of the Middle England they seem to wish to impress.

      They really need to find a leader who leads and not whines.

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  5. It must be difficult coming to terms with change at their age. SLAB will - we hope - be finally eviscerated next May. Its then a straight fight between the Nationalists and the Unionists. Their internal party battle in England will hopefully see them beyond electability for a generation, then in Scotland they can conclude reluctantly that Independence is their only way back.

    We need to trust Nicola more than ever to get this right. We are tantalisingly close to the endgame now.

    Alba Gu Brath!

    S.A.

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    1. It's a big ask of Nicola, but to be honest, if anyone can make the right decision, then I believe that she can.

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  6. I assume Ms Dugdale is back in Scotland after her neolib US indoctrination course?
    Does she now take orders from London or Washington?

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    1. Does it make any difference, Jutie?

      After all pretty much everything come from Washington anyway. If it is filtered through London, it's still going to be the same stuff.

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  7. The main difference between us nationalists and the unionists is that we want to end the culture of dependency and they don't.
    I find this very hard to understand from the Tories who are always complaining about benefit scroungers and so on but Labour,well that's another story altogether.
    All that Labour in Scotland have left is hard core unionism and if it comes down to a choice between solidarity with 500m European comrades and 60m English ones,will always choose England.
    Their "socialism" ends at the English Channel.

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    1. I remember that they went on about that in the referendum debates bringiton.

      "I have as much in common with the working man in Liverpool and a do with the working man in Aberdeen", they bleated. But clearly not with the working man in Bruges or Berlin.

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  8. Tris

    BLIS appear to know what they are against rather than what they are for. I just don't see how they come back in Scotland, I really can't. When they refuse someone like Allan Grogan membership then you know that they have not changed and have learned nothing in Scotland. They appear to be hellbent on their own destruction, fine with me.

    BLIS have betrayed us too often for too long, they had their chance, like the Tories and like the Liberals, they have all had their chance to stand up for Scotland but chose to treat the country as a region and a stepping stone to the big smoke. As we have said before the argument is now between yes and no and in the long run yes will win as time and the argument is on our side. If BLIS don't embrace YES then they die sooner rather than later, and once the union money really dries up, which it will in the longer term, with their dwindling membership they will look like the Liberals, a branch office no larger than an SNP local branch but nationally, but at the end of the day good riddance to bad smells.

    Bruce

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    1. You'd certainly think, Bruce, that being destroyed in the UK elections loosing 40/41st of their seats (by any standards an horrific result), then being related to a distant third party in the Scottish elections would have told them that they are getting something wrong.

      If memory serves me right they have won fewer seats in every election since the reconvening of the Scottish parliament. They have changed their leadership seven times since 1999. They have had men and women, straight and gay. They have had intellectuals and practical people from teh left and the hard right. So they have done everything except look at who they put forward and what policies they offer despite review after review, that latest by Jim 'the loser' Murphy.

      For God's sake why can;t they see that they MUST do something which appeal to their target public.

      I'd actually like to see some proper opposition. That's good for government. But there never is any, except that predictable SNP bad. They are prepared to turn 180 degrees to make bad headlines for the SNP.

      If I were them, I'd be saying what else can we change?

      And my answer would be "our policies"!

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