Referendum aftermath

Deputy Leader Wee Nicola has just made a speech to Holyrood, in which she confirms she is going to stand for First Minister...

Highlights from:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/sturgeon-i-hope-my-candidacy-shows-young-women-that-theres-no-glass-ceiling.1411550370

Ms Sturgeon, who has been Deputy First Minister since the nationalists came to power at Holyrood seven years ago, has been the clear favourite to take over from Mr Salmond.

He announced last Friday that he would be stepping down from the job after Scots rejected independence in the referendum, voting instead to remain part of the United Kingdom.

During her speech Ms Sturgeon said that she would welcome a contest for the leadership of the SNP and refused to rule out having a commitment for another indyref in the SNP's 2016 manifesto.

She also stated that she would struggle to see herself blocking whatever new power package that would emerge from Lord Smith of Kelvin's commission following the indyref.

She said: "To be the first minister of my country, especially at this exciting and optimistic time, would be both a great honour - without doubt, the greatest honour - and an immense responsibility.

"I am putting myself forward for two simple reasons: I want to serve my party and my country. And I believe I am the best person for the job.

"I also hope that my candidacy, should it succeed, will send a strong message to every girl and young woman in Scotland: no matter your background or what you want to achieve in life, in Scotland in 2014 there is no glass ceiling on ambition.

"I f elected I will bring a real sense of new and different possibilities."

On the topic of Scottish independence, Ms Sturgeon stated that "there is no short-cut" and a referendum would be required. However, she indicated that circumstances would dictate the timing of any future referendum.

She also touched on First Minister Alex Salmond's political future, saying: "I'm sure Alex Salmond will want to enjoy a bit of freedom from ministerial office for a fair degree of time."

Following the launch of her leadership campaign, Keith Brown MSP tweeted: "Delighted to state my support for my current 'Boss', Nicola Sturgeon MSP, in her bid to become SNP Leader, and First Minister of Scotland."

So, that's another referendum in four years, then.

David Cameron is to apologise to the Queen after he was caught boasting she had ‘purred down the line’ when he called to tell her Scotland had rejected independence.
The Prime Minister was said to be ‘deeply embarrassed’ last night after he was inadvertently caught on camera discussing the Queen’s reaction to last week’s referendum.
His comments were blasted by Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who led the campaign for independence, as 'absolutely pathetic'.

He told BBC Scotland: 'David Cameron has been prime minister for four years and he hasn't learned basic civility on not gossiping about what Her Majesty The Queen thinks, or doesn't think, to Michael Bloomberg, or anyone else for that matter.
'That's absolutely pathetic and he should hang his head in shame.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2766849/The-Queen-purred-line-I-told-Scotland-voted-No-Cameron-caught-mic-making-extraordinary-comments-Monarch.html#ixzz3EECt8oOS
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

I really don't see HM 'purring' - or 'tearing up', as Cameron also seems to have told the Mayor of New York. Though what concern it is of the Mayor, I am none too sure.

sunday herald ‏@newsundayherald 15m
Our internal figures confirm a circulation last week of 49,921. That's a year on year increase of 111%. We are speechless and very grateful

They were the ONLY paper in the UK that backed YES, so it's good to see them reaping the rewards of showing some backbone. Even if unionist thugs did try to burn them down in retaliation.

And:

http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2014/sep/snp-membership-soars-labour-could-die-out

As SNP membership soars to more than 57,000, former First Minister Henry McLeish has warned that the Labour Party is in danger of dying out in Scotland.

Henry McLeish has today said that traditional Labour supporters in “solid areas of the old Red Clydeside and in Dundee” have been energised by the referendum debate and are moving towards the SNP. Mr McLeish also called for the Labour Party in Scotland to have full autonomy from the party at UK level.

This criticism from a senior Labour figure only adds to the pressure on Johann Lamont – after the whispering campaign against her leadership continues apace at the Labour Conference in Manchester.

In stark contrast to the Labour party’s fortunes, in recent days the SNP membership has grown by more than 32,000 to stand at more than 57,000 – making the SNP the third largest party in the UK

This follows a Survation poll showing support for the SNP standing at 49 per cent – up on even the 2011 landslide levels – while support for Labour languishes at 33 per cent.

In the long term, losing this referendum may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, as there is now a solid base for all the independence parties to build on. Labour should be very, very scared about the two coming elections, because they simply do not have the resources to turn all their big guns on Scotland. They are NEVER going to be forgiven for their support of the Tories during the referendum.

Well worth reading:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/george-kerevan-uk-economy-is-a-ticking-time-bomb-1-3550780

Why does the world worry so much about the UK economy? Basically because we don’t export enough goods, which means we live off our banks and banks are mega risky, don’t you know. In 2012, the UK had sunk to only 11th in the global rankings as an exporter. Even Hong Kong bested us. This means we don’t earn enough foreign currency to pay for our imports of Korean smartphones and year-round African vegetables.

We filled the gap through the big City of London banks gambling on foreign derivatives, generating vast paper profits denominated by dollars and euros. Of course, that is exactly the equivalent of you trying to pay off your mortgage by flying to Las Vegas and betting your shirt. You might win for a time, but eventually disaster strikes. It struck the UK economy in 2008. As a result, governments introduced rules to limit banks from gambling. Sensible as that move is, it removes a key source of foreign currency to pay for our imports.

The obvious alternative is to “rebalance” the economy to exporting. Some hopes. UK productivity has stagnated as firms refused to invest. In Ireland – the butt of many jokes by Scottish Labour politicians – productivity has skyrocketed, creating an export boom. Irish economic growth in the year to June was a phenomenal 7.7 per cent, twice the UK number. Foreign investment is flooding into Ireland and government borrowing costs have dropped below those of the UK. The Celtic tiger is roaring again. Britain, on the other hand, faces a crisis – how to fund imports.

The only two growth industries in the dis-united kingdom appear to be online gambling and payday loans. The two may be connected...

Oh, look at all the lovely oil Scotland should have:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-29342142

24 September 2014 Last updated at 13:19 Share this pageEmailPrint
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Technology boost for Scotland's oil reserves in North Sea


New gas and water technologies could add decades to the lifespan of oil reserves in the North Sea, according to Edinburgh researchers.

A Heriot-Watt University team said they had made a breakthrough in developing clean and cheap methods to maximise extraction from existing fields.

The university has been working on a technique known as low-salinity water injection.

The team has been researching which fields would benefit most from it.

Researchers have also been developing gas injection technologies for use in reservoirs that are already flooded with water.

Professor Mehran Sohrabi, director of the university's centre for enhanced oil recovery, believes new technologies could be a game changer for the industry and has called for more investment to reverse the decline in North Sea production.

Too expensive'
He said: "At least half of the original oil still remains in the North Sea reservoirs but there are great challenges in extracting it using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques.

"These include limited platform space and large well spacing, making extraction too expensive to pursue.

"Following years of research at the university, we now believe we can overcome these challenges."

Low-salinity water injection works by reducing the salt levels in sea water that is already injected into reservoirs.

Mr Sohrabi said: "It has the potential to make a huge impact on the current output of the North Sea's oil production.

"We have developed a robust method to screen oil reservoirs to identify the ones that would respond positively to low salinity water injection.

"This allows us to estimate the size of incremental oil recovery, which is vital for economic calculations of enhanced oil recovery projects."

Odd how that wasn't mentioned a week ago. Or maybe not.

Where would London be, without our oil to shore them up, and finance stupid fast trains, and illegal wars? Oh, and I told you so.

http://news.sky.com/story/807749/queens-bid-for-poverty-grant-slammed

The Queen has been criticised after a freedom of information request revealed she tried to use an anti-poverty grant to heat her palaces.

A senior Royal aide wrote to the Government in 2004 asking whether Her Majesty would be eligible for a handout from a £60m energy-saving fund.

He complained that the cost of keeping the Queen and her staff warm had doubled to £1m a year, and the £15m Government grant to maintain her palaces was inadequate.

But the request to replace four combined heat and power (CHP) units at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle was turned down, according to documents obtained by The Independent under the the Freedom of Information Act.

In an apologetic email to the Palace, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport explained that the handouts were meant to help low-income families.

The official also expressed concern that if the Queen was handed money out of the poverty fund it would lead to "probable adverse press coverage".

The email said: "I think this is where the Community Energy Funding is directed and ties in with most allocations going to community heating schemes run by local authorities, housing associations, universities etc.

"I also feel a bit uneasy about the probable adverse press coverage if the Palace were given a grant at the expense of say a hospital.

"Sorry this doesn't sound more positive."

Speechless.

I do hope that this was done by her staff without her knowledge.  Otherwise........

Very badly advised, Lily, there simply isn't a way of making that look good. Especially on top of the alleged purring.

The top is becoming more and more out of touch?

I cannot imagine why anyone thought that was a good idea, Lily. The people that received the request must have been stunned speechless.

I doubt if it was HM, just as I doubt if she 'purred', but it raises questions about her advisors.

Pre and post referendum oil reserves. Told you so.

You sure did, Bonny.  Would never have doubted it anyway.  

Fantastic!

That's an awful lot of new hands for next year's general election, Lily. And Westminster won't have time to threaten and smear Scotland, Cameron is going to be too busy fighting off UKIP and Labour.

There's an English by-election coming up shortly, and the Tories may well lose the seat to UKIP, which would be most amusing. The LibDems are dead in the water now, after jumping into bed, or rather coalition, with the Tories.

Meanwhile, someone's off Meeting and Greeting at the Ryder Cup.....



I confess to having to check who lost, and who won, the referendum, as the only happy politicians in the UK at present seem to be the SNP. Especially one A. Salmond. I see Moira let him out in the tartan golfing trousers again.

Bless her and him.  

One week after the referendum, there's going to be no change, no Vow-keeping; Labour wants to cut child benefit and the winter fuel allowance - while giving themselves a 9% increase of course. The NHS is under threat, and we've oil aplenty for decades. Exploratory fracking is still going to start just outside Edinburgh. Oh, and Cameron's taking us into another war.

Don't blame the 45%s for any of this - we warned No voters what would happen, and we were right.

Disgusting.

From:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/elections-watchdog-calls-in-police-over-no-camp-postal-vote-claims.25423662

Election watchdog calls in police over claims about No camp access to postal votes

Martin Williams
Senior News Reporter
Thursday 25 September 2014
POLICE have been called in to ­investigate allegations Better Together agents breached election law by viewing postal votes to discover how well the No campaign was doing in the weeks before the referendum poll closed.

The concerns surfaced after Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, declared 45 minutes after the polls closed last Thursday that the campaign had been "incredibly encouraged" by the results of a "sample opening" of the postal ballot that she said had taken place over the previous few weeks.

She said agents were able to "take tallies" of postal ballots and "the reports have been very positive for us".

It has been confirmed that ­the ­Electoral Commission, the independent elections watchdog, has referred a number of complaints it received to the police as the allegations may be of a criminal nature.

The development comes as the Yes campaign was challenged to accept it had lost the referendum vote instead of sowing division with conspiracy theories and claims No voters were "tricked".

Complaints sent to police and the Electoral Commission surrounded agents being able to see the ballot papers and communicate how the vote was going during opening sessions across Scotland in the days running up to September 18.

According to Elections Scotland guidance, agents present at the opening of postal votes "must observe the requirement of secrecy". Failure to observe the requirement is a criminal offence punishable by up to 12 months in prison and/or to a fine of up to £5,000.

The Electoral Commission decided to pass complaints it received to the police after making an initial assessment over whether there was any case to answer.

Agents representing each campaign are allowed to oversee the postal vote opening sessions, where checks are made to verify signatures and dates of birth against records. Elections Scotland instructions on postal votes accept that while staff are required by law to keep ballot papers face down, there may be occasions when the front of the document becomes visible.

She boasted about being able to see how people were voting on TV, which naturally was recorded and YouTubed.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/ukip-donor-calls-for-english-indyref-to-eject-scotland-wales-and-northern-ireland-fro.1411650314

Property investor Andrew Perloff, chairman of Hertfordshire-based real estate firm Panther Securities, said Scotland's rejection of independence came as no surprise given that UK taxpayers "contribute £1,600 per year per person... to these malcontents".

Under the heading "chairman's ramblings" in Panther Securities' interim results, Mr Perloff said: "We have just had the result of the Scottish referendum which appears as a resounding Yes to the union 55% in favour to 45% against.

"I do not know why the result would have been in doubt.

"Why would any faction of a social club resign when all the other members contribute £1,600 per year per person to their particular faction and have been further browbeaten to offer further incentives to these malcontents?

"Perhaps now the English can have a referendum as to whether we wish to keep the Scots in and whilst we are at it, the Irish and Welsh as well! Why should the Scots have a one-way bet?"

Personally, I wouldn't shed one tear about getting chucked out of the 'Union', especially by Little England bigots that don't grasp that Scotland generates far more revenue than England.

Perhaps Scotland should start keeping its revenue to itself, just send Westminster enough to cover, say, embassies? And if England wants fast trains, WMDs, and other vanity projects to help pretend there's still an Empire, they can pay for them themselves.

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/09/25/scotsman-pays-out-wings-over-scotland-over-accusations-against-founder-rev-stuart

The Scotsman pays out to Wings Over Scotland over accusations against founder Rev. Stuart Campbell



Compensation: The Rev. Stuart Campbell of Wings Over Scotland
The Scotsman has paid out more than £6,000 in damages to Scottish news website Wings Over Scotland owner the Rev. Stuart Campbell in a settlement over an article published earlier this year.

The complaint referred to an article published on 13 June by Euan McColm and Tom Peterkin, which claimed the Rev. Stuart Campbell, founder of the website, had used the service to encourage “nationalist campaigners” to photograph opponents in a bid to publicly identify them.

Campbell strenuously denied the allegation, and in a response published on the day he quoted a previous Wings article which had stated that any images taken by campaigners would have faces blurred out, and added: “Now let’s be absolutely crystal-clear about this, as if it needed saying: we DON’T want anyone harassed.” [sic]

Campbell also denied a claim in the Scotsman article that he had once blamed the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster for the crush that killed them, and said he had in fact said that other Liverpool fans there on the day “were partly culpable for the deaths of the 96”, not the victims themselves.

The article was subsequently removed from the Scotsman website the same day, and a correction published. However, Campbell pursued the case further and a financial compensation settlement was reached out of court.

Campbell told The Drum: “I’m glad that the Scotsman pulled the online article and paid compensation for what were utterly disgraceful slurs.

“The ‘correction’ they published was a pathetic, weasel-worded, snivelling thing, but expecting decency from the Scottish press these days is a fantasy – basic compliance with the law is the best you dare hope for, and you don’t even always get that.”

Campbell’s Wings Over Scotland has grown a substantial readership over the course of the independence referendum campaign, and the site has been funded by crowdsourcing. Campbell has raised more than £200,000 from readers to commission polls and create print products, such as the ‘Wee Blue Book’.

You can hear more about Wings in The Drum’s documentary on the Scottish media below.

The Drum was awaiting a response from the Scotsman at time of publication.

Unless people were in Scotland over the past few months, they have little idea of just how dirty the No campaign was; I have never seen anything like it before.

Seeing the conduct of 90% of the media, anyone that still believes a word they print about important matters, be it the EU, Syria, Russia, or anything else big, needs their head looked at. They print what they're told to print by our lords and masters.

Cake baking contests and Kim Kardashian's bum is about all the British media is fit for nowadays.

Now that's a speech.

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Scottish-householders-rights-to-object-to-fracking-to-be-removed-108e.aspx

UK announces decision to drill under homes without consent.

UK Government have announced that they are to remove the rights of householders to object to oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing beneath their homes. This will include householders in Scotland, and comes despite 99 per cent of respondents to the UK Government consultation on the proposals objecting to them.

It will mean that companies will be allowed to drill below people’s land without first negotiating a right of access.

Scotland’s Energy Minister Fergus Ewing officially objected to the proposals and has condemned the decision, and has called for the key powers relating to this issue to be devolved to Scotland as part of the current devolution process. This would allow unconventional oil and gas exploration in Scotland to be considered in a cautious, considered and evidence-based way, as opposed to the “gung-ho” approach of the UK Government.

Commenting Mr Ewing said:

“The UK Government failure to listen to our concerns is of great worry. That they have also failed to listen to 99 per cent of respondents to their own consultation just emphasises their “gung-ho” approach to the whole issue of fracking. We strongly believe that decisions on oil and gas drilling should be made by the people who live in Scotland, through the Parliament and Government they elected.

“UK Government proposals to remove the right of Scottish householders to object to drilling under their homes, without so much as debate in the Scottish Parliament, flies in the face of Scotland’s cautious, considered and evidence based approach on this issue. It is also fundamentally an issue affecting land ownership rights.

“Whatever your view on the issue of unconventional oil and gas – and it is clear that there are both opportunities and concerns - there is only one way that the people of Scotland can determine the approach in Scotland – including beneath their homes and land. That is with the devolution of the necessary powers to Scotland and the current devolution process for the “extensive new powers” promised in the vow should include these powers.

“Unconventional oil & gas developments should only ever happen under a robust regulatory regime, and the Scottish Government takes this issue particularly seriously.

“We are still to see precisely how DECC plan to implement the proposals in their consultation document and will review further when we see the clauses for inclusion in the Infrastructure Bill.”

=======

Announcements about going ahead with fracking on the outskirts of Edinburgh were made barely hours after the polls closed.

So, here we are, only a week on. Vows broken. Lies told about the state of the NHS revealed. Lies told about the amount of oil in Scottish waters revealed. Police investigations under way into possible postal vote fraud by the unionists. Oh, and Cameron's about to go to war yet again.

And it could all have been so different....