Dunning1874

Swinney's reputation for technocratic competence seems to mostly come from being a bald centrist who wears glasses rather than anything he's actually done in politics.

Yousaf's first big f**k up as FM which was entirely of his own making rather than something inherited from Sturgeon was the council tax freeze. Aside from what anyone thinks of it as a policy, the implementation of it was shambolic and was done in a way which unavoidably pissed councils off as much as the policy itself, torching his relationship with COSLA when he'd not long signed a partnership agreement with them that was supposed to reset the relationship. This was made worse when Robison openly admitted that they'd pretty much come up with it on a whim because they needed a headline grabbing policy and hadn't costed it or really thought through the potential consequences at all. So we come to the final situation which has led to his resignation. It's obviously entirely understandable to want to get ahead of events with the Green membership calling an EGM to vote on the BHA, it makes sense to try to avoid the eventuality of looking weak through the junior partner being the one to end it. That the Greens were doing this certainly makes it fair to point out the petulance of their reaction since, even though their MSP group were all in favour of staying in. Once again though it seems to be a decision Yousaf has taken on a whim with no thought whatsoever given to the potential consequences. You can surely construct a means of the SNP ditching the agreement which isn't unilaterally deciding to sack them two days after you were publicly talking it up , which would have carried far less risk of the Greens turning against him the way they have. As embarrassing as some of their reactions have been, not foreseeing the possibility that they may not react kindly to this now they're an opposition party again or having a plan for it suggests someone who is genuinely incapable of taking a long term view or seeing the consequences of their actions, which is not exactly a desirable quality in a leader. Just as with the council tax freeze, doing it is one issue but the way he's gone about doing it is simply idiotic. He's always had a reputation for incompetence arising from previous ministerial posts, but this level of sheer naivety is something else.

Ben Vorlich (Loch Lomond) today, my first Munro in going on two years so took a lot out of me but was tremendous. No photo could do it justice but the view from the summit was outrageous, seeing as far south as Ailsa Craig with every island in the Firth of Clyde visible, Jura to the west, Mull to the north west and dozens of other peaks to the north and east as well. Definitely won't be letting myself go so long without a proper hike again.

Having missed the last two meetings between these teams, I'm sure Oakley will be excited for this.

I suspect Tyler French was actually always this shite and became better in the mind of Dundee fans through being out injured while Cammy Kerr was playing.

Total dead rubber material from two teams who evidently don't give much of a f**k, a largely pointless exercise. That disallowed goal did look about two yards off, but the linesman waiting until the goal was scored, the referee awarded it and Raith players started complaining to finally put his flag up was some laugh and tells us the officials are paying about as much attention as the teams are.

Aye I had the same last night and had to clear cookies and temporary internet files to get back in. Holding Div personally responsible for the resultant loss of streaks in quordle and similar games.

Unsure if this is somehow only happening to me or if having one all encompassing thread for each club running to thousands of pages over several years is starting to break things. It's happened a few times lately that I've been on the penultimate page of a thread, read through it, gone to the final page and every post is the exact same as the previous page. Example below taken from the Raith thread this morning, with the same post starting each page.

Is he seriously trying to argue that it would have been a more professional look for the league to simply not play games which could change the title winner and declare the season over without them being played for reasons? Desperate.

The SNP to refuse to stand a candidate in two constituencies in 2026, said constituencies to be chosen by Alex Salmond and Ash Regan, and the thermometer.

Looking at Buckie's statement it seems their argument is that they didn't need to ask for the grace period before 31 March for being promoted without having a bronze licence, because they were going to have their bronze licence sorted and still will have it ready for next season, having had a judgement deferred to 15 May for the one item they're failing on currently? Stupid of them not to just ask for the grace period before 31 March anyway when the rules are very clear that you need to have the licence sorted or grace period granted before the playoff. However the SPFL Rules do also say that the SPFL board has the absolute right to grant grace periods at their discretion even if the rules haven't been complied with, so they theoretically could have just intervened here and said aye, go ahead with the playoff provided you'll have it sorted by 15 May as promised. Of course they're not required to do that and Buckie should have done things properly in the first place, but East Kilbride need to be stopped.

Thank you, I'd misremembered that. So Airdrie were always Championship compliant then, and presumably have either a grace period or already everything in place to move to bronze with whatever else is holding them back. Cove's ground is now at bronze level, but was definitely at entry level last season so the question still stands with them.

Not my party, I left it about 7 or 8 years ago.

Needing favours from Alba really makes him a lame duck even if he survives the vote. Abandoning a deal he'd been defending 48 hours earlier in order to avoid the risk the other party would be the ones to ditch it, so ostensibly making him look strong and decisive rather than weakly allowing his majority to disappear without being in control of the situation, but clearly being reactive rather than doing it because he believes it's the right thing to do. So he gets rid of the smaller party who a sizeable enough number of his backbenchers to be a problem view as an extreme tail wagging the dog to allow himself a reset, only to then find himself completely dependent on giving favours to one MSP to avoid a vote of no confidence. Said MSP defected from his party after he won the leadership, a defection he described as "no great loss", and went to a party who have literally never won a seat in any level of election in Scotland. He's tried to play 4D chess and landed himself in an even worse situation.

There is a point to be made there, aside from whatever incompetence Buckie have been guilty of in not getting the licence sorted or failing that applying for a grace period. The previous cut off level where a bronze licence was required before it was extended to the whole SPFL was the Championship. Cove were in it last season with an entry licence and Airdrie are in it now with an entry licence. Did these clubs apply for a grace period to achieve their bronze licence prior to 31 March in the seasons they won promotion, or were they just granted it without asking? If it's the latter I think it's reasonable to point out the double standard here, regardless of a) that not being an excuse for Buckie and b) everyone who is entry level needing to have applied for a grace period by 31 March 2024 if they want to remain in the SPFL in 2024/25.

Buckie have been a refused a bronze licence and won't be allowed in the playoff: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scottish-fa-statement-pyramid-play-off-tie/?rid=13929

Well, it hasn't taken long for this to be answered.

Yes, so if Labour get themselves an election now and become the largest party then form a minority government, they could end up having a worse time of it in 2026 than they would by biding their time in opposition, and end up not being the largest party again after less than two years in power.

Sarwar openly saying "we need an election" rather than simply saying Yousaf needs to go, which if he's being serious rather than just ramping the pressure up through rhetoric does seem a gamble - an election that makes them the largest party now can backfire on them long term. Unless the thought process is simply to force Yousaf out without leading to an election with the SNP remaining in power, then you have enough time for leadership in general and Westminster election losses to taint Forbes or whoever else takes over as FM (which even with the Greens against could happen with support from Regan or abstention from Lib Dems). Possibly they'd rather that than Forbes or another coming in after Yousaf takes the fall for losses at Westminster with the SNP getting a new leader bounce at the same time as Labour's popularity potentially falls due to being the UK government.

It's 64-64 if Regan votes with the SNP - one of the Greens is the Presiding Officer.

Slater's certainly not holding back, but there's an obvious inconsistency here as well: if you feel you were "let down time and time again" by the SNP failing to hold up their end of the agreement, why did you still believe staying in government was the best course of action and how often would they have had to let you down to change that?

Reminder that the Scottish Parliament has set five year election cycles. A no confidence vote leading to an imminent election wouldn't mean bringing the May 2026 election forward, it would be in addition to it. While if it came to a confidence vote Labour & Tories couldn't do anything but vote no, introducing one in the first place lays a trap that it's probably not worth anyone's while to risk even in the outlandish scenario the Greens were to go so far as to support one themselves. Labour fully believe they're going to be the largest party in Holyrood come 2026 and polling suggests there's a real chance of it, even before we see how Yousaf does with a 63-65 split in the parliament rather than 71-57 in hos favour. Why risk taking a knock in polling in the intervening years by making themselves an unpopular incumbent going into that election, for the sake of getting two years in minority government rather than five? Even if a Starmer government at Westminster has already turned unpopular by May 2026 they'll still be able to use opposition status at Holyrood to their advantage, but if they'd been the government for two years as well they'd have nowhere to hide and the NHS, ferries, drug death sticks they're beating the SNP with now could be turned back against them. The Tories would be throwing away 10+ seats and being the second largest party two years sooner than needed. While Ash Regan is probably stupid enough to think she'd keep her seat Alba's one MSP won't be enough, and even those SNP backbenchers who evidently can't stand Yousaf like Ewing aren't daft enough to make themselves known as the people who put their own party out of government.

Question is if it makes Yousaf look weaker or stronger in reality. This ostensibly looks better by avoiding the ignominy of the Greens being the ones to end it and the impression of a junior partner abandoning a flatlining government, but if he just feels like he had to do this to avoid looking weak because of the way the wind was blowing with the Greens likely to ditch it when he didn't want to, then he's already a lame duck who isn't in control even before considering he's now more dependent on keeping backbenchers onside. Taking the decision unilaterally rather than having a vote of SNP MSPs or even the cabinet when the Greens were going to have a vote of their whole membership is again something that you could see being held up as an example of him being decisive and strong, but could just as easily look desperate in an attempt to get it done before they could be the ones to ditch it first.