The Very Meh Humza Yousaf Thread.

[Trogdor]

100 days of Humza. He's comfortably outlasted the lettuce and Liz Truss. I think its been a decidedly mixed bag so far.

I am concerned that he fails to appreciate how pissed off a chunk of the independence movement and the wider electorate are with the SNP.

He needs to break with the old regime. I'd rather he jettisoned the Greens but to do so now after he has hitched his wagon to theirs seems unlikely. Apathy and turnout is the enemy here. He needs to engage and inspire. Its hard to say he is doing either at present.

[StellarHibee]

1 minute ago, Trogdor said:

100 days of Humza. He's comfortably outlasted the lettuce and Liz Truss. I think its been a decidedly mixed bag so far.

I am concerned that he fails to appreciate how pissed off a chunk of the independence movement and the wider electorate are with the SNP.

He needs to break with the old regime. I'd rather he jettisoned the Greens but to do so now after he has hitched his wagon to theirs seems unlikely. Apathy and turnout is the enemy here. He needs to engage and inspire. Its hard to say he is doing either at present.

There's too much division. He's trying to walk a tight rope that's no longer there to walk along.

[Jeff Venom]

tHeY dOnT sPeAk fOr mE!1!1! is some patter given Scotland has a PR parliament. 

Maybe if the others running in Scotland weren't such lame also-rans then the ones who apparently do speak for you would have more space to cut through. Better yet, in an Independent Scotland, they'd have even more space to 'speak for you'. 

Of course this is how grown up democracies work, feel free to campaign for a better system if you're not being represented. 

[welshbairn]

33 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

100 days of Humza. He's comfortably outlasted the lettuce and Liz Truss. I think its been a decidedly mixed bag so far.

I am concerned that he fails to appreciate how pissed off a chunk of the independence movement and the wider electorate are with the SNP.

He needs to break with the old regime. I'd rather he jettisoned the Greens but to do so now after he has hitched his wagon to theirs seems unlikely. Apathy and turnout is the enemy here. He needs to engage and inspire. Its hard to say he is doing either at present.

I don't think there's a whole lot he can do other than keep the ship steady until the police investigation is over. If there has been seriously dodgy stuff going on it's possible he doesn't know who else might be involved. He's been a lot more solid than I was expecting, no hissy fits so far.

Edited July 6, 2023 by welshbairn

[razamanaz]

1 hour ago, StellarHibee said:

Thank feck for weak leaders like Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Anything else would be a regime.

No-one can defend the Tories - that wasn't mentioned. Must be sore that Nicola wasn't the messiah

[Billy Jean King]

1 hour ago, Trogdor said:

100 days of Humza. He's comfortably outlasted the lettuce and Liz Truss. I think its been a decidedly mixed bag so far.

I am concerned that he fails to appreciate how pissed off a chunk of the independence movement and the wider electorate are with the SNP.

He needs to break with the old regime. I'd rather he jettisoned the Greens but to do so now after he has hitched his wagon to theirs seems unlikely. Apathy and turnout is the enemy here. He needs to engage and inspire. Its hard to say he is doing either at present.

And by intention or not he has managed to ditch two or three pretty poorly thought out policies in particular DRS and The Marine Protected Areas. It's about all that could be expected until the Police probe ends. Either way once that is over it should  (bound to) lead to a clear out.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

On 05/07/2023 at 18:04, Blue Brazil Forever said:

 

NOT MY FIRST MINISTER

He may be (just) the Leader of the SNP for all his fine words Hamza Yousuf is First Minister of the SNP/Greens followers only. His agenda and actions are designed only to please his divided party and to maintain the coalition. The greens are dominant as a result and are putting forward a series of unpopular, ineffective and costly Government initiatives. Nicola Sturgeon did show strong leadership as First Minister for all the people of Scotland. Hamza Yousuf can't or won't demonstrate similar competence.

 

 

What a fucking melt.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

6 hours ago, Trogdor said:

100 days of Humza. He's comfortably outlasted the lettuce and Liz Truss. I think its been a decidedly mixed bag so far.

I am concerned that he fails to appreciate how pissed off a chunk of the independence movement and the wider electorate are with the SNP.

He needs to break with the old regime. I'd rather he jettisoned the Greens but to do so now after he has hitched his wagon to theirs seems unlikely. Apathy and turnout is the enemy here. He needs to engage and inspire. Its hard to say he is doing either at present.

He seems to be ditching their policies which is a step in the right direction.

Hopefully they'll piss off in a huff if this continues.

Edited July 6, 2023 by DeeTillEhDeh

[ScotiaNostra]

Just to save this thread from falling off the front page 

[Guest]

https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2023/06/25/beyond-the-limbo-of-the-union/

I found that a worthwhile read. The first of the author's five "lessons" most chimed with my own thoughts. You can't claim your political party to be social democratic only to allow the grouse moor revolutionary, Fergus Ewing, to throw public money at billionaires (Tory source but the info is correct: https://thinkscotland.org/2022/11/theres-not-just-a-ferry-fiasco-the-gupta-scandal-is-even-bigger/). Sturgeon's promotion of right wingers like Ewing is a mistake Yousaf will do well to avoid.

Edited July 26, 2023 by FreedomFarter

[vikingTON]

It's not a social democratic party though, it's the Scottish National Party. If Scottish voters want a party that claims to prioritise social democracy, they'll just vote Labour (and a large minority still do that). 

Salmond understood that the key to the SNP's success rests in maintaining a coalition between ideological currents that would split apart roughly 0.3 seconds after independence. Swinney pushed too far to the right previously; Sturgeon drifted too far towards pandering to the 'Laebur left me' brigade. While that was spectacularly successful in the short term after 2014, it then started costing it rural votes and has left the party in its cul-de-sac right now. 

[StellarHibee]

17 minutes ago, virginton said:

It's not a social democratic party though, it's the Scottish National Party. If Scottish voters want a party that claims to prioritise social democracy, they'll just vote Labour (and a large minority still do that). 

And if they want a party that doesn't simply claim to prioritise social democracy, but actually does prioritise it. They wouldn't go anywhere near Labour under Starmer.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

16 minutes ago, virginton said:

It's not a social democratic party though, it's the Scottish National Party. If Scottish voters want a party that claims to prioritise social democracy, they'll just vote Labour (and a large minority still do that). 

Salmond understood that the key to the SNP's success rests in maintaining a coalition between ideological currents that would split apart roughly 0.3 seconds after independence. Swinney pushed too far to the right previously; Sturgeon drifted too far towards pandering to the 'Laebur left me' brigade. While that was spectacularly successful in the short term after 2014, it then started costing it rural votes and has left the party in its cul-de-sac right now. 

Brexit had far more to do with the Tories gaining in rural constituencies - it's why Salmond lost his seat in 2017.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, virginton said:

It's not a social democratic party though, it's the Scottish National Party. If Scottish voters want a party that claims to prioritise social democracy, they'll just vote Labour (and a large minority still do that). 

Salmond understood that the key to the SNP's success rests in maintaining a coalition between ideological currents that would split apart roughly 0.3 seconds after independence. Swinney pushed too far to the right previously; Sturgeon drifted too far towards pandering to the 'Laebur left me' brigade. While that was spectacularly successful in the short term after 2014, it then started costing it rural votes and has left the party in its cul-de-sac right now. 

Sturgeon's main economic consultant was Andrew Wilson, a key figure in the 2008 RBS collapse. She appointed Kate Forbes, a fan of deregulation (explicitly) and austerity (implicitly), as finance secretary. Those aren't influences you promote if you're seeking favour with former Labour voters. As mentioned above, she gave Fergus Ewing, her Rural Economy secretary at the time, free reign to throw public money at billionaires in the name of securing rural votes. 12 mostly rural seats did go Tory in 2017 but there were also 6 urban seats lost to Corbyn's Labour in that election. For me, she replaced Salmond's social democratic policies like abolishing the graduate endowment fee and prescription charges with social liberal policies like GRR. Her economics were to the right of Salmond's, I'd argue, although I've simplified a lot there.

[Gallant Pioneer]

2 hours ago, FreedomFarter said:

Sturgeon's main economic consultant was Andrew Wilson, a key figure in the 2008 RBS collapse. She appointed Kate Forbes, a fan of deregulation (explicitly) and austerity (implicitly), as finance secretary. Those aren't influences you promote if you're seeking favour with former Labour voters. As mentioned above, she gave Fergus Ewing, her Rural Economy secretary at the time, free reign to throw public money at billionaires in the name of securing rural votes. 12 mostly rural seats did go Tory in 2017 but there were also 6 urban seats lost to Corbyn's Labour in that election. For me, she replaced Salmond's social democratic policies like abolishing the graduate endowment fee and prescription charges with social liberal policies like GRR. Her economics were to the right of Salmond's, I'd argue, although I've simplified a lot there.

The RBS collapse was triggered by the ill fated takeover of ABN Amro, while Wilson would have a role it’s a bit of a stretch to label him as a ‘key figure’. 

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, Gallant Pioneer said:

The RBS collapse was triggered by the ill fated takeover of ABN Amro, while Wilson would have a role it’s a bit of a stretch to label him as a ‘key figure’. 

Sure, that's fair. I shouldn't have put that as it reads like I'm questioning his competence when its his ideological outlook I was meaning to comment on.

[Guest]

I found this just now when googling. George Kerevan with a thorough look at recent SNP economic thinking. As a bonus, he even mentions Andrew Wilson and ABN AMRO. His take is that little if anything separated Salmond and Sturgeon. Despite the concilliatory theme to his opinion here, Kerevan defected to Alba about two weeks after its publish date.

https://www.conter.scot/2021/3/9/the-shadow-boxers-salmond-sturgeon-and-modern-capitalism/

[Hard Graft]

Scottish Passports and Citizenship - yeah really important when the country is struggling. Pity nothing about how to sort out NHS problems, eliminate the need for food banks, solve the high drugs death rates or any of the other important issues we face.

Still in cloud cuckoo land.

[lichtgilphead]

34 minutes ago, Hard Graft said:

Scottish Passports and Citizenship - yeah really important when the country is struggling. Pity nothing about 1) how to sort out NHS problems, 2) eliminate the need for food banks, 3) solve the high drugs death rates or any of the other important issues we face.

Still in cloud cuckoo land.

1. NHS - the money we are allocated is dictated by the Barnett formula, which is based on English NHS spending. If we want to spend more, we either have to raise taxes or redistribute funding intended for other projects. Whatever action is taken, the Yoons will go "SNP baaaaaad"
2. Foodbanks - tend to be used by people on benefits. Main benefits are responsibility of UK government. Again, if we want to spend more through the Scottish Social Security agency, we either have to raise taxes or redistribute funding intended for other projects. Whatever action is taken, the Yoons will go "SNP baaaaaad"
3. Drugs death rates - drugs policy is reserved to the UK Government, who refuse to listen to any proposals put forward by the Scottish Government. Yoons go "SNP baaaaaad" anyway.

It goes without saying that all three areas could be improved if the Scottish Government had full control of all the necessary levers.

[alta-pete]

44 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

1. NHS - the money we are allocated is dictated by the Barnett formula, which is based on English NHS spending. If we want to spend more, we either have to raise taxes or redistribute funding intended for other projects. Whatever action is taken, the Yoons will go "SNP baaaaaad"
2. Foodbanks - tend to be used by people on benefits. Main benefits are responsibility of UK government. Again, if we want to spend more through the Scottish Social Security agency, we either have to raise taxes or redistribute funding intended for other projects. Whatever action is taken, the Yoons will go "SNP baaaaaad"
3. Drugs death rates - drugs policy is reserved to the UK Government, who refuse to listen to any proposals put forward by the Scottish Government. Yoons go "SNP baaaaaad" anyway.

It goes without saying that all three areas could be improved if the Scottish Government had full control of all the necessary levers.

1) as I alluded to last night on the Labour thread, ScotGov continually underspend the annual budget (and not in an SNPbaad way either);

2) ScotGov were offered the chance to run Social Security but ducked it and decided to leave that with WM; and

3) Same policies, yet rUK isn’t anywhere near as woeful at helping these poor people.