Except that the Foreign Office claim there is no such memo. A tiny detail….

Genius Ben.

Why doesn’t the VICTIM deny the existence of the memo then? All very odd. Scary that she is resembling the DO facially and in mannerisms more and more.

• The Ambassador also had a truncated meeting with the FM (FM running late after a busy Thursday…). Discussion appears to have focused mainly on the political situation, with the FM stating that she wouldn’t want a formal coalition with Labour; that the SNP would almost certainly have a large number of seats; that she had no idea ‘what kind of mischief’ Alex Salmond would get up to; and confessed that she’d rather see David Cameron remain as PM (and didn’t see Ed Miliband as PM material). I have to admit that I’m not sure that the FM’s tongue would be quite so loose on that kind of thing in a meeting like that, so it might well be a case of something being lost in translation.

Of course non of the above is true, but the fast allegation about he loose tongue would have been quite accurate.

Eh? Everyone who attended the meeting has gone on record to deny the statement about Cameron was made. I’m not sure how much clearer it has to be

Why doesn’t the VICTIM deny the existence of the memo then?

The alleged memo was supposedly written by someone in the UK foreign office who supposedly heard something from someone who spoke to someone, who’d spoken to someone else, who’d spoken to the French ambassador. Sturgeon wouldn’t have been in that loop at all so wouldn’t know if such a memo existed – but she can dispute it’s accuracy.

On the other hand the Foreign Office should know if the memo existed, and they say it doesn’t.

Why doesn’t the VICTIM deny the existence of the memo then? All very odd.

How on earth do you expect the VICTIM, as you call her, to know if the memo exists or not? She doesn’t work for the Foreign Office nor can she be expected to know what they get up to.

All we can reasonably expect her to know is what she has said and hasn’t said.

This really is a storm in a tea cup. An inquiry has been ordered by the Minister in any case.

Oh Jamba 🙁 Don’t stop believing.

Sir Jeremy responded by saying: “You have asked me to investigate issues relating to the apparent leak of a Scotland Office memo that forms the basis of this morning’s Daily Telegraph story.
The statement above comes from the Cabinet Secretary in on The Telegraph website today.
The Scotland Office being Alastair Carmichaels dept.

I think the culprit in all this might be the French consul-general in Edinburgh and who is now possibly backtracking :

The document, which was circulated to officials in Whitehall and Edinburgh, was compiled by an experienced UK civil servant immediately after talking by telephone to Pierre-Alain Coiffinier, the French consul-general in Edinburgh, who had been present at Sylvie Bermann’s meetings with the Scottish ministers

I wouldn’t be surprised if he uses the Edinburgh defence/it was a joke line. Personally I wouldn’t trust any Frenchman with ears as large as General de Gaulle’s who it has to be remembered wouldn’t allow the UK to join the Common Market. And whose name means coffin maker, or hairdresser, I’m not sure which one.

Well the obvious point is if the Tories can “Rule” over Scotland then the SNP can “rule” over rUK as its all perfectly reasonable behaviour in a Union

You finally seemed to have realised why its unfair that a party that has no representation or interest in your country ruling over you is unfair. if you object to this may I suggest you try and leave the union and start a campaign 

Agree that the Tory spinning of Sturgeon is petty politics and obvious troll is obvious.

@the gray even I would vote SNP if i had the chance. Labour are awful and yet i will still end up voting for them as they are not the Tories

JY you regularly tell us that England gets the government it votes for yet Scotland does not, however I assumeyou live in England and do get what you vote for. How many people in England and Wales will vote Labour simply because they are not the Tories. Is it also unfair that most of the UK’s urban areas are governed by an austerity government it did not vote for?

If an anti austerity stance taken by Sturgeon reaches out to people across the UK that suits me. It may well sway more people towards Labour in England, Wales and NI knowing that a large block of SNP MP’s will be heading South to keep them honest.

A labour government supported by the SNP with no chance of an in/out EU referendum is a nationalists worst nightmare.

Ben. Your twitter link of an idiot wishing to go to war with Scotland again adds little value.
We now see that anti austerity may resonate with people across the UK, you might have more success posting footage of an EDL rally or an Orange Order march to show how different and inherently good Scots are.

I know I’ve said this before but by christ there’s a few straight up lunatics on here. I’m imagining lives consumed by this hatred, sat alone frothing at the mouth in a darkened room.

Please, please don’t stop posting anti-SNP drivel on here, it really brightens up my day. Much like the labour and tory stalls today adorned with copies of the daily mail. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

I assumeyou live in England and do get what you vote for

I guess so.

If an anti austerity stance taken by Sturgeon reaches out to people across the UK that suits me. It may well sway more people towards Labour in England, Wales and NI knowing that a large block of SNP MP’s will be heading South to keep them honest.

But Eds Miliband and Balls are committed to austerity, it makes no sense at all to vote Labour if you are anti-austerity.

Ernie – Balls is a disaster waiting to happen, the financial advisor to Gordon Brown prior to the recession, a danger to the nation. The man should be removed from front bench politics.

I wouldn’t trust him with my daughters pocket money let alone the nations finances, and it don’t even have a daughter.

Balls is a disaster waiting to happen, the financial advisor to Gordon Brown prior to the recession

You mean when all the economists, and the Tory Party of course, were warning us that a global recession and credit crunch was about to happen?

So it’s Balls we’ve got to blame then.

Presumably all the countries without Ed Balls as a financial advisor managed to avoid recession then?

None of those countries in which did have Ed Balls as a financial advisor managed to avoid the recession whereas some of those which did not have Ed Balls as a financial advisor avoided the recession or survived it rather better.The absence of Balls may not have been a causal factor.The absence of Osborne may well be more important in the latter case. Edit

The United States went into severe recession in 2007, was Ed Balls financial advisor to George Bush?

I know that George Bush had a lot of Havard educated economists advising him, and Ed Balls did economics at Havard, through a scholarship, which isn’t bad for a clueless halfwit.

I know that George Bush had a lot of Havard educated economists advising him, and Ed Balls did economics at Havard, through a scholarship, which isn’t bad for a clueless halfwit.

Worse than that, he was a teaching fellow – this means that both Balls and Miliband taught economics at Harvard 😯

The United States went into severe recession in 2007, was Ed Balls financial advisor to George Bush

No.

If an anti austerity stance taken by Sturgeon reaches out to people across the UK that suits me. It may well sway more people towards Labour in England, Wales and NI knowing that a large block of SNP MP’s will be heading South to keep them honest.

But Eds Miliband and Balls are committed to austerity, it makes no sense at all to vote Labour if you are anti-austerity.

I agree to an extent Ernie. I heard labour argue against it 5 years ago, but now say they will continue it. They are cowards, and have lost my vote, however a minority Labour government without mandate to carry out austerity, may be clawed back a degree by the SNP.

I bet there are many people in England like yourself that do not wish ro follow a path of austerity, who then can they reasonably vote for that can influence power? You don’t need to convince me about not getting the government you vote for. Speak to JY about it.

a minority Labour government without mandate to carry out austerity

Of course they will have a mandate to carry out austerity, Labour have made it crystal clear that they will implement austerity.

“The next Labour government will have to make cuts too” – Ed Balls

Labour has said that they will make cuts every year until the deficit is cleared – the same policy as the Tories.

A vote for Labour is a vote for reduction in public expenditure, it is a vote for austerity.

And a Labour government would have every right to claim that they have a mandate.

This is the most interesting GE in a long time,bring on PR!

With the Labour party is it a tax bombshell or a borrowing bombshell, which is it going to be? And with Balls at the helm, either way, it is a disaster for this country.

Well the snake oil is working well still – the protest party/parties offering lower taxes and higher spending combined with jam on top and a rabbit in the hat, are (unsurprisingly) increasingly popular. Yes everyone the mirage can continue, don’t worry…..we call it fiscal responsibility (ie lying again). You heard it all before.

Forget Harvard, both Eds dated (allegedly) Ms Flanders which (if true) is far more surprising/perplexing. Ed minor can be rightly criticised for getting the UK economy into good shape delivering a budget surplus at the right time and then screwing up. Unlike, memos, you can’t change that part of history.

you can’t change that part of history.

Oh I don’t know, blaming Ed for the global financial crisis sounds like a pretty serious revision of history to me.

Do people do that too? (Tbc, I was referring to his inability to remember what he was taught at school re surpluses and deficits. He had done the hard bit too, that’s what makes it more inexcusable. Still hubris hits them all in the end)

You would need to add Sir Ed(die) in the mix there, but fortunately no one individual can do that much harm. They really would be superhuman in that case.

Oh I don’t know, blaming Ed for the global financial crisis sounds like a pretty serious revision of history to me.

MSP I don’t think your post was pointed at me specifically, but I never blamed Ed for the global financial crisis. It’s well documented that it started in America and spread by the trading of debt.

The previous Labour Party got this country into such financial hardship by spending way beyond its means that a trigger like a global recession would hit us very, very hard, which it did.

It’s the apparent disregard and irresponsible money management on a national scale which is why in my opinion the Labour Party are not fit for purpose. I don’t spend money irresponsibly, I don’t except other people to spend my money irresponsibly.

Considering the state the Conservatives inherited, they have done a pretty dam good job of turning it around. Growth and jobs is what shrinks the national debt as a proportion of GDP.

We would have had the same financial crises under Labour Blair, Brown or Balls or any Tory government in the ame way we would have had the war in Iraq. @ernie of course Labour are for “austerity” as that’s the correct policy in the situation we faced back in 2008 and still face today.

Just listening to the Tory spokesmans pitch on five live, saying they’re appealing to ‘middle income earners’ on £50,000+ 😯

They’re paying far too much tax, apparently. No mention of those getting by on slightly less than ‘middle income’

I’m sure that was just an oversight. Like Ed forgetting to mention the deficit in his conference speech.

The previous Labour Party got this country into such financial hardship by spending way beyond its means that a trigger like a global recession would hit us very, very hard, which it did.

If you repeat it often enough, it may come true. In 2008 the national debt stood at 70% of GDP, about the same as Germany. That is not, and no matter how many times you say it, never will be ‘way beyond it’s means’.

Dazh you just made that figure up!

http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/uk_national_debt_chart.html

Dazh you just made that figure up!

Yup, I’m following the example set by you lot who like to re-write history. There’s no room here for actual facts here so there’s no point pretending 🙂

Explain to me though how the following graph fits your story of labour grossly overspending before the crash which left us unable to deal with it…

And there you go again jambalaya, pretending that government austerity means something different to what it actually means. It does of course mean cutting public expenditure, you cannot have permanent austerity, eventually there would be no money left to cut, as you well know, obviously.

Why do you maintain this ridiculous pretence ?

.

edward2000 – Member

The previous Labour Party got this country into such financial hardship by spending way beyond its means that a trigger like a global recession would hit us very, very hard, which it did.

It’s the apparent disregard and irresponsible money management on a national scale which is why in my opinion the Labour Party are not fit for purpose. I don’t spend money irresponsibly, I don’t except other people to spend my money irresponsibly.

Considering the state the Conservatives inherited, they have done a pretty dam good job of turning it around.

So the story according to you Edward is that under Labour the country was “spending way beyond its means” and that Conservative governments in contrast exercise financial prudence.

Please explain then, why the Conservatives, including George Osborne himself, fully supported the last Labour government’s spending levels ?

In fact the Conservatives, including George Osborne himself, promised to match Labour’s spending penny for penny :

Tories vow to match Labour spending

The Conservatives sought last night to destroy Labour claims that they would cut public services by issuing a formal pledge to match Gordon Brown’s spending plans.

“Today, I can confirm for the first time that a Conservative government will adopt these spending totals,” the Shadow Chancellor said.

“The charge from our opponents that we will cut services becomes transparently false,” he said.

How does this undeniable and completely irrefutable fact fit into your narrative Edward ?

And I would be absolutely fascinated to hear Austerity Jambalaya’s veiws on the matter too.

Here’s another one. Look at the ridiculously irresponsible flat line in the middle where the labour party were spending the nation’s cash like a chav lottery winner.

dazh – Member

In 2008 the national debt stood at 70% of GDP, about the same as Germany. That is not, and no matter how many times you say it, never will be ‘way beyond it’s means’.

edward2000 – Member

Dazh you just made that figure up!

http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/uk_national_debt_chart.html

According to your link Edward :

So what’s the point your making ? That dazh exaggerated the level of debt under Labour in 2008 ? That it wasn’t anywhere as bad as claimed ?

So the mail is running a piece saying latest poll has farige won’t win south Thanet,q which would be amusing, tho I’m pretty sure the mail is just following the Tory party directives
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/04/05/ukip-poll-nigel-farage-south-thanet_n_7005964.html?utm_hp_ref=ukip

It would be more than just amusing, it would probably result in UKIP’s electoral support collapsing.

UKIP’s support is heavily dependent on the fact that it is led by some geezer who goes down to the pub a lot and amuses them on Have I Got News For You.

Most UKIP supporters haven’t the slightest idea what UKIP policies are, beyond not liking foreigners very much obviously. Without Farage as leader, and he couldn’t remain leader if they had a handful of MPs and he wasn’t one of them, UKIP’s support would quickly ebb away.

The homophobes, racists, and assorted weirdos who make up the bulk of the UKIP membership, have shown to have an extraordinary ability to put their foot in their mouths and commit political suicide, so unlikely to include anyone who could fill his shoes. And all the more so without him being there to put a lid on their more outlandish political disasters – Farage seems to need to expel at least one UKIP candidate every week.

My point was, the figure of 70% was made up!

Respectfully, it’s impossible to debate with you if you make figures up and refer to a chart which shows a ratio, and you make a reference to absolute figures based on that chart. That’s a schoolboy error.

If GDP shrinks, government spending as a ration of GDP will obviously rise, but you didn’t mention this.

I’m going out now, have a nice day in the sunshine 🙂

If GDP shrinks, government spending as a ration of GDP will obviously rise

Gotcha. I thought you were blaming the last Labour government for increases in government spending!
I now see that you recognise that it was the natural consequence of the global recession.