our definition of austerity explains what the aim of austerity is, ie, to reduce a deficit. It doesn’t mean that reducing a deficit is the definition of austerity.
Well said. How long will it take to sink in do you think?

Well if you engage with the FT as often and as well as you engage with me a rather long time I would imagine 😉
they also linked to the austerity measures on the page – i assume you can access this link
http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=austerity-measure

It explains all the austerity measures
I am sure they will be delighted to read your correction of their analysis
Bon Chance

Enrie,

btw i read you comments on the other thread about how you are happy with the election results, interesting reading, along with the contents of this thread, I get the impression you are almost taking a burn it all down approach? 😆

Will be interesting to see how the SNP role at Westminster plays out. Will Cameron give them dedicated questions at PMQs and even chairmanship of various select committees inc Scottish Affairs Committee. To do so gives them profile but I have an inkling he’ll do so not least as to further push Labour to one side and the sight and sound of Salmond on a weekly basis will shore up the Tory vote.

Bon Chance

naughty naughty 8)

i read you comments on the other thread about how you are happy with the election results

I’ve just had to check to see whether I had a funny moment and actually said that, I was relieved to see that I hadn’t.

Of course I’m not happy with the election result. But I am happy that I got quite a few things which I had wished for. I dare say that approximately 50% of Scots share a simular level of satisfaction.

Among the things which I was pleased about was Labour getting wiped out in Scotland, the LibDems getting hammered beyond my wildest dreams, Nick Clegg retaining his seat, Vince Cable losing his, Ed Balls losing his, UKIP doing far less well than predicted a year or so, the Greens not doing too badly, the Tory vote relatively very low. There’s a lot of very positive stuff there – it is perfectly feasible to assume that could easily not have happened that way.

I did actually also include in that post : Of course the big negative is five more years of a Conservative government more right-wing than Thatcher, that’s nothing to celebrate – they will continue to screw the British people and the UK economy.

But we’ve been in situations when British politics has appeared a lot gloomier imo.

happy was a bit of a stretch I guess, was just curious as it was an interesting opinion, and not too far from my own, particularly regarding the death of scottish labour, I think we need to take it further into the scottish election, as they just aren’t learning their lesson at all. Hopefully they green can fill a large part of the void they will leave. I’d hate for the SNP to dominate holyrood completely.

I’d hate for the SNP to dominate holyrood completely.

As there’d be no one left to blame 😉 ?

ernie_lynch – Member
I’m fairly confident that the Tories aren’t in power in Scotland so your wee joke whilst clearly very assuming obviously loses some of its irony.

It’s all a bit confusing for some of us 🙄
MSPs in Hollyrood.
MPs in Westminster.
Then there are MEPs……….
The Cons won the UK election, just so happens SNP gained a few MPs who will be taking their seats in Westminster alongside the other MPs voted for, not Holyrood.
Who actually does what? If anything 🙄
How long before they realise there’s more to government than promises and hot air……..

It’s all a bit confusing for some of us

That’s probably because autocorrect spelt assuming instead of amusing.

they will continue to screw the British people and the UK economy.

Who actually has the answer?

We read so much about what is wrong but so much confusion about what is right 😐

While the SNP certainly ran a good campaign and Nicola Sturgeon was be far the most impressive leader of the political parties much of the SNP success is really down to Labour’s failures.

Scottish Labour ran a lazy negative campaign bereft of ideas or any positive reason to actually vote for them.

Scottish Labour, already in its death throws following the referendum and the previous leaders resignation, instead of taking a serious look at what its doing north of the border instead parachutes in a Blairite careerist chancer in the form of Jim Murphy.

After some brief initial overtures to “Glasgow Man” – lapsed Labour voters in the west of Scotland who voted Yes in the referendum, followed by some ridiculous nonsense about drinking at football matches the negative campaigning got turned up to 11 and Scottish Labour’s entire message became about why not to vote for someone else.

To his credit he had his Labour drones very much on message not a single one of them made an utterance that deviated from “SNP Baaaddd!” “Vote SNP get Tory” and “The Largest Party gets to form the Government” for the entire campaign. But when your message is so lacking in imagination, positivity and credibility it doesn’t really matter how often you repeat it.

Meanwhile while the Tories were putting together witty videos showing Ed Milliband dancing to Alex Salmond’s tune what they were really doing was making him dance to their tune.

After losing some initial ground on non-dom tax the Tories played Milliband like a cheap fiddle over the economy and possible coalition arrangements.

He failed to make it clear the Labour was not responsible for the banking crisis and he failed to drive home the fact that the Tories hadn’t actually delivered austerity and had instead actually been far closer to what Labour spending plans would have been.

Rather then acknowledging the possibility that he might be willing to work with the SNP and that the SNP aren’t the Scottish devils described by the right wing press he simply sang to their tune. He could have grasped this particular thistle while pointing out the hypocrisy of the Tories position on coalitions (although in the end they won a majority)

Labour’s failure in this election lies firmly at their feet. “Pandafied” in Scotland and well beaten in England. Their only way back is to realise this fact and stop blaming others for their abject failure.

Meanwhile Jim Murphy hangs on to his job like a lone Japanese soldier on a Pacific Island still fighting the Americans long after his side has been annhilated

ernie_lynch – Member
It’s all a bit confusing for some of us
That’s probably because autocorrect spelt assuming instead of amusing

Nope I’m just one of the many who didn’t get stuck in at school and don’t really follow or understand politics :roll:been working since I was 15 and listening to the same arguments/discussions for 45yrs. Dad(farm worker)used to be a staunch Labour supporter but and farmers in the area used to be Con voters until recently. When HectorMunro died so did the Cons and Labour got the vote till this time, now SNP with the only Con in the next constituency.
MrsT however has done some policy/advising to MPs/MSPs to help them understand some of the tosh they are or have spouted in parliament…..

listening to the same arguments/discussions for 45yrs.

Doesn’t that make you want ot try and figure out the truth?

Doesn’t that make you want ot try and figure out the truth?

The Truth, is that a bit like The Dream that will Never Die ? 🙂

One thing I find interesting about the election is that the Tories clearly had much better tactical intelligence than Labour on what was happening on the ground. The Guardian stated that the Tories in-house polling had them winning over 300 seats, and that prior to that they’d been able to react quickly to info on whether a certain message went down well or not. Clearly Labour had nothing like that, as apparently senior members were shocked at the final result.

Another interesting thing to note is that while the focus has been Scotland Vs England, it appears that Wales were much closer aligned to the latter rather than the former. Maybe even Wales have realised Scottish sport is so poor they wouldn’t miss them if they left 😆

Plaid are where SNP were years ago. If they were as credible and robust a party as the SNP they’d have taken a truckload of seats off Labour as well.

But given how little power the WA has Plaid won’t be able to use it to gain credibility like SNP did with the SP. I think anyway.

Just in case any of you forgot, the referendum was a win for the no campaign, there is now a Tory majority government and that means the political focus is going to be on the whole of the UK. It is time for Scotland to calm down and accept that things are going to have to get back to normal.

If Scotland became completely devolved then labour would never win a general election again in the UK, if it is still called that.

It is time for Scotland to calm down and accept that things are going to have to get back to normal.

It clearly isn’t. Scotland (again) wholly rejected the Tories. If anything the next 5 years are the time to push on a acheive Devo Max.

If Scotland became completely devolved then labour would never win a general election again in the UK

Presumably you think the Tories would in power for eternity. Why do people keep trotting out this nonsense ? Both Tory and SNP supporters do it regularly on here.

#ingoringernie

#ingoringernie

Ignoring ernie doesn’t make it any less true.

The UK gets the goverment England votes for. When it voted for a Labour Govermnent in 1997, 2001 and 2005 it got a Labour government. When it voted for Conservative goverments in the eighties it got Conservative governments.

Scottish votes almost never matter, however it didn’t stop the right wing press working themselves into a self-righteous lather that this time it might be different. It wasn’t though.

The UK gets the goverment England votes for.

Except when it doesn’t!

As recently as 2010 England voted for a Conservative majority government, without Scottish Mp’s it would have been, instead it was forced into coalition.

Scottish votes almost never matter

This is a daft thing to say. You could say the same thing about ANY of the Labour heartlands when there’s a Tory govt, or any of the Tory heartlands when there’s a Labour govt. In fact, any area you like.

Rubbish argument. They matter the same as everyone else’s.

ninfan – Member

As recently as 2010 England voted for a Conservative majority government, without Scottish Mp’s it would have been, instead it was forced into coalition.

It’s a fair point, on that occasion you only got 99% of what you voted for.

Rubbish argument. They matter the same as everyone else’s.

So why make out that Scotland is somehow special and without it the rest of the UK would have the Tories in power for eternity ?

So why make out that Scotland is somehow special and without it the rest of the UK would have the Tories in power for eternity ?

Did I?

This is a daft thing to say. You could say the same thing about ANY of the Labour heartlands when there’s a Tory govt, or any of the Tory heartlands when there’s a Labour govt. In fact, any area you like.

Any other areas that have traditionally been separate countries, that all vote the same way and have a strong independence movement?

Did I?

ffs

You reckon?

You have clearly never tried to negotiate with anyone from scotland.

This is the juvenile crap I heard all through the indy campaign, Salmond made people want to thing they are in some way “different” or “special”, its classic nationalist tactics. We’re no different from the majority in the UK and the fact that the SNP are trumpeting this crap about being heard in Westminster is just nonsense, the Lib Dems had one more MP and a part of the coalition and we know how well that worked out for them.

It boils my urine almost as much as this “mandate of the people” crap, well guess what, you’ve never had any more than 38% of the people supporting you, so you’ve not got the mandate of the Scots, no matter what the kool aid drinking fanclub shout over the internet.

Might have to slope off and have a cool beer to calm down 🙂

It boils my urine almost as much as this “mandate of the people” crap, well guess what, you’ve never had any more than 38% of the people supporting you, so you’ve not got the mandate of the Scots, no matter what the kool aid drinking fanclub shout over the internet.

50% of the vote this around….

50% of the vote this around….

And yet still only 35.5% of the electorate…

And yet still only 35.5% of the electorate…

This is such a stupid point and I bang my head on the table every time someone presents it. When are vote percentages ever discussed in relational to those who couldn’t be arsed to vote? Never, because it’s stupid.

50% of the vote this around….

Sorry, 49.97% – majority of Scottish voted against the SNP.

This is such a stupid point and I bang my head on the table every time someone presents it. When are vote percentages ever discussed in relational to those who couldn’t be arsed to vote? Never, because it’s stupid.

Maybe only when you claim its a “mandate of the people”?

Maybe only when you claim its a “mandate of the people”?

If you’re not voting you’ve given up your option of providing a mandate.

Sorry, 49.97% – majority of Scottish voted against the SNP.

I was rounding up 😉

If you’re not voting you’ve given up your option of providing a mandate.

I see, so if you don’t vote, then you don’t count? Lets look at the referendum then, only 37.8% gave their mandate, yet still the SNP fanclub claim 45%, they seem slightly confused.

ninfan – Member
50% of the vote this around….
Sorry, 49.97% – majority of Scottish voted against the SNP.

85% voted against the tories.

I see, so if you don’t vote, then you don’t count? Lets look at the referendum then, only 37.8% gave their mandate, yet still the SNP fanclub claim 45%, they seem slightly confused.

Are you arguing that if you don’t vote then you somehow do count? What do they count for?

Are you arguing that if you don’t vote then you somehow do count? What do they count for?

No, I’m arguing that if somebody doesn’t positively confirm they support the SNP views, you cannot assume they do so, and there is 60+ % of the Scottish electorate who have never confirmed that they align to the SNP, yet they seem to be trumpeting about being the voice of Scotland. At least 50% confirm they actively aren’t!

hagi – Member
Are you arguing that if you don’t vote then you somehow do count? What do they count for?
No, I’m arguing that if somebody doesn’t positively confirm they support the SNP views, you cannot assume they do so, and there is 60+ % of the Scottish electorate who have never confirmed that they align to the SNP, yet they seem to be trumpeting about being the voice of Scotland. At least 50% confirm they actively aren’t!

we don’t live under a westminster PR system, so stop talking nonsense..