#scottish national party

[dadsinsuits]

Ian Blackford

#suitdaddy #suiteddaddy #suit and tie #men in suits #suited daddy #suited grandpa #suitedman #silverfox #suitfetish #suit chub #buisness suit #suitedmen #british man #british men #Scottish man #Scottish men #member of parliament #house of commons #scottish national party #Ian Blackford

[vyorei]

The dossier contains absolutely no evidence, no sources, it's literally a "they did this, trust me bro".

#free gaza #free palestine #gaza strip #irish solidarity with palestine #palestine #gaza #news on gaza #al jazeera #boycott israel #israel #UK #Tommy Sheppard #Scottish National Party #UNRWA

[daddies-i-love]

Ian Blackford

#daddy #daddylove #handsome daddy #sexy daddy #daddies #mature daddy #grey daddy #suited daddy #suit & tie #sexy men in suits #men in suits #suit and tie #suiteddaddies #suited grandpa #british man #british men #scottish man #scottish men #scottish national party #Ian Blackford

[tweetingukpolitics]

#michael spicer #political twitter #snp leadership contest #kate forbes #uk news #uk politics #snp #scottish national party

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Mar 20, 2024

“Police told to target comics under new hate crime law.” This was the rather alarming headline on the front cover of yesterday’s Herald, and it concerned leaked materials from recent training sessions undertaken by the Scottish police. Officers are being instructed that actors and comedians whose performances are likely to “stir up hatred” could be breaking the law. Suitably enough, the SNP’s new legislation will come into force on April Fool’s Day.

Many of us have been sounding the alarm over the SNP’s draconian measures since the bill was proposed in early 2020. The Scottish Police Federation warned that the effects of the bill would be tantamount to the “policing of what people think or feel”, and the Law Society of Scotland called it a “significant threat to freedom of expression”. Senior Catholic bishops, meanwhile, pointed out that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah might be deemed hateful towards homosexuals and so even owning a copy of the Bible could be criminalised.

As for comedians, Roddy Dunlop KC cautioned that stand-up would not be exempt, and that even the old “Scotsman, Irishman and Englishman” joke would be perceived as discriminatory. But in the face of all this criticism, Humza Yousaf (who was then Justice Secretary) was dogged in his determination to see the bill pass.

Naturally, supporters of the SNP scoffed at the suggestion that anyone would be arrested for simply expressing controversial opinions or telling jokes. The police have said they will not target performers, but at the same time have promised to investigate all complaints. This is, of course, precisely the problem. Activists have already pledged to weaponise the new law to see J.K. Rowling prosecuted for the “crime” of referring to a man as male (in this case the former Big Brother contestant and online troll India Willoughby). Solicitor Rajan Barot replied to Rowling on Twitter/X, stating that any of her posts in which Willoughby was referred to as a man would be “amenable to prosecution in Scotland” after 1 April. “Start deleting!” he demanded.

The SNP has effectively reintroduced blasphemy laws by stealth, only now it is in the name of the new state religion of Critical Social Justice. The law specifically prohibits “stirring up hatred” (whatever that means) against anyone who shares the following “protected characteristics”: disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. The last of these represents a significant departure from the protected characteristic of the Equality Act 2010, in which “gender reassignment” rather than “transgender identity” is covered. This means that to “misgender” someone — otherwise known as accurately describing his or her sex — could be deemed a breach of the law.

That police are being specifically trained to keep a watchful eye on comedians is no surprise to any of us who have been paying attention. A section of the legislation that covered the “public performance of a play” apparently still applies, and this would surely incorporate stand-up comedy shows. Given that the world’s largest arts festival is held in Edinburgh every year, with over 3,000 shows in the programme, is it likely that activists won’t take the opportunity to exploit the new law against those performers they despise?

Last year, my own Comedy Unleashed event was cancelled twice within the space of two days, simply because the line-up included Graham Linehan (whose gender-critical views have made him a pariah in the industry). After the second venue cancelled on us, Linehan and the other acts were brave enough to perform on a makeshift stage in broad daylight outside of the Scottish Parliament. If we were to repeat the show this year, would the acts be dragged away in handcuffs?

Well, maybe we’ll find out even sooner. Comedy Unleashed is currently looking into producing a special event in Scotland on 1 April to coincide with the implementation of the new bill. We’ll be platforming some reliably “problematic” comedians, and there’ll be plenty of wrongthink on display. Of course, this very much depends on us securing a venue that won’t cancel at the last minute, so please do email us ([email protected]) if you can help. In these authoritarian times, we could all do with a laugh.

==

Targeting comedians is no accident, not is it random.

“The greatest enemy of authority, therefore, is contempt, and the surest way to undermine it is laughter.” -- Hannah Arendt

Comedians are the embodiment of "talking truth to power." So going after them is a deliberate signal to fall into line with the demands of totalitarians.

#Andrew Doyle #blasphemy #blasphemy laws #hate speech laws #hate speech #censorship #freedom of speech #free speech #Scotland #Scottish National Party #SNP #authoritarianism #religion is a mental illness

[double-gs]

I need to know something if you're from the UK

#this is no grill #im curious because i need to see what party is majority winning #because if majority vote for one party #it will most likely be the same in general elections #uk #uk politics #england #united kingdom #general election #conservatism #conservatives #tory #labour #activism #green party #scottish national party #reform uk #liberals #left wing #leftism #leftist #right wing #womens rights #human rights #politics

[bantarleton]

I wonder if one of the three SNP leadership candidates could tell us just why America didn’t need a referendum to be independent (or square the mental discordance of thousands of Scots dying to try and stop that independence)?

#snp #scottish national party

[tomorrowusa]

In the UK, political analysts and journalists have been searching the thesaurus to find synonyms for disaster to describe what happened to the Conservative Party in two by-elections on Thursday.

The by-election results only confirm that the Tories are on a downward spiral.

Peter Walker at The Guardian spells out the implications.

But even though Tory aides will point to the murky circumstances in which the incumbents in both Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire, Chris Pincher and Nadine Dorries, departed their seats, Labour’s success will send a chill through the spines of Conservative MPs for several reasons. The first is the sheer scale of the losses. The byelection record tables for swings and biggest majorities overturned are becoming increasingly filled with votes that took place since 2019, and there is now another one to be added. Dorries’ 24,664 Conservative majority was the biggest numerically to be lost in a byelection at least since 1945, potentially ever, as Labour’s Alistair Strathern won a majority of 1,192. While Tamworth involved a slightly smaller majority, the swing to Labour’s second new MP, Sarah Edwards, of 23.9 percentage points to her party from the Tories, was even greater than the 23.7 percentage point swing in July’s Selby and Ainsty byelection. The second reason for Labour joy and Conservative jitters is the way that Labour pushed their way to a win in Mid Bedfordshire despite a full-on parallel effort from the fearsome Liberal Democrat byelection machine, one which has delivered four massive wins since 2021. The Lib Dems had insisted that in the mainly rural seat only they could tempt enough Conservative votes to switch to them. In the end, their vote tally rose, but even they were steamrollered by a Labour machine clearly motivated by the prospect of government. The Mid Beds result also carries another bad omen for Sunak and his party: the way that English voters are becoming increasingly good at deciding who they need to club together tactically to unseat the Conservatives.

Increasing numbers of people are voting tactically in these by-elections to specifically defeat Conservative candidates. They may not agree with everything that Labour or the Lib Dems may stand for, but the main point is to remove the Conservatives from power.

Tamworth is was statistically the 57th safest Tory seat in the UK out of the 350+ which the Conservatives hold. It doesn't necessarily mean that Labour and the Lib Dems would pick up almost 300 seats. But in the next general election, which must be held no later than 28 January 2025, the Conservative Party will have to defend many seats which they've been taking for granted.

One fun aspect of the October 19th by-elections is that the unsuccessful Conservative candidates bolted out of the buildings as soon as the results were made known. It doesn't violate any rules, though it's poor election night etiquette.

They probably had some idea where things were headed and wanted to avoid answering questions about the WAY bad night for their party.

To see the extent of the collapse of the Conservative vote, check out the results on a graph.

If you're wondering why the BBC doesn't list every single candidate on those graphics, check out the entire list for Mid Bedfordshire which includes one named Prince Ankit Love Emperor of India.

Here's a list of how parties fared in the 19 by-elections since the general election of 2019. The Conservatives have won just 1 of the 12 in the past 20 months; and that was a narrow victory to retain Boris Johnson's seat for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. More important than the number of Tory losses is their geography – constituencies lost to Labour and the Lib Dems in traditionally Conservative areas.

#uk #house of commons #uk elections #by-elections #tamworth #mid bedfordshire #labour #lib dems #conservative party #scottish national party #sarah edwards #alistair strathern #keir starmer #winter is coming for the tories

[feckcops]

Labour has shown great courage in the past on LGBTQ+ rights. Why won’t it do the same for trans people now?

“Dodds describes the Scottish government’s attempt to introduce self-ID – which was blocked by Westminster – as ‘cavalier’. This is both disingenuous and inaccurate. The gender recognition reform bill in Scotland was supported by the Scottish Labour Party and a majority of Scottish MSPs, after a six-year process involving two public consultation exercises.

“Labour promises to change the demeaning, intrusive process that the current Gender Recognition Act (GRA) requires, but Dodds ... [says] that retaining medical involvement ‘upholds legitimacy of applications and confidence in the system’. Why, trans people will ask, can they still not be trusted when they say who they are? And why do non-binary people not get a mention?

“Discussion of the need to ‘protect women and girls from predators’ is reminiscent of the kind of things written about gay people in the dark days of Section 28 in the 1980s. In failing to make clear (as I hope she means) that she is referring to predatory men, not trans people, Dodds feeds those scaremongering tropes. There is no mention of the fact that possessing a gender-recognition certificate is not a key to access single-sex spaces. When were you last asked for a birth certificate at a toilet or changing-room door?

“The fence-sitting is clearest when in one breath Dodds talks about ‘biological women’ and ‘providing legal clarity for the providers of single-sex services’ (both battle cries of those who seek to exclude trans people), followed in the next breath by the claim that trans people will be ‘accepted, without exception’ (a Stonewall slogan). Advances in equality don’t come by splitting the difference between those who seek to advance rights and those who want them reduced. That just leads to stagnation.”

#annaliese dodds #gender recognition act #gender recognition reform #self-id #transgender rights #trans rights #lgbt rights #queer rights #trans #non-binary #queer #lgbt #culture war #labour party #labour #scottish national party #snp #uk

[corepaedianews]

Humza Yousaf: Scotland gets a Muslim leader in a moment of extraordinary change for British politics

Parveen Akhtar, Aston University and Timothy Peace, University of Glasgow Humza Yousaf’s appointment as first minister of Scotland is a historic moment for the UK. It means that, for the first time in history, the country has a Hindu prime minister in Westminster (Rishi Sunak) and a Muslim first minister in Scotland. In his victory speech, Yousaf said: We should all take pride in the fact that…

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#First muslim leader in the UK #Indian diaspora #Muslim leader #Scotland #Scottish Government #Scottish National Party #Scottish parliament #Scottish politics #SNP #UK ethnic minorities #UK politics

[dadsinsuits]

Paul McLennan

#suitdaddy #suiteddaddy #suit and tie #men in suits #suited daddy #suited grandpa #suitedman #suit daddy #suitfetish #suit bulge #buisness suit #suited men #suitedmen #suited man #Scottish man #Scottish men #british man #british men #scottish national party #Paul McLennan

[crynwr-drwg]

"The Scottish National Party leader is expected to make the announcement at a hastily-arranged news conference in Edinburgh.

It is not clear exactly when she will leave office.

Ms Sturgeon has been first minister since November 2014, when she took over from Alex Salmond following the independence referendum.

She went on to become the country's longest-serving first minister.

However, a source close to Ms Sturgeon told the BBC that she had "had enough"."

Fuckin' hell, wasn't expectin' that, but with a reasoning like that ye can hardly blame her.

#news #politics #scotland #united kingdom #uk #wales #nicola sturgeon #snp #scottish national party

[davidhencke]

Mel Stride roasted over his " no undue delay" posture on compensating the 3.5 million 50swomen who had waited a decade to get justice

Mel Stride Not one MP in Parliament came to the rescue of Mel Stride, the work and pension secretary, when he made his initial statement on the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report which concluded that there was maladministration over the delay in communicating the six year delay to women in the 1950s and either Parliament or the DWP should compensate them. Essentially it was a holding statement…

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#50swomen #Conservative MPs #labour #Mel Stride #scottish national party #Waspi

[tweetingukpolitics]

#anand menon #political twitter #rishi sunak #humza yousaf #united kingdom #scottish national party #conservative party #scottish independence #uk news #uk politics

[mounadiloun]

Un débat sur Gaza provoque une crise parlementaire au Royaume Uni

La situation en Palestine, à Gaza précisément, est à l’origine d’une sérieuse crise politique au Royaume Uni. En effet, en sa qualité de parti d’opposition et troisième force politique représentée à la House of Commons, l’��quivalent de l’Assemblée Nationale française, le Parti National Ecossais bénéficie de «fenêtres» parlementaires qui lui permettent de soumettre des textes au vote. Et le parti…

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#Gaza #House of Commons #Keir Starmer #Labour Party #Lindsay Hoyle #Penny Mordaunt #Rishi Sunak #Royaume Uni #Scottish National Party #Stephen Flynn

[ukdamo]

Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: this SNP badge, Walls Agricultural Show, Shetland.

#bairns #bombs #scottish national party #children #war #armaments