BREAKING NEWS: Budget voted down!

There has been shock and turmoil today after the Scottish Governments budget was voted down in parliament. The votes eventually came down to this - the SNP, Tories and Margo MacDonald voting for the budget and Labour, Lib Dems and Greens voting against! This created a tie vote of 64 - 64 meaning the Presiding Officer had to cast a vote and, with convention, voted for the status quo! First of all, lets be clear, no one seriously expected Labour to vote for the budget, nor the Lib Dems, but the way that the opposition have acted is, frankly, childish! They have been playing party politics and in a time of economic crisis and recession this is not the time to be creating unnecessary problems which could escalate into an even bigger crisis and put even more people's jobs on the line!

My guess now is that over the course of the next couple of weeks there will be discussions to win the support of the Greens and, depending on how quickly the Greens decide to support it, a second budget will be presented and will be passed.

The people of Scotland will not take kindly to the way the opposition have acted and will remember this the next time they go to the ballot! I think it's time all the parties got their act together and worked in the Scottish national interest and vote in favour of this budget!

A guid Burns night tae ye

Hi all, good see that Burns night is a success this year, especially since it's the Bards 250th birthday. Anyway, here's an extract of a letter Burns sent to Mrs Dunlop in 1790:

Alas, I have often said to myself what are the boasted advantages which my country reaps from a certain Union that counterbalance the annihilation of her Independence, and even her name!

Never a truer word spoken!

Obama gets off to a smashing start

What happened in Washington was historic. The inauguration of the first ever black president has undoughtably caused a sensation, and already he has made a great start by reversing some of the Bush legacy. The closure of Guantanamo Bay and secret prisons are a fantastic move, due to their breech of humans rights and not to mention breaking several other laws. I have a feeling that Barack Obama is going to make a good President and has already restored Americas reputation to the rest of the world.

Poll puts SNP on course to beat Labour!

Hi all, I start of first off all by commenting on how it looks as if a few of the predictions I made for 2009 look set not to come to be, such as George Osborne being replaced and Gordon Brown calling an early election! I suppose it just goes to prove that 2009 is set to be a very unpredictable year. So why is it unlikely that Brown will call an election? Well, it's the obvious answer - the polls are beginning to go against Labour again. First of all in terms of UK polling, the Tories now have 45% while Labour are down to just 32%! If repeated at an election Labour would be trumped! Now, what about here in Scotland? Well, the poll for Scotland 2 polls were released at the weekend. The two combined made some very interesting reading. Both the SNP and Labour are put on 30% making it 'head to head'. What was really interesting however is that the poll put the Tories on 24% in Scotland! I know, it's a shock! The Lib Dems are really in a dire state as they are placed on just 12%. The two individual polls went like this:

YOUGOV POLL FOR SUNDAY TIMES

Conservatives - 28%
Labour - 28%
SNP - 27%
Lib Dems - 14%

COM RES POLL FOR INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
SNP - 33%
Labour - 31%
Conservatives - 12%

Personally, I don't feel that the first poll is an accurate reflection of actual voter feeling in Scotland where as the second poll does look much more accurate! However, what this simply shows is that only the SNP can beat Labour in Scotland in a general election! Feel free to leave comments.
Also, looking forward to the Inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow! You can catch it live on BBC One from 4pm. Come back for a round up of the day's historic events in the post tomorrow.

Labour must admit it is no longer a left wing party

Well, many people thought they would never see the day! But now we can now truly say with complete honesty that New Labour is no longer the party of the working class! Why? Because it has emerged that the UK London Labour government has spent over £5 million on legal fees to fight against the claims of sick miners! A Labour government fighting "against" the miners! Many miners thought they would never see the day, but now they can see the Labour party for what it really is - a party which is more interested in having power and would rather pay lawyers to block claims, than pay compensation to miners left with industrial injuries!
So what are the miners asking for? Well, As many as 1,000 former miners are suffering from coal miners knee, Osteoarthritis, and chronic lung disease from dust inhalation, and what they are calling for is compensation. A reasonable claim I would have thought. But not Labour! These miners were not included in previous compensation schemes and are being forced to take their battle to the courts. This is disgraceful what Labour is doing and should be stopped immediately! They should give the miners they compensation which they deserve and the last thing we need is a lengthty legal court battle! Action needs to happen now, or some of these miners who are suffering from these injuries will have died by the end of such a legal battle! And, surely, after acting like this, Labour should admit that it is no longer a party of the left!

Further info on this can be found at:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/12/government-miners-compensation-costs

The "Official" Predictions for 2009

Hi all. Now that were now all back to our usual routines again I thought I would offer some predictions for the year ahead. 2009 is certainly going to be an interesting year, there's no dought about that, but what exactly are the things that are going to make it interesting? Well, we are now 5 days into the new year and over those past five days I have been looking at what other people have been predicting, what the newspapers are predicting, what news presenters on the TV have been predicting and what various different websites and blogs have been predicting. Now, your probably wondering why I've done this. Well, I did it so that I could bring together all the different predictions which have been made to make some predictions which (hopefully) could happen! So here they are, the "official" predictions for 2009:

1. UK wide opinion polls over the next few months will continue to show a slow and steady rise for Labour which will eventually lead to Gordon Brown calling a snap general election in either May or June. He may try to hold it at the same time as the European elections. Labour will just very narrowly hold onto power at Westminster, but without a majority which will mean Brown will have to try and go into what will be difficult negotiations with the Lib Dems to form a coalition but it's likely that even with the Lib Dems they may be still just short of a majority which will mean they will have to try and get agreements with the SNP & Plaid Cymru who will have both increased their number of seats (with the SNP possibly doubling their seats).

2. Although there will be difficulties in getting it through, the SNP will succeed in getting the Local Income Tax being passed in the Scottish Parliament thanks to support from the Liberal Democrats. There will be relief in the public that the hated council tax is being rid off, however Westminster will try to stop it happening by refusing to give Scotland the council tax benefits back which will cause a huge political row between Holyrood and Westminster.

3. Sticking with the Scottish Government, the SNP will manage to get its budget through parliament, however their is likely to concessions gained for Labour this time. This success for the SNP will lead to some changes in the cabinet but unlikely for their to be many new faces or big surprises.

4. Going over to the US now, Barack Obama will be faced with some very tough decisions as to handle with the state of the economy. It's most likely that the rest of the world, with some countries now on their knees, waiting eagerly to find out what he intends to do. I suspect that the secret service will also have it's job cut out as the try to protect him from assassination attempts (all of which I hope do not succeed)!

5. Coming back, the Tories will begin a big reshuffle of their opposition front bench which will see George Osborne being replaced by Dominic Grieve (previously Shadow Home Secretary). A surprise, I know, but I think that's what's most likely to happen

6. By the next Labour conference, Labour will be at their lowest poll showings for years as they slip below 30% as the true scale of Gordon Browns mishandling of the economy becomes clear and more and more people lose their jobs and realise how much national debt has to be paid off through higher taxes!

7. Back in Scotland, there will be another big by-election, this time for Holyrood, up in the Highland's, so it will be a Lib Dem seat. The SNP could, despite Glenrothes, expect to do very well in this!

8. Homecoming Scotland will be as success but perhaps not quite as big as some would have liked with not as many tourists coming to see Scotland as the economic problems begin to bite

9. Labour will begin rise in the polls again as we begin to approach 2010 but will remain far behind the Conservatives. By this time Nick Clegg will have stepped down as leader of the Liberal Democrats after what has been a difficult year for him and his party. Meanwhile, here in Scotland, the SNP will still be leading in the opinion polls and Alex Salmond will have now begun the campaign for the Independence referendum in 2010. Jim Murphy will still be Scottish Secretary but will be told to try his best not to steal the limelight away from Iain Gray.

So there we have it! Feel free, of course, to comment and let me know what you think and feel free to add your own predictions for 2009 as well!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy new year everyone! I trust you all had a nice Christmas & Hogmanay. 2008 has been a rather strange year! It was the year that saw the crash of the economy, the rise & fall of fuel and food prices, the disappearance of many well-known high street stores, victory for the SNP in several elections (including a certain by-election in the east end of Glasgow) with just one Labour win, the downfall of Wendy Alexander, the Prime Minister claiming he's "saved the world", the historic election of Barack Obama as the first ever black US President, one of the wettest summer's on record, and the biggest pre-Christmas sales ever! But, despite all the economic gloom and an inconvenient incident in Fife, I think 2008 has been a very good year and I certainly look forward to 2009! And for those who are thinking about calling a general election, all I can say is "Bring it on"!

Have a guid 2009! Let's hope it's a good one!

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