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I had been thinking of maybe starting a new scotpol thread in the run-up and/or aftermath to the next election, but I couldn't be arsed, so.Juliet Whisky posted:The ultimate outcome has also been so far broadly the same: around 4,000 deaths out of the 40,000 in Britain as a whole, which is in proportion to the population. This isn't quite right- 40,000 is the number of deaths in the uk with those who have tested positive for COVID, which undercounts covid deaths. The comparable figure for Scotland seems to be about 2,500. 4,000 deaths looks like it's either counting death certificates or excess deaths - the comparable figures for the UK would be 4,000 vs. 51,000 (death certificates) or 5,000 vs. 57,000 (excess deaths). sources: Scot, UK. This puts Scotland in its traditional position, the same position it finds itself in many issues of importance: We're Still Bad But We're Somewhat Less So Than The Rest Of The UK So We Can Pretend We Don't Have A Problem. A few things to add while i'm on the ground floor: - Something to note now that an indyref is being talked up again - while the SNP are seeking a majority as a moral justification for having another referendum, the actual legal power to say whether a vote can be held is still claimed by the UK government in Westminster. Which means the Tories can make things really difficult for the SNP if they refuse - what can they do in response? a complex legal challenge? going ahead with the referendum unofficially anyway? The last time a regional parliament tried an unofficial independence referendum was Catalonia in 2017, which was met with police violence against voters and arrests of politicians. We don't know for sure how the very sensible and reasonable UK Government and police forces will react if Scotland does try this, but it may not work out. - The current spats in the SNP may come up. The differing reasons why some may take a dislike to Nicola Sturgeon have resulted in a vague unholy alliance between a) those who want a second referendum yesterday and dislike her attempting to do it gradually and in a way that won't cause too many constitutional crises; b) those who think Alex Salmond did nothing wrong and was framed by lying women or whatever; and c) those who really hate trans people and are convinced the SNP's glacial progress towards recognising them is a affront to sex and/or a useful wedge issue for the culture war against the SJWs. This alliance does not seem to have the numbers to actually make big wins, so far, but there has been some sniping and procedural wrangling about who can run for Edinburgh Central this election. And there are a couple of alternative parties which have sprung up, under the guise of being a cunning way to game the additional member system, who will probably not get votes but might at least make some amusing twitter gaffes. Like the 2016 US primary debate where the station kept an empty podium for Joe Biden, I'm keeping an empty podium in my heart for Wings Over Scotland, influential blogger and terminally online ranting transphobe rear end in a top hat, who keeps threatening to start his own independence party but hasn't pulled the trigger yet. He's a poo poo and I hope he does it and then him and his reactionary platform loses in the most hilarious meltdown way possible. -Somewhat related, I'll grind my own personal axe here and mention that the SNP's progress on trans issues is abysmal. They held a consultation on a decent set of proposed changes (some recognition for under 18s, non-binary recognition, removal of barriers to getting a gender recognition certificate), which ended with a majority of respondents in favour of reforms. However it also annoyed a loud group of TERFs both outwith and within the SNP and so they watered down their proposals (no under 18 recognition, a vague committee on considering the concept of looking into non-binary issues, etc) and launched a second consultation in the hopes that would satisfy the TERF set and make everyone happy. It has not. The TERFs are as loud as ever and now JK Rowling is tweeting. Waiting times for trans medical care are now over two years at best. But hey! It's somewhat less bad than the rest of the UK! -Silly corner: George Galloway's standing, in an "alliance for unity" which will unify all those who oppose independence, a stance is now currently split amongst three parties with seats in Holyrood, and after the election will still be split between three parties with seats in Holyrood because Alliance For Unity isn't going to get any because nobody cares about George Galloway anymore or whatever randoms he's gotten to stand for his party with him. See diagram below for an informative summary of the situation, by some goon who I don't remember who it was.  Their twitter account is making a number of reasonable points about modern politics, however, so worth a look. https://twitter.com/Alliance4Unity/status/1298582690011250688
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Sep 6, 2020 21:01
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RIP Alex Salmond, 2% in the list in the one Aberdeen constituency announcing list results so far https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1390680860953874432
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May 7, 2021 16:01
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The precise figures on the Independent Green Voice poo poo are listed in this twitter thread - two seats likely lost to it and almost a third: https://twitter.com/mehall/status/1391123337762545666 As for the popular vote thing, the pro-union parties got slightly more in the constituencies and slightly less in the list, and the margins are so small it's hard to conclude much other than the country remains evenly split on it.
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May 10, 2021 11:47
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