enhanced by
Bookmark:
Never trust a man who shortens his name in order to appeal to the voter. Why did he not knock that posh "e" off his name.
Instead of getting rid of just the Scottish Office Can we not get rid of both the office and Des Browne.1. WJohnHave you not considered that he might not want to be confused with the big Brown jobbie.
The Westminster Minister of Defence and the so-called Scottish Secretary (what does that mean post-Scottish government?) is a pointless contradiction.
Said politician was sitting behind me on a flight from Edinburgh-London in September and he snores like hell when asleep. He and his devolved Scottish post are an equal irrelevance.
If he was so terribly worried about time devoted to his private life he should have stuck to being a pen-pusher in Scotland. Pathetic. I suspect he sees the serious political writing on the wall. Scottish Labour is a dead duck.
The Scottish Office, or to give it its PC name, The Scotland Office, is a waste of time and money. It is also an archaic anachronism, and reeks of the colonial attitude of the Westminster government.
It should be scrapped and all of its functions given to the Scottish government. The Westminster government can then deal directly with the Scottish government. It will also give them a bit of practice as that is what they will need to do when Scotland, inevitably, gets its independence.
What Scottish Secretary?
#4 browne the wee brown jobbie?
#8 You're not a Labour lover then ABW? :-)
# 5 There should be no war it has to end the Goverment is is tutning the world into a one world order all this fighting is just for that reson, take a look at this,http://www.libertyforlife.com/jail-police/us_concentratio...
and every one should look herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziZWTXvkIiA
The Scotland Office is now even more of an anachronism and must go!
Look, just cut to the chase.... get out of the union, problem solved!
He should resign immediately and be replaced by someone competent!
Why is SoS only Scottish Newspaper not to cover possible loss of third spin doctor by Wendy?
http://www.sundaypost.com/news1.htm
Also more problems for Labour next week over dubious donations.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/ne...
"The Ministry of Defence will have to cover half the cost of "urgent operational requirements" above a fixed figure agreed with the Treasury". Our people are dying. The bullets do not see a difference between Welsh,English,Scot's,Irish.The midget's of Government are fighting over money whislt the Blair's make million's selling daring do tales. Our service people fight for their livesThe UK Minister of Defence Post is currently a part time job held by a man involved in the current Scot's civil war namely to crush the elected SNP Government. But he has time to agree without asking Parliament the use of North Yorkshire as a anti missle base.In Australia,the current PM lost his seat in Parliament. Over to you Scotland.
#17 :D Nice one Linda
The Sunday Posts article cheered me up (Mail on Sundays seems to have been removed for some reason?!), what a laugh I had, but it might be a good thing they finally got a press officer that tells the truth, wonder what he'll have to say about Browns mortgage with the 'Rock' while he was bailing them out ;)
im not quite sure how politically astute it is to suggest being the minister for scotland "in my spare time". It either shows that you don't really care or (as is the more likely case) the department does nothing but they are too afraid to scrap it.
perhaps he is filled with the usual arrogance which comes from having had too long in government and too big a majority to do whatever you want, including:
- several high profile vanity projects which have cost the tax payers hundreds of millions of pounds,
- selling gold reserves to china only for the gold price to rise shortly after and to therefore have lost UK Plc billions of pounds,
- donations scandals which were washed over, criminal activities investigated in downing street and a Prime Minister questioned by the police over his knowlegde or involvement,
- one illegal war started in Iraq with the death toll running into the hundreds of thousands,
i will enjoy watching these turkeys get the chop as much, if not more than i enjoyed watching the last bunch being flayed by the electorate in 1997.
i sincerely hope Des Browne is one of those.
here it is, from the herald this time:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/national_news/index.var.155914...?
besides, the daily mail one was difficult to read. it went all over the place. this article is a bit more straight talking.
something to do with their battery sheds full of monkies with typewriters. at the end of the week, any semi-legible content gets made into the mail on sunday.
i never knew monkies were fascists though.
To combine these ministerial posts is insulting to both areas of responsibility.
22- certainly it goes without saying. he has been a very ineffectual defence secretary and that cannot be helped by the fact he is divided into two positions.
8. It's good to know that scots have done the damage to their own people,at least England get a break from all the whinging!
The Scotland Office is just an excuse to hold on to control of Scotland. It has nothing to do with running the country; leave that up to the Scottish Government, but they can't do that as was exhibited in the increase in spending, just to make sure the SNP cannot fulfill their promises.does anyone trust Labour?
If the Browneeee can do MOD & two wars, Scotland must be getting on without him. Who needs Westminster. He has tacitly accepted the Nat. argument
can't we get HMRC to wrap up the whole labour cabinet and put them in the post.
Good day all. Have to agree with the Nats here. The Scottish Office should be scrapped. Also, the job of Defence Secretary is a major portfolio. How can one man handle both jobs effectively. In an ironic way it is perhaps an unintended commentary on how unimportant the Scottish Secretary's job has become. I am more an issues than a Party man,but I must say Labours penchant for constantly shooting themselves in the foot is for me unprecedented in British politics. I think Gordon Brown is a sincere and decent man but he needs to get a grip quickly !
And no-one cares to mention that, in addition to his part-time work as Secretary of Defence for Defence and Scotland, Browne also is paid over £60,000 per year (plus 'Incidental expenses provision' of £20,000+ per year and 'Additional costs allowances' of £22,000+ per year) to act as the parliamentary representative (i.e.) for the 72,800 electors of Kilmarnock and Loudoun. Exactly WHEN does he find time to carry out his responsibilities as a Member of Parliament if he handles "Scotland Office business in "what was my private life""?.
Re No.29
I think that the growing concern over Gordon Brown is not that he lacks sincerity and decency (I agree with you in this regard) or even that he lacks competence - although there seems to be growing evidence for this. I'm reminded of Napoleon's question when asked to promote an officer to the rank of General; "Yes, yes, I know he's brilliant, but is he lucky?". I think many people now suspect that, while he works hard to deal with crises, Brown is attracting too many of them. In other words, he seems to be ACCIDENT-PRONE. And this might politically be the most damaging of all for him.
31 Rif-yes accident prone and sadly, lacking in the kind of charisma needed for the PM job. Whatever one thinks of Tony Blair, he was a brilliant speaker with a quick mind and ready wit-never short of an answer and more than a match for any of the opposition leaders. It seems that,worldwide, people in the main, value style over substance in their leaders. Nice of course to have both!
Brown is proving he has neither. Now that he cannot hide he is being shown to be useless and there are few stars in his cabinet if any , no obvious successor which must be worrying for Labour. Ge these parisites out on their ears, its votes in Scotland that is keeping both Browns in place. What are these people on.
With the lack of respect shown to Scotland by Westminster all the more reason to push ahead with independence.They just dont care,but dont forget to pay your taxes
Someone, please help me here!
We have a devolved government that deals with devolved matters, right? So in that case all other business must be UK business, right? If so, then why do we need a Scottish Office in London? Are there Scottish matters that are not devolved and that are not UK business either? If so, what are these concerns? It just doesn't make sense!
#32 Geoff: Style counts to start with, but as the adage goes, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all the time". Even Churchill discovered the truth of this.
I lived in Australia for a year, which now has a new Rudd-er of course (see the election result). I gained the strong impression that in Australia substance counts for more than style. Australians loathe "hoons" (loudmouths/braggarts), and it was John Howard's quiet, downbeat, almost grandfatherly style that won him respect, while the coarse, abrasive manner of his Labor Party opponents cost them one election after another. This may be part of a general and strong Australian reaction against their stereotyping as Crocodile Dundee rednecks. Of course, from another point of view John Howard's reserve might just have been a carefully cultivated style!
Caora Dubh (35): "If so, then why do we need a Scottish Office in London?"
Perhaps a better question would be why the Scottish Office should be a department of the general UK government. Instead, it would be more logical for the Scottish Office to be nominated, and controlled, by the Scottish Government, to act as an interface in Westminster for Holyrood.
Brown has painted himself into a corner with this one. It's not the first time the Scottish Secretary's role has been shared with another responsibility with Alistair Darling being both Transport and Scottish Sceretary, a pairing later gifted to Douglas Alexander as a reward for a great job of running the Scottish General Election.Brown has learned nothing from Blair and he has denigrated two offices of state by the appointment. Browne's blustering defence of his dual role this week just showed up what a nonsense it is. If Scotland doesn't need a Secretary of State, dispense with the post. But then, whio would keep an eye on those Nats? Your dilemma Gordon, but we're the ones who're suffering.
Not only did Brown sell our gold cheaply he announced in advance that he was going to sell large quantities so he could force the price down! WHY?!
If the Scottish secretary's job is worth doing, it's worth doing properly by a full time minister.Conclusion is; it's not worth doing.
41 By hanging on to the money, do you mean by donating it to the charitable trust he established?
37 Caora Dubh-interesting post. Australia is an enigma to me. Whilst I dont believe the croc dundee/Redneck/ convict caricatures,it seems that Aussies have far less reverence for authority figures than even in modern day Britain. As kids we were brought up with a kind of in built awe/fear of policemen,ministers of Relig,headmasters,bank managers. Politicians and monarchy were on a different level entirely! Howard may well have cultivated the avuncular style but from this end of the world he seemed to have been a no-nonsense and effective leader. The new guy seems a little slimey! But heh,outward appearances!!
If you look at the Scottish Office we site it still makes reference to Jack Mcdougnut as First Minister in several of its web pages. Such is Des Clowns attention to detail. The post of Scottish Secretary and its current incumbent is a joke.
#52. Exactly - seems very hypocritcal of an MP for one place/ MSP for another place to complain about others having two jobs!
56; dry your eyes girl, and read post 55 to see the way the wind's blowing...
#57 Where was this poll published - I don't remember seeing it?
It's Alex Salmond's job to be First Minister of Scotland, and to do that job as a Scottish Nationalist. Of course it's a full-time job, and he should not pretend to represent his constituents at Westminster at the same time.
The post of Secretary of State for Defence is also a full-time job. I don't think while the forces are so stretched it should be held by someone who also has to represent constituents inWestminster, let alone act as Scottish Secretary. So it should be held by a member of the House of Lords - either someone, like Lord Mooney, who was an excellent Under Secretary and understands the Army, or by someone with recent and senior service experience
The post of Scottish Secretary is one for a member of the UK Government, and concerns matters reserved to Westminster. It should be held by an MP from the party of government in the UK, and is likely to be a part time post for most of the time - because, of course, the Scottish Government is running all the things which impact most immediately on the day to day lives of Scots.
Jings - Scotland/Afghanistan under Labours Des - ha ha ha - it’s a comedy - Alec - just leave them tae bring doon the UK - they are daein’ a fine joab o it!
A dual role is almost always a bad idea. How can one have complete loyalty in two places, especially if there is a conflict.
It reminds me of a Horrendicoot who claims to be loyal in several areas, and tries to play games with everyone. Meanwhile the guy is so off the track he can't even be loyal to himself because he doesn't even know anymore which issue he is trying to be loyal to. This is an extreme example, a wealthy guy playing so many games he is on the brink of insanity, with groups of people so mesmerized by his money and power that they cannot even see it. Pretty close to insanity.........and has followers.
Yes, that is an extreme example. But too often as people attempt to see themself as diverse, they are often jumping into a bucket of manure trouble.
Kick them all out dont let this happen to you http://www.libertyforlife.com/jail-police/us_concentratio...
England and Croatia in the same group...?
...oh dear!
#73'63. Er....what's wrong with the results on page 1 which has the SNP on 28%'
Er because that is the % which includes all the wouldn't votes and don't knows. Including those makes the % of the elctorate, not the % of votes the parties would receive.The figures on page 2 show the actual figures for those who said they would vote, i.e. those whose votes would count.If you assume reasonably that the don't knows are fairly evenly spread then these are the results you would get.
For crying out loud, you unionists are so desperate for anything negative, you'll just grasp at anything, won't you!
3 days to boycott the scotsman day.
Fri 30 november boycott the scotsman forums
any poster failing to adhere to the boycott on fri 30th novemeber will themselves be boycotted.
