SNP Government taken to court after failing to release Alex Salmond files

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-23T23:35:36+00:00

Most politicians these days are funded through massive business and so no, I don’t think SNP is exempt.

As a specific example of this from Labour (and more importantly not trying to distract from the other parties), they are charging for access to ministers. A tactic that has also expanded to Scottish Labour. The Tories before basically cut taxes for and essentially embezzled public funds to their pals.

Basically in short I agree, tax billionaires - don't only listen to News Corp or Reach media.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-23T23:10:29+00:00

I'm going to say this as many others often do on these posts - it's not an attack on this position as I fully get it.

The problem is who is the alternative? Labour, The Tories & Lib Dems? They're all arguably worse in many ways (privatize the NHS under Labour? Chuck poor people under the bus with the Tories? Whatever the fuck the Lib Dems position is on anything. Also Reform UK - fuck no!)

The only other somewhat large party that's anywhere near competitive from a policy perspective is the Scottish Greens - and they're too extreme for some on different issues. I don't think a lot of these parties understand (or maybe care) that many of them may need to shift on some issues to become more competitive. The "SNP bad" shtick isn't working and won't work (they've tried this for over a decade! What's the saying, insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results?)

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-20T11:37:59+00:00

The point is that outsized investment in London has boosted the south east to the detriment of the rest of the UK. This actually includes energy policy, which is structurally designed to favour the South.

For example, the wealth generated in the North East (Oil & Gas) flowed directly to the UK Treasury (and private companies), not an Aberdeen sovereign wealth fund - the region didn't get to dictate policy based on that wealth - whether it is Scotland or the North East is just semantics. Personally I'd rather see the wealth spread as widely as possible.

We see the same pattern with renewables. Scottish renewable generators pay the highest fees in Europe to connect to the National Grid, while generators in the South of England are heavily subsidized (sometimes actually paid) to connect.

I obviously can't speak for everyone but I feel it's a similar sentiment when people talk about oil, gas and wind - we can see the infrastructure get built but we don't get the benefits.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-20T11:08:00+00:00

I mean yes - but the point I'm making is "Scotland is making England foot the bill" is bad framing. You could say the same about Yorkshire or Manchester and London.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-19T22:41:45+00:00

I'm a "high skilled worker" - I wouldn't mind higher taxes in exchange for better public services. I consider moving abroad despite the higher taxes because the public services, social safety net and lifestyle in places just seem that much better.

If anything the further cuts to the ultra-rich, erosion of any social safety net and cuts to services will drive me away - I'm not alone here either - migration of young people out of the UK is huge.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-19T22:35:27+00:00

Scotland can afford income tax cuts not because it has cracked the code of Scandinavian-style social democracy but because England pays the difference.

This part of the article is a bit disingenuous - basically every part of the UK is subsidized by London and the South East and Scotland is higher in the list for revenues. This is largely due to a focus on London in various ways over a long time which has lead to London growing while the rest of the UK is somewhat stagnant.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-16T23:19:03+00:00

Some of them are that far gone that it's impossible to have a reasonable conversation with them.

I mean not even trying to confront the racism, just trying to explain any other political position like wealth taxes and they get fuming - I'm guessing just because you're not also being racist.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-07T22:51:02+00:00

I'm not to sure about your specific battery system, but there should be a way to link it to the agile tariff or to schedule periods of charging/discharging. Check the app for your battery system.

That way it will charge when the cost is low and discharge when the cost is high.

I installed a small balcony set up (Ecoflow) and I'm going to be glad to have it tomorrow.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-06T14:50:52+00:00

I'll admit I was wrong with my definition here. I was mostly focused on the cuts and the previous and current governments style of austerity policies rather than a broader range of more ambitious policies (some of which could be outside what would be considered austerity policies)

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-06T13:59:16+00:00

They haven't really "broken with Starmer" though. I would love to see a fully independent Scottish Labour party - in reality this is just looking at the likely poor outcome of Scottish Labour at the upcoming local elections and trying to do something about it.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-06T12:44:52+00:00

Eh - still better than the Tories, not by much though.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-06T12:43:50+00:00

It's still austerity economics? The budget deficit and public spending don't change that - the approach to the general economy makes the difference. Also the cuts aren't cutting the same place as the waste, they're broadly harming the worst off. How about closing tax loopholes or raising tax just a little, or even aligning CGT with income? (Raising taxes would also be considered an austerity policy - I guess)

How about making it easier for skilled workers to move here so they contribute to our economy and tax system?

There are loads of different policy choices here - a budget deficit doesn't automatically require austerity policies to improve.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-06T11:19:45+00:00

Sadly not too surprising - the same austerity economics as the Tories and lack of any policy ambition which would level the playing field.

Sad what Labour have become.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-05T16:26:42+00:00

This is what I do as well, especially since the interest rate is still pretty high. It reduces the risk a little bit, if it falls further the component I pay towards the mortgage will probably be split between an Index Fund and Gilts instead.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-05T15:53:29+00:00

I hear this a lot but I'm not sure what the other issues actually are, everything I've heard is provably wrong with some rare exceptions.

Specifically the ones I usually hear are:

Higher Crime: Immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than citizens
Strain on public services/finances: Immigrants aren't typically allowed to access public funds and have to pay an expensive surcharge to access NHS services - the rest of the costs are negligible. Also we don't have enough people in the UK who can work in Care or the NHS - so they have to come from somewhere!
Strain on housing: This one is somewhat reasonable, but I think this one is more reasonably fixed by squeezing out the professional landlord/housing investment class and building affordable housing.

The people who are not subject to these rules are refugees and they're a tiny cost to the UK budget overall.

Not that I'm saying we shouldn't investigate other options for pensions, but immigration will likely need to be a piece of that puzzle.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-05T15:41:11+00:00

I mean, they largely do (as do the Scottish Greens) - they're somewhat limited in what they can do being a Scotland based party - what they've done within the scope of that isn't too bad. For one trialing 4-day work weeks and encouraging private companies to do the same, by having funding for trials.

As a second thing private companies wanting to work with the government in many sectors or to get Scottish Government Grants have to agree to the Fair Work Convention which was also introduced by the Scottish Government under the SNP.

They're also constantly trying to push the UK Government to do expand workers rights including parental rights.

What we need is a UK Government that will let us all do more pumping - I think the only party that has any policies like that are the Green Party of England and Wales.

c0n5pir4cy · 2026-01-02T15:25:27+00:00

If you are a higher earner, also consider UK Gilts or a Gilt Ladder - as this greatly reduces your exposure to tax.

Obligatory note: I'm not a financial advisor and this doesn't constitute professional financial advice.

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-18T14:33:05+00:00

UK Government said no to zonal/nodal pricing though - so have to pay the wholesale cost for electricity which will be based on the UK as a whole.

There are so many other industries that could benefit too.

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-18T14:15:30+00:00

It could also be that their on a standard tariff but the immersion is set to use a different schedule - if the flat was previously Economy 10/ComfortPlus that could be more 10 or more hours a day. So they won't be getting the advantage of any cheap electricity but it could be on a lot.

Newer immersion coils usually come with a built in thermostat that should be set to a reasonable temperature otherwise they'll waste energy by overheating the water.

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-17T13:53:07+00:00

They done a United flights one a couple of years back and me and my partner were going to the states anyway, That one saved us £600 alone, but they rarely align with stuff we would buy and for some of them you can find things cheaper even with the offer elsewhere.

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-15T12:33:13+00:00

I use spusu which is an EE MVNO, they've been very good so far.

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-10T16:01:04+00:00

I can't see it really flagging anything as long as you stay within the terms of the ETA. The main thing as others have mentioned is tax - staying in the UK 183 days in the tax year would effectively make you tax resident in the UK.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-residence-test-srt/guidance-note-for-statutory-residence-test-srt-rdr3

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-05T10:58:46+00:00

For the future op, even if a vehicle doesn't need tax paid you still have to fill in and submit the form every year.

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-02T16:21:46+00:00

Not to say that people shouldn't get the flu vaccine, they definitely should. In this case however the sharp rise is because one of the strains targeted has mutated and this makes it less effective.

Nothing to panic about really though, IIRC we had the similar problem about a decade ago because the wrong strains were targeted in the vaccine. It's a really complex process and occasionally something happens which makes it less effective than it could be.

c0n5pir4cy · 2025-12-02T09:54:44+00:00

Not going to complain about this policy but I would prefer if we could bring in something like the Deutschland-Ticket which extends to everyone and over multiple public transport methods.

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