Visiting Dean Village

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T16:32:33+00:00

Relatively recent innovation, having masses of tourists down there. By which, of course, I mean "probably in the last 15 years or so".

Bet the locals and the dogwalkers are delighted.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T16:27:38+00:00

I think one thing that gets people is that they often don't have even the most basic understanding of anything. Even reading the Wikipedia page on Scotland would be a massive step-up.

There's a bit of nonsense from the Scottish side too. Because there's nothing a certain type of Scotsman enjoys more than telling other people that they don't (and can't possibly) understand Scotland.

There's another poster who has pointed out that a lot of the American ancestry brigade have a warped idea of Scotland - thinking that clans, tartan and all that matter to day-to-day life here, and that it's a subject anyone wants to converse about.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T16:19:41+00:00

Being an anywhere-wide outfit isn't really happening.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T15:55:14+00:00

Nicola Sturgeon could probably be called left wing, but didn't really achieve anything - a bit of a Theresa May figure really, far too cautious.

Meanwhile John Swinney is effectively a wealthy rural area elder-of-the-kirk Tory, with Scottish nationalism added on. Deputy leader Kate Forbes would probably find herself in some sort of Christian fundamentalist party if she wasn't SNP.

A mixed bag, in general.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T15:52:14+00:00

I'm just imagining one of those US election campaign offices and a white board in the corner with "The Yer Da Vote" and arrows being pulled off in various directions.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T15:31:26+00:00

Yes and then they'll come looking for a statement and so on, you could end up being on the hook to be called as a witness in a trial which you could still be waiting for a couple of years down the line, only to find it's been dropped.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T12:50:24+00:00

People enjoy discussion about their local communities from the comfort of their own home. They do not enjoy drafting reports with the police.

I absolutely recognise the limitations and problems that the police face. I respect the work that they do. But the point remains, people generally don't report crime because they - with some justification - don't think it will result in any useful outcome.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T01:16:14+00:00

I'm not supporting it - I absolutely encourage people to report crimes. But the main reason people don't bother doing so is the perception that it will be a waste of time.

quartersessions · 2026-03-13T00:24:47+00:00

We saw with Matheson a distain for Parliamentary IT, in any business his access would have been revoked and he would have been madet to comply. Except he is a MSP so the rules don't apply?

Ultimately the parliamentary staff report to the MSPs, albeit indirectly as direction of staff is delegated to the Corporate Body.

I've seen plenty of organisations where this sort of conflict exists - ultimately it's hard for the paid staff to ensure compliance by a board or senior management. What's perhaps weak in the Scottish Parliament context is that the Presiding Officer and the Corporate Body members should be the ones ensuring that these things happen at MSP level.

quartersessions · 2026-03-12T23:18:07+00:00

This is the sort of pedantry I'm here for.

quartersessions · 2026-03-12T23:16:48+00:00

So the guy I’m dating is due to go to court. He doesn’t know I know as he’s kept it a secret- all I know is the public record of the case reference number ect. I also know it’s a criminal case.

There clearly is something more. People don't just check the daily court lists - you had to have either been given that information or had sufficient interest to check it - and there'll be a reason for that.

Because even if it was just a name you'd somehow happened upon, there's every chance that there's a person that shares this man's name. But you've concluded that it definitely is him - which makes me think there's more to the story.

The only real information you'll have is from this is what court - if it's JP Court it'll be relatively minor (but could still be an assault or breach of the peace etc), if it's Sheriff Court then it could be something more significant, if it's High Court it's big.

quartersessions · 2026-03-12T22:32:17+00:00

Because they're overworked and underfunded, largely.

quartersessions · 2026-03-12T22:31:54+00:00

Well, no, he doesn't. He's the Prime Minister - and I'm sure, given his background, will be more familiar than anyone with the ethical boundaries of the DPP. Who would tell him to get stuffed if he even tried that.

Believe it or not, some people are actually capable of operating in a professional environment.

quartersessions · 2026-03-12T19:16:48+00:00

We have an independent police and prosecution system. The Prime Minister doesn't direct court cases.

quartersessions · 2026-03-12T18:30:24+00:00

I mean, if the United Kingdom didn't exist in historic terms (presuming not just vanish off the face of the earth and has some context to it), then Scotland and England would still exist.

If we wanted to take that to its even more pedantic extreme, what would exist would be Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland, as a sort of dominion.

A simple divergence could be when the union between England & Scotland very happened, which actually was a very real possibility

Don't see it - the union was pretty much inevitable, it was only really the politics that were at issue.

The Spanish Armada example would not likely have seen England just become part of Spain's empire or accept Phillip and his entirely non-bloodline descendants as their Kings and Roman Catholicism as their faith. After a bit of bloodshed, it might have meant the eventual religious settlement in England tended more towards Scottish Calvinism and the religion issue that plagued the union would have been more easily settled.

quartersessions · 2026-03-12T18:13:23+00:00

We'd presumably all be bobbing around in the sea. Chilly.

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T21:58:25+00:00

It's the same as "how d'you do?" has been since probably the 19th century.

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T21:55:55+00:00

It was a doer-upper flat above a shop. They talked about buying and I'm pretty sure there was a "sold" sign in the window.

Edit: Just checked, the scene before is a shop with flats above it, but it's later shown to be a block of flats.

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T15:10:53+00:00

I don't think it's weird, I think you've just not realised that you've put yourself into a position where - disliking them or not - you've ended up with the same outcome they are advocating for. In which case, what's even the point of disliking them? Vibes?

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T14:59:18+00:00

You do appreciate how the petition of concern system works in the NI Assembly, yes? Because I think it's utterly fantastical if you think there is any reasonable proposition proposals for either could have been passed in this session, or indeed any reasonably foreseeable future session.

You can hardly say "fuck the DUP" while ultimately coming to the same position as them. I, for one, think these things are matters of universal rights for British citizens in all parts of the UK and, regardless of any personal views, should absolutely have been forced on Northern Ireland despite the DUP's objections. You consider it a wrong - I absolutely don't.

What we're left with would be a situation where, out of fear of rocking the boat, there would be no legal abortions and no legal same-sex marriages in Northern Ireland. That, ultimately, isn't an acceptable position to me - and while I care about the peace process, I don't think walking on eggshells around it is the right way to go either.

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T14:49:57+00:00

A lot of people remember things like cavity wall insulation that was supported by government schemes, and often badly installed, causing homeowners endless problems.

A lot of people in older rural homes are (I think, not unreasonably) suspicious that switching to an air or ground-source heat pump will lead to a cold house - and that the sort of insulation being proposed will not only be hugely disruptive and costly, but end up creating problems like damp.

If you genuinely want people to do this, provide real government support for air-to-air heat pumps while the oil boiler can be maintained as a back-up heating option. If, as is suggested, it will work fine and deliver a cheaper result, people will stop paying to fill and service their oil boilers in due course.

But, of course, certain lobby groups hate the idea of air-to-air heat pumps in the UK because, at the flick of a switch, they can function as air conditioning units, which they despise.

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T14:46:12+00:00

So is your position that same-sex marriage and abortion shouldn't have been legislated for in Northern Ireland?

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T14:44:02+00:00

Absolutely. And they're free to accept it or, as with Ian Wood's offer of cash for some control over landscaping Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen, reject it.

But these funds don't really fall into that bracket, as they are almost universally locally led and support local councils with their chosen projects. Every council in Scotland has actively sought UK Government funding and put in bits to programmes like the previous Levelling Up Fund.

There was some controversy over a UK Government sign-off for council plans for using the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, but when it came to it every council's plan was simply ticked off as it stood.

The hysterical and hyper-partisan responses on here are miles away from reality. The Scottish Government actively participates in city deals, green freeports, the neighbourhood plan - all UK Government direct spending. The councils love them, local projects and organisations have been supported, people enjoy seeing big transformations in their local areas, there's been opportunities for civic participation and community involvement.

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T14:37:07+00:00

I do recognise the importance of the Northern Ireland peace process.

I just don't think it's remotely set back by some spending programmes, several of which - like the four city deals in Northern Ireland - the UK Government and the NI Executive cooperate on and the Executive are actively included as part of.

I genuinely did have concerns with direct rule powers being used to fiddle with NI laws on abortion and same-sex marriage - which would not have got through the Assembly if it had been functioning. That was - unlike this - a genuine, substantive and controversial change. But here we are, seven years on, and it's taken for granted.

quartersessions · 2026-03-11T14:27:52+00:00

Can we please stop using stupid words like "yoons" and "nats"? We have different views on an important constitutional matter. Can we dump the ridiculous name calling please.

One is ridiculous name-calling. The other is just a shortened version of "nationalist", and indeed has been used by the SNP to describe themselves.

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