You got a link for that? It's not on the BBC news app

You're right, the SNP should hang their heads in shame when compared to Che Miliband's vow to "encourage" people to pay a decent wage :lol:

I've actually heard a lot of talk about the living wage this side of the border so it confuses me a little as to why the SNP would vote it down. Unless it didn't have the necessary devolved power to legislate on that.

You're right, the SNP should hang their heads in shame when compared to Che Miliband's vow to "encourage" people to pay a decent wage :lol:

It's Labour policy to pay the living wage in public contracts - we've done it in councils we control - and to encourage the remainder with either tax breaks or campaigning and public pressure (which has worked pretty well with our community organising groups so far, so it's not the joke it sounds like). Our policy goes beyond the SNP on this.

I've actually heard a lot of talk about the living wage this side of the border so it confuses me a little as to why the SNP would vote it down. Unless it didn't have the necessary devolved power to legislate on that.

Well it would have the devolved power on its own public contracts. It wouldn't have allowed as a motion to begin with in Holyrood if it weren't a devolved issue.

Cameron called London a 'precious asset' that the whole of the UK benefits from.

 

Aside from calling bullshit on the claim that we actually benefit from the brain and finance blackhole that is the capital, can we all take a second to a) puke at London being called a 'precious asset' and b) a moment of silence for the official death of the No campaign.

London's fabulous.

 

(or rather was)

Cameron called London a 'precious asset' that the whole of the UK benefits from.

 

Aside from calling bullshit on the claim that we actually benefit from the brain and finance blackhole that is the capital, can we all take a second to a) puke at London being called a 'precious asset' and b) a moment of silence for the official death of the No campaign.

Of course it is a precious asset. Without London where would the Tories get their funds?

Latest ICM poll puts "No"'s lead at just 4% (52-48).

 

Even more interestingly, among people born in Scotland, a majority want independence; it's only when English-born Scots are factored in that it tilts over to "No".

 

And this is all with the nationalistic fervour of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the SNP's famed late campaigning skills still to come...

This month's ICM poll has YES 34 (-5) and NO 46 (+4) (or 58-42 once the don't knows are taken out), which looks like a massive shift - but which far more likely is just a reversion to the mean. This is beginning to become a trend - poll result showing things are close which all the pro-independence lot trumpet to the skies, with nobody mentioning what the poll says the month after when it shows things stumbling back and indicates the good result was almost certainly a stunning outlier. But then, that seems to be a trend in politics overall anyway for people to get overexcited about the best poll results when they're almost always the least reliable. #beheadthosewhoinsultpsephology

 

Even worse for Yes, ICM actually changed their methodology to favour them in terms of turnout this month - it would have been 40-60 had the methodology remained the same as last month's poll.

 

There was a Panelbase poll too which also showed an increase for No, but I don't think it's especially notable as it was within the margin of error.

Interesting article in the 'Keeping The Lights On' section in Private Eye this fortnight:

 

News that Scotland has missed its target in reducing CO2 emissions prompts a look at the SNP’s much vaunted energy policy which, alas, simply doesn’t add up. The SNP plans to produce ‘100 percent of Scotland’s electricity needs from renewables by 2020’; to continue exporting power to England; and at the same time to say ‘no’ to new nuclear power stations. But it has just noticed a serious flaw in this vision and is lobbying in vain to rescue its position…

 

 

The full article thus continues:

 

'As elsewhere in the UK, Scotland's gas- and coal-fired electricity capacity is falling, and its two nuclear plants will close and not be replaced if the SNP has its way. Its renewable generation is predominantly wind power which is expanding strongly thanks to UK government subsidies.

 

Because windpower is so notoriously intermittent, if average Scottish renewables output was to equate to even just a high proportion of Scottish demand (100 percent is pure fantasy), this would mean very large exports of surplus power to England on windy days and, when the nukes have closed, imports from England when the wind isn't blowing, as it doesn't in Scotland for several weeks every year.

 

England already gets more of its electricity via cross-Channel "interconnectors" from continental Europe than it does from Scotland, and a panicky SNP has just noticed that more interconnectors are planned. This would leave an independent Scotland as just one among several electricity exporters competing for English business. As the SNP has now realised, this will trash the price Scottish generators recieve.

 

This all goes back to the "German effect". Germany's very large windfarm sector and phasing out of nuclear power generation have resulted in big periodic power surpluses and a slumping wholesale price of power there. German wholesale prices are even sometimes negative - ie the grid has to pay wholesale buyers to take surplus electricity, frequently as exports to neighbouring countries.

 

When the wind isn't blowing in Germany, however, it must import electricity; and German households end up paying some of the highest electricity prices in Europe.

 

The same fate is in store for an independent Scotland if it sticks with its all-wind-and-no-nukes policy. Not only would it lose UK wind subsidies (running at about £4bn a year) and have to pay full grid charges for exporting to England (also currently subsidised), but its exports of surplus windpower would frequently be at next-to-nothing prices, while the imports it needed to keep Scotland's lights on when the wind wasn't blowing would be priced at a premium.

 

Needless to say, the SNP is lobbying hard against the new interconnectors. And, needless to say, no one is listening.'

Edited July 7, 201411 yr by Doctor Blind

That's a super nice article and all but completely overlooks the vey basic fact that wind is not the only renewable this side of the border. Hydro is very extensively used and a new plant was approved last year that would funnel that excess wind power to pump the water back up to the top. Thus giving us a constant supply of hydro power. Tidal is also coming on stream. To suggest we are wholly reliant on wind is a complete fallacy. While I have no doubt that we intend to export wind power as we currently do we have other things we could do with it if we built more pump hydro schemes.

 

 

I would also challenge that we have weeks of the year without wind. That's f***ing bullsht by an ignorant c**t who's never left the M25. It's always bloody windy here.

That's a super nice article and all but completely overlooks the vey basic fact that wind is not the only renewable this side of the border. Hydro is very extensively used and a new plant was approved last year that would funnel that excess wind power to pump the water back up to the top. Thus giving us a constant supply of hydro power. Tidal is also coming on stream. To suggest we are wholly reliant on wind is a complete fallacy. While I have no doubt that we intend to export wind power as we currently do we have other things we could do with it if we built more pump hydro schemes.

I would also challenge that we have weeks of the year without wind. That's f***ing bullsht by an ignorant c**t who's never left the M25. It's always bloody windy here.

 

The week I was in Scotland at the end of June it was noticeably calm, although I agree it will be a very small part of the year.

 

Also, hydro and tidal, whilst useful to prevent on over reliance on wind - the amounts generated in comparison to wind are very small and insignificant to be honest.

For ever 4.5 MW of installed capacity of wind there is 1.5MW of installed capacity of Hydro. It's more than enough to sustain us during the 3.6hrs that it's not windy.

 

http://www.scottishrenewables.com/scottish...tistics-glance/

 

In 2012, Hydro accounted for more of Scotland's energy production than Oil and Gas combined. (The irony being that our main export is Oil and Gas.)

 

While I agree we have a significant amount of Wind usage, we do have a pretty substantial amount of Hydro power. Hopefully we'll increase that and tidal capacity as we increase the wind capabilities.

 

You lucked into some nice weather! A lovely High Pressure system has given us some delightful weather the past couple of weeks.

Salmond vs Darling. Live on STV (available online) starting now.

 

 

Could be great or a car crash.

Been watching bits and pieces of it (during times when the stream actually works). Inuyasha appears to be doing a better job of selling his side of the argument than Alex Salmond.

I gave up one hour in due to frustration at the abysmal production and the shite debate that is going on.

Snap poll by Guardian/ICM finds a 56-44 win for Darling.

I didn't watch it but can't think that Darling beat Salmond?!

 

When's the bbc one?

I'm guessing it was the predictable heart-over-head emotional guff from Salmond, and vitriolic bullying and scare tactics from Darling - with added testosterone fuelled anger and shouting. This all acting as perfect distraction from the fact that over the weekend ALARM CLOCK BRITAIN walking verbal diarrhoea meme ("I agree with") Nick Clegg has basically said he wants to get us to subsidise rich/affluent home owners who (shock horror) are being forced to have somebody live next door.

 

Ok so I've gone completely off at a tangent there, but I'm so disenfranchised by UK politics at the moment (the constant meaningless Milliband vox-pops sitting on a chair etc) I just can't take anything seriously right now.