Westminster will now include - permanently - a junior advisor aged 29 with no discernible achievements and Boris Johnson’s 31-year-old tennis partner, a friend of his wife Carrie.
Seriously, Jackie: what part of "Power devolved is power retained" did you not understand since 1999? Of course Westminster thinks it has ultimate power over the whole of the UK—because it does, and always has! I can't help but think it's either ignorance or hypocrisy when supporters of the Scottish Parliament start throwing their toys out of the pram at the apparently "sudden" realisation that the Westminster Parliament can overrule any of the policies and legislation of the devolved administrations. That's always been the case; we've just not had two separate administrations at both UK and Scotland levels so ideologically determined to not cooperate with each other that it makes the average primary school playground look like a model of adult cooperation.
You make some very good points about the "quality" of the latest entrants to the House of Lords; even more so about the horrendous democratic deficit they embody within the UK political system, but your anger and shock at this apparent revelation is frankly... disappointing. You should know better. This situation is nothing new; it was always a potential danger within the devolution settlement, as established. Sadly, the days when Jack McConnell's Labour/LibDem administration could successfully work with a Labour Home Office to create a Scotland-specific "Fresh Talent" initiative – that encouraged migrants to settle here and so help combat the country's falling population – would appear long gone. And, with those new puppets in the Lords, appears even less so.
The hard Brexit that Westminster has imposed on Scotland was frankly contemptuous of Scottish democracy. Since then they have repatriated all powers to themselves. The Internal markets Act is a mistake of historic proportions. They appear ignorant or indifferent to the strains that thus approach is putting on the devolution settlement
All in the name of "frictionless economic exchange"...
But I repeat, as you seem determined NOT to address my main point, this kind of thing was always possible under the devolution settlement—horrendous though it undoubtedly is to our collective futures, the one thing it shouldn't be is a surprise. Especially with a Conservative "government" at Westminster and an increasingly incompetent SNP/Green alliance in Holyrood.
Seriously, Jackie: what part of "Power devolved is power retained" did you not understand since 1999? Of course Westminster thinks it has ultimate power over the whole of the UK—because it does, and always has! I can't help but think it's either ignorance or hypocrisy when supporters of the Scottish Parliament start throwing their toys out of the pram at the apparently "sudden" realisation that the Westminster Parliament can overrule any of the policies and legislation of the devolved administrations. That's always been the case; we've just not had two separate administrations at both UK and Scotland levels so ideologically determined to not cooperate with each other that it makes the average primary school playground look like a model of adult cooperation.
You make some very good points about the "quality" of the latest entrants to the House of Lords; even more so about the horrendous democratic deficit they embody within the UK political system, but your anger and shock at this apparent revelation is frankly... disappointing. You should know better. This situation is nothing new; it was always a potential danger within the devolution settlement, as established. Sadly, the days when Jack McConnell's Labour/LibDem administration could successfully work with a Labour Home Office to create a Scotland-specific "Fresh Talent" initiative – that encouraged migrants to settle here and so help combat the country's falling population – would appear long gone. And, with those new puppets in the Lords, appears even less so.
The hard Brexit that Westminster has imposed on Scotland was frankly contemptuous of Scottish democracy. Since then they have repatriated all powers to themselves. The Internal markets Act is a mistake of historic proportions. They appear ignorant or indifferent to the strains that thus approach is putting on the devolution settlement
All in the name of "frictionless economic exchange"...
But I repeat, as you seem determined NOT to address my main point, this kind of thing was always possible under the devolution settlement—horrendous though it undoubtedly is to our collective futures, the one thing it shouldn't be is a surprise. Especially with a Conservative "government" at Westminster and an increasingly incompetent SNP/Green alliance in Holyrood.
Oof! Strong stuff. Love it. I find it so hard to hold it all in my head. Thank you for paying attention and drawing attention to all this.
Thanks very much - it is very nice when friends read and like my work.