Kinbrace in Scotland in August 2024 -1.2 °C, Manston in Kent – 16.6 °C
By Professor John Robertson OBA
Skwawkbox today:
The Labour party’s cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance will kill around 4,000 pensioners this winter – according to the party’s own research.
Labour’s analysis, published during the 2017 general election campaign, warned that the Tories’ plans under then-PM Theresa May to cut the allowance for millions of pensioners would be deadly, leading directly to the deaths of around 4,000 people. Called ‘the single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation’, it combined with the Tories’ ‘dementia tax’ plans and Corbyn-led Labour’s spectacular and fully-costed manifesto and actual hope of meaningful change to almost put the Tories out of power.
Other government statistics show that the cut is aimed primarily at over-75s, at women more than men and at those living in the north most of all:
Nice but typically Anglocentric, Skwawkbox forgets to look at winter temperatures:
UK average winter temperatures.
The Times last week:
So 200 000 cold-related deaths in milder England & Wales means 20 000 or significantly more than that in Scotland?
Might these be useful data?
Of the four UK nations, England consistently has the highest life expectancy at birth for males and females, and Scotland the lowest. Life expectancy at birth in 2020 to 2022 was estimated to be:
- in England, 78.8 years for males and 82.8 years for females
- in Scotland, 76.5 years for males and 80.7 years for females
- in Wales, 77.9 years for males and 81.8 years for females
- in Northern Ireland, 78.4 years for males and 82.3 years for females
Talking-up Scotland 
The reason why Gordon Brown introduced the Winter Fuel Payment in 1997 was the Excess Winter Mortality figures for 1996/97.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1997-11-04/debates/56457fb4-4793-474f-8356-c2c4e969f27c/ElderlyPeople(WinterMortality)
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Speaking to a lot of folks up here they have had heating on at times already including myself a cold wind to put up with as well I just wonder if Stammer is following Boris and just let the bodies pile high save money in not having to pay out the pension.
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It appears though that Labour in Scotland’s leader (of sorts) Anas Sarwar is the bees knees as in yet another trolling (or comedy) exercise by media (of sorts) who dislike the SNP so much, that we now find out that, Anas Sarwar has been named as the “MSP of the year”, by the Holyrood Magazine (now owned by Tory Lord Ashcroft) in their yearly magazine political (of sorts) awards (of sorts) ceremony.
Anas Sarwar tweeted in response to ‘winning’ this award (of sorts):
“Thanks @HolyroodDaily for the MSP of the year award”.
“Over 3 years, we’ve changed Scottish Labour so we can deliver the change our country needs”.
“Economic growth has to be the driver of that change – delighted to receive the business award alongside @djohnsonMSP and @michaeljmarra”
Well that tweet from him confuses me as it tends to read as if he was the current Scottish FM and that he has then succeeded and delivered economic growth for Scotland.
Also perhaps him mentioning the word “Change” more than once in his tweet in relation to his party is a tad ridiculous and fake when we see how no “Change” has happened (as promised) via Labour UK now that they are the new UK government.
However the Judges (of sorts) stated:
“Sarwar had overseen a dramatic revival in his party’s fortunes in Scotland, while continuing to put pressure on the Scottish Government at Holyrood”.
(The Judges missed a trick they could have easily said Sarwar has brought about “Change” for the Labour party thus repeating and endorsing Labour’s (empty) and far too repetitively boring slogan, which as a slogan is , for the public, now at the ‘enough already’ stage ).
Reality of course is that it was actually the pro UK media (of sorts) in Scotland who won Labour their increased seats at WM.
They did this in (over) promoting Sarwar and the Labour party and also their (empty) slogans and their so called political messages (Lies) in Scotland (to Scotland) while simultanously attacking the SNP as a party and as the current Scottish government .
So it really really really was they, the media (of sorts) in Scotland, who won Labour more seats in the recent GE and so not really Sarwar or Labour here or Labour UK (or their so called UK party leader).
Plus surely the Judges or this magazine could have also given some recognition , via an award, to the BBC in Scotland’s huge political contribution (interference and propaganda) in the recent GE on behalf of the Labour party too (another trick missed by these Judges).
The pro UK media (of sorts) in Scotland also amplified/repeated all that Sarwar said against the SNP and the Scottish government .
While they also applied and contributed to what was a media (of sorts) combined political pressure upon the Scottish government and also upon the SNP as a party in what seemed very very very much like an orchestrated vendetta by them all.
While that same media (of sorts) protected Sarwar and Labour from much of their media criticism and scrutiny .
While also, as a media (of sorts), failing to expose Sarwar and Labour’s hypocrisy and ignoring their obvious double standards in respect to the weak performance of their political party in Wales as the devolved Welsh government.
Then they, Holyrood magazine, also awarded “former deputy first minister Lord Wallace of Tankerness the Lifetime Achievement (of sorts) gong”.
What is a peerage for him not enough as a sufficient reward that they then feel they must also award him some pointless gong to further troll us via these (also) pointless Political comedy awards ?
(Token awards given -infrequently- to the SNP-by them- not for balance- but just as a pretence that this political (of sorts) magazine is not too partisan or too politically bias in their yearly supposed political awards(of sorts)).
To complete or rather continue with some of the obvious trolling from the Holyrood magazine’s (comedy) awards (of sorts) they also had:
“Other winners that included former Scottish Conservatives leader Jackson Carlaw for Speaker of the Year and Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain, who picked up the Best Scot at Westminster award”
Pity then that Jackson had not spoken up when Douglas Ross stole the leadership from him in Scotland. (or at least spoken more honestly in admitting that he was ousted as leader and so did not actually resign that post willingly).
“Best Scot at WM” I mean surely to ‘win’ (sorta) that, you have to at least have faith in your own country’s ability to be able to be a successful independent country?
As opposed to being a ‘Scot’ who campaigned for your country to be forever beholden to and under the rule of another country (same fake country that is leeching off your country via it’s vast and rich resources etc) .
Or does being “best Scot at WM” mean you being seen as the most subservient to WM and also to the UK state . In you, as an MP, being complicit and agreeable to the UK leeching from your actual country, Scotland.
(Surely then Wendy C would not be the sole ‘winner’ of this as the ‘Best Scot’ at WM).
But wait for further trolling/comedy value they also had an award (of sorts) for “Russell Findlay Tory MSP (and a current candidate for Tory leadership (of sorts) in Scotland) as an award (of sorts) for the – wait for it- “one to watch”.
“One to watch” well that is only right in the sense that some of the stunts he, Findlay, has pulled could be filed under ‘dubious behaviour that should be considered unfit as behaviour for a politician (of sorts)’ .
So yes he , Findlay, does need watching (officially that is).
He, Findlay, once posted on Twitter a picture of himself holding a merkin (look it up) with a group of people in a pub, including one Elaine Miller, she, Miller, had flashed wearing a merkin in the Scottish Parliament , from the gallery, following the conclusion of the last debate on the GRR bill.
Tories and Labour always willing to jump onto any (grievous) bandwagon that is against the SNP as a party and also very much against them as the Scottish government.
Then we also see those who are are a part of that ‘bandwagon’ more than willing to oblige in welcoming, both or either , any Labour or Tory MSP’s onboard what is basically their anti SNP or anti independence political vehicle badly disguised, at times, as a supposed social issue.
I would not give an award to magazines like the Holyrood magazine (acquired by the likes of Tory Lord Ashcroft) who pretend that they are, as a political magazine, those who are politically neutral but their Editor (of sorts) likes to prove otherwise via her questionable, at times, contribution’s to the political debate.
As how could you ever give an award for anything from the likes of them ??
Read up on Lord Ashcroft and then think why on earth did he decide to acquire the Holyrood magazine ?
Why indeed ?
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The pensioners will vote Labour out. They will only get one term, if that. If they do not increased pensions. They will be a goner.
Independence support will increase in Scotland. Especially is unionists get into Holyrood and wreck the economy. That is what they are doing.
Scotland in surplus in fuel and energy and nearer the source, pays more. No parity because of Westminster policy. Wasting Scottish taxpayers monies.
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No sign of Sarwar on RP Scotland just some unknown Lab spouting the party line.
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Sarwar has history of forgetting what he said in opposition.
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The Met Office winter temperatures map is a bit misleading, it is an average of ca 4 months of winter over 29 years ending in 2000 – It’s not the average which kills people or racks up enormous heating bills, it’s the extremes – eg Last December here was an average of 2.67 and January -0.62. What the January average disguises is a -16 on the 10th and a gas meter going nuts.
Standard heat loss calculations for England are based on a low of -3, but that covers an awful lot of variations from Northumberland to Kent… As heat losses increase with falling temperatures, so does your heating bill – eg Take a baseline of -3 : At -5 it’s +6%, at -10 it’s +23%, at -16 it’s +43%….
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9 degrees here at the moment.
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Any Labour MP who thinks that they can just abstain in the vote on cutting the winter fuel payment in the HOC are then, as a constituency MP, making a conscious decision to not support the pensioners in their respective constituencies but instead they have decided to not vote against the party.
Party first and constituents second (if at all).
They think in not voting with the party but instead in them abstaining that then somehow makes them appear better and so, they may assume, lets them off the hook with the constituents in their areas who are effected by this if it passes in the HOC. It does not.
It shows them as spineless , without principles and those who are more driven by a desire to progress their own political careers than any true desire to serve (well) those who elected them as their political representative in the UK parliament.
One wonders what they each individually pledged to their own constituents in their respective areas during their respective GE campaigns.
What promises and assurances did they actually make and give.
Did they, like Michael Shanks, also falsely assert that they were “their own man” (woman) and not a party YES man (woman).
Where as a party YES man (woman) , they would then always do what they were told to do by the party and never vote with their conscious (assuming they had one) and so would always vote with the party to demonstrate that , as an MP, they only pledged their loyalty to their party first and foremost and not to those who elected them.
Surely with this particular vote, cutting the winter fuel payment, there is no grey area or doubts as to what it will mean for many of their constituents should this come into force.
If this cut goes ahead then many pensioners will indeed suffer a financial loss that formerly they relied upon to help with the increased heating costs they incur during the winter months.
Starmer , Sarwar and my new local Labour MP all promised “Change” from what most people , and I also, assumed would be from the financial hardship they, and I too, had suffered under the Tory UK government.
(Sent by them, the Labour party, via their way too excessive amount of campaign literature posted from them to me -and to others too- through my, and other people’s, letterboxes ).
That has now proven to have been false advertising.
Indeed Labour UK have now adopted the exact same tactics as the Tories did before them.
Where Labour UK, like the Tories before them, are now passing the buck in them blaming the former Tory UK government for Labour, as the new government, not now being able to adhere to all of the promises/pledges that they made to the UK public during their GE campaign.
All apparently because the UK finances are seemingly far far worse than they , Labour UK, thought they actually were .
Perhaps then they, Labour UK, should have reined in some of their (supposed) grand plans for “Change” until they had actually seen what’s what with the UK piggy bank.
Of course Sarwar being a supreme chancer is still asserting that with Labour there will be “Change” .
(With him, Sarwar, confident in the Knowledge that the media in Scotland will not challenge him and will also always allow him to hide from their (non) scrutiny , as and when needed by him , but with him also then able to emerge brazenly back into the public eye when he assumes that the SNP, as a party, are on the ropes because of attacks on all fronts from both the media and the opposition parties).
However as sure as night follows day, if he too, like Labour UK, is indeed also successful and then becomes , in 2026, the new FM, then he will, I am positive, also then ‘Do a Labour UK’.
As he , Sarwar, will then also choose to blame the former (Scottish) government’s supposed mismanagement and incompetence for being the main reason he and his new devolved Labour government (or coalition with another pro UK party) are then unable to fulfil all of the pledges/promises they had made during their campaign in the Scottish elections.
So , like Labour UK, there will be no change there then.
(Same Sarwar that recently said “blaming others was typical of the SNP” but it will be okay in the future for him to do that , and is indeed, it seems, okay for him to do that now- as in constantly always blaming others including the SNP).
The Q is when the H will more of the Scottish public , and others who live in Scotland, eventually ever learn ?
Or will they, as some of the public in Scotland, also decide to just always abstain from making a decision and taking a stand against those , like Labour and other pro UK parties, in stopping voting for them in elections and also stopping their support of and belief in the UK being (supposedly but not) best for Scotland when clearly , through our lives lived (endured) as being a part of their UK, it is NOT better for Scotland or for us as a people to be either British or a UK citizen.
BTW MP’s (from any party even the SNP) abstaining on any crucial vote such as this one is not them, as MP’s, being brave and so being seen as them “rebelling” against the party it is cowardice and also very much them failing their constituents who are as a result , if the vote wins, then negatively impacted .
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