By Liz S
BBC website top story Scottish politics page:
“Swinney defends food prices policy ahead of first minister vote”
“SNP leader John Swinney has denied his food prices policy is an attempt to force a fight with the UK government”
“defends” and “attempt to force a fight with the UK government” ?
So we are still in a cost of living crisis where it seems that the Labour UK government are not willing to do anything to help relieve the pressure on those families who are feeling the squeeze.
Yet somehow the BBC (James Cook) thinks that Mr Swinney’s position in trying “to legally cap the price of some food items in supermarkets” is somehow something that needs to be “defended” and so is only being done, not to help families in need but just to “force a fight with the UK government”.
So we know whose side the BBC is on, i.e. they are obviously not on the side of some of those families in Scotland struggling to make ends meet and so then finding it hard to feed their children , pay their energy bills and so basically just survive.
Also apparently “The food price policy has received criticism from some, including trade association the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC), which described it as a “gimmick”.
So a government trying to ease the burden for some families who are struggling to pay the high prices in the shops for so many food items, to then enable them to feed their families is a, checks bloody notes, “gimmick” ?
Well perhaps in the UK State it would be seen as such , but in a civilised , caring and compassionate country it would be seen as a a positive action by a government, an action to show that they, as a government, want to try to help their people and so look after them (all of the people not just the wealthy ones).
What the Hell are the shops doing to reduce their extortionate prices ?
A “gimmick” ?
Like some of those supermarket loyalty cards , where prices are through the roof on many food items and only if you have have a Supermarket loyalty card do you then (sometimes) get a reduced price on an item, that originally was priced far far too high anyway. (priced up).
Of course Lee Anderson of Reform UK aka 30p Lee , he would argue that families could make a meal for 30p. No doubt James Cook of the BBC would concur.
Apparently Lee thought that “nutritious meals can be cooked for 30p per day if people learned to cook and budget properly”…..when is his Victorian recipe book coming out to prove that is actually the case…..Lee’s potatoes and Onion scraps, Lee’s Gruel, Lee’s Boiled cabbage etc etc
(While 30p Lee enjoys spending his annual salary of £86,584 as an MP , his £100,000 a year GB News salary topped up with smaller, ad-hoc payments for ad reads, social media posts, and appearances. So no need for 30p Lee to budget as his income allows him to buy only the best food and drink – plus the HOC restaurants are subsidised – so who really should listen to Mr Elite 30p Lee with his elevated earnings).
Both James Cook and Lee Anderson need not worry about having to budget as they are well paid for spreading their toxic S****.
It seems though that any and all positive and proactive ideas the SNP have to try to help people living in Scotland in this cost of living crisis is then to be attacked , challenged and so turned into something negative.
Try asking families who are struggling whether they see this initiative from the SNP as something worthwhile or indeed those other families, who may not be struggling, but who have a social conscience and so see this as something at least being done by a (caring) government who wants to do something constructive and practical for some of it’s people who need their help as a government.
Sick of the BBC incessantly talking down everything and anything the SNP do as political members, as a party and as a Scottish government.
More so considering the BBC’s awful track record as those whose own decisions, as a corporation, very much lacked good judgement and morality. (yet another glass house player clutching their fake pearls).
Liz S
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Here’s a conundrum for James Cook and the BBC in Scotland (and the Labour party at HQ level and Branch office level in Scotland).
I just read this online via a post at 17.12pm via Peter Stefanovic’s Blue Sky account:
“(UK) Government pushes for supermarkets to voluntarily cap food prices aimed at limiting the impact of inflation”.
“to limit impact of inflation”……….so not to help all of the families in need in England then.
(Sourced from the FT (3 hours ago) and The Guardian (44 minutes ago).
So James Cook why then would John Swinney need to “defend” his food price policy and also why would there be a “fight with the UK government” over this , when it seems that they , the UK government, are considering (copying) this policy, but not it seems for the same reasons.
Funny though when it was first introduced as a new SNP policy, pre the May elections in Scotland, we heard Labour in Scotland alongside the Labour UK government “strongly condemn the policy as “incoherent and undeliverable,” warning it would lead to legal challenges, potential food shortages, and higher prices elsewhere”.
Is this then one of those (too) common situations where there are different rules allowed for the UK government compared to there being no similar rules allowed for the Scottish government.
The FM urges large supermarkets to cap food prices voluntarily.
The BBC’s website now has this latest article on the UK government and food prices under their UK Business section:
“Supermarkets urged to limit food prices by (UK) government”
“UK supermarkets are being urged by the government to limit food prices in return for easing regulations, the BBC understands“
“It is thought the policy would be voluntary and apply to key groceries – such as eggs, bread, and milk – according to retail industry sources with knowledge of the plans”
“It is understood the Treasury had asked retailers to freeze price rises on certain products in exchange for an easing of packaging policies and a potential delay to rule changes around healthy food“.
“The proposals come after the Scottish National Party (SNP) pledged to introduce a similar policy in Scotland last month. However, its price cap would not be voluntary”.
Will James Cook now do a follow up article on the BBC Scotland pages of their website , communicating how the Labour UK government have copied the SNP’s policy thus making his previous article on the FM now null and void. (like most of his other #SNPBAD articles and reports on BBC Scotland).
Liz S
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I see Lab in London are coming up with something similar, and
what about this.
HS2 could cost more than £100 billion, may not open until 2039, will have trains that run 11% slower than planned, and is too expensive to cancel entirely, MPs have been told
A but the Ferries
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@rtpscott
Snap re HS2.
I also saw this but our respective comments went onto this site within minutes of each other. Ha Ha
Liz S
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Also under UK Business on the BBC website:
“HS2 could cost up to £102.7bn and trains will be slower than first planned”.
“Trains will not start running until between 2036 and 2039, up to six years later than the most recent official target of 2033, Heidi Alexander told the House of Commons”.
“The new cost range, delayed start and lower train speed are being announced as a “reset” of the delayed, over-budget and vastly scaled-back project is carried out”.
“In its original plan, the HS2 project was due to go to Manchester and Leeds, but those legs were cancelled by previous Conservative prime ministers. The current project is set to run from London to Birmingham”.
No worries though as this shocking situation will not be one that is ever politicised by BritNats in Scotland, as the only thing that opposition parties and their media politicise as being a “fiasco” and a “catastrophe” and also as a “scandal” is the Ferries in Scotland, which BTW are nowhere near the same price range etc that HS2 has cost all UK tax payers.
(Including all of those UK tax payers who will not benefit from it, though will it really be a benefit, as it is apparently not in any way the same benefit (beast) that they originally pitched it would be ).
BTW if you research the history of HS2 you will find this:
“In 2009 the Department of Transport under the Labour party Gordon Brown Ministry proposed to assess the case for a second high-speed line (after HS1) , which was to be developed by a new company, High Speed Two Ltd (HS2)”.
!In December 2010, following a review by the Tory/Lib Dem UK coalition government a route was proposed, subject to public consultation, based on a Y-shaped route from London to Birmingham, with branches to Leeds and Manchester, as originally proposed by the previous Labour government, with alterations designed to minimise the visual, noise, and other environmental impacts of the line”.
“In January 2012 the Tory Secretary of State for Transport announced that HS2 would go ahead in two phases”.
(All Northern and Eastern legs of HS2 were cancelled in 2023 by the Tory UK government led by Rishi Sunak).
So from the outset and beyond you will see that Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems have all had a hand in this fiasco and catastrophe of a UK government(s) project , that has now ended up way way over budget and greatly delayed and with some of those areas , in England, that were previously supposed to be included as original destinations for this HS2 project cancelled.
So basically spiralling costs , scaled back destinations , a greatly delayed target date and it’s funding sourced via all UK taxpayers—including those in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—who are all contributing to this English project through general taxation, but are not included as destinations for HS2 to either depart from or arrive in within any of these respective other countries.
Now that is what I call a real UK scandal, that as a scandal exceeds anything that the BBC , all of the opposition politicians and all of their UK media declare as being scandals that they say are linked to the SNP as the Scottish government , like say #Ferries.
Liz S
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