A Rush to the Bottom

While Westminster are looking to kill the Scottish Parliament stone dead via the so called Henry VIIIth clause, though how a precedent in English Law can be made legal under Scots Law is a separate matter. I note the emergency shut down of the Forties pipe line to Grangemouth has caused crude oil shorts to lift above $65 a barrel, as the crude oil commodities brokers sniff a killing.

Funny that, as us poor wee Scots - in 2014 - were told the oil from the North Sea was just about finished, it was worthless, you could not rely on it; except for the bit the Forties pipeline earns the UK treasury around £1.2 million a day all on its owny owe, in landing fees.

We are going to see a petrol and diesel price hike in Scotland just in time for Christmas, as suplliers cry 'shortages' and all those folk traveling to see loved ones over the festive season will just have to dig that wee bit deeper in their pockets to fund the Tory Government 'give to the rich' taxation system.

In the meantime the BBC pleads, cajoles or sends in the bailiffs to get its license fee then hands over a chunk to the rightwing press to fund 'local reporters for local papers' . The situation here in the SW of Scotland is local papers that were printed locally are sent up from Manchester, local reporters are as rare as hens' teeth while those who are around appear to be signed up Tory Party members - given the primacy of Tory MP's and MSPs who are plastered over the few column inches of local news, these local papers now carry.

Meanwhile the Tory MSPs are claiming they, all on their own, have saved Scotland from everything from a cold to a meteor strike, all of which were caused by SNP cupidity. Their current leader is twisting her knickers in a knot trying not to say she is gasping for a seat as an MP in Toryland but will only stand in Scotland, honest, well, unless she is called to be the real Tory Leader of all Engerland (Oops, Ruthie meant to say the UK), in which case it will be an emergency, so she will just take that safe seat in Toryland after all, thanks very much.

In the meantime the Scotched Labour Leader is asking why the SNP Government is not doing more to reduce the impact of budget cuts on Scottish Councils his party voted for in Westminster. The Scotchland BBC are happy to give him a platform to regurgitate this endless guff on their air 'waives' while missing out on the real news of how well the SNP are actually doing their day job or bending their news coverage in such a manner to make it look like yet another SNP failure. The sad thing is the Scotchland BBC actually believe they are being 'impartial' and are simply holding the Scottish Government to account. A feature of the BBC's general news coverage which is sadly lacking when it comes to the Westminster Government, Brexit, Westminster's historical child and sex abuse cases, Westminster economic incompetence and increasingly fascist politic.

So here we are, us Scots, sitting on the tea tray of Tory Brexit ambition, evermore out of control as we rush to the bottom of the Brexit Cresta run with no brakes, safety belt or crash helmet to hand as Westminster's latest wheeze is to take them away from us. Just like Spain is trying to do with Catalunia.

Ah Weel ....

I tried reading the press release that came out of Tory Central and then metaphorically waved by the usual right wing press as a great deal, a peace in our time appeal to the fueding, rabid Tory Brexiteers. If you take away all the hubris and hyperbole from the Prime Minister's statement on the 'negotiations' you come out with the direct opposite of 'Veni, Vidi, Vici!'. May was humped left, right and centre by the EU and no mistake.

So we now see the vast economic freedoms Brexit will bring which appear to be paying more than we do now to stay in the EU Customs Union, plus increased costs to all exporters and importers, including all the EU red tape, the Brexiteers claimed would be removed by leaving the EU, remains while the UK will have no say in future EU regulations on trade or free movement within the EU zone because we are not full members of the club. In other words the UK is just going to have to do what ever it is telt by the EU. This is a 'success' for the Tory Party, their media cheer leaders and has clearly demonstrated the weakness in the EU's negotiating position. In the meantime Harry Hewitt's wedding to a non self supporting, non national, who by the British Establishment elites own rules should not be allowed entry into the UK, is being used as a royal 'look there's a squirrel' diversion to the cover up the cock up masquerading as Tory EU policy. A modern day equivalent of the Roman elite's 'bread and circuses'.

We now know, officially, the Tory Party do not have a 'scooby' as to the actual impact of Brexit will be. David Davis, Brexit Emperor, has told us that all the economic sector impact analyses he claimed had been carried out by the Brexit Department, of which he is head, had never been carried out; beyond a quick search of Wikipedia by a junior civil servant somewhere in the bowels of the Department of Trade which was then tarted up to look like David Davis had actually done something.

The Tory Party, in all its increasingly bizarre forms and divisions, is an empty vessel making as much noise as possible to hide the reality they are deep in a giant hole of their own digging but can not stop digging it ever deeper. The view from the EU is one of despair, of incredulity, of stunned silence at the charge over the cliff edge of the UK's economy collapse the Tories are leading. The pound is now worth 10% less against the basket of major currenciesthan last year, the only currency doing worse, in real terms, is Trump's USA dollar. The idea that the pound is performing well against the US dollar which is being sold as evidence of Brexit success, is economic madness of the first order, it is a race to the bottom. In basket case terms the UK economy is now competing with those utter economic failures, Argentina and Greece in terms of stagflation, due to minimal economic growth.

Throw in the exodus of EU workers from the UK who paid UK taxes and the problems all sectors are increasingly having in recruiting suitable native workers or any workers at all, you have to ask how much worse will the current decline in UK economic performance get?

At present Scotland is keeping ahead of the economic game, partly because investors are pretty confident Scotland's economy will weather the incoming Brexit storm better than the rest of the UK and partly because they are gambling on Scotland voting for independence prior to March 2019. The Tory leadership is saying there will be no separate deals for the constituent parts of the UK but that is already so much pish and wind given the apparent reality of an Eire / Northern Ireland soft border under EU exit terms and conditions. Will the Tories be so stupid as to seek to make Cairnryan Ferry port the start of the 'hard border' with the EU? Given their current insanity I have to suggest they will definitely try this on for size. A move which will wreck the Stranrear area's already fragile economy and have a ripple effect on the SW of Scotland economy in general with local hauliers just one group who will be losing out.

For all those Scots who claimed that Brexit would not be a disaster, the Tories had it all thought out just how has the last week's farcical performances in both Brussels and Westminster left your assurance the rest of us were wrong, how is that looking right now?

Scotland's fishery sold out, Scotland's farmers sold out, Scotland's finance sector sold out in the rush to get some sort of Brexit deal with the EU by the Tory Party - Is that Scotch Tory vote looking so clever now you fishermen and farmers?

A United Kingdom, where all nations are equal .... in yer dreams.

Ah weel, stupid is as stupid does.