Mastodawn

Simon Brooke

@lostsettler I'll be voting @ScottishGreens 1, SNP 2. Firstly because it aligns better with my values, but secondly because the SNP need to be firmly told that they need to be both bolder and more competent. I was a member of the party for almost three decades, but they have not governed well this last few years.

@simon_brooke I hear ya. The question for me is based on a tactical outcome. Here in #orkney SNP are number two in the constituency and while I doubt it'll happen, deposing the Lib Dems in favour of an independence candidate would be good.

I wonder if the rise of reform will detract from the Lib Dem vote here or the SNP one. Clearly it will replace the Tory one...

@simon_brooke and the local SNP guy is pretty vocal about improving the energy system here (all these renewables and ever higher bills? Please!) so I support that, but not so much the local OIC councillors (who are mostly ancient and have some really feckin stupid ideas like 20mph zones which were already 20mph at appropriate times... And self driving fecking cars, a hydrogen filling station that isn't used and is just an eyesore and continual funding of emergent tech that doesn't bloody work)

@simon_brooke - hopefully he might sort that out and support the local farming and fishing communities a bit more. So not a dead loss. Once we are free then we can talk about the future (in the EU) 👍

@lostsettler H'mmm... My last proper job was working on the software which controls Orkney's interconnecter. There's absolutely no reason why power on Orkney should not be too cheap to meter most of the time, since the problem is largely shifting power *off* the islands.

But that's a UK Government competence, not a ScotGov one -- at least until we get #ScottishIndependence

@simon_brooke exactly the SNP guys point. And he's said it multiple times (in the local rag. The Orcadian, cos paying £2 for basic community information every week is just how people roll here, although personally I prefer @fionaorkneynews ... )

Fiona Grahame Orkney News Ltd Feb 11

@lostsettler @simon_brooke it's good to have different local news providers so that not merely one view, or one issue, is being covered.

John Faithfull 🌍🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🧡✊🏻✊🏿Feb 11

@fionaorkneynews @lostsettler @simon_brooke 💯

@fionaorkneynews aye there's a place for the Orcadian clearly, it's just fecking expensive for an ever diminishing number of pages to get the wood burner going with!

Fiona Grahame Orkney News Ltd Feb 11

@lostsettler they cover things we don't wish to, like the Sheriff Court, and a lot of Ba stuff

@fionaorkneynews Ba pah. I can also understand why you can't be hanging around the sheriff court, find it all a bit distasteful really.

#ScottishIndependence
#WeHaveThePower

@lostsettler @fionaorkneynews the cost of grid attached batteries sufficient to make Orkney independent of mainland power would not, these days, be very high; and just threatening to cut the interconnector would make London's ears prick up pretty sharply. Not because Orkney creating an independent island grid would hurt the National Grid that much, but if it created a precedent that rollef out across Scotland, lights would go out all over England.

@simon_brooke @fionaorkneynews here's hoping huh.

@lostsettler I would doubt much it will do either, directly. The SNP vote may drop, because many people have given up hope of them being serious about #ScottishIndependence, and lost faith in them being competent; but those people will switch to Green or stay home. LibDems will LibDem or stay home.

It's (mainly) Tory and (some) Labour who will switch to #Reform, as well as some authentic fascists who previously didn't have anyone to vote for.

#ScotPol

@simon_brooke yeah. I don't hold out much hope of change here (traditional aging community doesn't like change) but I live in hope. (Not Hate, obviously 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺)

@lostsettler @ScottishGreens

Claire McNab Feb 11

@simon_brooke Whats the point if voting Green 1 SNP 2? The outcome is almost certainly both votes wasted.

I can see a case for both votes Green, both votes SNP, and SNP 1 Green 2. But why cast both votes in a way that has no effect

@2legged @lostsettler @ScottishGreens Not here. I think we've a reasonable chance of getting a Green in, and the SNP need spanked. Not that the person I expect to be their local candidate is bad, but....

@simon_brooke it's true the SNP should have delivered what they stand for and what they were elected for in the last 2 decades. Now they are in the position that there is a high probability Holyrood itself will cease to exist if they dont achieve independence in this very last vote. In 2029 Farage will shut down Holyrood. You heard it here first. Clocks ticking. Let's make Indy happen!

@lostsettler They're continually triangulating right in search of Tory votes they're never going to get, rather than consolidating on the left where the pro-independence majority is.

It's the Morgan McSweeney strategy, and it's even more stupid in Scotland than it is in England.

@simon_brooke they don't half whiff of "jobs for the boys"... Once we can make our own decisions then we can see. Good luck getting Green in. I'd still stick with Green on the #2 though. More effective (although I didn't do the analysis in your area, so could be talking arse here!)

@lostsettler @ScottishGreens

Claire McNab Feb 11

@simon_brooke Thats two great reasons to vote Green in the constituency.

But why then vote SNP on the list? It seems to be a vote for a party that rightly reckon needs spanked, and because of d'Hondt an SNP regional vote carries lower weight than a Green regional vote. So it reduces your chance of getting a pro-indy MSP.

@2legged @lostsettler @ScottishGreens Well, voting Green on both constituency and list is also possible!