Silly SNP MSP in travel firm boycott shocker

jimtoggleJim O’Neill dives into silly season with Scotland’s silliest MSP, and says as the reality of Brexit bites Labour should still be championing Remain.

 

So here we are in the silly season, but I am not going to follow the advice of Private Eye and write 5000 words on Pokemon Go. Why should I when silly, creationist MSP, John Mason, has decided to support a boycott of Barrhead Travel because two years ago they opposed independence?

I wonder how many other products he has forgone in his pursuit of indy purity. I suspect very few. I am also sure that Barrhead Travel are not crying over their corn flakes at the loss of his custom. But the silliest of his comments on this was his statement that business should stay out of politics.

This stunning remark suggests that politicians, many of whom have never been in business, know better than business people what is good for them. I may be a touch naïve but I would suggest that Barrhead Travel, having assessed the possible impact of independence, had rationally come to the conclusion that independence would have a negative impact on their business. This on the basis that they have extensive experience of dealing with the legislative environments of not only Scotland but also the many countries to which they send clients. Does Mason have that breadth of experience? I think not.

Sometimes I think that it’s politicians who should stay out of politics. And I say that as an ex-politician.

Another recent big story is the fact that all the Brexit chickens are coming home to roost. The interest rate cut last week by the Bank of England, which has further weakened the pound, was accompanied by a substantial downgrading of the country’s growth figures. Since the referendum, the pound has fallen by over 15% (which has made my trip to Australia for my daughter’s weeding more expensive) and growth has been predicted to fall next year from 2.1% to 0.8%, the biggest ever fall predicted by the Bank since it became independent under the 1997 Labour Government.

I wonder what all those newspaper proprietors who supported Brexit – Murdoch, Rothermere, the Barclays etc. – think now of the lies they told about it and the impact on their incomes in the UK. And how can all those who supported Brexit in the referendum still think it was a good thing? I hope they all understand the impact on their pensions and savings.

Mind you, it looks like Prime Minister May is trying to extend the negotiation period for as long as possible. This is where Labour should come in. Since the referendum was an advisory ballot, since it was so close and since we opposed Brexit, we should be saying that, if we win power, we will stop any exit negotiations and commit ourselves to remaining in the EU. Otherwise, we could be singing, like Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar: “Could we start again please?”

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16 thoughts on “Silly SNP MSP in travel firm boycott shocker

  1. “John Mason, has decided to support a boycott of Barrhead Travel because two years ago they opposed independence?”

    There is no official boycott of Barrhead Travel organised by anybody anywhere.

    John Mason expressed a personal preference in exactly the same manner in which Bill Munro did and yet old Jim bob has decided to dedicate another of his worthless ranting articles displaying once again levels of hypocrisy you only get with the self unaware on another non existing grievance.

    Jim your entire online existence is one great big silly season.

  2. “Another recent big story is the fact that all the Brexit chickens are coming home to roost. The interest rate cut last week by the Bank of England, which has further weakened the pound, was accompanied by a substantial downgrading of the country’s growth figures. Since the referendum, the pound has fallen by over 15% (which has made my trip to Australia for my daughter’s weeding more expensive) and growth has been predicted to fall next year from 2.1% to 0.8%, the biggest ever fall predicted by the Bank since it became independent under the 1997 Labour Government.

    I wonder what all those newspaper proprietors who supported Brexit – Murdoch, Rothermere, the Barclays etc. – think now of the lies they told about it and the impact on their incomes in the UK.”

    Are they no the exact same lies you they and the rest of Labour in Scotland told the people of Scotland during the Indy ref campaign Jim Bob?
    You told us all that a Yes vote for Independence would cause these problems and a No vote would avoid them.

    This is just a small taste of our “Better Together” commitment Jim Bob. Our reward for voting No.

    Yes Jim just one great big silly season of online blogging.

  3. Well said Jim! My flight price to fly to Australia on 5 July had doubled to £1800 following the Brexit vote. I paid £980 in March for exactly the same flight. No choice but to pay as I had to be in Australia during July.

    As someone intensely involved in campaigning for Remain and also a member of the Labour Movement for Europe in Scotland Executive, I wholeheartedly endorse your remarks regarding Labour remaining committed to the UK staying in the EU.

    There is also a huge job for us to do in communicating to voters how the EU has benefitted us in terms of our day to day lives and what is at stake. I am finding that since Brexit vote, people are more open to listening on this and to being committed to vote Remain. Saddens me that it takes the shock of what Brexit means for people to realise they ought to have voted (if they hadn’t bothered to) and made an effort to learn more about and understand what the EU (despite its shortcomings – and it needs reform) has achieved and the freedoms and protections we all have enjoyed and had access to as a result.

  4. SNP BAD for the top half and headline. Melts into an off-the-topic call for overturning the democratic will of the United Kingdom(but not Scotland!). Likely hands a third or half of Labour seats(except in Scotland for obvious reasons) straight to UKIP.

    Take your own advice please – stay out of politics and especially stay away from writing clickbait articles with misleading headlines.

    Best of wishes to your daughter, though.

  5. When the owner of a business imposes his political views on his workforce, that should be a cause for concern I would have thought. And I understand this “boycott” only came to light when someone tweeted the MSP concerned that Barrhead Travel could give a “special rate” to the Brain family when they were expelled from Scotland by the Tories. Nasty stuff.
    None of this seems to bother Oor Jim, though he whines later on about newspaper proprietors and THEIR lies—aren’t they “business people” too, and therefore all with Jims mentality should touch their forelocks to the Beaverbrookes/Murdochs etc of this world?

    As for Brexit. May will start negotiations to leave, early next year. They will take two years (probably more to tie up all the details). There is no Westminster election scheduled till 2020, by which time the deal will be done.
    Labour don’t have a dog in this fight since they are too busy fighting each other and are accusing each other of not opposing Brexit. Labour are in the middle of a civil war, with no “victor” in sight, no matter what.
    As for referendums only being “advisory”, don’t expect the electorate to accept your dismissal of THEIR choice ( which I didnt vote for ) with a smile and a shrug.
    You will find Labour being vilified by your newspaper chums on a daily basis till the end of time.

    Thank goodness we in Scotland will have another chance to escape this madness.

  6. what an absolutely pointless, “SNPbad” article. If this is the best that Scottish Labour can do in terms of constructive criticism then no wonder it is dead in the water. Then it concludes by saying we should ignore the results of the EU Referendum. No wonder Scots don’t trust Labour.

  7. I think it has come to the point where Mr O’Neill should heed the saying that insists if you have nothing of worth to say, say nothing. This article bears all the hallmarks of some-one desperately saying something for the sake of saying something … anything … so long as it appears on the site. You need to remember Mr O’Neill, often, less is more.

  8. Jim,

    “Labour should still be championing Remain”

    Two thirds of the working class voted to leave the EU. Labour purports to represent the interests of the working class.

    We should be supporting Brexit.

    1. Nobody says they cant leave Andy the argument is about taking everybody else with them who voted to stay.
      There is no UK wide one size fits all solution to any problem. Just another example of why the UK doesn’t work for all the constituent members States within the Union of Parliaments.

  9. Is this the best you can do? Were you under pressure to produce something in a hurry? As a teacher you should know about higher order reading skills. Mason said HE was boycotting Barrhead Travel. He did not say he was supporting any sort of boycott. So much for not writing silly season articles.

  10. The Brexit vote will hurt Barrhead Travel far more than anyone’s personal boycott.
    European holidays are much more expensive for families and I imagine that is a large chunk of their business.

    Hasn’t Corbyn already ruled out a second referendum on the terms of Brexit ?
    Which pretty much confirms suspicions about his lukewarm support in the first place.

  11. Jim, while you take the time to rightly castigate John Mason ( my constituency MSP, by the way) for his genuinely brainless opposition to Barrhead Travel, pause and consider your fellow Labour Hame contributor, Tom Harris. I don’t know when Mr Harris had his Damascene conversion to the Brexiteer cause, but while John Mason may well be a blockhead, he does contribute (albeit unwittingly) to the gaiety of the nation. Mason is a politician who can and will be held accountable to an electorate for his foolishness. Tom Harris, on the other hand, while no longer a politician, has – and continues to have – a significantly more influential and I would say malign effect on the Scottish body politic than John Mason.
    In his position as chairman of Scottish Vote Leave, through his columns in the Telegraph and in his occasional pieces for Labour Hame, Tom Harris amply illustrates why ex-politicians should stay out of politics as much as knuckleheads like John Mason. See Mr Harris’s recent Labour Hame piece on why he’d vote yes ( hilariously, his yes was to Scotland staying within the UK)
    If I wish to hold John Mason accountable for his noxious attitude to Barrhead Travel or his antediluvian approach to women’s rights, I can visit his surgery. He may be a genuinely awful MSP, but he is accountable.
    Tom Harris is accountable to the Barclay brothers and his new employers at Message Matters. Mr Harris exercises his power (in his columns for the Telegraph, networking at Westminster, lobbying for Message Matters, sitting on the board of Reform Scotland) without responsibility. In the case of his efforts to achieve Brexit, the consequences for all of us are incalculable. When Tom Harris was a Labour MP, I don’t remember him being a vociferous Eurosceptic. I found out about his disenchantment with the European project through a newspaper column. I don’t know if his position as Vote Leave’s man in Scotland was a paid position, if he applied for the role or was approached. I don’t know if the Barclay brothers nominated him. I’ve tried to get some answers to these questions from Tom Harris via Twitter where Tom cuts a bella figura. Alas, to no avail.
    If I want to speak to John Mason, I can attend a surgery in the local school or library or even see him on Baillieston Main Street street or chin him when he is delivering leaflets.
    In a choice between a democratically accountable, but occasionally noxious politician like Mason and a swaggering journalist-Brexiteer like Tom Harris, give me the blockhead Mason any day of the week.

  12. “Since the referendum was an advisory ballot, since it was so close and since we opposed Brexit, we should be saying that, if we win power, we will stop any exit negotiations and commit ourselves to remaining in the EU.”

    There is absolutely no chance of stopping Brexit as the Prime minister has already said there will be no general election called before the full term has been served and with Article 50 due to be triggered early in the new year then the deal will be done well before any general election and you will find that it is the majority of the UK electorate who voted for Brexit so the idea that because the the referendum was technically advisory and you don’t like the result then you try to sabotage the will of the people is undemocratic and a pipe dream.

  13. God almighty – right from the first sentence you are getting it wrong (deliberately ?).

    He boycotted them because the boss of the company sent a letter to all of his employees very strongly suggesting
    that a Yes vote would endanger their jobs and the company’s future. (You could make a coersion argument here –
    imagine a Tory boss saying to employees that a vote for Labour could lose them their jobs, Labour would be
    screaming from the rooftops)

    Now I’m not concerned with the right or wrongs here but you do ScotLab absolutely no credit by saying ‘because two
    years ago they opposed independence’ – it’s factually wrong. Honest to god, no wonder ScotLab are in deep trouble,
    and spreading misinformation isn’t going to help.

    ‘Mind you, it looks like Prime Minister May is trying to extend the negotiation period for as long as possible. This is where Labour should come in. Since the referendum was an advisory ballot, since it was so close and since we opposed Brexit, we should be saying that, if we win power, we will stop any exit negotiations and commit ourselves to remaining in the EU’

    I don’t know even where to start with the above ! – let’s go with ‘This is where Labour should come in’. That’s a joke surely ?, Labour MP’s
    are far too busy ripping eachother to shreds to actually do what we pay them for, and anyone can see the split coming.
    Now – ‘if we win power’ – if who wins power ? – the Blairite PLP ?, the Corbyn faction ? London Labour is in so much of a blinding tailspin that the
    idea of winning a general election is so ludicrous and so far off as to be funny.

    You do know that London Labour is so divided that it’s even taking itself to court ? (and losing). Who knows, maybe you still believe
    that UK Labour is still what it was 15 years ago – that is the only explaination I can see for your mystifying belief that they are in any fit state
    to do anything, never mind win an election.

  14. Jim,
    What an unbelievable Labour victory in Irvine West byelection. Congratulations.
    Its hard to work it out but seemingly SNP win by 600 votes on first preference and Labour win overall because 78% of Tories gave their second preference vote to Labour.
    Down south Labour NEC spend hundreds of thousands of new members subscriptions to appeal an earlier high court ruling. The reason for the appeal? to prevent new Labour members from voting in the leadership election.
    Democracy is truely a wonderful thing.

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