#Scottish devolution

[gameofthrones2020]

New Labour’s Constitutional Reforms

New Labour’s Constitutional Reforms and how they have destroyed the United Kingdom's Constitution and ended the UK's political union.

The Labour Party is a political party created on 27 November 1900 a centre-left party in the United Kingdom. There has been a governing party that is a ruling party of this country since it went into coalition twice during the 1920s and finally won power in the 1945 general election. The New Labour Party, or New Labour Project, aimed to attempt in the 1990s to revitalise the ability to win…

[scotianostra]

On 1 st July 1999, the Scottish Parliament was officially opened by The Queen 

“The Scottish Parliament which adjourned on the 25th of March in the year 1707 is hereby reconvened”.

The words of Winnie Ewing at the reconvening of The Scottish Parliament on May 12th 1999.

The prominent Scottish nationalist and former MP, MEP and MSP who was nicknamed Madame Ecosse by opponents in Brussels and adopted the moniker with pride, presided over the first session of the Scottish Parliament. A referendum was held on 11 September 1997 to ask the Scottish people whether they wanted a Scottish Parliament and whether it should have tax-varying powers. A clear majority of voters voted Yes to both questions. Question 1: I agree that there should be a Scottish Parliament (result: 1,775,045 or 74.3%) or I do not agree that there should be a Scottish Parliament (result: 614,400 or 25.7%) Electorate 3,973,673 Turnout 60.1% Spoilt Ballot Papers 11,986 Question 2: I agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers (result: 1,512,889 or 63.5%) or I do not agree that a Scottish Parliament should have tax-varying powers (result: 870,263 or 36.5%) Electorate 3,973,673 Turnout 60.0% Spoilt Ballot Papers 19,013 This result gave the UK government a mandate to introduce a bill that would allow for the creation of a Scottish Parliament. The first elections to the Scottish Parliament were held on 6 May 1999. The first meeting of the Parliament took place on 12 May 1999 with Sir David Steel elected as the first Presiding Officer, but  as the oldest member, “Mother of the House Winnie Ewing was invited to open the first session of the first Scottish Parliament since 1707.

I never seen my gran as a political person, but she had a picture of Winnie Ewing on her wall. Winnie passed away on June 21st last year, she was 93.

[ayeforscotland]

Is there any hope that the Scottish government will get round the permanent puberty blocker ban considering healthcare is devolved??

While the Scottish NHS is independent, medicine policy is reserved to Westminster.

This is the issue with devolution in general, there are obvious cracks that can be exploited by the British Government to undermine it. And it's not just medicine policy, it's across the whole thing. It's infuriating.

[olympeline]

Okay, okay. Last one for today, I promise! Before I go to bed, have some further thoughts about the British Isles bros in my Hetalia National Animals AU:

England: rabbit → lion

Yep, Arthur was a twitchy-nosed bun when he was young. Something I bet he finds very embarrassing even to this day, hehe. Neither species is native to Britain, interestingly enough. Lions are obvious but people think rabbits have always been here. When in fact they were brought over by the Romans as a food source to support their invasion. The more you know. 💫 I picture Arthur as ever feeling a bit of an outsider in his family (the lone anglo amongst celts) and it fits with this interpretation. His older bros all have either native or domestic creatures for their animal forms. And then there’s Arthur: sticking out like a sore thumb with England’s giant, fuck off, big cat, lol. He became a lion sometime after William the Conqueror took over England. The golden English lion the world is familiar with is actually the emblem of Normandy; the French Duchy William originated from.

Scotland: stag

A heck of a lot of Scottish heraldry uses deer and, since I’m enforcing a self-imposed ban on mythical animals in this AU, a stag makes a good stand-in for the Scottish unicorn. Alasdair was the only brother who scored some real, lasting victories against Arthur back in the day. As evidenced by Scotland keeping its independence and then joining the UK as a kinda, sorta equal partner rather than being dragged in against its will. So Alasdair would need to be a big, powerful beast that could toss a lion on its horns on a good day. So yeah, a stag is good for him.

Wales: ??? → ??? → dog

Wales is the brother giving me the most trouble. For starters, I feel like he should have had a different form back in the old days. Like Arthur’s rabbit, but IDK what it should be? Then I wonder if he should have spent time as a lion alongside Arthur. Wales was conquered to the extent that it was considered fully part of England for hundreds of years. That’s why the Welsh flag doesn’t get its own part of the Union Jack like the other home nations, don’tcha know. Wales as a reddish furred lion alongside Arthur’s gold would be pretty cool, ngl. But then Wales did manage to preserve its national identity in spite of everything. So I’m not sure a full transformation is appropriate in his case. Even if it would get reversed later when Wales regained its status as a country through devolution. The only thing I am sure of is that his true beast form would be a dog. Something clever and tough that can herd and guard with care, but is equally able to rip apart a predator without mercy. Maybe some kind of sighthound like in the legend of Gelert.

Ireland: grey wolf → Irish wolfhound → ???

Speaking of doges with sad backstories! Ireland would have remained a wolf until he was conquered and became a part of the United Kingdom. Even before that happened there was this whole thing about eradicating Ireland’s wolves. Which I believe was spearheaded by the ruling English lords? My history lessons on this were ages ago so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. There was definitely a drive to tame and “civilise” what the English saw as a savage and wild land, I know that much. So a wolf-to-dog forced transformation is as much appropriate as it would be unwanted by the one enduring it. Definitely a lot of trauma there, methinks. Would Ireland turn back into a wolf after his people left the union and he became a republic? Mmmaybe…? I don’t know. Ireland was forever changed by its inability to resist the British invasion. A lot of its native culture was lost or replaced as a result. And a dog being so close to a wolf anyway could make changing back even harder. Mmm yeah, IDK. Leaving it ambiguous might be appropriate in itself.

Northern Ireland: grey wolf → Irish wolfhound

Eeyup, same beasts for the Ireland twins. Their attitudes towards the changes they’ve gone through would be very different, though. If it’s ambiguous whether or not Ireland is turning back to a true wolf, North definitely isn’t. If Hima had kept the UK bros’ story closer to real history then North would never have been a wolf at all. Starting life as a hound right from the beginning instead. But he didn’t, and so we got the slightly confusing scenario of both twins already existing long before partition put Northern Ireland on track to becoming a distinct nation. Ah well, what ya gonna do. Hima moves in mysterious ways.

[anteroom-of-death]

Teacher's Pet part 12

Synopsis: Reader meets Missy. It's a mixed bag.

A/n: sorry for another delay. Hope you enjoy. More doctor fuckery and allusions to the doctors current devolution. Yay I hope you enjoy yayyy.

What were these truths the Doctor was talking about? At least he was being honest! A damn shame to your overloaded brain, but you appreciated it nonetheless. Maybe you would bring yourself to honestly about your profession after. Maybe. You’d have to test the waters and go off what tonight’s surprise was.

Your heart slammed itself into it's cage.

The next few hours were hell on Earth. What was this secret he was going to reveal?

You always dealt with waiting so poorly…

You got through your final tutoring via the university without nary a hiccup, but your brain combed through all the possibilities you could scrounge from sci-fi shows. What was that one nearly-sixty years old program that the BBC had?

Too late now…

You did sneak home to change into something that didn’t scream ‘lazy’.

Soon it was nearly nine. As you walked to his office, you felt like you were at a wall, breathing your last free breaths before the firing squad came upon you. You worked on your breathing exercises as you went to knock the door.

He was there, illuminated softy. Grey hair fluffed, in a burgundy shirt and hoodie. He looked utterly (and unfairly!) Breath-taking. You felt both underdressed and overdressed.

“Good evening!” He smiled, it was one of those easy, unnerving, comfortable smiles that framed his eyes so well.

“Hey.” Was the best you could muster. Your vocabulary stolen from your tongue as easily as the breath from your lungs over him…

How could someone who was quite literally older than the rededication of the Second Temple look so good?

Alien magic, must be.

“You remember that Missy character?”

“Yeah, her? Them?” You struggled.

“Her.”

“Ah.”

“She’s been on her best behavior. Stunning, really.”

“And?”

“I think you two need to meet. I’ve cleared the idea with her other…Guardian.”

“Oh?”

“Nardole…he’s an egg. I sent him to Norwich for a packet of crisps.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” It didn’t.

You rubbed your lip together in a partial move to rip the skin off, but also to provide some sort of outlet for the nervousness that was still coming up from the pit of your stomach.

What was Missy?

He offered the crook of his arm, “Shall we go?”

You took it.

The walk was nice, silent. The weather was warming up nicely. Mild night.

Soon you went to a place obscured in some hardly-looked after corner in the university’s basement. He pressed some hidden point and the wall snapped in two, revealing some contraption. He unhooked himself from you and started entering codes, some little monitor popped up and scanned his eye.

It asked for a verbal confirmation.

He spoke in some language that made your blood run cold and you feel small. Something about it was haunting. Like singing.

It unveiled another wall with a turn-lock, from which he produced a key and unlocked it.

Finally, it seemed safe to part through.

“What did she do?” You asked, voice husky with fear.

“Enough.” He let a little snort escape.

You nodded and went in.

It was a grand room, a couple of old, antique chairs and some meager side tables faced what was a mighty cage! It looked like glass, on the platform. Inside this guided cage was a woman, in simple Victorian clothes.

She played piano very gently.

“Missy.” The Doctor seemingly pleaded.

The woman inside slammed the lid shut and turned around.

She had the most insane, yet oddly lovely smile. Cat-like.

She was thin.

“Oh…you’ve brought me a plaything?” She grinned.

Her accent sounded Scottish. Like the Doctor.

“Do all aliens sound like Scotsmen?” You blurted out before you could monitor your thoughts.

“I’m sorry!” You amended.

She laughed, it sounded like bells.

“One would certainly hope so!” She responded.

“I’m Missy! Short for Mistress!”

“Oh, I’m (y/n).”

She shot the Doctor some look. He shot her another look. It seemed they were having an entire conversation without you. You felt alienated. You looked between them.

“I’ve heard nothing but good. Typical!” She approached you at the edge of her enclosure. You felt caged. Missy stalked you as if she were a lioness and you were some disabled, freshly birthed gazelle. You started sweating, it dewed down your back.

“Oh!”

“My best enemy.” He elaborated.

You nodded more, at a total loss for words. Your breathing became manual.

“So what did you do?”

“Oh, this girlie is rude! I love it!” She shot the Doctor another look.

“Don’t talk behind my back?” You assumed.

Missy nearly fell over! She started laughing, “Rude and clever! He’s certainly taught you well.”

Your eyes could have shot out of their sockets.

“You’re like Jedi, yeah? Can communicate with your brains?” You explained.

“Sure enough? Jedi are the Lego ones?” the Doctor asked.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy her.” Missy predated you more. Nose pressed against her enclosure.

You got the briefest of synopsis of their entire relationship. You felt yourself blinking from your brain overloading. It felt like someone dumped out your mind and shook the contents up before tossing it all back in, haphazardly.

You swallowed heavily.

“So Time Lords. Do you all have such…intense names? Mistress, Doctor? So is there a Bachelor?” You felt your arms move as if to elaborate this point.

“Different generations have different naming convention. My brother is Irving Braxiatel.”

“Of course. Makes sense. My name’s (y/n) but now all the kids are McKinsleigh or Harley or whatever.”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, my dear Doctor, you have a smart one on your hands. Now how do you like the stars, kiddo?”

You shook your head quickly. “Nope, no stars for me. I’m not going up there. Nope. I know what happens! I’m genre aware. I know what goes down in space. And if you’ve had a lot of dead companions previously…not me. I am not that suicidal!” You felt like a horizontal bobble head of sorts.

“See!” She slapped her thigh. “This one’s got common sense! She’s not going to swan off and get herself killed by a giant bird!”

It seemingly touched a tender point.

“Oh, here you go, bringing up Clara! What’s with you?” He seemed on the verge of spitting. “We’re having such a normal time!”

“Oh, she was my manic pixie dream bitch too!” Missy countered, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.

You made several notes to bring up later when you were going to bring up some new ground rules for this relationship, if this Missy didn’t tear you to shreds and eat your entrails like a tin of tuna.

The cat metaphors kept coming…

Were Time Lords cats?

No! Cats have barbed penises and that Time Lord you were fond of didn’t…

“May I get a tuba now?” Missy pleaded.

“We’ll see.”

You found yourself fiddling with your necklaces in a very rapid way with one hand. The other twisting the massive gold hoop in your one ear. Nervous habits coming in strong to help you self-soothe in this inopportune moment…

Somewhere the Doctor produced a flask of tea and poured some out, it was herbal. At the moment you couldn’t discern much more than that.

He gave it to all, including Missy, who’s barrier seemed penetrable to him, but not her. As she touched it and it repelled her.

Where did he pull out all these things?

What was the barrier made of? Did it work on genes?

Your mind roared for an explanation.

You reminded yourself to take it in strive. You weren’t working with logic and sanity anymore. You were in some contrived sci-fi story now.

It was the only way that you’d survive this!

Missy asked you something pleasantries involving your studies, and you divulged your grand plans.

“Oh, not overly ambitious. No martyr complex. Doctor this one may survive you.” Her focus splintered.

You felt out of your depth even more. You were taking it in stride, but that felt like it was lacking. Although…an opportunity did arise.

Did you have the guts to take it?

You pondered on. If it did turn nasty, you were outnumbered. Two of these so called ’Time Lords’. One you. One very mortal and squishy you.

Missy seemed to know far more than she probably should. You craved a bit more knowledge.

Shouldn’t you be privy to details about the man you’ve been not only fucking, but falling madly under his spell? And dare you utter it- loved?

“So what’s the deal with you Time Lords?” You asked Missy.

“An ancient race. We’re the pinnacle of evolution. Very few races will or ever will get close. Some have tried, they fail to become as optimized.”

“A bit eugenics-y.” You responded, your brows knitted together.

“Funny collars.” The Doctor chimed in. “That’s the opposite of optimized.”

“Oh, Mister President! How salacious!” She cooed in his general direction.

“President?” Your eyes boggled from their sockets.

“Technically. I’m also the De Facto President of Earth in an emergency. Neither here nor there…”

“And he’s ever so humble! My dear, Doctor. If this were two bodies ago you’d be preening!”

You looked down and blinked hard, as you started to chew on the inside of your cheek.

“Oh, him? Yeah, I was a but more vain. I mean, how could I not? All youth and fire and forged from Rose’s love.”

“And who the hell is Rose?” Your jealousy creeping back in.

“Oh, Doctor! You dog! She was very blonde! Broke many universes trying to find him again!” Missy gaped, as if she had personally sprung this trap.

“She helped me. I was raw from the War. She saw my hearts and that’s all.” The explanation was clearly him trying to not irk any jealousy in you.

“She got a wee clone! They’re in a parallel universe!” Missy simmered up, swinging around on her ankles.

“You are annoying.”

“You could have let Torvic kill me!” She put her hands on her hips and pulled a sour face.

“I’m sorry, who’s Torvic?” You were being bombarded with more information than you could handle.

“I was a soft lad. This kid kept bullying me. He was going to kill me, but here does come ikkle little Doctor with a rock! Bye bye Torvic!” She announced it like she was a wrestling presenter.

“How old were…you all?”

“Ten!” Missy clapped her hands together.

“Death’s champion!” She elaborated with a sick glee, pointing at the Doctor.

“I’m assuming you can…change sexes.” You kept piecing it together. “Were you ever a woman?”

“Maybe next go!” The Doctor said.

You leaned down and rested your fingers on your jaw as if to keep it from falling off onto the ground.

“So…how does that all work?”

“Two hearts, they prevent death and kick in our ancient rights!” Missy flourished.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” The Doctor stepped in. “We get a new face, new body. New chances. We keep our core. But everything from our personality to our kidneys.”

You inhaled.

“Anything else I need to know…assuming that you do that in front of me.” You curbed your attention to the Doctor. You wanted answers and you didn’t want him to give up this particular body. You didn’t want to play this particular game of Russian Roulette. His body right now was perfect…from his hair to his toes. Like it was personally designed to drive you mad. A sexy, silver fox with dynamic light eyes and a smile that robbed you of the ability to breathe, plus that voice like was a good motorcycle engine. And, a perfect package that hit right in the right spots…

You were objectifying an immortal alien.

What had your life become?

“That shit’s…crazy.” You gave an exceedingly reductive statement.

“No promises, but I’ll try.” He gave you a small, reassuring smile…

“Before precious Rose, there was his wife, that Scottish lad, that journalist Sarah Jane Smith, me, that ginger twink who’s name escapes me and probably a few I’m forgetting! And after there was-” Missy smiled a positively evil grin.

You put your hand up and stopped her from going into any more detail.

“Sarah Jane Smith? The mega-journo who always had the hottest stories? The one who was always leaking the top bylines?” You instinctively tore off your thumb nail.

You kept putting your hands up and down. Going to point a finger. You felt like a malfunctioning kettle.

“W-w-what? Do you…see in me?” You raised both of your hands up as you shrugged and struggled. “Universe traveling blondes? Award-winning journalists? A ginger twink? This jailbird?” You voice scaling up octaves to those only dogs could hear as you slapped your hands over your thighs and grasped them tightly…

You started those dratted breathing exercises and placed your right hand on your only heart.

The Doctor seemed to be sorting through some sort of dilemma in his mind.

“Yeah, tell her!” Missy cheered.

You shot her a murderous glare.

She scrunched her nose and stuck out her tongue.

“I see you as warmth. You are yourself. I see you as someone who’s good. Despite it all. A good student and a great partner. Someone to enjoy while I can. Nothing to complicate or drag into danger.”

Something about these words and his gaze into you had you fighting these words, but becoming placated by them. They were like a cozy quilt on your worries…

“I’ve put others I loved in danger. Learned those lessons. Never again.”

You felt your mind slowing down from the anger and self-doubt.

It felt like truthfulness. You’d take truthfulness.

The looks that Missy and the Doctor passed between each other has you shiver in fear.

You felt like you needed to vomit.

“Can I go home now?” You squeaked out once you felt a but more emotionally regulated.

“Of course.” He helped you up and turned to Missy, “No tuba.” He told her.

She raged on a bit as you felt yourself being tucked into his side and escorted out.

You leaned against a wall as he locked the Vault up.

He folded you under his arm.

“So what do you think of my best enemy?”

You felt yourself feeling suddenly very sleepy and like you had been dreaming. You were very conflicted and of many minds. You would have to work through all this later. There was just so much information and new thoughts that needed evaluated. Though you felt something holding you back from it. The emotional toll of the past few days, inevitably catching up to you.

What was that something was holding you back?

Probably your love of the Doctor.

You felt yourself crying.

“Why don’t I walk you to your flat? What’s the address?” He wiped your face with some old-fashioned looking hankie.

You gave him your address. It was a longer walk, but maybe it would do you good.

You started to walk. It was going somewhat smoothly.

After a silent walk, you stated as you got closer to the safety of your home. “I think she’s insane. Probably it’s for the best she’s in that…situation. Like sectioning, but worse? She could be fun, if she tried. I feel…yeah. I mean, if you’re a package deal. A bit weird she’s your ex. But yeah.” You answered his previous question.

“Is she a threat? To me?” You asked, jealously.

“No, we’re finished. Ancient news far older than your civilization…”

“Ah, okay.” You felt more satisfied.

“She is quite…pretty.” You remarked.

“Hadn’t noticed.”

You nodded, as you arrived to the front door.

“This is me.” You pointed. “You…want to come up? Get a night cap. I know I’m going to need it.” You joked, as you used your pinky nail to scratch the bridge of your nose.

“Not tonight. How about after you finish exams? I still have to some things done in that regards.”

“Valid.”

He leaned down and pressed hip lips to your forehead.

“Good-night, (y/n).” He smiled as he closed his hand over yours and gave it a squeeze.

“Good-night, Doctor.” It still felt strange to not call him ‘Professor’. You didn’t know how to feel. Calling him ‘Professor’ felt better coming off your tongue.

So much to over-analyze.

You opened the door and went up to your flat. After pouring yourself a large shot of vodka to take, you laid on your favorite chair and zoned out.

So much for a normal, nice time at university!

[catsnuggler]

That ruling is a death blow to any autonomy promised under devolution. It's a boot from Westminster upon the throat of Scotland for the Scottish Parliament daring to be pro-trans, while England glares daggers at Wales and Northern Ireland. It's primarily an attack on British and North Irish transgender women, and trans people at large close behind, but in addition to that, it's the English reasserting dominance over whomever they can, while the neoliberal Labour party does nothing to stop it. Hell, Starmer went mask-off with his transmisogyny right afterward. So much for Labour stopping the oppression of the Tories! So much for social democracy!

[thesmithslover2]

Something I find very interesting is the concept of English national identity. I think that English and British culture merge into one thing. Scotland and Wales have their own de facto national anthems, England does not. I do love God Save the King and I think it is an apt anthem for the United Kingdom, but I digress (for the record if there was an English national anthem I’d choose Jerusalem).

A few people make the argument that this search for English identity is a reaction to certain groups feeling their nation is threatened by external threats like devolution or EU membership or what have you. However, I think that it’s not much different than advocating for Welsh, Cornish, and Scottish national identity and culture. We have things that make us unique to Scotland and Wales. I think having a national identity is important. England has its own traditions and culture and we should preserve that. Make St George’s Day a bank holiday, teach children how to morris dance, I don’t know.

[books-of-ochre]

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. Within These Walls, Ania Ahlborn With his marriage on the rocks and his life in shambles, washed up crime writer Lucas Graham is desperate for a comeback. So when he's promised exclusive access to notorious cult leader and death row inmate Jeffrey Halcomb, the opportunity is too good to pass up.

Good Reads || My Rating: 4/5

. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks Frank, no ordinary sixteen-year-old, lives with his father outside a remote Scottish village. Their life is, to say the least, unconventional. Frank's mother abandoned them years ago: his elder brother Eric is confined to a psychiatric hospital; and his father measures out his eccentricities on an imperial scale. Frank has turned to strange acts of violence to vent his frustrations. In the bizarre daily rituals there is some solace. But when news comes of Eric's escape from the hospital Frank has to prepare the ground for his brother's inevitable return - an event that explodes the mysteries of the past and changes Frank utterly.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

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. The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times. At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of these shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing without a trace into another time after each murder — until one of his victims survives. Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on an impossible truth . . .

Good Reads || My Rating: 4.5/5

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. House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski A young family moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.

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Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

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. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. The Hunger, Alma Katsu A tense and gripping reimagining of one of America's most fascinating historical moments: the Donner Party with a supernatural twist.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. 1922, Stephen King A violence awakens inside a man when his wife proposes selling off the family homestead, setting in motion a grisly train of murder and madness.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. Carrie, Stephen King An unpopular teenage girl, whose mother is a religious fanatic, is tormented and teased to the breaking point by her more popular schoolmates. She uses her hidden telekinetic powers to inflict a terrifying revenge.

Good Reads || My Rating: 4.5/5

. Gerald’s Game, Stephen King When a game of seduction between a husband and wife ends in death, the nightmare has only begun…

Good Reads || My Rating: 4/5

. Pet Sematary, Stephen King When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic, rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Yet despite Ludlow's tranquility, there's an undercurrent of danger that lingers...like the graveyard in the woods near the Creeds' home, where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Behind the "pet sematary", there is another burial ground, one that lures people to it with seductive promises...and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there - one more terrifying than death itself and hideously more powerful. An ominous fate befalls anyone who dares tamper with this forbidden place, as Louis is about to discover for himself....

Good Reads || My Rating: 4/5

. The Dark Tower Series, Stephen King The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum. It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.

More info.

. The Shining, Stephen King Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov The most famous and controversial novel from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century tells the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze.

Good Reads || My Rating: 4/5

. I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid In this deeply scary and intensely unnerving debut novel, Jake and a woman known only as "The Girlfriend" are on a drive to visit his parents at their secluded farm. But when Jake leaves "The Girlfriend" stranded at an abandoned high school, what follows is a twisted unraveling of the darkest unease, an exploration into psychological frailty.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice This is the story of the castrati, the exquisite and otherworldly sopranos whose graceful bodies and glorious voices win the adulation of royal courts and grand opera houses throughout Europe. These men are revered as idols—and, at the same time, scorned for all they are not.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, Anne Rice A trilogy of supernatural horror/fantasy novels that centers on a family of witches whose fortunes have been guided for generations by a spirit named Lasher. 

More info.

. The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice A series of gothic vampire novels that revolves around the fictional character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th century.

More info.

. Wolf Gift Chronicles, Anne Rice The tale of Reuben Golding, a well to do journalist at the fictional San Francisco Observer who is attacked by and turned into a werewolf.

More info.

. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. 

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. The Abominable, Dan Simmons Deep in Tibet and high on Everest, the three climbers -- joined by the missing boy's female cousin -- find themselves being pursued through the night by someone . . . or something. This nightmare becomes a matter of life and death at 28,000 feet - but what is pursuing them? And what is the truth behind the 1924 disappearances on Everest? As they fight their way to the top of the world, the friends uncover a secret far more abominable than any mythical creature could ever be.

Good Reads || My Rating: 4/5

. The Terror, Dan Simmons The men on board the HMS Terror — part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage — are entering a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, they struggle to survive with poisonous rations, a dwindling coal supply, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is even more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror clawing to get in.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. Baby Teeth, Zoje Stage Meet Hanna. She’s the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good. Meet Suzette. She loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette's husband remains blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette starts to fear that there’s something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their baby girl after all.

Good Reads || My Rating: 3.5/5

. The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling In which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

. Ghost Story, Peter Straub In the sleepy town of Milburn, New York, four old men gather to tell each other stories—some true, some made-up, all of them frightening. A simple pastime to divert themselves from their quiet lives. But one story is coming back to haunt them and their small town. A tale of something they did long ago. A wicked mistake. A horrifying accident. And they are about to learn that no one can bury the past forever...

Good Reads || My Rating: 4/5

. Ring Series, Koji Suzuki The novels revolve around a curse, embodied within a videotape, unleashed by Sadako Yamamura, the ghost of a psychic who was raped and murdered before being thrown into a well.

More info.

. Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway.  Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault.” Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.” Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. 

Good Reads || My Rating: 3.5/5

. Hide, Kiersten White The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don't get caught. The prize: enough money to change everything. Even though everyone is desperate to win--to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts--Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that. It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't. But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Good Reads || My Rating: 5/5

[magpiejay1234]

Despite the claims of some centrist-leaning Labour supporters, Labour's decline continues, and Reform UK continues to rise.

Recent transphobic court ruling will obviously make things worse for Labour, but the Israel-Palestine issue is more of an issue for Labour supporters.

This is kind of a shame, since Labour this time around had several good administrative policies (lowering voting age, devolution in England, massive support for renewables etc.), but much like the late 1970s, most of the activist energy will be spent on international politics, and cultural issues.

Yet another case of left-wing activism hurting the actual cause in order to win the moral argument, by overshooting its own power.

That said, hard to say what the Greens will actually do now. English Greens significantly lost political momentum due to losing the Scottish Greens due to unionism vs. independence, they lost Corbyn's anti-secterianism (which ideally should have expanded to the Lib Dems in trans issues, but it wasn't apparent back then), and they are losing the pro-EU momentum due to Reform taking the racists, and the deluded right-wing libertarians. Their green policies of rewilding, and renewables are being enacted by a Labour, just on a country-based manner rather than a locally decided small-scale one, but they can't win against Reform on localism since they actually want to raise taxes, much like why Labour is pushing for more devolution.

Lib Dems, on the other hand, are basically winning by doing nothing, and it is deeply amusing.

Of course, this makes one wonder where the union left will go. Rise of Independents in the last election was significant, and is one of the few benefits of FPTP, but it is very difficult to repeat multiple times. There might be a need to organise into an actual party-like structure like German Free Voters.

[thesquireinvictus]

Scottish independence this, devolution that... The only proper and accurate view of Scotland's essential nature is that Edinburgh and everything immediately south of it was historically England and remains elementally English, but because the people living there have now fabricated for themselves this 'Scots' identity, the only appropriate division of Britain is not in an independent or devolved Scotland, but in one devolved Parliament for the Lowland Scots and another developed Parliament for the Highlander Gaels.

[literaturereviewhelp]

Devolution is operated in United Kingdom in the very same manner i.e. the power and decision making authorities of its Parliament are transferred to the three main states of Scottish parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly. This came into being after a series of issues that started arising in early 1970s in the United Kingdom (Britannica n.d.). The people of Scotland and Wales demanded a separate parliament to run their states and policies. Therefore, a referendum was held by the Labour Party government and parties of Scotland and Wales i.e. Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, respectively (Britannica n.d.). Initially, this referendum was rejected but during 1980s and 1990s its need was aroused once more. And finally, the Labour government of Tony Blair proposed a devolution scheme in 1998 which offered the following authorities to both Scotland and Wales: A Scottish Parliament that will have hold on setting its own rules and policies and taxation rates (Britannica n.d.). . (HM Government 2013). was approved by both and hence both Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly came into being in 1999. Moreover, Northern Ireland Parliament was also implemented later on. In this way, the present states of Scotland, Wales and rest of United Kingdom shows granting of real “say over their own affairs” after this devolution (BBC 1998). This enables them to run their local affairs more effectively within strong Britain government. The effect of devolution on Scotland and rest of United Kingdom can be well explained by examining its consequences and relation of Scotland and United Kingdom after the devolution act. The devolution assigns certain reserved provisions which can only be administered by UK government. They are “U.K. Constitution, foreign policy, national security, fiscal policy, international trade policy, nuclear safety, social security, employment policy and health policy (Young 2001)”. Similarly, it assigns several devolved provisions which can only be administered by Scottish Parliament. They are “education, local government, housing, tourism, civil and criminal law, emergency services, economic development, agriculture, and sports (Young 2001)”. According to HM Government (n.d.), the state of United Kingdom provides devolution in such a way that the Scottish parliament is authorized to take charge and control its policy, health and educational needs. It grants full freedom to Scotland to devolve their policies reflecting their preferences (Devolution n.d.). In addition to this, devolution also provides mutual decision making in which Scottish Parliament and UK government makes decision by full collaboration. This results in better welfare of the people and society. It helps in providing Read the full article

[scotianostra]

On March 1st 1979 Scots voted in favour of Devolution, but failed to reach the required 40% of the population in favour of implementing it - due to 36% of the electorate not voting.

THE PLOT.

The introduction of devolution legislation in 1976 was largely the product of nationalist pressures on the Government. James Callaghan's Labour government had a majority of only three after the 1974 (October) election and by 1977 had no majority at all after a series of by-election defeats. The government was therefore vulnerable to pressures from the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, who between them won 14 seats at the election (SNP 11, Plaid Cymru 3). The Kilbrandon commission had reported in 1974, recommending the establishment of a Scottish parliament and endorsing the principle of devolution.

A combined Scotland and Wales Bill was introduced in November 1976. It gained a second reading only after referendums in both Scotland and Wales had been conceded. The Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Alick Buchanan-Smith, and one of his front benchers, Malcolm Rifkind, resigned their posts when the Shadow Cabinet decided to oppose its second reading. On the first day of committee 350 amendments were put down. Michael Foot, (then Lord President and Cabinet Minister responsible for the devolution bill) was reluctant to impose a guillotine. After nearly 100 hours of debate only three and a half clauses of the bill had been considered. A guillotine motion was tabled but defeated in February 1977. The Bill was withdrawn.

In November 1977 separate Bills for Scotland and Wales were introduced, with support from the Liberals. This reduced opposition from those who had previously opposed the combined Bill on the grounds that the Welsh did not really want devolution. This time the guillotine motion was won.

As the committee stage was nearing its end, it scrutinised an amendment from Labour backbencher George Cunningham. It required the Secretary of State to lay before Parliament an order repealing the Act unless at least 40% of the eligible electorate voted "yes". The amendment was strongly opposed by the Government, but they lost the vote by 166 votes to 151.

In the referendum, on 1st March 1979, Scotland voted in favour of devolution by 52% to 48% - but only 32.9% of the electorate had joined the majority. In Wales the vote was against devolution, by 80% to 20%. The Acts were repealed the next month.

The Government was not helped by the extent of internal dissent within the Labour party. There was an active Labour 'Vote No' campaign in Scotland, of which Brian Wilson was Chairman, and Robin Cook a Vice-Chairman together with Tam Dalyell.

In Wales, Neil Kinnock was among those who campaigned for a "no" vote. During the last few days of the campaign in Wales, the pro-devolution Labour party -TUC group argued that a "No" vote would be a vote for the Tories, and a vote against the Government. This was a gamble that did not pay off; the scale of the "No" victory meant that those who had campaigned against the government could feel vindicated.

A motion of no confidence in the government was tabled by the Conservatives and supported by the SNP, the Liberals and eight Ulster Unionists. This motion was carried by one vote on 28th March 1979. The next day Callaghan announced that Parliament would be dissolved.

The 1979 Results:

Scotland: Question: Do you want the provisions of the Scotland Act 1978 to be put into effect ?

Yes 1,230,937 (51.6%)

No 1,153, 502 (48.4%)

Rejected ballot papers 3,133

Electorate 3, 747,112

Turnout 63.6%

But, we Scots are known the world over for this saying. Try, try and try again we did and won our parliament. We did and we put the party in powder who would take us to freedom. We will never give up our fight to be an Independent country once more.

[ayeforscotland]

Beside being an obvious way to weaken the Scottish Parliament and independence, do you think there’s any merit for Starmer’s idea of devolving powers to Scottish regions, from a purely administrative point of view ?

Don't see Starmer doing anything like that to be honest. Obviously the more devolution of powers the better, but only as a route towards independence.

Also needs to come with more financial levers. It'd be good to have greater control over energy and drug laws too.

[theoptimisticpatriot]

Should Higher Education be devolved?

First posted on the HEPI blog 5.12.24.

Should higher education policy be devolved?

This deceptively simple question raises profound questions about what the United Kingdom represents (or should represent) in the 21st century, the desirability of centralising or decentralising public policy, and the best way of organising what is a key component of society, economy and state in a modern world.

The idea of the UK as a unitary state escaped the imaginations of Scotland and Wales decades ago and was only ever compelling for one community in Northern Ireland. Only in the Anglo-centric imaginations of England did Britain and the UK continue to be regarded as an extension of our own nation. These developing national aspirations were given institutional form via UK devolution 25 years ago. Northern Ireland gained devolved higher education policy under the 1998 Belfast Agreement and higher education was devolved to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly soon after. As the resulting national political communities deepened, the ability to shape higher education policy made an important contribution. It became one of devolution’s defining features, even briefly impinging on England in 2003 when Scottish Labour MPs were whipped to impose fees on English students their constituents would not have to pay.

Given the disparity of size and weight of England within the UK, ending Higher Education devolution would not lead to a genuine UK wide policy but the imposition of English political priorities on the whole of the United Kingdom. This is why neither governments nor electorates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are now demanding to adopt the current English fees, English funding, English regulation or the whole framework of perverse incentives within which English universities operate. Nor did they want to slash overseas student numbers, a policy driven by English political concerns. Though every nation finds university funding challenging, and it is impossible for devolved national policymakers to ignore the policy framework in England – indeed, the Welsh Government have announced plans to raise the undergraduate fee cap to £9,535, mirroring the recent uplift in England - calls for automatic alignment with England are few and far between.

No doubt, the silence reflects an awareness that the UK Government does not and never did make policy based on a balanced assessment of its impact on each nation. When the UK Government trebled English fees for full-time home undergraduates, based as we now know, on a dodgy measure of the impact on public funding, it showed little interest in the consequences for students and institutions in the devolved nations. Most calls to roll back devolution stem from a desire to re-assert the Anglo-centric British Unionism in which policy is made in England by English-based policymakers who conflate English interests with those of the rest of the UK.

The principle of sovereign decision-making should remain, but it should also be recognised that the current devolution settlement is far from ideal, and not only in higher education. For those who want the UK to prosper rather than fracture, devolution is only one step in a wider process of ensuring that the powers and responsibilities are exercised at the most appropriate level of local, national and union government. Crucial to that is finding the best forms of collaboration between those who hold devolved powers. One largely unplanned consequence of UK devolution was the measure of progress by the degree of separation between the devolved nations and the UK Government. Powers were seen as either devolved or not. Some have challenged the idea that Whitehall simply decided to ‘devolve and forget’, but it was rare for discussion of how best to work together to feature in England’s Anglo-centric political debate. The Welsh Government has repeatedly tried to open this debate but has simply been rebuffed.

The system can work better, and the higher education sector could provide crucial leadership. In the past, confidence in a unitary British state deteriorated with the erosion of British unionist communities confident in their shared interests. The changing structure and ownership of the economy have made a coherent British (or Anglo-Scottish) business class a thing of the past. The British trade union movement drawing strength from industry and mining is a shadow of its former self. But in higher education, a UK-wide community of interest remains founded in a common interest in research, education and knowledge exchange, and facing shared challenges of economic viability and sustainability. In my admittedly limited experience, there are no distinct national fractures in the understanding of the purpose or practice of higher education within universities. With a new UK Government taking office, is it too much to hope that both the sector and ministers in the UK Government and the devolved administrations might show how devolution and collaboration can work better together.

We might start with the institutional arrangements for cooperation. England is the largest part of the UK, but its higher education interests are not recognised, nor are clear distinctions drawn with UK-wide interests. The UK Government constantly conflates UK priorities with those of England. Relations across the UK would be strengthened if the English interest were separately identified, and the issues for cross-UK collaboration defined, within the mechanisms for intra-governmental relations. In turn, ministers in the UK Government might be encouraged to be clear when their comments on the sector apply only to England’s universities and when to all of them.

The sector itself could also be clearer about UK-wide and national policy. A recent Universities UK (UUK) report on financial sustainability calls for ‘urgent action by the UK Government’ without exploring the different responsibilities of the different governments. HEPI and London Economics have published valuable comparative research on national funding models. It highlights the wide range of taxpayer support for students across the UK but does not unpick the influence of UK Government policy, how the resources available are reflected in the Barnett formula, and the impact of legitimate national resource allocation decisions. Without this we do not know whether each nation starts on the same level playing field.

Devolution was intended to encourage policy innovation and experimentation, but there is little shared analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the different funding models that might shape the future evolution of all national policies. Each model produces different incentives for institutional and individual behaviours and has different implications for graduate finances and university viability. This, too, is an area where the sector could do far more to lead the discussion.

The distribution of research funding is not devolved, but perhaps more should be. A coherent UK-wide research strategy is important. However, both the nations and the emerging English mayoral combined local authorities – which often cover populations and economies comparable to the devolved nations – cannot influence the research investment they need to foster regional economic growth. Current place-based research UKRI funding rounds mirror the Whitehall obsession with competitive funding rounds in which most lose out. A new balance between UK-wide strategy and allowing greater autonomy to nations and England’s localities is possible.

Attempts to overturn the devolution settlement would cause political pain and widen rifts in the UK’s unions. But there is much we could do to improve it, and it’s a debate the sector should have the confidence to lead.

[beesandwasps]

A very common strategy in politics, honestly, not limited to queer people at all. The instant I read “when u ask for advice even tho youre deliberately going to go against them anyways” [sic] that immediately reminded me how, back in the 90s, the Clintons stacked their entire “health care reform” team with people who supported private insurance companies, except for one expert who was a single-payer supporter, who was then basically never asked any questions except in the form of “is [X policy decision] better than doing nothing at all?”, so that the Clintons could claim that even people who wanted single-payer supported their “reform” package (which was the first one to insist that people had to buy private health insurance, and failed anyway, but that’s another story).

And then I remembered living for a while in Oak Park, Illinois, which is a Democratic stronghold which thinks it’s leftist but is merely liberal, if you know what I mean. They had a massive volunteer “commission” system where residents can go in and pretend to exercise oversight, but all the executive authority rested with the (unelected) Village Manager, and to a lesser extent the (also unelected) Village Attorney. The system basically existed so that anybody with a complaint would be told to volunteer and get put into a position where they were “official” but still couldn’t actually do anything except make recommendations which were not legally binding. And even that wasn’t enough, because a few of the commissions had to have some legal authority under state law, like the Zoning Board, and so there was an understanding that Certain Types Of People could not be put on Certain Commissions.

And then there’s the entire “devolution of powers” in the UK’s government, where the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Parliament, and the Northern Ireland Assembly are “in charge” of certain issues… but the powers they have can be revoked by the main UK Parliament, which is something like 85% English, and of course they don’t have real control over their budgets. So any time they do something the English don’t like, or which might cost money that could be spent in England, UK Parliament simply overrides them. For instance, Scotland tried to change from ideologically-driven punishment-based drug policy (which was not working) to a more practical, humanitarian approach, which is one of the things they supposedly have control over — and UK Parliament instantly overrode them, because That’s Not The Way England Wants Things To Go.

It’s one way to manufacture consent for bad policy. Create an “official” way to express opinions, but give it no teeth.

idk how many of you remember this but a few years ago tumblr ran a universally panned ad campaign for (us american) pride month that went "the gayest place on the internet".

well someone planning that campaign dropped in to ask the queer automatticians for advice on that and universally me and the other trans people involved were like "don't do it. i am so serious. don't do it. people on tumblr won't understand that it wasn't automattic who instituted the porn ban, or they will, but they'll recognize that automattic hasn't done anything, hands tied or not, to reverse it. nobody will like this. it will be a disaster." and they thanked us for our thoughts and went ahead with it anyway and then had to do retrospectives about how badly it went and were like "we just didn't know" and [gestures] yeah