What's the Point of Lorna Slater?

Lorna Slater was appointed to the non-job of Minister for the Circular Economy - a role which never existed under previous Scottish Governments and was specially created for her, for political reasons, by Nicola Sturgeon.

By any measure Slater has been a huge disappointment - primarily for making such a mess of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), but also because of her embarrassing performance inside and outside of the Scottish Parliament (see posts below).

The SNP's coalition agreement with the Greens is a shabby affair designed to protect under-performing ministers from being held to account by MSPs.

In a week when Westminster has worked on a cross party basis to hold a former Prime Minister to account it will be interesting to see if the Scottish Parliament rises to the occasion - or will the SNP act as a 'human shield' for the Greens.



Sack Slater! (June 08, 2023)

Lorna Slater is to good government what Basil Fawlty was to hotel management - her handling of the Deposit Return Scheme could be fairly compared to asking your local council for planning consent after you've already built a big extension on to your house. 


The Greens and Scotland's Two-Tier Health Service (May 29, 2023)

The wackadoodle Greens are a preachy lot and love telling everyone else how to behave, yet here's Lorna Slater using private healthcare to avoid lengthy waiting times for NHS treatment. 

Lorna, at least, has the money to get the treatment she needs, but what about all those waiting for years to have a cataract operation, a hip or knee replacement - see post below on Scotland's two-tier health service?

Scotland's Ruinous SNP/Green Alliance (May 29, 2023)

Lorna Slater is reportedly fuming at the collapse of her ruinous deposit return scheme, but this demonstrates the SNP's recklessness in creating non-jobs out of thin air for inexperienced Green politicians - driven by ideology rather than finding practical solutions.

Iain Macwhirter hits the nail on the head in his column for the Times.

"However, it is surely not sensible politics to try to blame Westminster for a mess that has been so obviously made in Scotland. Devolution was supposed to deliver Scottish solutions to Scottish problems, not create them."  

Encouraging Unlawful Discrimination (May 15, 2023)

Sound advice from Audrey Ludwig for Scottish Ministers such as Lorna Slater who foolishly encouraged this kind of discriminatory nonsense at The Stand. 

The Stand has since apologised for its unlawful behaviour, but as far as I know Lorna Slater has still to follow suit. 

 

Is It OK To Blacklist Slater? (May 15, 2023)

Anya Palmer asks a reasonable question of ScotGov Green minister Lorna Slater.

Are people (including civil servants and parliamentary staff) entitled not to work with Slater because they don't like Lorna or her politics?

 



Popular posts from this blog

LGB Rights - Hijacked By Intolerant Zealots!

Image
Now that we're a month away from the month formerly known as June, we can think about what's happened. Given the new events being rolled out in London, Manchester and across the States, I think this sums up the *erm* transition of Pride. H/T @LGBNOW pic.twitter.com/HL87yIXXHg — Fred Sargeant (@FredSargeant) August 2, 2023 No doubt about it - the once proud campaign in support of lesbian and gay rights has been hijacked by intolerant trans zealots!     
Read more

SNP Hypocrites Have No Shame

Image
Hi. https://t.co/yuA2cY109e — Brian Spusk (@BrianSpanner1) December 16, 2022 Brian Spanner (aka Brian Spusk) shares a tweet from the SNP's chief executive and husband of SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon) criticising secretive party donations. What a complete hoot - these hypocrites have no shame! Peter Murrell  @PeterMurrell "Anonymous political donations supposed to be a thing of the past. Yet Scottish Tories pocketed £319,000 from secretive trust with no fixed address or known current trustees. @Conservatives legally responsible for checking true identity of donors before accepting cash. #DarkMoney "  
Read more

SNP - Conspiracy of Silence

Image
So here's the issue - two Glasgow MSPs (Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf) have been asked a reasonable question about their use of public money to employ two SNP councillors who already have full-time, salaried jobs as senior elected members of Glasgow City Council.   But these two public servants (both long-serving ministers) refuse to answer, so what to do next? One regular reader suggests raising the matter on the floor of the Scottish Parliament which is a good idea, but requires an MSP who's prepared to put down a written question for Scottish Ministers to answer. So here's a list of activities which will help shine a light on what has been going on because as Lord Nolan once said apropos driving up standards in public life - 'daylight is the best disinfectant'. Write to the leader of Glasgow City Council Write to the Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council Write to all elected members in Glasgow City Council Write to the party leaders in Glasgow City Council W
Read more