North East Fife

[stb12]

North East Fife

[uthacalthing]

No "Newsletter". Hell no. A "Magazine"

A3 folded to A4, the entire front page is a picture of Wendy. Which would make more sense if she had EVER appeared in the Good Looking Politicians thread.

The entire back page is a bar chart

Now the problem with a magazine format is that in the entire time it takes to carry it from the letterbox to the recycling bin you may not have opened the "magazine" and indeed I did not so at noon today I would have been unable to tell you what the middle two pages were about

But happily, I then went to my daughters and picked it up a second time, so Post Office Delivered. The entire middle two pages are about the NHS, a devolved issue that is none of her business, her business is criticising Israel

I like Wendy Chamberlain, she is very good, but not remotely liberal, never will I ever see her put her name to the concept of the government doing less.

[uthacalthing]

Ok, the post I should have made

The seat The Lib Dems lost by two votes in 2017, then won by 1316 in 2019.

Sitting Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain is very good, if not remotely liberal. The equally good SNP MP she ousted, Professor Steven Gethins of St Andrews University has decamped to Arbroath, the notionally safest SNP seat in Scotland. If Stephen Flynn loses Aberdeen South take this tip now, Gethins is a potential SNP leader. The new SNP candidate is Cupar Councilor Stefan Hoggan-Radu, Bell Baxter (ie local) schooled and now a local pharmacist. His brother plays goaltender for Edinburgh Capitals in the beer league. Why does this matter? His brother Stefan goes by the surname Hoggan so Stefan is saying something different by his double-barreled ethnic mino surname, but I don't know what yet. Or maybe his brother is. As ever, I am less interested in what they are saying than by what they mean by it.

Boundary changes benefit the SNP, a few villages down in Jimboo country that don't always vote SNP but sure as hell are not liberal, but if tactical voting further entrenches, it may balance out, then again maybe the tactical vote has maxed out. Anticipated swing (polling) could make this a comfortable Lib Dem Hold and Wendy Chamberlain is assuredly an asset that permits wavers to give her the benefit of the doubt

My options are LD, Reform or blank ballot

[uthacalthing]

The Conservative candidate is Bill Bowman, former Conservative MSP, who retired aged 70 last time out, IIRC to care for his wife. Said wife has sadly since died.

Bowman's candidacy tells a story but I don't know what it is. Maybe he enjoys elections, which would explain his end of the pointless bargain. But why do the Tories have no young Tyros eager to earn their spurs expending £5k on petrol fighting a noble third place?

I wish Bowman no ill and will not be trolling him.

[uthacalthing]

More fun facts. Labour is at a surely irreducible 3.7%. Indeed an inevitable recovery to 8-10% may hurt the Lib Dems

Hoggan-Radu was ranked #1 by the SNP on their Scottish Parly list in 2021, not enough to be elected as they won too many seats FPTP, but indicative of a high regard among activists.

I may have to vote Lib Dem after all

[Forfarshire Conservative]

Mar 14, 2024 21:50:12 GMT uthacalthing said:

The Conservative candidate is Bill Bowman, former Conservative MSP, who retired aged 70 last time out, IIRC to care for his wife. Said wife has sadly since died.

Bowman's candidacy tells a story but I don't know what it is. Maybe he enjoys elections, which would explain his end of the pointless bargain. But why do the Tories have no young Tyros eager to earn their spurs expending £5k on petrol fighting a noble third place?

I wish Bowman no ill and will not be trolling him.

Why would a young Scottish Conservative stand for Westminster? In the unlikely event you won, you'll be in opposition unable to do anything, and it will mean a lot of travelling and dealing with some rather horrible people far away from people you actually like. At least with Edinburgh you'd be able to travel home to Fife every night, you'd be in a smaller political pond so you can shine more and with the powerful committee system you have much more of an influence than you would in Westminster even if you were in government.

[uthacalthing]

Mar 14, 2024 22:06:54 GMT Forfarshire Conservative said:

Why would a young Scottish Conservative stand for Westminster? .

And there we have, in a nutshell, why the Scottish Tories are not worth the candle

[Forfarshire Conservative]

Mar 14, 2024 22:09:19 GMT uthacalthing said:

Mar 14, 2024 22:06:54 GMT Forfarshire Conservative said:

Why would a young Scottish Conservative stand for Westminster? .

And there we have, in a nutshell, why the Scottish Tories are not worth the candle

Ambition and wanting to actually make a difference in areas like education and housing where you can really improve lives is no bad thing. Indeed, as a conservative, I quite believe in both!

Also, it's more fun. Taking on the SNP, Greens, Labour and your Lib Dems, four woke socialist parties, is much more appealing than what's been going on down in Westminster. At least there is a proper ideological split between us and the others here.

[uthacalthing]

But not worth doing the hard yards.

[J.G.Harston]

Mar 14, 2024 21:24:03 GMT uthacalthing said:

Now the problem with a magazine format is that in the entire time it takes to carry it from the letterbox to the recycling bin you may not have opened the "magazine" and indeed I did not so at noon today I would have been unable to tell you what the middle two pages were about

I know the Top Brass disagree with me, but I see such huge "leaflets" pointless. As you say, it needs to be readable between the letterbox and the bin. Plus, practicality, I can deliver eight times as many A4s as I can A3s - you just can't stuff as many A3s in a sack as A4, even accounting for size. Also, imagining myself in the place of the householder, two A4 delivery drops feels more effective than one A3 drop.

[iain]

Mar 15, 2024 0:03:50 GMT J.G.Harston said:

Mar 14, 2024 21:24:03 GMT uthacalthing said:

Now the problem with a magazine format is that in the entire time it takes to carry it from the letterbox to the recycling bin you may not have opened the "magazine" and indeed I did not so at noon today I would have been unable to tell you what the middle two pages were about

I know the Top Brass disagree with me, but I see such huge "leaflets" pointless. As you say, it needs to be readable between the letterbox and the bin. Plus, practicality, I can deliver eight times as many A4s as I can A3s - you just can't stuff as many A3s in a sack as A4, even accounting for size. Also, imagining myself in the place of the householder, two A4 delivery drops feels more effective than one A3 drop.

For you walking on your own around Whitby, sure. But this seat is going to get a huge volume of paper over the election campaign, so it's as much about variety than anything else.

[stb12]

Losing by two votes in 2017 was a blessing for the Lib Dems in 2019, it made for an easy tactical voting campaign and saw them gain this despite there being an SNP surge as there was everywhere else

[uthacalthing]

Jacob Rees Mogg famously stood in the neighbouring seat of Glenrothes. Not the hardest yards anyone ever walked, but harder than young Scottish Tories can walk.

[nyx]

Mar 18, 2024 10:34:08 GMT stb12 said:

Losing by two votes in 2017 was a blessing for the Lib Dems in 2019, it made for an easy tactical voting campaign and saw them gain this despite there being an SNP surge as there was everywhere else

Had they won by two votes in 2017 rather than lost by two, though, I'd expect the tactical voting argument would still have been easy to make. Albeit who knows whether Elizabeth Riches would have made as strong of an MP as Wendy Chamberlain.

[uthacalthing]

I doubt it. She was very well-liked and respected but her best days were behind her. Wendy Chamberlain is very good. I may have mentioned this before

[gwynthegriff]

Mar 14, 2024 21:53:19 GMT uthacalthing said:

More fun facts. Labour is at a surely irreducible 3.7%. Indeed an inevitable recovery to 8-10% may hurt the Lib Dems

Hoggan-Radu was ranked #1 by the SNP on their Scottish Parly list in 2021, not enough to be elected as they won too many seats FPTP, but indicative of a high regard among activists.

I may have to vote Lib Dem after all

Be most obliged if you would old chap. We have two firmly Conservative friends who have lived in Fife for the past decade - voted for Ming because they admired him, switched to the Tories when he retired (they were the 2 votes), and then back to Lib Dem tactically and because they now rate their Lib Dem MP. They're in the process of leaving the area so if you could offset one of those votes I'd be jolly appreciative.

Thank you.

[uthacalthing]

Asking nicely and not calling me a racist xenophobe. A return to the previous Lib Dem strategy

Put me down as a probable

[steve]

Mar 14, 2024 21:50:12 GMT uthacalthing said:

The Conservative candidate is Bill Bowman, former Conservative MSP, who retired aged 70 last time out, IIRC to care for his wife. Said wife has sadly since died.

Bowman's candidacy tells a story but I don't know what it is. Maybe he enjoys elections, which would explain his end of the pointless bargain. But why do the Tories have no young Tyros eager to earn their spurs expending £5k on petrol fighting a noble third place?

I wish Bowman no ill and will not be trolling him.

Going by the alleged age of much of the Conservative party's membership doesn't this make him a young tyro?

[john07]

May 23, 2024 8:08:18 GMT steve said:

Mar 14, 2024 21:50:12 GMT uthacalthing said:

The Conservative candidate is Bill Bowman, former Conservative MSP, who retired aged 70 last time out, IIRC to care for his wife. Said wife has sadly since died.

Bowman's candidacy tells a story but I don't know what it is. Maybe he enjoys elections, which would explain his end of the pointless bargain. But why do the Tories have no young Tyros eager to earn their spurs expending £5k on petrol fighting a noble third place?

I wish Bowman no ill and will not be trolling him.

Going by the alleged age of much of the Conservative party's membership doesn't this make him a young tyro?

Being alive is sufficient in the Scottish Conservatives.

[gwynthegriff]

Mar 21, 2024 0:54:51 GMT uthacalthing said:

Asking nicely and not calling me a racist xenophobe. A return to the previous Lib Dem strategy

Put me down as a probable

You are neither a racist nor a xenophobe.

Those who deem you so do not understand the meanings of words.