The Michelin closure is a huge deal in Dundee.
More than 800 jobs in the company are set to go and most of us know someone who will lose his or her well-paid job. That’s before you take account of the knock-on effect on other business. And for the well-trained workforce, there aren’t that many jobs in Dundee that pay the kind of money Michelin pays.
The reason given for the closure is the cheap far eastern imports of the smaller size tyres that are made in Dundee. Certainly, Michelin tyres are really good, but they are also very expensive. The somewhat illogical move towards larger cars (and larger tyres) and the price are the reasons for the fall in sales. There’s nothing much one can do about that.
However, I can’t help thinking that there may be an element of Brexit uncertainty for the French company. Hundreds of UK and international companies are moving out of the UK. It would be odd if this company hadn’t taken Brexit into account.
The Tay Cities deal is being underfunded to the tune of £50 million. In the meantime, the DUP have secured another billion pounds from the magic money tree that Mayhem keeps in her backyard.
Mundell is being his usual completely useless self.
Over and over again he has made statements, promises and threats on a variety of matters, and over and over again zero has happened. Even his threat to resign came to zilch.
He promised more powers would come to Scotland after Brexit. In fact, Edinburgh will enjoy fewer powers. And, as Clive Ponting has said, maybe Brexit will mean the Tories get what they have always wanted and the Scottish parliament is disbanded
He failed to stand up for Scottish farmers when Gove spent EU money, destined for Scotland, in England.
He assured us that when May paid the first bribe of a billion pounds to her pal, Arlene, that Scotland wouldn’t lose out. It did.
And now he has said that despite the Michelin situation we will get no extra cash… not even get what we were promised in the City Deals.
Despite the utter uselessness of Mundell and the Brits, our own government is working hard to try to retain the jobs in Dundee.
𝗢𝗯𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗙𝗹𝘂𝗳𝗳𝘆 & 𝗥𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘁/𝗚𝗼𝘃 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗲. 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲
It’s a worrying thought that John Heffren may to an extent be right. The Tories have little to lose in a place like Dundee and frankly little to gain by working to keep Michelin here. No matter what they do, Dundee won’t vote Tory.
And wouldn’t it suit them nicely if the Scottish government failed?
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
It reminds me rather of a situation which an Irish Catholic ex of mine explained on a trip that took us through Derry. There was a railway from Belfast whose terminus was on the Cityside (western) part of Derry, i.e., the Donegal side of the city to the west of the river Foyle. This was closed in 1958 in favour of another line that terminate in the Waterside (eastern) part of the city. Most of the city’s public assets, he said, were in the Waterside part. His conviction was that it was all part of contingency planning as the idea was that the majority Catholic Cityside might be ceded to the Republic… There is no actual proof of this, apparently, but then there wouldn’t be – I find it quite probable, actually. Here’s an article about the railway: https://is.gd/oD3mLv.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh …. LOVELY trains.
Yeah, I reckon it is quite possible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I meant – the Westminster regime thinks it’s going to lose Scotland, so why waste money on us. Gove’s otherwise inexplicable diversion of funds destined for Scottish farmers to English farmers instead then makes perfect sense – keep Tory-voting English farmers happy, to hell with Scottish Tory-voting farmers as they won’t be voting for Westminster MPs much longer anyway.
It occurs to me that misappropriation and diversion of public funds are criminal offences.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Yes, I would have thought that it was theft.
LikeLike
I remember writing a somewhat heavy handed allegory about this subject.
An ancient Chinese Empress was informed that there was famine in two provinces, one up north and the other in the south, what did she want to do? Levy a tax to feed both?
“No”, she said. “Take all the grain and livestock from the northern province to feed the southern, that way there is no need to levy an unpopular tax throughout the Empire, and the southern province will be eternally grateful.
“What about the northern province?” asked her ministers.
“What northern province?” was the reply.
You can obviously guess the name of the evil Empress…
LikeLiked by 4 people
I think Wu Zetian was the only ever Empress of China.
But I guess it could have been Mrs Thatcher!
LikeLiked by 3 people
As long as we are dependent on handouts from England’s Tories,we will always be cap in hand like
a crofter at the mercy of decisions taken by others.
Time we had our own magic money tree,the same as any other normal country (including England).
No doubt whatsoever that companies based in the EU are all taking Brexit into account when they are thinking about future plans.
Dundee has had more than it’s unfair share of economic deprivation and let’s hope the SG can come up with something to mitigate this decision (very familiar tale unfortunately).
Some Scots have been content with this situation where Holyrood bails them out from Westminster decisions and we always had the European courts to fall back on when that failed.
No more.
Brexit means Tories unleashed.
LikeLiked by 3 people
It is potentially quite frightening what a May government might do with emergency powers.
I wouldn’t trust her to run a bath, but she might be not bad at a POW camp.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Careful what you conjure up, Tris, “Many a true word …” and aa’ that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe Mayhem won;t be there much longer.
I’ve read that a deal has been reached with the EU. Cabinet ministers have to read it tonight. Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Scottish and Welsh governments aren’t, as far as I know, being informed, although you can bet your sweet life that Arlene will have her copy.
Cabinet meeting tomorrow to see if they will accept the deal.
LikeLiked by 2 people
http://uk.businessinsider.com/dominic-raab-is-privately-pushing-for-no-deal-brexit-2018-11
Hans Christian Andersen stuff here…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dominic Raab = Delusional Rotter. The man’s a rabid imbecile. OK, so far, so ad hominem, but has anyone heard anything that makes any sense come out of the man’s mouth?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes and no
He said that we were an island. The means to say that where he lives is on an island. He’s unaware that there are other islands or parts thereof, but it is a start.
I have avoided the news so far but I did briefly hear that Chris Grayling said that they had to to the best for Britain, and then corrected it to the UK.
They are all so terminally stupid.
LikeLike
Off topic but worth looking at:
As usual, of course, the dim minister at the despatch box gave no answer.
In fairness, she was facing Joanna Cherry, no mean intellect, and the minister probably hadn’t a clue what she was talking about.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Good one. Of course the Speaker will have done nothing whatsoever to make wotserface on the Government bench actually answer the question, though in that clip we don’t hear what came after. It’s a point I was unaware of, actually – I’ll assume it’s factually accurate, meaning that if the Supreme Court does not throw the case out as not subject to its jurisdiction, we will want to know the reason why.
It’s also very satisfying to see that the quality of our MPs is so superior to the Tories’. I can’t imagine any of that bunch of charlatans and yahoos having the wit to make the point and ask the question that Joanna Cherry did.
Roll on indyref2. I persist in believing that we need to hold it before 29 March coming (to give us the opportunity to claim continuing, uninterrupted membership of the EU), and that the date will be announced by the end of the year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, if I read that right, the UK Supreme Court should throw the case out as being beyond their competences.
And Theresa will have wasted a pile more money on another lost cause.
And you’re right. Ms Cherry is a superb performer, and I would have hoped a possible future FM, who knows.
Sharp as a tack.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The “Supreme Court” has bugger all to do with it now as The Court of Session refused leave for them to rule on it and referred it to the CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union). They will consider the matter on 27 Nov 2018 – no idea when they’ll rule but I’d imagine it’ll be PDQ.
LikeLiked by 2 people
As I understood it, the UK government seemed to be trying to ignore Scots Law. I’ve not read in detail.
LikeLike
They wanted it to go to their Supreme Court but Lord Carloway (IIRC) said that would render the whole exercise pointless because there wouldn’t be an opinion until after March 29 so it goes direct to CJEU.
The tories are desperately trying to get a withdrawal vote through westminster before Nov 27 because there’s every likelihood the CJEU will say that the UK can rescind A50 unilaterally. Imagine the chaos in westminster once that’s widely known to voters…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Gotcha. Thanks
LikeLike
Joanna Cherry crossing t’s and dotting i’s. These little interventions by the SNP might look a little like point scoring, but they’re not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also:
http://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/2018/11/were-about-to-see-difference-between.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScotGoesPop+%28SCOT+goes+POP%21%29
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is worth a watch too…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dundee won’t get a penny. It’s a punishment beating.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jake, I dunno where I said this already – oh yes I do, it was about Norniron, Derry and train services – but I think the reason Dundee isn’t going to be getting its £50 million is because the Westminster regime knows it’s going to lose Scotland, so it’s not going to spend any more money here than it has to. It’s the only way Gove’s diversion of money intended for Scottish farmers to English farmers instead makes any sense. On the assumption that farmer = Tory voter, why pay money to Scottish Tory voters who won’t be voting for Westminster MPs for very much longer, when you can use it to keep English Tory voters happy instead? Farmers are an important lobby in Middle Englandshire…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Exactly. You don’t vote Tory. You voted for independence. Don’t expect us to help out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think what I said holds true even though you can say that, Scotland-wide, people don’t vote Tory in the first place anyway: the current baker’s dozen Tory MPs are predominantly from non-urban constituencies, and in a situation where the May regime needs Fragrant Arlene and her Jolly Dinosaur-Deniers to make up the numbers, every last Ross Thomson counts.
For Dundee in particular, I’m sure that being “Yes City” must be an added factor, together with the usual petty vindictiveness – “you’ll have had your V&A and Scottish Benefits Agency, that’s quite enough to be going on with already” – Dundee is already lost to Them. (As usual, when I capitalize Them, I’m not othering common-or-garden Unionists or Englishpersons, I’m fingering the Brit Establishment; the Westminster (Tory) regime; and the Great British Meeja Machine whose propaganda is a major contributing factor to the perpetuation of Their rule.)
The apparent hypocrisy of saying one thing and doing another – denying £50 million in dosh to Dundee and £160 million – have I got that right? – to Scottish farmers despite apparent commitments to the contrary – is what the Americans call chump change on the one hand, petty and vindictive on the other, and on the third (out of four) these are small enough amounts that they are not immediately or necessarily indicative of a major campaign of non-investment / disinvestment.
For that, we have to go back to the cancellation of the Peterhead power station carbon capture project, the premature ending of renewable energy (electricity) subsidies, the reduction / postponement / cancellation of the MoD shipbuilding contracts for the Clyde, and the closure of military installations in Scotland.
Here’s a BBC story about that from this time last year: https://is.gd/bpAMAs. It says, however, that (on one hand or one of the others) Lossiemouth is to have additional personnel. But your man Sir Michael Fallon also talked about work on eight frigates to be built on the Clyde, so whether any of that is going to happen or has happened – well, I’m sure you can see where I’m going with that.
Further and counter-examples welcome, please; on the fourth hand I can think of the space project in the far north of the Scottish mainland as a plus, but again it would be chump change, hasn’t happened, and is probably something we would likely want to continue ourselves; against – all the broken financial / economic commitments in the Vow, HMRC closures and the like, and probably quite a lot of things we might have got but will never hear about because they were immediately ruled out.
In further support of my theory, the failure to do the Barnett consequentials of the billion-pound bung to Fragrant Cash-for-Ash Arlene, despite oor Fluffy’s solemn promise, and now a repeat performance thereof: they need Arlene right now, regardless of whether they think the Province is going to stay in the UK or not. Also, the re-election of Tories to Scottish constituencies is far less of a dead cert than the sectarian vote for the DUP in Norlin Airlann.
Such are my thoughts on gaming out the likely course of political events over the next six months or so – also bearing in mind that if the Tories want to hang onto power, they’ll only be able to do it for sure in Englandshire, and are perfectly willing to dump the Province in pursuit of Brexit – and if Norniron goes, that will give us Scots added impetus to go too, and it will give Them added impetus to let us.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yep… but, if I read it right, Arlene, having pocketed another billion in the budget, has said that she won’t support May’s batshit crazy Brexit because the land that Dinosaurs forgot is being treated differently from Britain, and not over sexual freedoms.
LikeLiked by 1 person
**RANT ALERT** **YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN MENTAL HEALTH AND BOREDOM THRESHOLD**
I hadn’t picked up on that, Tris, as I have been having an attack of the vapours for the past few days – so AshCash Arlene has scotched May’s Cunning Plan, has she? The end of the UK approaches… the chances of the May regime letting us Jockanese go just went up, or rather, the chances of Them simply kicking us Scots out – best to look on it as England’n’Wales quarantining itself, about which we can do sweet FA even if we were inclined to try – so, we may have to live with a hard border on Carter Bar until the eejits come to their senses – and a reunited Ireland together with Scotland join Schengen and end the UK/Ireland passport-free zone.
I am now less afraid than I was before about Them imposing martial law or whatever in Scotland and disbanding Holyrood within the context of no-deal blind, unilateral Brexit – I think They will boot us out instead. They don’t care about ordinary people suffering, we can be absolutely sure of that, obviously, but yer average English voter is far more susceptible to believing the lie that it’s all Johnny Foreigner’s fault than we Jockanese are.
I doubt very much that They are going to agree to hold a “People’s Vote” (ridiculous name for a plebiscite. Who else would bloody vote? Chocolate Santas?) on the final Brexit package. If They did, They would have to agree to indyref2 as well, and amour propre would dictate that They would rather kick us out than lose face by (risking) losing both Their majority for Brexit and Their majority for a dependent Scotland.
Sorry, people, I’m just thinking out loud, really. I see that Dave says below that the new Brexit deal runs to 500 pages. Like him, and like you, Tris, I doubt very much that we ordinary subjects of Her Maj are going to have sight of it at all in advance of 29 March – because we simply don’t count in anything more than a mass to be manipulated so that They can pursue their own naked self-interest.
Besides, if they let us average punters know exactly what we are in for with Brexit, pressure for the aforesaid “People’s Vote” really might become irresistible, and that would put a spoke in their evil plans for a 1000-year blue-rinsed Tory Reich.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been out of touch of news all day, No one seems to know what will happen.
Actually I don;t even know if Tessy is still in Downing Street or if she’s trotted off to see Liz with her resignation.
Nah, unlikely, Liz will be celebrating Chic’s birthday. DisMay will have to wait til tomorrow.
NO. We don;t count. Not at all.
I understand Gibraltar does though.
LikeLike
So… They’ve sorted things out with the Spanish at least. In exchange for … Scottish fishing rights, maybe? Huh. It really is so difficult to work out what the hell the Westminster regime thinks it’s playing at, or even if it knows itself. Do the Brexit Ministry, the Foreign Office and the MoD actually talk to each other at all, I wonder?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I doubt that very much. Tories seem to dislike each other almost as much as we dislike them.
LikeLike
Something for your fifth and sixth hand Edd;
£167million kept on sale of Fort Kinnaird retail park. No embarassment, nothing, just “go whistle pal, we’re keepin it”
pulling the plug on the reasearch development funding for the, now excellent, tidal turbine in the Pentland Firth. The EU came up with the £330million (?) to allow the project to be completed.
There will be many more examples, more hands needed.
I agree with your assessment. We became an irrelevance, to both westminster parties, when Scotland voted in a majority SNP.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’d forgotten about Fort Kinnaird, and about the financing for the Pentland Firth turbine – about which there was almost zero publicity in the Great British Meeja Machine when it came on line and started generating impressive amounts of power. Too difficult to spin into an SNPBAAAD story – something alleging that the SNP are slowing the planet’s rotation by nanoseconds over a few million years and driving the moon under 1mm further away over the same period wouldn’t have much in the way of legs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. I think they must reckon we’re past redemption.
The SNP can’t stay in government forever, but after 11 years the projection is that they would take way more seats than either Tory or Labour.
Unless Labour and the Tories (and the LibDems got together, it looks like the next government will be SNP.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The new deal is reported to be 500 pages in length.
The grousebeater comes up with a constitution for Scotland much Shorter.
As they say the weasle words will leave the punishment plan in plain view.
The Best deal is the one we have currently, i.e. we remain in the CU and the SM and continue with our veto.
ANything else is to our detriment.
Wondering if my local tory MP will vote as per the wishes of his constituancy or as more likely the continuation of his income until the next GE, Oh forgot , he’s only a tory turkey and will vote for his party and his interest.
The EBC are are in full support this morning of a document the rest of the plebs are yet to see, the irony is the devolved governments aren’t to see it either.
Democracy in action in the so called UK.
It’s just a little game being played out with words, black is white, white is black but in the meantime ‘I’m all right’ i’ve got the MP’s pension fund for the rest of my days.
LikeLiked by 2 people
If NI is actually being treated differently, will Mundell resign?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nope, the fudge will be cooking right now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yum… don;t we all just love fudge.
LikeLike
If Mundell resigned, how long would it take before anyone noticed?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Who?
LikeLike
Joanna Cherry crossing t’s and dotting i’s. These little interventions by the SNP might look a little like point scoring, but they’re not.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You have to keep an eye on the Tories. If you don;t they run riot with what passes for a constitution.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The “Westminster knows it’s going to lose Scotland” writers above are sadly mistaken. Westminster has no intention of giving up Scotland. Scotland is an oil rich small country and over the past 40 plus years has provided the wealth for both Tory and Labour administrations to continue their reckless economic mismanagement of this vital resource. May and her gang are just the latest in a long line of lying corrupt manipulators who rely on the equally corrupt MSM to promote the illusion that we live in a democracy. Make no mistake these people will ensure if push comes to shove, that the Scottish parliament will be dissolved under the Emergency Powers Act and our existing freedoms will be severely curtailed. The question now is what are we going to do before this happens ?
LikeLiked by 4 people
Interesting thoughts. It is certainly a possibility that when the whole Brexit Omnishambles falls apart that the government will call for and get, from the PC, emergency powers.
The Scottish parliament could be dissolved, as the NI one has been twice.
I’d not guarantee that this cold be done smoothly, though.
LikeLike
I understand your argument completely, Grafter, and it has been true for a long time and would continue to be true but – these are far from normal times. We have to question all our assumptions, I think. The current Westminster regime is far from rational, completely untrustworthy, and is already violating pretty much all the constitutional norms that have kept this ramshackle, illogical kludge of a State bumping along this long.
We also have to remember that the Tory Party does not care about the country; it cares about itself, about keeping itself in power, and the interests of the people who together make up the Establishment. Regular elections, I think, is one of the things They would like to junk – and even if They don’t, the only in Englandshire is there a consistent Tory majority – especially if you add the Blairites and Brexiteers in the Labour Party to their number.
None of what I have been saying is a dead cert, of course, and I don’t pretend or claim that it is.
Consider, though, that They may figure that They will have enough on their plate keeping England under control post-Brexit, and that the economic pain of Brexit and the loss of Scottish resources can be blamed on (a) Johnny Foreigner, and (b) those disloyal, treacherous Jocks who They have been “subsidizing” all these years. That has been the propaganda all these years, and your average English voter has been given no reason to challenge it. They will be able to say to the punters that England simply cannot afford to keep Scotland any more, because there is no magic money tree. That’s how I’d spin it I were Theresa May, which thank God I’m not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The only reasons I can see for Westminster keeping Scotland are;
Pride, the last of the empire.
The thought, “we might need to pay to get in to “our” playground.”
Trident gives them a seat, with the big boys, at the security council.
We make for a jocular (sorry) bogeyman, diversion. The benefit junkeys.
I don’t see Scotland’s finances as a reason. Scotland’s oil and gas, if properly managed, could be worth around £14/16billion. The UK GDP is around £2+trillion, of which almost 80% comes from the financial services. This was the financial plan for the UK, started by Thatcher, pushed on by Blair/Brown and off at gallop with this lot. By the end of next year westminster will have squandered more on contingency arrangements, extra work load, etc over brexit, than the spenders Scotland gives them.
Another thought on the delightful Arlene, she would be privy to the names behind the dark donations for brexit and might the same mechanisms been used in 2014? Just putting it out there, for mulling.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well… that would be another good reason for giving her another billion in the budget.
LikeLike
I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but. Westminster have levers that could have been used on the DUP;
cash for ash, a resolution could have been threatened, possibly making toast of Arlene and others.
push for an election, to restart Stormont. The polls don’t look so good for the DUP, but possibly the Tories don’t want the GFA as much as the DUP, certainly Gove has written such.
In any case I’m in a comfy seat, big bag of popcorn ready, to watch this circus unfold.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I imagine that the DUP may find it loses seats next time round. Not to SF, but to other less nutty unionist parties that are no longer represented in Westminster.
LikeLike
Agree. DUP would loose out to more “fragrant” unionists, but I think SF would/could hold the majority of seats.
Now where did I put that popcorn?
LikeLiked by 1 person
The thing is that SF won;t take their seats on the basis that they will not swear allegiance to the crown. It’s a pity because many MPs disapprove of swearing to the queen.
Tony Benn crossed his fingers behind his back, which, according to him negated and promise he made in the swearing in process.
He must have done the same when he became a cabinet minister and privy councillor.
MPs should swear allegiance to their voters. Not some aristocrat.
LikeLiked by 1 person