That still doesn’t mean everything that our leaders do should be in private considering their choices have an impact on most things within Scotland.
The party is in power in Scotland, though. The FM isn’t a president. The party in government makes the policy, not the leader. The leader is just the person at the front.
People get this confused in the UK. You don’t vote for the FM/PM sat a general election, no matter how much Nicola/Boris implies it.
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You are right, you don’t vote for the FM/PM, yet the system acts as if we do with different leaders promising different things and going in vastly different directions. The system pretends that the leader doesn’t matter, but in reality, the leader clearly matters.
If the leader was just the person at the front, the change from Johnson, to Truss, to Sunak shouldn’t have been as great as it was.
We have the three leadership contenders for the FM promising different things.
Yes, we don’t technically vote for the leader, but it is clear that the leader matters so we should see what each leader is and isn’t promising. If the Tories realised this back in the summer, I’m sure the SNP should have realised this a lot sooner.
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As far as different leaders changing the party’s direction, I still believe I get my say at the next election. I vote understanding that the party that wins gets to take whatever course they can get through parliament.
Televised hustings promote your “everyone acts like it’s presidential” narrative, which is why the party leader candidates want them so much.
I don’t want to play their game.
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I’m not saying I disagree (because I don’t) but the Conservatives got a LOT of stick for having a tiny portion of the country choose the next PM (both times) and while this affects Scotland only (though arguably the SNP do have some sway in England too) it’s the same and I have to be honest and say I’m seeing very little of the same people having the same issues.
I cannot honestly say hand on heart if the Conservatives had non-media private events in choosing a new leader (and thus new leader of the country) that they wouldn’t be severely lambasted for it.
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Televising the Tories’ Truss/Sunak hustings made absolutely no difference to all our eventual lives anyway…
BBC News - First class stamp price to rise to £1.10
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HOW MUCH!? 
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That’s it, no-one is getting any more birthday or Christmas cards from me. Bloody hell.
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i wonder if the post man / woman will get the same level of increase in their pay
How idiotic. With the strikes most people I know have stopped sending cards anyway - it’s like they are trying to kill the business…
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Pretty sure they would be very happy to kill the letters business!
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It’s circular though. Less post, have to raise prices, less people send post, have to rise prices etc.
Honestly we need to just reduce from a daily service. Three times a week is probably fine. I check my mail maybe twice a week and I’m still alive.
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Last time i sent a letter it was under 30p 
Royal Mail like the train service and TV licensing can all do one.
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This is that Royal Mail management want - to reduce the Universal Service Obligation - to save costs.
The government refused and I guess this is their response… so they can go back and claim the USO is unviable given falling volumes.
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More cuts
It’ll end up West London to Birmingham.
Saving 15mins travel time, at the cost of 300 billion.
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I dont know why they don’t just say what they are really going to do, keep “consulting” and never building
I do actually, it’s because the amount of Dirty money that is knocking about in this is so severe no government wants to admit they’ve pissed it up the wall for nowt
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But think that extra 15 minutes will allow the passengers to get that extra pret coffee which is the bedrock of the entire economy now.
/sarcasm
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Delayed for two years 
Do they expect it, or government borrowing costs to be cheaper in 2024? Or do they just want to defer it until it’s the next government’s problem.