First Person

Australia and Sterling

2012-02-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

I know G+ purists (and indeed Googletopia themselves) don't like retweets, but this one makes a crackin' point about currency unions. (And I get a mention. What's not to like..?)Twitter / Scottish Spring: @mekquarrie Maybe someone ...@mekquarrie Maybe someone should ask Australia if retaining Sterling for decades hindered their Indy in any way. Good enough for them.

Women in Politics Around the World

2012-01-29T07:50:00.000-08:00

There's a nice collection of facts on women in politics around the world from the CFWD.

Lamont is Scottish Labour leader

2011-12-17T04:16:00.000-08:00

Oh dear. This is grim. Johann Lamont is permanently miserable and will not make for good telly. But I wish her well...
MSP Johann Lamont is elected as the new Scottish Labour leader.
Oh dear. This is grim. Johann Lamont is permanently miserable and will not make for good telly. But I wish her well...Lamont is Scottish Labour leaderMSP Johann Lamont is elected as the new Scottish Labour leader.

Hillhead By-Election: Good Luck Ken

2011-11-17T05:34:00.001-08:00

Good luck to the SNP's Ken Andrew in today's Glasgow City council by-election covering Hillhead. He's on twitter, but only a little bit, so I've tried to persuade him to tweet more, especially today....

Occupy Glasgow - Offshoot #occupyglasgow

2011-11-17T05:27:00.001-08:00

By sheer coincidence, I bumped into the people at Occupy Glasgow's offshoot camp in Blythswood Square this morning. Danny clued me in on the education projects they have coming up and it all sounded very interesting. The second camp at Kelvingrove seems a bit distant now, so its good to stumble across the demo again. When I've got time, I'll get a proper interview done.

I noticed, by the way, that there's a lovely sketch of the original camp at George Square on 'Urban Sketchers' which you might want to take a peek at. My public Occupy album is on Google+ so you can take a look at that too.

Coatbridge North & Glenboig By-Election: Result

2011-10-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

The council by-election result for Coatbridge/Glenboig cane thru pretty smartish last night (I had expected a lunch-time count) and we discovered that Jule McAnulty had run Labour's Michael McPake a very close race with only a few hundred votes difference.

That Result:
Robert Burgess (Conservative) 174

Graham Dale (LibDem) 78
Julie McAnulty (SNP) 1139
Michael McPake (Labour) 1527
Rejected 15

Hillhead By-Election: Candidates

2011-10-28T04:20:00.000-07:00

The candidate list for the forthcoming Hillhead by-election is now out, and there's also a crackin' analysis page at Kristofer Keane's blog.

A Summary of those Candidates:

Ken ANDREW (SNP)
Charles BAILLIE (Britannica)
Neil CRAIG (UKIP)
Maya FORREST (Conservative)
Ewan HOYLE (LibDem)
Stuart LECKIE (Green)
Martin J MCELROY (Labour)

Hillhead By-Election: Ken Andrew

2011-10-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

If you want to follow the SNP candidate, Ken Andrew, at the upcoming Glasgow City Council by-election on twitter @HillheadKen. (And, if you really must, there's the LibDem candidate, Ewan Hoyle, who goes under the pseudonym of @ewanhoyle...)
Update: Labour's Martin McElroy has a more traditional website.

Does Ian Davidson Deserve a 'Doing?'

2011-10-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

Some discussion around the charms of Labour MP Ian Davidson today and his alleged warning of a 'doing' to the SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford should she divulge the secret workings of his 'Rubbish Independence' Committee. As I said over at the Burdz Eye View blog, I can’t imagine any employee at any workplace promising a ‘doing’ to a co-worker and expecting to shrug it off. Why would Ian Davidson think he was special..? If a constituent were to jovially wander in to Mr D's surgery of a weekend and cheerfully offer him a friendly 'doing' you could probably count the time for a SWAT team to arrive in seconds rather than minutes...

Occupy Scotland

2011-10-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

I set up the tagpaper 'Occupied Scotland' yesterday to follow the @occupyedinburgh and @weoccupyglasgow tweetstreams as well as any #occupyedinburgh and #occupyglasgow tagging. But by evening there was also some activity of note on the @occupyaberdeen and #occupyaberdeen front so these have been folded in too...

Coatbridge North & Glenboig By-election: Candidates

2011-10-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

The candidates for this Thursday's local council Coatbridge North & Glenboig by-election in North Lanarkshire have been announced. Good luck to our excellent local campaigner, Julie McAnulty...

Banned SNP man insists: There was no probe - Local Headlines - Cumbernauld News

2011-09-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

This is a local story that has been rumbling for a while.
Banned SNP man insists: There was no probe - Local Headlines - Cumbernauld News
It's extremely disappointing that it has come to this and I have my own reservations about how things have been handled. More soon...

Update (October 25th):
As the story is a bit old, I've archived the elements here in case they are lost:

Banned SNP man insists: There was no probe

Councillor Alan O'Brien

Published on Wednesday 14 September 2011 10:31

Last week, the News revealed that Councillor Alan O’Brien had been barred from the Scottish National Party group at North Lanarkshire Council.

The article stated that disciplinary action had been taken against him on a number of counts.

But Councillor O’Brien this week said there had been NO investigation, as had been implied, and that allegations he had made a homophobic slur against another councillor had not formed any part of any investigation.

Councillor O’Brien has always maintained that the alleged “slur” was a harmless remark which was completely devoid of any malice – but which was subsequently used as political capital against him by his enemies.

We have been asked to point out by Councillor O’Brien that this incident was NOT among those discussed in the disciplinary procedures that were to follow this year – and which came to a dramatic conclusion two weeks ago.

The councillor also said that the procedure had been badly handled and added: “I didn’t even know I was being investigated.’’

He also said that he believed he had been castigated for “sticking up for Cumbernauld – which I was elected to do”.

The News contacted SNP group leader Councillor David Stocks twice in a bid for him to set the record straight in relation to the charges that Councillor O’Brien had faced.

However Councillor Stocks indicated that he did not wish to add anything further to the statement that he made last week in relation to Councillor O’Brien.

The SNP nationally have refused to comment on what they have called “an internal matter”.

Source: Cumbernauld News

The old challenges of new towns

2011-09-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

I have mixed feelings about the announcement of a 9000-home super-development in Aberdeenshire. It's a given that, if we expect success and industry to lead to an increase in the population of Scotland, we will need to plan for newer communities in newer parts of the country. The obvious objections are always about natural habitat, wildlife, visual aesthetics and additional noise / road activity. This begs the question: is it ever possible to build a substantial number of houses in the perfect place? We must try, and the prior farmland in this case seems to fit the bill. Watch that space...

Edinburgh City Centre By-election

2011-08-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Alasdair Rankin for winning the City Centre ward by-election in the final round of counting. Who knew preference voting could be so exciting? This will be a crucial result in deciding the balance-of-power and the balance-of-mind on the City of Edinburgh council. They have many important decisions to make on education and other local services and it is essential that the SNP have a strong hand in those decisions. It's regrettable that David Beckett stood down at such a vital stage, but when elected in 2007 the local council term was set at four years, and this was only extended (to five years) later on when another diastrous clash of ballot papers was predicted if two elections were held on the same day. (So I forgive him...)

Tagpaper Housekeeping

2011-07-04T06:52:00.000-07:00

As the #sp11 tag has dwindled post the May election, I've folded this into the search criteria for a more general Scottish Parliament (session 4) newsletter. So the one or two tweeters who tag the start of session 4 with #sp11 will still be covered. Enjoy...

Twittering Interest

2011-05-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

The Courier carried an article last week about some wag who has set up a twitter account in the name of Labour's Perthshire North candidate Pete Cheema. If you cut thru all the bluster and fury and actually read the bare 15 postings you will find a bit of tongue-in-cheek ribaldry mildly presented. Labour's John Park has not taken the time to read it as it would somewhat deflate the fury that has built up within his frame during Labour's election campaign. There's also no evidence at all that this person was a member of the SNP (or indeed any other party), but it was convenient for Park to get out the label-gun and attach whatever he could to this miniscule offering.

The main reason for setting up the account (just read the bio) is that Cheema appears to have claimed a twitter name without registering it first and printed it on all his leaflets. Judge for yourself which is the cleverest approach.

(NB: It wasn't me, and I don't know it was. And I generally don't agree with personation. Cheema's real tweetfeed is available, but contains only two tweets of his own.)

Official Edinburgh #sp11 Hashtags

2011-05-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon the City of Edinburgh website and discovered they have claimed their own set of designations for the Holyrood constituencies. Well done.

For those who bore quickly of clicking thru to other articles from blog posts, I summarize here:

Edinburgh Central #EdinC
Edinburgh Northern and Leith #EdinNL
Edinburgh Eastern #EdinE
Edinburgh Pentlands #EdinP
Edinburgh Southern #EdinS
Edinburgh Western #EdinW
Lothian list #Lothian (NB - no 's').
Generally #sp11 #avref

Voting Over For Many

2011-05-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

All the polling evidence that suggests an SNP slam-dunk on Thursday is good fun. Labour's Johann Lamont confects a scenario of SNP activists slapping each other on the back (without any evidence) to create a well of loathing among die-hard supporters. But this confection is just another outcome of Labour's negative approach to everything, which is a shame.

Where Ms Lamont makes an error of presumption, though, is the grand claim that nationalist morale may have been raised 'without a single vote being cast'. Wrong. And categorically wrong. Thousands of votes have already been cast (by post) and set in stone. None - of course - have been counted, but the mood of voters (who are already voting away) will be reflected in parallel by the agency polling.

So, while we disagree that voting is taking place, we could both agree that the election is not over until Thursday night.

Holyrood Hashtags #sp2011

2011-04-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

Constituency

Aberdeen Central #aberdeenc
Aberdeen Donside #aberdeend
Aberdeen South and North Kincardine #aberdeenshiresnk #asnk
Aberdeenshire East #aberdeenshiree
Aberdeenshire West #aberdeenshirew
Airdrie and Shotts #airdries
Almond Valley #almondv
Angus North and Mearns #angusnm
Angus South #anguss
Argyll and Bute #argyllb
Ayr #ayr
Banffshire and Buchan Coast #banffshirebc
Caithness, Sutherland and Ross #caithnesssr #csr
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley #carrickcdv #ccdv
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane #clackmannanshired
Clydebank and Milngavie #clydebankm
Clydesdale #clydesdale
Coatbridge and Chryston #coatbridgec
Cowdenbeath #cowdenbeath
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth #cumbernauld
Cunninghame North #cunninghamen
Cunninghame South #cunninghames
Dumbarton #dumbarton
Dumfriesshire #dumfriesshire
Dunfermline #dunfermline
Dundee City East #dundeece
Dundee City West #dundeecw
East Kilbride #ekilbride (or #ek if you're fervently local)
East Lothian #elothian
Eastwood #eastwood
Edinburgh Central #edinburghc
Edinburgh Eastern #edinburghe
Edinburgh Northern and Leith #edinburghnl
Edinburgh Pentlands #edinburghp
Edinburgh Southern #edinburghs
Edinburgh Western #edinburghw
Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire #ettrickrb
Falkirk East #falkirke
Falkirk West #falkirkw
Galloway and West Dumfries #gallowaywd
Glasgow Anniesland #glasgowa
Glasgow Cathcart #glasgowc
Glasgow Kelvin #glasgowk
Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn #glasgowms
Glasgow Pollok #glasgowpk
Glasgow Provan #glasgowpn
Glasgow Shettleston #glasgowsn
Glasgow Southside #glasgowss
Greenock and Inverclyde #greenocki
Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse #hamiltonls #hls
Inverness and Nairn #invernessn
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley #kilmarnockiv
Kirkcaldy #kirkcaldy
Linlithgow #linlithgow
Midlothian North and Musselburgh #midlothiannm
Midlothian South, Tweedale and Lauderdale #midlothianstl #mstl
Mid Fife and Glenrothes #midfifeg
Motherwell and Wishaw #motherwellw
Moray #moray
Na h-Eileanan an Iar
North East Fife #nefife
Orkney #orkney
Paisley #paisley
Perthshire North #perthshiren
Perthshire South and Kinross-shire #perthshiresk
Renfrewshire North and West #renfrewshirenw
Renfrewshire South #renfrewshires
Rutherglen #rutherglen
Shetland #shetland
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch #skyelb
Stirling #stirling
Strathkelvin and Bearsden #strathkelvinb
Uddingston and Bellshill #uddingstonb

Source of some material: Wikipedia article.

Tory Election Leaflet #sp11 #ck #central

2011-04-15T07:18:00.001-07:00

Today's hopefuls are the 'Scottish' Conservative party with a general appeal for common sense.

I can't help but notice that there is no pretence at any local knowledge in the text and - indeed - the party seem resigned to courting list votes (much like the Greens do effectively). Do any of these jokers know where Cumbernauld is..?

Greens Leaflets #sp11 #central

2011-04-13T06:29:00.000-07:00

Today's letterbox stuffing is from the (Scottish) Greens. All very nice wish-list policies (and I'm not a big fan of another Forth crossing myself), but this year's intake will only need to be skilled in leveraging their influence and soapbox polemic.

Not a lot of local concern, apart from something vaguely in South Lanarkshire that someone else initiated.

Labour Leaflets #sp11 #ck

2011-04-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Labour's dogmatic formula strikes the usual traditional notes for its presumed core. But what is really new or inventive here?

Barring one commendable reference to local hospitals, the face and name in this leaflet could have been interchanged with any other Labour candidate in Scotland. Can that money-saving strategy work forever..?

Update: It was immediately pointed out to me on twitter by @bcnsco, that this leaflet (and I suspect others) claim the council tax freeze as Labour's own. Wildly imaginative stuff...

John Reid Wikipedia Article

2011-03-14T03:37:00.000-07:00

This is my addition to the wikipedia article on John Reid which missed out some of the crucial timeframe on expenses claims and repayments. just for info...

==Expenses==
Following the general scandal over [[United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal|MP expenses]] in 2009, [[Thomas Legg|Sir Thomas Legg]] requested £2731.88 be repaid, but Dr Reid chose to repay a total of £7336.51.[http://news.stv.tv/politics/155362-john-reid-mps-expenses-verdict-from-sir-thomas-legg/ John Reid: MPs’ expenses verdict from Sir Thomas Legg] STV News, February 4th, 2010 A later offer to refund £4604.63 was accepted in 2010.[http://www.wishawpress.co.uk/wishaw-news/local-wishaw-news/wishaw-news/2010/08/25/john-reid-gets-over-4000-repaid-in-expenses-refund-76495-27127093/ John Reid gets over £4000 repaid in expenses refund] Wishaw Press, August 25th, 2010 As a former cabinet member, Dr Reid receives personal protection which has included annual travel costs disclosed as £10860 in 2010.[http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics-news/2011/01/06/celtic-chairman-john-reid-defends-4000-matchday-limo-bill-86908-22829836/ Celtic chairman John Reid defends £4000 matchday limo bill] Daily Record, January 6th, 2011

Pork or No Pork?

2011-03-01T03:11:00.000-08:00

I had a little quibble over the definition of 'pork barrel' yesterday. Burd was waxing quite lyrical over the succession of small announcements from HMSG which appeared to produce 'new' money from nowhere. The piece was immensely well written (as ever), and it is good to see that fury can produce eloquence rather than incoherence. But, the description of these niche allocations as ‘pork barrel’ is misguided since they are not targetted at winning specific constituencies. The perfectly valid point may be made that ‘money is found, where none was found before’. I’m not (always) an apologist for the politics of the SNP in power, but I would guess these sums were covered in the budget, but under ludicrously broad headings like ‘community’ and ‘growth’, so the money announced is not new, but elements of it are being focussed on (rightly) to prove the specific, personal benefits of the overall deal.

Online #sp11 Paper

2011-02-27T16:24:00.000-08:00

I've created an online paper with the wonderful bots over at paper.li to follow the #sp11 hashtag and pop it into one place. As well as highlights in the little box to the side here, it has its own page too. Enjoy...

Labour Budget Rejection Fails to Add Up

2011-02-10T05:14:00.000-08:00

Labour's failure to back their own budget demands yesterday, just doesn't make sense to me - from a principled point-of-view I mean. Of course, having agreed with Labour on some of their major spending requests, John Swinney would have been naïve to think that they would naturally vote to secure their own gains. Labour are playing an un-principled game of words, convincing only a few that 'failing' to get Labour to vote with you is the same as 'failing' to get a considered budget thru - it's not. John has, however, now secured the passage of every SNP budget of this term of the Scottish Parliament (no mean feat), and proven his worth to the SNP and - indeed - the country as a whole.

SNP MSP for Glasgow Bob Doris has put together an excellent summary of the key priorities that Labour failed to support.

The Nat Nut and a Couple of Jerks

2011-02-09T01:40:00.000-08:00

SNP MP Stewart Hosie has done sterling work this week in fronting the Fuel Costs debate in the House of Commons on Monday. He followed up with substantial appearances on various outlets. However, the attendance at the debate was truly derisory with a brave attempt by Scottish and Welsh nationalists to corral into an effective doughnut for TV cameras. Despite fuel duty being near the top of Labour's oft-illusory agenda their support was virtually zero and Stewart had measured words for this hypocritical approach.

Equally, I might have expected more traditional knee-jerk Conservatives to have piled in. It seems to me that only two things in life are guaranteed: that Tories will turn up en masse at a debate involving Europe or taxes. But neither of these jerks were to be seen.

Cllr Jim Mitchell

2011-01-24T03:16:00.000-08:00

I was saddened to hear over the weekend of the death of Cllr Jim Mitchell, a man for whom the word 'stalwart' was singularly apposite. My own memories are of his loud speeches at conference and a ridiculously large rosette (particularly in Govan in 1992). The Party posted its own tribute on Saturday, and I am particularly grateful for some considered words from Alan Clayton, a long-time SNP member in Argyll & Bute, and editor of the Mediawatch news review:

"I first met Jim Mitchell in 1983. He was walking on the Wallace Day March in Elderslie and pushing the weans in a go chair. He was shouting about something. I can't remember what it was, but it would not have been Jim if he was not vociferously mouthing off about something. It was of the very essence of the man.

"It had been a year of electoral disaster for the SNP. SNP seats had fallen everywhere. Yet in the midst of this catastrophe 'wee Jim' had marched in and done the opposite and had taken a seat from Labour. His secret was a unique rapport with the electorate and an iron determination to campaign more or less continuously.

"In an era before modern electoral techniques his fingers must have been sore from door knocking and blethering. Not that either bothered him, indeed he enjoyed both as he built an unassailable electoral base that has survived till his sad death.

"Our paths crossed a lot in the following years, particularly in the 1820 Society. In the 1990s the 1820 Society was making huge efforts to identify the grave of James Wilson in Strathaven. Professional advice suggested that only an arial photograph of the area of the burial could do that. It was not a problem for Jim, who was the Society's press officer at the time. Within a few months he raised the money for a helicopter to take photographs of the site and the burial place of James Wilson is now established conclusively. Of course even in a situation like that Jim had to be Jim and he took his two wee girls up in the chopper for a hurl.

"He also played a key role also in the re-establishment of the memorial to James Baird and Andrew Hardie, the other two 1820 martyrs, in Glasgow. The then Glasgow City Council said it would fork out £5000.00 for the renovation of the decaying memorial if the 1820 society could match it with another £5000.00. Never to be outdone Jim had managed to get the 1820 Society to raise the £5000.00 within a year. In addition he also persuaded the Council to do a coffin top exhumation at the sight to confirm that the two men were there.

"I remember the phone call. I lived in Gourock at the time. He had been having some very sore throats he told me from his pipe smoking. His GP had sent him to a specialist and he was worried. As it turned out he had cause to be worried and the specialist admitted him to Canniesburn for major throat surgery for cancer. My wife Fiona and I visited him there a few times. Jim looked on the whole episode as an outrageous interference with his political life.

"He got out eventually and carried on as usual. That throat spray that was such a familiar part of him started then. We used to joke that it was nature's way of punishing him for being such a blether. We drifted apart then and have rarely seen each other since.

"Sadly just over a year ago almost to the day of his own death his eldest daughter Debbie died of pneumonia. She had three young children. The impact on him was, understandably, devastating and quite possibly hastened his own sad death. Paradoxically, when his death was announced I was about to contact him to seek his advice on some Renfrewshire members who have caused me problems. It was not to be. And by the way Jim, gonni gie the angels a brek?"

Note 1: This post was updated with additonal material on January 25th.
Note 2: The Evening Times covered the funeral on February 4th.

Labour and AV

2011-01-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

After reading Eric Joyce's posting on the superficiality of some of the AV debate. It reminded me of a brief twitter discussion with the veritable Tom Harris the other evening. I’m probably (instinctively) in favor of proportional systems as we in Scotland’s Nicest Party were so under-represented for years by FPTP systems at all levels. But AV seems to be doomed to failure, precisely because it is only the compromise of a compromise. LibDems didn’t want it (at last year they didn't, anyway) because it still consolidates parties that have strong first showings (which includes most Scottish constituencies – bar, perhaps, Argyll & Bute).

I exchanged a few tweets with Tom Harris about this the other night. I had the vague memory that Gordon Brown had been a big advocate of AV. Mr H was *quite clear* that the PLP would never have tolerated it (and I can perfectly understand why). I wasn't sure if that meant that the idea had never come up although I dug out a Telegraph article to at least support my recollections.

But it was just one of many limp topics that stumbled across the field of play as we spiralled down to the General Election last May. And after a period of non-debate it looks like this will dominate the period leading up to the referendum, nicely filling our ‘grown-up’ time on national telly with a UK issue just before the Holyrood poll. So we may again have a demoted Scottish Leaders debate fighting for coverage on our screens.

Tweet locker: [1], [2], [3]

Island Schools

2010-12-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

Alasdair Allan comments on school closures. Stornoway Press outlines timeline.

No Presents from Donohoe-Ho-Ho

2010-12-13T01:44:00.000-08:00

I had to chuckle at a space-filling article in the SoS where Brian Donohoe proves categorically that he has a lot of time on his hands. In a further attempt to demonstrate the superior feeling of Westminster Labour MPs over Holyrood MSPs, the 'Honorable' gentleman for Central Ayrshire is reportedly circulating amendments to the new Scotland Bill. He plans to squeeze list MSPs either out entirely from their jobs or at the very least out on to the streets with no official office space. There is some professional rivalry (I might even say jealousy) where constituency MPs feel list MSPs stray on to their turf. This reveals the heart of the matter. There seems to be no contention at all with constituency MSPs who, in fact, have a more direct turf overlap since - I imagine - they are of the same party. Quel surprise. The net effect of the proposed changes would be to remove the proportional aspect of elections to the Scottish parliament, and - perhaps more importantly to Mr Donohoe - re-entrench the old (unionist) party profiles.

There is, of course, no chance of these changes being made, but simply by tabling an amendment, there is every chance that valuable debating time - which could be best used to cover more of the details of improved powers for Scotland - will be wasted by grand-standing by Brian Donohoe fighting the last war.

Cancun - to be continued

2010-12-11T07:09:00.000-08:00

The agreement at the end of the environment summit in Mexico was less 'agree to disagree', and more 'agree to agree' with a big 'work in progress' label stuck on the box.

Tuition Fees - NoticeBoard

2010-12-11T05:13:00.000-08:00

The SNP are offering free membership to all students as part of the follow-up to the 'Tuition Free Wtih SNP' campaign.

Scottish Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson has posted on why she voted for the government's higher education proposals. (I think it speaks for itself.)

Pete Wishart speaks for the party on Scottish Liberal Democrat 'betrayal' of higher education.

Abstracting from the BBC article on all the LibDems who voted, I've made this Scottish list:
For (4):
* Danny Alexander
* Malcolm Bruce
* Michael Moore
* Jo Swinson
Against (5):
* Sir Menzies Campbell
* Alistair Carmichael
* Michael Crockart
* Charles Kennedy
* Alan Reid
Abstained/Absent (2)
* Sir Robert Smith
* John Thurso

US Senate Block Repeal of Gay Military Ban

2010-12-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

BBC article here.

Tuition Fees

2010-12-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

The promise from SNP MPs that they will vote against student fees is interesting. It's rare for the group to make a point that will obviously draw a lot of fire, since we usually take the high ground of not voting on English-only business (which this is on the face of it). The main effect - if the final vote is tight - will be to draw Scottish Lib Dems offside and show up individuals who put being in power before being on principle.

The Sure-Footedness of Safe Standing

2010-12-08T03:18:00.000-08:00

I don't normally have time to post on Westminster legislation that doesn't cover Scotland, but I had to make an exception for Liberal Democrat Don Foster's Safe Standing (Football Stadia) Bill. This received permission to progress to Second Reading in the House of Commons yesterday evening. As explained in the debate, the terrible football stadium disasters of previous decades should not be forgotten, but technology, design and opportunity have all improved. Terraces, which allowed average punters (such as myself) to feel part of the low-lying landscape of the game in play, were designed for maximum density and with minimal regard for safety. But modern approaches to division of spaces, contouring and barriers can provide the same experience with a modern regard for health and for safety. Good on yer mate... ;-)

Wikileaks - Lockerbie

2010-12-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

The most-excellent Peat Worrier has some crackin' links to the Wiki-leaked US cables viz. the Scottish Government release of Pan Am 103 / Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.
Slight update: Some of the discussion on LPW's posting centers around the US cable relating Jack Straw's discussion with Alex Salmond about who was in charge of releasing the prisoner concerned. I agree that the "Salmond's last word" thing hasn't really been played up - and for good reason. The cable concerned was a paraphrase of Straw's own account, which wouldn't even pass for hearsay in a JP's court. Personally, I like to think of Salmond in the rôle of Louis XIV (alors!) and he was explaining that the authority to make the decision lay with l'etat d'Scotland, a state which is represented by him as head. The Justice Secretary still had the actual responsibility for the decision (which Le Grand Poisson happened to agree with). 'Nuff said.

Wikileaks - Brown Finished

2010-12-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

With a view to finding out if there's anything releavant to Scotland in the US cables disclosed by Wikileaks, I did some searching about. So far (at the secondary level), The Guardian has detailed some of the conclusions about Gordon Brown's near-imminent demise as Labour leader and thus as Prime Minister in 2008. This rubbishing followed the defeat of the Labour candidate (can't remember who) at the Glasgow East by-election in July of that year. There's lots of detail which (frankly) anyone could have got from watching the telly at the time, and includes the fact that the defeat was by the Scottish National Party (correct spelling). But no mention of the actual victor, erstwhile MP (and perennial nationalist icon) John Mason in any of the text that I read. Disappointing. Now I'll have to read the original stuff myself to see what the State Department really feels about the SNP.

Wikileaks - Amateurs & Professionals

2010-12-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

Having signed the Official Secrets Act three times (as a student postie) I’m still constantly amazed that staff in professional positions feel they can casually break their employers’ trust (we’re nowhere near being the Third Reich after all). But, it’s a real world and it just takes one ne’er-do-well to want to make a quick fifty or even secretly feel that they changed the world. And the genie is, of course, technically out of the box – as pointed out by Eric Joyce in his latest posting.

It was also interesting to hear on last week’s BBC podcast Pienaar's Politics (Nov 28) that most post-FoI Washington movers don’t do anything off-the-record on paper any more (let alone in electronic form) and they exist is a world of “yellow stickies” (I think he meant Post-It notes) where all communication and commentary are in an instantly digestible, instantly disposable form. The future of diplomacy may still be bright, especially if that color is yellow.

Miami Dice

2010-11-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Parliament don't often make me feel I need to go out of my way to post on anything they've said. However, today's presentation of a 'show-and-tell' conference poster at First Minister's Questions seemed, laughably, necessary to convince us that Miami (which I read about once as being in Florida) is beside the sea. And sometimes the sea has pleasant beaches beside it. An astonishing tour-de-force of geographic exigy was required by Tavish Scott in order to confirm these (naively obvious) assumptions, by flourishing - holds breath a dangerous amount of time - a picture of a palm tree. The valid requirement for NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to be on top of its outgoing funds was of course lost (since Nicola Sturgeon had already warned NES to be mindful of such matters) in a thin attempt to nail a thin laugh.

The Law is no Wool-Hass

2010-11-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

Phil Woolas is rightly suspended for what has been adjudged to be untruths and wilful untruths in his General Election literature. There has been some bluster in the press and on t'telly over the law being nearly a hundred years old (including in the 'scab' edition yesterday of my normal fave BBC Daily Politics). But no-one minded when Blair was being questioned over so-called 'Cash-for-Honours' claims under a ninety-year-old law.

The line of taste and decency has been approached (and, in my opinion crossed) on many occasions in local election literature/media. And the line is verbally crossed many times on the doorstep. On this occasion, the candidate and his team stepped over the mark - presumably desperate to win whatever the consequences, then decided to have those consequences set-aside too.

Labour have decided that they can win this seat fair and square at the re-run of the General Election poll (not technically a by-election). And that seems a good bet, since the LibDem polling has bottomed out recently and there will be no incentive to collectively support the Tories already in power. (How often do you get to vote based on already knowing the national result?) But Labour risk losing this Golden Ticket if they persist with Woolas as candidate or appear to support his arrogance, so they have dropped him like a white-hot potato, hoping that he may ultimately bow out of the race. (The Lords for Woolas? After a 'decent' period of time?)

I noticed some desperate discourse from established figures comparing this case to the Fiona James situation following the Newham result in 1997. After well-documented expenses issues, the General Election poll was re-run in 1999 (yes, two years later) and allowed James to re-run as candidate. This is a whole different ball-game. Voters want stability, not 'novelty acts', and need good-quality representation straight away, not vanity projects. I suggest this will all be over soon...

Iain Gray First Minister - Discuss

2010-10-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

I was commenting on Jeff's latest poll commentary this morning about what will happen at next year's Holyrood Election. There was some great analysis of the firmness of voting trends among SNP and Labour voters, and some pretty stern conclusions (particularly for Tories and LibDems - surprise). But I disagree that Labour's leader in Scotland will count against them. I’ve been saying for a while that ‘Iain Gray for First Minister’ is unlikely to be a lead strategy for Labour. He’s a great guy and a top Scot, but he falls into the ‘we live to oppose’ mould of Labour politiicans. That said, I don’t think he will lose them a single seat, and we should remember that the Alex Salmond "sparkle" bucks the trend for Scottish First Ministers. Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell were all workmanlike and practical, and that also appeals to Scotland’s voters.

Of course, I’m all for Alex leading us into a second term. Along with John Swinney’s near-magical skills at Finance and Nicola’s generally safe-hands, it wil be exactly the right team for the current economic and political climate. Unfortunately, it would just take a little flex of the Labour jerky knee to switch the one MSP deficit the other way. However, if the SNP learn the lessons of the Glenrothes by-election (*everything* is local), the battle is very much there to be won.

SNP List Candidates Ranking

2010-09-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

SNP Headquarters have published the results of the Holyrood list candidates ranking ballot. Despite the lack of interest some colleagues have shown, these lists should never be taken for granted and there are a few anomalies. There are, of course, the top spots for those who have already shown a track record in an elected role.

Anne McLaughlin (ranked an unpromising 8th on the Glasgow list) looks unlikely to be rewarded for her ongoing hard work for the people of Glasgow. Anne took over at short notice after the sad death of Bashir Ahmad in 2009 and has worked tirelessly on many local issues as well as the higher profile case of Precious Mhango and her mother. In my own personal opinion, that is a shame.

South to Lanarkshire

2010-09-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

I was intrigued by an article by Jonathan Mitchell QC (clever chap) which popped up in my email this morning. This very scholarly but readable work explains the lack of legal basis for a local authority to threaten a libel action. As long as an individual isn't libelled it's hard to imagine what the fear might be. It’s also hard to believe that an already cash-strapped local authority might spend its own tax-payers money on this. I can see the spoof article in Private Eye now: ‘Politicians Not Belived’. We saw similar behavior (first-resorting to lawyers) when Steven Purcell ‘resigned’ from his post at Glasgow City. It’s difficult enough to get people to walk the hundred metres to their own community council meetings without them facing lawyers when they turn up. An actual blow to grassroots democracy.

Basic Arithmetic

2010-09-02T03:59:00.000-07:00

I was just reading that a significant percentage of Scottish schools are half empty. This is indeed a concern. Schools should be busy and energetic and there is no excuse (and in particular no money) for ranks of empty classrooms. However, this relates to certain areas of a small number of local authorities. It should not be a wholesale excuse to close down buildings for the eight in nine schools which are presumably at or near comfortable capacity. And rural schools in particular should be receiving more funding (or a better share of dwindling funds) rather than more uncertainty. One of the reasons why cities like Glasgow have lots of - shall we say - half-empty schools is that population density has shifted but there are still significant numbers of children ready to attend any given local school.

It still might be efficient to run a big building with a middle level of teachers, but I suspect the siren-song of development land rings loud in many a cash-strapped area. If there is a real significance to a school roll being below a threshold level, then the solution might be more schools but smaller schools rebuilt in efficient bundles. Then a modern, easy to run building might occupy the same locale but free up some of its former bulk for a lesser cash-injection. Then I might be persuaded to allow demolition of my beloved Victorian schools and their character-building stair-cases.

Blair Faced Cheek

2010-09-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

I only have one comment among all the flurry of 'Journey' activity. Tony Blair credits Gordon Brown with losing the General Election earlier this year. But under Brown, Labour increased its votes in Scotland and secured all the MPs they could have hoped for in Scotland. Possibly, under Blair, this would have been less of a triumph, and - combined with lossses in other 'traditional' Labour areas of England and Wales - would probably have seen the same outcome. A plague on both their houses (metaphorically).

Lords of All

2010-08-27T06:09:00.001-07:00

That roll-call of retiring Labour warriors in full (roll drums) :

Baron Watson of Invergowrie
Baron Maxton of Blackwaterfoot
Baron Hogg of Cumbernauld
Baron Macdonald of Tradeston
Baron Elder
Baron Robertson of Port Ellen
Baron Fyfe of Fairfield
Baron O'Neill of Clackmannan
Baron Foulkes of Cumnock
Baroness Clark of Calton
Baron Moonie
Baroness Adams of Craigielea
Baron Martin of Springburn
Baron McFall of Alcluith
Baron McAvoy
Baron McConnnell of Glenscorrodale
Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke
Baron Reid of Cardowan
Baron Browne of Ladyton

Paisley's Finest

2010-08-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of the 'local candidate for local people' mentality which Scottish Labour seem to hammer on about (when it suits). It allows for someone with no actual skills to claim a massively heavy CV. Once you get two streets away from where I live, how can you say you really know my local area? And if you claim you know my local issues because you "also have a wheelie-bin", you inadvertantly make the case for 'good' over 'adjacent'. But... in the case of George Adam, a Paisley SNP councillor, who hopes to move on to Holyrood at next year's election, I can make an exception. George knows all the local issues (by which I mean all) and has a good numerical chance based on good previous polling. So his local credentials in this case should prove a help. Good luck.

Lords A'Leapin'...

2010-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Personality aside, it's good to see that Lord Foulkes of Lothians List is leaving the Scottish Parliament at next year's Holyrood elections (whenever they are held?!). I'm not being mean about this, but it is just a bit galling to see those who are otherwise occupied with quite important (and well-paid) national roles dabble in the also-quite-serious business of running our country too. It's ironic to think of the un-balanced pressure exerted over the past few years on councillors (mainly SNP) who had been fortunate enough to gain a dual Holyrood-Town Hall mandate at the combined 2007 elections, and yet those with a complete geographic mismatch are portrayed as steadfast, solid and reliable.

After Alex Salmond's wholly sensible decision to stand down as a Westminster MP at the UK election, I thought everything would have been neat and tidy on that front too, but Labour's Cathy Jamieson and Margaret Curran each showed that common-sense is still no barrier to high office. On one last point, I should point out that Jack McConnell is an honorable man and I fully expect him to follow the same path as George Foulkes. (Demand would be such a strong word.)

Quantum of Sense

2010-07-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

I welcome the decision on Monday to allow for island constituencies in the Nick Clegg's grand review of UK representation. This is a wise (and non-partisan) decision that residents of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles will welcome.

What I do worry about though is that Scotland's overall representation will be squeezed even further. In 2005 we lost 13 representatives as the number of seats tumbled to 59. A further UK-wide review, having given this 'concession' on island seats, may be less generous on numbers and cut the arithmetical numbers to a purely proportionate 40 or 44 (based solely on number of voters). This would be a fallacy - and a folly - creating even bigger geographical spaces to cover (although not particularly for Labour MPs) for hyper-accountable members. Liberal Democrats of all locales may have something to say about that.

I also worry that larger AV(+) constituencies would consolidate areas where strong voting patterns already occur and effectively lock-up Scottish representation in a constant stalemate. Where fewer changes are possible, voter interest dwindles, so this may have the opposite consequence of diminishing turnout.

Levels of Importance

2010-07-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

It's a bit frustrating that, after all the time (and money) expended over challenging the great (and game-changing) Leaders Debates before this year's UK General Election, UK issues will be allowed to rain on Scotland's parade. In the run up to the next Holyrood Eelction, we should be having full and generous coverage of Scottish issues, matters and personalities (including a nice dose of SNP-dom). But - no - along comes the proposed AV referendum to make sure that the whole period will be covered by a Westminster issue with the so-called 'major' parties squawking away on national telly at all times of day or night.

I can firmly predict that Labour in Scotland will relax lazily into allowing the Holyrood election to morph into a Tory v Labour battle in the hope of a knee-jerk consolidating vote (as happened in May) that could just swing the extra seat they need to make their own wild claim about winning the poll. This narrowing and polarizing of the debate should not be allowed.

Holyrood Heat

2010-07-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

I made sense of the Holyrood mix-ups on Thursday by reading Brian taylor's post over at the Beeb. THe process seems to have been reminiscent of those late evenings I used to spend watching the Lords on the telly when someone would drone out an immense list of amendments by number alone and fully expect no-one to make any squeak or objection to the material thus over-passed. Holyrood was set up with its own idea of new politics (small letters) with petitions, scrutiny etc. done in sensible time and generous order. This parliament has seen very little by way of detailed legislation passed over the past three years and it seems just clumsy to push so much important detail thru at one bite. Let's hope that carelessness does not allow Scotland's fine (and still shiny) Parliament to fall into the much-jaded Way of Westminster.

At last - council houses

2010-07-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

Alex Salmond has announced a nation-wide scheme to encourage council-built new homes. This is a significant step away from the mere principle of provision of social housing and builds on Nicola Sturgeon's announcement last year about the winding up of Thatcher's right-to-buy which had so devastated Scotland's social housing stock. It is to be hoped that this handful of a thousand houses (each a new family home, of course) is only the start of something big.

Single School Sure

2010-06-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

I spotted this headline posted behind an evening newspaper stall in Glasgow. Looks shocking and breathtaking. If you read the article you find that a local authority (East Ayrshire; run by the SNP) has decided to close a school building because it is dangerous. This is in contrast to the oft-used excuse of Labour in Glasgow that a school should be closed because it is 'draughty' or 'looks a bit old'.
We also go down a tricky path if we shackle together local authority decisions with central government policies. After all, local government is elected to reflect local attitudes and interests, not to be a numb distributor of centralized wisdom.

Much Ado About Noting

2010-06-17T05:29:00.000-07:00

As a wee lad I went on a school trip to a theater in Edinburgh. It was explained that the title of Shakespeare's comedy of manners included a joke. 'Nothing' would have been pronounced in a similar way to the word 'noting', a then-euphemism for the polite observation of the opposite sex. I suggest that Piegate Frank who was previously found out for what he did not say ("I was having lunch"), has now been found out for what he did say. But his 'noting' is not 'nothing' since he was occupied at the time in chairing a meeting at the Scottish Parliament.

It is notable that calls for Frank McAveety to resign came from individuals in the SNP and not from the Party itself. And it is hard not to think of the veritable torrent of ardour that fell upon Glasgow North East by-election candidate David Kerr (who once made a friendly joke about a rival university). But this kind of non-political clamoring would serve no-one any good. Frank, of course, will have to account for himself by the usual channels when it comes to family and faith, but there is no earthly law (or code-of-conduct) that condemns him.

This was a daft comment to make in a public place, in a public role, but it was nowhere near a criminal act. By standing down from his public role, it should be accepted that this matter is over.

Barcelona to Ban Face Veils

2010-06-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

I was directed from Twitter to an article on Al-Jazeera about another European authority, this time in Spain, taking upon itself to ban an Islamic women's right to protect her own modesty. This sort of story is cropping up more frequently now.

I always look at it in a similar way. What is the definition of a niqab, and why is that singled out? If a man tells his wife to wear a veil made of some material they bought at Marks & Spencer that still falls into the category of demaning if some coercion is involved. It doesn't even matter what their religion is. Surely it's perfectly possible for a single woman to want to show dedication to a faith in her own way. Why is that threatening? In many Christian traditions, it's common for a woman to wear a headscarf (sometimes outside of a church building), but this is not considered a threat to world order. We certainly don't ban nuns from professing faith thru clothes. Not yet anyway...

The Case for The Immoral Strike

2010-05-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

I had a discussion earlier today about the BA strike. It was put to me that British Airways cabin staff should be grateful they're not fighting in Afghanistan and having to worry about adequate body-armor rather than arguing against rough toilet paper. This kind of ultimate trump is anathema to good debate about the rights and wrongs of workplace conditions, and shouldn't really be allowed. The right to strike is the right to strike and, even when a union's membership collectively endorses industrial action, the actual decision to withdraw labor (and the financial consequences thereof) is always that of the individual employee or worker.

Certainly there's no comparison in the quality of work environment between JFK and Helmand, but that really means no-one should really ever consider going on strike or asking for a pay-rise (or paper towels in the office toilets, or toner in the printer). We get on with making our little patch better - and gratefully say thanks to our lads and lasses fighting overseas at the same time. I don't disagree with a sobering comparison being drawn (and maybe we should all complain less), I just don't think you can put it that way.

It's not terrible to make the contrast, but it starts to make a very pious case for what I call The Immoral Strike which would alarm me. Is a dispute only valid if it is about money, and where would you draw the line? Some people would fight for every penny; some for every pound. Is a dispute immoral if it only seeks a minor improvement in conditions? Surely preserving at least the status quo would be a noble enough struggle for many workers these days? If the right to strike is accepted (and not everyone accepts the principle), it should be respected as a hard-come-by last resort. If it's not accepted in principle, then I humbly suggest no-one's proposing an argument.

Gordon Matheson - The New Mr Glasgow

2010-05-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've been looking around for some commentary on Glasgow City's new council leader, Gordon Matheson. I stumbled across a ready-made and astonishingly candid piece by Alan Clayton who contributes heavily to the Mediawatch 2010 news digest. I'm pleased to say that Alan has very graciously allowed me to reproduce the piece written in his own inimitable style:

Gordon is a Portonian. To understand him you have to understand that. He spent much of his youth on a high and windy housing estate called Devol, above Port Glasgow. His was a committed Catholic family of the kind who have Labour in their DNA. I was one of his guidance teachers for around a year in St Stephen's High School in Port Glasgow, while he was in S6. In almost all respects he was an ideal pupil. At that time the Headteacher of St Stephen's was the diminutive but dynamic and charismatic Jim McVittie. McVittie had a huge influence on both staff and pupils. He left at around the same time as Gordon and went on to start up the newly built St. Ninian's High School in Eastwood. St Ninian's is still regarded today as the Jewel in the Crown of Scottish education.

Gordon's two bosom pals at school, if the pun can be pardoned, were two S6 girls called Jackie and Marie. That is their real names. I will not include a surname, but I understand both are now,almost inevitably for able young people in Unionist Scotland, economic refugees in England. There was never any sexual content whatsoever in Gordon's close and significant friendship with them. Later I understood why. I grew quite close to the three of them. They were really terrific kids. Jackie had a budding same sex attraction, which she used to talk to me quite a lot about.

In west of Scotland male fashion I tried to do something about it. West of Scotland males then, and I suspect still, found female homosexuality much easier to deal with. I arranged a date with Jackie with a young friend of mine, who was struggling with his relationships with women. It was a disaster and I learned to keep my nose out of other people's personal business. I had not told my young friend about Jackie's sexuality (she asked me not to). He left the brief encounter more than ever convinced that women just did not feel attracted to him. He got over it though and is today happily married with a family and still active in the SNP.

My compelling memory of Gordon from those years in the early eighties was his politeness and gentleness. I never ever heard a remotely 'sweary' word from him. If there was a compelling fault about Gordon it was what seemed to be a chronic inability to be on time for anything. I recall 'having a word' with him once about his late (very late) arrival at school one morning. He said it was because he had re-ironed his shirt as he did not want to let St Stephen's down by 'coming through the streets like a scuffbag'. I believed him. It was the kind of loyalty and commitment which McVitte inspired.

He and the girls were still very much adolescents though,with a fair strain of adolescent tearaway about them. They came on a school trip to Aviemore with me once. When Jackie got off the bus on the return journey she offered a two- fingered benediction to a very strict female teacher who had been on her top over the weekend. There were consequences for both of us on Monday morning, as the teacher went to McVittie about it. Jackie and I had a good old blether later about the relationship between actions and consequences. It is something adolescents still find difficult.

Gordon was totally committed to studying to be a priest after he left school. Regular attendance at Mass and Holy Communion were very much part of his life,as it still is about much of working class Port Glasgow and Greenock ,even today.He was advised by the seminary to take a 'year out' in a job. This he did. He worked in the local branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. After a few weeks the manager called Gordon in to his office for a chat. The chat was not about poor work and certainly not about defalcations. Gordon had been inviting the staff to join him in a short prayer each morning. Unsurprisingly, the manager thought this inappropriate behaviour and asked him to stop the practice.

Gordon moved on to media related work.One of my most compelling memories of him over those years occurred while I was attending a large anti- poll tax meeting in Glasgow. He got up to speak and introduced himself as secretary of the Glasgow gay association, I think the title was. The information had no immediate relevance in the context of the meeting. I was stunned. Here was this exceptional young man proclaiming this secular commitment as he had once proclaimed the gospel.

Shortly after that Gordon was involved in a political row with Bashir Ahmad over St Albert's Primary School in Pollokshields. Athough a Catholic school, the majority of kids at St Albert's are Moslem. Most Moslem parents much prefer a Catholic school to a non-denominational one, where secularism reigns. In St Albert's at least the Abrahamic faith is shared and taught. However, most parents had not bothered to request that their children did not attend school Masses. Bashir set out to remedy this situation. Gordon accused him in public of rudely interrupting Mass and taking the Moslem kids out during the service. Those of us who knew Bashir knew that in a million years he would never have done such a thing. I suspected the Labour disease was already getting to Gordon.

Gordon's full-time job was media related and I bumped into him during several SNP conferences. We had many a humorous chat about Jackie and Marie and about old times. One conference in particular sticks out in my memory. It was the Dundee spring conference of three or four years ago. It was Palm Sunday. I took a notion at the end of the service to take several Palm Crosses back to the conference to offer to friends. All were gratefully received,particularly by YSN members. I offered one to Gordon while he was sitting chatting to someone. He interrupted the conversation and with a voice almost choking with sincerity he said, 'thanks Alan'.

I suppose I should wish Gordon well in his new job. To keep the fractious and factious Glasgow Labour Party together will not be easy. He still retains that natural ease, infectious charm and respect for others that originates from his Portonian Catholicism. It should see him through. He will know what I mean when I say that I hope it does not.

Alan Clayton

Sensible Hashtags

2010-05-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here's my own official list of hashtags for all the Scottish constituencies. I've based it on the politicalbetting.com UK list which Tom Harris tipped me off about. I disagreed in a couple of places.

First, it seems ridiculous to truncate Dunbartonshire to Dunbar since Dunbar itself is in East Lothian on the other side of the country. Any sensible fool would know that "Dunbs." is a perfectly intelligible abbreviation used by the local council etc. so I've gone with #edunbs and #wdunbs (both of which I've had occasion to use).

The other - more personal choice is for the Gaelic form of the Western Isles name to be rendered correctly and consistently. Poor politicalbetting.com has compressed Na H Eileanan An and "Lar" into NHEALAR which - coincidentally - made me shour "Nhealarr!" at the screen. 'Na' is 'The' which we don't use if we're trying to save characters; 'H' is a breathing device and I've discarded;' Eileanan' is 'Islands' which is good; 'An' is another form of 'The' which - again - I've disregarded; and "Lar" is an error and should be "Iar" for 'of the West', so I've rendered this to 'I' and corresponds to the use of 'W' for 'West' in other parts of the UK. So #EileananI is my own exclusive, official and totally correct hashtag (which I doubt anyone else will be using).

CONSTITUENCY HASHTAG
Aberdeen North #AbdnN
Aberdeen South #AbdnS
Airdrie & Shotts #Airdrie
Angus #Angus
Argyll & Bute #Argyll
Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock #AyrCC
Banff & Buchan #Banff
Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk #BRS
Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross #CSER
Central Ayrshire #CAyrshire
Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill #CCB
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East #CKKE
Dumfries & Galloway #Dumfries
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale #DCT
Dundee East #DundeeE
Dundee West #DundeeW
Dunfermline & West Fife #Dunferm
East Dunbartonshire #EDunbs
East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow #EKSL
East Lothian #ELothian
East Renfrewshire #ERenfrew
Edinburgh East #EdinE
Edinburgh North & Leith #EdinNL
Edinburgh South #EdinS
Edinburgh South West #EdinSW
Edinburgh West #EdinW
Falkirk #Falkirk
Glasgow Central #GlasgowC
Glasgow East #GlasgowE
Glasgow North #GlasgowN
Glasgow North East #GlasgowNE
Glasgow North West #GlasgowNW
Glasgow South #GlasgowS
Glasgow South West #GlasgowSW
Glenrothes #Glenrothes
Gordon #Gordon
Inverclyde #Inverclyde
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey #INBS
Kilmarnock & Loudoun #Kilmarnock
Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath #Kirkcaldy
Lanark & Hamilton East #LHE
Linlithgow & East Falkirk #LEF
Livingston #Livingston
Midlothian #Midlothian
Moray #Moray
Motherwell & Wishaw #Motherwell
Na h-Eileanan An Iar (Western Isles) #EileananI
North Ayrshire & Arran #NAyrsh
North East Fife #NEFife
Ochil & South Perthshire #OSP
Orkney & Shetland #OrkneyShet
Paisley & Renfrewshire North #PaisleyRN
Paisley & Renfrewshire South #PaisleyRS
Perth & North Perthshire #PerthNP
Ross, Skye & Lochaber #RSL
Rutherglen & Hamilton West #RHW
Stirling #Stirling
West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine #WAK
West Dunbartonshire #WDunbs

Election Trail

2010-05-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

So much to say on the activity front (admittedly mostly about lampposts), but felt this picture warranted a free minute of my time.

Thanks for a Pound

2010-04-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

The notice sent out earlier today to those who donated even a pound (I should know) to the SNP's fighting fund to challenge the BBC debate legal challenge:

Thank you for your donation to our BBC Legal challenge appeal.

It was imperative to find new income to fund the legal challenge to the BBC stance on the Leaders' debates as the Party had no other way of funding such a challenge so close to polling day.

However, once again our members and supporters have come up with the goods.

By early this afternoon the fund stood at a remarkable £46,087.51 (with money still coming in through both the website and over the phones) and so senior members of the Party have been able to sit down with our legal team and plan for tomorrow's challenge. By 4.40pm we had reached our target - £50,000 in only 31 hours!

We have argued from the start, that while we want the debates to proceed they must be fair and must ensure that all the options facing the Scottish people are set out before them.

It is important that we win this argument, not only for this election but for all future contests. It is imperative that in future a better balance is found to make sure that we are included and not squeezed out, as we have been in this campaign.

We now await the decision from the Court of Session. However we have shown that we will not lie back and meekly accept to be sidelined onsuch an important issue. The Scottish people through backing our appealhave also shown that they will also fight for what is fair.

Again my thanks for your generosity and support.

Regards Jim

--

Jim Henderson
Party Fundraiser
Scottish National Party

Cable Grilled by Neil on t' Telly

2010-04-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

Source: BBC via Guy News and @torybear. All copyright acknowledged.

Not Quite the Bain of My Life...

2010-04-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

I just had to scoff (in a Beano-comic kind of way) when I caught sight last night of this tweet by Willie Bain, the honorable member for Glasgow North East. Contrast the saccharin pomposity of the man who claimed handsomely that he was 'not a politician', who has been at the House of Commons for all of - 1,2,3,4... - five minutes with the genuine experience and weight of someone like Tom Harris who in a few words gave us a nicely empathetic sweep of a 'l-o-n-g' five years at Westminster.

Not a lot to say about this. But: You're 'avin' a larf...

Mortality Catches Up With Us All...

2010-04-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

I observed last night that Glasgow Labour MSP Paul Martin had finally got round to opening an office in his Springburn constituency. Although this part of notional 'Springburn' is in Dennistoun it's a welcome sign and an obvious sign that scrutiny has caught up with even the Martins of Springburn.

Michael Martin (former Labour MP, former Speaker of the House of Commons) famously had no constituency office in Springburn for many years and his long-time-coming successor - Willie "William" Bain - has not taken the time to do so in his self-defined short-tenure.

But Michael's son Paul (for it is he) has looked to the future (or at least the forthcoming election) and decided to remind us of his presence not only in the debating chamber of the Parliament building (where he is definitely visible), but also in the constituency which has returned him as its representative for some eleven years (where he has been less visible).

The First Casualty of Politics is...

2010-04-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Although some of the details emerged 'in profile', I read much of the detail of Stuart MacLennan's dumping by Labour at MSN. The script was fairly predictable and tediously prosaic. A handful of comments out of a thousand were taken as sole proof and damning evidence of his lack of credibility to be a candidate in a seat he was unlikely to win. I wonder if the champing researchers took the time to build the picture of the hundreds of other comments building a more rounded and - gasp - human character.

I coincidentally read a bit more comment on Peat Worrier about the continuing tendency to comb thru any thing that a candidate might ever have said (in whatever circumstances). The tree is shaken and journalists, commentators, etc. wait to see if anyone falls out. I probably tend toward the consensus at LPW, but observe that one can hardly be considered visionary and forward-thinking when one casually looses off "Famous Person 1 is x" in a public forum. That's quite categorical and not eloquent. (I would cite Wardog ibid. in support of elegant, artful and sustained profanity.) To be clear, I wouldn't expect more oblique profanity ("I am flipping frustrated by this guy") to deserve anything more than a passing note.

Peersonally, I would have urged Stuart to stand before the people of Moray and let them judge him (I'm sure it would have been a favorable judgment), but the Centrist parties don't yet get the 'honesty' thing.

Iraq Elections

2010-03-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

In response to Eric Joyce's posting on the Iraq elections, I made some comments that exceeded four words in length. As they're my words I thought I'd collate them with my other posts with sensible edits:

It's nice to get an ‘in country’ perspective of the elections. With a crowded news agenda it is too easy to squeeze these quite important events into the 'bomb blast' or 'purple finger' format. Of course, to be positive, ‘we start from here’ which must be a given and is a lot more practical and digestible than the line of "justified means" which is repeated to excuse more basic flaws in planning, truth and motive.

That does make the point, though, that there are too many overlapping issues when you bundle Iraq, Afghanistan, Blair, Brown, military spending, soldiers kit all together (none of them are related all at the same time). It is difficult to make a hit (if you’re interested in scoring points – which I am occasionally) or to make rational progress (which fills the rest of my time) when these are lumped in a heap and somehow present as evidence of failure.

My personal opinon is also that the Chilcott Inquiry is an interesting distraction, but it’s time is wrong and is ill-focussed. Everyone gets their say, but everyone gets their say. So-called war crimes (and I use the word myself) are supra-national now, but military spends can surely be the subject of legitimate policy discussion in the lead-up to a UK General Election..?

Who'd Have Thought..?

2010-03-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the truth hurts. But on other occasions it's just plain ordinary. Stephen Purcell has resigned as leader of the Labour group on Glasgow City Council and as leader of the Council itself. Much will be made of his abrupt decision and much will be inferred. As I myself posited earlier today, was this a "David Marshall" moment where illness catches one an instant quicker than the fingers of the Law?

After extensive interrogation of my substantial sources within the City chambers, it's quite clear that the truth is wearing prosaic garb today. Stephen Purcell is not well (and who would desire a tenth of his now former workload?), end of story. Stress may not have been diagnosed (that I don't know), but it can become pretty apparent to even 'the best of us' that what one has desired to take on has overwhelmed one's capacity to handle it.

My prescription is an extended golfing holiday (Ireland is nice) and plenty of fluids. My mean side, though, is still counting the hours until some enterprising Labour press release writer is relating Purcell's perfectly-legitimate demise to the privations of the Scottish budget.

Sleeping Dogs Should Lie

2010-02-25T04:14:00.000-08:00

I couldn't find a release on the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner site, but I'm glad to hear from Holyrood magazine that Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and his Deputy Nicola Sturgeon have been cleared. Because of (perhaps) more news-worthy stories this has not been highlighted as much as I would have expected in the usual outlets. At least finish the story off at the same volume at which it was trumpeted in previous weeks.
It's quite clear from Stuart Allan's letter to the FM that to pursue this would be nothing more than vexatious. Despite that I read in this morning's Metro on the bus (print only) that Labour are still in a froth about "access" as this is the only angle that sounds halfway credible when they repeat it to themselves. Labour's own spokesman acknowledges no rules were broken. So, what are they still fretting about..? (Game Over)

A Culture of Entitlement vs. A Culture of Complacency

2010-02-17T04:31:00.000-08:00

The big proper story of the week (one that involves real sums of dispensed money) is the surprising travel regimen of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) officials. Councillor Alistair Watson resigned from his duties as SPT chair at the start of this week, clearly exhausted from a world travel itinerary that utilized almost none of the services he is charged with providing. Further revelations today (all with properly attested numbers) are rightly described on heraldscotland as "a culture of entitlement" which - being perfectly legitimate - has distasteful echoes of the Westminster expenses scandal where 'within the rules' was enough to be considered morally acceptable.

It is, however, important for the SNP (or indeed any commentator) not to get too complacent about this. Of course, it is always 'nice' to see a political opponent trip up (there, I admitted it), but scandals about politics have the tendency to foul the air for politics itself. Were the expenses and accounts of the chair/ vice-chair being properly challenged by other parties who have representation on the SPT board? I do often laugh at the impossibly contradictory forces which afflict foreign trips (whether it is the BBC sending four thousand journalists to the Beijing Olympics; or Alex Salmond sending... himself to the Seychelles). When a trimmed-down team makes most of the trips, the expenses end up being proportionately higher per head, and when one or two individuals (naturally the chair / vice-chair) make all the foreign trips all the expenses fall upon their head. This kind of networking has been going on forever and the benefits to the town / city / organization being represented must always be assessed (even if that is not in direct dollars of return on investment). The obvious answer is to take the 'invite only' route where SPT reps visit foreign climes at the invitation of interested parties. We then are presented with underwriting the value - or not - of inviting equivalent public transport chiefs from - say - Switzerland to sit on the Subway for 30 minutes. But, of course, without looking, that sort of thing may already also be going on with little challenge.

Also, some councillors have pointed out that they never use taxis (let alone claim for them), to which I say 'bully for you'. This kind of absolutism can work for some, but it puts too much sideways pressure on colleagues (of all parties) who can have legitimate appointments at disparate surgeries, community groups, and in the debating chamber within very short spaces of time. Taxis at least give receipts for specified trips and these can all be verified. Petrol receipts are bad news and most businesses will not touch them nowadays, insisting on (still-generous) mileage rates for door-to-door trips. But council work is not all done in the City Chambers and that needs to be accepted within some pretty honest limits.

John Law and an Age of Experience

2010-02-16T01:08:00.000-08:00

I heard thru twitter on Sunday evening that veteran SNP councillor John Law had died. He will be sadly missed. Although I did not know John to speak to he was a 'well-kent' face at the Party's Conferences and miriad other events. It is clear from many of the generous and non-formulaic tributes that he was well liked and well-respected.

John Law was from that clan of elected representatives who were the heart of the SNP for decades when we had very few Members of Parliament and of course no MSPs. It is also easy to forget, being a native of Glasgow, that the SNP have been running administrations across Scotland for years successfully, building-in valuable confidence from the electorate as well as ingraining experience.

One of our great strengths is the constant enthusiasm of generation after generation of young Scots for the idea of Independence and the many who go on to put that into practice, especially in the thankless and un-ending role as councillor. But this occasion is one to celebrate the patience and sometimes unremarked dedication of longstanding representatives.

FMQs - February 11th, 2010

2010-02-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

Much can be made, indeed will be made, by Alex Salmond's endorsement of his Deputy Nicola Sturgeon at today's FMQs. Following her perfectly honorable decision to write a letter of (somewhat limited) recommendation for a criminal post-conviction. Of course those words 'absolute obligation' are clipped out by every news outlet (bloggers included) and conveniently allowed to slant in whatever direction they happenstance lie.

My understanding of the words is that the obligation is to serve the interests of constituents (and hence to any individual constituent) over the interests of the member concerned. In other words, if it's the right thing to do then it should be done and the MSP will have to accept the consequences that their role thrusts upon them. It does not mean they are obliged to do everything their constituent demands (I'd have a few suggestions if that was true).

There really is no need for the First Minister not to support his Deputy. She has carried out her duties as DFM par excellence. But even if he did start to have a doubt (from a politics point-of-view), there could still be no varying from support. Nicola and Alex were - it should be remembered - elected to leadership of the SNP on a notionally joint ticket. (Personally I did not like this central conceit, nor did I reward it.) They effectively stood together and would fall together.

Furthermore, it would leave the First Minister too exposed to "reshuffle" or "sideways-promote" Ms Sturgeon at this stage so close to the UK General Election. Her judgement is sound and the attempts of those such as Iain Gray to put this on a par with the genuinely serious crime of knife assault exposes only opportunism in place of solid duty.

Where Are We Heading Here?

2010-02-11T04:01:00.000-08:00

I'm intrigued by the next step in the "crush the SNP in Glasgow Central/Govan" strategy. Nicola Sturgeon writes a letter to comment on a convicted fraudster's character. Suddenly, the heather is alight. Well, not really.

I think the faux outrage of Scottish Labour and Iain Gray *is* wearing a bit thin now and seems to chime far too closely to the front pages of a core of newspapers to be mere coincidence. But we would have to admit that similar concern would be worked up about say a UK Home Secretary writing a conciliatory letter of a similarly dodgy character.

We must also consider that, like most legal stories in the news, we barely know any of the facts of the situation. An MSP in a similar situation might approach this completely professionally and convince the individual concerned that full confession was the best approach for him and his family, and for justice. The promise of a precise letter of consideration might seal the situation. That would be a courageous approach given the probable personal repercussions. And whatever the detail of this case, I am sure it was done correctly.

Nowadays, MSPs are very like councillors in respect of their duties. There's a good discussion around some of this over at Planet Politics. Suffice to say, everything about their conduct is pretty much nailed in place and there is little room for the personal opinion or drive that might have secured an inidividual's election in the first place. It's designed to be bad for lazy individuals, but it's also not good for persuasive individuals who work more instinctively.

I had a thought that maybe a Freedom of Information request to Mr Gray's office would reveal how many such letters he has written in his term as Labour leader? No names need to be revealed of course (although presumably letters to courts become public documents).

I've spotted a bit of a theme developing recently. It fits the Glasgow North East template where the personality is hammered at relentlessly in place of stunning them with convincing policy. Nicola Sturgeon and Osama Saeed can be tied quite easily because of the overlap of the Glasgow Central and Glasgow Govan constituencies. Labour in Scotland were probably hoping to conserve resources in the upcoming UK General Election by relying on the old formula of 'donkey-in-a-red-rosette' in most of their existing heartland. But with proven SNP success in this part of Glasgow they cannot leave any stone unthrown, any kettle unblackened. Someone's running scared.

What's In and What's Out

2010-02-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

It was confirmed this week that the Pope will include Scotland in his UK visit which takes place later this year. Well and good, and to be expected. The Holy Father has made a number of statements about the health of our nation's spirit and personally I can see no reason why he should not attempt to reach those whose remit he covers.
Although from a historically Catholic family, I am not one myself, but this blog will be positively in support of the visit. I tried a search on twitter to find some fellow users who feel the same way. I was prepared to find some lack of interest, but was a little shocked to find a great deal of quite negative interest.
Some protest relates to the mere cost of the visit (and perhaps we have grown tired of hosting endless summits for self-evidently important people who get little done). Others take a vitriolic dislike to the Pope's 'politics' citing his views on marriage and equality. But this is not a crusading or proselytizing sojourn. Benedict XVI has an established constituency of support and individuals should not be prevented from hearing him in person.
Another category is the flash-in-the-pan hate-mob who barely take time to grasp a few facts (or even a few points of punctuation) before loosing off a shot or two on any online forum. This seems extremely distasteful to me. The UK is host to many heads of state, for many reasons - prestige, influence, convenience. A Papal visit can surely not be put on the same level as the revolting visit of George W. Bush to the UK. But - no doubt - more to follow...

Salmond en Croûte

2010-02-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Quite bizarre to see Tuesday's Glasgow Central fundraiser turn into a 'news' story. Candidates of all political parties have been raising funds for years with diverting and clever ideas designed to smooth the passage of spare cash from wallets. Just to keep the pot boiling a bit longer (for this will run out of steam very soon), we have the convenient disclosure of comments from 'a source' close to former First Minister Jack McConnell. This is obviously a bit of a welcome diversion for commentators and politicians who might otherwise be asked about serious and categorical charges of criminal activity by named Labour and Tory parliamentarians.

I received an invitation to said fundraiser a couple of weeks ago and (had I not forgotten) would have had complete access to Alex Salmond, his deputy and the next MP for Glasgow Central for... no money at all. These sorts of occasions are very informal and the secret of influence is personality and presentation (which may, of course, arise from the confidence of cash), but not the vulgar show of mere wealth.

The grand prize, a pie with Mr Salmond in the canteen while all and sundry could overhear, seems almost laughably out of the league of the major UK parties. They have elite groupings and 'meet the PM' breakfasts without any shame. The reason this story will disappear is that the hypocrisy of mainstream UK parties would risk full exposure. Any bids on tempura with a former PPC..?

Scottish Tweetery and the Scottish Tories

2010-01-29T01:32:00.000-08:00

The most-excellent John Fellows has totted up some numbers on Scottish political tweeting and produced a great set of lists of those and such as those (no mention for yours truly then?). As it has been a pain to log in to make further comments on the lists, I've decided to put my own crunching of the numbers here instead.
The Scottish Tories bear further analysis as the ranking of mere followers shows rank but not stature. Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell is (as John points out generally) 'in' but not often 'on'.
Here's a note of the number of tweets from each:
David Mundell MP 105
Alberto Costa 415
Ross Thomson 101
Cameron Rose 622
Richard Cook 172
Alberto Costa (PPC for Angus) should top the list in terms of frequency and currency (he has twigged at least that it is an election year). And it is difficult not to be impressed by the effiency and connectivity of Edinburgh Tory councillor Cameron Rose's output.

The Infinite Doctor Brown

2010-01-20T15:36:00.000-08:00

Gordon Brown has, after a long time, found an identity he can assume at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions. He comes over as confident and indomitable, but it is just that - an assumed identity. The mask slips and slides and it is difficult to predict from one week to the next (sometimes from one question to the next) which James Gordon Brown has turned up.

I had not intended to watch PMQs today, promising to take a nice long teabreak at noon during the BBC's most-excellent "Daily Politics". However, twitter started playing up and old habits die hard. So today, I can agree with many that Brown showed a lot of confidence interspersed with spiky moments of drift.

What annoyed me personally was his sneering and contemptuous reply to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. Clegg's performance is actually quite consistent at PMQs, but his reception is never guaranteed to be good. Clegg put together two quite connected issues (RBS loans to Kraft + RBS being run by 'us') and also had a dig at Lord Mandelson. Quite good politics really; to give voice to - put in words - what the public must instinctively feel a little uneasy about. The good Dr Brown vasillated in a way which is quite frustrating claiming on this occasion that the banks could not be told what to do. No doubt at some appropriate time in the future, Brown will remind us - with no irony - that the banks will do our bidding for us now.

This perhaps illustrates best a general frustration at a Government that claims they cannot foresee big events (true) and they could have made no provision for them (untrue). I share this frustration a little. Covering up a persistent lack of competence is not the same as consistent success.

Republican Does Not (Necessarily) Mean Rude

2010-01-19T04:34:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued by some of the spin and splatter associated with the astonishing news that a Republican did not want to meet a royal. Roseanna Cunningham is one of Scotland's finest politicians and I don't have her down as a hypocrite. Surely in the 21st Century, any vestigial royalty of any country would be grateful that objections are raised in polite (and perhaps culturally amusing) terms and not in the medieval terms of revolution that their forebears would have been subject to.
Royalty and kingdoms is not completely alien to the sense of Scottish nationhood. Robert the Bruce is one totem of the Scottish independence movement who could not be jettisoned rationally. Personally, I see him as a political king, marshalling support and creating cause in the way that current European politicians would recognise.
But freedom for Scotland means freedom for Scots to choose the complexion of their modern nation. If the soon-to-be-independent Scotland thinks collectively that it wishes to present the more-digestible components of its heritage, that would seem only fair. (Many emerging nations have looked to a titular royalty to kick-start their entry on to the world stage.) I will, of course, remain free to espouse a Scottish Republic.

Haiti Earthquake Response - Oxfam

2010-01-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

If you have a PayPal account and want to make a quick donation to relief work in Haiti, you can do this thru Oxfam at http://bit.ly/8GPsmW

Breaking The Ice - FMQs January 07, 2010

2010-01-08T05:14:00.000-08:00

It is generally best to steer away from blaming incumbent authorities for Acts of God lest you tar them with the same brush. The Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray came dangerously close to that yesterday with some grand accusations that came over badly.

Firstly, I do not believe that Alex Salmond or the SNP Government are the cause of the current bad weather. Nor (more seriously) have they handled the situation badly. Given the surprisingly long period of snow and the continued extremes of low temperature it is perhaps commendable that the people of Scotland have proven resilient and gone about their normal business.

It is also worth noting that, in recent times, each winter has only produced about one grand night where it snows. Chaos ensues and the routine of "Why don't we have enough grit?" is followed to the letter. This current period of snowing (over two weeks now to my mind) could thus potentially mean that we require ten times as much resource as we normally provide inadequately for.

Iain Gray made a silly reference to the favorite selective quote of the week where John Swinney observed that some (note 'some', a number less than infinity) paths in his local area were manageable. Indeed, I would like to ask Mr Gray if he has seen a gritted path in the past three weeks? Has he seen any person of any age walking upright in an orderly fashion despite the clear proximity of an insolent form of water? Of course he has. But these commonplace observations are not acts of terrifying complacency; rather they are mere observations.

If you accept that global climate change will be the story of the 21st Century (and I do), then we will have to make more provision for prolonged and more extreme weather events. If you do not accept this and do not wish to put resources (i.e. money) aside for preparing for these long-term problems, then you must be prepared to bite your lip when statistically 'rare' events occur (they will still occur with or without our credulity) and 'emergency'-style activities have to take place.

Now that we have grown tired of endless snowball fights on the lawn and evening cocktails at three in the chilly afternoon, I can certainly agree with the Labour Leader that it is time for the Scottish Government to look forward and issue proper advice to householders. Personally, I don't know if I can use table salt on my path, or garden sand. Am I doing my bit if I put grit on the path outside my house - or should I sprinkle it on the main road instead? Such advice (and we do need to look after wildlife too) is now due.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

2010-01-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

This promises to be an interesting year in UK politics and in Scotland too. There's a lyric in a song by The Rolling Stones (a band who I'm not a big fan of) that goes "You can't always get what you want". With the possibility of an Independence referendum still a distant prospect, the only sure way to leverage Scotland's intersts in the near future is to ensure a controlling hand if a hung parliament occurs, or even when one does not. So, this year, when the time comes, Scotland must ask itself as a social electorate "What do we need?"

A Good Night's Sleep

2009-12-31T06:26:00.000-08:00

Today, it seems, I am mostly commenting on other people's blogs and re-purposing my own material. But such is an honorable (and perfectly legitimate) pastime. Subsequently, the (a)musing Caron Lindsay alerted me to Ross Finnie's call yesterday for sleep clinics.
My kneejerk reaction is to defend what is being done already in the Scottish NHS.
Although I feel a certain amount of wryness in thinking that this is a very 'grown-up' problem to have.

It is very easy for an individual representative to keep themself in the headlines. They pick their own pet health project and rail against 'the injustice'. And there are many, many much higher-profile conditions that could fit this category too. But is it too sanctimonious of me to think that many countries of the world (even in the socalled developed world) would love to have such a problem on their health agenda? And - yes - I get insomnia too.

But, I suppose, when we look at this as an issue of mental health and mental well-being (as it was headlined on some news services yesterday), it does take a more serious edge. The political points scoring is obvious (health targets not met despite - no doubt - a massive surfeit of funding), but since wellness of mind, which affects us individually, has invisible effects on our relations with other people, this is important for any society as a whole. More to come, no doubt. With positive suggestions and no points-scoring this might just be the surprise health success of the year...

Willie Bain MP - Your End of Year Report Card

2009-12-31T05:24:00.000-08:00

After a gruelling and un-necessarily lengthy by-election, Willie Bain was confirmed as the new Member of Parliament for Glasgow North East on the morning of Friday, November 2009.
Perhaps unexpectedly, he has not set the heather alight in his first few weeks. His promises to plough a furrow of his own making (even pledging to disagree with Governement policy if necessary) have not yet borne fruit and - gasp - the shops are not better in Springburn (yet).
His maiden speech (under the assumed name of William) on November 25th was a distinct departure from normal form with its post-byelection electioneering and its pre-general election positioning. His first appearance at PMQs on Wednesday, December 16th was another chance to make a distinctive name as the local representative for his area. But Willie (sorry, William) got the patsy job usually assigned to a middle-bencher of no previous (or future) note, tossing an easy policy question to the PM and tacking on "in my constituents" at the end to appear local. I feel Willie's pain that he was not afforded the opportunity to gift 'the-easy-one' to the current PM and had to settle for the potential next-Leader-of-the-Opposition. But his work was appreciated - surely...

Rank Hypocrisy Marks Start of Total Politics

2009-12-31T05:03:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful for Declan Lyons (a still-likeable Tory) who posted some initial comment (including mine) on this story. Jack Straw very helpfully claims in today's Indy that the Tories are trying to buy the next Election. This presumably is in stark contrast to his incumbent party who are spending like there is no tomorrow (for indeed, for them, there may not be) purely out of the goodness of their own collective 'heart'.

Mr Straw has kept quiet on many things (like Iraq and FoI); perhaps to his credit, perhaps not. But his 'style' was certainly worth noting.

Party differences aside, I have to agree with Declan about the hypocrisy issue. In still recent memory the UK Labour Party had a very successful machine (including Blair and Lord Levy) which elicited much financial support from non-union sources. It is without doubt to me that New Labour would have won their first election in 1997 without much of this largesse and perhaps arguable that they could have won a second. If Labour still had this money rolling in no-one would be mentioning this. (The Tories see it as putting one's money where one's mouth is.) But this is now 'Total' politics and every face has to be slapped, every nose has to be pinched, with no recognition of weakness allowed. The straight face - which Straw has perfected - must stay in place for one last sanctimonious minute.

The year ahead has not even officially started yet, but it looks like it will be a long, long slog. Oh dear.

My Top 5 PMQ Moments

2009-12-18T05:10:00.000-08:00

An interesting question was posed this week by the BBC's most-excellent televisual programme 'The Daily Politics'. I spotted their request on Twitter to send in your Top 5 Prime Minister's Questions of the 'Noughties'. That's the 'decade' 2000-2009 for less trendy people like myself.
My first reaction was that I didn't know if I could get to five, but given that there was at least one other PM in the title role (and four Leaders of the Opposition), surely there must be one or two highlights per head.
So, for what it's worth, here's my duly-tweeted reply (in long form):
5. Purple powder
Wednesday, May 19th, 2004 was the day of the dread 'purple powder' lobbed by a member of Fathers 4 Justice. What a throw! Speaker Martin was calm and professional and suspended the sitting within a few seconds.
4. Brown: We have saved the world
December 10th, 2008 was when we all breathed a sigh of relief as Gordon Brown confirmed that he (with others) had 'saved the world'. Phew. Brown, still in his awkward phase, tried to ignore the slip where many others would have enjoyed the joke, and looked more foolish for it. It still makes me laugh.
3. Cable: Mr Bean
The man who really saved the word also has a penchant for the bon mot (or the belle phrase). LibDem treasury spoke Vince 'The' Cable managed to pin the killer label of all-time on the still-flailing PM. In subsequent weeks he went on to stretch the joke a bit far and became un-funny, but this soundbite lives forever.
2. Hague: None of it wasted
The B Team became more of a feature in Brown's term than it had in previous years (Prescott being particularly un-repentant about his lack of proper answers). Harriet Harman relished the chance to step in to The Big Shoes for the occasional thirty minute session and did not a bad job. Former Leader of the Opposition Anyway, William Hague had nothing to lose or gain from his performance and frequently gave enjoyment with his timing. My own favorite moment on July 9th, 2008, was an off-the-cuff reply to Harman mocking his previous eighteen pints a night claims. Hague had questioned the waste of food in Whitehall departments, but reassured that none of his consumption had been wasted. (Drinking jokes not always my faves, but this was quick; and quick is often great.)
1. Blair: The End
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 was the final turn for Blair as PM (minutes before his trip to the Queen). A practiced and polished performer, Blair's final words about the nobility of politics rang true (of course) but only served to highlight ironically his many failings in that very area. Such was the humility and gravity of the performance that David Cameron waved his own benches to their (clearly reluctant) feet to applaud TB's exit. Possibly not to be repeated for GB..?
The final DP selection was handsomely close to my own. Two quips from the Tory leadership made amusing recollection.

Bearsden South

2009-12-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Ashay Ghai who has stolen the Bearsden South ward from under the nose of the Tories on East Dunbartonshire council.
This was a must-hold seat for the Tories who are in an unholy alliance with Labour to maintain control of the council which also covers areas such as Bishopbriggs, Milngavie and Kirkintilloch. The outgoing Tory councillor Simon Hutchison resigned suddenly and eventually reported that the council duties were conflicting with his job as a solicitor (or vice versa).
The turnout of 36 percent would have been quite good for a parliamentary by-election these days with nearly one thousand direct votes for the SNP candidate. This was a close run thing and SNP activists (including myself) saw this as a genuine possible win. Fiona McLeod was a West of Scotland MSP in the 1999-2003 Scottish Parliament and works tirelessly for the Party (I've seen her virtually in residence at Springburn and Bishopbriggs for parts of this year). She would have made a good councillor for the area in which she lives.
But the struggle in this area now moves on from changing the makeup of the council to changing the direction of the council.

Baroness Ashton - Sketchy Details

2009-11-27T03:21:00.000-08:00

In all the excitement of Tony Blair not becoming President of All Europe, I clean forgot. Who is that Belgian guy? And who is Baroness Ashton? Why; they are now the two most powerful people in Europe. No. But, seriously, who are they?

Baroness Ashton of Upholland (formerly known as Catherine Ashton) is regarded within her current spheres of influence as a bit of a player. But, for her, networking is a more subtle process and she, reportedly, has the quiet skills that would sit well in a strong, diplomatic role. This, then, reflects well on the future shape of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, giving it less of a Foreign Secretary feel and more of a Foreign Fixer touch. (Well, you know what I mean.)

As part of the getting-to-know-you process, Baroness Ashton will speak soon to the Foreign Affairs committee of the European Parliament. This is likely to be an intriguing exchange. I would hope that these two institutions would each see the value of working together. Interestingly, there is talk of investigating her background in early '80s CND (and the convoluted funding of said organization), but there is unlikely to be much by way of fact that will derail her before she gets started. I would need to investigate further what she has said since those days about nuclear weapons, but these are not bad credentials when you are representing all of Europe to some of the firmer advocates of retaining nuclear arms.

One little fact which almost escaped me when briefly reviewing Lady Ashton's (currently thin) entry in Wikipedia is that she won an award as Stonewall Politician of the Year 2006. Again, that's not bad as far as credentials go. So, quick as a flash, I contacted Stonewall who confirmed to me that the award was given for Ashton's steering of the Equality Bill thru the House of Lords (later becoming the Equality Act 2006). They were impressed by her robustness in dealing with some of the more intricate opposition to measures in the bill.

Now, I just have to find out something to say - anything - about the Belgian guy.

Famous Last Words

2009-11-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's a good idea to let ideas settle before you put pen to paper. Not be too hasty. (Alright, I'm a bit late on this one.)

But Glasgow North East... No. Let me finish. Most of us of the non-Unionist persuasion would like to be workmanlike and practical and just move on along. Plenty more work to be done. In retrospect, 'Scottish Labour Win Safe Scottish Labour Seat' is a dull headline, hard won. But any election is there to be won and SNP activists did all they could, right down to the wire.

But - and here's the good bit - Labour in Scotland are what I have always called "sore winners". Not content to fight (badly) and win (adequately), Labour in Springburn have started a disease which is spreading. Willie (I'm not really a politician) Bain pronounced that the adequate result was solely down to Gordon Brown. Pause for gasps, but - what? - no big laugh? This has spread to Scottish Labour in general who are now delirious at being in government again next year. Which will be a big surprise to those who had rather enjoyed battling in GNE as an opposition; just like the good old days.

Wider still Bristol East MP, Kerry McCarthy, took time out of her busy personal schedule to wax lyrical about the historical perspective. She chose quite categorically to contrast GNE with Christchurch in 1993. Where? I hear you say. (It's in Dorset.) Geography aside, this (little remembered) byelection was the first chance to pass a judgment on John Major's Tories after the shock result of the 1992 General Election. It did not prove that a late-in-the-day Government is always punished. It was, for many, the ideal opportunity to make right what had gone 'wrong' a year earlier. In comparison GNE is the last gasp at the dog-end of a tired-out parliament (all-round) and was for most media commentators not a story they could tell. Brown would be PM whatever happened so no constant do-or-die hyping. It does not prove that the very trends of history have been beaten.

So for GNE I will write down the headline as 'a certain amount of business as usual'. End of post. (More GNE in May.)

The Back of Jack..?

2009-11-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

News reached me at Mek Central over the weekend of restlessness in the Jack McConnell camp. Some are speculating that his wish to re-stand at the next Holyrood election bodes ill for Iain Gray.

But JMC is without real deviousness and what history gave with Henry McLeish's resignation, history took with the rare confluence of the words 'Alex', 'Salmond', 'for', 'First' and 'Minister'. JMC would really love to head off to Africa and get his teeth in to some real hard work. But his transposition to Malawi has ben checked by self-interest. Not his own, of course, but that of Gordon Brown.

Until recently fear has gripped the Labour party and they have been frozen by it. A frivolous by-election was the last thing on their mind. But while the fear of defeat still terrifies the Labour Party ranks, the flight has turned to fight and they once again contemplate all weapons in the armoury.

There is idle chatter about JMC challenging Iain Gray for the role of Scottish Labour leader. This is not Jack's style and such a self-ambitious act would undermine any chance of the party regaining control. When would be good? Before a Scottish election? After? There's no correct answer.

McConnell's majority at the last election was solid enough and his personal profile is still such that he is likely to retain it if he stands again in 20011. But, in parallel, I will go so far as to suggest that if Mr McC were to quit this 'much loved' role now or fairly soon (how about May 2010), his successor (as candidate) would have a good chance of retaining the seat, and an equally good chance of hiding a bad result in the general bedlam of a General Election.

But JMC has no role to go to that genuinely befits his credentials and he may have to wait until the hands of time turn slowly to point in his direction again.

A Small Mercie

2009-11-19T15:39:00.000-08:00

There is some practical relief to be had from the news that Tony Blair is not - repeat not - to become Master of the Known Universe or even the tiny subset that only covers the entire continent of Europe. Let's all take a breath and say "Phew!" (or your national language equivalent).
However, just to show how ungrateful I can be, this only goes to show how close such a disastrous situtation came to being a reality. The President of Europe is just not a great job title to begin with. It carries underlying implications of knocking heads together and brushing 'family' squabbles under the carpet, just to please other distant family members from across the sea.
The role could only realistically ever be that of a chair, calling a very large and unruly meeting to order. But the position (and the associated foreign policy role) are still testament to the victory of "those who know better" over "those who would quite like a say, please" and rub our noses in the offensiveness of how governing elites have handled the 'approval' of the European Constitution. If you don't trust me, then have a think... Do I really have to trust you?

The Width of Compassion - 2

2009-11-19T04:36:00.000-08:00

The inestimable Jeff over at Tactical Voting reminds us of a rather unsavory anniversary approaching. It will be three months tomorrow since Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds (namely that he would be dead by tomorrow). I was trying to work out this rather macabre 'anniversary' myself the other day and am still a little confused. (Surely all those medical reports must have been dated a little in advance of Kenny's speech and the crucial date of demise has now passed without any doubt.)

However, there are loads of issues here which all tend to get shouted at once when the news cycle trawls round again. The Vincennes disaster, the Maltese shopkeeper and the presumption that one quote from Jim Swire trumps any two hundred from an American. As I've said before (or really should have), I disagreed completely with the decision to set Megrahi free. But I accept that it was legally/legitimately done by Kenny MacAskill and I will have no truck with those who will scream foul for any reason (medical advice was wrong/medical advice was false/medical advice was not legal/medical advice was not medical/medical advice was not American).

Surely there can be no doubt of the placebo benefits of being released from a confined hostile environment to the comfort of family surroundings? Megrahi (despite genuine medical opinion to the contrary) may live another year for all we know now. But there will be many who (however craftily they pose their questions) will make themselves look foolish by effectively asking: "Well? Why isn't he dead yet?" That misses the point of compassionate release entirely.

Those who would pursue this merely to gain a Scottish minister's scalp have already shot their own fox. This has been the relentless and unimaginative pursuit of, say, Scottish Labour for over two years now. Therefore, this can really only appear to be politically motivated huffing and puffing. Nothing about justice. And certainly nothing about compassion.

Heaven Helps Us All

2009-10-31T05:43:00.000-07:00

It is perhaps encouraging to hear that there is some dissent in the upper ranks of Europe's heads of state over the possible appointment of Tony Blair as President of All Europe. But elected representatives have an annoying and regular habit of - well - not representing the people who vote them in. I think that power not only goes to their heads, but power goes quickly to their heads.
Gordon Brown, who once, and recently it feels, made quite a convincing case of being truthful and honest (at the acceptable expense of other social skills), claims to support wholeheartedly the prospect of Tony Blair becoming President. This barely comes close to credibility. Brown put aside personal ambition for most of ten years to get Labour into power, but grew tired of waiting or perceived a drift of The Deal. He plotted to remove Blair for many years and it can make no sense that he would lobby to reinstate that dynamic.
David Cameron already has a contending powerbase to deal with in Johnson's London and could not be expected to relish creating another competing role. Indeed, far from lobbying for a British lead on this (Ken Clarke anyone?), I would expect Cameron's Conservatives to spike the guns of the biggest europhiles by steering in the chairmanship in the direction of a weaker candidate who could conveniently be ignored with little domestic backlash.
The supreme irony of Blair as a candidate is that he himself (acts of agression aside) chose to ignore the fractured, but considerable opinions of Old Europe when it came to dealing with Hussein's Iraq in 2003. The bare-faced cheek of hearing him bring such disparate points-of-view to order can only lead to anger at many levels and in many places.
The oft-trotted argument of "Who do the Americans go to?" assumes that this is a useful and logical question. The traditional negotiating method for United States governments in the nineteenth century when dealing with, say, disparate native American interests was to identify / appoint a leader or leading group who could give credibility to each of the many treaties agreed and later discarded. Is such a piece of tactical insolence to berepeated with modern European leaders? Certainly if we let it happen it will. And what of the (not-so-future) leader of a devolved (or even - hopefully - independent) Scottish Government? They would, of course, have the experience of working within the UK framework. But that experience would probably suggest that - when it comes to benign decision-making - distance makes the heart grow a little colder.

The Unbearable Lightness of Relevance

2009-10-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

David Cameron classes Alex Salmond as irrelevant to the next General Election. As Mr Salmond will still be leader of the Scottish National Party, this remark hardly stands up to any scrutiny.
Who will provide much of the drive for the SNP during the campaign? Who will be criticized for his character as First Minister of the Scottish Parliament? Whose every word will be analyzed for mis-judgement and miscalculation? No; Alex Salmond will not be an irrelevance.
Will David Cameron (assuming he has some measure of UK success and is not dumped by the Tories) discount himself as irrelevant at the next elections to the Scottish Parliament? I think not; we will probably see much of his face and hear much of his voice. Indeed Cameron has visited the Scottish Parliament building more times than some Labour MSPs. And this always presumes that the next Holyrood elections are to a still-dependent, subservient 'local parish council' parliament...

The Width of Compassion - 1

2009-10-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of humming and hawing last night over the death (or not) of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. (As far as I know he still lives. This has prompted me to get down on the record my opinions on related matters. Sometimes perspectives change and I suspect many views entrenched now will subtlely migrate depending on whether or not the Lockerbie bomber achieves an illegitimate demise within or without the compassionate bounds of Scots Law.
Firstly, so far as published information will allow, it seems clear that Megrahi was not the agent that brought down Pan Am 103 in December 1988. The sum of the evidence oft-quoted in the media is that he, and his accomplice, were not the purchasers of equipment essential to effect the timing of the explosive device that night. Much is made of photos and payments and these create a believable story of innocence with a convincing special defence of alternate motive based around the Vincennes incident.
These presumptions are convincing (and indeed convince me) based on rationale and plausibility. Of course, the history of terror is linear, but not necessarily rational. Perhaps the normally flamboyant gestures of Gaddafi in his days as strutting international showman were briefly muted. Perhaps the downing of Iran Air 655 was only met with fury and not credible revenge. And, of course, I was not at Camp Zeist to hear all the evidence which led to the convication. And, indeed, despite some personal effort, it has been difficult to access or indeed identify the location of detailed transcripts.
But these nuances aside, it is likely to me that Megrahi was innocent. As an agent of Libyan security, Megrahi was probably not an innocent man, but this did not mark him for conviction on any available charge. He was surrenderd for political reasons by his leader, Colonel Gaddafi, who shed few tears after the conviction, but leapt back again into the limelight after Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds. Perhaps as an agent of the state, megrahi saw himself as a soldier and was initially willing to die in captivity to further the Arab Republic. Latterly he has decided (or been advised) to be slective in his protests, dropping his technical appeal of innocence, but publishing online pages of previously unheard defence material. These are calculated steps, and I would use neither in isolation as a basis to prove or disprove guilt. But it is possible to say as dry, indigestible fact that Megrahi was convicted, dropped the legal process to appeal his innocence, and remains guilty even/especially after compassionate release.
If he dies tomorrow, in one month, or in one year, this will remain the documented detail of history. Go figure.

One Side to Another

2009-10-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

Today's Prime Minister's Question Time allowed David Cameron to show his skills as a leader. But this was as Leader of the Opposition. Most recent Tory Party leaders have performed well, but ended badly.
Cameron was sensible enough not to be a dupe to Brown, like so many Labour MPs, by lobbing him an easy question about Mervyn King and the division of the banks. The Prime Minister might have been preparing for such an inquiry, indeed relished the prospect, and will have to be content with rehearsing what would have been killer - yawn - answers in front of the mirror at bedtime.
Cameron tried, ironically for a Conservative, to chime closely with the trade union tune over the ongoing postal dispute. His aim, of course, was to pin the "useles" label squarely onto Brown, as he been doing since the direct-hit with the "bottler" label.
There may be six months, and dozens of PMQs, to go until a UK-wide General Election. This will be a long time to hear the same 'pop' tune played over and over again. So, this prospective First Lord of the Treasury will have to find a stack of other records to put on in the meantime.
If the dread day dawns of another Tory government in London, Mr Cameron will have to change his tune in other ways too. When he is at the other side of the despatch box, it will be he who has to answer the questions. He is a practised debater and may look forward to the challenge ahead (it may be the least of his worries).
I suppose it might be more amusing to speculate who will be putting the questions to him. Because the Labour Party, which tolerated President Blair for electoral victory and crowned Chancellor Brown to remain in power, may be more beligerent with an outgoing and never-elected Prime Minister as their leader.

Failure of Launch

2009-10-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

Labour's launch of their Glasgow North East by-election campaign is - to say the least - weird.
To be fair, they have taken my advice, and got out of the rut of calling everywhere 'Springburn'. This was a clear attempt to trade on the old vision of working-class, heavy industrial Springburn - pure Labour territory. But someone under the age of forty must have pointed out that ye olde industrial Springburn was destroyed long ago by - oops - centralized UK government and visionary Corporation planners (some of whom - oops again - kept the red flag flying in days of yore).
So now, the more satisfied areas of Robroyston and Dennistoun get a look in and the distinctly less satisfied areas of Milton could be persuaded that as a wee lad, Willie Bain looked west over the railway tracks as well as east from his high-rise windows.
The amusing cohort of Gray, Murphy and Bain just don't get it. An election to the Westminster Parliament returns a member representing the interests of a constituency as far as that parliament has influence. So where is the mention of pensions protection, the recovery of the economy, inward investment, perhaps even moral defence? Scottish Labour repeat their campaign agreed in tandem with the Evening Times (often verbatim) about ripped-of Glasgow.
Willie Bain complains of lost jobs and investment because of (of all things) a railway line to Paisley. Where was the investment to come from? Paul Martin (MSP) stands in the shadows having forced thru the lovable Edinburgh trams and nods gravely, "Where did all that money go to?"
Glasgow as a city will always need strong representation (councillors that work together, and with members of all parliaments), perhaps even a separate Minister for Glasgow or a principled municipal mayor (not the grandstanding of Purcell and others). But this old-fashioned "poor us" kind of campaigning shows a defensive - and not a creative - mentality that sits squarely with a party happiest when in opposition. The future's bright...

The Right to Avert Disaster

2009-10-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that the Scottish Government will wind up Margaret Thatcher's totemic right-to-buy policy after thirty years. (Not an announcement; we already knew this was going to happen.) In the 1980s and 1990s, this was the guilty pleasure of the aspiring and working classes, gaining a real piece of thier own estate; a tangible asset as small reward for a life of toil.
But over the decades, as we all know, this became one of the reasons for a real disaster that overcame local government and - indeed - the UK economy. In the 1980s, Scottish Labour, in their impregnable city strongholds, could have reeled off a catalog of services that they were having to cut as - along with other financial attacks on local governement - money flowed away from the solid investment in social and affordable housing to the heat and fire of a private economy fueled only by speculation on the value of unsold property.
Even the previous Scottish Executives of a differing hue came to realise that they had to allow local authorities to protect their assets, and restrict and limit the right-to-buy. New generations of house-buyers have stepped aside from the local authoirty route (indeed there has been a fundamental lack of stock available for them to consider) and do not view the rigt-to-buy as any sort of right now. So the policy's time has come and it has indeed "had its day".
I suggest there will be little outcry from existing tenants about the winding down of the scheme. But there will be technical and nuanced outcry from supposedly disparate corners of Scottish politics. There are few points to score off the Scottish Government on this issue. Those with sense will move the game along...

Clinton and the Constant Devolution

2009-10-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

I seem to remember that, famously, revolt and revolution are part of a constant process. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to make a much-welcomed visit to the North of Ireland. She prefaced her trip with a statement about moving the process along and reaching milestones. No doubt in order to present the welcome vision of a finishing line (no matter how distant) she even referred to this process reaching a 'final devolution'.
I find this a galling phrase, not least for it "sounding a bit like" Final Solution. But it also misses the point in a way which I'm sure none of Ulster's politicians will take the time to explain. Clinton, I will confess, was my fave for the Democratic Party nomination last year and will I hope, given the chance, make a great President in years to come. But she has a history of mis-speaking (okay one slip about being under fire in Bosnia) which no doubt will allow this comment to be rolled around and mulled over for its oddness.
Personally I will let it lie in favor of having a think about what devolution really means within all the UK contexts. The common theme is that devolution rolls on and forward for the benefit of all who believe in it. First First Minister Donald Dewar presented it as a way for Scotland to grow within the Union. Conceivably (and perhaps a little too charitably) it would be possible for the powers of a Scottish Executive/Government to fluctuate for an indeterminate number of years depending on what was best for the nation. But any fool can see that, once we in Scotland have acquired all the powers that we have on our shopping list, we would be de facto if not de jure independent. (What is that in Latin?) So can devolution carry on without reaching a finishing line?
Devolution as a word is most closely related to the revolutions of revolving and not at all to the revolutions of revolting. But it does sound like an exciting process without being completely out of control and is a comfort to the fears of the unionist mindset. Tam Dalyell, however, concluded long ago that devolution was an express route to Scottish Independence. Whatever his reasons, I agree.

Springburn Labour's Best Laid Plans

2009-10-05T05:55:00.000-07:00

Scottish Labour and Willie Bain agreed from Day One, Day Zero even, that they would adopt a total attack approach to the upcoming Glasgow North East byelection. Every opportunity has been taken to "play the man", David Kerr, and attack the team, the SNP, in a bid to deliver up Springburn (and all those other places you never hear about on the telly) to Gordon Brown. Secondly, there is the wider warning to all potential SNP candidates that challenging Labour will destroy your very soul (and they should know). But this worked badly in the 2007 Holyrood Election.
When local voters asked about knife crime at the recent News of the World byelection hustings, one might have been content to predict the answers of the four main party candidates present. Local nationalist David Kerr outlined carefully the need for the law to take its course.
But Labour's Willie Bain went as far out of his way as he could to rattle the celldoor keys of our seemingly infinite prisons. No less than mandatory jail sentences for all who carry knives (even for children). Mr Bain, himself a law lecturer of no particular note in England, claims authority to comment on Scottish justice. I think this is a mistake. Law and justice are two separate things - lecture number 1. To claim grandly that all who carry knives will go to jail for four years, subverts and subvents the fundamental position of the judge and moves straight to the cruel solace of political justice. Back to square one for society, too.
Bain and Labour seem to have seen the error of revealing this too soon and make no mention of such proclamations in their humdrum press release following the hustings. Although the paper that arranged the meeting does not itself merit any particular courtesy, it really is only professional to acknowledge the source of any material which Labour's release singularly fails to do. (Did I call Willie Bain un-professional? I surely did.)
But with local puppet-master Paul Martin MSP lurking in the background (both literally and ideologically), one can be sure that there is more of this short justice to come. And hopefully these sorts of ideas will be spoken aloud in good time to reject them and not remain hidden until it is too late.

Is Dependence Central to Europe?

2009-10-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

Ireland's resounding endorsement of the Lisbon treaty (version two or three of the European Constitution) is a lesson for all those who call lightly (and frequently) for elections and referenda. Sometimes people do go out and vote; and sometimes they don't do what you want them to. Group Theory (or some theory that should be called that) states that despite the vocal protests of articulate individuals or clever campaigning of small-but-agile parties, a population generally gets what it wants. And Ireland wanted the kind of security that being at the center of Europe offers.
This might incidentally encourage Alex Salmond to revise his 'once in a generation' view on the nature of a Scottish independence referendum. Any 'no' vote might be overturned by a better question or a clearer explanation of the economics. But the larger lesson for all aspiring economic nationalists is in getting the numbers right and telling it straight.
Ireland's once lauded economy has of course founded on the rocks of the global economic downturn. But it was headed for trouble anyway with its reliance (among a small range of other things) on high-end manufacturing and the storm just speeded the process. It is predicted, in some quarters, to climb swiftly out of recession. This will not be because of its influence on regulation, markets for services or continetal foreign policy, but the reconfiguration of its own strengths. These closely match those that an aspiring Scotland is already beginning to excel in (such as biotechnology). This does not provide a blueprint for an indpendent nation, but pre-scribes the list of questions to address when putting those economic numbers together.
Would Scotland have rejected the Lisbon Treaty? Probably, based solely on the horrifying prospect of who might one day be 'our' President. But there are a lot of measures that would have protected - ironically - the independence of our fledgling state. And - with a reformed Common Fisheries Policy on the way - might even have been embraced by most SNP activists. Perhaps a story for another day..?