ARISE SIR SEAN - AT LAST

On Wednesday 5 July 2000, the most famous living Scotsman, Sean Connery, was knighted by the Queen at a ceremony in Edinburgh. Sir Sean always said he would only accept if the ceremony was to be in Scotland, and not at Buckingham Palace.

Members of the Scottish National Party (even Republicans) are delighted to see him honoured at last after the furore last year when Donald Dewar was told to oppose the nomination.

FOREVER FRIENDS

Chancellor Gordon Brown has been severely criticised for running down the number of Inland Revenue staff investigating tax evasion. (In New Labour circles it’s customary to run down each other). Apparently about 300 staff are to be cut over the next 3 years.

Only last week we commented on Labour fund raiser . the multi millionaire Lord Levy

who only paid £5000 tax in the tax year 1998/99. He denied any illegality, and we accept this is true.

That’s what friends are for.

AIDEZ- MOI

The Government is also under fire because of the number of special advisers, or aides as they are known in the up market political jargon. There are now 79 of them and they cost us £4 million a year. When you also consider the number of free loan staff from big business there must be vast offices to hold them and their entourages.

At last a use for the Dome?

SNP SURGE AHEAD

The latest System 3 Poll out this very week shows the SNP in the lead for both First and Second Votes for the Scottish Parliament.

The SNP is at 36% for the constituency vote, against Labour’s 33%, and 35% on the regional list against Labour’s 27%.

The last six months :

It is interesting that this poll was taken before the Labour debacle over NHS cash.

Last month Labour’s joy was unbounded that the SNP had been pegged back; this month their joy has been bounded.

A SHOT IN THE WHAT?

Only last week on the morning of 28 Jun , Ms Susan Deacon, the Health Minister was regaling health service officials and the Press with the announcement that £8.4 million was to be spent recruiting 100 junior doctors and 200 specialist nurses; the money was part of £173 million allocated by Gordon Brown in his last Budget.

That very afternoon in a debate on the Scottish Budget, the Finance Minister, Mr Jack McConnell, admitted that the health service in Scotland had underspent its budget by £135 million; £101 million of this would be carried over, but £34 million had been clawed back to general reserves.

After a fraught week they now appear to be talking to each other, and the £34 million, due to be spent on ancient monuments, forestry or even Donald’s Dome, might now return to the health service.

The original newspaper headline said it was a shot in the arm for the Health Service; it looks more like a shot in the foot for the Executive.

COINCIDENCE ?

There are 135 consultants’ vacancies in the Health Service in Scotland, 55 of them for more than 6 months; the Health Service is underspent by £135 million.

THE ETHICAL TAX -- WHICHEVER WAY!

We know that Scotland is paying the highest price for petrol in the world, with a crippling emphasis on rural areas, where public transport is either infrequent or non-existent.

In a Sunday newspaper the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said any cut in fuel duty would mean less money for schools or hospitals.

And here was us, believing them when they told us that high fuel duty was a positive move by the Government to reduce fuel emissions and protect the environment, when all the time it was to keep other taxes down, and reduce the Levy on the wealthy.

How come the strong pound is not helping petrol imports?

KILMARNOCK KO

The SNP had another local government by election win last week in Kilmarnock Central.

This time it was an SNP seat which was being defended, and it was held by Ms Lilian McLean with a majority of 28; the previous majority was 12, and the turnout was 40.6%

 YET ANOTHER WEST LOTHIAN QUESTION

Why are David Blunkett and Alan Millburn in the British Cabinet ?

Mr Blunkett is the Education Minister for England and Mr Millburn is the Health Minister for England; their writ does not run in Scotland as these areas are devolved.

What right do these gentlemen have to sit in the British Cabinet when they only deal with English affairs; do we want to see Susan Deacon and Sam Galbraith there as well? (Don’t answer that).

HOME COUNTIES SECRETARY?

The decision by the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, to make a new law to prevent English football thugs from travelling abroad from English ports or airports, has descended, or escalated, into farce. The thugs can travel to Scotland and leave from here, as Straw’s law will not apply here.

This is a curious oversight, as Mr Straw is well aware that there is a difference between Scots and English Law; on 2 Jan 98, the case of his own son’s drug misdemeanour was printed in the Scotsman (Scottish editions only) despite reporting on it being banned in England.

Is this Mr Straw exacting his revenge on us by making this the invasion route for thugs en route to elsewhere, or like Messrs Blunkett and Millburn, is he the English Home Secretary?

KERLEY COMMITTEE - QUOTE OF THE WEEK

The report on Local Government produced by Richard Kerley and a 10 strong committee was commissioned by the Scottish Executive. It was to examine the future of local government.

Two of its recommendations have prompted a hullaballoo in Labour local government circles. The first is that elections should be by single transferrable vote in multi member constituencies. The second is that councils should be reduced in size; Glasgow which has 79 councillors would be reduced to just over 50, and North and South Lanarkshire, at 70 and 67 respectively should also be reduced to around 50.

These two proposals would help end the Labour hegemony and produce a more balanced and democratic structure.

The quote of the week from Jim McCabe, Labour Leader of South Lanarkshire Council "If it aint broke, don’t fix it".

DATES IN HISTORY

9 July 1867
Queens Park Football Club, the first senior club in Scotland, was formed. The Club dominated the early days of Scottish Football but, retaining as it still does amateur status, lost out to professional sides. Season 1999/2000 saw 'The Spiders' gain promotion as Division 3 Champions.

12 July 1838
Death in Edinburgh of Rev. John Jamieson, D.D., minister of the Secession Church and compiler of 'The Dictionary of the Scottish Language'.

13 July 1820
Commencement of the trial in Stirling for High Treason of the Radicals captured at the Battle of Bonnymuir. Two of the accused, John Baird and Andrew Hardie, were subsequently executed on 8 September 1820.

THE REBELS CEILIDH SONG BOOK
THE SONS OF GLENCOE
(Massacre, 13th Feb., 1692)  As sung by MacGregor Kennedy

Ye loyal MacDonalds awaken, awaken,
Why sleep ye sae soundly in face of the foe?
The clouds pass away and the dawn it is breaking,
But when shall awaken the sons of Glencoe?

Ye lay down to rest with your thoughts on the morrow,
Nor dreamt that lives visions were melting like snow,
But daylight has dawned on the silence of sorrow,
And ne'er shall awaken the sons of Glencoe.

The winds howl a warning, the red lightning flashes,
They heap on the faggots a welcome to show,
But traitors are brooding on death o'er the ashes,
Now cold are the hearths of the sons of Glencoe.

O dark was the omen that brought to our sheiling,
The Black-hearted Campbell wi' treacherous smile,
We gave them our food with a brother's own feeling,
For when we believed there was truth in Argyle.

My clansmen strike boldly, let none of you count
On the mercy of cowards who wrought us such woe.
The wail of their spirits when heard on the mountain,
Must surely awaken the sons of Glencoe.

O cruel as adders, ye struck us while sleeping,
But vengeance shall haunt ye wherever ye go.
Our loved ones lie murdered, no sorrow nor weeping
Can ever awaken the sons of Glencoe.

Note - The Sons of Glen Coe survived despite the machinations of English politicians and their Scottish tools and appeared in arms for Scotland in 1715, 1719, and in the Forty-five. Today their descendants still work for a free and independent Scotland.

See the Songbook in our features section

AND AS WE CONTINUE.........

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THE FLAG IN THE WIND

The above was the title of a book written in the early Fifties by John MacDonald MacCormick, one of the founder members of the Scottish National Party in 1934. The sub-title was "The Story of the National Movement in Scotland". His comment in the book said "It is perhaps in the symbols which men use that their deepest sentiments are most readily expressed. Flags as well as straws show which way the wind is blowing". A fuller account appears under Features.

 

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