The Flag in the Wind
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CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926)
Compiled by Jim Lynch
[17 November 2000]

NEXT WEEK

Next week’s issue will not be published until the afternoon of Friday 24th November 2000. This will enable us to comment on the results of the Anniesland By elections; our big brother, the Scots Independent Newspaper, will be delayed for a few days for the same reason.

We do not anticipate an American stand off.

AMERICAN DILEMMA - GUSH OR BORE?

As we go to press, the American Election is not yet decided; recounts are continuing, or been stopped, or legal action is being taken, or not being taken. All in all, a very confusing situation, and many snide comments from this side of the Atlantic about the American system being inefficient are laughable. Did someone not lose ballot boxes in Edinburgh in May 1999, and results were delayed due to shortage of counters? This from an administration used to dealing with elections every couple of years and not on the American scale. There has also been a lot of hot air talked about the popular vote; no British political party has ever won the popular vote and we were ruled for 18 years by the Tories on a minority vote. Even in 1997, the Labour landslide, the Labour Party got less votes than in 1992, when they lost! Our political parties are more adept at gerrymandering the selection, rather than the election processes. It has been admitted that some ballot papers in Florida were confusing, and that people intending to vote for Al Gore voted instead for Pat Buchanan; nothing new there, how many people voted Labour at the last General Election, thinking they were voting Tory!

The American media, followed closely by our own, are the real ones left looking stupid; their impatience with the electorate, telling them how they voted before the votes were counted has rebounded on them; how often do we hear that this or that politician will say, not what he has said. (Craven sexist crawling "If you want something done, ask a woman; if you want something said, ask a man). 

It does appear that the election process has created considerably more excitement and interest than the whole election campaign; my general impression throughout the campaign was that I hoped that both candidates lost. I seem to have got my wish.

MINCING THE WORDS

Last week the social justice minister, Jackie Baillie, announced that the government would spend £1.5 million "to address the underlying inequalities in our society". Fiona Hyslop, SNP MSP , accused the executive of indulging in self congratulatory rhetoric and giving itself "a group hug". Fiona said that the government had to move beyond words and take immediate action; she said she was not trying to be provocative when she accused Ms Baillie of "self congratulatory navel gazing mince that will mean hee haw to the people of Scotland". (Must get some of that in a Kist of Ferlies!)

Fiona also pointed out that any programme to combat social injustice would be hampered because Westminster retained legislative control over the issues under discussion. The document they were discussing was light and woolly, and they would be judged by what they did, not on how many glossy exercises and consultation documents they put out. As said before, the SNP does not have a programme of gender balance, and it does not need one.

ANNIESLAND CHALLENGE

The two SNP by election candidates. Tom Chalmers for Holyrood and Grant Thoms for Westminster, have challenged the Labour Party candidates to a debate on the issues facing the constituency, but so far there has been no response. There will be no television coverage, for some strange reason; there was a television debate at the Hamilton by election last year when Lord George Robertson took up the offer of the big money at NATO, so why not now? Surely, for a double by election, the first ever concerning Holyrood and Westminster, and in the wake of the death of our First Minister, this would have been a natural for a TV debate.

The SNP is hammering on the twin themes of the Glasgow Housing Stock Transfer, where Labour is transferring all Glasgow’s housing to the private sector, and care of the elderly. The Labour candidate , who was vehemently opposed to the Housing Stock Transfer has now been converted; it is seen as his Road to Anniesland. Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, has also appeared in the constituency, brandishing mock cheques for pensioners, and apparently seeing no irony in his actions. Great how the good news always comes when votes are due, and they were most indignant when John Swinney said "I think the sight of a Foreign Secretary turning up in Scotland amidst a by election, handing out winter fuel payments is a perfect example of Labour grubbing around for votes when they know they are in danger". Mr Cook said John’s statement demeaned the pensioners of Anniesland, being completely oblivious to the fact that he was the one demeaning the pensioners; then again that’s new Labour morality, if we can be permitted an oxymoron.

Labour had their fingers burned at the by election in Ayr this year, in the aftermath of the 75p increase in pensions, and they are conscious that they there are 16000 pensioners in Anniesland; bearing that in mind we are waiting for the First Minister to end his silence on the Sutherland report on the care of the elderly. The Sutherland proposals would put an end to elderly people having to sell their houses to pay for care, and Mr McLeish has hinted that he would adopt these proposals; if he means to, then he will announce before the election, but if he doesn’t, then he will defer the announcement until later. In the meantime, his minions can continue making approving noises until the votes are counted.

And then of course, there is the Dirty Tricks Department; an e mail, purporting to be from the family of the late Donald Dewar, has been sent to a Scottish tabloid, saying that Donald wanted an independent Scotland, and that voting SNP would be in line with his express wishes. Naturally, the paper blames the SNP, although the message appears to have come from the late First Minister’s e mail address, which would indicate someone familiar with his e mail address; we wonder why the paper bothered to print the article in the first place, since surely they receive letters and e mails from all sorts of cranks and they do not publish them willy-nilly. We are suspicious.

THE ELUSIVE SPIRIT

So far this year, I have filled my car with petrol in various filling stations in Edinburgh, in Inverness, Elgin, Dingwall, Kingussie, Stranraer and Fort William, and I have never come across this ultra low sulphur petrol. I also see that Frank Gilfeather, writing in the Herald, says he has also looked everywhere, and cannot find it either. Well, does it exist, or has the Chancellor given us a tax cut on a non existent commodity? One of his other fits of generosity was to exempt farmers from road taxes on tractors; most tractors are not licensed anyway, as they are permitted to drive between their fields, and we do not believe there has ever been a case of a farmer being prosecuted for driving a tractor without a licence. Oh , and if they did get a licence it was only £40 per year; however it does free the police from trying to catch the uncatchable.

The Chancellor did admit that the tax burden had risen under Labour; answering questions on "Breakfast with Frost", where he could not claim Parliamentary immunity, Mr Brown said that taxes as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product had risen from 35.2% in May 1997, to 36.9%. Last year it was 37%, and it should fall to 36.8% by 2005/6.

So, he’s been taking more money in, our money, so he could afford to look generous. However his last year’s Budget looked good, until you read the small print; this is a Pre Budget proposal, and many of the measures seem to be dependent on consultation, or the oil companies keeping prices down (?) so we’ll have to wait a while, but it’s full of promises.

QUANGO - SPELT SQA OR STB?

The First Minister, Henry McLeish, has decided to examine all quangos; quasi autonomous non governmental organisations, to those who like definitions. At the moment there seems to be about 212 in Scotland, and strangely enough, the same people keep turning up on them. A recent survey showed that across the United Kingdom 67% of all Quango members had a declared connection with the Labour Party; that’s quite quick work, considering that they have only been in power for three years. Make no mistake about it, this is a jobs for the boys, political patronage, old pals act, and Labour promised to change it when they came to power; Lord George Robertson used the phrase "Bonfire of the Quangos," probably coined by Gordon Brown, and quangos have increased in number since Labour came into office!

In the public eye lately was the Scottish Qualifications Authority, a Quango with 29 Board members, or 24, depending on which page of the paper you read. They made a monumental mess of the examination results for which they had apparent responsibility,never admitted any responsibility, and quietly resigned when the new Education Minister, Jack McConnell, demanded it. He has re appointed eight of them, and we’ll see what this lot does, or rather expect them to disappear into obscurity until the next examinations mess, in 2001.

The Scottish Tourist Board, STB, is another quango in the headlines recently; they fired the Chief Executive, Tom Buncle, then re employed him as Marketing Director, at the same salary. We know nothing particularly against Mr Buncle, and as he was paid a performance bonus last year, the STB must have been pleased enough, but the number of tourists to Scotland dropped by 11% last year. It had nothing to do with the strength of the pound, or with the highest fuel prices in the world, not our comments, but the Board’s; the quango is to change its name, from Scottish Tourist Board to visitscotland, as recommended in a report by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers. We wonder how much this report cost, and why it was necessary to bring in consultants, since there is a Board of Directors who do not seem to be doing very much, and if they are there because of their business acumen....?

In any event, Mr Buncle has declined to take the job of Marketing Director, and the job of recruiting a new Chief Executive has been awarded to a London firm of employment consultants, Hedrick and Struggles. 

The Chairman of visitscotland is Lord Jimmy Gordon, founder of Radio Clyde, former Labour Parliamentary candidate, and friend of the late Donald Dewar; his term of office will be up shortly and it is not thought likely he will be re appointed. It could perhaps be the case that the whole Board should go; the public would not notice.

RAILROADED AGAIN

The general public reacted with horror, but not surprise to the news that Railtrack is to increase it dividend to shareholders, despite facing massive fines and cost to repair its neglected track. The Chief Executive said it was essential that a positive message had to be sent to the City; he defended Railtrack’s insistence on inspecting 250 miles of track and imposing 500 speed restrictions after Hatfield. He said "People don’t like it. It’s inconvenient. But it’s right to put safety first. No one will ever again be able to say we put profits before safety".

Well, for the first time, they have employed someone to oversee maintenance; considering the hundreds of miles of track, signals, points, junctions, etc, this is quite perceptive. We also understand that they used to have about 30000 engineers, now down to less than half that, and that a lot of the work will be done by Romanians. As it is, Railtrack employ contractors, who employ sub contractors, who in turn sub contract, and all this is done to save costs. Balfour Beatty is the main contractor, and it is known that staff are standing idle for days, waiting decisions or equipment; as one contractor’s employee put it, "The chain of command on this job is as long as the bloody track".

Who are responsible? Step forward, John McGregor, Tory MP, now backbench, but a Director of Uniq, Associated British Foods, Slough Estates and Friends Provident; Sir Malcolm Rifkind, whose Directorships we have not looked at as yet, and Michael Portillo and John Redwood. These men all dissociate themselves from the mess they created, but the Chief Executive should refrain from preaching safety; they skimped safety and it cost lives.

FOOT IN MOUTH NOTES

The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, Tony Cameron, says he wants to see 30% of Scotland’s jails under private management.

The chairman of the Scottish Prison Governors, Dan Gunn, says "We firmly believe that the provison of custodial services in Scotland is the legitimate business of the public sector and should remain so".

British Aerospace Systems Royal Ordinance site at Bishopton is due to close shortly as the propellant for shells is to be supplied from South Africa.

The company is now trying to programme in extra production of 230 tonnes of propellant before it closes; this is for tanks for Greece. 

North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a three year deal with a private company to supply nurses and healthcare assistants. The contract is worth "several millions of pounds".

Unison is extremely concerned about this, as they are committed to resist the widespread use of agency nurses in the NHS; they feel several millions is a widespread figure. 

DATES IN HISTORY

10 November 1556
Russian treasure ship Edward Bonaventure, carrying Ivan the Terrible's ambassador to Elizabeth 1 of England, was wrecked off Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire.

13 November 1850
Birth off Robert Louis Stevenson, author and poet, in Edinburgh, only son of lighthouse engineer Thomas Stevenson. Famous for books such as "Kidnapped" and "Treasure Island", ill-health forced him to leave Scotland and he died at Vailima, Samoa on 3 December 1894.

"I have been a Scotchman all my life and denied my native land."

13 November 1968
Death of Joe Corrie, playwright, novelist and poet, in Edinburgh. A former Fife miner, he turned to full-time writing and his 3-act play "In Time of Strife", based on a mining strike, toured Scotland with great success in the 1920's.

THE REBELS CEILIDH SONG BOOK

Haughs o' Cromdale
(Traditional Version)

For A threw ma Plaidie oot o'er ma shoulder,
A poke o' meal and a flask o' pooder,
Tap o' the Hills and far awa,
Tae view the Haughs o' Cromdale.

An as I cam in by Achendoun,
Just a little wee bit frae the toon,
Intae the Hielands I was bound,
Tae view the Haughs o' Cromdale.

I met a man wi a tartan trews,
An spiered at him fit wis the news,
Says he, the Hielan Army rues,
That e'er it focht at Cromdale.

But it's this the Great Montrose did say,
John Heilanman shaw me the way,
For I maun o'er the Hills the day,
Tae view the Haughs o' Cromdale.

Alas ma Lord ye'r no ower strang,
Ye barely hae ten thousand men,
There's twenty thousand Englishmen,
Stand rank and file on Cromdale.

But it's this the Great Montrose did say,
John Heilanman shaw me the way,
John Heilanman shaw me the way,
Intae the Haughs o' Cromdale.

Fan Great Montrose upon them cam,
They were at breakfast every man,
A second battle then began,
Upon the Haughs o' Cromdale.

McGregors they returned again,
The Camerons did the Standard line,
And the MacDonalds held the richt o' line,
Down on the Haughs o' Cromdale.

The Gordons proudly did advance,
The Frasers focht wi' spear and lance,
Bit the Stewarts gar'd their heids tae dance,
Upon the Haughs o' Cromdale.

Wi' MacDonald's men, Clan Ranald's men,
MacKenzie's men and McGillivray's men,
Wi' their bonnets blue and their braid Claymores,
They slachtered them down on Cromdale.

And o' twice Ten thousand Englishmen,
Five Hundred fled tae Aberdeen,
The lave o' them lie on the grass,
Aroon the Haughs o' Cromdale.

You can listen to a different version of this song here

See the Songbook in our features section

A KIST O FERLIES
A Keek at the Guid Scots Tung
By Peter D Wright
(Note: All words underlined in this section are RealAudio links)

• cadger: peddlar; hawker; tinker

• dumfouner: amaze; stun

• dumfounert: amazed; stunned

• pease - brose: porridge of ground pea flour

• skeilie: capable; shrewd; skilful

• A cadger's curse: A worthless thing
   
  'Dumfounert, the English saw - they saw -
  Dumfounert they heard the blaw, the blaw,
  Dumfounert, they a' ran awa, awa
  Frae the hundred pipers an' a' , an' a'.'
   
  Frae "The Hundred Pipers" - Lady Nairne

See Scots Language in our Features Section

THE MONTHLY PRIZE CROSSWORD

Each month the Scots Independent Newspaper offers a prize crossword and we're now offering this online in the Flag in the Wind as well.   Should you complete the crossword by the deadline you can fax it over to the SI and the first correct one opened on the closing date will win a £10.00 book token.

SI Prize Crossword No. 11
[Clicking on the picture will bring up a life size version which you can copy to your desktop or print out]