UPDATING THIS WEEK & NEXT

I will be on holiday this week and next, but here are a few items collected over the last few weeks for this week’s issue.

Next week there will be a brief pictorial coverage of the SNP Annual Conference which takes place in Inverness from 20 Sep - 23 Sep; results of elections will also be given. Abnormal service will be resumed for the issue of 6 October.

NON CITIZEN MOHAMMED AL FAYED

As you may remember from a few weeks back, the Court of Appeal threw out Mr Fayed’s appeal against Jack Straw’s refusal to grant him citizenship. Mr Fayed, through one of his companies, Harrods Energy, registered in Bermuda, has bought a stake in the gas exploration area of the Gulf of Thailand; the stake amounts to £2.7 million, and the company is based in Bangkok. (Yes, registered in Bermuda, and with a subsidiary based in Bangkok - well they begin with B!)

Mr Fayed has also held talks with Hun Sen, the Cambodian dictator, about prospecting for oil in central Cambodia delta, despite Mr Sen’s bad reputation with both the United Nations and Amnesty International; for good measure Harrods Petroleum is helping Colonel Gadaffi develop three major oil fields, despite Libya still being under US sanctions.

Inveroykel Estate, Mr Fayed’s on the borders of Sutherland and Ross-shire is about to have 1850 acres of trees planted on it; Mr Fayed will be receiving a grant of £800,000 from the public purse to help him out. This is public money, ours, and going to someone who had "a general defect in his character" and a "serious want of probity" according to Lord Justice Nourse speaking in the Court of Appeal.

DR ALLAN MACARTNEY

The Deputy Leader of the SNP, John Swinney, MSP,MP, opened a new Parliamentary Centre naming it The Allan Macartney Centre, at the end of August. The Centre is at 70 Rosemount Place, Aberdeen, and will act as an administrative and campaigning centre for the four Regional list MSPs serving North East Scotland, Brian Adam, Richard Lochhead, Irene McGugan and Shona Robison, and Euro MP Ian Hudghton.

When Aberdeen University created an Allan Macartney Scholarship a few weeks ago, Andrew Kerr of Jedburgh wrote to the University suggesting an annual Allan Macartney Lecture on Scotland - Europe - The World; he was delighted to receive a phone call from the Principal’s secretary to say they were taking the idea very seriously. The snag, as always, was finance, and if sponsorship could be found this could go ahead; sponsors should contact Aberdeen University direct.

THE ENGLISH IMPATIENT

Although doctors receive free medical treatment from fellow consultants, as outlined in the Hippocratic Oath, growing numbers of doctors are taking out private healthcare for themselves and their families. This is mainly happening in England, and is a sad commentary on the state of the National Health Service; if doctors do not believe that they will receive proper health care where does that leave the rest of us?

The report quotes Dr Alan McDevitt, assistant secretary of the Local Medical Committee which represents 624 Gps in 216 practices, who said he did not know of any GP using private insurance. So, while it does not seem to be happening here yet, is it far away? Maybe someone should be asking Susan Deacon, minister for health and fuel blockades.

AND SPEAKING OF BLOCKADES...

Has anyone noticed how vehement and holier than thou the trade unions have been? It was a bit puzzling at first, but of course, the unions no longer have the power, and here was a disparate bunch of road hauliers and farmers almost paralysing Britain; in contrast to the New Labour mantra of "It wisnae me " we have the trade union mantra of "It isnae us", a bit of sour grapes.

FUEL FROM FIG LEAVES?

A week or two back, Brian Wilson, soon not to be Deputy Secretary of State for Scotland, and formerly not responsible for SQA (Well none of them are) made a great noise about converting cars to LPG; this was the way ahead, half the price of petrol or diesel, and grants all round for the Highlands and Islands. Kenny MacAskill, SNP Transport Spokesman, has published a paper which puts the spin into perspective(that sounds painful, but only for deceitful Cabinet Members).

Less than 100 cars in Scotland have been converted, and it has cost over £4000 per car; only two models are eligible for a full grant, and the fuel is more suitable for urban areas rather than rural ones. This is just as well, as the nearest garage able to do conversions is in Perth, which after all is the Gateway to the Highlands; pity they launched the scheme in Evanton. Kenny described it as a fig leaf to cover their embarrassment at high fuel prices.

IN A FARAWAY LAND- OF WHICH WE KNOW LITTLE

Also in the last few weeks, the Government have released papers which show that 30 years ago, at negotiations to enter the European Community, "the fisheries question was economic peanuts, but political dynamite". Sir Con O’Neill, a senior Foreign Official who played a key part in the negotiations, acknowledges that they made the mistake of not trying harder to stop the implementation of a common fisheries policy. He felt that if the Government had successfully postponed the idea during the negotiations, then they might have been able to postpone it indefinitely; however Britain was desperate to get in, and the fact that 80% of British landings were from Scottish waters was not important.

So, what the Scottish fishermen, and everyone in Scotland, apart from the Unionist time-servers, knew was a travesty of justice at the time, has now been confirmed. Britain wanted to be at the heart of European affairs, and for the glory of the South East of England everything else must be sacrificed. Nothing changes, last year 6000 square miles of Scotland’s waters were transferred to England, and not only was this with the full approval of Her Majesty’s Royal Imperial Labour Party in Scotland, our MSPs are not allowed to see the papers. Nothing to do with you Scots, the English Cabinet have decreed. Ask Richard Lochhead, MSP,SNP, he got the brush off when he asked.

NON POLITICAL SELL OUTS

Scotland was a nation renowned for its financial institutions, and generally regarded as a centre for wise and honest investors, but our days are numbered; the following well known Scottish institutions are now owned by someone else;

Scottish Widows Lloyds TSB
Scottish Equitable Aegon
Scottish Mutual Abbey National
Scottish Provident Abbey National very shortly
Scottish Life On the market

" Now Sark rins o’er the Solway Sands, and Tweed rins tae the ocean
" Tae mark whaur England’s province stands, sic a parcel o’ rogues in a Nation".

 

DATES IN HISTORY

23 September 704
Death of St Adamnan, Abbot of Iona; author of a 'Life' of Columba and a work on the holy places.

23 September 1999
SNP candidate Annabelle Ewing forced Labour to a recount in a Westminster by-election for Hamilton South, a traditional Labour stronghold. The Labour majority fell from 15,878 to 556.

28 September 1934
The Cunard-White Star Queen Mary launched at Clydebank. Built by John Brown and Sons Ltd it was then the world's largest liner. Gross tonnage: 81,235 tons. Length: 975.2 feet. Breadth: 118.6 feet. Depth: 68.5 feet. Speed: 28 knots.

THE REBELS CEILIDH SONG BOOK

DING DONG DOLLAR
(Tune: Ye canny shove yuir Granny aff a bus.  Words: John Mack)

Chorus:
O, ye canny spend a dollar when ye're deid
O, ye canny spend a dollar when ye're deid
Singing Ding Dong Dollar, everybody hollar;
Ye canny spend a dollar when ye're deid.

Now when the Yankees they drappt anchor at Dunoon,
Sure they got a civic welcome frae the toon,
As they cam up the measured mile
Bonnie Mary o' Argyll
Wis wearin spangled drawers ablow her goon.

O, the Clyde is sure tae prosper noo they're here,
For they's chargin wan an tenpence for a beer,
Ay, an when they want a taxi,
They shove it up their jersey
An charge them thirty bob tae Sandbank Pier.

An the publicans will as be daein swell,
For it's juist the thing that's shair tae ring the bell,
O, the dollars they will jingle,
They'll be no a lassie single,
Even though they mebbe blaw us aa tae hell.

But the Glesga Moderator didnae mind,
In fact, he thinks the Yanks are awfy kind,
For if it's heaven that ye're going,
It's quicker wey than rowin
An there's shair tae be naebody left behind.

See the Songbook in our features section

A KIRST O FERLIES -  A Keek at the Guid Scots Tung
By PDW

kist: box; coffin; corn bin; the thorax
ferlie: marvel; novelty; wonderful; strange
frae: from
auld: old
Nae ferlie: No wonder
Auld i the horn: Wise, astute

'I ken a thing
that's like a kist of ferlies gif ye read.
Frae Jamison's muckle buik the words tak wing,
auld douce or ramstam, lown or virrfu words,
for musardry o thocht or grame o dirds,
our forebears uisd to flyte or scryve or sing'

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

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 THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY

The Scots Independent Newspaper is independent of the Scottish National Party, but we support the Party in its drive for Independence; while space precludes us commenting on all the issues raised by the 35 MSPs, 6 MPS and 2 MEPs, also the Party Office Bearers, we have provided a link to the SNP Website.

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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