The Flag in the Wind
A weekly online newspaper bringing you information on the political scene in Scotland: part of the monthly Scots Independent.

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CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926)
[28 July 2000]

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...

It must be a source of extreme irritation to Alex Neil that the Press are labelling him as a Sillarsite in the contest for the SNP leadership. Alex Neil has a good reputation in politics in general and in the SNP in particular; he earned that reputation by his own efforts and intemperate comments by his so-called supporters will only damage him.

In the same way the attempt to portray John Swinney as an Alex Salmond front is also false. When John Swinney was elected Deputy Leader he was asked if he got that because of Alex Salmond’s influence; he pointed out that when Alex Salmond stood for the leadership John supported Margaret Ewing.

The press are salivating at the prospect of a nasty back-stabbing battle for the leadership; this of course is not out of concern for democracy, but because it would sell more papers.

Of course, press pundits are punditting, as is their wont, and postulating theories and advice; one newspaper which shall remain nameless, postulates that the SNP would be very much more successful if it become more like the Liberal Democrats. No it does not exactly say that, but you would need to be very obtuse not to get that message. It seems to have escaped their notice that the Liberal Democrats are not particularly popular in Scotland.

WE ARE NOT FOR SALE

And speaking of the Scotsman, what are we to make of the statement by their publisher, Andrew Neil (No relation to Alex Neil, thank goodness) that the paper was not, repeat , not for sale? He made this statement in the Scotsman last week, spurred by press reports (Shame) and said there had been a 35% increase in sales since last year, and they might even be looking to buy other papers. As they have dropped the price from 48p to 20p the sales increase is not surprising; in fact when they started this run the first day’s paper was free. This prompted Kenny MacDonald on BBC TV to say that for the first time in months the readers had got their money’s worth.

According to some reports, the price drop has cost some £8 million so far; the newsagents get the same money as they did for 48p, which leads one to question the economic sanity.

The Barclay brothers will not take kindly to throwing away their tax free cash, since one of their sons,Howard, has already lost a substantial sum buying into Jellyworks, an internet incubator company which took a dramatic plunge.

The Scotsman might be wobbly too.

AND WE ARE FOR SALE

No one is particularly surprised at the decision by the Crown Estates Commission not to contest the ownership of the Black Cuillin. So it seems as if MacLeod of MacLeod , whose forbears have claimed ownership over the years own them because they claimed ownership, and no one challenged them.

How anyone can claim to own these mountains and to sell them to fix a leaky roof is beyond belief, and we look forward to the Scottish Parliament taking action to redress these anomalies.

It should be remembered that clan chiefs did not own the land but held it in trust for the clan; this was conveniently overlooked as they usurped ownership and in many cases cleared their people.

Another point obscured is that our noble families are only so because their forefathers were bigger thieves and cutthroats than ours.

AND GOING CHEAP

Well the Millennium Dome may have cost a lot of money, but it is going cheap. It has received £525 million of Lottery (Public) money and £157 million of sponsorship, but it is going to be sold for about £100 million.

The rival bidders are Dome Europe, owned by Nomura, the Japanese bank, and Legacy, owned by a millionaire property developer, Robert Bourne. The front man for Nomura is Guy Hands who was best man at William Hague’s wedding (Not hard); Robert Bourne gave Labour £66000, not just yesterday, but he is a supporter.

So do Labour sell it off to the Japanese, or to another of Tony’s cronies? Whatever they do they can’t win. However, the real question is how does a project which cost £700 million only merit £100 million - property in London, too? I suppose it is the economic insanity of spending someone else’s money, not your own.

Why does the situation with the Skye Bridge spring to mind? Cost £10 million - Bank of America gets £128 million. Dome cost £700 million - taxpayer gets back £100 million.

Clever people somewhere.

BEING RAILROADED AGAIN

When the Tories set up the privatisation of British Rail they made a dog’s breakfast of it, and Labour never went ahead with their promise of re nationalisation, just another broken down promise.

When the boss of Railtrack, who run the lines , was asked why there was a 5% increase in delays in the first three months of this year, he blamed the weather; sometimes it was too hot, sometimes it was too cold, sometimes it was too dry and sometimes it was too wet. He didn’t say all of these things but he just meant weather in general. As railways have been around for maybe 150 years and the weather has been with us from the beginning of time, you might think they should have made allowances.

And then we have Sir Richard Branson, he of the "I’ll sort out the NHS" fame. He publicly admitted this week that his trains were expletive awful; the only surprise is that he admitted it.

The main problems with the rail system seem to be incompetence, profiteering and lack of accountability. British Rail was only incompetent - it required the privatisation process to add the others.

LIKE A CAT TO WATER

Not all cats are averse to water; Richard Lochead, MSP took issue this week with the fat cats in charge of Scotland’s water authorities. In answer to Parliamentary questions he was told that the East of Scotland boss, Jon Hargreaves, was getting £130000 a year, a rise of 38%, Katharine Bryan of North of Scotland water has a basic of £105000 (Overtime extra?) and Ernie Chambers of West of Scotland water £120000. These are Chief Executives and they have to work for their money.

As far as the Boards themselves go, these are appointed posts. Councillor Robert Cairns of the Labour Party is Chairman of East of Scotland, no salary given, but we can rest assured one will be taken. The Chairman of North of Scotland Water is Colin Rennie, who was deselected by his local Labour Party Branch after being appointed; we don’t know if this was an outbreak of principle, or just sour grapes. He gets £38000 a year and expenses for a day and a half a week. Not in the answers, but in the public domain is Mr Ian Smith, who is a Director of West of Scotland Water at around £5000 a year.

According to Sarah Boyack, Environment Minister, "Information was not held on membership of political parties." Well now, Mr Smith has no known formal connections with the Labour Party (Unlike the two mentioned). When Mr Smith was Chief Executive of Dumfries & Galloway the council employed the Margaret Ford Eglinton Management Centre for at least two contracts. Margaret Ford employed Susan Deacon, now Health Minister, and was chair of Lothian Health Board, to which she was appointed by the Labour Party..

In a small country like Scotland, we suppose coincidences are inevitable; they are also obvious.

A COUNSELLOR PRIVY TO WHAT?

Congratulations must go to Rhodri Morgan, leader of the Welsh Assembly on his appointment as a Queen’s Privy Counsellor, the first appointment from any of the devolved assemblies. Donald Dewar was already a Privy Counsellor by virtue (?) of his being Secretary of State for Scotland in the British Cabinet.

Mr Morgan’s joy at this appointment was overshadowed by the row when he sacked the Agriculture Secretary, Christine Gwyneth, who had already faced three censure motions. Not being as politically correct as his predecessor, Alun Michael, Tony Blair’s appointee, he thought it was somewhat illogical that a vegetarian had been put in the post; the farmers agreed with him.

We do not know if this appointment was a genuine effort to heal a rift, as New Labour did to Rhodri Morgan more or less what they did to Ken Livingstone, and our own Dennis Canavan; on the other hand, Mr Blair has had a lot of trouble with leaks lately, and he might have thought Mr Morgan could help. Tony never could spell.

WHAT’S THE BEEF?

The decision by the MOD to buy beef and lamb from abroad to feed our Armed Forces has caused a stushie with the National Farmers Union. (They think the initials NFU should be applied to the MOD). Apparently under European law, they have to but the products on the open market at the best price. This means that they will be buying New Zealand lamb and Argentinian beef! Can you imagine for one minute what would happen in France if their MOD tried that one? Anyway the MOD blame the farmers for not giving them frozen meat, and the farmers blame the MOD who they say should freeze the meat themselves.

Our wonderful Ministry of Defence; the Army rifles need modified, so that will get done in Germany at a cost of £80 million; there is a problem with the propellant for the shells required by both the Royal Navy and the Tank Corps, because the Bishopton Munitions factory is being closed, and the German and South African supplies are unsafe, .and the National Audit Office is not pleased because 25 major projects are late and are £2.7 billion over budget.

To add to their woes, Welsh farmers are refusing to allow troops to exercise on their land; it’s known as retaliation, and to hang with your vegetarian Agriculture Secretary. As it is not so very long since farmers were not able to give their sheep and cattle away, it would seem that the MOD requires the administration of some propellant in the nether regions.

NO HAWKERS TINKERS OR CAMPBELLS

This notice, reputed to be attached to gates in the lands once controlled by the MacDonald clan, seems to have been erected at the Clyde Naval Base at Faslane. The Campbell in question, Colin Campbell, MSP, has been barred from visiting the site. It employs some 2500 civilian staff, with a further 750 at the nearby Coulport Munitions Depot; in all about 5000 jobs are dependent on the base.

In this regard , Mr Campbell expressed a desire to visit the base, and the Navy seemed quite happy with that; however, the move has been blocked by someone in the upper echelons (Good military word that) of the Scottish Executive which has no statutory powers over defence. The MOD says they are considering the matter, and that the Scottish Executive is not involved; they could hardly say otherwise.

Mr Campbell is a Scottish National Party MSP, and he made his request in October; you could freeze a lot of meat in nine months!