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CAMPAIGNING FOR
SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926)
Compiled by Jim Lynch
[30 November 2000]
ST ANDREW’S DAY
 If you are reading this today, Thursday, 30th November, 2000, then today is St Andrew’s Day; if you are reading this after that date, then be assured that
Thursday, 30th November was St Andrew’s Day in the year which celebrated the 2000th Anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ.
If you live in Scotland, you will be unaware that it is, or was, St Andrew’s Day, as it is a very low key affair. We had hoped that with our new Parliament there might have been some emphasis on the occasion, perhaps even a public holiday, but it does not seem as if anything has happened. SNP Headquarters was closed, but no one else appears to have followed their example; ah well, there’s always next year, but it will not be a 2000th anniversary.
DENNIS CANAVAN LIVES
 There will be a by election in Falkirk West on 21st December; since in Anniesland the Labour Party ruthlessly exploited the memory of the late Donald Dewar, we wonder what tactics they will use in Falkirk West? Dennis Canavan is still with us; his rapprochement with Labour, engineered by them to stave of a risky by election, foundered in Dennis Canavan’s mistrust of their intentions.
So what will Labour do now? Will they vilify Dennis Canavan, who proved a very popular MP, will they praise him, and regret that he did not take the bait, sorry, rejoin Labour, or will they attempt to ignore him. It will be interesting to see. We expect a repeat of the Anniesland operation, where they hid their candidates from the public gaze, and we anticipate they will have the same faith in Major Joyce, and not allow him to be scrutinised. This has already started, with Labour turning down a challenge to debate from David Kerr, the SNP candidate.
Now how about this for a proposal; all the candidates to appear in a TV debate about the issues facing Falkirk West, and to add to the appeal, impartially chaired by ....Dennis Canavan!
We will have a page on Falkirk West, which can be viewed by clicking on
the button.....
THE WATCHDOG BITES
It is expected that the Standards and Privileges Committee of the House of Commons will rule this week on the conduct of Dr John Reid, erstwhile Secretary of State for Scotland, as to whether he broke the rules by using Parliamentary money in Labour’s campaign for the Scottish Parliament. We would not like to put any money on the result (No Parliamentary allowance to spend) but it is interesting to note that there are complaints from MPs
about Ms Elizabeth Filkin, the Parliamentary Commissioner; according to them she is too hard and they have dubbed her a Witchfinder General. Now, if those who are being checked up on are unhappy because the checker up is too thorough, then we humble taxpayers should take heart; we have been so used to the self regulation that led to the House of Commons being seen as a home for sleaze that the actions of Ms Filkin should be praised, not reviled.
It appears that Ms Filkin has stated that Dr Reid did misuse his Parliamentary allowance, but as noted above, this does not mean the Standards and Privileges Committee will find him guilty; after all, Peter Mandelson was reported to them as being in breach of the rules when he borrowed £380000 from Geoffrey Robinson, and neither declared it to the House of Commons or the Britannia Building Society, and the old pals did not find him guilty. One of the endearing traits of New Labour is that they do not share the same moral principles as the rest of us.
TO LIVE LIKE A LORD
The principal (Note the spelling) non elected officer in the United Kingdom is Lord Derry Irvine, close friend of the Prime Minister. At present, he is appealing against an employment tribunal ruling that he was guilty of indirect sex discrimination when he employed Garry Hart as his special adviser. Hart had worked for a very prestigious (That means expensive) law firm and used to push large briefs to Mr Irvine, before he became a Lord. To contest the case, Lord Irvine has hired at public expense (Ours) two QCs, who cost a total of £750 an hour between them; in September, Lord Irvine, Lord High Chancellor of England, banned defendants without means from being represented by QCs. It is all right for him to spend public money, but lesser mortals are out of luck.
It is also the case that barristers from Lord Irvine’s former chambers are managing to get lucrative government contracts; Philip Sales, from the chambers has
allegedly earned more than £1 million from giving advice to Government departments. Lord Irvine made his brother in law an Appeal Court Judge in July, and last year he elevated the husband of Margaret Hodge as a judge; he was longtime member of the Society of Labour Lawyers. Nice work if you can get it, courtesy of a man who sees himself as a socialist.
PROFIT WITHOUT HONOUR
There must be some vestige of feudal concern still left in the House of Lords;
however, their opposition to the privatisation of Air Traffic Control, where they are defying the Government has collapsed. The threat of Westminster invoking the Parliament Act of 1911 has resulted in a deal, at the instigation of the Tories, we believe. There is a short list of three companies vying for the contract, announced by Lord Macdonald; they are the Airline Group (British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and six other British airlines), Nimbus (Serco, Arinc and PPM Ventures) and the Novares Group (Lockheed Martin). We can expect principled opposition from some in the Labour Party; well one of them said "another piece of doctrinaire nonsense" and "there are some areas of activity to which the profit motive should not apply, and air traffic control is one of them". Oh, sorry, that was Brian Wilson, but he was speaking before the last General Election; now he has taken 27 pieces of silver (10% discount for apostates) he is all for air traffic control privatisation.
As commented last week, these things only profit if costs are cut, and already National Air Traffic Services have agreed to cut their budget by £165 million over 5 years, so notice is being served to "Prepare ye the way of the shareholder". What really sickens me is the jettisoning of principles by the Labour Party, and the knowledge that a change of Westminster Government does not mean a change.
FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES
Much concern was expressed in July this year when the Home Secretary’s car was stopped for speeding, doing 103 mph on theM5, as to whether the Special Branch driver should be prosecuted or not. Fear not, he will not be , as it is claimed that he feared for the safety of Mr Jack Straw, and put distance between him and the perceived threat. Reading recent reports he did well; according to press reports at the time, he was driving an armoured Jaguar, but the press now say it was a Vauxhall Omega. Obviously changed the car to throw them off the scent.
One report on the Anniesland by election commented on the lack of razzamattaz by the SNP, a view shared by most activists, but in the circumstances razzamattaz was inappropriate. Comment was also made that "they were reduced to complaining about the possible privatisation of air traffic control- hardly a burning issue on the streets of Drumchapel". A little research might have revealed that the constituency is slap bang on the flight path for Glasgow Airport.
When Dr John Reid was asked by Bernard Ponsonby if the Falkirk West by election would be held on 21 December he rather peevishly said he would announce it in the House of Commons first. If Bernard Ponsonby had been sharper he might have asked what made this decision different from others. (I didn’t think of it until the next day, myself).
The last few years have seen the emergence of BSE, and E Coli, with an outcry about health and safety standards. Between 1995 and 1999 the number of environmental health officers employed by Scottish councils has gone down by 30%. In addition, another 239 premises had been added to the inspectors responsibilities. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities blamed local government reorganisation, and some staff being transferred to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. Nae luck, since 1997 the funding for SEPA has been slashed by 20%.
Although the Chancellor had given pensioners a £5 increase from April next year there was still no sign of restoring the link to average earnings. George Reid SNP MSP called for this to be a priority "If the link had been kept the pension would be worth £30 more. In the 1970s, it was worth 25% of earnings. Today it is 17%. But in Denmark it is 40%, and in Luxembourg a massive 83%".
In the Observer’s list of best selling hard back books, Number 4 is Francis Gay’s Friendship Book, and Number 5 is Oor Wullie. For childrens books, Number 1 is the Beano, and 2, 3, 4, and 5 are Harry Potter. Maybe not what we generally accept as traditional Scottish literature, but interesting nevertheless.
Still in the realms of fiction, the Department of Trade and Industry inquiry into the affairs of the late crook Robert Maxwell is still going on 10 years after his death, and so far it has cost the taxpayer (Us) £8 million. The report when published will prove a major embarrassment to Labour politicians; Maxwell had also been a Labour MP, but gave that up before he stole £400 million from the pension funds of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and Sunday Mail. The papers still support the Labour Party.
DATES
IN HISTORY
1 December 1787
The first lighthouse, built at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh, by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson, lit.
4 December 1423
Treaty of London provided for the release of James 1 from English captivity, for ransom of £40,000 paid in 6 annual instalments, and for the sessation of reinforcements to Scottish troops in France.
6 December 1745
Charles Edward Stewart and the Jacobite Army retreated from Derby, England.
THE
REBELS CEILIDH SONG BOOK
THE DAY
WE WENT TO ROTHESAY, O
(As sung by John McEvoy)
One Hogmanay, at Glesga
Fair,
There was me, mysel' and sev'ral mair,
We a' went to hae a tear
And spend the nicht in Rothesay, O.
We wandered thro' the Broomielaw,
Thro' wind and rain and sleet and snaw,
And at forty minutes after twa,
We got the length o' Rothesay, O.
Chorus:
A dirrum a door a dum a day;
A dirrum a doo a daddy, O.
A dirrum a doo a dum a day,
The day we went to Rothesay, O.
A sodger lad names
Rutherglen Will,
Wha's regiment's lyin' at barn Hill,
Went aff wi' a tanner to get a gill,
In a public hoose in Rothesay, O.
Said he, "Be Gode, I'd like to ring,"
Said I, "Ye'll no' dae sic a thing."
He said, "Clear the room and I'll mak' a ring
And I'll fetch them a' in Rothesay, O."
In search o' lodgin's we
did slide,
To find a place where we could bide,
There was eighty-twa o' us inside
In a single room in Rothesay, O.
We a' lay doon to tak' oor ease;
When somebody happened for to sneeze,
An' he wakened half-a-million fleas,
In that single room in Rothesay, O.
There were several
different kinds o' bugs,
Some had feet like dyers' clogs,
And they sat on the bed and they cockit their lugs
And cried, "Hurrah for Rothesay, O!"
I said, "I think we should elope!"
So we went and joined the Band of Hope,
But the Polis wouldna' let us stop,
Anither nicht in Rothesay, O.
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)
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]
AND
AS WE CONTINUE.........
If you read our first issue of The Flag
in the Wind you will know that this is a weekly Internet commentary on
the Scottish political scene; if you desire further erudition click on
Archives.
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.
WE WOULD
WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK
The Flag in the Wind would
welcome your feedback on what you think of this weekly service. Happy to
receive any comments or suggestions. Simply email webmaster@scotsindependent.org
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