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CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926)
Compiled by Jim Lynch
[Issue 43 - 30 March 2001]

FOOT AND MOUTH I

As we see every day on TV the funeral pyres and the vast pits being dug for the slaughtered livestock, we are also hearing recriminations, denials, accusations, and opinions on what should or should not be done, and what has or has not been done. We were first told that the cause was pigswill from Newcastle Airport, and then we were told it was illegal to take airport swill, so it could not be that. Then we heard it was swill from Chinese restaurants in Newcastle, which was denied amid fears that it would lead to racist attacks on Chinese; the latter presumably ignoring that Chinese restaurant only exist here because the public like Chinese food. Kosovo, troops coming back from there, and aid convoys to and from that unhappy country also were mentioned, and then back again to airports; at one stage the winds blowing across the English Channel were also responsible, although how that happened when the disease was here before it was in France is a bit unclear, and it seems we are now back to Chinese restaurants.

We thought the comment from the Scottish Farmers’ Union spokesman was fairly appropriate as a short term attitude, in that it was academic at this stage where it had come from, it was here and it had to be dealt with. Then we have had , and are having, the debate on whether the animals should be vaccinated, and whether this would remove our Foot and Mouth free status for three months, twelve months, three years, or whatever. The advice given by scientists and vets seems to be contradictory and confusing.

Amid all this confusion, with the Prime Minister receiving abuse from all sides, we are overlooking the fact that this particular outbreak is creating problems of a scale and magnitude that no government and no industry has ever had to handle. It is easy to be critical when you do not have your hands on the levers of power, and in all honesty, nobody could really blame the government for not foreseeing how quickly and widely this would spread; nobody foresaw it.

And now that equity, fairness and impartiality are all out of the way, let us continue with the political knockabout.

FOOT AND MOUTH II

One of the unexpected consequences of the epidemic is the sharp division between Scotland and England over the way ahead; first we had a divergence over the speed with which the disease was being tackled, and this was not due to the close attention paid by the Scottish Government Ministers. Indeed, when Mr McLeish and Mrs Helen Liddell (Secretary of State for Scotland in the London Government) finally got round to visiting Dumfriesshire, they received a slightly frosty reception, as the farmers had felt particularly isolated. However, Dumfries and Galloway treated the outbreak with urgency right from the start, and almost succeeded in keeping it within its borders; there were complaints that livestock in Cumbria were not being dealt with with sufficient urgency, and in fact this was worsening the spread.

The farmers’ leaders were talking about closing the border with England to limit the damage, but this has not yet come to pass. Now however, with talk of vaccination, a divergence is again obvious between Scotland and England, with Scotland being against vaccination, and England for it; how much of the English attitude is due to their slowness in tackling the outbreak is not known.

And in the midst of all this, the Prime Minister still seems hellbent on calling an election on 3 May, a mere trifling year before it is due; we know he had it planned, we know that any government’s first priority is to get itself re-elected, but surely somewhere, Mr Blair must have had a Plan B? Perhaps his preoccupation with the proposed election meant that he took his eye off the ball, maybe his defenestration of Peter Mandelson took away his trusted eyes and ears; whatever the reason, Mr Blair is now seen as a Prime Minister who is putting party before country. They all do it, it’s just that it has become glaringly obvious. However, his eager acceptance of vaccination, a policy hitherto regarded as anathema, may be taking political expediency to a new low. This policy may see him through a short term political problem, but leave agriculture in England with problems for decades.

The SNP has called on the election to be postponed, because, as John Swinney, SNP leader said that whatever the government was saying, the epidemic was out of control, and all efforts had to be made to bring it under control; John was speaking on a visit to the control bunker in Dumfries and Galloway. Interesting to see how other parties react; George Foulkes, Helen Liddell’s little helper, said that the SNP were calling for a postponement of the election because they were feart; well, Mr Foulkes will say what Mrs Liddell tells him to say. However, his attitude clearly shows that he wants an election now, in the midst of the worst crisis for over 50 years, so he must know there is trouble ahead, otherwise why an election one year before it is due?

SHOUTING AND SCREAMING AND STAMPING HER FEET

Well, if press reports and Labour Party insiders are to be believed, that was the response of Wendy Alexander when given control of Water after Sam Galbraith demitted office. Apparently, Wendy had a tantrum, Wendy is too busy with really important things to be bothered with the merging of the Water Boards set in motion by Sam Galbraith; while on that subject, Mr Galbraith is not dead, so we do not have to say nice platitudes about him, or putting it another way, we confidently expect him to re-surface in the House of Lords as Lord Galbraith of Bullocks, or something like that. We digress; Ms Alexander must be a very busy little bee indeed, as her picture keeps appearing in the press every other day (Note to Editor of big brother Scots Independent," How about a league table of Wendy pictures, like people down south note Eddie Stobart’s lorries?"). 

So what is keeping Wendy busy? Well, first of all she is the Enterprise Minister, and Scottish Enterprise, which is supposed to create jobs, is actually shedding 500 jobs to save money and improve services. This falls in line with Ms Alexander’s previous existence as a management consultant, a breed which can usually neither manage nor consult, but are great unemployment creators, as any business will tell you; most businesses use consultants as a way to avoid hard decisions. But, it does not appear to be the Enterprise job which is worrying Wendy; according to reports she is in charge of Labour’s General Election campaign in Scotland. Stop, sez you, and run that one past me again! Ms Alexander is a Minister in the Scottish Government, and is not standing for Westminster; to our knowledge, her wee brother, Douglas Alexander, is in charge of Labour’s General Election campaign, and maybe even Mrs Helen Liddell might figure in it somewhere, but a Minister, and a Member of the Scottish Parliament, is going to have time to run the Labour General Election campaign in Scotland! I know that all SNP MSPs will also be involved and campaigning, and it would be daft to imagine that no MSPs will be actively involved, after all it’s politics, stupid, but Ms Alexander’s attitude certainly betrays a party before country of the highest order.

So what does Uncle Henry, or Henpecked Henry do? Well, the Minister for Rural Affairs doesn’t have enough to do, and he’s only a Liberal, anyway. So having dumped Environment on Ross Finnie, after giving him Fishing as well, why not let him have water for three months to let Ms Alexander get on with what is really, really important. Mr Finnie has surprised many with his competence with complex issues, and stands head and shoulders over many of the Labour numpties, but perhaps Mr McLeish should have let him handle the foot and mouth outbreak without piling more on to him.

As Bruce Crawford, Shadow Environment and Transport Minister, put it "Water is a vital public service in Scotland, yet Labour politicians are treating it in a contemptuous "pass the parcel" manner- defying the First Minister and putting London Labour’s interests first.

"At a time of an appalling foot and mouth crisis , we now have a seriously overloaded Rural Development Department, because Wendy Alexander is too busy running an election campaign for Labour’s Westminster candidates .

"In recent days, the Enterprise Minister has refused to answer Parliamentary Questions asking for details of her Ministerial Diary in the coming weeks - no doubt because it would show that her priority will be running Labour’s election campaign".

At this stage , can we expect that Ms Alexander will not take her Ministerial salary for the time she spends working for the London Labour Party? Perhaps the Scottish equivalent of the Westminster Parliamentary Commissioner, Ms Elizabeth Filkin could investigate; remember, she found Dr John Reid guilty of the misuse of public funds during the Scottish elections.

Just a thought; a picture in the press on Wednesday showed Ms Alexander at Edinburgh Castle with the new Chairman of the Scottish Tourist Board, renamed in managementconsultantspeak as visitscotland. This means that the Enterprise Minister has responsibility for tourism; tourism, foot and mouth, crisis, what tourism crisis, we have an election to fight!

In conclusion, our ire should not be directed towards Ms Alexander, but against the pusillanimous leadership of Henpecked Henry.

ANOTHER ONE LOST - HENRY

The Labour candidate to contest Strathkelvin and Bearsden, the seat being vacated by Sam Galbraith is to be Brian Fitzpatrick. Mr Fitzpatrick was an adviser to the late Donald Dewar, and he left when Mr McLeish took over; he was head of the policy unit, and rumours that he and Mr McLeish disagreed were always denied. Rumours that Donald Dewar and John Reid disagreed were also strongly denied, so strong denials don’t really mean anything.

Mr Fitzpatrick was the preferred candidate of London Labour, and they expect he will be promoted early in his career. The preferred candidate of Mr McLeish was David Martin MEP; Mr Martin has been a Euro MP for 17 years, and is vice president of the European Parliament. He wishes to sit in Scotland, having spent all these years travelling back and forth, and would have been a natural for a senior ministerial position.

He was not allowed to go on the short list, because the party’s national executive in London ruled that he had not asked their permission; as it was a by election for the Scottish Parliament he was not aware that he required their permission. 

So London rules yet again; we suppose we should have some sympathy for Mr Martin, but the old saying comes to mind, "If ye maun fly wi’the craws, ye maun be shot wi’the craws."

THE ALMANAC OF SCOTTISH POLITICS

The Almanac of Scottish Politics was launched by Politicos Publishing on 22 Mar 01. It is a guide to Scottish politics written by Dr Peter Lynch of Stirling University and Gerry Hassan, a writer, researcher and political consultant.

The Almanac provides detailed profiles of all Parliamentary constituencies, MPs, MSPs, MEPs, prominent Scots politicians, election and referendum results and opinion polls.

Speaking at the Almanac launch, Gerry Hassan said "The Scottish voter now has a staggering 18 elected officials to represent their political interests. One constituency MSP, 7 regional list MSPs, 1 Westminster MP, 8 Members of the European Parliament, and 1 councillor.

"The voter may well be spoilt for choice here. But more likely , they are quite confused about who their representatives actually are and what they do. The Almanac of Scottish Politics has been written to help voters to get to grips with the large number of new politicians now claiming to represent them".

Peter Lynch said "The Almanac offers an up to date guide to the careers and activities of the main movers and shakers in Scotland from the Ministers to the party leaders and the backbenchers in the Scottish Parliament and at Westminster.

"It also provides a guide to the forthcoming electoral battle with assessments of the likely outcomes of the election in all of Scotland’s 72 Westminster constituencies. It covers all seats from Orkney and Shetland to the Borders and Aberdeen to Argyll and Bute.

Contact: Peter Lynch p.a.lynch@stir.ac.uk 

UNAVOIDABLE ISSUES - DEATH AND TAXES

This week the Scottish Government published Scottish Social Statistics 2001 which details statistical information relating to a wide range of social policy areas such as life expectancy.

Commenting on the report, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Shadow Health Minister, said 

"The information in this document highlights that female life expectancy in Scotland is the worst in the whole of the European Union, and male life expectancy, with the exception of Portugal, is also the worst.

"This shocking fact is a damning indictment of the record of successive London governments, both Labour and Tory. It is completely unacceptable and highlights that although Scotland is a rich country with vast natural resources, it is not yet a rich society, with far too many people dying before their time".

"Life expectancy is a fundamental indicator of the health and well being of society - these figures indicate that there is something far wrong with the way Scotland has been run over a long period of time".

As to the other inevitability, Taxes, the SNP launched its Honest Taxation Policy this week; moving the burden from Indirect to Direct Taxation will be a key feature of the SNP approach.

The party will be producing a Comprehensive Review of Taxation (CRT) which will deliver fairness, simplicity, transparency and honesty in the taxation system. In advance of this, the party will cut taxation on fuel by 10p a gallon (Including VAT) ; this cut in taxation will cost £65 million and will be paid for by introducing an extra 5p band on earnings over £100000 per year. This would affect only about 10000 Scots, and their income over £100000 would be taxed at 45% instead of 40%; this is estimated to raise £80 million.

The policy was launched by John Swinney MSP, SNP Leader, and Andrew Wilson, MSP, Shadow Finance Minister, and inevitably caused alarm and despondency in the ranks of the enemy. For Labour, George Foulkes bleated on about something, not clear what, but it couldn’t have been about taxing the rich, could it? (His remarks obviously made an impact, when I can’t remember). Raymond Robertson, the appointed Chairman of the Tories (Nobody gets elected by the Tories in Scotland) went on about economic competence, completely ignoring the fact that the Tories were thrown out at the last election because they were economically incompetent sleaze-bags, and Charles Kennedy of the Liberals who attacked us for calling for a cut in fuel taxes, was in the Argyll papers that same week - calling for a cut in fuel taxes. No, nothing new there.

What did please me was an attack on the figures in a letter in the Herald by a chap in Dunblane, accusing us of Numpty Policies, and saying we couldn’t do our sums, and on this basis you couldn’t trust the SNP in office ; the next day Lee Hopley, SNP economics adviser in Westminster pointed out that the figures were supplied by Dawn Primarolo, Labour Treasury Minister in Parliamentary Answer 0985N on 14 Mar 01. Now how do you spell schadenfreude?

FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

The troubles we have had this year and last are due to the fact that both the Queen and Henry McLeish visited the Pope last year; this is the view of one Free Presbytery of the Church of Scotland expressed by Reverend John Macleod, clerk to the Outer Isles Presbytery. He called for a national day of humiliation to atone.

I thought we had one of these every time we were involved in international football.

William Hague was censured by the Parliamentary Standards Committee for claiming he had paid fees from speaking engagements into a trust that did not exist; no further action would be taken as the entry in the Members Register had been rectified. Although the name of the Trust was the William Hague Charitable Trust it was never set up, and it probably never would be.

Surprised it was not spotted at once; the terms Tory and trust are mutually exclusive.

Susan Deacon thanked the NHS staff for "going the extra mile " to help the service cope with winter pressure.

There was no winter crisis this year.

Only 25% of British adults between 21 and 35 see themselves as European rather than British; this compares with 33% on the Continent.

The poll was conducted by MORI, and only covered 189 adults in the UK, compared with 305 in France, 402 in Germany and 329 in Italy; it is not known if Scotland was included in the British sample. It was conducted during the foot and mouth crisis. Seems to tell us nothing.

Kevin and Ian Maxwell, the sons of the pension fund thief, Robert Maxwell, are challenging the Department of Trade and Industry which has banned them from being company directors.

The report on Robert Maxwell is supposed to be published this week; must ask Mrs Helen Liddell if she has a copy.

The most prosperous town from a business point of view is Grimsby; Edinburgh, although a centre of financial expertise only comes in at Number 60.

It is worth noting that Grimsby also has the lowest wages in area in Yorkshire and Humberside, and the second highest unemployment rate; starvation wages and backhanders can lead to profit.

A recent report in the Scotsman showed that Coutts & Co, the Queen’s bankers, were giving £78 million to the Welsh National Opera.

The report was amended the next day; they were only giving £330000; we were expecting Sam Galbraith to appear on their Board of Directors.

The Independent Television Commission’s annual performance review for the year 2000 said Scottish TV exceeded its licence requirements in the coverage of Scottish affairs.

The SNP survey in February 2001 showed that on ITN and STV Scotland Today, from 576 mentions of political parties, UK Government, Scottish Executive, Labour and Liberal Democrats were mentioned 411 times, 71.35%, the Tories were mentioned 119 times, 20.65%, UK Federal Liberal Democrats 21 times, 3.65%, and the SNP a humbling 17 times, 2.95%.

SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

See our Scottish Food, Traditions and Customs in our Features section

DATES IN HISTORY

THE REBELS CEILIDH SONG BOOK

MACPHERSON'S FAREWELL
(As sung by Jimmy McBeath)

Fare-weel ye dungeons dark and strong
Fare-weel, fare-weel to thee.
MacPherson's time will no' be long
On yonder gallows tree.

Chorus:
Sae rantinly, sae wantonly, sae dauntinly gaed he,
He played a tune and danced it roon'
Ablow the gallows tree.

'Twis by a woman's treacherous hand
That I was condemned to dee.
Abune a ledge at a window she stood,
And a blanket she threw o'er me.

The Laird o' Grant, that Highland saint,
That first laid hands on me,
He pled the cause o' Peter Broon,
To let MacPherson dee.

Untie these bands from off my hands,
And gie to me my sword,
An' there's no' a man in all Scotland
But I'll brave him at his word.

There's some come here to see me hanged,
And some to buy my fiddle,
But before that I do part wi' her,
I'll break her thro' the middle.

He took the fiddle into both o' his hands,
And he brak' it ower a stane.
Says, there's nae ither hand sall play on thee
When I am deid and gane.

O, little did my mother think
When first she cradled me,
That I would turn a rovin' boy
And die on the gallows tree.

The reprieve was comin' ower the Brig o' Banff
To set MacPherson free,
But they pit nock a quarter afore
And hanged him to the tree.

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
for other poems, stories, sayings and words in the Scots language

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. 15
[Clicking on the picture will bring up a life size version which you can copy to your desktop or print out]