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CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926)
Compiled by Jim Lynch
[Issue 49 - 11 May 2001]

This is the penultimate Opinion Poll before the General Election; for Labour activists this means that there will be one more. Anyway it shows a drop for Labour from last month, and a slight increase for the SNP, but it does not look as if the handling of the foot and mouth epidemic has had a dramatic effect. This is probably because the Minister for Rural Affairs is Ross Finnie, a Liberal Democrat, and he seems to have worked very hard and been reasonably consistent. You see, we do sometimes give credit where it is due, but only sometimes, and it could be that the 1% increase in the Liberal Democrat position is due to Mr Finnie. The Tory percentage is up by 3%, and we think that is because former Tory voters can see nothing different, so they might as well return to the fold.

As it is, we are always happy to see our percentage rising, and we are going in to this election in a stronger position than we went into the General Election in 1997; we do not envisage the same kind of vicious onslaught as Labour mounted in the Scottish election in 1999, as the people in Millbank will have to cover the whole of the United Kingdom and will not be able to concentrate their vitriol on the SNP.

WESTMINSTER PARLIAMENT

The poll for the Scottish Parliament is also interesting, particularly as the Herald, which commissioned the System Three poll, as it has done for the past few years, did not see fit to publish it, but left readers to work it out for themselves from the political comment. ( I did try a search on the Internet but all I could get was a Mexican memo!) We ponder the significance of this decision, as it surely could not be that they did not wish to see New Labour pictured in a bad light - or could it? New Labour dropped 5 points on the First Vote and 4 points on the second, and the SNP was static on the first and 1 point down on the second; Liberal Democrats and Tories both showed an increase. However, the answer will be that all eyes are on Westminster (yawn) so they concentrated on that.

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

As noted in the above figures, New Labour are down on the second vote compared with the actual election, but level pegging on the first one; the SNP is up in both votes, and the Liberal Democrats and Tories are both down. The other parties, which mean the Greens, the Scottish Socialist Party and Dennis Canavan, are up on May 1999; interesting times ahead, particularly for Dennis Canavan.

THE YAWNING GULF

No, this is not a description of the forthcoming General Election campaign, but on how the Unionist Parties are going to fight the election campaign in Scotland. Consider, if you will, some of the dilemmas they will face: if Mr Blair wishes to make any major announcements on health , the fact that this is a devolved matter will lead to the SNP demanding equal time; a similar situation would arise with crime, agriculture, fishing, tourism, in fact every major move by the Labour Party could result in a challenge. This will lead to all sorts of interesting scenarios, as Westminster MPs have largely lost their public images to the MSPs, and they are less than happy about this, and in fact some of the challenges could come from the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament who could accuse their Westminster colleagues of invading their territory. All right, dream on......

Of course, all MSPs will be involved in the General Election, but the Scottish Parliament will be sitting as usual, so the MSPs will have to do their campaigning in their own time, ie after putting in a day’s work , and thus they will be in the same position as the rest of us; the case of the First Minister, Henry McLeish, and that of the Enterprise Minister, Wendy Alexander, is slightly different. They are paid a Ministerial salary, over and above the MSP salary, and while Mr McLeish will will not have as important a role as Ms Alexander, he will be totally absorbed in it, and should take a deduction in salary to compensate; after all he is the highest paid member of the Parliament, with some

£132000 to play with! As for Ms Alexander, as she sacked the new Chief Executive of the Scottish Board, Mr Rod Lynch, because he had another part-time job, how is she going to run Labour’s election campaign in Scotland, and be the Enterprise Minister as well? She is paid for public office, not for doing Labour’s work, and we would have thought there were enough Labour MPs with time on their hands.

Much has also been made about how much money is being given to the Unionist parties; Labour has received £2.4 million, the Tories £638000, the Liberals £178000, while the SNP has only received a measly £12000. Strangely, it was the Tories who were pointing a sneering finger (good expression that) and I seem to recall that they had an overdraft of about £5 million, but maybe their foreign treasurer, Lord Ashcroft, bought his lordship by clearing that debt. Labour of course will also have a large chunk of trade union money illegally taken from members in the form of political contributions.

As to how good Labour’s campaign team is in Scotland, they have closed down their telephone canvassing operation in Scotland and transferred it to a commercial centre in North Shields, near Newcastle; maybe they fear the Labour Party in Scotland going native

I nearly forgot; Cardinal Winning wrote to all the parties, asking for their views on marriage and families. The Scottish Catholic Observer printed all the replies, which were naturally drafted with this in mind. John Swinney addressed the Cardinal as "Your Eminence", as did Charles Kennedy, and William Hague wrote "Dear Cardinal Winning; they all signed their names. The sainted Tony wrote "Dear Tom", and concluded, "Yours ever, Tony."

DR COLIN BELL

It is with a great deal of sadness that I read that Colin Bell, a long time member of the SNP, a former editor of the Scots Independent, and a former Vice Chairman of the SNP, has left the Party and joined the Scottish Socialist Party. I find it difficult to understand, particularly at this stage, but in some ways it is like Oliver Brown’s comment "As soon as we have an independent government, I am going to join the opposition." Certainly, in the past, some of us might have felt the party had lost its way somewhat, and we could have left it, but if you wanted independence there was no place else to go.

Colin obviously feels that the Scottish Socialist Party has a role to play in delivering independence, and perhaps the recent merger of that party with the Socialist Workers Party may unite the far left. Certainly, the presence of the Scottish Socialist Party will harm Labour, and I sometimes think they hate Tommy Sheridan more than they hate us, hard though that may be.

The Herald story said that Colin had helped carry Winnie Ewing shoulder high when she won Hamilton in 1967, but the accompanying picture was of him carrying Stewart Ewing, Winnie’s husband, shoulder high in 1977; he did write to the Herald pointing out that whoever was doing the carrying, it was not him, something we had already noticed! Subsequent correspondence revealed that the picture was of one Tom Brady, SNP candidate in the Gorbals by-election of 1969; I know because I was there, in 1969 - not 1977!

The Scotsman reported that the Scots Independent, which for some reason they called the Scots Nationalist, was giving the Oliver Award to Murray Ritchie of the Herald, and listed among the previous recipients one Colin Bell, but they did not link the stories; maybe they are also in a call centre in South Shields.

A FRIEND FOR LIFE?

Or until the next offer comes along? The recent "Merger" between the Bank of Scotland and the Halifax Building Society has delighted the City; that of course is the City of London, and in particular the bankers, financiers, stockbrokers and chaps in lurid braces. They are concerned with money, other people’s principally, and with doing deals and the "Big is best" attitude. We know the City was delighted, but what about other people with an interest, specifically, the customers, and the staff? Well, I for one, as a humble customer, am not delighted; I transferred my accounts to the Bank of Scotland when I came to Edinburgh because it was a bank founded by one of the last acts of the Scottish Parliament. It is highly ironic that now we have the Scottish Parliament reconvened, the Bank of Scotland becomes an English institution, because deny it as they will, the Halifax is a much bigger operation, and the "Merger" will be like the Union of the Parliaments in 1707, lip service, and the power moves south.

It is a fait accompli, and the political parties, including the SNP, have to put as best a face on it as possible; Andrew Wilson, SNP Shadow Finance Minister, said "The merger of the Bank of Scotland and the Halifax and the resulting announcement by the new company that it will have its headquarters in Edinburgh confirms the city as one of the top financial centres in Europe - that much is very good news." He went on to say that there was a world of difference between a functioning corporate headquarters and the brass plate syndrome, and that the Bank of Scotland’s staff had served them well, and it was hoped that they would keep job losses to the minimum.

Stewart Stevenson, Prospective Scottish Parliament by-election candidate for Banff and Buchan said "It is important that any rationalisation is handled sensitively, and in full co-operation with the unions, so that the rights of staff are fully protected. The Royal Bank of Scotland has shown that Scottish companies can deliver from a company merger." Stewart went on to say that the integration of computer systems was particularly important, and that that had been the rock that company mergers had foundered on in the past.

The fact that the Chief Executive of the new company, James Crosbie, is intending to retain his home in Yorkshire and only spend one day a week in Edinburgh, is an ominous harbinger of the ultimate intentions. Perhaps, after independence, there will have to be a demerger, or we may just set up a real Bank of Scotland.

THE TARTAN DAY HARE

Our attempt to set the Tartan Day hare running has not yet had any noticeable effect, although snippets keep coming through from time to time; what we want to know is why the £30000 video film was scrapped, and on whose authority? The film was commissioned by the Scottish Parliament, and paid for by the same (our money) and it was deliberately sabotaged. So who authorised the money in the first place? Who decided it was a brilliant film? Who decided it was too good? Who decided that we should waste £30000 by junking it at a time it could have had a dramatic impact on the Scottish tourist industry when it was reeling from the effects of foot and mouth.

We believe the action constitutes fraud and a misappropriation of public money; if no answers are forthcoming, we note that the Scottish Parliament continues to sit during the General Election campaign, and we intend to seek redress through the public petitions process in the Parliament. We are taxpayers, and public money is not to be wasted in such a cavalier fashion.

THE JUNGLE DRUMS ARE SOUNDING

Yes, the drums are sounding, and the Labour Party want to see the General Election out of the road, because the Scottish Qualifications Authority is about to preside over another fiasco. Last week it was admitted that they were still short of 2500 markers, and the unions have become involved because of the very poor relations between staff and management which are causing concern; in addition, they have changed the information given to UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) in a way which will make it more difficult for UCAS to process student applications. There are still computer problems, and they do not have the staff to handle the amount of data expected from the schools.

A further bone of contention is that managers are receiving bonuses if there is no repeat of last year’s crisis, and that the success of the system would be a team effort; as it would appear likely that the shambles will be repeated it would seem that bonus paymants are unlikely, and that this is a totally unnecessary irritant. One telling comment which emerged was from Gordon Casey, regional officer for MSF union was that communications improved after managers discovered that the unions were giving evidence to the education committee of the Scottish Parliament.

As the victims will be the pupils sitting the examinations, and the teachers who prepared them, let us hope that there will be a substantial improvement, but it would seem that corrective action has been too little and too late.

TROUBLE OVER BRIDGED WATERS

The issue of the Skye Bridge is not going to go away, and we record that Robbie the Pict is continuing the attack on a few fronts. The Skye Bridge was the first PFI project built in Scotland, and it cost £23.6 million; the Bank of America, who financed the deal will receive £128 million, a nice little earner, and part of the Tories wonderful management of public finances.

The office of the EU Secretary General has registered a complaint from Robbie the Pict that there was corruption in the tendering process; it said "The Commission’s services will consider your complaint in the light of the applicable Community Law." In 1997 the Scottish Office was condemned by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons over the way the project was handled; apparently no attempt was made to see what the cost would be if it had been paid for from public funds. It is also the case that the paperwork to set up the bridge tolls was flawed, the documentation consisting of seven typewritten sheets which were neither signed nor dated; the Lord Advocate admitted to Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrat leader, and the local MP, that the documents were neither signed nor dated but were still valid!

Robbie the Pict is now taking the case to the High Court in Edinburgh claiming that among other things that the public are being denied access to crucial defence evidence in a criminal prosecution; it concerns a letter sent by the Crown Office on 6th Novemeber 1995 to Mr David Hingston, Procurator Fiscal at Dingwall. The letter was from the Lord Advocate, at that time Lord Rodger, and it is believed that it contained advice that non payers of the Skye Bridge toll should be prosecuted. Lord Rodger subsequently became Lord Justice General and heard appeals against subsequent convictions, and refused these appeals; thus he is alleged to have advised that they be prosecuted and then judged that his first judgement was correct!

Perhaps I have over simplified the issue, as it is pretty complex, but it would appear that there has been a violation of Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; we expect this to run and run.

FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

The Department of Trade and Industry is not going to publish its report on the allegation that Piers Morgan , editor of the Mirror, profited by buying shares which his financial journalists subsequently tipped, netting him a nice fat profit.

We confidently expect an expose of this government cover up - from the Mirror of course.

Members of the Scottish Parliament have been asked to stop asking questions because they cost too much to answer.

We wonder if anyone has asked about the £30000 Tartan Day film money squandered?

Britain achieved a record financial surplus in the last financial year some £37 billion.

OPEC’s Secretary General, Dr Rodriguez Araque, on a visit to Scotland said that high petrol prices were due to the Chancellor’s taxation policy. "Chancellor Brown gets more out of a barrel of oil than Saudi Arabia or any of OPEC’ ten other members."

The City, those very perceptive experts in short termism, gave Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman of BT, all the credit for the sale of Japanese Telecom.

Except that the sale took place on his first day in office, and all the work was done by his predecessor, the much maligned Sir Ian Vallance!

Three members of the Tory front bench in the House of Commons have laid down amendments to the Budget to cut the amount of tax paid by spread betting companies.

By coincidence, the biggest spread betting firm is owned by Stuart Wheeler, who donated £5 million to the Tory Party in January. (And here was I thinking it was Lord Ashcroft.)

The House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee has Geoffrey Robinson, the former Paymaster General for not disclosing that he received £200000 from one of the late Robert Maxwell’s companies.

The Committee has, however given him three months to allow the administrators of Pergammon ADB, a Maxwell company to search for it; as the payment was supposed to have been made in 1990, perhaps Mrs Helen Liddell, Maxwell’s "eyes and ears" could help.

SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

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

DATES IN HISTORY

SING A SANG AT LEAST
(compiled by Peter D Wright)

"That I for poor auld Scotland's sake
Some useful plan or book could make
Or sing a sang at least ........"

- Robert Burns

See the SING A SANG AT LEAST 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. 17
[Click here to bring up the crossword]