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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This year we have the elections for the Scottish Parliament, and also the Scottish local elections, so it will be a busy one for everyone involved in politics; as has been noticed with Edinburgh cooncillors backtracking on congestion charging, and on the ban on taking picture at Nativity plays, there is an election in the offing. With regard to the latter piece of nonsense, one comment said that the council could not have predicted what a storm their action would create; if that was the case it just shows how far out of touch New Labour is, because everyone else could see it coming!

We wonder if there was deeper agenda, as it pushed Cherie Blair and the Australian conman off the front pages of the newspapers!

The situation is very complex, and on the face of it manifestly wrong and absurd; from 1st January 2003, Spanish and Portugese boats have the right to fish in the North Sea, having stripped their own fishing grounds. The Danes had a 10% cut in their industrial fishing, reducing their quota to 1 million tonnes; as they use nets with a mesh of 8mm (Scottish boats use 120mm) when fishing for sandeels, they scoop up everything, cod, haddock, whiting, young and old, and while the Danes say that bycatches are minimal, one boat was found with 40% of its catch as cod, haddock and whiting! This displays the incongruity of limiting catches for human consumption, while allowing catches to feed pigs and poultry, and to make paint and boot polish; it is also important to remember that sandeels are a foodstock for the above species.

As it is, cod is not a staple for the Scottish industry, as we eat mainly haddock, and the haddock stocks are at their best for 30 years; slaithe is at its best for 20 years and whiting for 10 years. According to fishermen there is plenty cod in the colder waters further north, and their scarcity is more likely due to global warming rather than overfishing. Another daft idea is that if the fishermen catch other species not in their quota, then they have to be thrown back into the sea; as any fisherman could tell the scientists, most of the fish are dead, and if thrown back just cause pollution.

I read somewhere that only 8% of the fish caught in the North Sea is landed in Britain, and if that is true then whoever is supposed to be representing the fishermen at these talks should be jumping up and down. The interim position, until 1st February is , as far as I can gather, that the white fish fleet can fish for 15 days a month, the French have 25 days, the conservation limits on hake have been lifted to please the Spanish, and Ross Finnie the Agriculture Minister, says that 15% of the Scottish fleet has to be decommissioned. Now one would think that when a boat is decommissioned it would not fish any more, so saving the stock, but its quota can be sold, and there are Spanish companies set up here to buy the quotas! Well, blame the fishermen for selling the quota if you like, but they will be unable to sell their boats, and quotas have values. What a crazy system!

It is idle to expect the Labour Party and their minnows, the Liberals to do anything about this disaster; Bill Miller, Labour MEP, said that fishing was a declining industry, Tony Blair said 14,000 jobs depended on it, when it was 44,000, and just last year, when the fishermen wanted a paid for tie up scheme to help conservation, the Scottish Parliament voted for it, not once, not twice, but three times! Then the Labour Executive put on the pressure, and had a re-run of the vote; the craven Liberals backed down yet again, (Remember they also backed the new Parliament building in 2000, when it could have been halted.) and the tie up scheme bit the dust.

It is probable that illegal landings of fish will increase dramatically, and instead of turning a blind eye, the Scottish Executive will call on the Royal Navy and persecute and prosecute the fishermen for daring to fight for the livelihood that our inept politicians have taken away from them. How much simpler it would be if Scotland were free in 2003.

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FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

AS Mr Robinson was a key figure in drawing up the white paper which set up Neta, the saying "Hoist with his own petard" comes to mind.

Is there no limit to this man’s inanity?

Pull the other one.

The one o’clock gun in Edinburgh Castle always fires blanks, and as far as we are aware, has never fired a shot in anger.

It has now been fitted with a new laser sight, at a cost to the taxpayer of £100,000.

Shareholders in Railtrack are to be paid somewhere between £2.50-£2.60 per share; this is from taxpayers’ money. Shareholders in Marconi, which was also grossly mismanaged, may get 1/2p (the old fashioned halfpenny - or maik) in the £; Marconi of course was a public company.

Hey, wait a minute......?

Ah well, as the lynx is on the Lynch coat of arms, I will need to do my best.

Lord Irvine of Lairg is the Lord High Chancellor of England and is paid a salary of £180,000 a year, plus vast expenses; after 5 years service, he is entitled to a lump sum of £180,000 when he retires, and a pension of £90,000 a year.

After paying National Insurance for 44 years, a British pensioner receives £3,926 a year, but no lump sum. Tough.

SNP Westminster Chief Whip Pete Wishart MP today said the massive £24 million which has been spent on running the Scotland Office since devolution was "unacceptable and an abuse of taxpayers' money". Publishing the costs today, Mr Wishart said the Scotland Office should be scrapped before the Scottish Parliament and Council elections in May, when Scottish Secretary, Helen Liddell would become a publicly funded campaigner for New Labour and the money should be spent instead on front line health and education services. Commenting Mr Wishart said, "All of the law-making powers of the Scotland Office have been transferred to the Scottish Parliament leaving Mrs Liddell without a real job to do. She has nothing to do except go off on expensive foreign junkets, and pick fights with the media at home. Instead of being wasted on Westminster bureaucracy, the £24 million of public cash - including quarter of a million on special advisers squandered on the Scotland Office should be spent on front line services. The Scotland Office costs more and employs more people now than it did before the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, which is a huge waste of money."

A RED, RED ROSE
Robert Burns

O my luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O mu luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

SCOT WIT
Enjoy a Scottish Joke every week and listen to it as well