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However, what did intrigue me was a life size replica of the galley of Don Juan of Austria from the Battle of Lepanto; I had almost forgotten about Don Juan, and in fact my only recollection of him was a line from G.K. Chesterton’s poem, which said "Don John of Austria is going to the war." I hadn’t connected Don Juan of Austria with Spain, but I did remember the start of Chesterton’s poem "White founts falling in the Courts of the sun, And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run."

After searching through my poetry books in vain, I looked on the Web, and there I found the poem by G.K. Chesterton, and the account of the Naval Battle of Lepanto; they can be found at: http://www.nafpaktos.com/lepanto_poem%20g.k.chesterton.htm for the poem, and http://www.nafpaktos.com/battle_of_lepanto.htm for the battle. Judging from the account of the battle, it is probably true that most of the casualties on each side were due to "friendly fire"; not that they hit their own ships, but nearly all the ships were galleys, manned by slaves, mainly prisoners, so when the Christians sank a ship, the oarsmen who went down with it would be Christians. The Christians were no better, as their ships were also manned by prisoners who would probably be mainly Moslems. The account says that 15 Turkish ships were sunk and 177 taken, and some 12000 to 15000 Christian rowers were freed, but only states that 17 ships and 7500 men were lost by the crusaders; there were approximately 300 vessels on each side.

This decisive battle between "the forces of the Crescent and the Cross" took place on 7th October 1571, and while the Ottaman Empire is no more we still have conflict, if not specifically between Christianity and Islam, but certainly between the Western way of life and certain extreme elements of Islam. Mankind doesn’t seem to learn.

TRANSPORTS OF DELIGHT

It would probably be more accurate to say that Labour’s transport policy is not working; when they came to power they pledged to significantly reduce traffic congestion and improve public transport. They have failed miserably, and in fact the only bit that seems to be working is the congestion charging in London itself, proposed by the man Labour opposed at every turn, Ken Livingstone; I can’t say I feel any measure of approval for the man myself, but his controversial plan seems to be effective.

Labour themselves tried to get approval for congestion charging in Edinburgh; they carried out s selective referendum a year or so ago, and when the results didn’t suit they "weighted" them. The theory was that as not enough people in Edinburgh had responded, if they had they would have voted the way the Council wanted, so they adjusted the figures accordingly; the Council reacted with injured innocence when they were found out!

Anyway, private car usage in Scotland is at an all time high, so the Strategic Rail Authority has said that spending on railway maintenance has to be cut; this seems illogical, but the idea is to spend more of the money in London and the South East, where the biggest shambles is, and let the rest go to hell in a handcart. When Labour was elected they were elected on a pledge to renationalise the railways, but that was just a lie to get them into power; there is no doubt that the privatisation of the railways was a massive disaster, created by John Major when Prime Minister. Even Mrs Thatcher for all her pigheaded stupidity of "public bad - private good" while approving of the starvation of resources to rail, was not daft enough to privatise the system. Our Continental cousins look on in stunned amazement.

There is only a very minor railway network in Edinburgh, but we have bus lanes and traffic calming; in his book "The State to Come" Will Hutton, commented on traffic congestion and pollution by linking them to one man buses. Before the bus lanes, other vehicles queued up behind buses as the driver painstakingly took the fares and gave change, while the air was filled with diesel fumes, and the imprecations of the other drivers. He also pointed out that the lack of passenger security on one man buses was inhibiting passengers using the service; aye, privatisation was a wonderful thing. (I went to check what Will Hutton actually wrote, but couldn’t find the book; my annoyance at the fact that my eldest son had borrowed it and not returned it, was only slightly mollified by the realisation that I still had Will Hutton’s other book, "The State We’re In", which I had borrowed from my youngest son a few years ago, and forgot to return!) Now that there are bus lanes, the traffic does not pile up behind the bus, but sits in an even longer queue beside the lane, empty of buses - or any other vehicle.

According to a recent report, Britain has the highest road-rage rate in Europe, and when we look at traffic calming we can begin to understand why; in general, traffic calming means narrowing the roads, widening pavements, one way systems, and speed bumps. Where I live, Edinburgh Council, advised by the transport guru, Professor David Begg, who was an Edinburgh Labour councillor but has now fled to Aberdeen, put speed bumps on a recognised main through road; all the cars now avoid that road and come along the residential street where I live. Rat-running is giving all residents headaches, and being deplored all over the country, but ours was inspired by the Council; maybe not many Labour voters here, as Edinburgh West was a Tory seat and is now Liberal. While many of us would like speed bumps in our street the Council has used up all the money - so tough.

SNP policy for the railways is to have the rail operating companies and Network Rail merged under a Scottish Public Transport Investment Trust - SPRINT- ending the massive subsidies landing in the private investors’ pockets, as is happening under the current system. I haven’t quite caught up with the bus lanes yet, but then neither has anyone else!

CHANGING SNP CONSTITUTION

SNP leader John Swinney has received some criticism for stating that the SNP constitution should be changed to make it more difficult for any individual to challenge the leader; this is not unreasonable, as under the present constitution only one SNP Branch is required, and thus we could face a leadership challenge every year.

As it stands, we are giving a hostage to fortune; as the leader of the SNP is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the Scottish Parliament, this is damaging to the SNP as a whole; upping the threshold for a challenge is sensible politics, because if there is a serious challenge, as there was three years ago between John and Alex Neil, there is no problem. What we do not need is for a minority in the SNP to be doing the Unionist parties’ work for them; perhaps the statement should have been made by another office bearer, but John Swinney’s biggest problem is that he is honest. I do not accept the view expressed in some quarters that he is unpopular; he is certainly popular in his own constituency where he increased his vote. What I would accept is that he is not yet sufficiently well known; maybe we should arrange to have him thrown in jail!

The present situation reminds me of a story told by the late Dr Robert McIntyre of a meeting he addressed when he stood as the successful candidate for Motherwell & Wishaw in 1945; a heckler asked him from the floor, "Wull the candidate get peyed?"

Robert replied that, yes, he would be paid, but as he was a doctor earning a reasonable salary, if he was elected he would be worse off. "Weel" said the heckler "Hoo can we expect the candidate to look efter oor affairs, when he canna look efter his ain!"

SNP RULES - OK?

POLICY MAKING PROCESS

Amidst all the claim and counter claim surrounding the leadership "challenge", we thought it worthwhile to publish how the SNP works.

Branches and Constituency Associations send delegates to the various national bodies which help determine the policy and direction of the party, National Assembly, National Council and Annual Conference. The National Executive Committee is responsible for the day-to-day organisation and administration of the party, and devising the SNP's national political strategy.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) :

meets monthly and is the body which is collectively responsible for the interpretation of policy between meetings of National Conference and National Council. It is charged with devising the SNP's national political strategy, as well as overseeing the organisation and administration of the party. NEC members report to National Council and Annual Conference and are open to question by delegates. Members of NEC are elected by annual national conference.

National Assembly:

is the forum for the development of policy within the party at which policy is debated and discussed, before being presented to the party fo r approval at National Council or Annual National Conference. National Assembly provides the opportunity to invite speakers from outwith the Party to address members on important subjects of special interest. Delegates from branches and constituency associations send delegates to National Assembly, which meets when necessary.

National Council:

is the governing body of the Party between conferences, and meets quarterly. In addition to hearing reports from National Office Bearers, Council also has the power to make policy. Council is made up of one delegate from each Branch, two delegates from each Constituency Association, representatives of parliamentary groups and affiliated organisations, and thirty Members elected by Annual National Conference.

The Scottish National Party's Annual National Conference is the supreme ruling body of the SNP and, as well as making policy, elects the party's national office bearers and national executive committee.

Conference is attended by more than 2,000 delegates, observers, diplomats, and media, who attend together with the SNP Members of the Scottish Parliament, European Parliament, Westminster Parliament, and Local Councillors.

Any member of the party can attend these national meetings, though only delegates can speak or vote. If you want to attend you must bring your current membership card with you.

The dispute goes on; now we are told that the original cost was to be somewhere in the region of £10 to £40 million, probably predicated on the cost of refurbishing the Royal High School, rather than what we got. In fact, just before the Referendum I attended a meeting of Scotland Forward in the Royal High School, addressed by Henry McLeish, Jim Wallace, Alex Salmond Winnie Ewing and Sean Connery, and the debating chamber did not look unreasonable; often wondered why the Secretary of State for Scotland, Donald Dewar, did not attend? Perhaps he was busy trying to stymie the Referendum, which was held in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death, or maybe he would not have been comfortable in the Nationalist shibboleth.

One would like to think that it was all water under the bridge by now, except for the fact that the building is a public relations disaster; some criticism has been advanced that the SNP should have given the issue a much higher profile during the Scottish Election campaign, by demanding that the Westminster Government should pick up the tab. There is a degree of validiaty in the claim, as the location, design, architect and builder were all chosen 18 months before the Parliament was elected; I checked SNP press releases for that period, and while the Parliament was an issue, no one was suggesting that Westminster pay for it. What I did come across, and must have missed in the heat of the campaign was some information uncovered by Fergus Ewing; Bovis Lend Lease, the main contractors for the Parliament building, had raised an action in the Florida Court against Flour City for some $2.6 million. The sting in this one is that Bovis took action against Flour City before they terminated the contract in Edinburgh, and it was on behalf of themselves; any money they obtained they would keep, so they were not acting on behalf of the Parliament, who are trying to recover £4 million from Flour City. Bovis gave a contract for £7 million to this company with assets of £2, no British directors, and no UK track record!

Interesting sidelight on the court case; the judge concerned, Judge Margarita Esquiroz of Miami Dade County, was also the judge who rejected a request by Republican supporters to keep the infamous ballots out of a machine during the American Presidential Election. I have read the various reports of the incident, and I cannot make my mind up as to what that actually meant! Also I have no follow up on the Bovis case. Bovis themselves seem to be going from strength to strength, getting a contract last year in conjunction with Babcock International from the Ministry of Defence to manage the construction/refurbishment of the Single Living Accommodation Modernisation (SLAM) programme. Obviously well in with the Establishment.

Anyway, I digress, as is my wont; life is full of tangents to go off to. We are not entirely sure as to when Lord Fraser of Carmyllie starts his inquiry into the Scottish Parliament, but it might be October. The inquiry will have no official status, unlike the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly, but Lord Fraser has said he is confident that he will be able to access all the correspondence and minutes he requires; certainly, after the openness of Hutton, and the serious consequences arising from that for the Government, it will be difficult for the shadow people to hide behind "commercial confidentiality" and the 30 year rule. I have no doubt that Pete Wishart MP will supply him with the list of questions he asked in the House of Commons, together with the answers he didn’t get; again Lord Fraser says he will be very public if anyone does not accede to his "requests". It is up to us to see that he makes the right requests!

FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

Donaldson’s School for the Deaf, that imposing building in Edinburgh, once coveted by Queen Victoria, is being sold for flats; in the late Seventies it was considered as the ideal building for the proposed Scottish Assembly but the owners refused to sell. It was never even mentioned when the new Parliament building was being considered by the late Donald Dewar in 1998.

It would have been ideal, and its previous use would have been particularly apt for the current Scottish Executive.

Newspaper headlines do not always inform one correctly, especially when they are abbreviated to fit; one example found in the Observer, praising Prince Charles for intervening with the Saudi government said "Prince helped Saudi jail Britons."

We think we know what they meant............

The Atkins Diet, which is all the rage with slimmers at the moment, seems to work very well; can’t remember any details, but one drawback is that you land up with bad breath.

Or how to be slim, attractive....... and unapproachable!

The unfortunate people actually flooded out did not receive counselling.

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, the latest PFI flagship, has improved on that; their meals come from Wales.

The leader of the Scottish Socialist Party went to jail this week as he refused to pay a fine for taking part in an anti-nuclear protest.

Obviously following his principles, and not in any way connected to the fact that the new female MSPs in the SSP are getting all the publicity lately.

Ah, the Queen; God bless ‘er.

Re-opening of Scotland Act must include new powers
Holyrood, 27 August 2003.

Any re-opening of the Scotland Act to change the way the MSPs are elected must also include increasing the powers of the Parliament, Shadow First Minister Mr John Swinney MSP said today.

Speaking after it was revealed that Labour are considering backing the SNP’s policy of introducing the Single Transferable Vote system for Scottish Parliamentary elections, Mr Swinney said that, on its own, this would do nothing to improve the lives of ordinary Scots. Commenting he said:

"We have long campaigned for STV, but let’s not have any illusions about changing the electoral system. It is a fairer, more proportional system, and we hope Labour do come round to support our position, but on its own, it will do nothing transform this country.

"On its own, it will not tackle the problems faced by our faltering economy, the communities plagued by crime, the ten of thousand languishing on waiting lists or the low standards in our schools.

"Any re-opening of the Scotland Act must look at the powers the Holyrood has and top of the list must be tax. Re-opening the Scotland Act is a perfect opportunity for Scotland to take control of the tax powers we need to turn our economy around. And in doing so, make a real make a real difference in people’s lives."

INVERNESS FLIGHTS STILL GROUNDED
Wed 27 Aug 03

EXEC HAVE TALKED PLENTY AND DELIVERED NOTHING - MACASKILL

At a press conference in Inverness today (Wednesday) Shadow Transport Minister Mr Kenny MacAskill MSP and Councillor Jean Urquhart have produced a paper showing that no new direct flights have been launched through the Route Development Fund from Inverness and that only one minor contribution had been made to a route in the Highlands. Mr MacAskill said;

"Inverness flights are still grounded and it's entirely unacceptable. The Route Development Fund is for all airports not just central belt ones. The Airport is wholly owned by the Scottish Government and it's time that this and the fund were put together.

"The destinations launched at Edinburgh and Glasgow Prestwick are the type of routes needed in the North. So far the Executive have talked plenty and delivered nothing.

"New direct flights to European and other UK cities are essential for inbound tourism and outbound business. The competition is growing not just within the UK but with new destinations in Eastern and Central Europe. The Highlands needs to be accessible at an affordable price. Aviation is vital in that respect. It's time that Inverness Airport was properly assisted to allow take off for new direct flights."

Speaking later, Councillor Jean Urquhart said;

"Tourism and business in the Highlands and in Inverness in particular is suffering through poor air links. The purpose of the Route Development Fund was to target areas where there was a perceived market but some assistance was required. Routes to the likes of Cologne and Stockholm are precisely what the North needs.

"Moreover the Highlands are precisely where many of these tourists want to come. Direct flights will boost Highland Tourism exactly the same as it has done for the Central Belt. The Highlands because of its geography needs these flights and the visitors because of the distance involved require them. It's a win-win situation. Put on the flights and the tourists will fill them. Its time the North got its share of the fund and new routes."

TAX POWERS KEY TO TACKLING ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Tues 26 Aug 03

DARLING FACES FROSTY RECEPTION FROM BUSINESS

Alasdair Darling will face a frosty reception from Scotland's business community if he fails to recognise the need for Scotland to have greater tax powers, Shadow Minister for Enterprise and the Economy Mr Jim Mather MSP said today (Tuesday).

Speaking after Mr Darling announced plans for a Joint Ministerial Committee on the Scottish Economy, Mr Mather said:

"Obviously we welcome any move that aims to support and strengthen the Scottish economy. As will the Scottish Executive, who have done nothing material in their own right to achieve the "top priority" of growing the Scottish Economy.

"However, if Alistair Darling is now meeting the same business people, who have seen our case for the Parliament having financial freedom, without offering those powers, he will be likely to receive a frosty reception.

"The penny has dropped with the business community and the likes of David Steel and the Scottish Tories that Scotland needs the power to compete and that means that the Scottish Parliament must have tax powers.

"Anything short of that will not work and any statement that "The Government will do everything it can to work with Scottish Business" will cut no ice without the addition of Tax Powers."

SNP TABLE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE ON DARA JOBS
Tues 26 Aug 03

THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE MUST COME CLEAN SAYS CUNNINGHAM

SNP MSP for Perth Ms Roseanna Cunningham has today (Tuesday) tabled a debate in the Scottish Parliament which will take place on Thursday 4 September about the threat to almost 350 jobs at the DARA plant at Almondbank in Perth. Ms Cunningham said:

"It is time for the Ministry of Defence to come clean about the threat to the jobs at the DARA plant at Almondbank.

"There are almost 350 people working at the site in Perth and these jobs are vital to the local community.

"These jobs are highly specialised and technical and if they are lost not only will it have a huge impact on the local economy but it will also be a serious loss to Scotland as a whole.

"Workers cannot be expected to wait around worrying that their jobs could be on the line and it's time that the Government at Westminster made an effort to put these workers first.

"This is why I have tabled a debate in the Scottish Parliament next week so that I can try and achieve some peace of mind for the DARA workers in Perth.

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