FOUR YEARS ON

I thought I had carefully worked things out that I would get Flag 200, and make a song and dance about it, but Ian Goldie scuppered me on that one; however as luck would have it, the Flag gets two anniversaries, so I’ve got 208, the four year one! Yes, the Flag has now completed four years, updated every week; while I have had help with the other compilers, Allison Hunter and Richard Thomson, joined this year by Ian Goldie, my colleague Peter D Wright has done the four years all on his own. The compilers can take a bow,and Peter can have a dram.

The number 208 also has a degree of nostalgia for people of my age; it was the frequency for Radio Luxembourg when I was in my late teens and early twenties, and the Sunday night Top Twenty was a must for everyone in my age group. Stars of the time were Kay Starr (no pun intended), Nat King Cole, Guy Mitchell, Ruby Murray, Johnny Ray, Frankie Laine, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Frank Ifield and one I remember well, Al Martino (Here in my Heart), who apparently gave a concert in Fife the other week. I heard about it too late to go.

Of course there were many, many others, but the above are the first to spring to mind. I know I’m getting old, but this was Scottish culture in the Fifties; very closely allied to the American one. (And people of my age group can still remember all the words of the hits of that era!)

DRAGON’S TEETH II

As commented by one of the many correspondents, strategists, analysts, experts, whose name is legion, "It is only what should have been expected, and if it wasn’t then it should have been." I refer to the fact that after the armoured columns had passed by in Iraq, leaving "liberated" territory behind them, armed men sprang up, like dragon’s teeth, to harass the flanks and rear of the coalition forces.

I do not expect anyone to think that the above words have a familiar ring, but in fact I wrote them in Flag 147 of 28th March 2003, and they apply to the state of Iraq today even more than they did then. For some time after the invasion, those of us who did not approve of the unilateral action of America and Britain at least felt that the world was rid of one vicious dictator, and that the Iraqi torture chambers could be bulldozed. The absolute shock and horror of what has been perpetrated on the Iraqi people, supposedly "in our name" has incensed and inflamed even moderate opinion in this country. The belief that even with no weapons of mass destruction found that Iraq would be a safer place is a complete myth. Is it any wonder that there is resistance when many Iraqis now see that one cruel and brutal dictator has been replaced by another cruel and brutal dictator, and a foreign one at that, for let us face it; while we are only becoming aware of the atrocities committed now, the people of Iraq have known about them from the beginning.

So where are we now? Iraq has been invaded, and as John Swinney pointed out, no link between Iraq and al Qaeda was found, but there is one now. The concentration on the invasion and the superior firepower totally obscured the fact that nobody had given any thought as to the aftermath, and the coalition has completely lost the moral argument. The fact is that the precipitate action has now left Iraq in a worse state than under Saddam Hussein, and billions of dollars will be required to rebuild Iraq, the work to be done by the country which wrecked it. And over in Afghanistan, the job there is unfinished with the Taleban and al Qaeda still battling away; the link was there, but George Bush was too keen to see to Daddy’s unfinished business he neglected to do the Afghan job properly.

It would seem that American foreign policy under the Bush administration is completely foreign to policy.

FOR WHOSE EYES ONLY?

I have to confess that I find the dispute between the Fraser Inquiry into the Holyrood scandal and the BBC totally incomprehensible; Lord Fraser had asked to see the unedited tapes of interviews filmed by the BBC for a documentary on the new Parliament building "The Gathering Place"but the BBC response was "No".

The documentary is being produced by the company Wark Clements, paid for by the taxpayer, and the programme is expected to be screened in the early part of next year. In an interview this week with John Milne of Newsnight Scotland, Ken MacQuarrie, the new Controller of BBC Scotland, defended the Board of Governors’ refusal to hand over the tapes, but said that after the programme was transmitted the tapes would pass into the ownership of Wark Clements, and that he could see no reason for them not to be made available to the Inquiry at that stage.

What is stopping the BBC handing them over is that they apparently gave guarantees to interviewees that the tapes would not be shown before the programme was transmitted, and the BBC are claiming protection of sources and "no one would want to be interviewed by the BBC if we broke our word." This begs a few questions; in the first place, this was not a secret documentary compiled by whistleblowers; in the second place it was paid for by public money, and in the third place they agreed to supply tapes of Donald Dewar and Enric Miralles, who are both now dead, so cannot object. However, I find it baffling that people agree to be filmed for a TV programme, but then do not want to appear on TV! In my experience, most people object to the fact that most of their pearls of wisdom are left on the cutting room floor, rather than the other way about.

Bearing that in mind, one may well ask what is the real reason that the Fraser Inquiry cannot get the tapes until after it has reported? Who is being protected, and why, and according to Ken MacQuarrie, if there are any embarrassing revelations they will appear in the published programme, so what is the point? Well, one wonders idly, can we believe that all the embarrassing items will appear in the finished article? The programme editor, Kirsty Wark, is not only a BBC presenter, but was also one of the nomenclatura who selected the design of the Parliament. Cherchez la femme?

A CRACKING VENEER

It is beginning to look as if our erstwhile First Minister, Jack McConnell, is getting a bit rattled; he reacted to a rumoured attack on his arts policy in one Sunday newspaper by giving an interview to another one. I suppose that as a tactic it worked, as I have heard very little about the attack on him by the first newspaper, but a massive reaction to his reaction!

It has been alleged that he leaked confidential information to a newspaper about the future plans for Scottish Opera, and that employees of the company read about the threat to their employment in the paper. Prevarication has followed prevarication, or to put it more delicately, no admission or outright denial has been made; Bruce Crawford MSP shrewdly called it "a severe lack of denial". The First Minister was asked to institute an inquiry into the leak, which he refused, on the basis that he might not have wished to institute an inquiry into himself, and calls to the Civil Service and the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner have fallen on deaf ears.

One interesting sidelight on the issue arose during the STV programme, "Politics Now"; Alan Cochrane, of the Telegraph, had an exchange of views with the editor of the Daily Record, who had scoffed at the employment prospects of Scottish Opera workers. "You would be shouting louder if it was shipyard workers" alleged Cochrane, a comment strenuously denied by the Record who hadn’t been given the leak. Incidentally while on the subject of leaks, when the Freedom of Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, ordered the Scottish Executive to disclose the contract with the insecurity firm Reliance, they complied by publishing the document with all the financial information blacked out. Then there was another leak, and the figures were published by........the Daily Record. All good clean fun.

SCOTLAND TOMORROW

This winter I have been watching schoolboy football; this was not dictated by a sudden interest, but because my eldest son broke his arm (playing football!), and there were transport problems with two grandsons who played football Saturday and Sunday, and a granddaughter who played hockey and basketball, Saturdays and Sundays (the youngest granddaughter is not yet into sport). This was living proof of what one of my friends has always said "A grandfather with a car is a priceless asset."

However, once the transport requirement was over, I found that I quite liked standing on the touchline on a freezing morning watching my grandsons play, and hopefully being mistaken for a football scout, and not something worse! (People ask you!) I never quite made it to the hockey or basketball, and I suspect my eldest granddaughter was relieved, although she never admitted it. The point of all this now comes: over the last month I have been at two Scottish Cup Finals. The first was the Scottish Youth Football Association Challenge Cup Finals, held on a Sunday at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie; there were four games that day, involving teams from Edinburgh, Stenhousemuir, Dundee, Aberdeen and Paisley, and we knew that there were football scouts there. ( The game I was watching was the final of a competition that started with 258 teams.) The second game was at Firhill Park in Glasgow, the home of Partick Thistle, and was the Final of the all Scotland under 13 Schools Championship, and the teams were Currie High School from Edinburgh and Stranraer Academy (from Stranraer); I did not hear of any scouts, but no doubt they would be there, and I don’t know how many secondary schools there are in Scotland, but I suspect a wheen .

On Mondays, both the Scotsman and the Herald produce special sports editions, 12 pages and 10 pages respectively. I scanned both eagerly; I found the results of the White and Mackay Lothian League Division One, the Caledonian Paper Super League, the Printagraph Super League and the Rockware Ayrshire District League, and in fact under the Senior/Junior category, 58 results. No mention of the Scottish Youth Finals. The day after the Schools Cup, I again scanned the papers. Very interesting; no Senior/Junior results, as it was a Tuesday, but I did find the German squad for the European Cup, more tennis names than you could shake a stick at, cricket, golf and orienteering, but again no mention at all of the Schools Cup.

So football scouts think it is worthwhile to watch these games, as they know there are Darren Fletchers, James McFaddens, Kenny Dalgleishes, David Marshalls and Archie Gemmells there, waiting to be identified, but the football press seems to ignore these games. I also realise that I am looking at this from a very personal point of view, as my eldest grandson played in both finals on the winning side but I think that it is sad that we have youngsters playing their hearts out, and being gratuitously ignored by the press. The press deplores the state of Scottish Football, but contribute to it by neglecting tomorrow’s stars. After one match at Hurlford in Ayrshire, I commented to my son "We’ve just been watching the Scotland team for 2014." Why is the football press not interested?

EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

As we prepare to go to the polls, or not, as the case might be, all the political parties are vying with each other for headlines. So far, the SNP has been luckier that the others, as we have managed to make an issue of "red lining" Fishing; as Westminster has already "redlined" Oil and Gas in the North Sea, all we’re asking is that they do the same for the fish!

Labour is in a bit of disarray; their Euro candidates are having a bit of mixed bag. When they did their ranking for the candidates, Bill Miller MEP came second, but because they are into gender balance, Catherine Stihler jumped over him. I have met her and she seemed a nice person to me. Of course, the top of their list is David Martin, and he is still under investigation over allegations of misuse of expenses; this is so far unproven, and may have more to do with the fact that he left his wife for Lorraine Davidson, former Labour spin doctor and now back to being a political journalist - completely impartial of course. Bill Miller did not turn up for the launch of the Labour campaign, seen as a bit of sour grapes, as Scottish MEPs are being cut from 8 to 7, with the likelihood of Labour losing one, being between Iraq and a hard place, so he might merit some sympathy, but not from us.

The Tories launched their campaign on the day that their leading man, Struan Stevenson MEP, signed in at the European Parliament for his daily dosh then immediately caught the plane to Edinburgh (standard procedure); his leader, Michael Howard, must have been less than chuffed at his grand press conference being dominated by "How do you reconcile fiddling your expenses with public office?" being directed at the hapless Struan. What stupid questions; politicians are held in low esteem because of the sleaze factor from the last Tory government. Honest Tory is an oxymoron.

They also must think that the voters have selective amnesia like themselves; they are promising to come out of the Common Fisheries Policy, after they sold out the fishermen when they joined the European Union, and think that we have forgotten that Michael Howard agreed to let Spanish boats into Scottish waters if Spain backed Britain’s opting out of the single currency. I suppose Michael Howard kept that quiet as he visited Gibraltar lately; they will be voting in the European Elections for the first time, but I doubt if the SNP will be on the ballot paper.

THE TEN NEW FULL EU MEMBER STATES

Scotland has a population of 5m but as a part of the UK is only allocated 7 MEPs out of the UK’s total of 72.

An independent Scotland would have 13 MEPs, a guaranteed seat at the top table and direct influence in decision making. Our fishing industry is a prime example.

POLICY POSTCARDS

We continue our publication of the SNP Policy Postcards; we will publish a new one every week, each one dealing with a different aspect of SNP policy. The full list can be seen on the SNP website under "Vision" and "Policy".

Scotland's representation in Europe

The number of MEPs Scotland sends to the European Parliament is to be cut from 8 to 7, as the number of UK seats falls from 87 to 78.

The SNP accepts that existing EU member states must be prepared to see a drop in numbers to accommodate MEPs from the new member states —but Scotland should not be treated as just another region of the UK. Scotland has a devolved legislature and therefore needs adequate representation in Europe, especially when one of our vital national interests is at stake.

The Scottish Parliament has extensive legislative powers in many of the areas where the EU also has legislative powers and can pass laws that will be binding in Scotland. That is why we should fight against our influence in Europe being diminished in any way.

Scotland has very little influence in Europe as it is. With no seat on the Council of Ministers, no Commissioners and fewer members of the European Parliament than we would have as an independent member state, Scotland simply can’t afford to see our representation cut even further.

FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

SNP MSP Richard Lochhead has established that the Scottish Executive has so far spent £300,000 on trying to find a new logo for Scotland, and that even more money will be spent before they get one; visitors to ElectricScotland will know that Alastair McIntyre has also come up with a new logo for the site, but we are sure that it has not cost anything like that.

Mind you, Alastair’s been spending his own money, not the taxpayers’.

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To enable more women to go out to work, tax relief will be given to people who employ nannies for their children; however, payments to family relatives will not attract the relief.

How very English middle class; tax relief for a nanny but not a granny.

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Hyperbole in the Herald: "I still die a little death every time my car kills a songbird on the road." Despite having driven thousands of miles in my time, I cannot recall ever hitting a songbird.

Obviously I have been driving on the wrong roads.

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With all the hysteria over illegal immigrants coming in to take over jobs and benefits, it was a bit surprising to read a report of three Albanian illegal immigrants arrested trying to smuggle themselves out of Britain.

Is this a worrying sign that the Tories are making progress?

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I was most interested to receive through the post a glossy brochure from Hebridean Island Cruises Ltd, operators of MV Hebridean Princess and MV Hebridean Spirit.

The address was Hebridean Island Cruises Ltd, Griffin House, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 3AN.

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At the beginning of May, the Scotsman published a detailed list of the new "working peers", with the emphasis that the bulk of them were Tony’s cronies; they did mention that the Scottish businessman, Irvine Laidlaw, was one of the Tory nominees, but made no mention of the fact that the list had been delayed until he had agreed to give up his tax free status in Monaco to become a lord.

Perhaps a bit sensitive to the fact that Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, who own the Scotsman, are tax exiles on the Island of Sark.

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SYNOPSIS

A selection of items from our elected representatives; many of them have been concentrating on the European Election on 10th June, but the political world goes on. I myself have been tramping round delivering leaflets, and blessing the good weather, apart from having to wear a baseball cap to protect my bald head!

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SNP MSP for the South of Scotland Ms Christine Grahame has welcomed an investigation by Frontline Scotland into ‘The Dog Dealers’ who breed puppies in appalling conditions and transport them in cramped cages to be sold in Scotland.

Ms Grahame, who last year launched proposals for a Members Bill into the issue said that she hoped the programme would help to end this vile trade once and for all. Commenting, Ms Grahame said:

"This is not a party political issue and as the Scottish Executive has now said they intend to bring forward similar legislation. I intend to assist them in any way I can so that we can bring this vile trade to an end once and for all."

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During Scottish Questions in the House of Commons, Mike Weir, SNP Member of Parliament for Angus attacked the plans by the Post Office to close branches throughout urban areas of Scotland as haphazard and ill thought out.

"The Post Office's Urban Reinvention Programme is proving to be a disaster for communities across Scotland. Rather than the well-planned and carefully organised programme the Minister described to MPs, the fact of the matter is that the only plan is that the Post office is approaching postmasters and saying 'We've a tub of public money to close Post Offices - which of you wants to go?'.

"Money should be used to support Post Offices, not to close them."

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Responding to an interview in the Times newspaper with Caroline Spelman MP, the Tories' Shadow Local Government Minister, in which she says that the Tories "will look at" a new version of the Poll Tax for local government finance, the SNP Party leader Mr John Swinney MSP said:

"The Poll Tax was an unmitigated disaster, which more than anything else destroyed the Tory Party in Scotland. "The fact that they are considering reintroducing an unfair, flat-rate charge - a 'son of Poll Tax' - will be the kiss of death for the Tories in the European election campaign.

"Those who do not learn from the history are destined to repeat it - and it is clear that the Tories have learned nothing since being flung out of power.

"Michael Howard was the Minister in Margaret Thatcher's government who imposed the Poll Tax on us. And it was also the Tories who brought in the Council Tax, which likewise bears no relationship to ability to pay."

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The court costs in the slopping out case against the Scottish Executive was over half a million pounds, it was revealed by SNP MSP for Central Scotland Ms Linda Fabiani.

In a written answer from Cathy Jamieson, Ms Fabiani was told that service costs were 520,000 pounds, this is in addition to legal aid costs which will be at least equivalent, and the 2,450 pounds that was subsequently awarded, bringing the total to over 1 million pounds. Commenting, Ms Fabiani said:

"It is quite staggering that the cost of the slopping out case against the Executive has cost the taxpayer over one million pounds. Equally worrying is the fact that they are going to appeal, bringing the prospect of another million pounds being spent.

"The judgement in the case was inevitable and the worry is that we could be faced with hundreds more cases against the Executive from prisoners who have been subjected to the same conditions."

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Speaking during a visit to Aberdeen Fish Market with Scottish National Party leader Mr John Swinney MSP, the SNP's top-placed candidate in the European election Mr Ian Hudghton MEP said that only an electoral threat from the SNP would save the Scottish fishing industry. Mr Hudghton said:

"For over three decades, successive UK governments - both Labour and Tory - have sold the Scottish fishing industry down the river.

"The UK government agreed to fisheries being an exclusive EU competence last year. And even more astonishingly, the Tories conspired in this crazy idea.

"As President of the European Parliament's Fisheries Committee, Tory MEP Struan Stevenson drafted an opinion calling for the CFP's objectives to be incorporated in the Constitution - and refused to vote for an SNP amendment rejecting fisheries as an exclusive competence.

"In this election, Labour offer more Brussels control of Scotland's fishing industry; the Tories stand for London control. Only a vote for the SNP is a vote for Scottish control of Scotland's fishing industry.

" Only last week, the Energy Chapter of the EU Constitution - which threatened Brussels control of the North Sea industry, and which Alex Salmond led the campaign against - was pulled from the document.

"The SNP were the power for change in seeing off the threat of the Energy Chapter.

"The fishing communities of Scotland will apply exactly the same lesson to saving their own industry."

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Shadow Transport Minister Kenny MacAskill MSP has launched a paper that revealed that Dundee Airport is yet to have received assistance for a new route from the Executives Route Development Fund and has only a solitary service to London City; Galway Airport in Ireland, with half the population of Dundee, operates six scheduled services to Dublin, Glasgow, London Luton, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham. Mr MacAskill said:

"There is absolutely no reason for Dundee Airport to have only a single service while an airport such as Galway operates a variety of different routes. The only difference between the two is in the ambition shown. Galway has set its sights high to attract new routes and the people in the city and surrounding areas are now reaping the benefits. Dundee must show the same aspiration, and not be content with the limited service currently available.

"The only obstacle to Dundee Airports’ expansion is a lack of ambition. It must reach for the sky and attract new services to the city."

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Welcoming the announcement by the Muslim Association of Britain that the people of Scotland should vote AGAINST Labour and the Tories in the European election - and FOR parties such as the Scottish National Party who opposed the war in Iraq - the Number 2 candidate on the SNP list Mr Alyn Smith said:

"The SNP welcome the call of the Muslim Association for the people of Scotland to vote against the Iraq war, and against Labour and the Tories, in the European election. The SNP are determined that the pro-war 'Labour/Tory coalition' will lose this referendum of Scottish opinion.

"Tony Blair dragged us into an illegal war - but he was egged on by the Tories, and they are both culpable for the bloodbath that has taken place.

"The SNP are the only party that can defeat Labour in this election, and the figures show that Scotland's Muslim community are voting SNP in ever greater numbers."

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The Scottish National Party today paid tribute to the generosity of a supporter who bequeathed more than £80,000 to the Party in his will. The SNP's Chief Executive Peter Murrell said "this is a tremendous boost for which we are extremely grateful". Mr Murrell said that leaving a legacy gives supporters "peace of mind of knowing that the SNP's campaign for Scottish independence will move forward on their behalf".

Alastair Black died in January 2002. He had been a partner in Alastair Black Gents and Boys Outfitters of Aberdeen. The total sum left to the Scottish National Party was £80,234.46.

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The leader of the SNP Westminster Group Alex Salmond MP, and the Scottish Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Angus Robertson MP, told Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw MP that the constitution needs to be changed otherwise the SNP will oppose it.

Central to discussions was Article 12 of the constitution which if agreed, would enshrine EU, 'exclusive competence' over fisheries. This would make it much more difficult to reform the Common Fisheries Policy which most people agree has failed.

The SNP believe that the removal of this section should be a 'red line issue' for the UK Government during the ongoing negotiations on the Draft Constitution and couldn't support it in a referendum without changes to the current text.

Speaking following the meeting, Mr Salmond said:

"Sadly Jack Straw and the UK government are not prepared to stand up for the Scottish fishing industry and the talks with the SNP are deadlocked.

"The Foreign Secretary is resting on the argument that the Tories made a mistake when they gave fisheries away to the then EEC and that they are not prepared to do anything about it. He is right that the Conservatives sold the industry down the river during the 70's but Labour is missing the chance to seize the opportunity to make changes to this disastrous policy.

"One ray of hope is that the Foreign Secretary has said that he will listen to the people. If people in Scotland agree with the SNP that fishing is important they should vote for the SNP in the European Parliament elections on June 10th. However if people don't think this key industry and employer should be a priority they can vote Labour or Tory."

Fisheries was originally given away by the Tories in 1972 during negotiations for the UK to join the European Economic Community. In 1983 Margaret Thatcher agreed to the Common Fisheries Policy. In September 2003 Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson argued for fishing to be entrenched in the European Constitution as an exclusive competence.