GRECIAN 2004
It
seems a long time since I compiled a Flag, but with
four compilers, and taking into account holidays the
programme gets slightly uneven. My last Flag was in
the wake of the European Election, and before John
Swinney’s resignation, so the Scottish political world
has moved a bit in the interim.
I was
on holiday, a cruise round the Greek Islands for a
week, plus a week in Corfu. None of us had ever been
to Greece, and during the cruise, we also visited
Turkey, which was interesting, if brief. This was the
only place where the Euro was not the official
currency, and we were somewhat taken aback when we
asked for four coffees and were told "Eight million
lira." Before we decided to sell our wives we asked
the price in Euros, and were somewhat relieved to find
it was only five Euros!
The
highlight of the holiday was when, quite unexpectedly,
Greece qualified for the Final of Euro 2004; we made
sure we ate early that evening, or we might not have
eaten at all, and it was a wonderful experience, being
in a country when they won a major football
tournament, and as I commented with deep satisfaction,
"It wasn’t England!" 1966 was 38 years ago but it
seems like only yesterday, as it is constantly
mentioned. Anyway, the Greeks went daft, dancing, car
horns blaring and ecstasy all round (with a small e).
There were flags everywhere, on cars, buses,
lorries,vans, bikes, motor bikes, houses, shops,
boats; the only things not bearing them were
supermarket trolleys, but that was because there were
no supermarket trolleys in our resort. (I had one
stuck on my forehead, a Greek flag, not a supermarket
trolley!) In the middle of the jollifications, a chap
with a marked English accent sidled up to me and
growled "And no bloody Russian linesman!" He was a
Scot living in England who had endured 1966. What a
night - and would that I could see similar displays of
the Saltire.
THE KING IS DEAD
As I
said in my opening remarks, John Swinney resigned as
SNP Leader just before I went on holiday, an event
which in retrospect now seemed inevitable, but which
made me angry; he was brought down by the constant
sniping from within the SNP, fomented by certain parts
of the media. I found the Scotsman in particular to be
scurrilous and demeaning.
I sent
him an email before I went off, and said that while it
was not an open letter, I reserved the right to
recycle bits of it in the Flag, so a couple of points
below:
"The
Party has never quite worked out how to proceed from
the point where we are now to Independence, because we
did not ever envisage being here. Hoary old
Nationalists like myself know where we want to be, but
have no set in stone plan. The old saying "If you are
going there I wouldn't start from here" holds firm,
but here is where we are.
"The
new Constitution you put in will go a long way towards
making the Party a more cohesive political force; it
is a great pity that you will not reap the benefits of
this as our leader.
"I am
glad that you became our leader, and sad and mad that
you were forced to demit office."
I hear
from the grapevine that John and his wife have been
spending a few days in Orkney, and that he is looking
relaxed and happy. Certainly, I cannot recall any
former SNP Leader having to put up with the level of
invective and pressure he has had, so his life just
now must be paradise indeed. Incidentally, listening
to and reading about the ways and means and ideas of
turning round the SNP fortunes, one would think the
leadership contenders had been on the planet Zog these
last few years, and not active members of the Scottish
Parliament. Or is it like Lord Hutton, or Lord Butler,
or whatever London whitewash we have had says, that no
one was to blame? The SNP under John Swinney was very
much a collective leadership, and not a one man band,
a point frequently made, so there is a degree of
culpability there too.
LONG LIVE THE KING
- OR QUEEN?
When I
went to an Internet cafe (with nae coffee!) in Corfu
to read Allison Hunter’s Flag, I was taken aback to
see that Mike Russell had entered the contest. The
next day, having a deep discussion with one of my
friends who is of the Labour persuasion (he reads the
Flag for Peter Wright’s bit, not mine) it became
apparent to me that if Mike won, then the Deputy
Leader would become Shadow First Minister. There is no
mechanism for by elections for list members, and
although the SNP was one member short, due to an
expulsion, Mike Russell could not get into the
Scottish Parliament before 2007.
That
scenario was fantasy, as while Mike is extremely able,
his open letter to John Swinney had much of the "Et
tu, Brute" about it, and the party would be less than
happy about that. Also, while the SNP Leader, up until
Gordon Wilson’s time, had never been in Parliament, we
now had a Scottish Parliament, and it was a different
ball game. And then along came Alex Salmond, and
turned the fantasy into reality, or quasi reality, to
coin a phrase.
It is
not my intention to promote any particular candidate,
and other compilers will do as they wish; in my fairly
close political circle we all have varying views,
which in itself is remarkable. (As Allison is Nicola’s
agent she cannot hide her support.) However, this
election is going to be very different from all the
others; I see from the press that something like 39
Branch Conveners and secretaries out of 67 contacted
are backing Alex Salmond. Now this sounds very
impressive, but 39 out of 8209 (the possible number of
voters) is 0.48% . It may be that the figure is
representative, but this is not a block vote where
branch meetings decide for all their members; this is
one member - one vote - and 8209 individuals. And
while I know my close political colleagues and I are
at variance, my wife and I will vote independent of
each other, because sometime that wumman does not
agree with me! So it is wide open.
While
the entry of Alex Salmond into the contest has given
us more publicity and excitement than for many years,
we have to be wary of the interpretation and the
consequences. Alex Salmond wants to strike terror into
the hearts of the Scottish Executive, and he is more
than capable of that, but he cannot do it at one step
removed; he cannot hassle Jack McConnell by proxy. If
Nicola Sturgeon is elected as Deputy she will be
subject to the calls of "Phone a friend" at First
Minister’s Questions; she is no doubt hard enough to
carry that off, but not for three years. On the other
hand, if the Party decides to limit Alex by electing
another Deputy, this would weaken Alex’s appeal, while
satisfying the Party’s democratic credentials; if the
Party does not elect Alex then we have the press and
the people calling us politically stupid.
I
referred earlier to the fact that there was no
mechanism for by elections in the case of list
members, and this is a definite flaw in the current
situation. I know it is the tradition in the
Westminster Parliament that Members can cross the
floor to join another political party, but they are
all elected on the first past the post system, as
individuals, so they can claim that they were elected
as individuals; this is patently untrue, as it is
really parties who are elected, but it is an
acceptable fiction. This is not the case in the
Scottish Parliament, where the proportional part is to
elect the party, not the individual; in the current
situation, we have a member, elected as SNP, attacking
the SNP and expelled from it, but still sitting in the
Scottish Parliament and taking money under false
pretences.
I WILL GO
At
present the Westminster Government are considering
ways and means of reducing the Armed Forces; this may
seem unusual, in that in the last 22 years we have
seen the Falklands War, the first Gulf War,
Afghanistan, Kosovo and the second Gulf War. However,
we should never underestimate the shortsightedness of
Westminster Governments; a few weeks back I watched
again the TV programme "The Gathering Storm", where
the British Government ignored the rise of Hitler’s
Germany, so nothing is new.
What
seems bizarre is that they are going to cut four
infantry regiments, one of them Scottish, the fighting
soldiers, and in great demand, while if it was costs
they were really after, Trident would solve the
financial problems at a stroke, but then America would
not like that at all. So while our troops are very
much in the front line in Iraq, a situation more
dangerous than during the actual war, their future is
uncertain, to say the least, and their wives and
families back in this country are insecure. Now
there’s a thought; while the troops are providing
security for families in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence
is providing insecurity for their own families at
home.
We know
that the British Army is stretched; the Black Watch
had to go back to Basra, having hardly been back home
long enough for the suntans to fade, and they might
get the chop. As a lighter aside, in 1953, when the
1st Battalion Black Watch sailed into Mombasa after
serving in Korea, there were crowds of Kenyans on the
shore to welcome this famous regiment; they were
somewhat discomfited when they discovered the famous
Black Watch soldiers were actually white.
In a
discussion with one of my friends he said he was glad
that Scottish regiments were being disbanded, as for
too long we had fought England’s wars, and suffered
disproportionately, and in the light of General
Wolfe’s comments on his Highlanders at the Battle of
Quebec "They are hardy and intrepid, and no great
mischief if they fall" it is not an unreasonable point
of view. I also think that when I was younger that the
regimental affiliation was a kind of substitute
nationalism; the substitute is almost gone. And while
we may no longer be fighting England’s wars, we seem
to be fighting America’s wars; if George Bush is
re-elected, where will they be sent next? Or could we
do the decent thing and tackle Zimbabwe - or Sudan?
Excerpts from the song "I Will Go" by the late Roddy
McMillan sum up the official view rather well.
When
the King's son came along he called us a' thegither,
Saying, 'Brave Highland men, will ye fight for my
father?'
I will go, I will go.
When we
landed on the shore and saw the foreign heather
We knew that some would fall and would stay there for
ever
I will go, I will go.
I will
go, I will go, when the fighting is over
To the land o' McLeod that I left tae be a soldier.
I will go, I will go.
When we
came back to the glen, the winter was turning,
Our goods lay in the snow, and our houses were
burning.
I will go, I will go.
Footnote: You can see the complete song in "Sing a
Sang at Least" further down the page.
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".
I did
note from far away Greece, and even much nearer
Edinburgh that my fellow compilers neglected this, but
with the momentous events, in SNP terms anyway, of the
last few weeks who could blame them?
The
Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
PFI
(renamed PPP by New Labour) is an expensive
privatisation policy which sees local communities lose
control of assets such as schools and hospitals – and
allows private companies to cream off profit out of
money designed to provide public services.
The SNP oppose this privatisation and would use
not-for-profit-trusts as a funding model for large
capital projects to allow communities to retain
ownership and prevent public money being siphoned off
to pay shareholders' profits.
Using PFI, the Scottish tax-payer is going to end
up paying £12.7 billion for new schools and
hospitals over the next 30 years – when the bricks
and mortar value of those self-same schools and
hospitals is only £2.7 billion!
The
SNP would set up a not-for-profit-trust to replace
the PFI privatisation. It’s estimated that for
every £1000m invested in a PFI deal at the moment,
our not-for-profit-trust would save £240m – that’s
£240m out of shareholders' profits and back into
public services.
Under PFI the interests of the shareholder are put
before the interests of the citizen, consequently
the ethos of profit replaces the ethos of public
service.
Public money should be used to provide public
services - not to pay private profit.
FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES
Interesting to see that Warren Buffet, the Sage of
Omaha, and the second richest man in the world, is
now looking at the London insurance market; Mr
Buffet has amassed his fortune by investing, and a
month or so back Money Observer magazine published
his 10 Commandments. Rule Number One was "Never
lose money."
Rule Number Two was "Never forget Rule Number
One."
I
see a report this week that the English counter
terrorism minister, Hazel Blears, has said that
every household in Britain should stock up on
tinned food and bottled water in case of a
terrorist attack.
Perhaps she then phoned her stockbrokers and
instructed them to purchase supermarket shares on
her behalf.
The
prevalence of the superbug, MRSA, in our hospitals
is being linked to the fact that hand washing is
no longer as common as it was.
Strange that should be the case, when politicians
are doing the opposite; we have a veritable tribe
of Pontius Pilates in office.
Bridge of Allan & Logie Branch in their latest
newsletter think that Tony Blair is showing
republican tendencies.
They see his sending Helen Liddell to Australia as
Governor General as an act designed to push
Australia out of the Commonwealth.
The
Financial Services Authority has said that the
banks are being too strict in their interpretation
of the rules on money laundering, and are making
life very difficult for the honest citizen going
about everyday business. When I tried to open
another account in the branch I have been a member
of for over 30 years, I was asked for my passport
and utility bills! (I went to another bank.) With
all the security, I wonder how Nigerian fraudsters
can still empty bank accounts?
Could it be that banks only have rules about money
coming in - not going out?
A
pint of water taken from Princess Diana’s memorial
fountain in Hyde Park, London, was sold on the
eBay auction website for £205; and was it only
this year that Coca Cola stopped selling its
mineral water after it was found to be straight
from the tap?
Verily indeed, there has to be more than one born
every minute
A
new form of investment in has become fashionable
in the last few years; an investor could buy a
life insurance policy, worth say £100,000, from a
terminally ill person for perhaps £60,000, and
then pay the premiums and make £40,000 profit when
the person died. However, a lot of terminally ill
patients got a new lease of life, and spent the
money on holidays and home comforts.
One
firm of financial advisers stopped dealing in
these, but not out of principle. "We pulled out of
this market altogether because we found the
sellers were not dying when they were supposed to,
and we were faced with large numbers of
disgruntled buyers." It would bring tears to a
glass eye
Since coming back from holiday I have been plagued
more than usual by phone calls from people asking
about my BT land line, or would I like a free
mobile phone, or do I own my home; I used to try
and be charitable and let them down lightly as
they were only earning a living.
I
now just hang up the phone in the middle of the
spiel; it may sound rude but it is they who are
intruding on my privacy with the sole aim of
taking money from me. Tough.
SYNOPSIS
A
brief look at what our elected representatives
have been up to this week; while the Scottish
Parliament is in recess, that does not mean that
our noble lads and lads are sitting in the sun
(noble in the true sense, not the lordly one).
Apart from everything else, there is a Leadership
contest going on!
The
Leader of the Scottish National Party at
Westminster, Mr Alex Salmond MP spoke in the House
of Commons debate about the war in Iraq. Speaking
after the debate Mr Salmond said:
"It
is now clear that there were several serious
failures in the government's intelligence over the
war in Iraq. An immoral and illegal war that has
led to the loss of thousands of lives. Yet we are
told by Lord Butler that no-one is accountable.
"The Prime Minister quite clearly took us to war
on a false pretence, following on the coat tails
of the US administration's discredited foreign
policy. I do not believe in the dictum my country
right or wrong, but Tony Blair clearly believes in
some one else's country right or wrong. He will
now be held to account by a higher authority than
Parliament - the people."
Pete Wishart, Scottish National Party MP for North
Tayside has slammed the government for snubbing
the Scottish Parliament. Speaking in Westminster
after the government published its ten year plan
on the future of road pricing, Mr Wishart
criticised the Secretary of State for Transport's
proposals which will reduce the powers of the
Scottish Parliament and would eventually replace
road tax.
The
proposals, unveiled in the House of Commons, would
eventually replace road tax with a system of road
pricing. This would return powers over road
pricing to Westminster. Pete Wishart MP said:
"There is no appetite for road charging in
Scotland yet this proposal will be forced on
Scotland by Westminster. The power to levy charges
on roads, or implement congestion charges lies
with the Scottish Executive but today the
government suggested that they would simply ignore
Scotland's concerns and go ahead and implement
this charging policy.
"If
Scotland wants to have road charging then this
should be a matter for the Scottish Parliament. It
is not good enough for Westminster to dispense
with the views of the Parliament just because they
may be inconvenient.
Nicola Sturgeon, SNP Deputy Leader candidate and
Kenny MacAskill, SNP Shadow Telecommunications
Minister, have called for a separate Scottish
television channel and for powers over
broadcasting to be devolved to the Scottish
Parliament.
Ms
Sturgeon and Mr MacAskill published a paper
outlining the cultural and economic benefits a
distinct Scottish television channel would have,
and proposes an autonomous BBC Scotland as the
best method of achieving it.
Ms
Sturgeon said: ‘Broadcasting is the most powerful
cultural medium, yet it is the only one denied to
Scotland. It is ridiculous that our national
parliament has no influence in this vital area.
What other country has a Culture Minister with no
say over broadcasting? As debates over the BBC
charter review rage and OFCOM considers its new
found role on broadcasting it’s unacceptable that
the parliament and the executive have neither a
role nor powers. In the wake of increased
transport powers for the Scottish Parliament, it
is surely time to devolve powers over broadcasting
so Scotland can take responsibility for promoting
our own culture both at home and abroad.
Otherwise, our indigenous culture will be lost in
a homogenised digital age.’
Mr
MacAskill said: ‘TV is going to be transformed in
the digital age and it’s vital that Scotland has
its own channel and voice. The new Scotland we
find ourselves in is fed up with news reporting
about Beckham’s metatarsal or English health and
education issues with no relevance to Scotland.
It’s time to set our own programme in
broadcasting.’
Also, a separate Scottish channel would create
jobs and help stem the flow of talented graduates
out of the country. The pacific quay development
offers a golden economic opportunity for Scotland.
We have huge numbers of talented people in this
field and yet most have to leave Scotland to prove
themselves. Irish TV station RTE employs 2000
people in Dublin, while the BBC employs half that
number in Glasgow.
Shadow Justice Minister Ms Nicola Sturgeon MSP has
branded
the decision to roll out the Reliance contract in
Dumfries & Galloway from
the 22nd of July as a "reckless move" which will
take a huge gamble with
public safety.
Commenting Ms Sturgeon said: "This is an
astonishingly reckless move by Cathy Jamieson.
"Reliance is not yet performing to an acceptable
standard in Strathclyde,
and letting them get their hands on other areas is
taking a huge gamble
with public safety.
"Cathy Jamieson seems to have learned nothing from
the experience of the
last few months. If she had, she would accept that
the Reliance contract
should not be rolled out - it should be scrapped."
Angus MP Mr Mike Weir has reacted with anger to
the announcement that the future of RM Condor
Arbroath is under threat as part of the Defence
Review announced in the House of Commons today.
Speaking after the announcement of the review Mr.
Weir said
"The Ministry of Defence have now confirmed that
they are examining the future of RM Condor and,
separately, the RAF's Volunteer Glider School
which is also based at Condor.
"The closure or downgrading of RM Condor would be
a severe blow to the economy of Arbroath, and will
be vigorously opposed by everyone in the town.
Many families in Arbroath have close connections
to the base as do thousands of families throughout
the country who have had family members serve at
Condor retain a great affection for the base."
Mr.
Weir said that everyone must prepare to fight for
the future of the base:
The
SNP has responded to today's statement by the
Secretary of State for Defence in regard to
proposed cut backs in the military. The government
announced that one of Scotland's six historic
regiments will be axed with the remainder of the
regiments being amalgamated.
It
was also announced that there will be cutbacks at
several bases in Scotland. Specifically the
Secretary of State confirmed that there will be
job losses at RAF Kinloss and RAF Lossiemouth.
Shadow Scottish Minister for Defence and MP for
Moray (home to RAF Kinloss and RAF Lossiemouth)
Angus Robertson MP said:
"The sword of Damocles now hangs over Scotland's
regiments. We are almost certainly going to see
one of Scotland's historic regiments go, and an
end to Scotland's distinct regiments with the
remaining five being amalgamated with new
artificially created super regiments. This news is
a disaster for the whole of Scotland, and our
service men and women deserve better treatment
from the government.
"My
own constituency of Moray will be particularly
badly hit. Moray is home to both RAF Kinloss and
RAF Lossiemouth and thousands of service personnel
in Scotland. These cutbacks, the privatisation of
services and the continuing uncertainty over
others will be a terrible blow to Moray. Already
the head of the local enterprise committee has
described this as potentially 'the biggest
economic disaster in living memory in the
Highlands'.
SNP
MP for North Tayside, Pete Wishart raised the
issue at Prime Minister's question time . Speaking
after questioning the Prime Minister, Mr Wishart
said:
"While service personnel are putting their lives
on the line to fulfil Blair's foreign policy
ambitions, the Government is stabbing them in the
back. The Black Watch has a fine recruiting
record, and even exceeded its recruitment targets
in the last year. It is ridiculous that it is
under threat in this way. Its particular strengths
in undertaking peacekeeping duties have proved
invaluable in these troubled times, making the
government's proposals even more untenable."
Annabelle Ewing MP, whose Perth constituency
includes the Black Watch's regimental
headquarters, said:
"The Tories were never forgiven for their betrayal
of our armed services personnel in the 1990s.
Today they go even further by backing the Labour
party in the disbanding of one of Scotland's
historic regiments and the amalgamation of the
remainder. The Black Watch, like Scotland's other
historic regiments are a credit to their
profession and they deserve better treatment than
this. Scotland is proud of its armed forces and
our historic regiments. With this in mind, the
campaign to save the Black Watch starts here. "
