PREVENTION OF TERRORISM BILL

There was an excellent piece by Harry Reid in the Herald this week on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill.

This Bill has just been torn to shreds in the House of Lords, with good reason, for as Reid says: It poses a systematic assault on the liberty of the individual.

Look how the Labour Party has changed, says Reid, and comments:  I don¹t understand how there have not been mass resignations from it in the past week or so.

Has the membership of the Labour Party shed all honour, ditched all belief in liberty and justice?

 

AND WHERE WERE THE LIB DEMS?

To be truthful, although the vast majority of Labour MPs went along with the wretched above-mentioned Bill, quite a few could not stomach it and failed to support it.

So the government majority fell from a normal one hundred plus to just fourteen.

Very strange, then, that seventeen Liberal democrat MPs failed to vote at all.

If they had turned up, they could have defeated the Bill outright in the Commons.

Is there not something very odd going on here?  The Lib Dems, of all the London-based parties, claim to stand for the freedom of the individual.  Of all those parties, you would think that they would be the ones most firm to stand against this dreadful Bill.

Was there an agreement, somewhere, with Blair?  Or did they just decide not to do what was right, but what would, they thought, benefit them in the coming election?

To be sure, and here is me thinking that they were honourable men.
 

PASSIONATE BRITON

IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?

I must say, the news sounds depressing, especially if you live in Scotland these days.

First of all, according to Tony Blair, we are all under threat from some 200 hundred al Qaeda terrorists operating underground, somewhere, anywhere, in Britain.

This threat is it seems, according to Labour minister Peter Hain, the greatest threat that we have ever faced to our cherished island way of life.  It is such a threat that it necessitates an anti-terrorist set of laws that attack the very basis of our human rights - presumption of innocence, imprisonment without trial.

If the terrorists fail to get you, then, according to headlines, then an influenza pandemic, with up to 50,000 deaths in Scotland alone, is just round the corner.

In fact, that figure has recently been increased by the eminent scientist Sir Hugh Pennington, to 200,000.  Not just if, but when.

As if that were not enough for us Scots to deal with, we now hear that Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning film Braveheart, has been designated the worst film to win an Oscar - ever.

And just the other day we learn that the iconic Scottish painting of the Reverend Robert Walker skating on the ice of Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh, dating from the 1790s, was probably not painted by the great Scottish painter Raeburn after all, but by some upstart French chiel sheltering in Edinburgh from the French revolution.

Oh woe, is it not enough to make you want to put an end to it all!
 

NEWS FROM THE  STATES - THE LONG WALK

My American cousin Cheryl and her husband have recently taken well-deserved retirement in North Carolina, although knowing them both they will not be letting the grass grow under their feet.

At Christmas time we got a letter from their daughter Danielle and her husband Ryan - they intended to take some time out in 2005 and go on a long walk.

Good for them, I thought.  We have some long walks in Scotland as well, and very beautiful they are too.

We have the Southern Upland Way taking you across Scotland from Portpatrick in the south-west Rhinns of Galloway via the Scottish Borders to Cockburnspath in the east, facing the North Sea.

And there is the West Highland Way  running from just north of Glasgow via the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond to Fort William standing below Ben Nevis, Britain¹s highest mountain, in the Highlands.

The Southern Upland Way is 212 miles long and the West Highland Way 95.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that Danielle and Ryan are taking some five to six months to do their walk and that they are hoping to cover some 2,170 miles, from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Katahdin, Maine, on the Appalachian Trail.  Yes, things really are BIG (and LONG) in the old US of A!
 

OUT ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL (1)

Last week I attended the Adoption meeting of the excellent Colin Beattie as Scottish National party candidate for Midlothian.

Main speaker was Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament.

It was great to hear Nicola making the case for independence again, especially after a three-poster campaign where we managed to highlight photographs of Jack McConnell, Tony Blair and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace.

STRANGE PERCEPTIONS - CAMPAIGN TRAIL (2)

If you have ever campaigned for the SNP in a traditional mining community then you will know what I¹m talking about.  Among many in such communities, there is an almost religious tie to the Labour party which will only pass as the generations pass.

Sorry son, I¹m Labour.  My father was a miner, my grandfather was a miner and we have always been Labour.

While it is great to be called son at my age, I would forego that if only I could find a quick and easy way on a two-minute doorstep call to convince them that being a miner and voting Labour was  not a God-given pairing.

Usually, too, I am very aware from the look in the eye and the body language that the way they vote is not really up for discussion anyway.

So it was a pleasant surprise last Saturday morning in Bonnyrigg High Street to get into conversation with a Labour-voting  former miner.

Jim McGill did not really think the Scots had the resources for or were capable of independence.  We just do not have the people and it would take two hundred years (sic!) of education to get us there.  Although he was very proud to be Scottish, and was proud of our football (!) and our rugby (!) and our writers.

And then again, Jim was worried that an independent Scotland would be a Conservative country - I think he was talking party politics here.

But we had a good chat, and I tried to point out that lots of small European countries  were extremely prosperous with far fewer resources than Scotland; and that we were reputed - at least until the last thirty years- to have an excellent education system.

As for being a Conservative country, well, I said, of all the seven Tory prime ministers between 1951 and 1997, only one (Anthony Eden) had ever won an election in Scotland - it was England¹s votes that had given Scotland all those Tory prime ministers against our will.

Jim and I parted on good terms and he said I had given him a couple of points that had made him think.  I hope so and I just wish that many more voters were as open minded as he was.

 

SAD GLASGOW (1)

Well, the BBC certainly had it in for Glasgow and Scotland last week.

It ran a report on the thuggery and mayhem associated with matches between Rangers and Celtic football clubs.  There it all was - casualty departments working overtime, innocent bystanders as well as drunks with bloodied heads, obscene chanting, aggressive and provocative gesturing, mean hate-filled people - a ghastly picture.

The programme was entitled Scotland¹s Secret Shame - although ninety per cent dealt not with Scotland but with a section of the support of two football clubs.

Dreadful as it is, is it not about time that the media itself took a lead in getting to grips with this problem but also put it in its proper perspective.
 

SAD GLASGOW (2)

And while I¹m on the topic.  I am a Glaswegian myself, having spent most of my first twenty-four years in the city.  My parents lived most of their lives in Glasgow, and my daughter still lives there with her husband and children.

We all (apart from Fernando, who adds an exotic Spanish element) speak or spoke with very similar accents, easily understood by English folk and foreign visitors alike, as do tens of thousands of other Glaswegians.

Just listen to the likes of the excellent Sally Magnusson or Shereen Nanjiani.

So why is it then that whenever I meet people from the rest of Scotland or from England  they invariably tell me: You don¹t sound like a Glaswegian.

The Glaswegian accent seems to be associated with some guttural and almost incomprehensible low-status utterance.

Is it not time that a truer and more balanced picture of Glasgow and its people was presented by the media?

A brief snapshot of what some of our Parliamentary representatives have been up to over the last week.

Wednesday 2nd March 2005

HYSLOP CALLS FOR PUBLICATION OF DISCIPLINE FIGURES

Shadow Education Minister Fiona Hyslop MSP has hit out at the Scottish Executive for hiding from the problem of indiscipline in our schools by once again failing to publish their annual statistics on the issue.

Speaking following the publication today of A Climate for Learning: A Review of the implementation of The Better Behaviour - Better Learning,  which has been published by Scotland's Senior Chief Inspector of Education, Ms Hyslop called on the Executive to think again and publish the full details of Scottish schools' indiscipline problem.

Ms Hyslop said:

Despite today's HMIE report on progress of schools in this area, the Executive have once again failed to produce their annual statistics on indiscipline in schools.  Peter Peacock can run but he can't hide from his record forever.

While I agree with the report today that there is good work being carried out in some schools across the country to combat indiscipline, we need action now to ensure that we spread any good practice more widely round the country.

Another report published by the Executive less than 3 months ago showed that teachers and head teachers had reported an eightfold increase in physical aggression directed at staff, and a doubling of physical destructiveness in schools.  That's why it's so important that we publish the full details of this level of indiscipline now.

What causes most impact from day to day on school students and their teachers is not simply violent or aggressive behaviour, but the far wider problem of daily and constant low level disruption in the classroom.  In order to tackle this situation effectively we need a combination of more staff and smaller class sizes in both primary and secondary schools.  Only smaller class sizes will make a positive difference not only to our children's education, but also to levels of disruption in schools.

But in order to solve the problem, we must know the extent of it in order to hold the Executive to account.  The Minister should publish these statistics now.
 

Friday 4th March 2005

SAVE THE SCOTTISH REGIMENTS ENDORSE SNP CANDIDATE

At the Save the Scottish Regiments Campaign launch of their ad-trailer campaign in Dundee, the Campaign endorsed the SNP candidate for Dundee East, Stewart Hosie.

Mr Jeff Duncan, Campaign manager for the Save the Scottish Regiments Campaign said:

The Save the Scottish Regiments Campaign is pleased to officially announce its backing for Stewart Hosie in his campaign to oust Labour from Dundee East.

The campaign is backing candidates who will give Labour a bloody nose and drive home the message that the campaign to stop the merger of the Scottish Regiments goes on.

Stewart has given the campaign first class backing since it was launched. He has been steadfast in his defence of all of the Scottish regiments, in particular the Black Watch.

Dundee East SNP Candidate Stewart Hosie said:

I am delighted to receive the backing of the Save the Scottish Regiments Campaign. The regimental structure has served the army well and Labour will pay a huge price at the election for breaking the links between regiments and local areas.

The Save the Scottish Regiments Campaign has fought a hugely important campaign since Labour announced they would merge our historic regiments out of existence. I am pleased that the campaign is endorsing me to take Labour on over this issue in Dundee East.

Sunday 6th March 2005

MURPHY REPORTED FOR POSSIBLE RULES BREACH WITH PRIME MINISTER

SNP candidate for the new East Renfrewshire Constituency in the forthcoming general election Osama Saeed Bhutta has today published details of an official Complaint made to the House of Commons authorities over the conduct of Labour MP Jim Murphy.

Mr Saeed Bhutta has made a complaint citing the Parliamentary Rules for MPs, which state that MPs should not use parliamentary resources for party political campaigning.

The complaint centres on the fact that Mr Murphy has appeared to send unsolicited mail from himself and the Prime Minister to a number of Muslim constituents in late 2004 on the occasion of Eid, and used Parliamentary resources to facilitate this action.

Mr Saeed Bhutta said:

Jim Murphy appears to have broken the rules set out for MPs and so he should be held to account for his actions.  It is simply unacceptable any Member of Parliament to flaunt the rules and use public money for party political purposes.

Mr Murphy¹s action clearly falls into this category and so I have reported this apparent breach to the Sgt at Arms.
 

Monday 7th March 2005

MORE SPIN BUT LITTLE SUBSTANCE FROM EXEC

Speaking following the publication of the Scottish Executive's Management of Offenders Bill, Shadow Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill MSP slammed the proposal, criticising it as more spin over substance.  
Mr MacAskill said:

This is just more spin with little substance from the executive.

While some of the measures contained in the publication are welcome, many are already operating in some shape or form.  What we require is better resources for existing agencies and less soundbites from the Executive.  The courts and social work departments already have the powers required to deal with the major issues we face today, but in many instances lack the necessary resources.  These institutions need assistance, not more directives.  

Whilst there is a role for tagging, it is by no means a panacea.  Prison should be for serious offences and dangerous offenders.  Releasing them tagged or untagged early from their sentence should happen only under the strictest of circumstances.  This smacks of a measure to reduce prison overcrowding rather than address prisoner rehabilitation.
 

SALMOND:  WE WILL END THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF LOW GROWTH AND POPULATION DECLINE TO REACH A HIGH PERFORMANCE, HIGH GROWTH ECONOMY

SNP Leader Alex Salmond MP has launched a blueprint for Scottish economic success in Dundee.

Let Scotland Flourish sets key targets for the Scottish economy and outlines a series of policy changes to let Scotland escape from the vicious cycle of low growth and population decline as part of Britain to a virtuous circle of high competitiveness, economic growth and population increase.

The SNP propose three specific targets for Scotland:

• be among the 15 most competitive countries in the world
   

• at 4%, match the growth rate of small European nations
   

• grow the population by 3% over the next 10 years instead of population decline

The specific actions we would take to meet these targets are:

1. Lower corporation tax to 20%

2. Lower business rates to below the English level

3. Reduce business burdens

4. Refocus the business support network of Scottish Enterprise

5. Invest in infrastructure through the Scottish Trust for Public Investment

6. Invest oil in fund for future generations & extend expertise into renewables sector

7. Institute a proactive immigration policy that welcomes 'new Scots' and encourages people to move back to Scotland