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DAVID DAICHES

 

One of my favourite Scots died on July 15.  Strangely, he was by no means a typical Scot at all.

For a start, he was born of parents of Lithuanian origin in Sunderland in north-east England, in 1912.  His family came to Edinburgh when he was six.  He was Jewish, the son of a rabbi.

David Daiches was an outstanding man.  He was a brilliant scholar.  He studied at Edinburgh University and then went on to Balliol College, Oxford.

He proceeded to lecture on English literature and became professor in the USA and in England.  He wrote many superb books of literary criticism, a book on Scotch whisky as well as others on Edinburgh and Glasgow and Scottish culture in general.

I only heard him speak  twice.  The first time was in early 1959 when he gave a talk on the poetry of Robert Burns in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.

This talk stayed with me and when I heard that he had returned to Edinburgh in the late 1970s from the south of England I invited him to give a talk - again on Burns - to a group I belonged in the town of Lanark.

Again his talk was fascinating, but what struck me about him as we chatted beforehand at the bar over a whisky was his his ability to talk, without any affectation at all, on matters where he was an acknowledged expert.

I  regret that I never put his name forward formally for consideration for the Scots independent Oliver award, but there was a fine obituary in the Herald penned by SNP member Paul Henderson Scott, so I feel that that  was a bit of a compensation for his lack of recognition by our party.

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LONDON BOMBINGS

 

These are not happy days for anyone living in Britain.  The dreadful events in London, the deaths of so many innocent civilians, the number of police, guns, ambulances, police sirens going off everywhere give the impression of a city, if not yet of a country, under siege.

And all the while our personal liberties are being eroded in the name of this war against terror.

There is little hope of solutions in the short term.  Tony Blair will remain in power, the very personification of all that has led to the present catastrophic events.

Comment in the newspapers mostly concerns Islamic nutters, home-grown terrorists, and other emotive phrases which will only serve to increase antagonism between religions and peoples.

Lots of questions are asked:  What?  Where?  When?  Who?  How?  

All are important, but the key question, as always, and the most difficult one to answer is: Why?  - the very question which is most seldom asked.

Yet almost inevitably, those who make the attempt to understand why these events are taking place are attacked as being soft on terrorism.

But the why? question is the one that will yield, in the end, the most important psychological intelligence.  That is the question which will really get to the roots of the terrorists¹ way of thinking and will enable our societies to take counter-measures - even if these counter-measures involve looking into the policies of our own governments.

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HOUSE OF LORDS - SHOULD WE BE IN OR OUT?

Where stands the SNP with regard to participation in the House of Lords?

Traditionally, within the party there has been a strong gut instinct against SNP participation.  What would we be doing, the argument has gone, taking part in an institution that depended on inherited rights to govern, on an establishment seen as a bulwark of privilege, money and influence?

Well, things have changed a bit in recent days.  Winnie Ewing, retiring after eighteen years as president of the SNP, has said that she would be willing to serve in the Lords.  Winnie sees the Lords as another useful platform for the SNP to promote the cause of independence.

Others have said that as it is key part of the British law-making system, we miss out if we do not have someone there to put the Scottish dimension.

The argument has been taken up by SNP members in the letters page of the Herald newspaper.

Alex Orr pointed out that the Lords had a better record of defending human rights than the Commons (eg on ID cards, the Prevention of Terrorism Bill and control orders) and that it would be better to be in the Lords and helping to re-shape it than girning outside it.

Andrew Doig responded by claiming out that the only nationalists who entered the Lords (Gerry Fitt of the the Northern Irish SDLP and Daffyd Elis Thomas of the Welsh Plaid Cymru) had disappeared without trace and had been unable to advance their respective causes one iota.

Andy also claimed that by participating we would be accepting the sovereignty of the UK over the sovereignty of the Scottish people.

Gerry Fisher responded that this was not at all the case and that he had much greater faith in Winnie and other senior SNP members who might be nominated to put the case for Scotland.

There are interesting arguments on both sides.  Would we not be better to leave it up to individuals to decide what to do and make their own decisions?

I do not believe it should be the role of the party to dictate to members the decision they take in such matters.  I have always believed that the party that stands for the independence of our country should also stand for the independence of our judgment.

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WHY NATIONALISM?

A letter writer recently quoted Jimmy Reid as saying:

Nationalism is like electricity; it can kill a man in an electric chair or it can keep a baby alive in an incubator.

Very true, but also very true of all sorts of other human beliefs, political or religious.  The same could be said of imperialism, colonialism, socialism, capitalism, democracy, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or Hinduism, and many other sects and isms as well.

The writer also quoted George Galloway:  The question [Jimmy Reid] implied was:  Nationalism for what?  Against what?  The nationalism of whom?

Here is the beginning of an answer.

Nationalism for the peoples of most countries probably equates with independence - that is certainly the aim of the Scottish National Party.

I would argue that nationalism/independence is for normality, responsibility and dignity.  Scotland's present dependence status is abnormal in modern Europe.  Independence is the European norm.

Scotland's dependent status also means that our country is not responsible for taking  its own major decisions.  Lack of responsibility is the bane both of individuals and of individual nations and will continue as long as our unionist politicians not only adopt but promote their begging-bowl, mendicant attitude.  

Such an attitude is hardly dignified, and rightly earns the contempt of much of the London media.  Sadly, this contempt rubs off on the Scottish population at large.

Independence would also promote in general terms policies that would gain broad support in our own country.  So it is highly likely that an independent Scotland would have used its oil and fish resources for the betterment of its own people (like Norway), would not spend billions on Trident nuclear weapons  and would not have been involved in the invasion of Iraq, to highlight just three examples of many.

Independence would also allow Scotland, as a distinct nation, to take its place among other nations in bodies such as the EU and the UN.  We would be ruled by a government we actually voted for, an unusual circumstance for us over the past half century.

What is it against?  It is against colonialism, the overweening arrogance of any large nation towards a smaller,  and the protection of its population from outside interference.

Nationalism or independence of whom?  Strange question, but the answer is probably of any people who are living in a country and consider that country to be a nation in a way that others see themselves as nations.

Lots of others, especially our near neighbours in northern Europe, have worked it out with considerable success.  So can we.

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£30 BILLION DOWN THE DRAIN

Consider the following points made by journalist Simon Jenkins in an article in the Times newspaper.

It is reckoned that the new system of ID cards the British government wants to introduce will cost between £15 billion and £20 billion.

A new National Health Service computer (due in 2004) will cost £6 billion.

And the Ministry of defence wants a computer costing £4 billion.

As Jenkins points out, past experience indicates that the prices mostly will rise and the systems often will fail.

Just think what could be done with all that cash.

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VISIT TO LEWIS

For the first time ever, I recently managed a day visit the island of Lewis.

A fine crossing from Ullapool takes you to Stornoway in just over two and a half hours, and at a cost of about £26 return with a round the island bus trip lasting more than four hours it seems like a good deal.  (This deal I understand is only available during school holidays.)

Two things really surprised me about Lewis - firstly, just how green and tree-covered is the town of Stornoway itself, and the sheer number of lochs that dot the inland landscape.

We visited the standing stones at Callanish, raised probably about four to five thousand years ago, the ruins of a still impressive broch (fortified circular dry-stone tower) dating back about two thousand years, and one of the well-known black houses, and  incredibly still lived in until 1963.

The one blot on the landscape for the future is the possible construction of the biggest wind farm in Europe, with mega pylons the height of the Scott monument in Edinburgh to relay the power across Lewis and northern Scotland to the national grid at Falkirk.

It looks like another example of Scotland - especially remote Scotland - being grossly exploited for the benefit of those who live elsewhere - whether it is exploitation of the land for sheep, deer, monoculture afforestation, foreign-owned estates, nuclear stations, nuclear dumping, or our shores for practice bombing, or our seas for the rape of our fish, or our skies and glens for low-level flying.

But to come back to Lewis.  We only had a day there, so we barely scratched the surface of island life, and intend to return some time in the future for a longer visit.

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SYNOPSIS

Tuesday 19 July 2005
SALMOND ON TERROR POLL
Commenting on a Guardian poll that shows two-thirds of Britons believe there is a link between Tony Blair's decision to invade Iraq and the London bombings, despite government claims to the contrary, SNP Leader Alex Salmond said:

As night follows day, the invasion of Iraq has created fertile conditions for the terrorists and their sympathisers to fundraise and recruit and the black hole that is now much of Iraq provides the ideal hiding place for many of the extremists.

The government was warned that this would be the case by their own intelligence chiefs. If the Prime Minister didn't believe it then, the public certainly believe it now. The reality is the Iraq war is now a primary recruiter for the jihadists.

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Tuesday 19 July 2005
SNP REACTION TO £350 MILLION NUCLEAR SPEND

Angus Robertson MP and SNP Spokesman on Defence commented on news that the Government has announced spending £350 million over the next three years upgrading and effectively expanding the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.

Angus Robertson said:

This is a massive investment into nuclear weaponry when troops on the ground in Iraq are fighting without proper equipment.

The Government repeatedly argues that no decision on replacing Trident has been made yet they chose to release this news via a written ministerial statement. They must now come clean about what weapons of mass destruction upgrades they are planning behind the scenes.

It is a disgrace that the London government seem to be planning to spend £20 billion on a replacement for Trident. This money could provide enough to give two and a half million people clean water, put 350,000 kids through school and save the lives of 50,000 under 5's every single year for almost 40 years.

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Friday 22 July 2005
SALMOND MEETS GLASGOW MUSLIM COMMUNITY

TACKLING TERROR THREAT IS TWO WAY STREET
SNP Leader, Alex Salmond MP, has visited the UK Islamic Centre in Glasgow where he met members of the Scottish Muslim community and young Muslims. The visit focused on the steps that must now be taken to tackle the terror threat internationally and in the UK.

Mr Salmond said:

Tackling the terror threat is a two way street. There is a job to be done by the Muslim community, but there is also a heavy responsibility on the part of the government. Indeed there is a role for all public figures hence my visit in Glasgow today to hear the views of our own Muslim community.

Merely saying to the Muslim community that they have to deal with the problem of extremists will not remove the underlying conditions that have led to a small number of young Muslims falling under the extremist spell.

For example it is not good enough for the Prime Minister to continue in denial that Iraq is not a factor in the dangers we now face.  In the course of the last week that view has been flatly contradicted by academic authorities in the Chatham House report, by the Government's own intelligence experts in the leak of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre report and public opinion in an ICM poll. None of these groups are saying that Iraq is a justification for terror but it is a factor in the
extremist capacity to inflict chaos.

In fact just about everyone outside Downing Street realizes that London is now a bigger target for terror and that Iraq has acted as a recruiting sergeant for extremism and damaged the counter-terrorism campaign. Mr Blair should remember that the first duty of Government is to protect its citizens from harm.

All communities in this country should be united in an unconditional condemnation of terrorism. No one should condone or excuse mass murder and no one should be allowed to incite violence in any community.  If further legislation is required to ensure that, then it should be supported.

However in Scotland we have a Muslim community that identifies itself fully with Scotland and it is within this environment that the true voice of Islam can be heard and extremism can be isolated

There was a daft television poll today demanding to know whether Muslims felt British or Muslim first. Such artificial choices do nothing to calm the situation. Our Muslim community does not need to be offered silly choices about being Muslim or Scottish. They are Scottish Muslims and amongst the most patriotic communities in the land.

All communities must remain vigilant against the voice of extremism in
their midst, but we must all take responsibility to tackle the roots of
terrorism, otherwise the opportunity for fanaticism will continue.

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Sunday 24 July 2005
MATHER HITS OUT AT CHANCELLOR'S ILL-CONCEIVED PENSION POLICY

SNP WARNS FIRST-TIME BUYERS WILL BE SQUEEZED OUT OF SCOTS MARKET

SNP Shadow Enterprise and Economy Minister Jim Mather MSP has hit out at the unintended consequences of Chancellor Gordon Brown's ill-conceived plans to allow people to add residential property to their personal pension portfolios.

Mr Mather said the move would squeeze first-time buyers out of rural areas already under pressure from record fuel costs and the decline of traditional industries such as fishing.

Mr Mather said:

The Chancellor's cavalier approach to pensions could have a disastrous effect on rural communities in Scotland and squeeze  first-time buyers out of the market.

Pensions experts have said that we could be heading for another property boom next April. This is when residential property becomes an eligible investment for pension plans, enabling a taxpayer in the 40 per cent bracket to buy a £200,000 property for a net cost of £120,000 after tax.

Billions of pounds could be invested in buy-to-lets and holiday homes as a result, with some recent surveys suggesting that many higher-rate taxpayers are likely to invest in property this way.

Cynics might say that this is yet another property-related initiative by the Chancellor to boost the UK property market for long enough for him to become Prime Minister.

This will undoubtedly dry up the supply of affordable houses available for first-time buyers, particularly those in rural areas already under financial strain from record fuel costs and the decline of traditional rural industries such as fishing. Rental will become the only option for many people.

However, the most shocking aspect is that this move may also force all taxpayers to subsidise a move that may result in a major crash in property values over the longer term that leaves few winners.

I am lodging questions with the Scottish Executive on the subject as am particularly concerned this move could also spark an increase in the migration of young people from Scotland as they struggle to find affordable homes and jobs to would fund mortgage or rent.

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Tuesday 26 July 2005
FABIANI: SCOTTISH OLYMPIC TEAM PLAN RINGS TRUE

SNP MSP for Central Scotland, Linda Fabiani, has called for cross-party support for her plan to create a Scottish Olympic team.

Ms Fabiani made the call after lodging a Parliamentary Motion which supports the creation of a Scottish Olympic team and calls for the current Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland to be upgraded to a full national Olympic committee.

Ms Fabiani said:

Scotland can compete internationally in sport as our Commonwealth Games teams have shown over the years. Scotland is recognised as a sporting nation by many international sporting organisations and there is no reason why the Olympic movement should be any different.  

The Olympic medals picked up by Scotland's sporting heroes over the years indicate a sporting strength that can be built on in Scotland.

I can see no argument against Scotland having its own Olympic team when Hong Kong, Guam and the British Virgin Islands all have their own teams. It's a matter of sporting and political will and about how much we value our country.

National flags were first carried into an Olympic stadium at the 1908 London Olympics, and it would be good if the Scottish Saltire could finally join those flags at the London Olympics of 2012.

It's quite clear that the sporting ability is there and I've starting writing to sporting organisations to ask for their views as well. What will be interesting is to test the political willingness to support Scotland's athletes and that is why I've lodged a Parliamentary Motion on the subject.

Let's see Scotland's politicians get behind Scotland's athletes and let's make sure we have a Scotland team at the London Olympics.

NOTE:

The full text of Ms Fabiani's parliamentary motion is detailed below:

S2M-3116: That the Parliament supports the creation of a Scottish Olympic team; believes that all interested parties should work towards Scotland fielding an Olympic team, and considers that the Scottish Executive should work through sportscotland towards the upgrading of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland to a full national Olympic committee.

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Tuesday 26 July 2005
ROBISON EXPOSES CHILDREN'S SIX-MONTH WAIT FOR TREATMENT

SNP Shadow Health Minister Shona Robison MSP has called on Health Minister Andy Kerr to immediately end the Executive's use of hidden waiting lists after it emerged that, as of March this year, 163 children whose cases have been given a Code 3 Availability Status Code (ASC) waited over six months for treatment.

The figures were obtained by the SNP from ISD Scotland. They also revealed that as of March this year;

81 children waited more than 9 months for treatment;
28 children waited for more than a year for treatment and;
1 child waited more than 18 months for treatment.

Ms Robison said:

These figures further highlight the culture of figure-fiddling the Executive has adopted to hide the full picture on waiting lists in the NHS.

It is particularly concerning that these figures relate to children waiting for treatment, children who, through no fault of their own, have now lost their guarantee of treatment simply because their cases have been deemed of 'low clinical priority'.

The fact that, as of March this year, 163 children were given a code 3 ASC and forced to wait more than six months for treatment is inexcusable. The Health Minister must act immediately to stop this practice.

And, commenting on figures which reveal that, as of March 2005, 52 patients waited more than six months for cardiology treatment after being assigned a Code 4 ASC, Ms Robison added:

This figures expose the lie of Mr Kerr's claim that the NHS is meeting its target and no patient is waiting more than six months for care. He must now focus on the needs of all patients and immediately abolish these unfair Availability Status Codes, which are little more than hidden waiting lists.

NOTES:

Code 3 is defined by ISD Scotland as individual cases where, after discussion with the patient, the treatment has been judged of low clinical priority.

Code 4 is defined by ISD Scotland as highly specialised treatments identified at the time of placing the patient on the waiting list.