CHANGE OF PROGRAMME

        This week the Flag was due to be done by Allison Hunter, but she has been hijacked once again by this great party of ours; she has been appointed Campaign Organiser for the Livingston By Election, caused by the untimely death of Robin Cook.

          I hope that we will get some reports from her on the progress of the campaign.

LIVINGSTON BY ELECTION

 SNP Leader Alex Salmond MP has announced that Angela Constance will be the SNP candidate in the Livingston by-election. Angela is Councillor for Carmondean Ward in the constituency and was re-elected for the third time in 2003 with an increased majority. She was SNP candidate in Livingston for the general election with a swing to the SNP from Labour of 1.2%.

SNP candidate for the Livingston by-election, Angela Constance, said:

"I am delighted to be chosen as the SNP candidate for the Livingston by-election. This is a by-election that no one wanted and it comes at a difficult time for the people of Livingston.

“I was born, raised and educated in this community and it is a great privilege to contest this election on behalf of the Scottish National Party. The seams of SNP support in West Lothian run deep and there is good local support to build on. The SNP are the only challengers to Labour in this constituency.

“There are important issues facing the communities in the Livingston seat. We all know of the long-standing threat to services at St John's Hospital and the recently emerged attack on local night time fire services.

“This by-election gives local people an opportunity to express their view on these and other issues. We can defend public services and make a real difference for the people of this area.

Speaking from West Calder Community Centre, SNP Leader Alex Salmond MP added:

"Angela Constance is a trusted and effective local councillor. Her commitment to Scotland and the community where she lives is absolute. She is the only candidate who can beat Labour.

“SNP by-election victories always move Scotland forward. That’s what happened in Hamilton and in Govan. An SNP win in Livingston will have just as big an impact. When the SNP wins, Livingston and Scotland will win. Only a vote for the SNP will make a difference.”

Note: Angela Constance is the SNP Group Spokesperson for children services and lifelong learning on West Lothian Council. She was born in Blackburn and raised in Addiewell and West Calder. She attended local schools and completed her education at the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling. Angela is 34 years old and is currently employed as a Social Worker & Mental Health Officer. She continues to reside in West Lothian with her husband. She completed the Edinburgh marathon in 2004 raising money for a children's charity

The SNP require a swing of 14.75 percent to win the seat from Labour. This is within the swing from Labour to the SNP at the following by-elections:
 

The SNP are the only party that can beat Labour in Livingston. The Liberal Democrats were a distant third and the Tories fourth in the recent UK election.

The Tories came third and the Liberals fourth in the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, both with less than 10% of the vote, compared to 31.6% for the SNP.

Neither the Liberals nor the Tories have any local councillors in the seat, compared to 5 for the SNP.

JOHN RUSSELL IRWIN

             The SI lost a former Company Secretary and shareholder on 1st August 2005, John Russel Irwin, Vale of Leven Branch.  Russell, born February 1926, the son of a maritime architect who was instrumental in “Pride of the Clyde”, was also a survivor of the Clydebank blitz.  Both incidences had a profound effect on Russell.

              Russell joined the party circa 1947.  He held the majority of office bearers’ position in both the West Dunbartonshire Constituency and Vale of Leven Branch, of which he was a founder member.   I first met Russell and his wife, May, and daughter Moira, ona Bannockburn Day Rally in the mid 60s.   The family were infectious , and May, an outgoing spirit, initiated banter, and a family friendship was struck. 

         Some time later, I received a letter from Russell, asking me to be Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in West Dunbartonshire.   I had the honour of being the candidate there on two occasions.   Russell was at the helm of both campaigns as Press Officer.   I remember with great affection our efforts at 3 Wallace Street, our monumental envelope stuffing, our singing and our leaflet delivering.

   Following May’s untimely death in 1994, Russell met his new situation by keeping body and mind stimulated by his beloved Scotland.   In summer, and when opportunity presented itself, photography.   Over the winter months, University lectures on specific periods of our nation’s history after the union, and the subsequent loss of identity of his native land.

                Russell was wide reaching in his pursuit of Independence, and the Party has lost an unassuming ambassador. 

Robert Campbell.

WILLIAM WALLACE – DECEASED?

             What an embarrassment the William Wallace commemorations have been for the establishment; a very dignified David Ross walked from Robroyston in Glasgow to Smithfield in London, and received much media coverage.  There were commemorations all over Scotland, but no official ones at all.

             I watched the TV programme, “The Three Lives of William Wallace”, with the various interpretations of his impact, attitudes, and some surprising views that he would have been a staunch supporter of the union, which seems rather bizarre; there have also been letters and articles in the Scottish press, saying he was a hero, a brigand, an outlaw, a seminal influence, a failure, a noble, rather than the common man, or that we did not know very much about him.  The film “Braveheart” was also panned, in many ways justifiably from a historical point of view, but then who knows how accurate history is anyway?

                      What is fundamentally true is that Wallace existed; he took up arms against the English occupiers of his, and our, country.   He defeated a much larger English army at Stirling Bridge, and was defeated at the Battle of Falkirk; the role of Scotland’s nobles at this latter battle was questionable.   He was betrayed, and taken in chains to London, where he was tried on a charge of treason.  As the song puts it “How can it be treason” cried Wallace “When England is foreign to me? ”.  He was hung, drawn , and quartered, and parts of his body sent to different places in Scotland as a terrible warning to all who wished to oppose the might of England.

                      Seven hundred years have passed, not only has he not been forgotten, but his image and example are still inspiring people today.  Without Wallace, there would have been no Wars of Independence, and this would never have been an independent Scotland.   It has always been my belief that Scots revere Wallace because he took up the sword for freedom; Robert Bruce wanted the Scottish throne, and this is not to decry his achievement which did free Scotland, but to become King he had defeat the English.  Wallace did not want a throne, but liberty.   I have often thought that Wallace’s motives were encapsulated in the sentence in the Declaration of Arbroath, composed 15 years after his death “For we fight not for honour, nor glory, nor riches, but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man yields, save with his life.”

THE RED FACES

          It is always nice to see political parties landing themselves in the mire, while thanking your lucky stars that it is not the SNP.  (Not yet, but our turns come and go!)

               The Liberals are doing themselves no favours; they are still reeling from the alleged fraud of Keith Raffan, erstwhile MSP, whose Skoda took him three times round the world, in one year, at our expense, and is now asking for a pension (Raffan, not his Skoda.).   In addition, Nicol Stephen, transport minister, still cannot satisfactorily explain why the urgently required new junction on the A9 at Ballinluig has not even been started, four years after it was agreed.  Ross Finnie,  the environment minister, is still explaining why he had to let two ships be built in Poland, rather than Scotland, and very unconvincingly at that.  I used the term pusillanimous about him last time, being gently chided by Alastair McIntyre; the dictionary term is “lacking courage, faint-hearted, mean spirited”.  My definition would be “cringing, lickspittle”.

              On the Labour side, a biography of the First Minister, Jack McConnell, written by Lorraine Davidson ( a Labour hack), claims that he and Tony Blair are barely on speaking terms, and Lord Watson of Invergowrie, a Labour MSP, is in court charged with wilful fire raising!   Good going.

               The comrades in the Scottish Socialist Party are also in deep doo-doo; having managed a palace revolution and ousting Tommy Sheridan, they are now behaving like a bunch of clowns.   Four of them brought parliamentary business to a halt, protesting about the G8 summit, totally unnecessarily, as the problem was being resolved elsewhere; they were banned by the Presiding Officer, but more importantly, their clowning resulted in an important amendment on compensation for infected blood transfusions being lost.  They then protested about losing all their attendance money, and allowances, which they despise anyway, and proposed having collecting tins for themselves at the Make Poverty History demonstration to make up for it.  Puts their attitude to the Third World into perspective, does it not?   They appear to be about to be deserted by one of their major benefactors, Peter Mullan, the actor, because of their ill thought out, juvenile scheming.

                The Tories seem to be keeping quiet these days, with the embarrassment of McLetchie’s taxi bills pushed to the back burner; mind you, the SSP helped to get him off the hook.  Is there something we should be told?

NORWEGIAN EXAMPLE

           I am grateful to one of our readers, Jim Pittendrigh, for sending me an article from channelnewsasia on the Norwegian Oil Fund.

             When oil was discovered in the North Sea, the Norwegians, who govern themselves, set up an oil fund, investing virtually all its revenues, so that they would still have the benefits when the wells dried up.  Scotland, on the other hand, which does not govern itself, saw the revenues squandered by an English government, aided by some Scottish quislings, and received little in return; as one economist put it “Scotland is the only country in the world which discovered oil and was poorer because of that.”  As another columnist put it earlier this year “Why is it that we are the only people who do not regard it as our oil?”

            SNP policy was always that we would use the oil wealth to eradicate poverty, rebuild our infrastructure, pay decent pensions, and invest for the future generations;  it was never our intention to blow it all on ourselves and leave nothing behind.   This was the policy of successive Westminster governments, who wanted to reduce taxes, mainly with the objective of getting themselves re-elected, and pandered to the voters and cared nought for the future, probably as they would not be around.   However, in Scotland, 30% of children lived in poverty in 1970, when oil was discovered in the North Sea, and 30% of Scottish children still live in poverty, 35 years later.

            The SNP had a very successful campaign “It’s Scotland’s Oil”, which was stymied by some of the trendy lefty elements in the party, who deplored the fact that we wished to make Scots better off, wealthy, even, and this was disparaged; the net result of that was that other parts of the Disunited Kingdom did much better, and the Scots were left in poverty.   England knew best, and I have often wondered whose agenda the trendy lefties were following, or who was paying them?  And of course, British international aid to the Third World never attained the percentage agreed, never mind the vast amounts that could have been given .  Charity began at the Home Counties.

            Currently the Norwegian Oil Fund stands at 147.8 billion euros, and is growing apace with the high price of oil; they pay 1.5 euros for a litre of petrol, no cheapies there, and this year they are planning to allocate .95 percent of the gross domestic product to developing countries.

               You can read the article in full at
 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/165466/1/.html

         No doubt, like Jim Pittendrigh and myself, you will be both saddened, and maddened.

FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

              A lot of controversy lately about missed doctors’ appointments, and the fact that it appears to be costing the National Health Service some £21 million per year.

              One doctor, writing from a small practice, says that this is a minor issue; his point is that in larger practices, the patient may well have gotten better, or just forgotten, by the time the day of the appointment arrives. 

           In many urban areas, a common complaint is that cars damage the streets.

           Edinburgh likes to do things differently; there the streets damage the cars.

            When Inverclyde Council was controlled by the Labour Party in 1999, they sold a plot of land to a developer for £375,000; nothing happened to the development, and in 2005, the Council, now controlled by the Liberals, bought it back – for £1,150,000.

             In June this year, the Accounts Commission gave the Council five months to transform its way of working, citing a failure, among many others, to demonstrate best value; two months after that criticism, the Council carried out the above transaction, against the advice of their chief executive.  I like Liberals,  sometimes.
 
 

             The Scotch whisky industry has lost a court battle with the Inland Revenue which will cost it a one off £30 million hit; it involves tax on depreciated stocks, and the whisky industry says that as it is required by law to keep the stocks at least three years this is unfair. 

             It’s a bit complex, but apparently the Revenue’s decision was made after a ruling in Hong Kong, and here’s me thinking that Hong Kong is now in China.

           According to the Army top brass, soldiers in the Scottish regiments were enthusiastic about the amalgamations, and the new cap badges; quite how generals expect to get true answers when speaking to the other ranks is a bit of an unknown quantity.

          What a pity that the troops were not afforded the same attention when they were disenfranchised at the recent much heralded General Election, but then again, Generals are not elected.

            The problems over the sackings by Gate Gourmet (the contract caterers to British Airways) at Heathrow Airport which paralysed British Airways may soon be resolved; Gate Gourmet sacked 600 people, by megaphone, and the Heathrow baggage handlers came out in sympathy – being in many cases, the husbands or friends of those sacked.

          British Airways disclaim any responsibility for the disruption.  This may seem logical unless we consider three things; 1.  Gate Gourmet say they are losing money on the contract, so they have to cut wages. 2  British Airways gave Gate Gourmet the contract to cut their costs. Ergo: 3.  British Airways screwed Gate Gourmet on cost.