Holiday Time

   I start with an apology for last week’s Flag as it was a bit scrappy;  the reason was that I was on holiday last week, and had to produce the Flag before I went.  As this coincided with producing the August Scots Independent I felt slightly stressed.

Strange how retirement is so much like working; back then I had to go like the clappers to get things done before I went off, and then spent days chasing my tail to catch up when I got back.  I am sure that retirement was never meant to be like that, but that is just what is happening;  must be doing something wrong.

My wife and I were on a 7 day cruise to the Norwegian Fjords, and one of the main attractions was that the ship sailed out of Leith, which meant a taxi to the port, no long wait in an airport, no long security queues – and they do not weigh your luggage.  The journey to Norway was very rough indeed, and we lost a day as we were both very seasick, and did not leave our beds, never mind our cabins, until we were docked in Alesund.  We visited Skjolden, a small village at least 100 miles up a fjord, and the scenery was spectacular; the sun came out, so for a brief time I was able to point out that this was exactly like the brochure!  We then visited Bergen, which we found fascinating, but would have liked an extra day there;  we went on the Funicular, which was built in 1918, and from the top you can see all of Bergen.  What also impressed was the wheelchair access; one of our party was in a wheelchair and we worried how we would manage.  No problem, there was a wheelchair lift at the bottom and the top, something I hadn’t seen before – made a big difference.  Certainly no expense spared on that, and while the Funicular was built before oil, I don’t know when the lifts were put in.

Our final port of call was Ullensvang, again well up a fjord, with beautiful scenery.  As someone remarked,  it is so like our own west coast, with hills and glens, with fjords rather than sea lochs, but they have must get better weather, as there were outdoor cafes everywhere.

 

Lockerbie

It is difficult to keep up with the news when you are away on holiday, especially when on a ship, which, although it sailed out of Leith, did not publish any Scottish news in its bulletins.  (To be fair, the Norwegian ship did fly the Saltire alongside the Norwegian flag, and I didn’t see any Union Jacks!)

I received an email quoting from an interview in Le Monde with the son of Colonel Gaddafi.  The son, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi told the newspaper that the six health workers held in Libya for nearly ten years accused of infecting children with Aids had been released in exchange for the transfer to Libya of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, currently in Greenock prison for murdering 270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.  According to Saif (whose name translates as “Sword of Islam”), the details were finalised when Tony Blair visited Gaddafi in May this year; naturally the British Government have denied this claim.

The interview named all sorts of people involved in the deal, from the head of the Bulgarian Secret Service to the intelligence agencies of the UK, Italy, Israel, the Palestinian Authorities, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Bulgaria and Libya.  Missing from the list was any mention of Scotland, who hold Megrahi, convicted under Scots Law. 

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has granted Megrahi a second appeal against his conviction and referred his case to the High Court.  There is a strong body of opinion that Megrahi is innocent, and that neither the UK nor the US Governments want the case retried;  it seems to be obvious that if Megrahi is returned to a Libyan jail  the appeal will be quietly allowed to lapse, and these governments will not be embarrassed by the truth coming out.   So the guilty will never be brought to trial.

One curious aspect of the affair is that Saif sought the interview with Le Monde, and told the journalists that he never believed the six health workers were guilty, but were mere scapegoats.   We might also wonder why Mr Blair would be so concerned with five Bulgarians and a Palestinian, unless this was his last chance to grandstand on the World stage;  he showed less urgency getting the Marines released by Iran.

 

DOWN THE TUBE

Either I have been too high on euphoria after 3^rd May, or the subject has not been given due prominence, but I was surprised to read in Private Eye the saga of Metronet, given the lucrative job of rebuilding the Tube in the centre of the known world – London.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was agin the project, but the Chancellor kept control of this from him until the deal was signed and sealed;  Livingstone was then left to deliver it.  Apparently the City (whom Allah preserve) was very wary of this PFI (renamed PPP) project, so instead of  leaving the contractors and investors to carry the risk of termination, the Treasury agreed that the state would cover 95% of the debt if it failed.  The scheme failed, the debt amounts to about £2 billion, and we the grateful taxpayers who never get within 400 miles of London if we’re lucky, are left to pick up the tab.

Incidentally, Eye also tells us that in 2005 the Commons public accounts committee pointed out that the cost of borrowing was £450 million higher for PPPs than if the Government had borrowed the money itself.  So the lenders make a lot of dough for no risk - £450 million because it is supposed to be risky, but because the state (us) picks up 95% of the debt they have all found it very lucrative indeed.  This of course was done under the aegis of the Chancellor – now the Prime Minister- who has a reputation for financial competence.

PFI, the Private Finance Initiative, was put in by the Tories to keep the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement down, as any debts incurred were “off Balance Sheet” as far as the EU was concerned, so a heap of PFI projects – no pun intended -  Skye Bridge, Inverness Airport, and numerous schools and hospitals were built in this way.  Labour campaigned furiously against them when in Opposition, and when they came to power were stricken silent, so continued with the same rules but called them Public Private Partnerships.   International public finance conventions may now require the Treasury to put all these PFI and PPP items on the balance sheets, so we look forward to seeing what that cat among the pigeons produces;  the first casualty will be the aforesaid financial reputation – smoke dissipated and mirrors shattered.

   The SNP is looking at financing by bond issues, as a new Forth crossing is becoming urgent, and Alex Salmond may have discussed the finance issue with Ken Livingstone on his recent visit to London;  Ken Livingstone, having been stitched up by the Treasury, will have a view.  And of course, if the Treasury is forced to open the books on the PFI fiascos then bonds may be seen as the way forward, but this would mean additional financial powers for the Scottish Parliament, not a happy thought for London.

 

THE GREASY POLL

There would seem to be all sorts of alarms and excursion in the Labour camp at present, and conflicting views on whether Gordon Brown should opt for an early poll to capitalise on his current popularity, and on the apparent current unpopularity of David Cameron, who seems to have become unstuck on grammar schools in England, and on his trip to Rwanda while his constituents were getting flooded out.

The SNP has also had a day long meeting to do some emergency planning for a snap election;  we of course are still savouring our recent victory, and the way in which First Minister Alex Salmond  is conducting himself in that role.  In strange ways, the flood fire and pestilence which Unionist soothsayers prophesied for Scotland if it voted SNP have largely been visited on England.  Yes we had the Glasgow Airport near disaster, but the result of that has been a measured and statesmanlike co-operation between the two governments, which has enhanced both.   As far as the floods go, we have the greatest sympathy for those affected; seeing the flooding on TV is one thing, but when you actually visit a house you knew and see the devastation occasioned it paints a stark picture.  It is all very well to go on about flood plains, but the errors were made by officialdom, and not by the devastated victims.

Pestilence has visited these isles yet again, in the form of foot and mouth disease, but at the moment it seems to have been confined to a small area in England; precautions have been in force in Scotland, but a measured response is mitigating the effects; we would like to think that a more independently minded Scottish Government has helped.

What has this all to do with a General Election, you might ask?  Well, everything, as the British Prime Minister is behaving decisively and reasonably, and his profile is being heightened, not quite to the extent of obscuring his Scottish nationality, but of showing him as quite a good chap.  He was on holiday in Dorset, not in Tuscany, as his predecessor was wont to do, and also able to capitalise on the fact that the Tory leader was in Rwanda, not on holiday, but seeing for himself the poverty and degradation of some parts of Africa;  however, the political inference was clear.

However, there are one or two factors against an early poll;  in the first place, Labour is in debt to the tune of £27 million, the Tories £18 million (not that this would worry Mr Brown), the Liberals a mere £300,000, but the issue of the £2.4 million they got from Michael Brown, their donor currently in the pokey for fraud, might have to be taken into account.  The SNP is solvent, having spent more money on the election than ever before in its history, and we have change.  This is because we raised it ourselves, and we got very generous donations from individuals – publicly- and no strings attached.  Labour have also come unstuck over the cash for honours issue, which might be interpreted as their Private Finance Initiative  becoming a Private Public Partnership.

A few months back, David Cameron’s Tories were 7 points ahead of Labour in the Opinion Polls, as he postured as the fresh new young leader; the wheels came off his bandwagon, and now Gordon Brown’s Labour Party is 7 points ahead as he is in his honeymoon period – certainly more than “La Donne e Mobile”, so there is a need to be wary.  Brown will also remember the late Jim Callaghan, who was urged to call a General Election in 1978;  at the Labour Conference in October that year he sang “There was I, waiting at the church…..”, and did not heed the advice.  There followed the Winter of Discontent, and the General Election of 1979 ushered in Margaret Thatcher and 18 years of Tory Rule.

However, the Scottish National Party is on a high just now,  and the Labour Party in Scotland is demoralised; control of Fife – Brown’s backyard - has passed out of Labour hands, and the upshot of an early election could be a loss of Labour seats in Scotland, a number of new SNP MPs, and a hung Westminster Parliament.  Glad I am not Brown – but then I never wanted to be anyway.