TRUST BEING
REGAINED BY HOLYROOD
It was great to read that since the
SNP won the Scottish elections last May trust in our
parliament at Holyrood has rocketed.
When
the parliament was first set up in 1999, with all
the optimism that the Scottish public had then, 81
percent trusted our politicians ‘always’ or ‘mostly’
to work in Scotland’s best interests.
After eight years of Labour/Liberal Democrat
government, that figure had sunk to 51 percent.
After nine months of the new Scottish National Party
government that figure stands at 71 per cent – a 20
per cent increase in under a year.
What a contrast with Westminster! In 2006, similar
questions showed that only 21 per cent of Scots
trusted Tony Blair’s government always or mostly to
work in Scotland’s best interests. Under Scot Gordon
Brown, not unnaturally, that figure has risen
somewhat - to 35 per cent.
But it is still less than half of the SNP figure.
THE SCOTTISH BUDGET – HOW DID
THEY DO IT?
It was all so wonderful. There we
were, wondering if the SNP government would survive
its budget. With only 47 MSPs out of 129 and a
majority of one it was always going to be tricky.
And it passed with flying colours, by 64 votes to 1
– with 60 abstentions!
How
did they do it? For a start, with an excellent and
sensible budget, with good priorities, by getting
the Conservatives on board with a couple of their
sensible policies, and, in the background, many
non-SNP local authority councillors in support.
It was very clever politics, but could not have
been achieved without John Swinney.
John Swinney is one of the most decent men it has
ever been my pleasure to meet. I am quite sure that
this comes across even to his political opponents.
They can trust him, and it shows in the alliances
he has been able to make in the Scottish parliament.
No wonder the praise for our Scottish government has
been so effusive. No wonder that The Herald
newspaper, under a fine photograph of a smiling John
Swinney and Alex Salmond, had the caption: ‘They
outmanoeuvred all the opposition parties to emerge
strengthened beyond reason following the Budget.’
GUANTANAMO
At
long last the scandal of Guantanamo may be reaching
its final stages.
Let us hope so, for the sake of the reputations of
the United States and its strongest ally, Britain.
The
rendition of prisoners, making so many of the US’s
allies complicit in this dreadful procedure, has
stained the reputation of the West in general.
For the US it has been worse. The cowardice behind
the decision not even to hold these prisoners on
American soil, the scandalous length of time they
have been held without trial, the use of torture to
extort confessions, and now the decision to resort
to military courts, again away from American soil,
all this has left us with no moral high ground on
which to judge.
The cowardice of George W Bush – clearly afraid to
tell his own American people what has been going on
– has led to actions I personally thought I would
never see an American president condone, let alone
promote.
Sadly, George W Bush has been a traitor to the US’s
highest ideals. That is why so many of us who share
those ideals have been so devastated by his actions.
A SONG FOR EUROPE
Whether you love it or loathe it, there is no doubt
that the Eurovision Song Contest gives almost every
country in Europe a platform to display what it has
to offer in the way of culture, history and scenery.
Quite
simply, it enhances a country’s profile
internationally and it’s just great for tourism.
It is especially important for small countries whose
profile can be raised mightily by appearing on
television to millions across the continent. The
Republic of Ireland has proved that.
Now Scotland has been given permission by the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to break away from
the UK and submit its own entry. So any of the
broadcasters – BBC, ITV, STV or Border TV -could
submit an entry.
So congratulations to SNP Member of the European
Parliament Alyn Smith for all his lobbying which has
led to this success.
WENDY’S TROUBLES
Wendy Alexander has had a desperate
last two months as the leader of the Labour party in
the Scottish Parliament.
I believe she will to continue to face severe
criticism over the next three years – not because of
financial misdemeanours, but because of her
personality.
Firstly,
she is arrogant (why does Labour turn people into
this type of person?) When the Electoral Commission
came to its judgment because of ‘insufficient
evidence’, Wendy claimed this as a ‘not guilty’
verdict. History was re-written, instantaneously,
before our very eyes!
Secondly, she tried to muddy the waters by
implicating other parties – criticising perfectly
legal, recorded donations as opposed to her own
illegal and unrecorded donation.
Thirdly, there is a charge of hypocrisy. She
claimed that she, unlike other parties, decided to
accept only small donations so that no-one could
accuse her of being under the influence of large
donors.
In fact, she accepted donations right up to the
£1,000 limit. Had that limit been £5,000 or £10,000
or more, then had she been able to find anyone
willing to waste such sums, it seems pretty clear
that she would have accepted them too.
Finally, there is in my own mind a considerable
concern that politicians should be willing to accept
donations from people who have been promoted by them
in the past, or who may be able to benefit from them
in the future - and even from an political adviser
to that very Electoral Commission that was sitting
in judgment over her.
Having said that, I must say that while Wendy may
not be facing prosecution, I wonder about the
arrangement – clearly deliberate, clearly designed
to mislead – which led Charles Gordon, MSP – to
launder money coming from the Channel Islands
through a Glasgow firm which apparently knew nothing
about it.
Her judgment is sadly lacking.
TOLLS ON BRIDGES FINALLY GO
We’ve been paying tolls on the Forth and Tay road
bridges for over 40 years.
Now within a year of
taking power, the SNP government has kept its
promise and abolished them.
It wasn’t so bad for those, like myself, who only
crossed one of the bridges once a week, but for the
people of Fife, especially those who crossed every
day, the charges were unfair.
Scotland was toll free between 1883 and 1964.
Dropping these charges is the sensible thing to do.
"This is an extraordinary development,
which really finishes off Wendy
Alexander's credibility as Labour leader
in Scotland.
Leading SNP parliamentarians will attend
an all-party photo opportunity in Newton
Mearns later today (Tuesday),
encouraging people in the area to cast
their ballots.
"My father would be absolutely delighted
that the SNP are in government - we have
gone from Glasgow University to
government, which is a wonderful thing
to celebrate in this anniversary year.