Good News
from the Scottish National Party.
From April 1, a range of flagship SNP
policies have come into effect which
will save you and your family money.
Scots from all walks of life will
benefit with: -
-
A reduction in prescription charges
to £5, moving towards full abolition
by 2011.
-
A Council Tax freeze for 2008/09,
benefiting householders across
Scotland.
-
An end of the £2,289 graduate
endowment, benefiting students who
graduated last year, and students
currently in the system.
-
A Small Business Bonus Scheme,
benefiting 150,000 small businesses
in Scotland.
-
Free personal and nursing care
payments to older people in care
homes rising in line with inflation,
benefiting more than 9,000 people.
That all this is taking place less than
a year after the new Scottish Government
came to power underlines the fast pace
of delivery and the fact that ours is a
government of action.
You can use a new campaign on the SNP
website to send your family and friends
a link by email.
Click
http://www.snp.org/campaigns/savings
Help us spread the word of these savings
and how the SNP government is putting
more money in people's pockets.
Thank you.
Peter
PETER MURRELL
Chief Executive
Scottish National Party, 107 McDonald
Road, Edinburgh EH7 4NW.
Direct dial 0131 525 8907 Fax 0131 525
8901
Email peter.murrell@snp.org Web
www.snp.org
Who is picking fights now?
Step forward Mrs Henry Cooper, oh sorry,
Ms Yvette Cooper, the Chief Secretary to
the Treasury; last year, the English
prison system was given £1.2 billion to
upgrade their prisons. Under normal
circumstances, according to the Barnett
Formula, Scotland would have received
around £120 million, but the cheque did
not arrive.
Cabinet
Secretary
John Swinney
wrote in January, but received
no reply; he wrote again on 17th
March, and was similarly ignored, so
arranged a meeting with Ms Cooper to
pursue the matter. He also requested a
discussion on the £400 million of
Council Tax Benefits.
the Westminster government, especially
as it is likely to be a Tory one; they
are all pals together. These people
have no shame.
Driving the agenda
While it is the received wisdom that
Tony Blair’s legacy will be the Iraq
War, viewed from this side of the
Border, it looks more likely that his
legacy will be Scotland’s Independence;
the establishment of a Scottish
Parliament was to be the means of
killing Scottish Nationalism stone dead,
but enter the law of unintended
consequences.
Labour
said they would establish a Scottish
Parliament, and the word referendum
appeared in their Manifesto; this does
not seem to have been anticipated by
Labour Party members in Scotland, and
there was some disquiet about that.
However, there was a lot of controversy
about the questions, and it went from
one question, to two questions, to three
questions, and back to two questions!
Talk about multi-option!
One thing that Labour had learned from
the 1992 General Election was that
people would not vote for increased
taxes, the mistake that cost them that
election. The first Referendum question
asked if the people wanted a Parliament
and 74.3% said Yes; the second
question, which was designed to fail,
was if they wanted the Parliament to
have tax raising powers. To the
consternation of the Labour Party, 63.5%
voted Yes!
The first Scottish Parliament was the
Labour Liberal coalition, and the second
Parliament was the same; the people
were disappointed and saw no change in
their circumstances . Come the third
elections, the illegal war in Iraq was
dominating the headlines, and the Labour
leader, Tony Blair, had that disaster
hung, rightly, round his neck. Labour
in Scotland was lacklustre, the Tories
were not doing much better and the
Liberals prattled on. The SNP led a
sparkling campaign and we won the
largest number of seats, and formed the
first SNP Government ever.
What has flowed from that is a better
relationship with Wales and Northern
Ireland, and a bigger say in fishing
from the European Community. The Tories,
Labour and Liberals have all united ,
with a commission ostensibly set up by
the Scottish Parliament, but with a
Chairman appointed by the Scotland
Office, a Westminster fiefdom, all
running around crying “Havoc”! And the
people love their SNP Government.
Things are happening, bridge tolls
abolished, student tuition fees
abolished, M74 extension given the green
light, also the Waverley railline,
Accident and Emergency services at
Monklands and Ayr reprieved,
prescription fees abolished, council
tax frozen, a Scottish Broadcasting
Commission set up. A Road equivalent
Tariff for the Western Isles – a pilot
scheme – has been put in, to cut ferry
fares; the Liberals howled what about
Shetland, but were embarrassed into
silence when reminded that Shetland was
already subsidised and the RET would put
fares up!
Anyway, between the National
Conversation set up by the SNP,
arguments over Referendums and doubts as
to the wisdom of the Unionists doing the
SNP’s work for them, the politicians are
in a ferment. For many years, my
contention was that the only time there
was excitement in Scottish politics was
when the SNP was in the ascendant, and
we are certainly having an exciting time
now.
Referenda plethora
What a lot of noise about referenda
(Latin plural, if more honoured in the
breach than the observance); the
English Connection are having a
commission, or a review, (Gordon Brown
hasn’t yet officially named his
operation), about transferring more
power to the Scottish Parliament, but
have managed to slip in a wee bit about
giving powers back.
As
far as one can gather, as M Alexander
somehow forgot to mention this flagship
policy in her speech to the Labour
Conference last weekend, they are not
committing to giving the people a vote
on this issue; strange that we all got
a vote on setting up the Parliament, but
not on massive changes. The reason for
setting up their review is supposed to
be that after ten years it was due to be
looked at; this claim is about as
genuine as the reason given as to why Ms
Alexander asked for donations under
£1,000 to her ghost leadership
campaign; this, it was alleged, was to
gain more widespread support, and had
nothing to do with deceiving the
electoral authorities, as donations
under £1,000 did not have to be
declared. The reason for their wee
commission is that we have an SNP
Government.
They run shy of having a Referendum, and
while they stoutly declare that the SNP
has absolutely no chance of getting the
people to support independence in a
Referendum, they do not have the courage
of their convictions (Oh sorry, Ms
Alexander does not have any
convictions.) If they are so convinced,
and they say it often enough, then why
not take the bull by the horns, have a
Referendum, and let the electorate go
back to sleep? The SNP, who can read
opinion polls as well as anyone, if more
cheerfully these days, are quite happy
about a Referendum, so the ones who seem
to be sure to lose it want it, and the
ones who seem sure to win it, do not
want it.
I think that there might be two reasons;
in the first instance a Referendum
campaign could just set Scotland alight,
and we would get a Yes; this is the SNP
preferred option. The second reason is
more obscure, but no doubt crosses more
minds than mine. Since the election, a
number of people have said to me, “If
only you people would give up
independence, you would sweep the
country”. My response is that without
our main drive we were nothing; now most
of my conversations are with my own
generation, and I am a septuagenarian,
and we are the ones who vote. However,
if the SNP lost a Referendum on
independence, voters afraid of
independence could then vote SNP with
impunity, and we could have an SNP
Government for the foreseeable future,
at least until everyone accepted how
natural independence would be. Ach,
sometimes I credit the opposition with
more brains than they have.
Act of Unsettlement
Irrespective of the Herald headline last
week that the Act of Settlement would be
included in a review of the
Constitution, no one should be holding
their breath on this one. Tony Blair
despite his promises, did not do
anything about it, and the latest kite
was flown by the Labour MP for
Livingston, the inaptly named Jim
Devine.
What
prompted the headline was that in a
debate on the UK Government’s proposed
package on constitutional reform, Mr
Devine asked that the abolition of the
Act of Settlement be included; Mr Jack
Straw, Westminster’s Justice Secretary
replied, “I speak on behalf of the
Prime Minister. Because of the position
Her Majesty occupies as head of the
Anglican Church, it is rather more
complicated than maybe anticipated. But
we are certainly ready to consider
this. I fully understand that to my
honourable friend and many on both sides
of the House it is seen as something
that is antiquated.”
The Act of Settlement dates back to
1701, and was an act of the English
Parliament, foisted on to Scotland after
1707; it debars any Roman Catholic, or
anyone married to a Roman Catholic from
ascending the throne. The irony of this
historical piece of flummery is that
power is no longer held by the Crown,
and that the most powerful person in the
UK is the Prime Minister; up to a few
months ago, that was Tony Blair, married
to a Catholic, and now converted to a
Catholic himself.
The issue has been raised before by SNP
First Minister Alex Salmond who regards
it as an anachronism, and quite frankly
the issue is only being raised again
because Scotland now has an SNP
government, and the “constitutionalists”
in the Labour Party are now scratching
around to try and muddy as much water as
they can. The “constitution” states
that the Church of England is the
Established Church, and that the Prime
Minister appoints its Bishops, an
intriguing situation. There are still
26 Church of England bishops in the
House of Lords – but no Scottish, Welsh,
Northern Irish or Roman Catholic
bishops, no Moderators of the Church of
Scotland, no rabbis and no imams.
Catholic Bishop Joseph Devine of
Motherwell is not impressed; he has
heard all this before; it should also
be noted that Labour MP Devine (no
relation) is already in a bit of
ecclesiastical hot water for attacking
Cardinal O’Brien for his opposition to
human/animal embryo experiments. He
accused Cardinal O’Brien of not knowing
what he was talking about; Mr Devine
was a psychiatric nurse before becoming
a full time union official with the
Health Service Union; Cardinal O’Brien
has a BSc honours in Chemistry and
Mathematics.
The plastic knife
I
find myself more than a little bemused
at one recent statement by the Scottish
Labour leaderene, or more accurately,
the leaderene of the Labour MSPs; she
has threatened that if the SNP policy on
Local Income Tax fails to get
Parliamentary backing that will be a
vote of no confidence, and they will
have to go to the country!
Her exact words were “If they lose a
vote of confidence on an issue like
local income tax , then they will have
to go back to the people.”
The last time I looked, I think it was
Flag 407, the SNP was soaring in the
opinion polls, and the people were very
happy with their Scottish Government; on
the basis of that poll, for the Scottish
Parliament, the SNP would end up with 57
seats (currently 47), Labour 44
(currently 46), Tories 16 (currently 17)
and Liberals 12 (currently 16).
The voting intentions for Westminster in
last week’s Flag show that the SNP would
have 15 seats (currently 6) Labour 34
(currently 40) Tories 4 (currently 1)
and Liberals 5 (currently 11). That
also looks good for the SNP, long may it
continue.
Well we know polls are not accurate,
and that the Labour vote in some
constituencies is very hard to move, but
all things being equal it looks as if
Ms Alexander’s attempt to do a bit of
sabre rattling is more akin to waving a
plastic knife.
Oddities
The current spin doctor to Ms Alexander,
leaderene of Scottish Labour MSPs, has
made an undiplomatic remark. Referring
to the Presiding Officer of the Scottish
Parliament , Simon Pia said “Some say he
is a big thick Tory toff teuchter, but I
don’t think so.”
Wendy can pick them.
Ms Alexander has also been converted to
socialism.
Colin Fox of the Scottish Socialist
Party is a wee bit surprised.
75% of voters in England believe that
Scotland should raise its own money.
After 8 years of Labour/Liberal
governance, only 23% of Scots have that
confidence.
Clamjamfrie
Donnie MacNeill
Easter saw your intrepid correspondent
brave Arctic winds and Calmac ferries to
visit the Peoples’ Republic of Gigha,
celebrating the sixth anniversary of
freedom from landlordism. One of the
prime supporters of the original
buy-out, John Martin, decided the event
should be appropriately marked, so on
the day he invited islanders to attend a
short ceremony at his house, which is
permanently decked with a huge saltire.
There, under the fluttering Isle of
Gigha flag, which has flown continuously
since ‘independence day’ from a pole at
his front gate, they toasted the event.
John’s one big desire is to see the day
when he can do the same thing for an
independent Scotland. I’ll drink to
that!!
Crash of Cultures
During my visit to Gigha, my cousin and
I spent an evening looking at old
photographs and press cuttings, one of
which I would like to share with you,
dear reader. Decorum forbids me to
reveal the names of the main characters.
That, and the fact that I would like to
be allowed back onto the island again!
It was reported in the Daily Express in
May 1961 and I repeat it here (almost)
verbatim.
“The one-road holiday island of Gigha
(car population 15) had its first
accident for years when a car and a
motor-cycle were wrecked and two people
injured.
The car had no lights, horn, brakes or
driving mirror. And the driver had no
insurance.
The motor-cycle had no lights or horn
and its owner had no licence.
But the police only heard of the
accident – by accident. There is no
policeman on Gigha – and no one bothered
to tell the mainland authorities.
But a Campbeltown policeman who was on
the island last month heard about the
crash.
And at Campbeltown Sheriff Court
yesterday the car driver, ‘WM’, farm
worker of New Quay Cottages, was fined
£20 and banned from driving for four
months.
Motor-cyclist, ‘DM’, farm worker of Kiel
Cottage, was fined £12 and banned for a
month.
Both admitted driving carelessly.
The fiscal said that ‘DM’ and his
pillion passenger were taken to hospital
with fairly serious injuries.
On the telephone last night an islander
said: “Oh yes. There was an accident.
But the road is not very good, of
course.”
“Do all drivers on Gigha travel without
lights?”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t say that,” he said
“But both drivers in the crash had no
lights?”
“Oh yes. That will be how the accident
happened!”
As a postscript, the motor-cyclist, when
asked later by his employer about the
crash, said, “I was just concentrating
on keeping on the road and looked up and
saw the glow of a cigarette. I don’t
remember much after that!”
Oh yes, they don’t make them like that
any more!!
Conned Cordat!
Much has been said about the Scottish
Government’s historic agreement with the
local authorities, which delegates the
spending of increased resources down to
‘grass roots’ level, with the proviso
that council tax rises are frozen. In
principle, this is a great idea, but
will it work in practice?
I ask the question, as the saga of the
Tayinloan ferry slipway took a turn for
the worse recently. For those readers
not au-fait with the geography of
Scotland, Tayinloan is a small village
on the west coast of Kintyre which is
the mainland ‘terminal’ for the Gigha
ferrry on its twenty minute crossing.
Recently the ferry has missed quite a
few crossings because the waters
surrounding the slipway have been
subject to silting and the build up of
seaweed following stormy weather, making
berthing impossible at low tides.
The islanders have long asked for a
breakwater to be built to eliminate the
problem, but Argyll and Bute Council,
who own the slipway, have been deaf to
their pleas, relying instead on a
dredger to come (eventually) to provide
a temporary alleviation of the problem.
These ‘inconveniences’ result in the
small ferry having a two-hour sail to
Kennacraig, with restricted carrying
capacity, and anyone travelling from and
to the island for their daily employment
is forced to forego their work (and
wages) until the normal service resumes,
unless they can afford lodgings on the
mainland.
The Scottish Government has recently
said that the council has the money, as
£1million had been written into their
block allocation for each of the next
two years to allow for the building of a
breakwater.
Which begs the question, how much
flexibility or responsibility does each
council really have for the allocation
of centrally-distributed funds? If no
breakwater is built, will the government
claw back the two million? Will anyone
in Holyrood be checking up? Does anyone
in Holyrood care?!
Case for the Defence
So, If Scotland became independent, says
David Cairns, we should not expect to
get all these big defence contracts
which benevolent Britain steers in our
direction. One is tempted to say, ‘so
what?’, but, bearing in mind that we
have many folks in BA Systems depending
on naval Royal Navy contracts for their
current living, I will just say, ‘so?’
Once upon a time, we had a whole river
from Govan to Greenock building ships,
not to mention Aberdeen and Dundee, but
under the auspices of respective British
governments (the ‘British dividend’),
all these once hives of activity have
long since disappeared to be replaced by
up-market residential developments. All
we have left of our past industrial
glory are museum exhibits.
I don’t want to see my Scotland become a
museum piece, which is what will happen
under continued British governance. I
would like to think that an independent
Scotland would start building ships
again, not only for our own defence
forces, but also to compete in the wider
world, and all before the last
shipbuilder in Scotland goes on his
final voyage to Tir nan Og.
We would not need nuclear submarines, or
nuclear weapons and Faslane could become
the home port of the Atlantic patrol
fleet. It only takes a wee bit
imagination and a big bit of
independence to make it happen!
Islay Wit 3
As boys we used to love standing
listening to the old men talking at the
various street corners in the village.
One old worthy, who had fought in both
World Wars, used to keep us well amused.
“Aye,” he said one night whilst in WW2
mode, “We showed the Germans at Dunkirk.
By jove and we didn’t half!”
“But Donnie,” we protested, “Dunkirk was
the biggest retreat in British history.
How could we have ‘showed them’?”
“Oh we showed them all right. The stupid
b******s thought we were going to turn
and fight, but we showed them!”
‘Brutain’s hardy sons’, as Para Handy
would have said!
The
tax hike, put in place by Gordon Brown, comes into effect in the same week
the SNP delivers on its promise to freeze council tax and to cut
prescription charges.
“Labour
MPs are making an April fool out of Wendy Alexander. 
Following
last week’s debacle at the opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 when flights to
and from Scotland were among many cancelled, Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie,
Deputy Leader and Chief Whip of the SNP Group at Westminster has called on
the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Transport,
Jim Fitzpatrick MP, to make representations to British Airways and British
Airports Authority to ensure that when difficulties occur, essential
Scottish business services are not disproportionately affected.
“The
Counter Terrorism Bill has a number of issues that impact on the
independence of Scotland’s legal system. 
Mr
Thompson will be writing to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith calling for a
reduction to be introduced in Scotland as soon as possible. Reports at the
weekend suggested it could be 18 months before the UK Government commits to
any changes in the law.
Commenting
on reports in The Times that UK Ministers discussed holding an early
referendum on Scottish independence but discounted the idea on the basis
that it would play into the hands of the SNP, Depute Leader of the SNP and
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "By refusing to support the
right of the people to determine their future British Ministers are once
again putting the interests of the Labour party above Scotland's interests.
“Its
not just public confidence that this Labour administration is loosing, it’s
a fortune in government property as well.
"Labour
is embarrassed by Wendy's Commission and all over the place on a referendum.
SNP MSP Bill Kidd today highlighted Socialist Labour's split with Wendy