The Big Debate ???

As the London Parties scheme to exclude the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, from their televised debates, it is worth reminding the TV companies that at the European Election in May 2009, the Scottish National Party polled more votes than the Labour Party, and in fact more than the Tory Party and Liberal Party put together.  Failure to include the First Minister in these debates makes a mockery of democracy.

 

Globespan

There were three items in this week’s Sunday press that I found of more than passing interest; the first was about the demise of Globespan.  This all seems to be rather more than a bit peculiar;  apparently most of the customers had paid for their flights using their credit cards, a reasonably standard and safe procedure.  Their bank accounts had been debited by the card company, so they thought that everything was all right.  However, it would seem that the company holding the cash, E Clear, had not passed it on to Globespan, and in fact had proceeded from paying over the dough within 5 days to holding on to it for 80 days!

E Clear’s owner, a Greek Cypriot called Elias Elia, is also involved with a travel company called Allbury which has gone bust as well, but as his  businesses are registered in the British Virgin Islands,  the exact position is a bit murky.  When we do know that  Globespan went bust for the want of £5 million, and E Clear was holding on to £34 million belonging to them, it would seem that some cross subsidisation has been going on.

Is this a case of travellers in England going on holiday with the money  paid by Scots?  According to reports, the Allbury administration is not very big – they only had 100 passengers abroad when they went belly up, and they were all covered by ATOL;  the problem in Scotland is that the system covers package holidays, but does not cover flight only.

One would have expected that the Financial Services Authority would have had some sort of regulation in place to avoid this sort of thing, but then again “business”, which means the City of London, hates regulation, and loves wealthy foreigners. Ah well, we could just put it down to the Union Dividend so beloved by our political masters.

 

East Coast Rail

The revised route for the East Coast Main line plans to scrap the Edinburgh-Glasgow leg next year.  This has raised a storm of criticism from North Lanarkshire Council;  their leader, Labour Councillor Jim McCabe,  said that the axing of the service would  isolate Motherwell and other central towns.  He said that it would be a massive blow to the attempts to regenerate North Lanarkshire under extremely difficult economic circumstances.

Councillor McCabe said the proposal would benefit English passengers at the expense of Scots.  “The reason it is being made is to pay for improved links between London and York, Lincoln and Harrowgate.  So Scotland is the poor relation being made to pay for services in England,” he said.

The interesting point here is that a senior Labour councillor is now seeing clearly what those in the SNP have been saying for years.  We welcome his arrival in the real world.

 

Two devolved Governments –

two different Treasury answers

At the Scottish Trade Union Congress conference in April, First Minister Alex Salmond announced the setting up of the Scottish Investment Bank;  it would be funded by a £69 million loan from JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises), £44 million from Scottish Enterprise, and £25 million from the European Regional Fund.  This project has been blocked by the Treasury, which says that the new bank has to run by a private company, or the loan would be deducted from the Scottish Budget!  According to Scottish Enterprise and KPMG acting on behalf of the Scottish Government this would cost an extra £1 million per year, and would also lead to serious governance problems.

However, in deepest darkest Wales, their JEREMIE scheme ,virtually identical to the Scottish one, is being administered by a publicly owned agency, Finance Wales, without incurring any penalties.  The Treasury are not able, or willing?, to explain how this could be possible;  a Senior Treasury source (an impartial Civil servant?) said Scotland needed to stop “playing politics” and choose between setting up a public or a private agency.

One just wonders if this is because the Welsh First Minister is Labour.

 

Prestonpans Marquee Writ Large

Just a few short weeks ago there was some embarrassment for the Holyrood Labour leader when allegations surfaced about the use of a Council marquee by the Prestonpans Labour Club;  the point was that Council money was used and it is against the rules for public money to be used for a political party.  The problem here is that since time immemorial the Labour Party have regarded public money as belonging to them, and the Prestonpans marquee episode will be replicated all over Scotland;  it will be most interesting to see what comes of this issue.

Consider, however, the position of the Secretary of State for Scotland;  in the first 8 years of the Scottish Parliament there were plans and demands for this post to be abolished.  Word was that a new post of Secretary for the devolved assemblies could be created, amalgamating the Scottish, the Welsh and the Northern Irish posts.  The Scottish job was combined with another, Secretary of State for Defence, which was also dealing with Iraq and Afghanistan  - where one of the incumbents said that British troops would be in and out “without a single shot being fired” – showing how lowly the Scottish post was rated.

Then, the SNP won the Scottish election, and Alex Salmond became First Minister for Scotland;  by sheer coincidence Gordon Brown decided that Scotland had been neglected, and appointed the MP for Eastwood – at the moment- to be a full time Secretary of State for Scotland.  Instead of running the office down, closing the Scotland Office, as Holyrood was making a better job of running Scotland, Jim Murphy, for it was he, started to plough even more public money into the corpse.  We do not know what he has achieved for Scotland for the £8 million a year that this costs us, but he has been a full time Labour Party campaigner, at public expense, getting on for two years;  it is difficult to pick up a newspaper without his smiling face, and even criticism of him merits his picture.   All this certainly begs the question: if a full time Secretary was not thought necessary for eight years, why now?

Verily indeed, the Scotland Office:  the Prestonpans Marquee writ large.

 

Blogging

From time to time we have had thoughts of allowing a Comment facility on the Flag, but were deterred by the prospect of someone having to police the site full time to delete unsalubrious comments.

Whenever I look at the electronic Scotsman, I scan the comments, and what I read there convinces me of how wise we were to eschew such an exercise;  these are what one might call the casual bloggers, green ink Letters to the Editor, mostly anti-SNP, and efforts sometimes to create a rational debate slide into the abyss very quickly.  Sometimes there are literally hundreds of comments,  and what a waste of time and effort, as it descends into the schoolboy (perhaps schoolgirl even) rhythm of “I did not”  “You did sut”ad infinitum;  and of course they are all anonymous but they know each others’ foibles, and the issue becomes  a mystery to the casual reader, who then carries his casualness to ignoring the whole item.

Ach well, it maybe keeps them happy, but I don’t suppose it sells a single newspaper.

 

Clamjamfrey

Donnie MacNeill

What’s in a name? 

Alas dear reader, despite previous promises to the contrary, I return to the saga of the new Islay ferry! Owners of the western isles and piers, Calmac, have decided to hold a competition for a name for the new vessel, giving islanders a choice of four, allegedly decided upon after ‘consultation’. Judging from the letters in the Ileach, the local fortnightly newspaper, none of the islanders were consulted and the name favoured by the vast majority of them, Eilan Ile (Isle of Islay) is not on the list.

Petitions have been raised; phone lines are melting; local politicians are fulminating. The world holds its breath! Most ire has been raised by Calmac’s assertion that naming the ship Eilan Ile would make it difficult for them to run on any other route! Considering the fact that the ‘cast-off’ Isle of Arran’ has been sailing the Islay run for years now and that the islanders want their boat to remain theirs, feelings are running high. Don’t even mention RET!!

Alert readers may well remember that there was also the little local difficulty of the  new ship being too wide for the existing facilities on Islay and the mainland; which is why your humble scribe’s contribution to the debate was a plea for a local Gaelic speaker to supply a translation for MV ‘Too bl***y big for the pier’. I await the outcome with bated breath!

So far, no threat has been made of using the ultimate weapon of mass (profit) destruction, the withholding of shipments of Islay single malt whisky, but Scottish Government, you have been warned!!

 

Scotland in a cauld warld

 Kenneth Fraser 

   It’s owre sune yit ti tell whuther or no the stour haes sattlet on the Megrahi case. Bit whitivver cums o it, we’ll can lairn a profitable lesson frae it. This wes the S.N.P.’s first rael ventur inti fremmit affairs sin it cam ti pouer at Halyrude. The scrievers o the Scotland Ack  nivver expeckit the Scottish Government ti mell wi sic maitters, an, it is ferr ti say, oor Pairty haes nae muckle expairience o them, seein that the debates o the Scottish Pairlament are maistly aboot hamelt subjecks. Nou we hae seen whit a wasp’s byke the Juistice Secretar’s deceesion haes steerit up. The pynt is that in sic a case, he wes amaist bund ti be wytit, whitivver he did. Tho the quaistion wes, nae dout, decidit on strickly legal gruns, it haed poleetical eftercums an aa. Gin the Libyan Government wad be blythe, the American Government wad be scunnert – or the ither wey roun. There wes, an there coud be, nae mids atween the twa.

   As lang as we hae devolution, the Scottish Government wul ainly hae ti tak sic a deceesion as that aince in a blae mune; bit efter independence, it wul hae ti tak them aa the time. Scotland, lik ither kintras, wul be expeckit ti tak poseetions on aa kins o kittle subjecks. Mony o them wul be, as the Megrahi case wes, whit the poleetical scientists caa “Zero-soum gemmes”, whaur it’s aither “A wins, B losses” or “B wins, A losses”. Ony newspaper wul shaw ye a pickle o them ilka day.

   In the face o thir seetiations, Scotland’s Fremmit Secretar wull hae anither thrawn fack ti rackon wi. The heich-heid-anes o the warld hae a wheen o dounricht ill-daers amang them: men (they’re yaisually men) that wad gree hertly wi Bismarck whan he threipit that “Thir gret maitters are decidit no bi speeches an fecks bit bi blude an airn.” There may be times whan the Fremmit Secretar wul hae ti think o quaistions mair sairious than “Wul this policy gang doun weel at the neist Pairty Collogue?” or aiven “Whit wul the Opposeetion at Halyrude mak o it?” It wes reportit, no lang syne, that the offeecials in Sanct Aundrae’s Hoose haed stertit ti redd theirsels up fir the possibeelity o independence. We maun howp that they are reddan oor politeecians up fir this “disconvenient trowth” as weel.

 

Brown: fo eagal

Calum MacEacharna

Tha deasbad taghadh Ghlaschu an Ear-Thuath air tòiseachadh a-nis anns na meadhanan. Nuair a dh’fhàg Mìcheal Màrtainn Westminster am measg masladh cosgaisean nam Ball-Pàrlamaid bha deagh chothrom aig na Nàiseantaich an cumhachd a dh’àrdachadh  ann an Glaschu. B’ e sgìre-phàrlamaid Làbarach riamh a bh’ ann an Glaschu an Ear-Thuath, le smachd làidir aig na Red Clydesiders an sin cuideachd aig aon àm. Chithear gu bheil ceanglaichean eachdraidheil eadar an sgìre sin is beachd-smuainealas sòisealach. A dh’aindeoin seo, ’s e dùthaich eadar-dhealaichte a th’ ann an Alba san là an-diugh. Tha mise den bheachd, is chan eil e doirbh fhaicinn, gu bheil àm Làbair a’ crìochnachadh ann an Alba mu dheireadh thall. An-dèidh leth-cheud bliadhna! Mìorbhaileach!!!!

Bu chòir do thòrr eagail a bhith air na Làbaraich!!! ’S ann aig cridhe na buidhne  sin a tha sgìre Glaschu an Ear-Thuath . Ma bhuannaicheas Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba tha an t-àm ri teachd gu math dorcha do Làbar mar phàrtaidh mòr. Aig taghadh Ghlaschu an Ear an-uiridh chan fhaca sinn Gordon Brown a’ tighinn don roinn-pàrlamaid ach a-nis, a rèir Sràid Downing, bidh am Prìomh Mhinistear a-mach leis a bhean, a’ sealltainn gu bheil fhìos aige dìreach cho cudromach ’s a tha an taghadh seo. Uill, cha chuidich seo le cothroman Làbair co-dhìu. Tha fhìos aige is fhìos againn gun e seo an cothrom as fheàrr a bh’ againn riamh a bhuannach ann an Glaschu an Ear-Thuath!  Theirinnsa nuair a bhios daoine ann an Glaschu an Ear-Thuath a’ faicinn a’ Phrìomh-Mhinistear aig an dorsan leis a dhrein neònach, is cinnteach gum bi na bhòtaichean a’ dol taobh nan Nàiseantach gu Dabhaidh Kerr.

’S e coimhearsnachd gu math duilich a th’ ann. Thuirt Iain Curtice, Òraidiche Poileataics aig Oilthigh Srath Chluaidh, ’s e “fear de na àiteachan as bochda, mur e an t-àite as bochda ann an Alba” a th’ ann an Glaschu an Ear-Thuath. Fo smachd Làbair chunnaic an sgìre deicheadan dearmaid! Dè rinn Làbar fad leth-cheud bliadhna? A rèir coltais, neoni. Chaidh poileasaidhean glic a stèidheachadh le Dabhaidh Kerr is chuir e mòran cudroim air obraichean a leasaicheadh an eaconomaidh ionadail. Gu soilleir, tha feum aig na daoine anns an sgìre-phàrlamaid air pàrtaidh le dòighean riaghlaidh eadar-dhealaichte. ’S e deagh tagraiche a th’ ann, le ceanglaichean don choimhearsnachd. Ron taghadh Breatannach ‘s e seo deuchainn mu dheireadh Brown.’S e seo ar cothrom a chuir às dha agus don riaghaltas blanndair aige!
 

Brown: Campaigning Scared
Calum Mackechnie

English translation

The Glasgow North-East by-election debate is now starting in the media. When Michael Martin left his Westminster seat in the midst of the MPs expenses scandal the Nationalists had a great chance to increase their power in the city of Glasgow. Glasgow North-East was always a Labour constituency, with the Red Clydesiders having it under control at one time as well. It can be seen that there are historical connections between the area and socialism. Despite this, Scotland is a very different country these days. It’s my  opinion, and this isn’t difficult to see, that Labour’s domination of Scotland is finally coming to an end. After fifty years! Wonderful!!!!

Labour should be very afraid!!! Glasgow North-East is a community at the heart of that entire movement. If the Scottish National Party win the future of Labour as a major party is very dark indeed. At the Glasgow East by-election last year we didn’t see Gordon Brown come to the constituency but now according to Downing Street, the Prime Minister will be campaigning with his wife, illustrating that he knows just how important this election this. Well, that won’t help with Labour’s chances anyway. He knows and we know that this is the best chance we have ever had to win in Glasgow North-East! I would say that when the people of Glasgow North-East see the Prime Minister at their doors with his strange grin, their votes will certainly be going the way of the Nationalists, to David Kerr.

It is a very unfortunate community. John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, said that Glasgow North-East is “one of the most socially deprived, if not the most socially deprived, parts of Scotland.” Under the control of Labour the area has suffered decades of neglect! What have Labour done for the last fifty years? Apparently, zero. David Kerr has established sensible policies and put a lot of emphasis on job creation that would improve the local economy. Clearly, the people in the constituency need a new party with a very different style of governance. Kerr is an excellent candidate with connections to the community. Before the British election this will be Brown’s final test. This is our chance to give him and his stale government their final blow!

This article was published in the November Scots Independent;  things did not pan  out as we had hoped, as Ian Goldie wrote last week.