Saturday, April 30, 2011

This Thursday, our second duty at the ballot box is to stick it Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems, send a very clear message, No to AV!




















Dear All

As well as the vote to decide who will be an MSP on Thursday May 5th, we will also get a vote on AV.

If we vote yes to AV, we will rob ourselves of a chance of PR being introduced.

And we give the despicable Nick Clegg kudos.

So, Vote No to AV.

Let’s send a message, No to AV but Yes to F.U Clegg!

Vote this pig in a poke down!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Iain Gray in Subway shocker part 2, told of election defeat while eating subway sandwich at his own election count, hold the mustard!

Scottish News of the World to declare for Alex Salmond and the SNP, everyone is abandoning Iain Gray and Labour, complete collapse of support!













Dear All

The Scottish News of the World will declare for the SNP on Sunday another blow to the personal standing of Iain Gray, the ‘East Coast Weasel’.

Now, everything is slipping away form the Labour Party, the sun is shining and the SNP far from winding down their campaign are keep the throttle fully open as the finish line is in sight.

Iain Gray’s leadership of Scottish Labour’s election campaign has been a total disaster, so much so that he is now under attack by his own allies.

And it’s worse as two new polls gave the SNP a massive lead.

A poll by YouGov shows a 5 per cent swing to the SNP from Labour since a similar survey last Sunday.

Gray may even lose his seat.

The poll found the SNP have 45 per cent in the constituency vote with Labour trailing on 32 per cent.

If we look back, at one point the Labour Party was sitting with a 16 point lead and then they blew it.

Four years of opposition for opposition sake was a hugely bad idea leaving Gray with no legacy to draw on.

And then he adopted SNP policies to curry favour.

The knife crime con to put fear and alarm into voters was another mistake of epic proportions.

Gray is now desperately seeking to stem the flow towards the SNP; Labour voters want to vote SNP.

To show how bad it is, senior Labour figures in Scotland are questioning the campaign tactics which focused on cuts by the Conservative-led coalition at Westminster.

Dreadful stupid by seeking to ignore their real threat!

Mad loon Lord Foulkes, who backed Mr Gray to lead the Scottish party, said:

“Iain Gray has been too much of a gentleman. He has been playing by the Marquess of Queensberry rules, but Salmond has been hitting him below the belt again and again.”

Foulkes added:

“It’s as if two people are playing a different game. One is playing by the rules and the other is involved in an all-in, freestyle wrestling match. He felt people would see through Salmond, but they don’t unless you point it out.”

Foukles is noted for being an idiot not a master tactician of political strategy.

And Labour has been playing a ‘nasty’ little game with their knife crime policy, a con that everyone has seen through.

An election gimmick used once too often!

The day of judgement is fast approaching; the SNP need to keep up the hard work, get their message out and press on.

Only an SNP Government can protect Scotland and its people.

It’s all about having the right team in place.

Alex Salmond has the right team to do the job.

Iain Gray is a weak leader; everyone senses he is dragging the Labour Party in Scotland down into defeat, a defeat crafted by his own hand.

You never run away, you stay and fight!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ed Miliband declares Labour ‘state of emergency’ after Iain Gray runs away again during Holyrood election, send in the rabbits!

Youth spokesman decries Scottish Labour tactics of hogging all public toilets in run up to Holyrood election, strong movement develops!

Iain Gray and Labour team start hanging round Asda toilets as their campaign goes down the pan, bog roll or bust in Ardrossan!

‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray and the Labour Party lose the battle for Asda, another PR disaster as Iain Gray flees Asda superstore!














Dear All

What is the matter with this ‘East Coast weasel’ Iain Gray character?

Now, he is fleeing from Asda!

A wonderful supermarket with great bargains and very friendly staff!

In the latest of the ‘running man’ saga, the Labour party have claimed that Alex Salmond ‘hid’ from their leader Iain Gray in a supermarket.

Unfortunately for the Labour Party there is a video showing the Labour front man hurrying out of the Asda store like someone lit a fire under his ass after PR stunt went wry!

When a Labour campaign team had turned up at the Ardrossan supermarket unexpectedly on Tuesday evening, it was as Alex Salmond was carrying out a scheduled campaign visit doing a bit of meet the people.

The Labour group went straight to the toilet which is the best place for their pish!

They then bolted after claiming they had no idea that Alex Salmond was in the store, so why 'run' away?

It gets even more bizarre with them claiming if they had known then they would have confronted the First Minister.

And do what exactly?

Ask for an autograph, tips on campaigning?

Labour claim Iain Gray spent time talking to members of the public face to face at a meeting.

Meeting in a toilet?

What’s that all about then?

Iain Gray said:

"If I’d have known Alex Salmond was there, I’d have gone up and asked him why he is hiding his date for an independence referendum. Sadly he was kept well hidden until I’d left."

Did he wash his hands after using the bathroom?

Labour’s claims not to have been aware of the First Minister's visit were challenged by the SNP team.

They pointed out that there was a considerable media presence with numerous cameramen wandering about.

SNP candidate for Cunninghame North Kenny Gibson said:

"There was neither hide nor hair of Iain Gray when Alex arrived and he stayed long after Iain Gray's fleeting appearance talking to staff and customers. Iain Gray turned tail just like he ran away from the Glasgow grannies at Central Station."

Since the incident in Asda, the SNP campaign team described Labour’s claims as "complete fiction” and have produced a video showing Mr Gray leaving the store as an onlooker asks him:

"Are you not going to hang about?"

Maybe the guy didn’t know about Gray and Co hanging about the toilets!

Gray responding that he had only popped in "for a coffee".

Do they sell coffee in the bogs in Asda?

SNP Campaign manager Angus Robertson said:

"This footage makes an absolute mockery of the claims in a Labour press release issued this morning and raises serious questions about the negativity, dirty tricks and misinformation at the heart of Labour’s 're-launched' campaign."

In future Iain Gray and the Labour Party should stop hanging round toilets, voters have the right to go for a crap in peace.

The rule of thumb is total silence when going for a dump.

If it is just a piss, chat is allowed but only if people have previously known each other, family, friends etc etc.

Iain Gray is getting more outrageous, now we can't pee in peace now!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Do you have a spare £1,000, if not send back your census form or the heavy mob will be banging on the door breathing heavy, screaming, ‘you jedi’?




















Dear All

They coming to a door near you, the Census crowd!

And they want their form or else!

Else being a £1,000.

Glasgow has a proud reputation of sticking two fingers up to authority but generally in passing.

We have the poorest response in Scotland so far to the 2011 census.

Almost 1 in 10 households have still to return the form, one month after Census Day.

Maybe people didn’t own a pen.

Orkney, Shetland, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway have already sent back all their questionnaires.

Organisers of Scotland's Census 2011 expect an overall response rate of 96%, have urged those still to return their questionnaires to do so now.

If not the big stick comes out, a fine of up to £1,000 if they fail to comply.

Census director Peter Scrimgeour said the estimated overall response rate of 96% was "very positive".

Mr Scrimgeour said:

“To householders who have yet to complete and return their questionnaires, I stress the importance of acting straight away, to avoid the risk of a fine”.

Some people don’t have a £1,000 and little chance of paying the fine.

Scrimgeour added:

“This is the last moment to act, before members of our non-compliance team start knocking on doors”.

And who says they are going to open it to you?

The population survey is collecting information on topics such as age, gender and health to help plan services like housing, hospitals and schools.

And of course the ever popular religious question for jedi!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

BBC ask, ‘do homeless people have a voice’, in this Holyrood election, they feel they don’t because they see politicians as a clique, not one of us!












Dear All

I was reading the BBC news website when I came across a piece on Glasgow City Mission.

The Glasgow City Mission is a Christian group who operate a building in Glasgow serving food to homeless people who have fallen on hard times.

The way in is to join the queue of homeless people waiting outside.

A BBC reporter Huw Williams popped in to interview people on what it means to be homeless or down on your luck.

Williams spent time talking to people, and he soon discovered that "homelessness" is complicated.

Not everyone who is here is a rough sleeper. Some have their own flats, now. Some are staying with mates and some are in hostels.

And among the people there is almost universal agreement that politicians can't possibly understand what that's like.

Roy, a former homeless man said:

“My main gripe with every politician is the only time you hear them is when there's an election. Between elections, you never hear them.”

This is relevantly true, especially of the main parties like the Labour and Tory Parties who only come out at election time.

And Roy makes a good point when he says of politicians:

"If you look at them, they're all lawyers and solicitors. You know, top of the range jobs."

That means, Roy says, that they can't know what life is like for people like him.

"You've got to walk the walk, before you can talk the talk."

And most politicians don’t have a clue or indeed understand people like Roy, for them it’s a different lifestyle.

Poor simply isn’t about lack of money, it goes beyond that.

Robert's says he very clear how he'd like to get politicians to empathise with the homeless:

"I'd put them on the broo [benefits], put them in a hostel, and let them realise what it really is all about."

And Willie is also in a hostel. He's been there since he came out of prison in January.

He says he's "sober-ish. Sober enough."

And he won't be voting on May 5th.

"There's nobody decent. Nobody worth voting for."

I would say he is wrong to tar everyone with the same brush but also right with regard to certain individuals in politics.

Some people aren’t worth voting for, right across the political divide.

Andrew Low, chief executive of the Mission, says those attitudes shouldn't be a surprise, he said:

"Many of our clients don't believe they're going to be heard, and therefore they're less inclined to be involved."

And that is the truth when people like Roy and Willie interact with organisations such as Glasgow City Council.

Help isn’t available, everything is a fight and the answer is always no!

Janet who uses a soup kitchen in the city centre says it would be good for politicians to come and see the soup kitchen, and meet the homeless people who rely on it.

She said:

"My life is hell at the moment. And I'd tell them my life's been hell."

Politicians don’t understand or in some case don’t want to understand.

Another person called Andy tells of many years of rough sleeping.

He said:

"I would ask a politician to give up their house, for a month. And come to places like the soup kitchens. And sleep the way people here sleep at night."

And the offer is there, on the table, to any candidate who wants to take up the challenge.

Andy says he'd take them round the sites where people stay.

"They're infested with rats. Plus there's dirty needles lying about, and things like that. It's dangerous, sleeping outside."

One of the politicians who have taken up the challenge is John Mason, SNP Candidate for Shettleston, prior to the election; he was working down at Glasgow City Mission helping out during the day.

However, it is one thing serving the food and another sitting down at the table, because then, you can hear the real stories of the people that society has forgotten.

And in order to really understand, you do have to pull up a chair because everyone regardless has a story to tell.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray blows up in a mad outburst about independence; the Labour Party should call the men in the white coats very quickly now!













Dear All

Labour’s Iain Gray is a man drowning in a sea of disasters of his own making.

The four years of whine and whinge politics and the phoney knife crime con trick have blown up in his face.

He thinks he sees a life raft in a sea of troubles.

Independence!

Yes, Iain Gray is interested in independence or at least the date that such an issue will be held.

And he wants to know now!

To that end he has challenged SNP leader Alex Salmond to name the date for a referendum on independence.

I can help narrow it down, any time in the next 1,825 days after the election.

Gray said the SNP should "stop hiding" its plans for independence.

Eh?

Is he gone ‘wire happy’?

This is his big re-launch?

For the Labour Party to change the focus of its campaign this week from attacking the Conservatives at Westminster to attacking Mr Salmond and his party's flagship policy is sheer nonsense.

You have a theme and you stick to it so the voters get a sense of what you stand for!

If re-elected the SNP has will introduce a Referendum Bill on independence during the next parliament but has not specified exactly when.

The economy and jobs are a priority, saving the health service is a priority; reform of local government is a priority.

And the SNP have their priorities straight.

Labour has launched a document entitled "Alex Salmond - more worried about his job than yours".

But it should be entitled Iain Gray – ‘can I face the press if I am punted from my seat?’

Speaking during a visit to a nursery in Edinburgh, Mr Gray said:

"Today we publish a document showing the choice facing families now: Labour's plans for jobs, or the SNP's plan for independence. With Labour's plan it is possible, by the time these children are teenagers, to have abolished youth unemployment and created 250,000 new jobs. But it won't happen if the SNP win because they have no plan for jobs and no serious plan for growth. The children I met today have two futures: a future dominated by arguments about independence with a man who claims to have the moral authority to push for it, or a future with Labour focused firmly on jobs."

He added:

"So my challenge to the SNP: stop hiding your plans, stop pretending you aren't obsessed by the only policy that gets you up in the morning. Don't hide your plan for independence. Tell Scotland the date you want to hold the referendum and tell us today. Don't hide behind the pathetic excuse that it would be a mistake to reveal the date you already know. If Labour forms the next government, we will not be distracted by a constant campaign to break up the UK. It will be jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs again."

I think the boy needs to sit down and have a cup of tea.

Reading what he has put out, he needs a long rest in a quiet place wiggling his toes in the sea while pottering about.

He is letting his anger get the better of him.

Chill out! Have a kebab! Go for a walk in the sunshine!

Acting like a loon howling at the moon isn’t working!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

The axeman cometh, Finance Secretary John Swinney vows to axe Glasgow Labour Council of shame ‘double’ salary system, Labour greed to be stopped!













Dear All

Finance Secretary John Swinney is a fair man; he will go the extra mile to help someone if their cause is just.

However, he has limits; Glasgow has a Labour Council of shame who need to be dealt with!

Labour Councillors run Glasgow as their own personal fiefdom; the Council and Aleos are stacked with employing their relatives, family and associates.

And the money is funnelled out of the City Chambers to Labour donors who get contracts.

And even more the Labour Councillors of shame have constructed a big trough which they pile into like a man crossing the desert without water.

They love it!

Now, John Swinney has confirmed he will use legislation to end the controversial system of payments to Glasgow councillors sitting on the boards of hived-off bodies.

The good times at Glasgow City Council are over for the Glasgow Labour Party.

Mr Swinney said secondary legislation would be used to bring the appointments and payments into line with the Local Governance (Scotland) Act.

He is doing this because the Labour administration has failed to act on recommendations to scrap the Aleo (arm’s-length external organisations) payments.

In some cases Councillors can effectively double their salary.

Everyone hates Labour including die hard trade union leaders who are prepare to field candidates in next year’s local government elections on a ticket opposing the “snouts in the troughs” culture within the city council.

It’s a deep trough in Glasgow; you could shout and hear an echo!

The GMB who represent the lowest paid workers have hatched a plan designed to embarrass Glasgow’s Labour administration.

GMB’s leading figure in Glasgow, Martin Doran, said joint unions will discuss fielding several high-profile candidates against prominent Labour city councillors who have benefited to the tune of thousands.

You could say this is ‘community payback’ for the authority when they started moves to reduce the terms and conditions of thousands of council workers in Glasgow.

Less holiday entitlement and pensions!

Council leader Gordon Matheson may find himself up against it from all sides, unions, SNP and even his own party members’ want a reckoning.

Yesterday, Mr Swinney said:

“An independent review has said this system of payments should end and as Glasgow Labour haven’t put a stop to it voluntarily a re-elected SNP government will take what action is necessary in Parliament to bring Glasgow into line and put a stop to this £260,000 of unnecessary payments.”

Some people are about to become very poor indeed.

In a frank exchange a Unison spokesman said:

“This is cash for clowns, paid fiefdoms for Matheson’s misfits. They’re more concerned about lining their own pockets than the livelihoods and welfare of their workers.”

Expect a lot of crying in the City Chambers as Labour Councillors get their buttered rolls all soggy in the dining room before dipping them in their soup.

The Party’s over, it’s time to call it a day!

And in 2012 there is the Council election and some will lose their seats!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

SNP get another boost to their highly positive campaign as new poll predicts a clear win, now, it is time to step up another gear and try even harder













Dear All

The SNP is on track for a decisive win at the election on May 5.

However, the good news in a poll of polls shouldn’t be an excuse to take a breather, the fight to the finish is still on.

The SNP wants the people of Scotland to give them a clear mandate by being the largest party by far.

We have seen the Labour Party vote collapsing as people wake up to the threat that the ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray presents.

The Labour Party is falling apart, fear; panic and a sense of hopelessness fill their few remaining activists left on the doorsteps.

Even drafting in people outside Scotland cannot stop the rout continuing.

Weber Shandwick analysis gives the SNP a clear lead over Labour and offers the chance of a potential majority for a referendum on independence.

And results, based on three recent polls, would see Iain Gray lose his seat if a uniform swing was applied to all constituencies across Scotland.

The SNP is on 45% of the vote in constituencies.

Labour is struggling to hold onto 34%.

The Conservatives are on 10% and the Liberal Democrats on 8%.

For the regional vote, the SNP leads on 40%, with Labour on 33%, Conservatives on 11%, the Lib Dems on 8% and the Greens on 6%.

What does that mean for the SNP terms of seats?

A predication of 60 seats!

In a few short months everything that could do wrong has gone wrong for the Labour Party who had a 16 point lead.

Moray Macdonald, of Weber Shandwick, said:

"We won't know until next week whether these polling numbers will turn into reality. What we do know is that since the election campaign started there has been a clear and decisive trend which has seen the SNP take a substantial lead.

"Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are suffering, losing five and eight seats respectively. This election is clearly a fight between the SNP and Labour and the public seem set to use their votes tactically, squeezing out the Tories and Lib Dems.

"Caution should be read into these polls. These are seismic shifts and would see Labour lose substantial constituency seats, including that of Iain Gray. In addition the Lib Dems would lose previous heartlands like Caithness, Sutherland and Ross."

So, in the fight for seats the SNP has to go up another gear and turn on the nitro, the party has been fighting a hugely positive campaign against a Labour campaign marred by a negative and unconstructive approach.

I expect the Labour Party to ask for the ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray to step down if the public don’t put him out on the street first.

It is time to crush Labour in Scotland.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson faces hell in the trough when Labour Councillors of shame get Aleo payments stopped, remember the Aleo Alamo!

Scottish universities 'should sell extra places' to Scottish students says Professor Jim Love, buy a free education, is he completely nuts?















Dear All

Prof Jim Love has ideas.

The next Scottish government should consider letting universities take in extra Scottish students who are willing to pay thousands of pounds in fees.

Tuition fees by the back door.

The Fraser of Allander Institute is a leading think tank but Love’s idea won’t fly with politicians.

And as to the report also suggesting all Scots should pay towards degree costs after graduation.

Well he is off beam on that.

However he does call for a major inquiry into the future of Scottish higher education.

What is needed is a four tier education to replace the current out dated and defunct three.

University, College, Community College and Schools!

Universities have been left to fester, building up mini empires of dysfunctional patchwork structure.

What has remained is the core principle of greed, unaccountable and non transparent.

Like black holes they suck up taxpayers cash and the return is poor.

Universities need to be slimmed down, the College sector needs to expand, Community colleges introduced and Schools taken out of local Council control.

That is the debate that should be happening; Professor Love isn’t radical by any means, another way of trying to keep the status quo and transferring the problem onto someone else in this case the student.

Currently, the Scottish government decides how many Scots students can be enrolled in universities and pays for those places.

Prof Love says there was a need for a "more clearly contractual relationship" between government and universities.

The report said:

"Governments could restrict themselves to being in a contract with universities to purchase given numbers of student places.

"Equally, of course, universities, as autonomous institutions, should be able to decide whether they wish to take student numbers and fee levels as offered by government.

"Removal of control numbers and the associated clawback arrangements would allow universities to offer places on programmes to home or EU students currently denied access, provided they satisfy entry requirements."

It said this would "start to rebalance the relationship between governments and universities, and opens up the possibility of universities developing another channel for income growth".

In other words, Love is seeking to make universities even less accountable than they already are.

And they still get public funding.

Anyone stupid enough to buy into that concept!

Universities Scotland director Alastair Sim said:

"There are some interesting ideas in the Fraser of Allander paper.

"But as four of the five main parties have now ruled out contributions of any kind from students or graduates, the focus now needs to be on Scotland's politicians stepping up to the mark to find the public funding necessary to keep our Scottish universities competitive with those in England."

He added:

"Our greatest concern about another review of Scotland's universities is that it cannot be allowed to delay the urgent need to plug the funding gap that will start to emerge between Scotland and England's universities from next year.

"Preventing that from happening will need immediate action after the election."

Universities Scotland is nothing but a PR vehicle set up to appear as an ‘independent’ voice.

It is nothing more than a front, window dressing which makes up a network of other similar ‘independent’ bodies whose members are all in universities.

One thing they all have in common, is no vision to reform the higher education sector, everything these people produce has a few simple aims, keep the corrupt status quo, transfer the money problem to the students and have other do their work for them.

Simply put they aren’t bright enough to solve their own problems.

Love says on the University of Birmingham Business School website:

‘I’m interested in supervising PhDs in the following areas, mainly of a quantitative nature:

Knowledge flows and MNE performance
Exporting, innovation and productivity
The innovation value chain and firm performance
open innovation and innovation in services

Sounds good till you read what he is selling in his report!

In higher education, ‘all roads lead to Rome’ and Professor Love’s ‘Rome’ is the student paying.

It seems there is a lot of ‘sheep’ in Rome at present, few Shepherds though guiding the flock in the right direction.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Labour Councillor of shame Gordon Matheson faces fresh call to end patronage payments, angry Labour Councillors face half rations at trough!












Dear All

When the Labour Council of shame set up the Aleos of former council departments, it was used by Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell as a system of patronage.

Think of it as simply buying loyalty.

The payments to councillors at Glasgow City Council in some cases doubled their salary.

It is a corrupt system, councillors should serve on Aleos to ensure that they are familiar with how these quangos operate but they should never have been paid for it.

In a nutshell, it is part of their duty as councillors.

However, the pay of a councillor is far too low at £18k and should be reset to £30k and outside work between normal working hours banned.

After Labour Councillor of shame Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell fled the city because of a drugs scandal, the next up to sit in the hot seat was Gordon Matheson.

Or as I call him Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson.

He is on £60k a year but he like Purcell uses the Aleo system to secure his place in the Labour Group.

And there has been discontent brewing.

A Labour Councillor of shame can sit on an Aleo with little experience and earn up to nearly £20,000.

It is a good earner on top of a basic £18,000 a year salary.

Plus travel expenses or a city parking space.

And the Labour Councillors love the payments, they simply love it!

It costs the council more than £200,000 a year to have its councillors involved in bodies which carry out work the authority did itself before it was hived off.

Now, the Labour Council has also been told by the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) to axe the system.

No luck Matheson, his grip on power will weaken if he can’t buy off the angry mob, Labour Councillors will go mental.

In a mean spirited act by Gordon Matheson, SNP Councillors have been stripped of their Aleo positions as Labour reacted badly to them criticising the system. The Lib Dems just boogie right on in there.

But the Labour Council’s spiteful act might not last long, SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney has intimated that, if re-elected at Holyrood, the SNP will move quickly to abolish Glasgow’s controversial system.

The SNP spreading happiness again!

The head of SLARC has again called on the Labour Council of shame to address the practice “before it gets any worse”.

That will fall on deaf ears; the Labour Councillors will have to be pulled kicking and screaming from their trough.

Chairman Ian Livingstone said:

“These enhanced payments are untenable and put Glasgow out on a limb. We recommended to ministers they should be stopped and believe that should be as soon as possible, before the situation gets worse.”

When ‘Free dinners’ got elected as leader, he promised an end to “the culture of cronyism”.

And still the bandwagon keeps on rolling!

Unsurprisingly, the biggest Aleo earners are the Labour Councillors like Anne McTaggart, a pal of Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell.

She is currently parked on three bodies, collecting more than £19,000.

It was recently reported that comments were allegedly made by Labour Councillor Anne McTaggart at a union hustings that the elderly should be means tested.

At £37k a year, she doesn’t need to be means tested herself.

McTaggart stands on the Glasgow regional list.

So, with the money drying up, mutiny on the horizon and infighting between Councillors because of next years Council elections, Matheson is in for a rough ride.

I don’t see the Labour Councillors of shame falling for the old bag of sweets trick and soft words when some are losing nearly half their income.

There will be a lot of rage to come from an angry Labour mob directed to Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Fear and panic runs rampant through senior Labour Party ranks as they draft in outsiders to work as activists in Scottish Holyrood election!













Dear All

The clock is ticking down to May 5th, 7 am!

The battle for Scotland continues with the SNP and Labour fighting in the trenches, no quarter given, it's a fight to the death.

The Labour Party campaign has died completely, Iain Gray is seen as a liability now, the man who ran away is now trying to roar like a lion when he realy is a mouse.

In order to try and defeat the Scottish people, the Labour Party is drafting in people from England and Northern Ireland to shore a failed activist base which has crumbled.

Scottish Labour are abandoning Iain Gray, they know the jig is up.

We are now at the stage where the Labour party are expected to launch a series of personal attacks on Alex Salmond.

In these closing days the fear and panic is racing through the Scottish Labour ranks as more opinion polls have confirmed that Iain Gray’s election campaign has completely stalled.

The 'East Coast Weasel' Iain Gray is desperately trying to resurrect a campaign that has seen a double digit poll lead over the SNP vanish.

The Labour Party fought a Westminster campaign in Holyrood election and are paying the price of that stupidity.

The series of policy U turns by Labour in an attempt to appear more SNP has meant that the voters increasingly begun to compare the Scottish leaders.

Alex Salmond or Iain Gray!

It's no contest, people want Alex Salmond back as First Minister of Scotland.

Iain Gray is struggling to hang on to second, at times being pushed into third by Annabel Goldie.

The Labour Party support Herald Scotland urging a change in strategy.

One Labour MP said:

"We should be attacking Salmond's pomposity. We are too timid. We should be going for his jugular."

It looks like we are entering the 'nasty' time when the gloves will be off as the MSM and the Labour Party get down into the gutter to save Iain Gray.

The strategy change comes a day after Tory PM and Bullingdon boyDavid Cameron launched his own attack on Alex Salmond.

Cameron tried to mock the Scottish First Minister by calling him "El Presidente Salmondo".

Although there are 129 MSP seats up for grabs, people are focussed on what is a two horse race to become First Minister, Goldie and Scott have no chance.

Cameron told the Scottish Mail on Sunday:

"This is not a presidential system. Last time I looked it was a parliamentary system and El Presidente Salmondo needs to think again."

SNP campaign director Angus Robertson countered:

"David Cameron obviously doesn't understand the Scottish parliamentary process - the list vote determines the political balance of the Parliament, and under the Holyrood system it is the MSPs who directly vote in the First Minister. Therefore, the list vote is the one which decides who becomes First Minister - and the SNP's message of 'Alex Salmond for First Minister' for the list vote is a big winner on the doorstep."

The fevered attacks from Labour and the Tories follow on from another opinion poll this weekend showing the SNP with a clear lead in both constituency and list.

For the SNP, now is not the time to take their foot off the gas but rather turn on the nitro as they blast to the finish line.

Every vote counts and everyone needs to have their voice heard in this election.

Even although the Labour vote is totally collapsing because of their poor strategy, the time to stop fighting will be 10.00 pm May 5th until then, its all guns blazing.

10.01 pm, Scotland can put the kettle on, crack out the biscuits and sit in front of the telly, feet up!

And wait for the result while munching away, get the popcorn out!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Thursday, April 21, 2011

There is a song, ‘you will never walk alone’, but on this occasion, Iain Gray will be tied to the political execution post on May 5th, no blindfold!

‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray oversees the total collapse of support for the Labour Party in Scotland, time to think of exit strategy, Barber College!

Really bad news for Kate Connelly, human rights abusing Glasgow University is using the internet to search into her background, Muscatelli sanctioned?













Dear All

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Really bad news for Glasgow University student Kate Connelly, the human rights abusing staff at the university are googling her on the internet.

Host name flexvpn97.cent.gla.ac.uk

IP Address 130.209.154.97

Search engine phrase kate connolly Glasgow.

One wonders why a little girl thrown against a wall who was peacefully protesting is attracting such interest from the senior management group?

Is she to be singled out?

Singling out victims is a hallmark of human rights abusing Glasgow University senior management.

Is there trumped up charges to be filed against her?

You can read about her experience by clicking on the post.

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.com/2011/03/thrown-against-wall-concussion-denied.html

I don’t think they are looking into her background because they want to help her, they could have sent her an email and spoken to her direct.

Has corrupt foreigner Anton Muscatelli given the green light for her to be victimised?

Maybe the student body should be asking questions?

Glasgow University is a human rights abusing orgainsation.

Corrupt foreigner Anton Muscatelli Principal.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

David Cameron comes to Glasgow to lend support for carpet bagger and publicly unelectable Ruth Davidson, don’t vote Tory and punish her




















Dear All

Prime Minister David Cameron hasn’t been visiting Scotland much during this election.

And why should he, the Scottish Tories are going to get a kicking from the people of Scotland.

Cameron is wise enough to know that the failure and the one carrying the can should be Annabel Goldie.

David Cameron came to Glasgow to support publicly unelectable local Conservative candidate Ruth Davidson.

Davidson has pole position on the Glasgow regional list after former Tory candidate Malcolm Macaskill was kicked off.

It was a despicable rotten trick that Goldie’s aide Davidson was effectively gerrymandered into first position.

Will the public accept Davidson?

Never in a million years, she isn’t the new face of Tory Scotland; she wouldn’t lead a Tory revival in their fortunes.

You can see in Davidson’s face she isn’t interested in the people rather her own position.

Cameron playing the game said he is optimistic that the Conservatives can once again be the party of popular support in Scotland.

Never!

He said:

"The values that Scottish Conservatives hold, values of supporting families, believing in enterprise and wanting a more dynamic private sector, of being fearfully proud as Scots but also passionate about our United Kingdom, those are values very widely shared in Scotland”.

Rhetoric, you could imagine he was thinking aloud rather than trying to sell that donkey to anyone.

He added:

"We have got an excellent leader in Annabel Goldie. She performed brilliantly on the TV debates. I think people see in her the kind of gritty, realistic common sense that they want to see in their politics, and that's why I'm here to support her and the team."

Can he not tell her political star is burnt out?

Her performance in the parliament was to keep out of trouble and use leverage to get bits and pieces but that is hardly success.

Outside the parliament Goldie is like a sad old auntie isolated and abandoned still thinking everything will turn out right.

The sun won’t be rising again for her.

It was completely unfair and underhanded that former Tory candidate Malcolm Macaskill was dropped.

And Glaswegians might hate Tories but we are very keen to see fair play, they made a big mistake being unfair to Macaskill.

Goldie has effectively signed her own political death warrant; people from within the Tory party will not forget or forgive her.

I would say to people who vote Tory in Glasgow, look what has happened and ask yourself does Ruth Davidson deserve to go to Holyrood?

No!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Alex Salmond and the SNP surge ahead in poll as Labour support collapses, Iain Gray’s campaign runs out of steam and lacks the will to win!




















Dear All

The SNP are working incredibly hard in this election to ensure that Scotland and its people get the best team to lead us over the next 5 years.

And it seems that the hard work and the positive message is paying off, the SNP has surged far ahead of Labour in a new poll.

According to the Ipsos Mori poll for The Times and Scottish Sun the SNP have made substantial gains to propel them into the lead in both the constituency and regional vote!

Two weeks till polling day and there is no sign of the SNP taking their foot off the gas, this is a fight to the finish with a dangerous Labour Party chasing hard.

In the constituency vote the SNP are 45% while Labour trailed on 34%.

Unsurprisingly, the Tories are on 10% and the Lib Dems whose vote is still collapsing is on 9%.

According to a projected seat breakdown by Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University, the SNP would have 61 seats in the new parliament.

Labour would have 45 seats.

The Tories 10 seats.

The Lib Dems 9 seats.

And Patrick Harvie and the Greens would double to 4 seats.

Unhappy Labour campaign co-ordinator John Park said:

"This is a rogue poll because the results suggested are incredibly unlikely and are wildly different from what our canvass returns and other polls show. This particular pollster is notoriously unreliable in Scotland, predicting the SNP would win double the number of seats they actually did at the last general election. This poll only takes account of those certain to vote so ignores huge swathes of the electorate."

Well they would say that wouldn’t they.

What is clear is that the ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray is seen as a weak and ineffectual leader by the public.

His performance in running away from protestors at the Central Station in Glasgow should he isn’t a man who can take difficult decisions or face down the ‘angry mob’.

In situations like this it is ‘fight or flight’ and the option should have been fight, his ‘minders’ in a single act showed Iain Gray as not having ‘steel’.

On Newsnight Scotland, Iain Gray was savaged to political death as Gordon Brewer was like a T Rex tearing huge lumps out of him as he sat in the interviewee’s chair.

The cherry on the top of that particular cake was Gordon Brewer saying:

‘There is no polite of putting this, but you’re dull’.

Another day and another body blow, ‘lightweight’ Gray was soundly beaten by ‘heavyweight’ Gordon Brewer.

In the main event between Gordon Brewer and Alex Salmond, Gordon Brewer wasn’t able to land a single punch as Alexc Salmond bobbed and weaved before firing off a series of political jabs.

It was a master class in entering the ring, fight the fight and playing to the crowd.

One thing for certain the SNP will never stop, never stop fighting till the fight is done.

May 5th is the main event, 10 pm the polls close and we will wait to see the result of what has been an incredibly positive and buoyant SNP performance.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray mauled to political death by Gordon Brewer on Newsnight Scotland, ‘No polite way of saying this, you’re dull’!

Has anybody seen... my £270,000 IMF job, David Cameron says no, no, no! Brown can't even be bother to attend the one he has presently got!

David Cameron delivers snub to Gordon Brown, no £270,000 IMF job, it needs someone who is "extraordinarily competent", mad men need not apply!














Dear All

The general rule of thumb in politics is that senior politicians in the main are nice to their counterparts, especially when they leave office such as Prime Minister.

It is also like an unwritten rule law.

However, David Cameron has indicated he may block Gordon Brown from becoming head of the International Monetary Fund.

A break with convention!

Gordon Brown since losing the election and leadership of the Labour Party has been noticeable by his absence at Westminster as he pursues his own financial interests.

He is a disgrace and a leper.

In saying that he intends to block Brown the Tory Prime minister said someone who "didn't know we had a debt problem in the UK" might not be the "best person" to run the global finance watchdog.

And he is absolute right.

Why should Gordon Brown who drove this country to the brink of financial collapse walk straight into a £270,000 a year job?

It is wrong that he is even still in the House of Commons.

Brown has been linked with the IMF job in recent press reports, but Cameron told the BBC the IMF required someone "extraordinarily competent".

And Brown isn’t it.

Labour leader Ed Miliband out of some misguided loyalty said Mr Brown was "eminently qualified", the facts of our decline say otherwise.

Miliband said that former Labour prime minister's role in dealing with the global economic crisis of 2007/8 had been "outstanding".

Horseshit.

In a rather odd defence economist David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee suggested Mr Cameron's stance was "vindictive" and "small-minded".

Was Blanchflower asleep while Brown deregulated anything and everything which was put in place for our protection?

The UK and other major economies have an effective veto on the appointment of the IMF's managing director and Cameron should use it.

If he doesn’t it lays open the charge that he is weak.

Brown must pay.

The present incumbent of the IMF is France's Dominique Strauss Kahn; he is expected to step down soon.

So, the job should be thrown open to as wide a range of people as possible.

In a piece of sack cloth and ashes, Brown made a speech in the US last week, in which he said he admitted made a "big mistake" in setting up the UK's Financial Services Authority.

He didn’t appreciate the complex relations between global institutions.

This mealy mouth admission was seen by some commentators as part of a campaign to boost his credentials.

I’m sorry isn’t good enough.

Cameron said:

"I haven't spent a huge amount of time thinking about this. But it does seem to me that, if you have someone who didn't think we had a debt problem in the UK, when we self-evidently do, they might not be the best person to work out whether other countries around the world have a debt and deficit problem".

He added:

"Above all what matters is the person running the IMF someone who understands the dangers of excessive debt, excessive deficit, and it really must be someone who gets that rather than someone who says that they don't see a problem."

Mr Cameron also said:

"I certainly don't want a washed-up politician from another country. It's important that the IMF is led by someone extraordinarily competent."

I think we can take it, the answer is no and will always be no!

David Cameron should stick to his guns on this, good decision.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Scottish Sun back Alex Salmond and the SNP for Holyrood re-election, public service ethos of SNP wins over former 'die hard' Labour supporter




















Dear All

A long time ago I wrote that The Sun newspaper and Rupert Murdoch should take a real hard look at the SNP again and back them.

Now, The Scottish Sun has come out in support of the SNP.

For the Scottish Sun and the SNP this is quite significant as it signals clearly and demonstrably that ‘Scottish’ Labour just isn’t worth backing.

Faced with a stark choice of Alex Salmond or Iain Gray, it was an easy pick of who is best to lead our country.

The Scottish Sun knows it is Alex Salmond by miles.

If you think back to 2007, the newspaper told readers:

"Vote SNP today, and you put Scotland's head in the noose."

So what changed?

The SNP showed without a doubt that they could govern and were committed to public service and the people.

For years I have blogged on the importance of public service in cementing the SNP government as a credible force.

‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray has yet again been dealt another fatal blow as the Labour Party campaign is collapsing.

After the election they will face tough decisions on their disastrous campaign especially on their phoney knife crime campaign which was exposed and belittle on Newsnight Scotland last night by Isabel Fraser.

The latest twist to that rubbish was Andy Kerr’s £500 million pound claim to the cost of knife crime.

This was completely rubbished by an independent body that monitors statistics on both sides of the border.

Labour’s Justice Spokesman Richard Baker looked and sounded simply ridiculous trying to defend a claim without evidence.

Baker found out last night that he wasn’t as clever as he thinks.

Editor Andy Harries said the paper was "right to warn people that an untried, untested party weren't right for Government", but after four years the SNP have proved "that they were the worthy Government".

And worthy of developing Scotland to a better future!

Speaking on BBC Scotland, Harries said:

"Alex Salmond said in 2007 'Judge us by our record', and we've done just that. I think personality has something to do with it. We believe Alex Salmond is a great ambassador for Scotland. This next period of the Holyrood parliament over the next five years will see the Ryder Cup coming in 2014; and the Commonwealth Games, so the eyes of the world will be upon us and it's a fantastic opportunity for Scotland and Alex Salmond does have the greatest skills to bring the best out of Scotland."

In the next SNP Government, it will be time to address the reform of the public sector so that more can be done for less.

And saving ploughed back in to help communities get back on their feet and renew.

The SNP Government has delivered much in the four years at the helm and the next stage will shape Scotland further so that fairness and equality is much more prominent, lack of accountability of the Labour Party’s shadow government such as quangos needs serious looked at.

A isolated Iain Gray said:

"It's no surprise Rupert Murdoch wants people to vote against Labour in Scotland because he knows it will help David Cameron in England."

Everyone is walking out on the ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray and they are turning to the SNP to get the job done.

The defection of The Sun is a major coup for the SNP and it shows that there is a clear demarcation between the SNP and the Labour Party.

The Sun has woken up to the fact that the Labour Party in Scotland is not fit to government and there is a serious lack of talent in key areas such as health, finance and justice.

Labour campaign manager John Park tired to gloss over the defection saying:

"Cosy deals to help the Tories down south will infuriate Scots and I suspect The Sun will suffer a Tartan backlash when people see that this is all about helping David Cameron and giving Labour a kicking."

Seriously sour grapes on his part.

Now, it is time for the Daily Record and Herald Scotland to come out and back the SNP.

This is the time for change; this is the time for the SNP. We have seen enough damage caused by Labour as they defend their own vested interests at the expense of the people.

Public service in its truest meaning is coming back into fashion.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Monday, April 18, 2011

Nicola Sturgeon wins the battle of Govan Cross as press and voters flock to SNP, Labour Johann Lamont left standing alone, first aid thrown in too!










Dear All

It seems that when people need help the SNP deliver, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon stopped campaigning and went to the rescue of an elderly man who fell getting off a bus.

Nicola Sturgeon was campaigning with Rab C Nesbitt star Elaine C Smith in Glasgow's Govan area when the incident occurred.

She dialled 999 and a paramedic arrived within 10 minutes, followed by an ambulance five minutes later.

Nicola Sturgeon and Elaine C Smith chatted to the man and his wife as they waited for medical help to arrive.

After being examined by the ambulance crew, the pensioner taken home to recover, none the worse for wear!

An SNP spokeswoman said:

"Nicola did what anyone would have done and joined other passersby to help an elderly gentleman back to his feet and stayed chatting to him and his wife while the ambulance arrived. We are all pleased to hear that he's ok and back at home."

What is funny about that Saturday was that the Deputy leader of the ‘Scottish’ Labour Party was also at Govan Cross that day running a stall with another person.

And everyone was going to see Nicola Sturgeon.

Johann Lamont was bypassed by the press and punters.

The SNP have a habit of stopping campaigning when people need help, at Glasgow East during the General Election, an SNP Activist stopped campaign when an elderly woman was knocked down in the street.

Labour Councillor of shame George Ryan who witnessed the incident never helped as the woman who had a head injury lay on the ground.

He continued handing out leaflets.

I blogged on that incident regarding George ‘stay away’ Ryan.

And that’s the difference between the SNP and the British Labour Party.

People’s welfare is more important than votes.

Well done Nicola Sturgeon and Elaine C Smith.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Do I look like a mini Cameron, feedback coming back is that the public see me as a ‘mini me’, I am not worth a bet for First Minister!

Tory Annabel Goldie says she will stay on to ‘groom’ Derek Brownlee as her successor, is that a sick joke on her part?




















Dear All

What’s this, what’s this?

Annabel Goldie intends to carry on as leader of the Scottish Tory MSPs in a bid to groom a younger colleague for the job!

Who is this leader in waiting?

Derek Brownlee!

Brownlee as leader is a heavy ask for the public to accept, he has all the charisma of having your nuts trapped in a vice!

Goldie who is facing public political execution after the Holyrood election is trying to hang on like the despot Egyptian leader Mubarak.

It’s the rope Goldie, Tories have been cutting up the bed sheets and fashioning crosses wrapped in cloth for a hanging or burning at the political stake.

Tickets from the usual sources and BBQ thrown in!

Derek Brownlee is allegedly dubbed the “wee genius”.

That’s a stretch.

Sticking Brownlee in as leader is the equivalent of sticking in Michael Howard as leader.

He famously said:

“Are you thinking what I am thinking”!

Every time I heard that I screamed out, ‘wanker’!

Followed by point my index finger at the television naturally!

Goldie’s road to the gallows started with purpose when the Sanderson Commission concluded the Tories had a “weak” leadership structure.

Annabel Goldie who played the mad loveable auntie in Holyrood using the guise of ‘principled’ opposition found out that didn’t cut the mustard either within or out of the party.

She brought nothing to the table leadership wise.

People were deserting their posts and not wanting to stand under leadership.

Recently a councillor in her own area defected to Red Tories (Labour).

The debacle of David Meikle, who refused to sign papers for the regional list because of allegations of vote rigging, was a signpost to defeat for her!

A Goldie aide and former publicly unelectable candidate Ruth Davidson was parachuted into taking another person seat of them as the top Tory was fired in the interests of the party.

A despicable act pure Scottish Tory.

So Goldie is going to ‘groom’ Derek Brownlee who looks like a Capt Mainwaring character or Penfold type depending on your age!

Brownlee looks like a clown in a cheap suit.

Who gives a shit what he says!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott seeks to distance himself from toxic Nick Clegg, he wants to keep options open for his Labour Masters post result



















Dear All

Like everyone else, I keep getting leaflets through my door from political parties, the close to the date of the poll; the more paper flies through the door.

All saying vote for so and so!

I have had two leaflets from the Lib Dems, and nowhere is the name Nick Clegg to be found.

Britain’s most toxic politician has been airbrushed out of their election leaflets and replaced with Charles Kennedy on the back.

Now, we have the unedifying sight of Tavish Scott allegedly railing against Nick Clegg and his deal with the Tories.

He says that toxic Clegg’s deal is destroying his own campaign for Holyrood.

The Lib Dem vote is sinking as people wake to the fact that you cannot trust the Lib Dems to stick to their word.

In politics you can be many things but liar isn’t one that sits with the public at all very well.

In an interview a newspaper Scott has coughed out that his party was suffering because of a widespread voter backlash against them.

Scott says that he is struggling with the public because of the constant media coverage of the Coalition and its cuts.

And has left him fighting to overcome a “trust issue”!

As such he knows pretty well he is shafted.

Scott said:

“It’s a tough election because of what is happening. I don’t deny that for one minute.”

Then he went on to highlight his own anti-Tory instincts:

“I grew up with Thatcher. I grew up with all that stuff going on. We all too well remember what they did to manufacturing industry in Scotland. It’s not naturally where I’d be in politics.”

But he is there and as General Mike Jackson famously said on the Iraqi debacle:

‘We are were we are’!

In an anti Clegg moment he said that that he would not be swayed by UK leader Clegg on possible coalition talks after the election.

In other words he might ally himself and his party with the ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray and the Labour Party.

The natural Scottish home of the Lib Dem poodle housed in the Labour Kennel!
And it is about time that the Lib Dems got the tanking that they rich deserve at the polls.

Looks like ferrets and weasels want to join together.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Patrick Harvie and the Green Party make another £940m pledge, this time for housing, the protest group is losing the plot again!












Dear All

Fresh from pledging nearly a billion pounds on transport, the Green Party is now pledged to invest £940 million in affordable housing.

There are only two Green MSPs!

So, they want £2,000,000,000 ransom or they will cause trouble for the new government.

These nutters must really fancy their chances.

Kirsten Robb, Green housing spokeswoman and top candidate for the Central region, said:

"We want a good choice of rented homes available in every community, affordable housing that's warm and well-maintained, but the SNP's serious budget cuts mean this prospect is receding fast”.

She added:

"Over the next session of Parliament, Greens are proposing to invest almost £1 billion in housing, enough to reverse those cuts from Holyrood's next budget onwards. In Scotland there is still a misconception that renting a home is second best to buying one, but almost everyone rents at some time in their life, and it's essential that young people and families in particular have access to good quality affordable homes. What's more, the construction sector is under serious pressure, with thousands of jobs lost already. These Green plans would support significant numbers of new construction jobs across Scotland just when they're most needed”.

In a time when the Scottish budget is getting cut, how can they justify wanting to control a large section of the budget.

Robb goes further:

"We are not out of the economic woods, especially given the impact of the public sector cuts on the wider economy, and this is therefore exactly the time to re-double, not cut back, investment in Scotland's housing stock."

In order to go that there will have to be cuts to services, who do they want chopped?

Unfortunately, the Greens just have the ‘wish list’, but their toxic by product is that vulnerable people will be hit by severe cuts to implement it.

The Greens and Patrick Harvie aren’t taking about the people who suffer as others benefit.

Or doesn’t that matter to them.

The Scottish Greens are a bunch of crank protestors who have latched onto the idea that Holyrood is a good place for resident protests.

But really they should be doing it outside.

Hopefuly people will realise that the Greens don’t represent them; Glasgow has woke up to that fact when Patrick Harvie voted against the Scottish Budget which had measures to help the people of Glasgow.

A Green vote is a wasted vote.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Shamed former Labour MP Jim Devine is facing a £100k debts bill, they may take his life but they are also going to take ..... his money!!!!!!













Dear All

The Jim Devine saga rolls on; the latest piece of heartbreaking news is that former Labour MP Jim Devine has potential debts of £100k.

In layman’s terms he hasn’t a pot to piss in.

But good news for his creditors, they should be okay as assets of more than £165k have been identified.

That’s bad news for Devine currently serving a sentence in HMP Longpoke!

Since being jailed for 16 months after being found guilty of fiddling his parliamentary expenses, life has continued to plunge to new depths of despair for him.

On the bright side he gets 3 hots and a cot via the taxpayer.

Johnston Carmichael, the Edinburgh-based insolvency specialist has estimated that the one-time Labour representative has assets of at least £166,052.

Some of this is tied up in property, either in full or partial ownership of three properties across the UK and the housing market is slowing!

The tally according to the formal list of Devine’s debts to unsecured creditors is £48,272 to various parties including:

£5000 to the Bank of Scotland
£8385 to the Department of Resources in the House of Commons
£34,887 to his former office manager, Marion Kinley

Hefty wedges of cash in anyone’s mind.

Plus another £50,000 for future claims that are as yet unknown.

Now to the assets which look like being sold off:

Home in Blackburn, West Lothian worth around £145,000.
His £190,000 London flat
A half-share in a property he co-owns with his estranged wife.

Then there is the £32,000 resettlement grant from the Commons.

Marion Kinley said:

“It is clear that I can be paid in full, given the total value of Jim Devine’s assets. The outstanding debt can even be repaid without his wife’s house being sold.”

Good news for a victim of bullying.

Leaving aside the party politic issues, this is no way to leave public office or act that way in it.

If Jim Devine had played it straight, he could have had a decent lifestyle doing interesting and varied work.

Instead he is sitting in a prison cell, a pariah whose career was destroyed by his own hands.

The only sympathy you could have for him is that he and others were ‘scapegoats’ staked out to appease the public.

Many others haven’t been brought to book because they elected to pay the money back quietly.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Patrick Harvie and the Green Party pledge £950 million on public transport, hey nutters, you can make the promise but you can't deliver it!












Dear All

I have no time for short arse Patrick Harvie, the guy’s a warmer, nothing more than an in house protestor masquerading as an MSP.

The latest cracker from the Greens is a pledge that they will deliver an additional £950 million for public transport over the next session of the Scottish Parliament.

The best previous that Patrick Harvie and co could do was to screw £35 million out of the Scottish Government.

Harvie thinks he will be a king maker.

As such he is already spending money that his party can’t cash; an extra £650 million will be allocated to public transport infrastructure.

Their wish list:

New and reopened railway stations
further rail electrification
more park and ride facilities
active travel such as walking and cycling.

He can’t deliver any of it.

The Green party also proposes spending £300 million to keep rail and bus fares down across Scotland.

Hooray!

And there is their support for plans to develop a non-profit body capable of bidding for the Scotrail franchise in 2014.

What that support will entail is anyone’s guess.

The Scottish Green party launched its public transport manifesto with Mark Ruskell, he is the party's top candidate for Mid Scotland and Fife.

He said:

"The car is king for every other party at Holyrood but Greens will work to turn parliament's priorities around and invest £650 million in a modern public transport network fit for the 21st century”.

And ram up everyone bills, he is a bit quiet on that aspect of green policy and cuts to public services affect real disadvantaged and vulnerable people as the Greens try and hold Holyrood to ransom.

Bizarrely Ruskell said at least 10% of the Scottish transport budget should support cycling and walking.

Someone going to pay me to walk or supply the population with bicycles!

As I have been blogging on previously, it is time that the Green protestors left the Holyrood building to go stand outside where they belong and whinge.

The Greens won’t be holding the SNP hostage, as for wanting £950 million, whistle, even if Harvie doubles his protest group it is still only 4 MSPs.

And 4 MSPs isn’t worth a £950 million ransom.

We don’t deal with terrorists or cranks in this country.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Holyrood independents Caroline Johnstone and Mev Brown unite on crime policy, one doesn’t understand it and the other is a raging crack pot!













Dear All

At every election whether it be Westminster, Holyrood or Council, people stand who are independents.

The most famous group of independents are of course the Monster Raving Loony Party, they have never won or even come close but they do add a bit of colour to make the counts a festive affair.

In the Holyrood election there are a number of independents standing.

One such person is Anti-knives campaigner Caroline Johnstone, she won’t be elected.

As part of her ‘manifesto’ such as it is she wants online mug shots and tougher prisons.

What does she mean by tougher prisons, God only knows.

Johnstone has joined together with former homeless sector worker Mev Brown saying they will work with each other on law and order issues if elected to Holyrood.

This begs the question, why isn’t Johnstone standing as a Tory?

Johnstone is standing on the Glasgow list after resigning as a Justice of the Peace earlier this year.

The Glasgow list is very popular with some people depending on who you talk to.

Mev Brown worked at a homeless drop-in centre in Edinburgh, and said the mainstream parties "really don't get it" when it comes to crime.

He said:

"If our political elite got out of their ivory towers more often they would know about the gulf between the image of the hard man with street credibility, against the substance of a coward”.

He added:

"If we want to change the culture, we need to stop promoting these thugs' image with convictions like GBH and assault. Let the charge fit the crime. We need a new legislation: The Cowardice Act”.

Crackpot!

He went further:

“We must hit these thugs were it hurts most, their reputation. A key component of this policy will be to post conviction details and a mug shot on court websites. These thugs must be seen for what they are: cowards."

Has he never heard of the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights?

When a person is convicted and receives a sentence, he/she is then processed to start their sentence whatever that maybe.

That is the punishment aspect demanded by society, online mug shots and tougher prisons are old style Tory and even they have abandoned such rhetoric down south.

Brown also believes this policy would have a particular impact on domestic violence.

And there is no evidence to back that claim up.

He said:

"These days, many women do an internet search on their new partner. With conviction details available online, this would provide an opportunity to avoid a disastrous relationship for countless thousands of women."

People can simply change their name under Scots Law provided it isn’t done to defraud.

Brown hasn’t thought this through and I suspect even taken the time to study the law, he has just opened his yap and let spew.

Is he really MSP material?

True there are some dense pieces of cannon fodder at Holyrood but they have the sense to keep their mouth’s shut and sit up the back and just take the salary.

Brown is just venting crap.

Slightly wiser Johnstone, said:

"Looking at Labour's knife policy, it simply doesn't stand up”.

It’s a con, not even legally and highly immoral to boot but at least with her JP training she could work that out.

But she goes awry:

"At a time when prison budgets are being cut, to free up spaces for violent offenders, we need to seriously consider prison reform and we need to ensure that prison is a tougher option that involves mandatory interventions to change values and beliefs. How else will we change the current culture?”

Mandatory interventions don’t change values and beliefs; she doesn’t understand the mindset of these people.

"With Labour's approach, where is the justice in a thug putting somebody in hospital with a baseball bat and getting off with community service, while somebody who didn't actually hurt anybody gets six months for carrying a knife? Labour really hasn't thought things out."

She really doesn’t like the Labour Party but that isn’t enough to go to Holyrood, she needs proper policies, encompassing policies that would help break the cycle of reoffending.

Just say no, tough on crime etc etc hasn’t worked, time to be smart on crime but I fear she doesn’t have the mental tools for the task.

And she will always fear want she doesn’t understand.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Labour Candidate Ken Macintosh maybe out of Holyrood if the people of Eastwood wise up, vote tactically and Tory!














Dear All

One small footnote of interest so small that you might have overlooked it without really noticing is that there is a good chance that Labour’s Ken Macintosh may be beaten at the ballot box.

When the boundary changes took place, it wasn’t in his favour, redrawing Eastwood, has turned his 2007 majority of 891 into a notional Tory lead of almost 3500.

So, hopefully he will out, in this case the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

But still my enemy!

Scotland hates Tories.

Gone is Labour’s stronghold of Barrhead leaving him to try and sell his Red Tory Labour message in the affluent suburbs of Clarkston, Giffnock, Newton Mearns, Whitecraigs and Eaglesham.

And I don’t see the public buying into Labour or Macintosh.

At present he is searching for SNP and LibDem supporters to vote tactically against the Conservatives.

No one in the SNP will vote for him and it is doubtful that anyone else will; Labour polarises opinion.

He says:

“It’s actually for the Tories to lose. But I have every chance of winning if I can persuade not just Labour voters to vote, but SNP and Liberals to vote for me. There’s only one anti-Tory candidate who can win, and that’s me.”

He is the only anti Tory candidate, self delusion on his part.

Tory candidate Jackson Carlaw says he’s picking up tactical support from votes from other parties to help defeat Macintosh.

This tactic could be to the advantage of the SNP since Macintosh was a first past the post winner.

However last year, the Tories put a lot of time and resources into trying to take the equivalent Westminster seat only for Labour’s Jim Murphy to win and increase his majority.

Murphy used a late scare campaign using race issues.

His stop the BNP Campaign was nothing more than trying to secure vote caches at the expense of the Jewish and Muslims communities.

It was a good ploy.

So, come MAY 5th and if the wind is blowing in the right direction we could see a spectacular Labour loss.

A mini Portillo moment.

Ken Macintosh losing Eastwood and out of politics!

Tactical voting is all that is required.

Hopefully the people of Eastwood will send Macintosh packing and wise up that a vote is also weapon of mass destruction used against Labour.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University