Dear All
Alex Salmond has entered into the Olympic mood by going for Gold; he wins the first Gold medal of the games by being petty.
Despite entering the competition late, the First Minister took to the blocks, composed himself, looked down the track and waited for the starting gun.
The sound of the gun was deafening as Alex Salmond exploded out of the blocks and crossed the line first, his arms flung up in the air, he quickly wrapping himself in the Scottish flag to loud booing by the public.
You would think that Alex Salmond would understand that as First Minster, he should at all times act statesmanlike, wishing only the Scottish Athletes success makes him look utterly petty and small minded.
Who in their right mind could have thought this was a good idea, doesn’t this show that there is a lack of talent in the SNP Government?
Mr Salmond was wrong to issue a good luck message urging everyone to cheer on the “Scolympians”, he should have been inclusive.
What he should have done was to wish the Team GB every success possible and state how he believed that Scotland would yet again make an important contribution.
He would then appear statesmanlike and get his point across of how Scotland plays an important part in world sport.
But no, why not just use what was described as an inelegant combination of the words “Scottish” and “Olympians” and then stand back and get ridiculed by the many.
It is said that his hopes of the term catching on appeared to have foundered, with people on Twitter debating whether it sounded more like an illness or a race of villains from the First Minister’s beloved Star Trek.
Perhaps in future the First Minister will heed that ‘the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.’
That was said by Spock in the Wrath of Khan which I am sure the First Minister has seen.
To the famous quote, no, check that infamous quote:
“The eyes of the world are on the Olympics and the whole of Scotland is united in supporting our Olympians and Paralympians – our ‘Scolympians’ – to go for gold.”
In football, the set piece is sometimes better, perhaps the First Minister needs to remember that, or he could go to the athletic track and hurl crap from the discus circle and get panned.
And it gets worse; SNP ministers joined in and posted online a video with a more lengthy good luck message that featured contributions from Mike Russell, John Swinney, Kenny MacAskill, Nicola Sturgeon and Salmond himself.
None mentioned Team GB.
Maybe they just forgot because they are so provincial minded in their outlook.
Clearly the SNP leadership don’t believe in being team players.
This is rather sad, still if malcontent ever becomes an Olympic Sport then I suppose Alex Salmond can get his tracksuit out, but he will probably want to carry the flag and be photographed and stand on the podiums regardless who wins in any event.
One point that does concern me, can Alex Salmond train at altitude?
Given that the independence referendum vote is such a high bar to get over, will he make it?
Or will he realise that he should just be competing in the intermural league of devolved Holyrood where the bar is set pretty low!
Maybe the First Minister should ask someone to explain the responsibilities of what being part of a team entails, since his middle class clique clearly seems unaware.
This probably explains why the vast bulk of the party won't do activism for him, my experience from what I have seen on my travels.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
2 comments:
The olympics should be suported by SNP party who should get right behind "team GB ".
However, It was noticable that the GB mens football team has no Scots!The Womans team played in a Stella McCartney Strip that could be mistaken for an England Strip.
That Welsh players are being called English.As well as the GB team being called England by TV comentators.
And the Games have just started !
Personaly in a time of severe austerity and hardship were so many working class people are suffering these days,I question why the millions of pounds were wasted on this event.
Laura L
Dear Anon
Selection should not be based on anything other than merit.
Hopefully in all cases that was the case.
As to dress sense, re McCartney, people do what they want to do.
As to Welsh people being called English, bad commentating.
Yes, there is a lot of austerity and it will get much worse, but then some politicians priorities aren't concerned about ordinary working class people.
But it doesn't stop them selling you the lie at election time that they care or are interested in you.
They just want your vote, but some people in politics are good.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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