Dear All
I remember in 2010, the SNP ran with a
slogan for Westminster called ‘elect a people’s champion.’
As a slogan it was a fair piece of PR
political campaigning, but at the ballot box, the acid test on the day was a
resounding no thanks from the Scottish public.
When Joan McAlpine entered Holyrood, it was
because she was part of the Salmond clique, despite being a member of the
Maryhill & Springburn SNP branch, she never attended any meetings I was at,
and I never saw her at any by-elections.
Is Joan McAlpine a People’s champion?
I think not.
Since her election, she has been promoted to
be Salmond’s aide, which is all the more remarkable given she has a lack of
political activism.
Pretty soon she established herself as Euan
McColm said as ‘Queen of the Cybernats’, gaffe after gaffe followed like leaves
falling in autumn.
As a hobby Ms McAlpine established herself
as an SNP road safety crusader.
Road safety is pretty good stuff for an MSP,
a topic that drifts across several issues including law, generally steady
territory to tramp about on.
However
Joan McAlpine has blotted her copybook again after she was was banned from
driving yesterday.
Her offence was speeding.
McAlpine has campaigned for 20mph limits to
protect kids but she was clocked at 40mph in a 30mph zone.
If a kid had stepped out in front of her at
that speed, her car would be ‘wall to wall’ blood with either the kid through
the windscreen with its face ripped off, or under the wheels mangled or thrown
through the air.
Dead!
Salmond’s aide has already racked up nine
penalty points in three years.
And this isn’t the first time that Ms.
McAlpine has felt the ‘need for speed’, she has another speeding conviction on
her licence.
Awhile ago, some halfwit up north called
Mark McDonald was advocating punishing young drivers on the basis that because
of their young age, restrictions where needed to combat bad driving incidents such
as speeding.
The age limit was 17 to 25.
SNP MSP Joan McAlpine is 51.
In truth, McDonald’s idea was
discriminatory in nature, and pretty much deals a death blow to transfer full
DVLA functions to be under the control of the Scottish Parliament.
McAlpine has been disqualified for two
months and fined £350.
Outside court, she said:
“If you break the speed limit you have to accept
the consequences.”
As part of her defence to dodge a longer
ban, her lawyer pointed out that the route looked like “a country road” despite
signs, a speed camera, and road markings.
And two eyes in her head and a brain.
Her lawyer Elaine Rae told Dumbarton JPs’
court McAlpine took “full responsibility for her actions.”
Well, how big of her considering she was
bang to rights.
JP Owen Sayers agreed to a plea to spare
McAlpine more penalty points, she needs her car to travel to the area she
represents since she won’t live there preferring to stay in Glasgow.
Sayers
told McAlpine:
“If someone has nine points they need to be
very careful. These cameras are well sign-posted on the roads.”
So, Ms. McAlpine lurches again to another
embarrassment, last year McAlpine submitted a string of parliamentary questions
about road safety.
One question asked if a review of speed
limits had considered “the survival chances of a child who is hit by a vehicle
travelling at 30mph compared to one travelling at 20mph”.
One also wonders if Joan McAlpine ever
wonders about the survival chances of a child who is hit by a vehicle
travelling at 40mph.
Maybe she should carry a medical kit if she
intends to continue speeding on Scotland’s roads.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
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