Unpopular SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon says “Westminster will be 'shaking in its boots”, Alex Salmond wants to return to Westminster, is there anyone seriously scared of a man who is married to a woman old enough to be his mother, wrong again Nicola!

Dear All

Delusion plays a fundamental part of Scottish National Party politics.

Scotland’s unpopular First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that:

“Westminster will be 'shaking in its boots”.

Why?

It is because Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond has decided to attempt to return to Westminster.

Why Sturgeon thinks a man who is married to a woman old enough to be his mother could frighten anyone is beyond me.

Such people are laughed at.

If Alex Salmond does return to Westminster, he returns a loser, the man who lost the attempt to win Scottish independence, in reality his bid was never credible because it was based on lies, lies and lies.

Salmond and Sturgeon would have plunged Scotland into chaos because of their illiterate economic policies particularly since it was based on oil, and that price has fallen through the floor.

The idea he would head a “strong group” of SNP MPs is equally bizarre, if you think back to 2010 and his ‘elect a local champion’ campaign, it was stuffed full of his and Sturgeon’s cronies, people who were not local and importantly not champions either.

The SNP entered that election with previously having 7 MPs, the day after the vote, they had 6 MPs.

No one believed the nonsense of electing a local champion, because it didn’t exist.

As to Salmond saying he will hold the balance of power in the next UK government, again this is delusion, there is no deals to make by the unionists, even if the SNP did get an increase in numbers.

Clearly the strategy is to plan a campaign of grievance regarding the Smith Commission report that somehow Scotland has been robbed and cheated.

We weren’t, we were asked, did we want independence and the majority said no, that being said, many unhelpful interventions were made by people on the unionist side.

The people of Scotland won the Scottish independence referendum not the unionist politicians who efforts were in some cases particularly poor, it is an open secret that Better Together in Glasgow was exceptional poorly run, these people are now helping run the Labour MP Jim Murphy campaign.

With Alex Salmond standing it was thought he would face off against Liberal Democrat Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. It now seems that he plans to stand in Gordon were Sir Malcolm Bruce is retiring. Lib Dem candidate is Christine Jardine who isn’t exactly a superstar politically, she said the area had been “short-changed” during Mr Salmond’s time as first minister.

She added:

“The people of Gordon deserve better, just as they deserve an MP who will stand up for what’s important to them, not chase their personal political agenda at the cost of what’s best for the people of the North-east. I intend to be a strong voice for all the people of Gordon.”

Jardine will have to hope that people will back the Lib Dem brand.

Sir Malcolm Bruce won a credible majority of 6,748 over the SNP in 2010,

He said:

“People in Gordon rejected the first minister’s independence plans overwhelmingly at the referendum. I am sure that they would be delighted to have the chance to reject him again in May. Bring it on.”

The Lib Dems will have to work their socks off as the SNP will flood the area to try and get Alex Salmond elected to keep him out of Holyrood so Sturgeon doesn’t look like his puppet.

Salmond said:

“The North-east of Scotland has led the way in Scottish politics before, and I believe we can do it again next May.”

The North East massively rejected independence in Salmond’s own backyard, he should remember that, also the anti English hate campaign run in places likes Glasgow will not work in the North East.

Interestingly, Salmond said that would not seek to replace deadbeat SNP MP Angus Robertson as SNP group leader at Westminster.

If anyone should be removed from that position it should be Angus Robertson, he leads nothing and does it exceptionally poorly.

Obviously the SNP want a Labour Government to try and get more power, but it may transpire that although wanting a deal, Salmond will get nothing; people could be facing the prospect that there may be a hung parliament and it could be Ukip that is calling the shots.

If that is the case, the Nationalists will have nowhere to go politically.

Lib Dem candidate Christine Jardine exactly isn’t the best choice for the Liberal Democrats, they will have to hope their brand is the key factor with voters, that and many people dislike of Alex Salmond personally.

Yours sincerely

George Laird 

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Senior SNP Cllrs engage in 'book burning' in Paisley, "where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people as well", fascism is back in Scotland as the SNP mask slips

Four senior SNP councillors in Paisley are suspended for burning Smith Commission report, it seems the pathetic inept leadership of unpopular Nicola Sturgeon is falling apart already, many nationalist idiots rushed to the defend ‘book burning’, 1930’s Germany book burning was common to silence other opinions

Dear All

There is a consider lack of talent in the Scottish National Party, I have said this for years on end.

In a word, you could aptly describe some of their elected representatives and prospective candidates as dross!

And that would be the kind version.

Four deadbeat nationalist councillors decided as a stunt to film themselves burning a copy of the Smith Commission report.

During the 1930’s, it was popular with the Nazis in Germany to burn anti German literature so that other voices and opinions were silenced.

Fast forward to 2014, we have people connected to the senior leadership of the SNP doing likewise.

I previously blogged that the SNP have voted for the return of fascism, in a party led by the stupid, you can’t expect much better.

To show how incredibly stupid beyond belief they are, the four nationalist councillors thought it was a good idea to upload the video to YouTube.

Sadly for them, others have copied it so, the SNP ‘book burning’ scene is still kicking around on the internet, how lucky for them…. Not!

After the ‘stars’ put up their work, it was swiftly deleted, allegedly prompted some kind of anger and embarrassment among the SNP leadership.

Sturgeon is apt at doing fake outrage.

Anyway, unpopular Nicola Sturgeon is now First Minister of Scotland, she is at present trying to re-invent herself as a “caring individual”, which is a bit of a stretch when you remember she left Scots women to die from cancer because they could get the right cancer drugs.

The three councillors who were caught on film are Brian Lawson, Will Mylet and Mags MacLaren.

Nobodies in reality; typical cannon fodder in the party, the director of photography was SNP Cllr Kenny MacLaren who was behind the camera. Holywood won’t be calling probably on the basis; the idiot didn’t use a tripod to steady the shot.

All the cretins who took part have since been suspended pending a disciplinary hearing which I suspect will be a farce, Ms MacLaren runs transport minister Derek Mackay's constituency office.

Derek MacKay is a rat but also part of the SNP clique that unpopular Nicola Sturgeon relies on, MacLaren’s husband also involved is a researcher for SNP MSP Stuart McMillan.

I haven’t blogged on the Smith Commission recommendations, published last week because it was always going to be a pre determined offer, a form of dog and pony show to give the appearance of democracy.

Westminster had an offer.

Although, it has been largely been hailed by the pro-union parties as delivering on the pre-referendum 'vow', the SNP see it differently, in fact the Smith Commission was rushed, pushed through to clear the way for the Westminster 2015 election, not more, I would have given it more time.

Sturgeon said:

“Many people are disappointed with the result of the referendum and the level of devolution recommended by the Smith Commission, however Scotland will only make progress if we debate our views openly and with respect”.

The “many” she refers to is a minority, and as to the crap of “debate our views openly and with respect”, she is a two faced rat, she just covers it up better than most and the press goes along with it.

On the burning incident:

“It is essential that in that debate, conduct does not fall short of the high standard that is rightly expected by the public. My clear view is that setting fire to something because you don’t agree with it is not acceptable behaviour.”

That is code for the SNP wanting to be seen as victims for the 2015 election with Sturgeon playing the woman who has been wronged. If that is her tactic, she should wake up to the fact that the majority of Scots can’t stand her personally, she is on the ticking clock like ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond towards the exit.

Labour MP Jim McGovern said the burning of the report was reminiscent to the actions of the Nazis burning books before the Second World War.

Funny how many different types of Scots recognise the connection between 1930’s Germany and 2014 Scotland under the SNP.

Speaking at the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee, the Dundee politician said:

"I have quite often read books and followed documentaries about pre-war Germany, and one of them was where ... the National Socialist Party, which became obviously the Nazis, burned the books. Yesterday, apparently, SNP elected members filmed themselves burning copies of the Smith Commission report."

Lord Smith, author of the report responded:

"I'm chairman of the Green Investment Bank - I'd rather they had recycled them."

I expect many copies will be!

So, there will be a farce of a disciplinary hearing in the SNP, the way I found they operate is to effective accuse you of being guilty and for you to prove you are innocent. You have to explain yourself, my "hearing" which I blogged on shows how corrupt the SNP system actually is, justice isn't part of it in the same way it wasn't of the Nazis Courts. 

During the Nazis era, this is exactly how they operate, accusation equals guilt.

Interim leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar, called on Sturgeon to issue a personal apology to Lord Smith for the behaviour of her councillors.

Don’t see that happen, the SNP leadership doesn’t take responsibility for anything.

Unsurprisingly many nationalists rose to the defence of the councillors in defiance of the SNP leadership, it seems Sturgeon isn’t just unpopular, no one respects her authority either.

I will be putting up a ‘director’s cut’ of these fools, you should listen to the voice of the main star in the video, he comes across in my mind as a complete cretin which begs the question, how can he be employed as a researcher!

Obviously there are a few bams in Paisley who like to film their stupidity for the rest of the world to see!

And they are all close to the senior leadership surrounding unpopular Nicola Sturgeon’ Nicola likes them thick to secure her position, you only have to look at Glasgow SNP, wall to wall cretins down in councillor group.

Yours sincerely

George Laird 

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Pop Singer Myleene Klass ‘wipes the floor’ with Labour leader Ed Miliband over mansion tax, at the top and bottom of society the Labour Party aren’t listening to people who put them into power, the Labour Party is imploding because the product is tainted

Dear All

It seems that Labour leader Ed Miliband isn’t looking like a Prime Minister in waiting but more like a dog to kick as you pass it by.

Recently Ed Miliband was dragged over the coals by Myleene Klass, the ex model and Hear’Say singer, she utterly savaged him on TV and wiped the floor that people began tweeting that she should stand for Prime Minister.

To make matter worse, if they can get any worse, he has been mocked for “fewer people in Scotland believing in his leadership than the Loch Ness monster”.

The brutal barb happened during exchanges across the dispatch box during fierce exchanges in Prime Minister’s questions.

And things don’t look too rosy in the Garden from his supporters as there was a failed coup from Labour backbenchers to remove him as Labour leader.

The incident with Mylene Klass on ITV’s Agenda is fairly interesting in that people are getting angry with Labour, voters are leaving the party behind to transfer their votes elsewhere to parties such as Ukip.

On top of that Labour members are leaving the party resulting in Labour branches shutting down.

It seems that the Labour Party could be reaching a tipping point where people of the UK think that Labour’s time is over.

What does Labour stand for?

This is a question asked by many and few if any can answer, the Labour Party is run by a professional elite straight out of University and College, they don’t connect with ordinary people, they don’t take their problems on board and their public service ethos is questionable.

The extent that Mylene Klass tore into Miliband’s proposal for a levy on properties worth more than £2 million shows how deep the Labour Party’s problems are. In Scotland, there is a Labour leadership contest doing on, but that is in the shadow of only 1 in 50 Scots having full trust in Ed Miliband.

Labour is in trouble on both sides of the border, many people I know hope that Labour MP Jim Murphy wins the election to be Scottish leader, but Labour need more than a personality, it isn’t simply about having a smart mouth at FMQs which are a joke.

It is about delivering for people who attend the surgeries of MP, MSP and Councillors, it is about rebuilding trust, it is about new vision, fresh talent and a real commitment to public service.

If Jim Murphy wins, he will need to have a cull because the problems go beyond more than image.

Scotland is different post 18^th September, it isn’t business as usual and if the Labour Party do not adjust to the radical change then; they will start to sink towards the levels of Conservative support; more newer parties will enter the market making a return to power very difficult.

Ed Miliband became the leader of the Labour Party through the Union votes, perhaps it is time that voting is restricted to Labour Party members only. At present rather than being the voice of the people, Ed Miliband is looking like someone who doesn’t understand or fails to understand the concerns of people.

Immigration is a problem, his solution is to talk utter rubbish and ignore the ordinary people of the UK, but guess what; they have clicked on to the fact that they can just ignore him and cast their vote elsewhere.

Things for the Labour Party are particularly bad in Scotland, down south you can multiply that problem x 10 and still have room for others.

In 2015, Ed Miliband might not be Prime Minister because he might not have a seat in the House of Commons.

Maybe he should think on that!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Glock 17 test footage

Labour MSP Neil Findlay is 'closing gap' to be Scottish Labour against Jim Murphy, he says if elected he will campaign against Trident, copying SNP student politics to pander to unpopular Nicola Sturgeon is just risible, guess what Neil, your policies stink

Dear All

In May 2012, I was at the BBC Big Indy Debate, I have written on this before, during the programme, I got to speak, I said that any credible bid for independence had to have a commitment to Nato and a commitment to retain Faslane as a nuclear submarine base.

The Scottish Labour Party is without a leader since Johann Lamont stepped down, three people have put their names in for members to consider, they are Labour MP Jim Murphy, Neil Findlay and Sarah Boyack.

In reality, it is a two horse race between Murphy and Findlay.

Whoever wins that election cannot simply think that there can be business as usual, the Labour vote has collapsed in Scotland, not only that the Labour Party structures appear to be in need of reform, not just in terms of their practices but also who they allow to run their operations.

Scottish Labour needs a new vision, new direction, new ideas, fresh talent and a cull to turn around their decline. They have reached a tipping point where things could turn extremely bad for them, so it is important who the next leader is.

Neil Findlay who is a Scottish Labour leadership candidate has promised to oppose Trident.

On that basis alone, he is showing he isn’t the person to be the leader that Scottish Labour needs in the Holyrood Parliament.  Findlay says he would lobby Ed Miliband not to renew Britain's nuclear deterrent if Labour wins the general election.

That would be a complete waste of time, because the Scottish Labour MPs would be under the control of the House of Commons whips, he also says he accepts defence should remain reserved to Westminster.

This is student politics, this is rubbish, this isn’t the way forward for Labour in Scotland.

Findlay doesn’t get it, his task isn’t to woo the party’s Left wing by promising to oppose the renewal of Trident; his task is to convince people to come back to voting for the Scottish Labour Party if he wins the contest.

Neil Findlay by admitting that Miliband would have the final say rather doesn’t address the real issues for Labour in Scotland, Neil Findlay or Jim Murphy would be the leader in Scotland while Ed Miliband isn’t there.

So, the leadership; isn’t leadership but rather middle management.

The ‘boss’ down the road makes the decisions, the Scottish leader in effective does housekeeping, also as everyone knows, Scottish Labour isn’t a separate party to the Labour Party. 

No one including Ed Miliband is going to devolve control over defence to the Scottish Parliament.

Neil Findlay says he is a contender for the leadership, but, someone should ask him why he is pandering to the nonsense of unpopular Nicola Sturgeon.

Is she going to save your party?

Findlay appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show said the Scottish party should have more autonomy. He says by way of example, that Scottish Parliament should have the power to bring the railways back under public control. He would also like to see the tearing up private finance deals that have funded new roads, schools and hospitals.

Who was it that brought PFI in?

It was the Labour Party, short term thinking to try and make themselves look good, not solving problems but storing up financial disasters which would come back to haunt them in the future. 

Jim Murphy’s campaign has had to move ground to continue to pledge support for existing measures introduced by the SNP who bought the vote. He is also calling for cross-party talks on funding for elderly people’s services, including free personal care, the NHS, pensions and bus passes.

In the early days of her leadership Johann Lamont called for a public debate about the long-term affordability of populist policies such as free prescriptions but she never produced any firm recommendations.

Basically what she needed to say was that there would be no free prescriptions or council tax freezes for rich people, she failed that test and couldn’t get motivated to do anything about it.

Part of leadership is to have the answers to problems, so it is highly unlikely that there will be cross party talks on the issues Murphy mentioned, and still no word about Government or local government reform which was pushed onto the back burners because no one has a clue how to turn round the public sector. It is no good taking the railways into the public sector if the talent isn’t there to run them properly.

There cannot be a return to the 1970’s or 1980’s.

The United Kingdom is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, all the main countries such as America, Britain, China, France and Russia, are all nuclear nations. It is highly doubtful any British Government regardless of party politics will put the seat on the Security Council in jeopardy. 

Neil Findlay could be the next leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, but so far he looks likely to implode their vote.

It may have escaped his notice, but the Nationalists have campaigned on Trident removal at every Westminster and the public has generally said ‘piss off’.

Only an outright idiot would sign up for Trident removal.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond says he could have saved Royal Bank of Scotland from the financial crash, Scottish people and politicians take to Twitter to mock his risible claim, he has been a political failure, now he is a hasbeen

Dear All

It appears that there is something possibly wrong with the tap water in the residence of Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond.

Although the Scottish National Party is adapt at trying to re-write history to make them look good; sometimes people take the joke too far.

Alex Salmond leaves the office of First Minister as a political failure.

He lost the Scottish independence referendum because he was stupid, ignorant and small minded. Although he and others managed to cover up for several years their failures as Ministers of the Crown, Scotland isn’t a better country for it.

Law and Order, Health and Education, the big three are all a shambles. During Salmond’s time as First Minister, he was shown to be less than capable of delivering on fairness, equality and social justice for all.

He could argue however, he did deliver that to his clique.

Salmond has become more and more deluded; he claims he could have prevented the Royal Bank of Scotland from collapsing prior to the economic crash. This does beg the question, given his position in politics, the head of a political party which does continual research on economic, how did they all miss it?

Could Salmond have prevented the economic crash?

Hardly, he was writing to Fred Goodwin urging him to press ahead with the disastrous ABN Amro takeover.

It is a bit like urging someone to pour more petrol on the fire which is out of control; RBS dug themselves a hole, and thought they could keep digging to get them out the other side.

For Alex Salmond to claim he could have saved the Royal Bank of Scotland if he had remained working there is utter nonsense, he had a job for a while as one of the bank’s oil economists. He has suggested he could have stopped RBS pursuing the high-risk expansionist business model, and we are to believe the executives would have bought into this and thereby stopped themselves pocketing massive bonuses as they played out their paper game.

When things finally went tits up, the bank had to have a £46 billion bail-out by the UK taxpayer, if Scotland had been independent, the bank couldn’t have been saved. This idea that Salmond has that he is a mastermind is pathetic, he is opportunist, his track record of political failure is by his own hand, he also benefited by the stupidity of others in this case the Labour Party who failed to deliver for the people of Scotland coupled with the Westminster expenses scandal, this effectively done them in.

As he leaves office on Wednesday, Salmond wants to paint himself as new broom for his possible future Westminster return; to that end he is giving a series of tabloid interviews.

In true small man fashion, he accused the BBC of helping the Unionists win the independence referendum. Grudge, grievance and malcontent pours out of him like an open sewer, the people of Scotland killed off Salmond’s referendum idea, his and the SNP’s vision was rejected.

The BBC gave the SNP an easy ride in interview after interview.

His delusion on refusing to accept that the risks to the economy and the pound shows he was never in a position to deliver independence, he dug his political grave by lying and deception.

Opposition parties have since accused him of a “ludicrous attempt to rewrite history”, especially homing in on the RBS bid and the letter Salmond wrote to Fred Goodwin in 2007.

At the time, he said:

“It is in Scottish interests for RBS to be successful and I would like to offer any assistance my office can provide. Good luck with the bid.”

While people were sensing something was going wrong economically and calling for tougher regulations, it was the same year Salmond took the opposite view and called for lighter regulation of the banking and financial services sectors.

The UK has been said by people such as Max Keiser of the Keiser Report to be the centre for fraud in the Western world.

And I doubt many could agree with that sentiment.

Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Conservative deputy leader, said:

“It is to the world's regret that this view he could have been the saviour of RBS didn’t come to mind when he wrote the infamous ‘gain yersel’ letter to Fred Goodwin. It goes without saying that the First Minister has an ego, but this latest claim is absolutely staggering and utterly risible.”

Willie Rennie, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, added:

“Alex Salmond’s ludicrous attempt to rewrite history over his support of RBS’ exploits is dealt a fatal blow by his own pen.”

As news of Salmond’s attempt to re-write history unfolded, people took to twitter to rip the utter pish out of him, mockery and derision pour out on Twitter, with Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, saying:

“If he was on Apollo 13 they’d have landed on the moon.”

Since he didn’t land on the moon, it now appears he is howling at the moon, what a piece of luck for unpopular Nicola Sturgeon having such a loose cannon making rather stupid statements.

On twitter, I noted he couldn’t save the right to a fair trial in a government that he personally controlled, so the idea he could save a bank from collapse is risible.

I think the expression…. ‘Bam’ has real currency here.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Open letter to Nicola Sturgeon, you think you can issue demands and be a ‘kingmaker’ in Westminster politics, Labour leader Ed Miliband won’t be calling you for help to get into Number 10, he can’t afford to associate with a crank who wants to abandon Trident

Dear Nicola

As Scotland’s new unpopular Nationalist leader you think you are going to be a ‘kingmaker’ in the 2015 Westminster General election.

That is so funny to be worthy of comment, not yet First Minister and already the nonsense spews out of your mouth like vomit.

In what can only be described as a bizarre intervention, you say you will put Ed Miliband in No 10 if he abandons austerity measures and removes Britain's nuclear arsenal from Scottish waters.

No, you won’t, at best you have seen the Unionist camp experience difficulties, but things are going to be changing politically in Scotland.

Better Together may have closed, but new groups have decided to spring up with the objective of getting the best candidates in an area into political office.

The Scottish Nationalists can demand Ed Miliband scraps Britain’s nuclear base in Scotland, but you will not get it, you will not even get a serious meeting around the table.

In 2010, the former fool to hold the office of SNP leader said, that he would put 20 MPs into Westminster and hold the balance of power, but when it came right down to it, no one was mental; enough to vote SNP.

The SNP don’t do big internal politics but you are too stupid, too petty and too student union.

As to abandoning the deficit reduction programme, that isn’t likely either, as the incoming government will work through the previous government spending plans until they get into a position to tinker, and that’s what is in store, tinkering.

We are looking at a coalition government, because of the rise of Ukip who down south at least have the prospect of gaining seats.

There is no deal to be done with the SNP.

A Nuclear United Kingdom means we keep our permanent seat on the Security Council.

In a rewriting of history, you say you won’t do a deal with the Conservatives in the event of a hung Parliament.

The SNP did deals all the way through the minority 2007 SNP Government to get budgets through.

You are just an unsophisticated hypocrite with a small town mentality devoid of being able to look at the bigger picture. Given the SNP got it spectacularly wrong on the EU which was fairly straight forward, the concept you have an idea of how the defence of the realm is achieved is bizarre.

After all you have Englishman Angus Robertson as defence spokesman …. what a poor joke.

People in Scotland rejected independence in a referendum less than two months ago, and they have no option but to reject you again for Westminster.

I notice that my point of lack of talent in the SNP seems to have struck a chord as you are having to import people as candidates, and guess what when I heard, my first thought was it would be candidates from the two minorities you closely associate with.

Time for a quote:

 “if you are white working class and heterosexual you are shit out of luck dealing with the Sturgeon Empire”.

But the opening up of candidacies to non SNP members isn’t as open as it appears is it?

Jeane Freeman.

Will you have a few white working class and heterosexuals sprinkled around to create the illusion of diversity and equality? Carefully selected to be much like the sheep that sit behind you in Holyrood unable to generate any ideas or produce vision, content to rake in the salary and expenses. Getting the cronies in is about the extent of your vision as you seek the defence of buffers to hold onto power.

Also, I laughed at how you have betrayed your SNP members who have worked hard to have the chance to stand for public office, but as you know Nicola, you are a rat, and rats have no loyalty.

Stay away from big ideas about scrapping Trident; your time has passed even before it has begun.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

FMQs: Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond racks up his 215 FMQs appearance, he leaves office as a failure howling at the moon about how shipbuilding jobs loss would be “betrayal” of Scotland, the numb nut isn’t bright enough to understand the orders are coming, they have been promised

Dear All

Did you notice the historic event which has happened today?

Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond did his last FMQs.

Did you notice that Scotland stopped?

Did you notice any tears in the streets?

Anyone saying don’t go?

Protests?

Support groups?

No one in Scotland cared about Alex Salmond leaving his post, so much for his popularity; it’s fickle is it not!

As per usual, Salmond used his last FMQs to try and be a statesman, he isn’t, as expected the SNP clique were full of praise for their ‘hero’ as he fades away.

What will remain however is his legacy of failure and the memory of his love of 5 star hotels.  

Alex Salmond has written to David Cameron demanding assurances over the future of thousands of Scottish shipbuilding jobs.

In an independent Scotland, they wouldn’t be a shipbuilding industry, how many jobs did unpopular Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney when they did their Govan mercy mission when BAE wanted to shed 835 jobs?

They saved zero!

The British MoD will be placing warship orders within the UK, that’s Scotland to you and me, they have to consider the bigger picture; the idea of the order going to France is nonsense. If Cameron did this, his reputation would be mud.

And it would lose him the election….. trust must be maintained.

If Salmond is good at anything it is homing in on the gullible for votes, so he used the shipbuilding story to get in “betrayal” of referendum promises. This is because of what Admiral George Zambellas, the First Sea Lord, said yesterday the deal could go to France.

Zimbellas maybe an Admiral but he gets no final say, not even a hearing.

UK Ministers indicated that the deal to build 13 Type 26 frigates would be go to BAe on the Clyde in the event of a referendum No vote. That is the bottom line, the issue isn’t worth exploring further unless they change their mind, and they won’t because they can’t.

Salmond told MSPs the remarks:

“These remarks (by Zembella) are deeply troubling. They come not from some functionary in the Ministry of Defence, but the head of the Navy and this Parliament will ensure that the commitments and promises that have been made are honoured to the Clyde workers.”

These remarks by Salmond are also deeply troubling because they highlight how stupid and ignorant he is on military procurement and the wider political picture.

Alex Salmond is no Staesman, because a statesman would know a done deal when they saw it.

Tory leader Ruth Davidson said:

“Admirals don’t awards contract, the MoD awards contracts.”

And they only do so because the Cabinet has already made the decision for them, they do the paperwork.

The thinking bit has been done elsewhere.

In his last appearance, the chamber wasn’t all big hugs and kisses as Labour MSP Jackie Baillie had a go at him.

She said:

“We know the First Minister was passionate about independence. The tragedy is that he was so blinkered by that passion that Government actions to tackle poverty, reduce inequality and deliver social justice were pushed into second place.

Bailiee added:

“His legacy as First Minister will be his failure to use the powers at his disposal to make Scotland a better place.”

His last appearance done, his shift completed, there is little else to say but his career ends in failure.

Well done Alex Salmond, you will be a legend on toilet walls!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

EU court rules ‘benefit tourists’ can be excluded from welfare schemes in a landmark ruling, the case highlights the problem of not having an internal EU immigration policy through-out Europe, time the EU politicians ‘grasped the nettle’ of reforming the organisation in a meaningful way

Dear All

Just as 2014 had all eyes in the UK fixated on the Scottish independence referendum, 2015 is shaping up to be firmly focused on the EU despite it being a Westminster election.

What has focused the agenda this way?

The rise of Ukip led by Nigel Farage, the party has tapped into a strong undercurrent of discontent that ordinary people across feel because of the way they have been treated. Previous decisions made by the mainstream parties in the past have come home to roost, it isn’t just voters who are deserting them; their rank and file members are feeling they have no common cause to continue their support. If you can’t get heard in your party, what is the point of continually supporting it or even voting for it?  

Ukip is expected to do well in England. Already Douglas Carswell’s re-election has caused the mainstream political parties to rethink their previously entrenched positions. The Labour Party due to its problems hasn’t signed up for a referendum on the European Question of should we remain as part of the EU.

There is a strong case for leaving the EU.

Equally, a strong case could be made to stay in and reform the organisation, the real trouble is that this has never happened properly despite several treaties by member states. At present there are 28 members of the European Union, much has changed since the early days of the EU when the focus was on better trading ties with the club.

Over the years we have seen good things come out of the EU such as the European Court of Justice and the judgements made on Human Rights have benefited people in Britain. The real trouble with human rights is the law, but the people who put their interpretation on it which has rendered in some cases bizarre judgements. Law in itself is very interesting as a topic because it touches on other policies and how they are enacted or curtailed.

On the issue of immigration, the EU policy is free movement of Labour.

What does that mean?

It means if I wished to go work in Poland and there was a job for me, I could just up sticks and potter off to live there. By the same token if someone from Germany wished to come and teach at Glasgow University and was offered a position, they too could come over and setup a new life.

The reality of the EU policy of free movement of Labour has gone wrong; it isn’t free movement of Labour but in effect just free movement. Sometime ago, I wrote about my idea for an internal EU immigration policy which in my mind was sorely needed to address this problem. Although the UK Government is trying to put in measures, the solution needs to be an EU wide solution and not just a British response to a domestic crisis. This should have been sorted out in a proactive rather than reactive manner which we now find ourselves in. 

The UK has been in the EU for circa 40 years, that is a long time to be a member, but the direction of travel hasn’t always been on the right road. Nation states need to be able to exercise their sovereignty more than they have been able to do so, un-hampered by Brussels. That doesn’t mean decisions should be green lit by a Nation just on the basis of dislike or to get a government out of a local difficulty, the rules should be based on fairness. I have always believed that an internal EU immigration policy was always the way to go, rather than things being done piecemeal by legal judgments and verdicts. 

Under my idea, each EU country would set criteria for people from other EU states who wished to live there; this would be done by the host country in conjunction with the EU. This would mean each Nation state sets a criteria which would apply to everyone from outside that country who is an EU citizen, it would mean that the same rules would apply to a German, a Frenchman, a Polish man or a Romanian if they wanted to live in there.

An EU court has ruled what is termed benefit tourists can be excluded from welfare schemes. It seems to me that rather than this situation of piecemeal which is a running sore and source of annoyance which doesn’t satisfy anyone, they would be better adopting my idea right across the entire EU.

Anyway, the European Court of Justice has declared EU member states must have 'the possibility of refusing' social benefits to 'economically inactive' EU citizens. This is the start of a recognition that free movement of Labour must not now been seen as purely just free movement. We aren’t anywhere near an internal EU immigration policy because there isn’t the political will for it, especially by the German leader Angela Merkel who is said to be opposed any restriction to the current setup.  

Now, Britain can ban European Union migrants from claiming "special non-contributory cash benefits" for up to five years, this is a landmark judgement in Luxembourg. In many ways it is long overdue but doesn’t fix the problem but it is certainly moved the ground a little.

The EU courts have ruled that it is up to the member states’ own Government, not Brussels, as to how it will draft the appropriate legislation that that excludes foreign, European nationals from claiming social assistance benefits. If you look at this in isolation, you would be tempted to think it is unfair as a first reaction, but there is a wider picture to consider were the rules have been abused by people who aren’t residents dubbed benefit tourists, in some cases they claim for their children, who aren’t even in the country.

That is entirely wrong, it is an abuse of the system and it should be stopped.

The landmark ruling has other implications such as allowing countries to assert their national sovereignty over out-of-work welfare benefits. Importantly, the European Court of Justice has stopped unemployed migrants from using human rights legislation to appeal against measures blocking them from benefits.

Although, this is legal, I feel the way this has been gone about doesn’t sit well, because the entire situation is in need of reform, and I keep coming back to it being an EU wide solution. Ironically, this test case was brought to the Court from Germany; it confirmed that governments can treat European jobseekers differently from their own nationals. The case involved two Romanian nationals, Elisabeta Dano and her son Florin, who were refused benefits in Leipzig because she "did not enter Germany in order to seek work there".

She and her son have been residing in Germany since November 2010.

The Court said:

"One of the conditions for a right of residence is that economically inactive persons must have sufficient resources of their own."

A Germany internal EU immigration policy it appears. If you google on my previous posts and comments elsewhere, you will find I also stated a criteria need to be set along those lines regarding funds and other relevant issues relating to employment. I used an analogy previously regarding the people wanting to study medicine, if a person was rejected after applying because they had no qualifications, it won’t be discrimination or an injustice, it would simply be that they didn’t fulfil the criteria, the person may not like it but that didn’t stop them in the past preparing to make their transitional move. 

And at the same time, they would have no recourse to EU human rights laws because there isn’t unfairness attached to the ruling. This is the bit that is a problem for some people, in general people should have access to justice, but justice cannot and shouldn’t be used to patch over political holes in the dyke.

The Court said:

"The directive on free movement of EU citizens and the regulation on the coordination of social security systems do not preclude domestic legislation which excludes nationals of other member states from entitlement to certain ‘special non-contributory cash benefits’, although they are granted to nationals of the host member state who are in the same situation.".

The European Commission has welcomed the judgment as bringing "more clarity" to the rules on EU free movement.

It gives a temporary fix which doesn’t address certain wider issues that need to be debated. And that is another of the systematic problems; politicians don’t want to debate this openly because of the nature of the topic.

So it is left to the Courts to decide matters.

Whereas people are willing to shout ‘racist’ for political advantage, when judgment comes via the Court, they can’t exercise their brand of political fascism to exploit a situation for votes.

But really there should be the political will by politicians on this matter.

Unsurprisingly there has been a lot of failure to lead. We elect politicians because we realise we can’t have the political will of mob enacted, politicians are supposed to the safeguard of reasoned judgement, abandoned in pursuit of their own political personal agendas.

2015, although a Westminster election is probably going to be dominated by the EU, Ukip should improve their situation, but they could do more by adopting a reformist platform to run alongside their desire for an in/out referendum rather than leave others to do the spade work. This landmark judgment actually works very well for Ukip because it gives in some way recognition of their stance that a problem exists, it also helps the Conservatives to a degree but it does nothing for the Labour Party.   

Labour need to adopt the idea of an internal EU immigration policy….. but won’t!

Labour leader Ed Miliband says he is the descendent of immigrants, fair enough; his problem is getting the ingenious population to vote for him.

He keeps saying, ‘I am on your side’!

According to the polls, people don’t seem to believe that statement which could be a real problem for him.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

'What’s that got to do with the price of fish': Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond says the SNP should lead British delegation at EU talks in Brussels regarding fishing, Salmond’s bungled attempt at SNP self promotion died very quickly, like a fish out of water!

Dear All

One of the most high profiles flaws in the Scottish independence campaign by the leadership of the Scottish National Party was lying to the public.

In May 2012, I was at the BBC Big Debate hosted by Isobel Fraser, during the show, Ruth Davidson, the Tory letter whipped out the ‘letter of destiny’.

The ‘letter of destiny’ showed that the SNP had never been in contact with the EU regarding membership as a government or as an opposition. Another lie used was that Scotland would have automatic membership without having to apply as a new member state. The SNP fostered that lie which led to the gullible being sucked into believing it as truth.

Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minster Nicola Sturgeon as far back as the 11^th December 2007 said when asked about automatic membership:

“It is the clear view of the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Government that Scotland would automatically be a member of the European Union upon independence. There is legal opinion to back that up. I don’t think the legal opinion is in any doubt..”

The only trouble with that is that the Scottish Government had never sought a legal opinion.

Sturgeon was also asked were a renegotiation would be needed, she said:

“No”!

All of that nonsense came crashing down like a ton of bricks around their ears; the SNP leadership was continually exposed as lie after lie was outed!

In the dying days of Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond’s time as First Minster, he has decided to have another crack at the EU, this time he has described the decision to send a Conservative peer to represent Scotland’s fishermen at European Union (EU) talks as “absurd”.

Although the fishing fleet is mostly based in Scotland, this is a UK matter, and as we have seen, the SNP aren’t ‘team players’. It is therefore entirely understandable that Prime Minster David Cameron decided to send someone else in place of UK Environment Secretary Liz Truss who was unable to attend.

The SNP had wanted to send its Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead who is nobody; but nobody who nobody takes an interest in. Instead Cameron has opted for Lord De Mauley.

 https://www.gov.uk/government/people/lord-de-mauley

Mr Lochhead told the BBC he had to brief Lord de Mauley on the issues but would not be allowed to actually take part in the meeting himself.

He added:

"I think that is a bit of a snub for Scotland and a slap in the face."

Only a snub for the SNP and only a slap in the face for Lochhead!

Lochhead like the rest of the SNP doesn’t represent Scotland.

One can only assume that the SNP wanted Lochead to attend to further their ambitions that the EU recognise Scotland as de facto member state in waiting.

But let’s get real; what has that do with the price of fish?

In a last gasp attempt to prove he carries some weight, Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ has written two letters to David Cameron following the confirmation that the peer will represent the UK at the Agriculture and Fisheries (Agrifish) Council meeting.

The talks will focus on quotas for deep sea stocks, which affect fisherman in Scotland where the majority of the UK’s fishing industry takes place.

If Lochhead is really interested perhaps he can hang about outside the venue and pick up some information.

Finally Salmond said in his letter:

“"Richard Lochhead will be in Brussels for the council meeting and remains ready to take on leadership of the delegation in the fisheries talks and only for the fisheries talks”.

Leadership!

Salmond the tail doesn’t wag the dog!

He added:

"Your Government has already demonstrated why it cannot be relied upon in EU negotiations. I again ask you to redeem your previous undertakings on an area of key importance to Scotland."

Is that the same as the SNP lying to the Scottish public Salmond on the EU?

Alex Salmond certainly got put in his "plaice"..... boom boom!

Yours sincerely

George Laird 

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

As Britain honours War Dead on Remembrance Day, we see their contribution belittled by the staff of The Royal British Legion Scotland who thought wrongly it was acceptable to change their name to ‘Legion Scotland’, an utter disgrace to servicemen and women past and present

Dear All

Sometimes organisations change their name, in the case of the Glasgow Herald, it was changed to Herald Scotland in order to boost its sales.

In the case of the Police due to the restructuring, it was changed to Police Scotland. In general, some organisations benefit from a name change, the Herald did it to boost sales as I pointed out; the Police did it because of the mergers of 8 forces into a single body.

You can see the argument for this; that said, there is no argument which stands up regarding Legion Scotland being changed from what it was previously known as The Royal British Legion Scotland.

The Royal British Legion Scotland has undergone an extraordinary ill judged change; this new name change doesn’t reflect and shouldn’t reflect the new political situation of post 18^th September. I was formerly a member of the British Armed Forces; I have fond memories of that time, the people I met and things which were taught to me.

Whoever it was who had the idea for Legion Scotland has no understanding of the anger that has been caused, and the name change should be reversed as quickly as possible!

Social media sites have been rather savage and right full of criticism of the move. This has led to the newly branded body suspended or "disabled, all comments and reviews on its website.

Unsurprisingly, it is said that Legion Scotland had comments banned on its website, "during this period of remembrance, out of respect for those people who have given their lives for our country, due to their negative and abusive nature".

I thought it was to do with silencing free speech.

You would think that an organisation such as the Royal British Legion Scotland would cherish their links with both the Royal family and Britain given the tremendous amount of work that the Royals do on supporting service charities.

The “official reason” for the change is explained as being an attempt to differentiate the Scottish veterans' organisation from The Royal British Legion group of charities, which are completely separate from the charity that is active in Scotland.

I would like to venture an opinion regarding that statement….utter rubbish.

I would also note that despite the new political situation in Scotland at present, we should remember a few details. Firstly Scotland is still part of the UK, secondly, the Nationalists lost the referendum; thirdly their support for the British Armed Forces is at best lukewarm.

If you care to do the research, you can discovery some other interesting things about the Nationalist cause, for example, some prominent Nationalists supported the Nazis during World War 2. Fast forward to the present day and you would find people in the Nationalist ranks which I previously dubbed the ‘Sein Fein lite’ brigade who aren’t Nationalists at all but use the SNP to spread their brand of anti British hatred which stems from Irish republicanism.

This begs the question, are Legion Scotland pandering to these people?

Also, if they are this is the equivalent of spitting in the faces of Scottish servicemen and women who did military service and put their lives on the line in the defence of democracy, some people paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we enjoy today.

Legion Scotland has soiled their memory.

I would personally remove the individual or individuals who did this name change, some things change, but others aren’t open to change at all; they are a statement of our values, our history and our beliefs.

I found this quote which sums what I believe many people who look at this know:

“Who we are, is who we were”.

As I understand it, Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ currently the soon to be ex First Minister of Scotland is said to be wearing a poppy in conjunction with a Saltire. This reminds me of the ‘Scolympians’ nonsense, when Salmond and the entire SNP Cabinet sent good wishes only to the Scots who were in Team Great Britain during the Olympics. That episode was a PR shambles because Salmond couldn’t bring himself to wish the entire Team GB good luck.

My view on Alex Salmond is that he is a petty little stupid man in every sense of the word, and someone really should have a go at him with gloves off politically to show him up for what he is on TV.   

   

My suggestion to those responsible for Legion Scotland to go setup a Nationalist Scottish version and remove themselves from The Royal British Legion Scotland as soon as possible.

In what must be the weakest defence of their extraordinary ill judged move, they said:

"Royal British Legion Scotland is still our legal name, and one of which we are very proud and we do all that we can to help all Scottish ex-service personnel and those with a Scottish connection."

So proud, that their name change completely writes out ‘Royal’ and ‘British’, it rather gives the impression of crawling to the Nationalists whose supporters don’t support them anyway.

Finally, it said that the staff at "Legion Scotland" are fed up explaining themselves, they said:

"We have answered the query surrounding the name 'Legion Scotland' on our website. However if anyone has any further questions we suggest that you get in touch using the contact form on our website or by letter. Unfortunately due to this being a very busy time for the charity it may take a week or so to respond to your query."

Perhaps it is time to talk about the removal of those responsible as soon as possible so that they can find more suitable employment working in a less historic place such as Poundland or Tesco.

That way they can play at rebranding exercises to their hearts content!

It’s a disgrace, but not a word from the Nationalist leadership because they really don’t give a hoot about British servicemen and women unless it is about troop displacement supporting the local economy in Scotland.

That is the extent of their patriotism.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond is taken to task over his 'shameful' education record, fewer teachers, fewer places for students and 3,000 fewer children from deprived communities in higher education, Nationalists ‘pull the ladder’ up to deny the poor life chances, ‘standing up for Scotland’ is just bullshit

Dear All

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know I have certain themes which I have touched on through-out the years. I spent 20 years at Glasgow University, during that time; I was involved in various activities which allowed me to see how education operated. I even spent time as a part time student and also as a teacher at Glasgow University. Truth be told, I was a better teacher than most people who earned a coin doing so.

One of the self evident truths is that Scotland is a corrupt country, in the field of education which is trumped as getting in on the basis of ability that is clearly bullshit. Ordinary working class students struggle to get into higher and further education. Since Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond of ‘standing up for Scotland’ fame took office, there are 4,000 fewer teachers, 140,000 fewer people at college and 3,000 fewer children from deprived communities in higher education.

For working class people, the route out of deprived communities is by way of the college system, not universities. The Scottish National Party, the so called party of fairness, equality and social justice has effectively closed that down.

How does that work?

It is a relatively simple concept to understand, the Scottish National Party is effectively ‘pulling the ladder up’, by doing so they are trapping generations of working class people to a lifetime of no opportunities. What the SNP should have done is split the Scottish Funding Council into two separate bodies, Scottish Funding Council (universities) and Scottish Funding Council (colleges). The university sector would be slimmed down, the college sector expanded and the introduction of new communities colleges which would take place in appropriate schools in order to teach some subjects currently covered by the normal college sector. Community colleges would be run by councils, funding streams would be provided by different bodies.

Alex Salmond and the Scottish National Party Government had 7 years to turn around failing schools, discrimination in education and cut class sizes. The tale of the tape is that Salmond’s legacy of the smiling ‘jolly fat man’ who is your ‘friend’ is entirely a sham; his record in education is as stated by others 'shameful'. Like in the Justice Department, Salmond appointed another one of his friends to be education minister; the name of that crony is Mike Russell. Russell in common with MacAskill is in need of permanent removal from Ministerial Office, for him, its one big joke, for the children, it’s a lack of achievement which they will carry through-out their lives. Opportunities curtailed by the party which laughingly claims to stand up for Scots, except they don’t. 

As the Scottish Labour Party is without a leader at present, Labour in the form of MSP Jackie Baillie took to the field to tell the First Minister to take his Education Minister with him when he steps down later this month. As to the Tory demands to take schools out of local authority control, I don’t agree with this, if the SNP can’t do the job at present, how is increasing their workload going to make matters better?

Jackie Baillie used First Minister’s Questions to call for the removal of Mike Russell after asking whether the number of teachers, people attending college and youngsters from poor backgrounds attending university had increased or fallen since 2007.

As is typical, Salmond treated the parliament with contempt as he refused to answer the questions, this prompted Baillie to rattle out a few home truths, 4,000 fewer teachers, 140,000 fewer people at college and 3,000 fewer children from deprived communities in higher education.

The Scottish National Party has no interest in helping people who are working class, maybe the deluded 45% 90 minutes Nationalist rent a mob should stop and question why majority of Scots are fairing so badly!

7 years of government and things are getting worse.

As to the Tory demand, Salmond rejected taking schools out of local authority control after the Tories challenged him over an article by Keir Bloomer. He is one of the architects of the new curriculum, which has gone down like a lead balloon due to being rushed through by Mike Russell’s department, because as we know, no one has anytime to do their job properly because it is all about independence. 

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said Mr Bloomer had warned Scotland’s schools were doing “significantly worse” in reading, maths and science. We aren’t any better now in 2014 than we were in 2000.

But the real kicker of the epic failure to deliver; is that an official report published this week found only 3.9 per cent of pupils in the poorest areas get three A grades in their Higher exams compared with 24.2 per cent in the wealthiest communities. One of the things I have written about in the past also highlighted by the Bloomer report is that universities are making only very small improvements in recruiting poor students. They try to pass this off by saying their efforts were hampered by "low levels of school attainment".

In one year, I think the University of St Andrews admitted somewhere in the region of 13 people from the poorest background as students, I don’t know about you, but I call that bullshit!

Baillie told MSPs:

"The truth is there are fewer teachers giving our children the education they need, there are fewer college places for people trying to get on in life and the poorest people are less likely to go on to university under this SNP Government. He (Salmond) should be ashamed. Isn't it the case that when the First Minister leaves Bute House for the last time he should perhaps consider taking the Education Secretary with him?"

The next words out of her mouth should have been to say ‘community colleges’ to help students attain better grades.

On the stripping of colleges, the number of people attending college has dropped from 379,223 to 238,805. This was a deliberate cut by the SNP on the further education budget of £67 million which was done to maintain spending on universities.

So, working class Scots are losing out as universities which are mini fiefdoms setup satellites in foreign countries to act as a ‘cash cow’, while at home, the universities increase the number of foreign students which isn’t a new thing by any means if you are willing to take the time and do the research of the various universities Court minutes.

The poor working class Scots pushed out to make way for rich students; and the kicker on that is that the majority of working class people in this country are the ones funding higher education which their children are finding it increasingly difficult to access. 

The number of children from the 40 per cent most deprived communities who attend university has dropped from 21,851 to 18,702 between the 2009/10 and 2012/13 academic years.

The Scottish National Party ‘standing up for Scotland’, the only question is who’s Scotland?

To show the case for urgent reform, the Tories this week published a book of articles, mostly by politically impartial authors. The main problem of the Tories position in the past that their view that tuition fees should be introduced, effectively copying England. Scots are unwilling to accept this, but there should be a debate on why the poorest in society are subsidising the rich from well off backgrounds while being denied an equal and fair chance. 

Ruth Davidson highlighted Bloomer’s warning that SNP ministers’ have a penchant for “self-congratulation”. This is true, if someone in the party does something minor, and they are part of the clique, they seem to get heralded as a visionary when in fact their contribution is minimal at best.

Case in point, the 5 pence on a plastic bag passed by the Scottish parliament!

The SNP like to cast up about the ‘wealth of talent’ in Scotland and hark back to Scottish scientists who changed the world such as James Watt and John Logie Baird, but we should remember that there is no one of that calibre in the Scottish National Party.

As to unpopular Nicola Sturgeon, the so called ‘social justice campaigner’ and graduated lawyer, well she is no Professor Charles Kingsfield (that’s the name of the Harvard Lawyer Professor in the book, movie and TV series called ‘The Paper Chase’. There is no gravitas surrounding Ms. Sturgeon, quite the opposite I would suggest, she didn’t leave Glasgow University to be a high flying lawyer sought after by the top law companies around the World.

She ended up in Drumchapel law Centre!

While she bravely fought the good fight shuffling paper in the ‘drum’, I was teaching at Glasgow University.

And I was brilliant!

Which is why I was able to come up with the idea for the Scottish National Police Force and National Fire Service, Ms. Sturgeon has come up with fake hair colour…… off the top of her head.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University