Ménage à trios of pain, Interim Scottish leader Alex Rowley privately declares for Richard Leonard against Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Party is now in full civil war mode, angry Anas’ Blairities are seeing plots and skulduggery everywhere, Jeremy Corbyn's unity message ends up getting wrecked by fast moving events in Brighton, Anas’ Blairities need to jump ship

Dear All

One of the urban myths that political parties like to spout is that they are a unified party, everyone together all joyously marching along to the beat of the same drum, the truth is the opposite. Political parties are made up of different factions, all with their own little agenda where it be promoting a minority interest or particular policy. At Conference time, a stage managed event, the members listen to speeches which all tend to be upbeat and how they will change society for the better.

When we get fed up with the government of the day, we kick them out and the opposition then come in, it’s like a merry go round, and what happens on a merry go round, you go nowhere. The public who watch the merry go round do however see something, they see things getting worse; they see public money channelled to causes of people connected to the politicians.

Jeremy Corbyn stood on the Labour platform and boldly declared a promise of unity under Scottish Labour’s next leader. Although there are many sub groups in the Labour Party, the two you need to focus on are Progress (Blairite) and Momentum (CFS) in Scotland. These two groups have never been unified, and never will, in some respects, both these groups are led by the middle class, all come in the main from the same universities.

The Scottish leadership contest has descending into civil war amid claims of “plotting” and personal abuse, as if anyone cares, being dishonest isn’t something new in the Labour Party; you may remember the quote that ‘there are more snakes in the Labour Party than in an Indiana Jones movie’.

One thing I learned is it is better and wiser not to take people at their word in the party, and to be very careful who you associate with, some people in the Labour Party are just ‘users of people’.

Having got up and said:

“Whoever next leads Scottish Labour, our unifying socialist message will continue to inspire both south and north of the border."

Corbyn and the rest of us are finding out he spoke too soon!

At present, we have the Blairities and Momentum crowd accused each other of disloyalty and “barrel-scraping desperation”, Anas Sarwar’s campaign is in trouble, he is sinking, and all the punters who jumped into bed with him must now consider they backed the wrong horse..

In what must be seen as ‘joyous’, one of the campaigns has humorously issued a press release saying its rival was talking “pish”. When Kezia Dugdale jumped ship, she opened up a can of worms, there was the grooming’ of the next leader in waiting, she just done a runner. Kezia Dugdale, is saying what is going on at present was the sort of “internal squabbles” she spent “a huge amount of time” on in her two years as leader.

So, how do you sort out a squabble quickly as leader, you make a decision and tell the other side to ‘fuck off or there will be consequences’.

Obviously enjoying the row, SNP MP Stewart Hosie has emerged from obscurity and   said:

''Jeremy Corbyn’s message of unity has been blown apart by the open civil war now engulfing Scottish Labour. This conference has shown that Labour remain inconsistent, incoherent and unfit for government. Their leadership candidates and supporters in Scotland are tearing themselves apart in the most bitter bout of infighting the party has seen in many years.”

Rather like a man who cheats on his wife with another women, dipping your wick into younger flesh certainly did for Stewart Hosie standing, however his activities lying down must have surely made up for the transition. To be fair, his wife Shona Robison had let herself go and Stewart Hosie sought distraction elsewhere.

One of the bombs that has went off is when interim Scottish leader Alex Rowley said he and fellow left-wingers had planned for Ms Dugdale’s exit, that wasn’t unexpected, I said she was a lame duck leader years ago, too many public bad mistakes and errors of judgement.

Interim Scottish leader Alex Rowley has said he would be neutral in the leadership race but he has endorsed the pro-Corbyn candidate Richard Leonard over Anas Sarwar.

So, if elected how would Alex Rowley work with Anas Sarwar, I would expect badly, although we would get treated to some kind of show of support, photo op together, maybe even a hug or handshake.

Rowley has said:

“Although I’m neutral in the leadership, I believed that Richard Leonard has everything that we need to win in 2021”.

I said to Alex Rowley that Paul Sweeney would win Glasgow North East and that this was the seat in Glasgow with the best chance of being taken back, I also said to him, that this would be the only seat won.

He popped into the bookies later.

Rowley added:

“For some time now we [Mr Rowley and left-wing MSP Neil Findlay] have thought he was the best candidate, and most people within the Left in Scotland think likewise.”

Well, allow me to make a statement, Rowley and Findlay may think that Richard Leonard has everything that needed to win in 2021 but he won’t, Scottish Labour isn’t in a fit state to campaign, it needs a clear out.

And I would suggest strongly that Richard Leonard doesn’t know enough about campaigning to achieve a win. You don’t win races with the engine not working properly.

To show how much bad blood is doing the rounds, MSP Jackie Baillie, one of Mr Sarwar’s supporters, said

“Alex Rowley’s hypocrisy is incredibly disappointing. But what is most concerning is the revelations about a plot against Kezia Dugdale. Kez was elected with a huge majority and it will infuriate members to learn that some MSPs were working behind the scenes to undermine her and replace her with Richard Leonard. Richard must urgently answer questions about his role in this plot. This behaviour by the party establishment is a complete betrayal of the membership and every value we hold dear."

Ms Baillie was an early backer of Anas Sarwar, she backed the wrong horse and as to the ‘plot’, you could view this as forward planning, Kezia Dugdale struggled to lead and her stepping down was in her best interests.

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said:

“People already had their suspicions about Alex Rowley after last week’s FMQs stitch-up. This confirms he’s right behind Richard Leonard’s extremist drive to drag Scottish politics even further to the Left.”

Both the Tories and the SNP are dying for Anas Sarwar to get elected as leader, they don’t want pro-Corbyn candidate Richard Leonard.

Why?

Anas Sarwar increases the chances of infighting in the Scottish Labour Party because although the Momentum crowd never got their fight to remove Dugdale, they will simply shift focus to have it with Sarwar.

Finally, one thing to remember, both the ‘right’ and the ‘left’ of the Scottish Labour Party have a vacuum when it comes to talent, a collapsed activist base, no real direction and deal in small policies, I would suggest that this doesn’t add up to a government in waiting.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Labour Party Conference: Jeremy Corbyn is now bookie's favourite to be next Prime Minister, two reasons why he will not be Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs and Defence, the Labour Party has got it entirely wrong on Brexit, government in waiting…. you having a laugh!

Dear All

Jeremy Corbyn will never be Prime Minister, there are two reasons which stick out like a sore thumb, the first is he is woeful on foreign affairs, and the second, he isn’t trusted on defence.

The Labour Party is having a conference down the road at Brighton at the moment, the issue of Brexit has been raised, the party is saying that Labour would strike a Brexit deal with single market access.

Where the detail which you need to know is when Labour says Labour would negotiate a Brexit deal with the EU that "guarantees unimpeded access to the single market".

What this means is that freedom of movement will continue, this isn’t what the people of Britain wanted, the people of Britain voted to leave the EU, the people made a decision and it is for the political class to deliver on this.

Out means Out!

The idea that a backdoor deal can be done to sell out the will of the people along is enough reason why the party didn’t win power in 2017, and it will not win power next time around with this type of betrayal.

As much as Labour is willing to toss some crumbs like £10 an hour wage and other trinkets, what people in the country want is a return of social cohesion which was destroyed by mass immigration, which the Labour Party under Tony Blair did as a social engineering experiment which has drastically failed.

Some things capture the national mood and Brexit is one of them.

The Labour leader told the party conference in Brighton that he would secure a new cooperative relationship with Europe once in power, in order to do so, it appears he is willing to betray the will of the people.

Ask yourself this question, who does ‘freedom of movement’ benefit?

Most working class people don’t travel aboard to find work, so who does it benefit?

The answer is Big Corporations and Big business, under EU rules, an employee can sack all their employees and bring in workers from another country and under the rules circumvent paying them the British rate, instead paying the rate of their home country.

These is how you can be betrayed and then betrayed again and lose your job, this case paves the way.

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/legal_service/arrets/05c438_en.pdf

So, what could Jeremy Corbyn do if this happened to British workers?

Nothing, he could do a few speeches, he could express ‘concern’ and he could even stand on the picket line, all very symbolic but all that would come to nothing because as he admits, he wants guaranteed unimpeded access.

So, why isn’t Jeremy Corbyn standing on stage telling the ‘worker’s party’ the real truth of what guaranteed unimpeded access? The reason is either he doesn’t know, in which case he is ignorant, he does know but doesn’t care.

His idea of window dressing to deal with harsh reality is the talk of a new industrial strategy to boost the regions, as well as stopping workers' pay and conditions being hit.

In the EU, the rules are the rules, and backed by the European Court of Human Rights, so his guarantees are meaningless. Backing up Corbyn is Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary. Starmer has rose very quickly in the party, not because he was an activist but because he was a lawyer, he told the conference that Labour could keep the UK in a form of customs union with the EU and negotiate a new single market relationship after withdrawal.

The important part to reflect on is that neither of these two people will be delivering on their rhetoric, any deal such as it is will be done by the current government and we can all hash that out down the line with opinions.

I am not taken in when Jeremy Corbyn says:

"A shambolic Tory Brexit driving down standards, or ours, which puts jobs first and works for the many, one that guarantees unimpeded access to the single market and establishes a new, co-operative relationship with Europe. A Brexit that uses powers returned from Brussels to support a new industrial strategy to upgrade our economy in every region and nation. One that puts our economy first, not fake immigration targets that fan the flames of fear."

Jeremy Corbyn was never destine to be Prime Minister, his task was to comb through the Labour Party to get better leaders for the future, the future in Labour looks bleak, they require other parties to sink before they can rise. A clear example of this is what happened in Scotland, the SNP vote collapsed but the Labour vote didn’t really improve, but it was enough to return 7 seats.

The audience in the packed auditorium rose for an extended standing ovation following Corbyn's 73-minute speech; you have to wonder about some people who clearly aren’t focused on the big picture. As to Jeremy Corbyn’s statement that Labour stands ready to take over Brexit negotiations from the current Government, this is morale boosting, in fact it reminds me of David Steel’s parting shot at Lib Dem Conference in the 1990’s.

Do you remember David Steel saying ‘go back to your constituencies and prepare for Government’?

Jeremy Corbyn isn’t going anyway at the moment, certainly not to Number 10. In order to get to Number 10, he needs Scotland, and as the political scene here is in flux, he can’t get enough seats to put him over the line.

Finally, when Ed Miliband sat on the fence about doing a deal with the SNP, the public destroyed him, same thing will happen to Corbyn if he tries to do a deal with the Nationalists.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Spitting the dummy, Anas Sarwar’s camp under siege as they react badly to Unite signing up 2,700 members in two days so they can vote in the Scottish Labour leadership contest, the panic is laughable as claims that a ‘stitch up’ is underway, Anas Sarwar’s campaign is dire, started badly and keeps going downhill, he has no broad appeal because he never built it

Dear All

It is pretty clear that Anas Sarwar’s campaign has been dreadful, dreadful at the start and in all likelihood will be dreadful at the end. The big torpedo was obviously the ‘real living’ wage issue which his family doesn’t pay their employees. In order to attempt to kill the story, Anas Sarwar transferred the shares to his children.

I personally thought, how long will it be before someone said instead of him ‘exploiting the workers’, he has now palmed it off on his children, it was a flaw strategy in my opinion. When Labour MSP Jackie came out with the tweet:

“By giving up his shares in the company, @AnasSarwar puts the party and the country first. Big sacrifice, mark of a true leader #Anas4Leader”.

He transferred the shares to his children!

Some people after reading this tweet might be duped into thinking that Anas Sarwar just gave away £4.8 million in shares but when you go into detail, you see his children get them.

Is this the mark of a ‘true leader’ using your kids as a vessel to cut down avenues of discussion?

Another interesting little gem was the epic attacks on opponents as Sarwar's people started to blame the SNP, Leonard’s crew and anyone else they could think of.

It should be remembered that all the ‘issues’ brought up relate to what Anas Sarwar and his family have done in the past, no one is making up stories.  

In what must be another episode of sour grapes, a row erupts over fears that Unite could help stitch up Scottish Labour leadership for Richard Leonard. Is there going to be a trade union stitch-up to install the left-wing Corbyn-supporting candidate?

Well, it seems that Unite had signed up 2,700 members to the union’s political levy in just two days last weekend which gives them a vote in the contest. I sincerely doubt that the bulk of the 2,700 members will be Sarwar supporters.

One thing which is known; is that Asian Labour “members” have a habit of turning up at candidate selection, selecting an Asian candidate, never do any activism, never attend meetings and then simply disappear. So, I am not too bothered that having learned how to ‘’play the game’, some people operate in the same fashion as Asian members have in the past.  

Richard Leonard is a prominent trade unionist although not as well known as Anas Sarwar who has the higher profile, but it appears that he is getting more grassroots support.

The Blair Faction or Progress which Anas was deeply connected to, on the other hand appears to be the unrepresentative minority who have had their day. In a show of despair, Anas Sarwar has warned that Scottish Labour activists “wouldn’t take kindly” to any attempt by Unite to return the party to “a branch office”, this echoes what Johann Lamont said as she departed the leadership re branch office.

Clearly this is a rattled Anas Sarwar who has gone negative.

It is Anas Sarwar’s job to present a positive image, he is failing to do so, his proposed scheme to give every school-leaver a job, training or education is simply retread bullshit packaged to look ‘new’, it isn’t.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/15556675.Every_school_leaver____guaranteed_a_job__training_or_education____under_Sarwar_leadership/

When I read this, I thought back to all the other politicians who spun the same idea in election after election after election. To me, this is like Scottish Labour’s ‘knife campaign’ which they rolled out in by-elections for Holyrood, the ‘campaign’ was a farce as it led to…… nothing, no private member’s Bill.

That con trick should angry people as Scottish Labour used it repeatedly, it was a by-election ploy but it also showed that Scotland is exceptional poor re political talent.

The pool in Scotland is rather shallow, and has been for some time, can you name a really great politician?  

Chances are…….no!

Hen you look at this contest, I don’t see Anas Sarwar have broad cross party support or beyond, Richard Leonard has the official backing of Unite in Scotland, plus the support of three other major unions: Usdaw, TSSA and Aslef.  And if the wind is blowing in the right direction, Leonard may also pick up Unison.

Leonard has received from parliamentarians, councillors, the grassroots and trade unions; I don’t think that Anas can claim the same cross section.

Scotland needs Richard Leonard to replace Kezia Dugdale who hopefully will not make a fool of himself if elected, Scottish Labour needs a broad appeal; and Anas Sarwar hasn’t built it.

If he loses and stands again down the line, he may reflect on that aspect of his campaign, along with his personal situation, as to his current campaign, it is just dire!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scottish Labour Leadership Farce, free speech for Labour members banned at hustings as history is rewritten to paint millionaire Anas Sarwar as a socialist, if you pay money as a member then you are entitled to question candidates and not have them screened out to produce a ‘fairytale’, the 'many' can't question the 'few'

Dear All

It seems that the Scottish Labour Party in the shape of chair Linda Stewart decided to ban people’s right to free speech at Labour leadership hustings. As many people know the Scottish Labour is sinking, where it was seen once as the force in Scottish politics, it now trails in third place.

It was entirely wrong to attempt to rewrite history by banned questions about candidates' finances; it is for members to ask searching questions of anyone who puts themselves forward to be leader. Last night was a farce, and rightly branded so, if anything, the stupidity by the chair only fanned the flames that Anas Sarwar is one of the few.

Lat night the ‘many’ where banned from asking the ‘few’ to be truthful and open!

So, what was the point of last night’s stage managed event with allegedly pre-scripted questions?

There was no point, Scottish Labour want people to pay £12 to vote in the Scottish Labour race to decide if Srawar or Leonard should be leader, so what are you paying for if you can’t ask questions?

Who was the winner last night, by default, it was Richard Leonard because clearly the chair was in the wrong by her actions.

Was

Labour leadership race branded farce as 'hot' hustings questions are banned

Questions about candidates' finances were banned at first hustings amid controversy over the wealthy background of hopeful Anas Sarwar.

Chair Linda Stewart unveiled the ground-rules of the farce, she said there should be no questions “about a candidate’s marital status, domestic circumstances, nor pertaining to the candidates’ financial arrangements”. Anas Sarwar has questions to answer to members about his decision to send his children to private school and the fact his family’s firm are not unionised and don’t pay the real living wage.

It seems that being a millionaire in the Scottish Labour Party has privileges.

The event was a disaster for Scottish Labour which appears to be attempting to keep the Blair Faction or Progress in control of the party in Scotland, to me it seems that if Sarwar wins then Momentum gets their Scottish fight.

Anas Sarwar was quick to jump on a BBC reporter over his personal life saying he should be talking about policy instead, but this shows Anas up as a hypocrite as he calls on Nicola Sturgeon to sack Health Secretary Shona Robison. It seems that Anas is like Marie Antoinette, he wants his cake and eat it as well.

Richard Leonard, who is being backed by supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, said he wanted to “reconnect” with the trade union movement if he becomes leader. Given there is trade union in Anas Sarwar’s family business, this will get him many votes.

Leonard added:

“I am a democratic socialist motivated by the desire to change society for the better of the many not the few.”

And to show that the winds of change at least outside the party favour him over Anas Sarwar, three unions declared support for Leonard.

I don’t know of any trade union in Scotland backing Anas Sarwar or likely to back him in the future.

So, let’s get right down to it, who do the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives want as Labour leader in Scotland?

Anas Sarwar!

Anas Sarwar increases the chances of the SNP hanging on to power because he won’t attract voters back to the party, and if the Conservatives stand a real chance in 2021, then they need a member of the Blair Faction in place.

Paying £12 to vote in a contest where you aren’t allowed to exercise free speech in a party that claims it believes in social justice is a joke; there are better ways to spend £12.

Finally, last night another win for Richard Leonard!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University  

Not a happy millionaire: Scottish Labour leadership row over pay rates at Anas Sarwar's family firm, why should people believe Anas Sarwar can be a leader when his family won’t pay the real living wage to their employees unless they are legally obliged too, BBC interview puts Anas Sarwar on backfoot

Dear All

There comes a time when you should realise that something is over and just walk away, it seems that Anas Sarwar has reached that tipping point, question is, does he recognise it.

There is now a fresh Scottish Labour leadership row over pay rates at Anas Sarwar's family firm; it appears that the Sarwar family don’t pay the real living wage because it is only voluntary, not mandatory.

In other words, unless compelled by law the Sarwar family has no interest in paying the real living wage. This prompts a series of questions:

just how ‘socialist’ is the family of Anas Sarwar?  

have they ever paid more than the law compels them?

what are the terms and conditions of the lowest paid in his family business?

In relation to sending his children to private school, Anas did something rather weak, he sought to ‘share the blame’ by dobbing in his wife by saying she was partly responsible for the decision.

When in doubt blame someone else, but still take some of the blame yourself because as a leader you have to stand by your decisions, good and bad. Anas has rightly said that people should respect a decision made by a couple “in the privacy of their own home”.

The bit that this falls down is that, Anas is a public figure, in politics there is such a thing as leading by example, clearly he isn’t prepared to do this, but then he is a millionaire, he can spend his money where he chooses.

One other statement which he may regret later is saying:

“The fact is too many of our schools aren’t good enough in Scotland.”

In Glasgow, the Labour Party has control of the council and education for 40 years, so he has opened up a can of worms there, now he has to talk about Labour failure in education in Glasgow. Of course, I am sure he will rope in the SNP Government for 10 years of their failures as well.

The decision by Anas Sarwar to criticised Good Morning Scotland presenter Gary Robertson, accusing him of focusing on personality issues rather than policy was clearly a sign he was rattled by having to defend his decisions and those his family have made in the past.  

Anas Sarwar is a centrist millionaire MSP in a party that was setup by the working class for the betterment of the working class, although having money and influence to a certain degree in the Labour Party due to the minority vote, the wider movement wants a Corbyn supporter.

Anas Sarwar had a crack at leadership when he was Johann Lamont’s deputy, that didn’t turn out well just in the same way that Kezia Dugdale being deputy to Jim Murphy was a disaster too.

The Labour Party has a slogan which doesn’t help Anas at the moment, ‘for the many, not the few’; the truth is that Anas Sarwar is one of the rich privileged few, a multi-millionaire born into wealth, private schooled and university educated, to make matters worse, he joined the ‘Progress’ crowd of entitled middle class people who gain control of the party to the detriment of working class people. The Labour Party ‘Progress’ crowd brought in such measures as the ‘bedroom tax’ and ‘ATOS assessments’ not the Conservatives.

Although sending his children to private school is something he will ride out in his leadership struggle, his links to his family firm aren’t something which can be swept away under the carpet.

Anas Sarwar said:

“One, I’m a minority shareholder in the company. Second, I have no role in the company. I’m not a director in the company. I have no say in how the company operates. But I have had assurances from the company that they do want to transition to a real living wage for all employees”.

Was that discussed round the family kitchen table?

Anas added:

“They too have welcomed the fact that a Labour government would introduce a real living wage much quicker than the current UK government, meaning they’d be able to implement it quicker, and also so it’s compulsory on every company. I don’t care who the shareholder of any company is, I don’t care which company it is, I want every company to be mandated by the government to pay the real living wage and not use the market as the excuse.”

His family ‘welcome’ it but won’t pay it unless they are compelled by law?

Is there any obstacle to them paying the real living wage for all employees now?

Clearly the answer is yes, have you figured out what the problem is, it isn’t the law, the problem is the Sarwar family.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scottish Labour in Scotland stands at the crossroads, it is important that Richard Leonard wins the leadership of the Labour Party in Scotland to reshape the party back towards the ethos that the party was founded to protect, the working class people of Scotland

Dear All

One of the lies that is sold by the right wing of the Labour Party and the mainstream media is that the ‘Blair Faction’ which is now flying under the title ‘Progress’ is the moderate wing of the party.

It is a lie, Progress or the Blair Faction are the people who aren’t socialists who have taken up residence in the Labour Party who are all university educated and from a middle class background.

The Labour contest in Scotland sees two people standing, Richard Leonard and Anas Sarwar. Anas Sarwar is the much better known candidate, however his campaign has hit trouble, he is a millionaire, he is private schooled, he sends his children to private school; the family business he has shares in doesn’t recognise a trade union.

Just on his family background, he should be ruled out, the Labour Party of Keir Hardie has been changed, and not for the better, this is why the party is in decline. The ‘Blair Faction’, the section of the party which believes in ‘entitlement’ destroyed the party in Scotland; they had lived off the backs of the working class vote for decades while at the same time failing to deliver for the people.

The proof isn’t just the election results; the proof is the utter collapse of the activist base in the party north of the border. Kezia Dugdale should be the last of the ‘Blair Faction’ ever to lead Scottish Labour.

Labour is a Party that needs to rediscover its roots; and its roots like its leaders should come from the working class, not rich millionaires who have their own agenda.

Richard Leonard is the MSP aiming to become the next Scottish Labour leader, if he wins then perhaps the party has a chance to be relevant again, if Anas Sarwar wins then Kezia Dugdale leaving makes no difference, one Blairite replaced by another Blairite doesn’t equal change.

As to Richard Leonard’s claim that the party north of the border would have faced electoral disaster without Jeremy Corbyn is spurious in my opinion because the Blair Faction still control the party machine. In the election, the focus was on one seat that was held by Ian Murray, an anti Corbyn supporter. In East Renfrewshire, the Labour Party wrong choose to pump money into Blair MacDougall’s campaign which had no chance of winning.

Blair MacDougall look like a Corbyn supporter to you?

Richard Leonard is one of two candidates hoping to replace Kezia Dugdale, the fact that only two people are willing to put themselves forward tells you a lot about the state of the Labour Party in Scotland as it stands at present.

Anas Sarwar has declared that he is ready to be First Minister, well I can tell Anas that Scotland isn’t ready to make him First Minister or the Labour Party the party of government.

The recent General Election in Scotland saw the Labour Party make gains, but the important thing is not that the party increased their share of the popular vote to 40 per cent but that the SNP vote collapsed.

The SNP vote collapsed, if you can’t grasp that then you really do need to smell the coffee, success based on other’s failure is hardly anything to crow about. I don’t know where Richard Leonard gets the idea that the UK Labour leader had “revitalised the party and energised young people” since taking charge in 2015.

The reason for making this statement to me appears to be electioneering rather than hard fact, when I did Labour campaigning, the ‘energised young people’ weren’t exactly there in numbers or had the experience to do a good job.

Anyone can be an activist, only a few can be really good at it.

Richard Leonard launched his Scottish Labour leadership campaign in Glasgow on Saturday; it must have been a quiet affair as the main event that day was the Yes mob walking about Glasgow having lost three years ago.

If Anas wins the leadership, then Scottish Labour will not be seen as viable, if Richard Leonard wins then he needs to chart a steady course so that the loony left don’t wreck things as they traditionally do.

This election is about a choice but sadly the choice doesn’t appear to be much different from what has gone before, the fact only two people came forward is rather telling.

Scottish Labour is supposed to have a leaders programme in operation, judging by this contest, you wouldn’t know it existed.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Wake up Europe; you’re lagging behind, House of Representatives Passes Bill to Deport Suspected MS-13 Gang Members from the US, ground breaking legislation needs to be given the chance to succeed and address long standing problems, Europe could benefit from a similar scheme to tackle migrant crisis, permanent deportation helps protect social cohesion

Dear All

Have you ever ‘got into’ youtube in a big way? Most people use youtube as an entertainment platform, but it is a serious piece of learning and education, if you know where to look. You can find pretty much anything and everything put up, from funny vids to serious politics, cartoons to full movies, hobbyist stuff to professional tuition.

One of the things which I like to watch is documentaries, they are very educational; one channel is called prison documentaries which looks at the prison system in America both federal and county.

Here is an example of the videos on that channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sojWeYKiwa8

In America, there is a gang system in prison of various factions, one of the factions os a violent MS-13, this street gang is made up of illegal immigrants from Mexico who are involved in violent crime and drugs. The situation in America regarding violent crime is well known as are the people who engage in it. However, despite knowing of the problem, the situation hasn’t been dealt with until the arrival of  President Donald Trump.

You may not like Trump, but he is different, he is a President that means to get things done such as tackling securing the US border and overhauling the current immigration system. Although, he is best known for his stance on ‘the wall’, a barrier to stop illegal immigration, a piece of legislation has been passed on Thursday that would make suspected membership in the violent MS-13 street gang a sufficient cause for deportation.

As you know, I blogged on measures to strengthen the European Union before I realised that the political will did not exist to fix it. Europe is headed for generations of instability. What is needed is a pan European piece of legislation which mirrors the American legislation to permanently problem individuals and criminal gangs.

What has been passed in America is groundbreaking stuff to be such because criminal gangs like MS-13 pose a national security threat as they are linked to the Mexican drug cartels.

The House passed H.R. 3697 in response to MS-13’s growing violence and its ties to Mexican drug cartels. Section 2(b) of the bill makes suspected membership in a “criminal gang” (including MS-13) sufficient cause to ban for life a foreigner from entering the United States.

Section 2(c) of the bill makes membership in a criminal gang or involvement in any criminal gang activity grounds for immediate deportation.

Whether this Bill goes the distance and is passed by Congress remains to be seen but already the American Civil Liberties Union and other left wing civil-rights groups, are claiming that the legislation is inconsistent with due process and other constitutional rights.

If you view the many prison documentaries on the Mexican gang problem, this would be seen as a no brainer, and the fact that the Democrats are opposing this is unbelievable, lots of people came out against Trump, I didn’t, America’s Democrats aren’t the party that cares for the people.

Dinesh D'Souza makes a compelling case when he argues against do illegal aliens have constitutional rights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4TkdJqlLjU

My interest in this story is that the legislation used could be transplanted to Europe and tackle a growing problem, violence in Europe is on the increase, people are training for conflict.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5eq-4xEAKk

If you look at 1.30 minutes into the video, you see training taking place, when the breakdown comes, certain people and groups will be better equipped. What you are looking at is people who know that the political elite have failed them and decided that being engaged in their process is fruitless.

Europe needs new leaders, question is where will they come from, and when will they reset Europe, if it can’t be done by legislation, the bullet and the bomb seem to be the alternative. Isn't amazing how problems can easily be solved if you get the right type of leaders, people should be angry with the dross we have been saddled with.

Finally, sorry for the gap in blogging been really ill of late and cat sitting, yes, life if full of surprises.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Douglas Murray: 'Nicola Sturgeon and Lily Allen are hypocrites over migrants'

“There shall be a Scottish Parliament”, with those historic words, Holyrood opened and the most amazing third rate politicians became a plague on Scotland, MSPs discuss giving Scots prisoners the vote, the answer is yes, but can third rate politicians manage to get their act together?

Dear All

All political parties in opposition cry long and loud about their commitment to Human Rights, it is one of the standard con tricks to get elected, once in, their commitment takes a back seat unless you are in a minority. However, not all minorities are acceptable to them; prisoners in Scotland are a minority that historically has been denied a vote in elections.

If you give a prisoner their human right to vote, the other parties then turn on the party advocating it to try to enhance that they are ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’.

This is the prime reason why change is talked about and generally not possible. Politics is effectively ruled by the middle class elite which I have spoken of in the past, the Scottish Labour Party is a classic example of this problem.  As you know, the tipping point of disaster has been reached by Labour in Scotland and the election results bear this out over past elections. The ‘revival’ narrative used straight after the last election about the seats gains is deception, the SNP vote collapsed and allowed for some seats to change hands.

Scottish politics remains in flux.

We now at Holyrood have what appears to be an exercise in #fakepolitics, MSPs have discussed the prospect of allowing prisoners to vote in Scottish elections. In the Scottish Referendum, the SNP wouldn’t allow prisoners to vote, not on moral grounds but on the grounds that they didn’t wish to extend to prisoners their human rights in case it backfired on them.

Democracy it seems is only for those deemed worthy.

Convicted prisoners have been prevented from voting in elections in the UK despite a series of legal challenges and even as far as the European Court of Human Rights who have ruled against the UK's blanket ban on several occasions. The idea that the Holyrood's equalities committee considered arguments and practical points is bullshit, and as to Committee convener Christina McKelvie saying the matter merited "careful consideration".

Is Christina McKelvie having a laugh?

When I read that Christina McKelvie is saying this matter merited "careful consideration", I immediately think this stupid bitch doesn’t understand human rights; however McKelvie is the only pretend politician in the ‘pretend’ parliament. Holyrood is teaming with third rate politicians in a second rate parliament. The parliament is a disgrace, it isn’t changing lives for the better, it is just another tier of government that benefits ‘the few over the many’.

The reason for the interest now is that Holyrood is taking on new powers over the administration of elections north of the border so we have a ‘process’ where some MSPs adopt the position as being ‘for’ the idea and the majority then jump on the ‘against’ bandwagon.

If there is an election in the offing, the human rights don’t matter, the answer is no, keep the status quo, as the SNP who shout they are pro Europe, the irony is delicious. Pro European Party which will not put into effective a European Court of Human Rights rulings, I mean it isn’t like the Court got the decision wrong either in principle or in law.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie suggested expanding the franchise in the past, but his bid rejected by MSPs, so here is a question, why didn’t Patrick Harvie then put forward a private members bill?

On the subject of private members bills, how many MSPs have actually submitted a private members bill during their tenure as MSPs? I think that is research which I would like to see carried out because it would better inform the public about the standard of MSPs were have been lumped with.

Harvie says there was an "absolute requirement" to revisit the issue, amazing Harvie gets this right but before you get carried away, there is a catalogue of supporting bad decisions under his belt.

He said:

"It is a point of principle that Holyrood must change the law to comply with human rights. The blanket ban must therefore be ended. Stopping all prisoners voting, regardless of the nature of their offence or the length of their sentence, clearly breaches human rights, and the current position cannot hold. If we want Scotland to be a beacon for fairness, and if we believe in rehabilitating offenders, we must look at all the options, have the debate, and end the ban."

The Prison Reform Trust charity submitted a paper outlining "a clear and unambiguous case for reform", saying that "voting is not a privilege, it is a basic human right".

The case for reform is clear, but as many people know being right doesn’t always matter to politicians which is why this country is so bad, people need more access to direct democracy because our rights aren’t being protected. In the past the one of the greatest advances in human rights was made against the SNP, this is the Cadder Case which ended up at the UK Supreme Court.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadder_v_HM_Advocate

The SNP fought long and hard to deny people human rights, I therefore don’t hold out much hope for Nicola Sturgeon and her motley crew getting a grip on this issue. You don’t give people their human rights because you like them which appears to be the benchmark in Scottish politics, you do so because they are entitled to them, like doesn’t come into it.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

How to Escape the Democrat Plantation (an easy guide).

Dear All

Have you ever wondered who the Democrats are in Britain?

George

Dinesh D'Souza Hammers Liberal On Race Baiter Question

Dear All

Your 'thinking task' for today, watch this video and mentally transplant it to what you have seen in Great Britain.

What does it make you feel?

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scottish Labour in crisis, Anas Sarwar announces he will stand for Labour leadership against Richard Leonard, Anas isn’t the man to unity the Scottish Labour and lead it to power; a ‘10 to midnight’ conversion to being a Corbyn supporter isn’t going to wash with the Momentum crowd in Scotland, Scottish Labour needs a leader from the many not the privileged few

Dear All

At the present moment the Scottish Labour Party is running with the slogan ‘for the many, not the few’. As slogans go, it is okay, but it is a slogan. The Scottish Labour Party is in crisis, the next leader of the Labour in Scotland is said to be inheriting a ‘poisoned chalice’. Anas Sarwar has today announced that he will be a candidate in the Scottish Labour leadership contest.

This means that the former Deputy leader will go head to head with left-winger Richard Leonard.

Richard Leonard is pro Corbyn and that is what the Scottish Labour Party needs, what makes Anas unsuitable is that he previously was the Deputy leader then he resigned, if elected the Momentum crowd who were in the process of targeting Kezia Dugdale with just switch focus to him.

Anas Sarwar will not as he says lead the party "back to power", I don’t know where he gets that idea from, he won’t unity the party and he certainly won’t bring back the working class voters.

Why is it; some in the Labour Party thinks that a privately educated millionaire should be leading a supposedly working class party? Why can’t they find a true working class person to lead a working class party? The middle class university educated Blairities took over control of the Labour Party and led it to disaster by relying on the working class vote. In a previously article I wrote:

‘I get the impression, that it doesn’t matter who controls Scottish Labour from what is presently there as members, Henry Ford famously said of the model T Ford, ‘you can have any colour as long as it is black’, this tends to mirror the attitude towards the working class in Scottish Labour and why so many deserted the party as members and voters’.

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/scottish-labours-ticking-leadership.html

It seems that the few still seem to think that saying that ‘for the many, not the few’ makes up for the fact that the Scottish Labour Party is still clinging to its old Blairitie control structure. Anas Sarwar says he is a centrist, but that is not what is needed, he doesn’t represent change.

Anas Sarwar said: 

“Labour is revitalised in Scotland and I am ready to unite our party and lead us back to power”.

The first part is bullshit, Labour isn’t revitalised in Scotland, this is delusion on his part, I suspect that is based on the increase in seats, however the reasons for many wins in 2017 is that the public support for the SNP is going backwards. You could equally say that the Scottish Conservatives are revitalised in Scotland since they took more seats in Scotland than Scottish Labour. 

So, don’t they have more of a claim to say that they are ready to be the primary challenger in the 2021 Holyrood election?

After all, they won more seats in Westminster and they won more seats in Holyrood, in case it slipped past Anas, the Scottish Labour Party is the third party of Scotland as recent elections have proven time and time again.

As to his claim that he is ‘ready to unite our party’, isn’t any contender, where is the substance to support this claim? He made it when is the evidence because beyond the platitudes someone is bound to ask for proof.

As to his last part of his claim that he will Scottish Labour back to power, I find that to be just rhetoric, he is living in the same dream world that Kezia Dugdale was staying in during her leadership which when reality kicked in she bailed out.

On the other side of the leadership battle sits Richard Leonard, if you haven’t heard of him don’t worry, neither has the majority of Scotland.  He claims the party, which won seven seats north of the border, could have been even more successful if it had aligned itself more closely with Jeremy Corbyn. 

Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t a factor in the 2017 Westminster election because the Labour Party in Scotland is Blairite controlled, and Kezia Dugdale as we all know didn’t back Corbyn which was another one of her catalogue of mistakes during her two year spell as leader before bailing out.

Leadership isn’t for everyone, and Kezia should have remembered what she said before that she wasn’t a leader.

As I have repeatedly blogged, the Scottish Labour Party is in no fit state to campaign, in my last Labour post, I highlighted that the Cardonald campaign was effectively being done by a small group of elected people and staffers from across Glasgow. This is a serious problem in constituencies which means that some of deadbeats standing for public office require a national bounce to get them elected because they don’t have the ability to do so off their own back. A national bounce got Tasmina Ahmed-Shiekh into public office in 2015, when the public wised up to her, they got rid of her a mere two years later.  

So, the choice for the Scottish Labour Party in the 2017 leadership contest is poor, there needs to be more candidates, there needs to be more choice, and I would suggest that there needs to be a Richard Leonard victory.

If Anas Sarwar is elected the first question which then follows is when will he resign, Scottish Labour doesn’t need a privately educated millionaire MSP to lead it, it needs a working class leader to connect with the public.

If Richard Leonard gets in, does he know what his job is? In case he doesn’t I will state it, his job is what Corbyn should be doing, finding and training up the next leadership class of working class people to run the Labour Party and represent it effectively.

Finally, in writing this I did factor in the help that Anas Sarwar has given to help the homeless at the Cadogan Street soup kitchen along with other people from the Labour Party.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University