The Xmas Blog;, the last post of the year. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family when it comes, be safe, don't drink and drive, enjoy the holidays and if you get the chance, do a good deed, there is always hope even in the darkest of time

Dear All

In this year, I have seen both ups and downs, hope and disaster, in fact, this year has been as much of a trial for me as 2014. Near the end of 2014, I nearly died, 2019, woke up to the fact that all of a sudden, I was going blind. I managed to beat the odds in 2014, and it seems as if I will again God willing.

It is amazing how much we take things for granted such as eyesight, but when ‘the lights start going out’, it is a major wakeup call in your later life. So, huge thanks to my surgeons who jumped in, done the business, and hopefully gave me the tools to fight another day.

And less we forget, we are always in a fight against the darkness.

Since this is the Xmas blog post, the last of this year, I wanted to keep it to hope, the election and what needs to be said about that can wait till next year. I was thinking; it wouldn’t be appropriate to try and merge these two events together because the tone would be off.

Needless to say, I did learn something about others while out campaigning and viewing online even although I was a physical wreck, and in a lot of pain. In my youth, I used to teach students to observe others, because people doing it wrong are a valuable training aid. Knowing how to do it right comes in part from knowing how others have done it wrong.

It is that time of the year again so without further ado; Merry Xmas and a happy New Year to you and your family when it comes!

Previously in a Xmas blog, I wrote that the winds of change are starting to be felt not just in Scotland but right across Europe. The 2019 winds of change certainly have changed the UK for the better. What Brexit will deliver are opportunities; that will benefit the many, it will take time but the good news is that the EU is not controlling our destiny, we are.

I would like to thank all the people who took the opportunity to drop by the blog to read and comment on the stories posted, 2020 will also be a time of change as the political debate will change to take account of the new mandate of the UK government.

I would also like to thank those who read my stories and decided to post them elsewhere and then linked it to my blog, which means I must be doing something right again.

I would also like to thank the BBC in London for dropping by this year again, I do commentating on TV and radio, hint, hint hint, but alas they dinnae call, they dinnae write and they dinnae send a taxi.

And I wanted to thank the print press who also keep rolling by to see the George Laird view on the world, and who strangely never comment much on my views if at all.

All in all, it was a good year blogging; I saw many of my predictions on Europe unfolded before my eyes because as I stated during the campaign, this was a Brexit Election.

Finally, see you all next year; the battle for truth will be starting early yet, if you want to drive, don’t drink, if you can help someone take that opportunity because you don’t want to miss it, and remember what the true meaning of Xmas is selfless and giving.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University