Dear All
Politics is a dirty business and people sometimes go over the score but there are limits.
When Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell folded up his tents and departed the premises as allegations about cocaine found their way into the public domain, there was a foot note to the story.
18-year-old Danus McKinlay, a Labour Activist and friend of Purcell died outside the City Chambers; he was asthmatic and had diabetes.
Yapping Yousuf paid Danus a tribute here which I add a comment on myself.
Alan Clayton is an SNP Activist and in choosing to smear Danus McKinley in the most horrible way, he made false statements against him to add to the grief of his family.
It was totally wrong.
This compounded the tragedy for the family.
Clayton has since been reported to the SNP Disciplinary Committee who will look into the matter.
A family spokesman said;
“Everyone is distraught. Danus was just their wee boy when this terrible tragedy struck. They don’t understand why a man they have never heard of would choose to hurt them like this. They just want to grieve in peace.”
Which prompts the question why did Clayton think it was acceptable?
Typically Iain Gray, Labour MSP tried to use the actions of Alan Clayton to make a wider political point;
“There is something rotten at the heart of the SNP and Alex Salmond cannot wash his hands of it any longer. If he stays silent and does nothing, he is condoning it”.
I see Iain Gray as a contemptible individual who says the wrong things at the wrong time, in this case using Alan Clayton to make political points at the expense of grief of McKinlay family is as bad as Clayton’s wrongful actions.
Since then Alan Clayton has issued an apology, he said;
“I apologise without reservation to the parents of the young man. Causing them distress was certainly not my intention and clearly I could have handled this matter very much better.”
I don’t think this amounts to much in the grand scheme of things because it took him getting into trouble before he found his conscience.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Politics is a dirty business and people sometimes go over the score but there are limits.
When Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell folded up his tents and departed the premises as allegations about cocaine found their way into the public domain, there was a foot note to the story.
18-year-old Danus McKinlay, a Labour Activist and friend of Purcell died outside the City Chambers; he was asthmatic and had diabetes.
Yapping Yousuf paid Danus a tribute here which I add a comment on myself.
Alan Clayton is an SNP Activist and in choosing to smear Danus McKinley in the most horrible way, he made false statements against him to add to the grief of his family.
It was totally wrong.
This compounded the tragedy for the family.
Clayton has since been reported to the SNP Disciplinary Committee who will look into the matter.
A family spokesman said;
“Everyone is distraught. Danus was just their wee boy when this terrible tragedy struck. They don’t understand why a man they have never heard of would choose to hurt them like this. They just want to grieve in peace.”
Which prompts the question why did Clayton think it was acceptable?
Typically Iain Gray, Labour MSP tried to use the actions of Alan Clayton to make a wider political point;
“There is something rotten at the heart of the SNP and Alex Salmond cannot wash his hands of it any longer. If he stays silent and does nothing, he is condoning it”.
I see Iain Gray as a contemptible individual who says the wrong things at the wrong time, in this case using Alan Clayton to make political points at the expense of grief of McKinlay family is as bad as Clayton’s wrongful actions.
Since then Alan Clayton has issued an apology, he said;
“I apologise without reservation to the parents of the young man. Causing them distress was certainly not my intention and clearly I could have handled this matter very much better.”
I don’t think this amounts to much in the grand scheme of things because it took him getting into trouble before he found his conscience.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
7 comments:
The silly old fool should never have said what he did.
But, petty party political point scoring has made this into something it should never have been. The family would never have known if the SNP's opponents hadn't screeched about it.
It should have been dealt with quietly, for the boy's family's sake.
Der4Rab
I totally agree with you on this matter.
Clayton has made a fool of himself and deserves what he gets.
Labour MSP Iain Gray's carry on for party political advantage shows how low he is in personal integrity.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Clayton said "I could have handled this better", not "I should not have said this in the first place".
So no actual apology at all for smearing a dead man.
And as for political advantage, are we to believe he would have made the same remarks if the young man in question hadn't been a friend of Steven Purcell?
Dear Monty
”Clayton said "I could have handled this better", not "I should not have said this in the first place".
So no actual apology at all for smearing a dead man”.
I didn’t write his apology and I didn’t write his letter that appeared in the Herald either.
Both of which I found to be pathetic.
“And as for political advantage, are we to believe he would have made the same remarks if the young man in question hadn't been a friend of Steven Purcell?”
I have never Alan Clayton so have no idea what goes on in his head.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Thanks for the response George.
His other comment that "young people don't just die" is beneath contempt. 10 seconds thought would have shown him how wrong that is on all sorts of levels, not just factually inaccurate.
Can't imagine what goes on in his head either.
Alan Clayton is worse than a hypocrite... I was pupil in the 80's and it's a disgrace that he is sitting pontificating from his bungalow somewhere when h has completely covered up his totally inappropriate behaviour as a teacher. He is in NO position to judge anyone!
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