Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Number of re-offenders in Scotland hits 10-year high, political dogma ‘tough on crime’ rules and the failure is all too apparent
Dear All
The number of people who re-offended within two years of a conviction has reached its highest level in a decade.
This is unacceptable and further highlights that when people have no stake in society, they don’t feel the need to obey society’s laws.
It also flags up that the piecemeal strategy of rehabilitation hasn’t worked.
Some people are caught in a cycle of crime because they have no hope, no aspiration and no future.
They are shut out of entire areas of society because of previous behaviour.
Crime is one of the hot political topics, for politicians want to be seen as ‘tough on crime’.
Sadly as the latest statistics published by government show this is area of failure, of the 53,260 people convicted in the courts in 2006/07, 23,419 re-offended.
An encompassing strategy is needed to keep these people out of trouble which has to stretch beyond the prison gates.
People with chaotic lifestyles need extra help because we have to help them recover the mindset of getting them to think about what they are doing instead of reacting.
60% of people jailed for a crime went on to re-offend within two years.
And that figure gets worse when you factor in 72% for those handed jail terms of less than three months.
Community service is a good solution because it takes people out of their current situation and opens up new avenues of what life might be if they changed.
It isn’t the community-based punishment per se that is effective at cutting reconviction rates; it is the mental processes that occur while doing it.
Having changed their mindset, what follows next is important and to that end there needs to be changes both in law and practically on the ground.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 needs to be revisited.
Unless society and that means politicians are willing change then they will by default allow the cycle of crime to continue.
Prison doesn’t work.
Add to that the cost £32,000 a year to keep someone warehoused and stick on the loss of revenue and tax of them not earning and leading a normal life.
Everyone sitting in prison locked up generates no money for the economy.
So investing in these people to get a useful citizen who has a future isn’t a wishy washy idea but sound financial sense.
The number of people who re-offended within two years of a conviction has reached its highest level in a decade.
This is unacceptable and further highlights that when people have no stake in society, they don’t feel the need to obey society’s laws.
It also flags up that the piecemeal strategy of rehabilitation hasn’t worked.
Some people are caught in a cycle of crime because they have no hope, no aspiration and no future.
They are shut out of entire areas of society because of previous behaviour.
Crime is one of the hot political topics, for politicians want to be seen as ‘tough on crime’.
Sadly as the latest statistics published by government show this is area of failure, of the 53,260 people convicted in the courts in 2006/07, 23,419 re-offended.
An encompassing strategy is needed to keep these people out of trouble which has to stretch beyond the prison gates.
People with chaotic lifestyles need extra help because we have to help them recover the mindset of getting them to think about what they are doing instead of reacting.
60% of people jailed for a crime went on to re-offend within two years.
And that figure gets worse when you factor in 72% for those handed jail terms of less than three months.
Community service is a good solution because it takes people out of their current situation and opens up new avenues of what life might be if they changed.
It isn’t the community-based punishment per se that is effective at cutting reconviction rates; it is the mental processes that occur while doing it.
Having changed their mindset, what follows next is important and to that end there needs to be changes both in law and practically on the ground.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 needs to be revisited.
Unless society and that means politicians are willing change then they will by default allow the cycle of crime to continue.
Prison doesn’t work.
Add to that the cost £32,000 a year to keep someone warehoused and stick on the loss of revenue and tax of them not earning and leading a normal life.
Everyone sitting in prison locked up generates no money for the economy.
So investing in these people to get a useful citizen who has a future isn’t a wishy washy idea but sound financial sense.
While politicians use crime for ping pong politics nothing will change to any great degree and we have already seen that the ‘war on drugs’ has been a failure.
It really is time for something new and radical.
Society has to give these people a meaningful stake in it.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Glasgow Labour Council in bid to ban parades from Glasgow City Centre, we host more Loyalist and Republican parades than Belfast and the City of Derry
Dear All
The right to protest is a hard fought right which should be protected to the hilt.
For sometime the Glasgow Labour Council of shame has been itching to ban Parades.
There is now a plan so that Parades will effectively be banned from Glasgow city centre.
In Glasgow, it is reckoned to be about 500 marches a year within the city’s boundaries and it costs a fortune in Police time, manpower and money.
Two groups need to be permanently banned from the city’s streets, the Protestant Orange orders and Irish republican groups.
These marches disrupted the life of every day Glaswegians and fuel sectarianism; it seems that cost considerations rather than ethics finally have moved the Labour Council of shame to act.
Speaking for the Labour Council of shame, Jim ‘the undertaker’ Coleman said:
“What we have done is try to reach a balance where we protect people’s democratic right to demonstrate; but without overwhelming the rights of the wider community”.
As usual with Labour plans, they don’t seem to be well thought-out, thrown into the mix is a suggest that in future people walk four abreast to allow quicker progress and reduce time and disruption to the public.
Surely this will make the length of time longer as Parades are stretched out?
Do people walking four abreast move quicker than say six?
Will this apply to the bands, those carrying big banners, processions with floats?
It seems that reason for consultation and feedback is that poor old Jim ‘the undertaker’ Coleman hasn’t grasped what he and his fellow Labour Councillors of shame want.
The ‘plan’ is fluid because he wants others to fill in the details then claim he is acting in the spirit of co-operation.
The right to protest is a hard fought right which should be protected to the hilt.
For sometime the Glasgow Labour Council of shame has been itching to ban Parades.
There is now a plan so that Parades will effectively be banned from Glasgow city centre.
In Glasgow, it is reckoned to be about 500 marches a year within the city’s boundaries and it costs a fortune in Police time, manpower and money.
Two groups need to be permanently banned from the city’s streets, the Protestant Orange orders and Irish republican groups.
These marches disrupted the life of every day Glaswegians and fuel sectarianism; it seems that cost considerations rather than ethics finally have moved the Labour Council of shame to act.
Speaking for the Labour Council of shame, Jim ‘the undertaker’ Coleman said:
“What we have done is try to reach a balance where we protect people’s democratic right to demonstrate; but without overwhelming the rights of the wider community”.
As usual with Labour plans, they don’t seem to be well thought-out, thrown into the mix is a suggest that in future people walk four abreast to allow quicker progress and reduce time and disruption to the public.
Surely this will make the length of time longer as Parades are stretched out?
Do people walking four abreast move quicker than say six?
Will this apply to the bands, those carrying big banners, processions with floats?
It seems that reason for consultation and feedback is that poor old Jim ‘the undertaker’ Coleman hasn’t grasped what he and his fellow Labour Councillors of shame want.
The ‘plan’ is fluid because he wants others to fill in the details then claim he is acting in the spirit of co-operation.
Straightaway the proposals have attracted criticism from the Orange Order.
A spokesman for the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland said:
“While we remain happy to sit down and discuss our parades in a spirit of co-operation, we are aware of our rights and will not see those rights curtailed in order to satisfy the political will or prejudice of a handful of city councillors.”
Then perhaps the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland will be happy to foot the entire bill for policing their event.
Such events are covered by the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 so the Glasgow Labour Council of shame might end up facing a legal challenge under Human Rights legalisation.
Glasgow hosts more Loyalist and Republican parades than the Belfast and City of Derry council areas combined.
In Scotland, the Labour Party effectively allowed sectarianism to develop and even set up an industry to manage it.
They never tackled the problem, the Protestant Orange orders and Irish republican groups marches should be banned or severely limited.
And the cost of any such marches should be paid in full by them.
There is a distinct difference between these marches and normal protesting.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
A spokesman for the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland said:
“While we remain happy to sit down and discuss our parades in a spirit of co-operation, we are aware of our rights and will not see those rights curtailed in order to satisfy the political will or prejudice of a handful of city councillors.”
Then perhaps the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland will be happy to foot the entire bill for policing their event.
Such events are covered by the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 so the Glasgow Labour Council of shame might end up facing a legal challenge under Human Rights legalisation.
Glasgow hosts more Loyalist and Republican parades than the Belfast and City of Derry council areas combined.
In Scotland, the Labour Party effectively allowed sectarianism to develop and even set up an industry to manage it.
They never tackled the problem, the Protestant Orange orders and Irish republican groups marches should be banned or severely limited.
And the cost of any such marches should be paid in full by them.
There is a distinct difference between these marches and normal protesting.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Monday, August 30, 2010
Greedy pathetic Scottish Tories 2010 “It’s not Team Tory at all. Everyone is looking after themselves and no-one gives a damn about the party”
Dear All
The Tories have a problem in Scotland.
Everyone hates them with passion.
They don’t get the message and want a revival in Scotland.
How do they expect to get this after their treatment of the Scots?
A senior party source thinks it will as long as 25 years to make them electable in Scotland.
What a dreamer, mind you shelving the problem for 25 years makes it someone else’s turkey.
At the recent Westminster election, the Tories had a better than even chance to capture East Renfrewshire from sitting Labour MP Jim Murphy.
Murphy attained 25, 987 votes against Richard ‘goofy’ Cook, Tory.
With an unpopular Labour Government with a Prime Minster so utterly despised, they couldn’t make a dent.
Labour added circa 5,000 votes, Murphy is said to be a good constituency MP which worked in his favour.
As the Scottish Tories undertake a fundamental review to map out their future, they are failing to understand and action their problems.
In Scotland every Tory is a non entity to the public, at Holyrood their MSPs haven’t shined and are so forgettable.
One wag thinks the solution is a process of “Scotification” of the party.
Donning sheep’s clothing doesn’t make you a sheep, are they really so naïve?
What are Scottish Tory policies?
Who cares!
Cameron takes no notice of the Scottish outpost as he has bailed and sent him the Lib Dems as England’s rulers in Scotland.
Quislings!
In order for a Tory revival even raising an eyebrow, the Scottish Tories need to get their Scottish policies implemented by the Westminster Cabinet.
The Westminster election was a disaster, one out of 59 seats.
A lot of blame has been thrown in the direction of Annabel Goldie; unfairly, she can do little with very little.
No policies, poor MSPs and irrelevant Westminster Candidates.
Anti-Tory sentiment is entrenched in Scotland and the Cameron bounce has been rejected because Cameron and co didn’t have policies which reach out to all of society.
This is confirmed by a recent opinion poll which put the Scottish Tories on just 10%.
The Tories are going to look inward after the Holyrood election but although change and review are needed in all parties, they Tories need to look out.
The question, they need to ask is why people don’t vote Tory.
Why in East Renfrewshire, fertile ground, full of affluent people couldn’t they impact but as well as that the need to go to the poor areas and ask the same question.
The only time you see a Tory in a poor area is because there is an election on, the other 49 weeks of the year they wouldn’t be caught dead there because they don’t give a toss about the people.
Ruth Davidson came across well in Glasgow North East but let us not kid ourselves, first chance she had to bail to another seat down south she was off.
Davidson didn’t get the Bromsgrove nomination so tail between her legs she comes back to Glasgow North East for the Westminster election.
The Tories are a dead party in Scotland and no amount of name changing or window dressing will alter that.
Finally, Annabel Goldie has done a very good job, I say this because it is a fact, she should continue as leader.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The Tories have a problem in Scotland.
Everyone hates them with passion.
They don’t get the message and want a revival in Scotland.
How do they expect to get this after their treatment of the Scots?
A senior party source thinks it will as long as 25 years to make them electable in Scotland.
What a dreamer, mind you shelving the problem for 25 years makes it someone else’s turkey.
At the recent Westminster election, the Tories had a better than even chance to capture East Renfrewshire from sitting Labour MP Jim Murphy.
Murphy attained 25, 987 votes against Richard ‘goofy’ Cook, Tory.
With an unpopular Labour Government with a Prime Minster so utterly despised, they couldn’t make a dent.
Labour added circa 5,000 votes, Murphy is said to be a good constituency MP which worked in his favour.
As the Scottish Tories undertake a fundamental review to map out their future, they are failing to understand and action their problems.
In Scotland every Tory is a non entity to the public, at Holyrood their MSPs haven’t shined and are so forgettable.
One wag thinks the solution is a process of “Scotification” of the party.
Donning sheep’s clothing doesn’t make you a sheep, are they really so naïve?
What are Scottish Tory policies?
Who cares!
Cameron takes no notice of the Scottish outpost as he has bailed and sent him the Lib Dems as England’s rulers in Scotland.
Quislings!
In order for a Tory revival even raising an eyebrow, the Scottish Tories need to get their Scottish policies implemented by the Westminster Cabinet.
The Westminster election was a disaster, one out of 59 seats.
A lot of blame has been thrown in the direction of Annabel Goldie; unfairly, she can do little with very little.
No policies, poor MSPs and irrelevant Westminster Candidates.
Anti-Tory sentiment is entrenched in Scotland and the Cameron bounce has been rejected because Cameron and co didn’t have policies which reach out to all of society.
This is confirmed by a recent opinion poll which put the Scottish Tories on just 10%.
The Tories are going to look inward after the Holyrood election but although change and review are needed in all parties, they Tories need to look out.
The question, they need to ask is why people don’t vote Tory.
Why in East Renfrewshire, fertile ground, full of affluent people couldn’t they impact but as well as that the need to go to the poor areas and ask the same question.
The only time you see a Tory in a poor area is because there is an election on, the other 49 weeks of the year they wouldn’t be caught dead there because they don’t give a toss about the people.
Ruth Davidson came across well in Glasgow North East but let us not kid ourselves, first chance she had to bail to another seat down south she was off.
Davidson didn’t get the Bromsgrove nomination so tail between her legs she comes back to Glasgow North East for the Westminster election.
The Tories are a dead party in Scotland and no amount of name changing or window dressing will alter that.
Finally, Annabel Goldie has done a very good job, I say this because it is a fact, she should continue as leader.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Gordon 'free dinners' Matheson picks a new target after disadvantaging Glasgow's disabled kids, he wants all teachers to pay for Labour's stupidity
Dear All
It seems that the Glasgow Labour Council of shame and its leader, Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson has found a new victim moving on from further disadvantaging disabled kids.
Now, the ‘guns of hate’ are targeted towards teachers.
Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson wants Teachers in Scotland to be forced to work longer hours in the classroom.
In the Labour fiefdom of Glasgow, a contract isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
‘Free dinners’ Matheson wants to tear up an agreement struck in 2001 that greatly improved teachers’ pay and conditions.
Known as the McCrone deal, it guaranteed teachers more than 12 hours a week to spend marking and preparing lessons in school, rather than teaching.
And as we all know, probably with the exception of the Glasgow Labour Party, preparation prevents poor performance of both teacher and student.
Although the time taken is only 30 minutes, it is the start of mission creep by Matheson.
Glasgow gets the highest figure per head of population by the Scottish Government and still Labour can’t manage.
What about cutting off the flow of cash to Labour donors via contracts?
Education is important and Glasgow Labour Council of shame is known for spending very little per head on that, they want to keep their gerrymandered ghettos intact.
If the time for preparation is taken away, how will this effect delivery?
Has a study been undertaken, I suspect now, as usual with Glasgow Labour, it is all mouth before engaging brain.
If the agreement is reopen, then Glasgow’s problem will affect every one of the 51,000 teachers in Scotland because it is a national agreement.
The tail cannot be allowed to wag the dog.
Teachers work a 35-hour week, 22.5 hours are spent actually teaching, with the rest protected time to prepare for lessons using the school resources rather than doing the work at home.
A survey in 2006 found teachers work an average of 45 hours a week so everyone should remember that Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson and his Labour Councillors of shame are getting a good deal.
So, what kind of response should the Glasgow Labour Council of shame expect from the Scottish Government when Glasgow Labour went out of its way to sabotage cutting class sizes for political gain?
A polite official no!
‘Free dinners’ Matheson said:
“In law, I must balance the books and, in order to do that, we are facing brutal cuts to frontline services.”
Balancing the books is his problem, not the Scottish Government or any other Scottish Council; he should solve his own problem and not drag the rest of Scotland into shoring up his stupidity.
Matheson added:
“I respect the professionalism and hard work of teachers, but we are in an unprecedented situation where we face brutal choices and I believe this is a reasonable request to make, which would still leave sufficient time for preparation. The options in front of us are not only politically very difficult, but threaten the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. This is one way we could offset those cuts. I would stress that no final decisions have been made, but we will be asking the Scottish Government to re-open the McCrone agreement.”
The unprecedented situation was caused by the Labour Party failing to protect the British public by regulating the banks properly.
Glasgow gets the highest amount of money per head in Scotland, Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson is only flagging up he and Labour Council of shame cannot manage the sea of money they get.
Maybe its time for new management at the City Chambers!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
It seems that the Glasgow Labour Council of shame and its leader, Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson has found a new victim moving on from further disadvantaging disabled kids.
Now, the ‘guns of hate’ are targeted towards teachers.
Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson wants Teachers in Scotland to be forced to work longer hours in the classroom.
In the Labour fiefdom of Glasgow, a contract isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
‘Free dinners’ Matheson wants to tear up an agreement struck in 2001 that greatly improved teachers’ pay and conditions.
Known as the McCrone deal, it guaranteed teachers more than 12 hours a week to spend marking and preparing lessons in school, rather than teaching.
And as we all know, probably with the exception of the Glasgow Labour Party, preparation prevents poor performance of both teacher and student.
Although the time taken is only 30 minutes, it is the start of mission creep by Matheson.
Glasgow gets the highest figure per head of population by the Scottish Government and still Labour can’t manage.
What about cutting off the flow of cash to Labour donors via contracts?
Education is important and Glasgow Labour Council of shame is known for spending very little per head on that, they want to keep their gerrymandered ghettos intact.
If the time for preparation is taken away, how will this effect delivery?
Has a study been undertaken, I suspect now, as usual with Glasgow Labour, it is all mouth before engaging brain.
If the agreement is reopen, then Glasgow’s problem will affect every one of the 51,000 teachers in Scotland because it is a national agreement.
The tail cannot be allowed to wag the dog.
Teachers work a 35-hour week, 22.5 hours are spent actually teaching, with the rest protected time to prepare for lessons using the school resources rather than doing the work at home.
A survey in 2006 found teachers work an average of 45 hours a week so everyone should remember that Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson and his Labour Councillors of shame are getting a good deal.
So, what kind of response should the Glasgow Labour Council of shame expect from the Scottish Government when Glasgow Labour went out of its way to sabotage cutting class sizes for political gain?
A polite official no!
‘Free dinners’ Matheson said:
“In law, I must balance the books and, in order to do that, we are facing brutal cuts to frontline services.”
Balancing the books is his problem, not the Scottish Government or any other Scottish Council; he should solve his own problem and not drag the rest of Scotland into shoring up his stupidity.
Matheson added:
“I respect the professionalism and hard work of teachers, but we are in an unprecedented situation where we face brutal choices and I believe this is a reasonable request to make, which would still leave sufficient time for preparation. The options in front of us are not only politically very difficult, but threaten the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. This is one way we could offset those cuts. I would stress that no final decisions have been made, but we will be asking the Scottish Government to re-open the McCrone agreement.”
The unprecedented situation was caused by the Labour Party failing to protect the British public by regulating the banks properly.
Glasgow gets the highest amount of money per head in Scotland, Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson is only flagging up he and Labour Council of shame cannot manage the sea of money they get.
Maybe its time for new management at the City Chambers!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Saturday, August 28, 2010
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s deportation of Roma Gypsies, a symptom the EU must tackle internal immigration problem, regulation is required
Dear All
The European Union is a good thing and I am a fan of it but like most large institutions it needs a lot of work to make it function smoothly.
It is now stands as a vast empire of 27 countries which some describe as ‘the United States of Europe’.
One of the problems that have been ignored in the EU over decades is internal immigration within the EU itself.
This has lead to problems as sudden shifts of vast amounts of people have created problems which were never properly envisaged.
One of the freedoms laid out in the EU Charter is freedom of movement so citizens can work in other member states.
Good idea?
Yes, very much so as it spreads culture and creates a European bond in the community.
In France the European dream has turned sour slightly for Roma Gypsies as Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President is destroying gipsy camps and deporting Romanians back to their homeland.
The reason for this; is his claims that the Roma, many of whom arrived in France after Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, are responsible for an outbreak of crime.
Figures show Roma crime has risen 140 per cent in Paris each year since 2007.
Sarkozy has decided to act after civil unrest, the trigger was a mass attack in July on a police station in the normally idyllic Loire Valley town of Saint-Aignan, 150 miles south of Paris which saw a 400-strong mob of Roma armed with iron bars and baseball bats set fire to cars and threatened officers.
The riot had been sparked by the fatal shooting by a gendarme of a 22-year-old gipsy who was being investigated for burglary.
Following the disturbance, Sarkozy immediately called an emergency cabinet meeting and then ordered the ‘systematic evacuation’ of all the illegal camps and squats.
Interior Minister, Brice Hortefeux said:
“As usual, Sarkozyism is out of step with the elites but in step with society.”
Immigration is a debating area which few care to tread because of the racism tag which is generally thrown about and no aspiring politician wants to be branded a racist.
Very quickly this subject becomes emotive as slogans replace detail and solutions.
The policy by Sarkozy is simple but is one fraught with controversy but it is a policy going forward.
As EU Citizens, the Roma have a right to return but having the right doesn’t solve the problem, a problem which is not unique to them.
Just as the internal market is EU regulated so must the internal movement of labour in the union must be also.
A criteria has to be set in place so that safeguards exist that allows the movement of labour but managed so that people can join the society they want to live in.
Living in squalor and begging on the street is unacceptable and creates an underclass and fuels tension.
Lack of regulation and thought has allowed a massive problem to be caused and this is the result.
It is a problem that can be fixed but it must be fixed at the source, the European Parliament
In a southern Paris suburb of Choisy-le-Roi, there was a Gypsy Camp, typical of hundreds across France. Situated on wasteland on the outskirts of the city it had no electricity and the only water available was that taken from the nearby canal.
The people there lived in squalor and the 70 people struggled to find suitable work, this isn’t the European dream as envisaged in the free movement of labour.
It is perverse.
Sarkozy has labelled the camps as ‘sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundlyshocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime’.
It is time that the European Union addressed the problem of internal immigration in a systematic manner.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The European Union is a good thing and I am a fan of it but like most large institutions it needs a lot of work to make it function smoothly.
It is now stands as a vast empire of 27 countries which some describe as ‘the United States of Europe’.
One of the problems that have been ignored in the EU over decades is internal immigration within the EU itself.
This has lead to problems as sudden shifts of vast amounts of people have created problems which were never properly envisaged.
One of the freedoms laid out in the EU Charter is freedom of movement so citizens can work in other member states.
Good idea?
Yes, very much so as it spreads culture and creates a European bond in the community.
In France the European dream has turned sour slightly for Roma Gypsies as Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President is destroying gipsy camps and deporting Romanians back to their homeland.
The reason for this; is his claims that the Roma, many of whom arrived in France after Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, are responsible for an outbreak of crime.
Figures show Roma crime has risen 140 per cent in Paris each year since 2007.
Sarkozy has decided to act after civil unrest, the trigger was a mass attack in July on a police station in the normally idyllic Loire Valley town of Saint-Aignan, 150 miles south of Paris which saw a 400-strong mob of Roma armed with iron bars and baseball bats set fire to cars and threatened officers.
The riot had been sparked by the fatal shooting by a gendarme of a 22-year-old gipsy who was being investigated for burglary.
Following the disturbance, Sarkozy immediately called an emergency cabinet meeting and then ordered the ‘systematic evacuation’ of all the illegal camps and squats.
Interior Minister, Brice Hortefeux said:
“As usual, Sarkozyism is out of step with the elites but in step with society.”
Immigration is a debating area which few care to tread because of the racism tag which is generally thrown about and no aspiring politician wants to be branded a racist.
Very quickly this subject becomes emotive as slogans replace detail and solutions.
The policy by Sarkozy is simple but is one fraught with controversy but it is a policy going forward.
As EU Citizens, the Roma have a right to return but having the right doesn’t solve the problem, a problem which is not unique to them.
Just as the internal market is EU regulated so must the internal movement of labour in the union must be also.
A criteria has to be set in place so that safeguards exist that allows the movement of labour but managed so that people can join the society they want to live in.
Living in squalor and begging on the street is unacceptable and creates an underclass and fuels tension.
Lack of regulation and thought has allowed a massive problem to be caused and this is the result.
It is a problem that can be fixed but it must be fixed at the source, the European Parliament
In a southern Paris suburb of Choisy-le-Roi, there was a Gypsy Camp, typical of hundreds across France. Situated on wasteland on the outskirts of the city it had no electricity and the only water available was that taken from the nearby canal.
The people there lived in squalor and the 70 people struggled to find suitable work, this isn’t the European dream as envisaged in the free movement of labour.
It is perverse.
Sarkozy has labelled the camps as ‘sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundlyshocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime’.
It is time that the European Union addressed the problem of internal immigration in a systematic manner.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Friday, August 27, 2010
Former First Minister Jack McConnell to step down, he goes to the House of Lords at £1675 a week add to that £67,000 a year in pensions
Dear All
Jack McConnell has announced he will stand down as an MSP at next year’s Scottish Parliament election.
The question is would the people of his Motherwell and Wishaw constituency notice?
McConnell is now Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, so he has a London pay day at circa £335 a pop plus travel expenses.
He says that he is going to be a “working peer”, at £1675 a week, I am sure others would pitch in if offered the opportunity too.
As well as being an MSP, McConnell had another job, travelling the world staying in expensive hotels!
The cover for these cushy jollies was as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Peacebuilding.
He brought peace to nowhere.
McConnell has been an elected representative in a career spanning 30 years feels it is “time to move on”.
He said:
“I have been involved in national Scottish politics, including the creation of the Scottish Parliament and serving in Government, for most of those 30 years and it is time for others to take Scotland forward now.”
In a Bill Clintonesque move, he is now in discussions with universities and other institutions about an archive library and policy institute.
Did he think he was Presidential in standing and how can anyone believe his work is worth reading in the first place.
As well as the above, McConnell is planning a charitable foundation, going the Tony Blair route?
Maybe McConnell thinks that billionaires will be queuing up round the block to invite him onto their yachts.
I can’t believe that McConnell is leaving unless he has found a pay day elsewhere, when the High Commissioner’s job in Malawi fell through; he was suddenly wanted to serve the people of Motherwell and Wishaw again.
Now he doesn’t! I think this is a case of wait and see.
Now that he is going the traditional oh what a nice guy statements from various people are coming out.
Acting Labour Leader Harriet Harman MP said:
“The success of devolution is in no small part due to Jack’s determination and commitment as Scotland’s longest serving first minister to make devolution work for Scotland. Jack is a credit to the Labour Party, a credit to Scotland and I know he will be sorely missed.”
Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative leader, said:
“Jack has played a significant part in devolved politics and we wish him well for the future.”
LibDem leader Tavish Scott, said he had enjoyed working with Lord McConnell.
I was standing in a Fish and Chip shop in Glasgow with my mate and his girlfriend, in the shop was a guy who claimed to be related to McConnell and showed me ID to prove it.
His comment on Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale otherwise know as Jack McConnell aka Lucky Jack was that, “he is an arsehole”.
I wonder what he saw that Harriet Harman, Annabel Goldie and Tavish Scott couldn’t!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Jack McConnell has announced he will stand down as an MSP at next year’s Scottish Parliament election.
The question is would the people of his Motherwell and Wishaw constituency notice?
McConnell is now Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, so he has a London pay day at circa £335 a pop plus travel expenses.
He says that he is going to be a “working peer”, at £1675 a week, I am sure others would pitch in if offered the opportunity too.
As well as being an MSP, McConnell had another job, travelling the world staying in expensive hotels!
The cover for these cushy jollies was as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Peacebuilding.
He brought peace to nowhere.
McConnell has been an elected representative in a career spanning 30 years feels it is “time to move on”.
He said:
“I have been involved in national Scottish politics, including the creation of the Scottish Parliament and serving in Government, for most of those 30 years and it is time for others to take Scotland forward now.”
In a Bill Clintonesque move, he is now in discussions with universities and other institutions about an archive library and policy institute.
Did he think he was Presidential in standing and how can anyone believe his work is worth reading in the first place.
As well as the above, McConnell is planning a charitable foundation, going the Tony Blair route?
Maybe McConnell thinks that billionaires will be queuing up round the block to invite him onto their yachts.
I can’t believe that McConnell is leaving unless he has found a pay day elsewhere, when the High Commissioner’s job in Malawi fell through; he was suddenly wanted to serve the people of Motherwell and Wishaw again.
Now he doesn’t! I think this is a case of wait and see.
Now that he is going the traditional oh what a nice guy statements from various people are coming out.
Acting Labour Leader Harriet Harman MP said:
“The success of devolution is in no small part due to Jack’s determination and commitment as Scotland’s longest serving first minister to make devolution work for Scotland. Jack is a credit to the Labour Party, a credit to Scotland and I know he will be sorely missed.”
Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative leader, said:
“Jack has played a significant part in devolved politics and we wish him well for the future.”
LibDem leader Tavish Scott, said he had enjoyed working with Lord McConnell.
I was standing in a Fish and Chip shop in Glasgow with my mate and his girlfriend, in the shop was a guy who claimed to be related to McConnell and showed me ID to prove it.
His comment on Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale otherwise know as Jack McConnell aka Lucky Jack was that, “he is an arsehole”.
I wonder what he saw that Harriet Harman, Annabel Goldie and Tavish Scott couldn’t!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Tory Minister Philip Hammond says promised train services to Scotland cannot be delivered, Labour Party promises worthless again
Dear All
Prior to the Westminster election political parties focused on the high speed rail link between Glasgow Central and King’s Cross.
A very expensive proposition indeed, if it could be built, it would have to be done in stages because of the financial situation if at all.
I never thought that this rail link was viable and was a pipe dream however some people tried to make political capital out of it to get elected.
Now the Tory/Lib Dem Government rule the roost, the word from on high is no.
I knew it was going to be no previously.
UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is a former Treasury spokesman; he has said the high speed rail link cannot be delivered.
Hammond also took the step of slating Lord Adonis of making irresponsible pre-election promises.
The Transport Sec also said that the election promise to deliver extra services from Virgin was “another example of Labour making pre- election promises that they knew could not be delivered”.
He makes the point grounded in reality that:
“It was the height of irresponsibility to promise new services, without ensuring first that they could be delivered.”
This is the difference between Tories and other political parties, people like Hammond deal in facts while others think the politics of ‘aspiration’ and ‘hope’ works.
Aspiration and hope keep getting panned at the ballot box.
At the last Westminster election some political parties due to their naïve thinking ‘took the train to loserville, a very place to get out of.
As Lord Adonis on behalf of the Labour Party was making promises, he had no agreement in place and there is still no agreement in place to the wild promises that were made.
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said:
“We understand that Arriva CrossCountry are discussing franchise issues with the DfT. However, the DfT has informed us that they will not seek to improve service provision at Motherwell offered by west coast main line services at this time.”
In other words, just get in the cattle car and pray it starts on time and delivers you to your destination.
The Tories don’t see a pressing need to get high speed rail link to Scotland because they are very much London based and already there.
I like the night bus myself but would like to see a return of the steam train.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Prior to the Westminster election political parties focused on the high speed rail link between Glasgow Central and King’s Cross.
A very expensive proposition indeed, if it could be built, it would have to be done in stages because of the financial situation if at all.
I never thought that this rail link was viable and was a pipe dream however some people tried to make political capital out of it to get elected.
Now the Tory/Lib Dem Government rule the roost, the word from on high is no.
I knew it was going to be no previously.
UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is a former Treasury spokesman; he has said the high speed rail link cannot be delivered.
Hammond also took the step of slating Lord Adonis of making irresponsible pre-election promises.
The Transport Sec also said that the election promise to deliver extra services from Virgin was “another example of Labour making pre- election promises that they knew could not be delivered”.
He makes the point grounded in reality that:
“It was the height of irresponsibility to promise new services, without ensuring first that they could be delivered.”
This is the difference between Tories and other political parties, people like Hammond deal in facts while others think the politics of ‘aspiration’ and ‘hope’ works.
Aspiration and hope keep getting panned at the ballot box.
At the last Westminster election some political parties due to their naïve thinking ‘took the train to loserville, a very place to get out of.
As Lord Adonis on behalf of the Labour Party was making promises, he had no agreement in place and there is still no agreement in place to the wild promises that were made.
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said:
“We understand that Arriva CrossCountry are discussing franchise issues with the DfT. However, the DfT has informed us that they will not seek to improve service provision at Motherwell offered by west coast main line services at this time.”
In other words, just get in the cattle car and pray it starts on time and delivers you to your destination.
The Tories don’t see a pressing need to get high speed rail link to Scotland because they are very much London based and already there.
I like the night bus myself but would like to see a return of the steam train.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tory donors can access David Cameron for £50,000 a year donation to the leader’s Group, other parties could benefit from the professional approach
Dear All
Would you pay £50,000 to meet David Cameron?
I wouldn’t even if I had the money.
Cameron prior to the election was personally raising cash for the Conservative Party by offering to attend dinners with businessmen who pay a £50,000-a-year donation to join a club called the Leader’s Group.
This gave people private access to him.
All political parties use this type of fundraising in some form to raise money to campaign.
For the Tories, they use a professional targeted approach as does the Labour Party.
People paying £50,000 a year aren’t doing this for the benefit of their health, this is business.
Cameron and senior Cabinet ministers parade themselves to wealthy donors at functions ranging from drinks after the weekly Question Time in the Commons, to campaign launches.
The Tories criticised Blair and Labour Ministers for doing the same, pure hypocrisy on their part and politics.
Cameron and co aren’t doing anything illegal what seems to upset other politicians is that they haven’t clicked that politics has to operate like a business.
Some people don’t get this simple fact, they think if they take the amateur route then ‘everything will come right on the day’.
How do you persuade people if you come across as a bunch of clowns?
Quite simply you can’t and will always lose.
One thing in the political world is the lack of confidentially, recently an MSP in a political branch said that he couldn’t support a dress code that activists should be presented in a more professional image.
We are not talking Savile row suits, just shirt, tie and dress trousers when doing certain activities and events.
He mounted a successful anti professional campaign which will be the only success of note during his Holyrood election campaign.
What this shows is that although political parties would agree the message is important, some don’t recognise the way it is delivered is equally important on the ground.
The branch organiser stepped down because he wasn’t prepared to argue against such stupidity, if the MSP can’t recognise the importance of presentation, then he should look at the jobs vacant section to plan ahead.
Tories project prior to and in government, professionalism; you can do business with a professional.
However now that Cameron is Prime Minister, he should stop this activity although he isn’t doing any illegal; it isn’t moral because the questions that you can buy your way to him and his influence will always remain.
He won’t however because we are talking serious money.
This shows that other parties could learn from how the Tories and to some extent how New Labour operate.
People flock to the English Tories because they are seen as accessible and professional, from the ground up to the top of the tree.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Would you pay £50,000 to meet David Cameron?
I wouldn’t even if I had the money.
Cameron prior to the election was personally raising cash for the Conservative Party by offering to attend dinners with businessmen who pay a £50,000-a-year donation to join a club called the Leader’s Group.
This gave people private access to him.
All political parties use this type of fundraising in some form to raise money to campaign.
For the Tories, they use a professional targeted approach as does the Labour Party.
People paying £50,000 a year aren’t doing this for the benefit of their health, this is business.
Cameron and senior Cabinet ministers parade themselves to wealthy donors at functions ranging from drinks after the weekly Question Time in the Commons, to campaign launches.
The Tories criticised Blair and Labour Ministers for doing the same, pure hypocrisy on their part and politics.
Cameron and co aren’t doing anything illegal what seems to upset other politicians is that they haven’t clicked that politics has to operate like a business.
Some people don’t get this simple fact, they think if they take the amateur route then ‘everything will come right on the day’.
How do you persuade people if you come across as a bunch of clowns?
Quite simply you can’t and will always lose.
One thing in the political world is the lack of confidentially, recently an MSP in a political branch said that he couldn’t support a dress code that activists should be presented in a more professional image.
We are not talking Savile row suits, just shirt, tie and dress trousers when doing certain activities and events.
He mounted a successful anti professional campaign which will be the only success of note during his Holyrood election campaign.
What this shows is that although political parties would agree the message is important, some don’t recognise the way it is delivered is equally important on the ground.
The branch organiser stepped down because he wasn’t prepared to argue against such stupidity, if the MSP can’t recognise the importance of presentation, then he should look at the jobs vacant section to plan ahead.
Tories project prior to and in government, professionalism; you can do business with a professional.
However now that Cameron is Prime Minister, he should stop this activity although he isn’t doing any illegal; it isn’t moral because the questions that you can buy your way to him and his influence will always remain.
He won’t however because we are talking serious money.
This shows that other parties could learn from how the Tories and to some extent how New Labour operate.
People flock to the English Tories because they are seen as accessible and professional, from the ground up to the top of the tree.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Labour MP Tom Harris finds a new cause to live for as 'war on terror' opens up a new front at the offices of the IPSA, Glaswegian jihad
Dear All
It is a fact of life that people don’t like others looking over their shoulders.
Westminster MPs are no exception.
The Westminster expenses scandal flagged up so much abuse that Gordon Brown in an attempt to try and claim the moral high ground set up the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
But he headed it up with a Labour placeman Sir Iain Kennedy, who was famously described by Alastair Campbell as a ‘party person’.
The new regime was set up in a hurry and immediately proved to be unsatisfactory.
It’s Labour, it doesn’t work should be the motto over their front door.
Since the IPSA has been going tensions between MPs and them have been laid bare with accounts of how politicians swore at staff and reduced them to tears.
A poster boy of hate is Labour MP Tom Harris, Glasgow South who under the previous system got knocked back for claiming for a cot.
I blogged on he could use his own money to pay for a cot on his site, since then he banned me, obviously my ‘rebel’ talk upset him.
As the poster boy of hate for the IPSA, he continuously goes on about scrapping it.
http://www.tomharris.org.uk/2010/08/26/still-banging-on-about-ipsa/
It seems that MPs having to justify spending our money has provoked outrage and has lead to angry scenes down the IPSA.
As the stricter regime begins to bite angry parliamentarians are allegedly swearing at staff doing their job!
One bright spark, pre martyrdom shouted out the current system was an “abortion”.
Another female MP swore and said:
“I’m going to murder someone today.”
No reports of murder so far.
In attack is the best form of defence; Politicians have accused staff at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) of behaving like secret police.
Presumably MPs think money should be handed over no questions asked.
A record of 10 incidents of abuse show how the authority employees have been called “idiots” by foul-mouthed MPs.
It seems that the new ‘war on terror’ is being conducted on British soil at the offices of the IPSA.
Other incidents of MPs being rude when staff fail to answer their queries and a hysteric incident when staff were branded ‘monkeys’ show a deep contempt for the new gatekeepers of cash.
The abuse has gotten so bad that a backbencher, Denis MacShane, who represents Rotherham is said to have reduced a female volunteer to tears 10 minutes into his induction.
Didn’t McShane campaign against abuse against females being exploited?
The female volunteer had to be pulled away at which point McShane allegedly became apologetic, so much so he went back later with a note and a box of chocolates.
What MPs in the shape of Tom Harris want is the removal of the IPSA so he continually stokes the fire.
Some MPs want a return to unaccountability and the rubber stamp.
The system should be fair, transparent and accountable.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
It is a fact of life that people don’t like others looking over their shoulders.
Westminster MPs are no exception.
The Westminster expenses scandal flagged up so much abuse that Gordon Brown in an attempt to try and claim the moral high ground set up the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
But he headed it up with a Labour placeman Sir Iain Kennedy, who was famously described by Alastair Campbell as a ‘party person’.
The new regime was set up in a hurry and immediately proved to be unsatisfactory.
It’s Labour, it doesn’t work should be the motto over their front door.
Since the IPSA has been going tensions between MPs and them have been laid bare with accounts of how politicians swore at staff and reduced them to tears.
A poster boy of hate is Labour MP Tom Harris, Glasgow South who under the previous system got knocked back for claiming for a cot.
I blogged on he could use his own money to pay for a cot on his site, since then he banned me, obviously my ‘rebel’ talk upset him.
As the poster boy of hate for the IPSA, he continuously goes on about scrapping it.
http://www.tomharris.org.uk/2010/08/26/still-banging-on-about-ipsa/
It seems that MPs having to justify spending our money has provoked outrage and has lead to angry scenes down the IPSA.
As the stricter regime begins to bite angry parliamentarians are allegedly swearing at staff doing their job!
One bright spark, pre martyrdom shouted out the current system was an “abortion”.
Another female MP swore and said:
“I’m going to murder someone today.”
No reports of murder so far.
In attack is the best form of defence; Politicians have accused staff at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) of behaving like secret police.
Presumably MPs think money should be handed over no questions asked.
A record of 10 incidents of abuse show how the authority employees have been called “idiots” by foul-mouthed MPs.
It seems that the new ‘war on terror’ is being conducted on British soil at the offices of the IPSA.
Other incidents of MPs being rude when staff fail to answer their queries and a hysteric incident when staff were branded ‘monkeys’ show a deep contempt for the new gatekeepers of cash.
The abuse has gotten so bad that a backbencher, Denis MacShane, who represents Rotherham is said to have reduced a female volunteer to tears 10 minutes into his induction.
Didn’t McShane campaign against abuse against females being exploited?
The female volunteer had to be pulled away at which point McShane allegedly became apologetic, so much so he went back later with a note and a box of chocolates.
What MPs in the shape of Tom Harris want is the removal of the IPSA so he continually stokes the fire.
Some MPs want a return to unaccountability and the rubber stamp.
The system should be fair, transparent and accountable.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tory Chancellor George ‘Mad dog’ Osborne’s budget hits the poor the hardest, now that Osborne is in power, he has the levers to make the poor suffer
Dear All
As soon as the Tories got into power the first item on their agenda was George Osborne’s emergency Budget.
After so long in the wilderness, they set about making sure that their favourite target the poor knew that the Tory boot was to be firmly placed back on their necks.
Now, the emergency budget proposals are filtering through and no surprise it is the poor who bear the brunt and are getting hit the hardest.
I have long held the belief anyone who votes Tory who is working class is a mug.
The Labour Party desperate to appear on the side of the working class now they have been removed from government has said that the budget is a “shocking and unfair attack” on Britain’s children and families.
Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has assessed the impact of the budget on all the announced benefit cuts.
The IFS said:
“It shows that, once all of the benefit cuts are considered, the tax and benefit changes announced in the emergency Budget are clearly regressive as, on average, they hit the poorest households more than those in the upper-middle of the income distribution in cash, let alone percentage, terms.”
So, rather than a new era, it is Thatcher again, David Cameron plays Denis and Osborne dons the dress and mantle of the ‘hammer of the poor’.
For some considerable time, well before the election I said that Osborne was a wee shit and it seems that I was proven right again.
George Laird right again!
The IFS say their anaysis clearly contradicts that of Chancellor George Osborne who peddled the falsehood that when taken as a whole, his Budget is progressive.
This was peddled by the coalition of Tories/Lib Dems because Clegg got an income tax cut raising the personal allowance threshold.
With an increasingly unhappy Lib Dems, the coalition could be heading for serious problems.
Lib Dems Activists are angry, they have seen their support slump and they are seen very much in the role of quislings, doing Tory dirty work.
The IFS report said:
“Low-income households of working age lose the most as a proportion of income from the tax and benefit reforms announced in the emergency Budget.“
Did anyone seriously think that George Osborne wasn’t going to protect the rich and big business?
Another move by Osborne was the decision from April 2011 to link benefits to the Consumer Price Index rather than the Retail Price Index.
This is to ensure and is very likely to mean less generous benefits in the years ahead.
In other words shifting the goal posts so matter what happens the poor will always get less.
Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said:
“These figures show the Government is pursuing a shocking and unfair attack on children and families. The idea that the poorest families with children should end up being hit hardest is appalling.”
This is from a woman who fully supported Alastair Darling wanting to introduce cuts harder and deeper than Thatcher.
Even the ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray, the Labour MSP leader at Holyrood is getting in on the ‘save the show’, he said:
“The IFS report once again exposes that George Osborne’s budget is for the rich and will hammer the poor.”
In many respects he should be pleased; it means Osborne is carrying on New Labour’s mantle and torch.
Unsurprisingly the Treasury said it rejected the IFS report and stands “full square” behind its own figures.
This is the same Treasury that plunged Britain through the floor under Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling.
One thing which I said many years ago is that George Osborne hates the poor and disadvantaged, now he has power to inflict suffering using the economic climate as cover.
I expect Osborne to relish the challenge as heir to Thatcher.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
As soon as the Tories got into power the first item on their agenda was George Osborne’s emergency Budget.
After so long in the wilderness, they set about making sure that their favourite target the poor knew that the Tory boot was to be firmly placed back on their necks.
Now, the emergency budget proposals are filtering through and no surprise it is the poor who bear the brunt and are getting hit the hardest.
I have long held the belief anyone who votes Tory who is working class is a mug.
The Labour Party desperate to appear on the side of the working class now they have been removed from government has said that the budget is a “shocking and unfair attack” on Britain’s children and families.
Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has assessed the impact of the budget on all the announced benefit cuts.
The IFS said:
“It shows that, once all of the benefit cuts are considered, the tax and benefit changes announced in the emergency Budget are clearly regressive as, on average, they hit the poorest households more than those in the upper-middle of the income distribution in cash, let alone percentage, terms.”
So, rather than a new era, it is Thatcher again, David Cameron plays Denis and Osborne dons the dress and mantle of the ‘hammer of the poor’.
For some considerable time, well before the election I said that Osborne was a wee shit and it seems that I was proven right again.
George Laird right again!
The IFS say their anaysis clearly contradicts that of Chancellor George Osborne who peddled the falsehood that when taken as a whole, his Budget is progressive.
This was peddled by the coalition of Tories/Lib Dems because Clegg got an income tax cut raising the personal allowance threshold.
With an increasingly unhappy Lib Dems, the coalition could be heading for serious problems.
Lib Dems Activists are angry, they have seen their support slump and they are seen very much in the role of quislings, doing Tory dirty work.
The IFS report said:
“Low-income households of working age lose the most as a proportion of income from the tax and benefit reforms announced in the emergency Budget.“
Did anyone seriously think that George Osborne wasn’t going to protect the rich and big business?
Another move by Osborne was the decision from April 2011 to link benefits to the Consumer Price Index rather than the Retail Price Index.
This is to ensure and is very likely to mean less generous benefits in the years ahead.
In other words shifting the goal posts so matter what happens the poor will always get less.
Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said:
“These figures show the Government is pursuing a shocking and unfair attack on children and families. The idea that the poorest families with children should end up being hit hardest is appalling.”
This is from a woman who fully supported Alastair Darling wanting to introduce cuts harder and deeper than Thatcher.
Even the ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray, the Labour MSP leader at Holyrood is getting in on the ‘save the show’, he said:
“The IFS report once again exposes that George Osborne’s budget is for the rich and will hammer the poor.”
In many respects he should be pleased; it means Osborne is carrying on New Labour’s mantle and torch.
Unsurprisingly the Treasury said it rejected the IFS report and stands “full square” behind its own figures.
This is the same Treasury that plunged Britain through the floor under Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling.
One thing which I said many years ago is that George Osborne hates the poor and disadvantaged, now he has power to inflict suffering using the economic climate as cover.
I expect Osborne to relish the challenge as heir to Thatcher.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Strathclyde Police ‘to lose 400 officers’, legalise drugs and use cash to fund public service provision, it’s a £3.5 billion untapped market
Dear All
The business of business is business; this applies right across the board if any organisation is to be viable.
Scotland’s biggest police force is Strathclyde Police and a major employer.
It needs money, there is a funding gap of £30 million which is a financial black hole that money pours in and nothing is generated out.
Now, the chickens are coming home to roost as the credit crunch bites, it has drawn up plans to lose 400 officers by the end of the financial year.
At present, the Chief Constable is warning staff that there will be dramatic cuts over in the near future, months rather than years as they try to restructure the budget.
As well as 400 officers jobs going to the wall; Strathclyde Police is seeking to lose nearly one-quarter of its civilian support staff about 600 people.
1,000 jobs in the Strathclyde area going and then there is the other Police Authorities who will be wielding the axe.
So, I come back again to my call to regulate the drugs markets and use some of the considerable money generated to fund a better Police Force.
There is no use funding extra Police in this case 1,000 if the result is not sustainable.
Rather than having a recruitment freeze investment should be made but this requires politicians who have vision.
Solutions are needed and I said a reservoir of cash is floating around Scotland which is untapped by the state.
A while ago I wrote a post where I said the state need to enter the drugs market to wrestle control from criminals, my phrase; ‘in it to win it’ hits the nail on the head.
Les Gray, the chairman of the Scottish Police Federation said:
“I am shocked by these figures. In the end it will be the public who pays if there are fewer officers.”
Richard Baker, Scottish Labour’s spokesman on justice said:
“The loss of more than 400 officers in Strathclyde would have a huge impact on public safety. This is especially the case if remaining police officers are expected to fulfil some of the duties of the 600 or so civilian staff to go as well. These massive cuts seem to be taking place incredibly quickly and I have no idea how these targets will be reached.”
Both Gray and Baker other than platitudes have no answers, they see the problem but cannot fix it or do the work required tackle the problem; they want someone else to take care of it while they sit on the sidelines.
The Labour Party by their stupidity in not regulating the banks properly has effectively broken the back of society.
In order for the balance to be resumed, it will require blue sky thinking to solve many of the current problems.
Legalisation of drugs delivers solutions.
Although the Chief Constable Steven House his colleagues met with senior councillors last week for a private briefing which spelt out the seriousness of the financial situation at Strathclyde.
Nothing properly got achieved other than a communal ‘I feel your pain’ session.
House has to go to Holyrood and publicly support the current drug legalisation debate, from his point of view this is about self preservation and future investment.
Much was made about the use of Kevin Carroll’s car seized by Police, this was an asset.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/2887733/Cop-supercar-Audi-was-seized-from-Kevil-Gerbil-Carroll.html
Legalisation of the drugs market to fund public services is simply making use of another asset.
Cash!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The business of business is business; this applies right across the board if any organisation is to be viable.
Scotland’s biggest police force is Strathclyde Police and a major employer.
It needs money, there is a funding gap of £30 million which is a financial black hole that money pours in and nothing is generated out.
Now, the chickens are coming home to roost as the credit crunch bites, it has drawn up plans to lose 400 officers by the end of the financial year.
At present, the Chief Constable is warning staff that there will be dramatic cuts over in the near future, months rather than years as they try to restructure the budget.
As well as 400 officers jobs going to the wall; Strathclyde Police is seeking to lose nearly one-quarter of its civilian support staff about 600 people.
1,000 jobs in the Strathclyde area going and then there is the other Police Authorities who will be wielding the axe.
So, I come back again to my call to regulate the drugs markets and use some of the considerable money generated to fund a better Police Force.
There is no use funding extra Police in this case 1,000 if the result is not sustainable.
Rather than having a recruitment freeze investment should be made but this requires politicians who have vision.
Solutions are needed and I said a reservoir of cash is floating around Scotland which is untapped by the state.
A while ago I wrote a post where I said the state need to enter the drugs market to wrestle control from criminals, my phrase; ‘in it to win it’ hits the nail on the head.
Les Gray, the chairman of the Scottish Police Federation said:
“I am shocked by these figures. In the end it will be the public who pays if there are fewer officers.”
Richard Baker, Scottish Labour’s spokesman on justice said:
“The loss of more than 400 officers in Strathclyde would have a huge impact on public safety. This is especially the case if remaining police officers are expected to fulfil some of the duties of the 600 or so civilian staff to go as well. These massive cuts seem to be taking place incredibly quickly and I have no idea how these targets will be reached.”
Both Gray and Baker other than platitudes have no answers, they see the problem but cannot fix it or do the work required tackle the problem; they want someone else to take care of it while they sit on the sidelines.
The Labour Party by their stupidity in not regulating the banks properly has effectively broken the back of society.
In order for the balance to be resumed, it will require blue sky thinking to solve many of the current problems.
Legalisation of drugs delivers solutions.
Although the Chief Constable Steven House his colleagues met with senior councillors last week for a private briefing which spelt out the seriousness of the financial situation at Strathclyde.
Nothing properly got achieved other than a communal ‘I feel your pain’ session.
House has to go to Holyrood and publicly support the current drug legalisation debate, from his point of view this is about self preservation and future investment.
Much was made about the use of Kevin Carroll’s car seized by Police, this was an asset.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/2887733/Cop-supercar-Audi-was-seized-from-Kevil-Gerbil-Carroll.html
Legalisation of the drugs market to fund public services is simply making use of another asset.
Cash!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Monday, August 23, 2010
George Laird views and ideas becoming very popular at the moment, Glasgow Herald sticks toe in drug legalisation debate and Glasgow MSP uses my idea
Dear All
It seems that the Glasgow Herald has come round to the George Laird view that legalisation of the drugs must happen.
For decades there has been a phoney war on drugs which has achieved nothing and been a financial black hole which is draining resources from others who have a more pressing need.
The results have been poor and those at the bottom of society have lost out, now opinion is shifting towards what is the lesser of two evils, like drink and tobacco, legalisation offers many solutions which until now have been unthinkable by politicians.
If politicians take the next step forward, then society can benefit; the drugs industry is worth £3.5 billion a year in Scotland.
It is an untapped sea of finance currently controlled by criminals but like any market, it can be bankrupted and wrestled away from them.
The first step politically is the legalisation of Cannabis in Scotland.
We have had the announcement of a record number of drug-related deaths in Grampian last week.
Could these people have been saved if they hadn’t been driven underground?
Peter McCann, chairman of the Castle Craig Hospital for alcoholism and drug addiction, said:
“there must now be a total rethink” of drug treatment in Scotland.
The bandwagon effect towards legalisation has started and can only gain momentum as more and more people join the call.
Now, we need Government to commission a survey on what would be the impact of legalisation across the board and the financial benefit to the state.
There is so much that could be done if the reservoir of drugs cash could be funnelled to the state to help fund the NHS, Police, recreational facilities to keep kids safe.
Legalisation doesn’t equal approval in the same way that alcohol and tobacco although legal don’t either.It’s time to be smart on crime and bankrupt the drugs market.
I must be saying the right things because recently I came across an article written by a Glasgow MSP using an idea which I have been promoting for some time about reaching out to better engage the community.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
It seems that the Glasgow Herald has come round to the George Laird view that legalisation of the drugs must happen.
For decades there has been a phoney war on drugs which has achieved nothing and been a financial black hole which is draining resources from others who have a more pressing need.
The results have been poor and those at the bottom of society have lost out, now opinion is shifting towards what is the lesser of two evils, like drink and tobacco, legalisation offers many solutions which until now have been unthinkable by politicians.
If politicians take the next step forward, then society can benefit; the drugs industry is worth £3.5 billion a year in Scotland.
It is an untapped sea of finance currently controlled by criminals but like any market, it can be bankrupted and wrestled away from them.
The first step politically is the legalisation of Cannabis in Scotland.
We have had the announcement of a record number of drug-related deaths in Grampian last week.
Could these people have been saved if they hadn’t been driven underground?
Peter McCann, chairman of the Castle Craig Hospital for alcoholism and drug addiction, said:
“there must now be a total rethink” of drug treatment in Scotland.
The bandwagon effect towards legalisation has started and can only gain momentum as more and more people join the call.
Now, we need Government to commission a survey on what would be the impact of legalisation across the board and the financial benefit to the state.
There is so much that could be done if the reservoir of drugs cash could be funnelled to the state to help fund the NHS, Police, recreational facilities to keep kids safe.
Legalisation doesn’t equal approval in the same way that alcohol and tobacco although legal don’t either.It’s time to be smart on crime and bankrupt the drugs market.
I must be saying the right things because recently I came across an article written by a Glasgow MSP using an idea which I have been promoting for some time about reaching out to better engage the community.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Jinxed Labour Mayoral Candidate Oona King and the mystery of how she sending targeted emails to Labour members, how she get full access?
Dear All
Data Protection and its abuse seem to go hand in hand with the Labour Party.
Recently the case of Labour MSP Karen Whitefield obtaining children’s data from schools without parental consent was in the news.
She obtained data which she had no legal right to receive and used it for a private purpose, writing personal letters to named individuals.
This was wrong.
I thought I would look about to see what else the Labour Party was up to regarding data protection and came across the strange case of Oona King, a former MP who was beaten by George Galloway.
She now wants to be the Labour Candidate for the London Mayoral election.
Her campaign by all accounts is a series of gaffes on top of gaffes, not the stuff of people’s champion by any means.
So, struggling to climb ‘Mount Livingstone’, it is alleged that her campaign team campaign has access to London Labour party membership details beyond those given to the candidates by the Labour party.
The Labour mob has decided that the Mayoral candidates are entitled to five emails to party members which are sent out by the party to those London members whose emails are held by the party.
These are London-wide emails only, not broken down by CLP or borough or any other segment of the party.
If a candidate was to send an email there is a process they have to go through but it is emerging that Oona King’s campaign been operating on the basis of membership data not available to both candidates.
So, how did her team acquire additional access?
It seems that targeted emails have gone to women members of the party inviting them to an Oona King event in Westminster on September 3rd, chaired by Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee.
Even women who have not signed up to Oona King’s mailing list are getting invites.
Have people in the Labour Party passed on their membership lists to her?
If not, how does her team have the information?
Here are four possibilities;
1/ someone in the party machinery gave her or her team the London Labour party membership data.
2/ Oona King’s campaign obtained membership lists of the CLPs concerned by officers or local members.
3/ A London-wide list given to Oona King’s campaign by party bodies or individuals entitled to hold them and authorised like London’s two Labour MEPs.
4/ A former party member passed on the list.
Everything points to Oona King and her team having a London-wide Labour party membership list given the nature of the targeted emails.
One of the highlights of the 2005 Westminster election was Oona King being beaten by George Galloway; it was a particularly dirty campaign from all reports.
I think that the Labour selection fight for the London Mayoral selection is shaping up to be something similar.
And Oona King is no stranger to paying out court costs and money to other people who she has made unfounded allegations against.
Dirty fight ahead, Ken Livingstone better watch out.
Oona King isn’t a serious contender, only Livingstone has the kudos and track record to defeat Boris Johnson.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Data Protection and its abuse seem to go hand in hand with the Labour Party.
Recently the case of Labour MSP Karen Whitefield obtaining children’s data from schools without parental consent was in the news.
She obtained data which she had no legal right to receive and used it for a private purpose, writing personal letters to named individuals.
This was wrong.
I thought I would look about to see what else the Labour Party was up to regarding data protection and came across the strange case of Oona King, a former MP who was beaten by George Galloway.
She now wants to be the Labour Candidate for the London Mayoral election.
Her campaign by all accounts is a series of gaffes on top of gaffes, not the stuff of people’s champion by any means.
So, struggling to climb ‘Mount Livingstone’, it is alleged that her campaign team campaign has access to London Labour party membership details beyond those given to the candidates by the Labour party.
The Labour mob has decided that the Mayoral candidates are entitled to five emails to party members which are sent out by the party to those London members whose emails are held by the party.
These are London-wide emails only, not broken down by CLP or borough or any other segment of the party.
If a candidate was to send an email there is a process they have to go through but it is emerging that Oona King’s campaign been operating on the basis of membership data not available to both candidates.
So, how did her team acquire additional access?
It seems that targeted emails have gone to women members of the party inviting them to an Oona King event in Westminster on September 3rd, chaired by Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee.
Even women who have not signed up to Oona King’s mailing list are getting invites.
Have people in the Labour Party passed on their membership lists to her?
If not, how does her team have the information?
Here are four possibilities;
1/ someone in the party machinery gave her or her team the London Labour party membership data.
2/ Oona King’s campaign obtained membership lists of the CLPs concerned by officers or local members.
3/ A London-wide list given to Oona King’s campaign by party bodies or individuals entitled to hold them and authorised like London’s two Labour MEPs.
4/ A former party member passed on the list.
Everything points to Oona King and her team having a London-wide Labour party membership list given the nature of the targeted emails.
One of the highlights of the 2005 Westminster election was Oona King being beaten by George Galloway; it was a particularly dirty campaign from all reports.
I think that the Labour selection fight for the London Mayoral selection is shaping up to be something similar.
And Oona King is no stranger to paying out court costs and money to other people who she has made unfounded allegations against.
Dirty fight ahead, Ken Livingstone better watch out.
Oona King isn’t a serious contender, only Livingstone has the kudos and track record to defeat Boris Johnson.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Labour leader of shame Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson sits comfortably as Glasgow’s disabled kids are disadvantaged by the Labour Council of shame
Dear All
You couldn’t make it up.
Glasgow’s Labour Council of shame penalising ordinary working class people and boosting profits for organised crime.
Glasgow 2010.
Taxi contracts are a lucrative business, steady income and flexible to take up the slack in the private hire market.
No surprise that organised crime wants a piece of the action.
At the same time as Network Private Hire is lapping up this gravy, it has been refused a licence to trade by the same Labour Council of shame.
It is still operate as an appeal goes forward.
This support for organised crime by Glasgow Labour Party is nothing new; the ARC Centre in Milton was taken over and run by people involved in organised crime, the Lyons family.
Residents lived in fear as Glasgow Labour politicians buried their heads in the sand and refused to do nothing.
The losers in this situation are Glasgow Taxis, the black hacks, which fear 150 of its drivers will be forced out of business.
60% of its council-funded school runs is gone.
The Black Cabs play a vital role in the city ferrying disabled and other vulnerable children for the local authority, they have done this for years.
Glasgow Labour Council of shame has switched much of its business to private-hire firms effectively leaving them high and dry.
Danny Ryan, vice-chairman of Glasgow Taxis, said:
“The first we knew that the private-hire firms had been given work previously allocated to us was when some of our drivers who did school jobs arrived at their destinations on Monday morning and saw all the private-hire minicabs unloading their passengers. It was a complete shock”.
What was that about Glasgow Labour Party supporting hard working families?
Ryan added:
“This is such a crucial element of the work undertaken by Glasgow Taxis Ltd that we fear up to 150 drivers will no longer be able to afford to run their cabs. We appreciate the need to cut costs from public expenditure, and are more than willing to discuss with the council how we can help them achieve this, but there was no notice, no negotiation. From our informal enquiries it appears that the councillors themselves were also unaware of this decision.”
This is an example of the new presidential regime of Glasgow Labour leader of shame Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson.
He sold out hard working families, couldn’t even be bothered to strike a deal.
As well as Black cabs drivers being unhappy some council employees who chaperone disabled or troubled children to school by taxi are also .
One employee who helps deaf children, said:
“How can our escorts use sign language to speak to children when they are all squashed together in a row in the back of a private-hire car?”
Yet again, the Glasgow Labour Party’s lack of vision impacts on the most vulnerable.
A mouthpiece for the Labour Council of shame defended the cuts:
“The huge financial challenges facing the council mean we must spend the public’s money with the greatest possible care”.
Maybe more should be switched from Labour donors creaming off excessive profits to firms which help disabled kids?
The new presidential style of Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson seems to be very much like the former ‘Prince of Powder’ Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell’s reign of hell.
Now Glasgow Labour Party is disadvantaging sick kids.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
You couldn’t make it up.
Glasgow’s Labour Council of shame penalising ordinary working class people and boosting profits for organised crime.
Glasgow 2010.
Taxi contracts are a lucrative business, steady income and flexible to take up the slack in the private hire market.
No surprise that organised crime wants a piece of the action.
At the same time as Network Private Hire is lapping up this gravy, it has been refused a licence to trade by the same Labour Council of shame.
It is still operate as an appeal goes forward.
This support for organised crime by Glasgow Labour Party is nothing new; the ARC Centre in Milton was taken over and run by people involved in organised crime, the Lyons family.
Residents lived in fear as Glasgow Labour politicians buried their heads in the sand and refused to do nothing.
The losers in this situation are Glasgow Taxis, the black hacks, which fear 150 of its drivers will be forced out of business.
60% of its council-funded school runs is gone.
The Black Cabs play a vital role in the city ferrying disabled and other vulnerable children for the local authority, they have done this for years.
Glasgow Labour Council of shame has switched much of its business to private-hire firms effectively leaving them high and dry.
Danny Ryan, vice-chairman of Glasgow Taxis, said:
“The first we knew that the private-hire firms had been given work previously allocated to us was when some of our drivers who did school jobs arrived at their destinations on Monday morning and saw all the private-hire minicabs unloading their passengers. It was a complete shock”.
What was that about Glasgow Labour Party supporting hard working families?
Ryan added:
“This is such a crucial element of the work undertaken by Glasgow Taxis Ltd that we fear up to 150 drivers will no longer be able to afford to run their cabs. We appreciate the need to cut costs from public expenditure, and are more than willing to discuss with the council how we can help them achieve this, but there was no notice, no negotiation. From our informal enquiries it appears that the councillors themselves were also unaware of this decision.”
This is an example of the new presidential regime of Glasgow Labour leader of shame Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson.
He sold out hard working families, couldn’t even be bothered to strike a deal.
As well as Black cabs drivers being unhappy some council employees who chaperone disabled or troubled children to school by taxi are also .
One employee who helps deaf children, said:
“How can our escorts use sign language to speak to children when they are all squashed together in a row in the back of a private-hire car?”
Yet again, the Glasgow Labour Party’s lack of vision impacts on the most vulnerable.
A mouthpiece for the Labour Council of shame defended the cuts:
“The huge financial challenges facing the council mean we must spend the public’s money with the greatest possible care”.
Maybe more should be switched from Labour donors creaming off excessive profits to firms which help disabled kids?
The new presidential style of Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson seems to be very much like the former ‘Prince of Powder’ Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell’s reign of hell.
Now Glasgow Labour Party is disadvantaging sick kids.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Scottish Justice should demand the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi resumes in a Court of Law, give him his day in Court, hear the evidence
Dear All
The Lockerbie Case has caused concern from the moment it started to the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi last year.
Those concerns haven’t been addressed because of a number of unanswered questions hang on the way the trial was conducted.
So, solutions are needed, the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was dropped, that was a mistake.
This appeal should be resumed in the Scottish Courts; did Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi get a fair trial under Scottish law?
Many people including Dr. Jim Swire think not.
Another part of the Lockerbie mystery is Mohammed Abu Talb, a convicted killer who many believe is the real Lockerbie bomber.
Talb has been recently been freed from prison in Sweden after serving a life sentence for other terror attacks in Copenhagen and Amsterdam using explosive devices.
He was the original suspect for the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 until 1990, when attention switched to Libya.
The Egyptian-born militant was a prosecution witness at the trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi but now the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is understood to have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the case against Talb.
The question then is why this new evidence wasn’t acted upon at the time?
Talb, a committed extremist was allegedly funded by the Iranian regime to blow up the plane in revenge for the American cruiser USS Vincennes shooting an Iran Air flight out of the sky on July 3, 1988.
290 people died.
A full inquiry is needed but problem remains any inquiry would be fractured as the Governments of America, Britain and Scotland would have to form a joint taskforce to ensure information flowed freely.
Why does the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi need to happen because if successful it paves the way for Mohammed Abu Talb to be examine and if evidence leads to him arrested and brought in front of a Court of Law.
This can’t happen unless there is co-operation.
Eddie MacKechnie, Megrahi’s solicitor from 2001-2006, said:
“There was more evidence at the time to implicate Talb and his associates than Megrahi. I know that many police officers at the time were concerned that the investigation shifted to Libya when there was no evidence of Libyan involvement”.
Professor Robert Black, QC, the architect of the Lockerbie trial, said:
“I support Mr MacKechnie 100%. Clearly the Palestinian connection deserves to be looked at and a full inquiry needs to be held.”
Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer assigned to the Middle East said:
“I talked to the SCCRC and they were very clearly focussed on the Palestinians and the Iranian connection. There is no doubt that Abu Talb was an asset controlled by the Iranians and questions need to be asked about how he ended up as a prosecution witness. He was definitely not a reliable witness and what we need now is what the SCCRC report says, what intelligence there was, and what the connections were.”
The SCCRC report allegedly refers to the recovery of official records from various organisations in Italy which are thought to relate to Talb.
He was allegedly travelling between Cyprus, Rome, Malta, and Frankfurt in the run-up to the bombing.
Evidence not heard at the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands was the CIA thought Talb was the man responsible.
In Talb’s flat in Germany, police found clothes, including a blue babygro similar to one found at Lockerbie and also a calendar with the date “21 December” circled. A wire tap of Talb’s wife phone recorded in a warning to another unidentified Palestinian to “get rid of the clothes immediately”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said:
“We maintain that Megrahi should serve out the entirety of his sentence in prison in Scotland. We will continue to reiterate this position to the Scottish and Libyan authorities.”
I wrote to the Scottish Government on the 1st June 2009 and asked for Megrahi to be release on compassionate grounds while his appeal went ahead.
My view remains that the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi still needs to go ahead and he should be afford his day in Court.
It is not enough that justice is done; it has to be seen to be done.
He has always protested his innocence; let us see if the new evidence of his appeal stacks up.
Did we imprison the wrong man?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The Lockerbie Case has caused concern from the moment it started to the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi last year.
Those concerns haven’t been addressed because of a number of unanswered questions hang on the way the trial was conducted.
So, solutions are needed, the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was dropped, that was a mistake.
This appeal should be resumed in the Scottish Courts; did Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi get a fair trial under Scottish law?
Many people including Dr. Jim Swire think not.
Another part of the Lockerbie mystery is Mohammed Abu Talb, a convicted killer who many believe is the real Lockerbie bomber.
Talb has been recently been freed from prison in Sweden after serving a life sentence for other terror attacks in Copenhagen and Amsterdam using explosive devices.
He was the original suspect for the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 until 1990, when attention switched to Libya.
The Egyptian-born militant was a prosecution witness at the trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi but now the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is understood to have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the case against Talb.
The question then is why this new evidence wasn’t acted upon at the time?
Talb, a committed extremist was allegedly funded by the Iranian regime to blow up the plane in revenge for the American cruiser USS Vincennes shooting an Iran Air flight out of the sky on July 3, 1988.
290 people died.
A full inquiry is needed but problem remains any inquiry would be fractured as the Governments of America, Britain and Scotland would have to form a joint taskforce to ensure information flowed freely.
Why does the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi need to happen because if successful it paves the way for Mohammed Abu Talb to be examine and if evidence leads to him arrested and brought in front of a Court of Law.
This can’t happen unless there is co-operation.
Eddie MacKechnie, Megrahi’s solicitor from 2001-2006, said:
“There was more evidence at the time to implicate Talb and his associates than Megrahi. I know that many police officers at the time were concerned that the investigation shifted to Libya when there was no evidence of Libyan involvement”.
Professor Robert Black, QC, the architect of the Lockerbie trial, said:
“I support Mr MacKechnie 100%. Clearly the Palestinian connection deserves to be looked at and a full inquiry needs to be held.”
Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer assigned to the Middle East said:
“I talked to the SCCRC and they were very clearly focussed on the Palestinians and the Iranian connection. There is no doubt that Abu Talb was an asset controlled by the Iranians and questions need to be asked about how he ended up as a prosecution witness. He was definitely not a reliable witness and what we need now is what the SCCRC report says, what intelligence there was, and what the connections were.”
The SCCRC report allegedly refers to the recovery of official records from various organisations in Italy which are thought to relate to Talb.
He was allegedly travelling between Cyprus, Rome, Malta, and Frankfurt in the run-up to the bombing.
Evidence not heard at the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands was the CIA thought Talb was the man responsible.
In Talb’s flat in Germany, police found clothes, including a blue babygro similar to one found at Lockerbie and also a calendar with the date “21 December” circled. A wire tap of Talb’s wife phone recorded in a warning to another unidentified Palestinian to “get rid of the clothes immediately”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said:
“We maintain that Megrahi should serve out the entirety of his sentence in prison in Scotland. We will continue to reiterate this position to the Scottish and Libyan authorities.”
I wrote to the Scottish Government on the 1st June 2009 and asked for Megrahi to be release on compassionate grounds while his appeal went ahead.
My view remains that the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi still needs to go ahead and he should be afford his day in Court.
It is not enough that justice is done; it has to be seen to be done.
He has always protested his innocence; let us see if the new evidence of his appeal stacks up.
Did we imprison the wrong man?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Lib Dem MP Charles Kennedy allegedly in talks join the Labour Party, mid life crisis no excuse for political suicide
Dear All
One of the hallmarks of politics is that when a political party gains power, they either run out of steam or implode.
The Lib Dems seem to be imploding as Lib Dem MPs and members aren’t happy about being in coalition with the Tories.
You can understand why given the Tory history of Thatcher and Major.
They should remember that they are now in government for the first time in 80 years and bite the bullet.
Better in the boat than out!
Now, speculation is rife that about the extent of Liberal Democrat uneasiness with what has happened that suggestions flying about that ex leader Charles Kennedy might jump ship and go join the Labour Party.
If he did it would be a moment of madness on his part, his reason for alleged flight is because of the cuts agenda of the coalition.
There was going to be cuts under Labour which they said would be harder and deeper than Thatcher.
Any point of jumping from the frying pan into the fire?
No!
Kennedy would be better off staying put and using his influence to advise Clegg.
If Kennedy defects to Labour it would be a major coup for them but given his opposition to Labour’s wars why commit political suicide at this stage of his life?
At present he sits on a 13,070 majority as the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber and I would suspect such is his standing that this vote would be personal rather than party.
However, Ross, Skye and Lochaber won’t go Labour and there is a risk that he could lose it.
There is nothing to gain by joining Labour and masses to lose, Kennedy is going through changes as recently his wife separated from him but this is no time for a mid life crisis.
This wouldn’t be change for the better but very much for the worse and his standing in the public eyes would plummet like a stone.
Reports about his position come amid slumping poll ratings for the Lib Dems, and that is to be expected, the Lib Dems under Clegg need to pull out serious policy victories to show that they aren’t just propping up David Cameron.
Clegg needs to do work within his own party as well; widespread talk of grassroots dismay at the partnership with the Tories threatens his position.
Another spanner in the works is Simon Hughes MP who is fronting opposition as a standard bearer for the Lib Dem left.
Hughes wants a veto on policies from the coalition Government for the Lib Dem Party, he won’t get it.
Clegg recently said:
"If we weren't in a coalition now I don't think people would take any notice of the Liberal Democrats. If we were in a coalition with Labour arguably our identity crisis would be even worse."
Clegg is living the dream but given this statement he is delusional.
Charles Kennedy needs to think very carefully about jumping ship to Labour because their vessel is full of holes and sinking especially in Ross, Skye and Lochaber.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
One of the hallmarks of politics is that when a political party gains power, they either run out of steam or implode.
The Lib Dems seem to be imploding as Lib Dem MPs and members aren’t happy about being in coalition with the Tories.
You can understand why given the Tory history of Thatcher and Major.
They should remember that they are now in government for the first time in 80 years and bite the bullet.
Better in the boat than out!
Now, speculation is rife that about the extent of Liberal Democrat uneasiness with what has happened that suggestions flying about that ex leader Charles Kennedy might jump ship and go join the Labour Party.
If he did it would be a moment of madness on his part, his reason for alleged flight is because of the cuts agenda of the coalition.
There was going to be cuts under Labour which they said would be harder and deeper than Thatcher.
Any point of jumping from the frying pan into the fire?
No!
Kennedy would be better off staying put and using his influence to advise Clegg.
If Kennedy defects to Labour it would be a major coup for them but given his opposition to Labour’s wars why commit political suicide at this stage of his life?
At present he sits on a 13,070 majority as the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber and I would suspect such is his standing that this vote would be personal rather than party.
However, Ross, Skye and Lochaber won’t go Labour and there is a risk that he could lose it.
There is nothing to gain by joining Labour and masses to lose, Kennedy is going through changes as recently his wife separated from him but this is no time for a mid life crisis.
This wouldn’t be change for the better but very much for the worse and his standing in the public eyes would plummet like a stone.
Reports about his position come amid slumping poll ratings for the Lib Dems, and that is to be expected, the Lib Dems under Clegg need to pull out serious policy victories to show that they aren’t just propping up David Cameron.
Clegg needs to do work within his own party as well; widespread talk of grassroots dismay at the partnership with the Tories threatens his position.
Another spanner in the works is Simon Hughes MP who is fronting opposition as a standard bearer for the Lib Dem left.
Hughes wants a veto on policies from the coalition Government for the Lib Dem Party, he won’t get it.
Clegg recently said:
"If we weren't in a coalition now I don't think people would take any notice of the Liberal Democrats. If we were in a coalition with Labour arguably our identity crisis would be even worse."
Clegg is living the dream but given this statement he is delusional.
Charles Kennedy needs to think very carefully about jumping ship to Labour because their vessel is full of holes and sinking especially in Ross, Skye and Lochaber.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Friday, August 20, 2010
Labour MSP Karen Whitefield feels the heat as Information Commissioner starts investigation into how she obtained personal details of children
Dear All
It seems that the UK Information Commissioner has started an investigation in how Labour MSP Karen Whitefield obtained personal data from a number of local primary schools.
Karen Whitefield sent personal individual letters to children after obtaining the information which she wasn’t legally entitle to ask for or receive.
This raises serious questions because it is unclear if some of the children were on protection orders.
It is also unclear how the information was passed to Whitefield and whether or not she still has the information in her possession.
Another issue of concern is who else in her office had access to it.
Under Labour there have been numerous breaches of data protection, this is just another line a long line were the Labour Party doesn’t think they have to obey the law as they feel it doesn’t apply to them.
Whitefield since the scandal broke has tried to laugh off the matter as trivial but it is anything but.
She should know happened was completely given that she is the Chair of the Parliament Education Committee.
There are calls for her to resign which she has resisted.
If found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act 1998 her position as chair would be untenable.
One thing is certain; she never asked the parents for permission or abided by any regulations to obtain the information.
She was wrong.
What she should have done was ask the school to write to the parents and ask their permission.
The Children Act 1989 designates who is a ‘responsible’ adult in regard to the protection of children.
Her position as MSP doesn’t cover this as it has nothing to do with her duties as an MSP, she had no right.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
It seems that the UK Information Commissioner has started an investigation in how Labour MSP Karen Whitefield obtained personal data from a number of local primary schools.
Karen Whitefield sent personal individual letters to children after obtaining the information which she wasn’t legally entitle to ask for or receive.
This raises serious questions because it is unclear if some of the children were on protection orders.
It is also unclear how the information was passed to Whitefield and whether or not she still has the information in her possession.
Another issue of concern is who else in her office had access to it.
Under Labour there have been numerous breaches of data protection, this is just another line a long line were the Labour Party doesn’t think they have to obey the law as they feel it doesn’t apply to them.
Whitefield since the scandal broke has tried to laugh off the matter as trivial but it is anything but.
She should know happened was completely given that she is the Chair of the Parliament Education Committee.
There are calls for her to resign which she has resisted.
If found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act 1998 her position as chair would be untenable.
One thing is certain; she never asked the parents for permission or abided by any regulations to obtain the information.
She was wrong.
What she should have done was ask the school to write to the parents and ask their permission.
The Children Act 1989 designates who is a ‘responsible’ adult in regard to the protection of children.
Her position as MSP doesn’t cover this as it has nothing to do with her duties as an MSP, she had no right.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Labour Party start their Holyrood campaign, quangocrat greed at Scottish Enterprise, populist policy attracting instant public support, smart move
Dear All
It is a scandal that has been going on for years and they have been pissing on us without having the decency to call it rain.
It is civil servants, quangocrats and their bonuses.
We are continually told that these payments are needed to attract the ‘best’.
Can anyone say given that we live in a corrupt society that they have improved our quality of life to such an extent they deserve more than their salary?
I would say firmly no.
It is now time to end the culture of greed which is ingrained in the quango and civil service.
Scottish Enterprise is a Scottish Government agency; its chief executive Lena Wilson recently received a £234,000 pension-pot top-up.
The way the corrupt system in Britain works is this, someone like Wilson would join an agency, they would do a five year stint before moving on elsewhere to take another post, however in her case she has been fast tracked through the agency.
Generally in quangoland people move before a damning report criticises their handling of their agency or department.
Then the ‘new’ broom takes over and they get their feet under the table and start taking the money and perks.
Labour placemen and women are a hallmark of this culture, when Blair took over there was a drive to replace people with friends of the Labour Party.
How ironic that now Labour is calling for action.
Labour’s John Park said it was unacceptable “for such huge amounts of taxpayers’ cash to be splashed around when everyone else is having to tighten their belts”.
Was he speaking out about Labour Councillors at the SPT?
Strangely quiet as I recall on that issues, meetings set up to coincided with football matches.
Scottish Enterprise’s annual report shows that Lena Wilson enjoys a salary of £191,000.
She tells us in an interview that she is humble, £191,000 a year worth.
Others at Scottish Enterprise are also coining in ridiculous salaries:
Former chief financial officer Hugh Hall was paid £174,000;
industry and policy manager Paul Lewis £132,000;
managing director (operations) Jim McFarlane £152,000;
business networks and communications director Linda McDowall £102,000.
This is bullshit, three quarters of a million pounds on 5 individuals.
So, what does £51 million achieve?
The Scottish Enterprise report said it had exceeded its performance targets, including the creation of 2111 jobs.
Soon there will be a Holyrood election; the Labour Party might go with the unacceptable greed of the quango and civil service system to attract instant public support.
Once they take that ground, other political parties will struggle to make head way.
The Westminster election was a wake call to other Scottish political parties, student union bullshit politics don’t work.
Lena Wilson, £191,000 a year is a typical example of the quango system; her bio is standard, held a range of non-executive positions in business, arts, sports and voluntary organisations. She is currently a board member of the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, Ambassador for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, a member of the management committee of the Tartan Clef foundation, and advisory board member of the University of Strathclyde business school.
That is how corrupt Britain works social interacting networks exist where people like Wilson walk into positions that ordinary people don’t even know exist.
Scottish Enterprise is a joke, is Wilson worth £3,673 a week?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
It is a scandal that has been going on for years and they have been pissing on us without having the decency to call it rain.
It is civil servants, quangocrats and their bonuses.
We are continually told that these payments are needed to attract the ‘best’.
Can anyone say given that we live in a corrupt society that they have improved our quality of life to such an extent they deserve more than their salary?
I would say firmly no.
It is now time to end the culture of greed which is ingrained in the quango and civil service.
Scottish Enterprise is a Scottish Government agency; its chief executive Lena Wilson recently received a £234,000 pension-pot top-up.
The way the corrupt system in Britain works is this, someone like Wilson would join an agency, they would do a five year stint before moving on elsewhere to take another post, however in her case she has been fast tracked through the agency.
Generally in quangoland people move before a damning report criticises their handling of their agency or department.
Then the ‘new’ broom takes over and they get their feet under the table and start taking the money and perks.
Labour placemen and women are a hallmark of this culture, when Blair took over there was a drive to replace people with friends of the Labour Party.
How ironic that now Labour is calling for action.
Labour’s John Park said it was unacceptable “for such huge amounts of taxpayers’ cash to be splashed around when everyone else is having to tighten their belts”.
Was he speaking out about Labour Councillors at the SPT?
Strangely quiet as I recall on that issues, meetings set up to coincided with football matches.
Scottish Enterprise’s annual report shows that Lena Wilson enjoys a salary of £191,000.
She tells us in an interview that she is humble, £191,000 a year worth.
Others at Scottish Enterprise are also coining in ridiculous salaries:
Former chief financial officer Hugh Hall was paid £174,000;
industry and policy manager Paul Lewis £132,000;
managing director (operations) Jim McFarlane £152,000;
business networks and communications director Linda McDowall £102,000.
This is bullshit, three quarters of a million pounds on 5 individuals.
So, what does £51 million achieve?
The Scottish Enterprise report said it had exceeded its performance targets, including the creation of 2111 jobs.
Soon there will be a Holyrood election; the Labour Party might go with the unacceptable greed of the quango and civil service system to attract instant public support.
Once they take that ground, other political parties will struggle to make head way.
The Westminster election was a wake call to other Scottish political parties, student union bullshit politics don’t work.
Lena Wilson, £191,000 a year is a typical example of the quango system; her bio is standard, held a range of non-executive positions in business, arts, sports and voluntary organisations. She is currently a board member of the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, Ambassador for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, a member of the management committee of the Tartan Clef foundation, and advisory board member of the University of Strathclyde business school.
That is how corrupt Britain works social interacting networks exist where people like Wilson walk into positions that ordinary people don’t even know exist.
Scottish Enterprise is a joke, is Wilson worth £3,673 a week?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Graeme Pearson of human rights abusing Glasgow University enters drugs debate; nothing to say, he should shut up and keep quiet
Dear All
‘Professor’ Graeme Pearson of the human rights abusing organisation Glasgow University has spoken, for all the good the tripe he spouts he would be better off shutting up and working his ticket towards his pension, then piss off.
Last night he was on Newsnight Scotland, his contribution was poor on the drugs debate.
He has no answers, it was like listen to a guy standing talking in a pub, lots to say but nothing that changes anything.
Today, he is warning that Glasgow must guard against unemployment creating a new generation of drug addicts.
In the ‘good’ times under Blair before the credit bubble burst there was a major problem regarding drugs.
Pearson is now Professor of Organised Crime at Glasgow University, they will give a Professorship to anyone these days; previously they gave one to MI6 spy Andrew Fulton who was steering reporters away from asking too many questions about the American involvement in the Lockerbie affair.
Mind you it is funny that Glasgow University needs a Professor of Organised crime because senior management at the university can’t rob and bully working class Scots without leaving an evidence trail.
Corrupt foreigner Anton Muscatelli currently Principal covered up criminal fraud by taking no action against those involved despise being sent university documentary evidence.
You can read about this here.
Anyway back to Pearson the ‘thinker’, he says economic decline breeds crime and drug abuse, wow, talk about stating the obvious.
Here is another, if you put a ball in the net more times than the other team during a football match, you win the game.
That makes me potentially the greatest football manager in Scotland!
Pearson also states:
“You need the right housing, the right health and right employment response”.
Lots of poor people do drugs but then so did ‘Prince of Powder’ Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell, the former leader of the Labour Council of shame who was on £60k a year.
The rich do drugs as well.
He also makes this gem known to the populous:
“Unemployment is an opportunity for criminals to make money”.
And so is employment at Glasgow University among the senior management.
Again Pearson states the obvious, is this new wisdom?
Is he so dim that by repeating it he thinks he will be seen as some sort of a messiah or vessel of knowledge?
Someone should have a quiet word and give him a loo brush that way he can make a positive contribution to society instead of spouting worthless platitudes which are just shite.
Professor my arse!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
‘Professor’ Graeme Pearson of the human rights abusing organisation Glasgow University has spoken, for all the good the tripe he spouts he would be better off shutting up and working his ticket towards his pension, then piss off.
Last night he was on Newsnight Scotland, his contribution was poor on the drugs debate.
He has no answers, it was like listen to a guy standing talking in a pub, lots to say but nothing that changes anything.
Today, he is warning that Glasgow must guard against unemployment creating a new generation of drug addicts.
In the ‘good’ times under Blair before the credit bubble burst there was a major problem regarding drugs.
Pearson is now Professor of Organised Crime at Glasgow University, they will give a Professorship to anyone these days; previously they gave one to MI6 spy Andrew Fulton who was steering reporters away from asking too many questions about the American involvement in the Lockerbie affair.
Mind you it is funny that Glasgow University needs a Professor of Organised crime because senior management at the university can’t rob and bully working class Scots without leaving an evidence trail.
Corrupt foreigner Anton Muscatelli currently Principal covered up criminal fraud by taking no action against those involved despise being sent university documentary evidence.
You can read about this here.
Anyway back to Pearson the ‘thinker’, he says economic decline breeds crime and drug abuse, wow, talk about stating the obvious.
Here is another, if you put a ball in the net more times than the other team during a football match, you win the game.
That makes me potentially the greatest football manager in Scotland!
Pearson also states:
“You need the right housing, the right health and right employment response”.
Lots of poor people do drugs but then so did ‘Prince of Powder’ Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell, the former leader of the Labour Council of shame who was on £60k a year.
The rich do drugs as well.
He also makes this gem known to the populous:
“Unemployment is an opportunity for criminals to make money”.
And so is employment at Glasgow University among the senior management.
Again Pearson states the obvious, is this new wisdom?
Is he so dim that by repeating it he thinks he will be seen as some sort of a messiah or vessel of knowledge?
Someone should have a quiet word and give him a loo brush that way he can make a positive contribution to society instead of spouting worthless platitudes which are just shite.
Professor my arse!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Labour’s star ‘bam’ George Foukles to quit Holyrood, Whitehall braced for avalanche of meaningless FOI requests
Dear All
One of the star ‘bams’ that haunts the Holyrood Parliament is Lord George Foulkes, the King of the FOI request.
Foulkes is one of the reasons why Holyrood fails to light the heather.
Every time he opens his mouth, the institution falls further in the eyes of the general public.
There was nothing too inane and stupid that he wasn’t prepared to ask in the Chamber.
Now, he is going, not out of public life but quitting Holyrood in favour of the House of Lords.
Foulkes, a Lothians MSP said:
"I have made it clear my name is not to go forward even for an allegedly 'unwinnable' seat."
Foukles should never have got elected in the first place.He now plans to focus his political efforts in the House of Lords to tackle the Con/Dem coalition as part of a campaign by Labour Peers to be an ‘awkward squad’.
George Foukles stated;
"I intend to join the growing group of Labour Peers who believe we must mount an even more robust campaign in the Lords against a Con/Dem coalition, which is increasingly arrogant and insensitive."
Which is why so many Labour MPs are taking up juicy roles for the Con/dem Government, they found a home!
Labour Holyrood leader Iain Gray says Lord Foulkes would be:
"sorely missed not just by the Labour group but by the Scottish Parliament itself".
I would have to agree, politics is a serious business so who is the next clown to provide light relief?
Mr Gray added that Foukles bought a wealth of experience to Holyrood from his years at Westminster and in government.
I prefer to think of him as a complete arsehole and waste of space using up valuable oxygen.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
One of the star ‘bams’ that haunts the Holyrood Parliament is Lord George Foulkes, the King of the FOI request.
Foulkes is one of the reasons why Holyrood fails to light the heather.
Every time he opens his mouth, the institution falls further in the eyes of the general public.
There was nothing too inane and stupid that he wasn’t prepared to ask in the Chamber.
Now, he is going, not out of public life but quitting Holyrood in favour of the House of Lords.
Foulkes, a Lothians MSP said:
"I have made it clear my name is not to go forward even for an allegedly 'unwinnable' seat."
Foukles should never have got elected in the first place.He now plans to focus his political efforts in the House of Lords to tackle the Con/Dem coalition as part of a campaign by Labour Peers to be an ‘awkward squad’.
George Foukles stated;
"I intend to join the growing group of Labour Peers who believe we must mount an even more robust campaign in the Lords against a Con/Dem coalition, which is increasingly arrogant and insensitive."
Which is why so many Labour MPs are taking up juicy roles for the Con/dem Government, they found a home!
Labour Holyrood leader Iain Gray says Lord Foulkes would be:
"sorely missed not just by the Labour group but by the Scottish Parliament itself".
I would have to agree, politics is a serious business so who is the next clown to provide light relief?
Mr Gray added that Foukles bought a wealth of experience to Holyrood from his years at Westminster and in government.
I prefer to think of him as a complete arsehole and waste of space using up valuable oxygen.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Police face jobs cuts as budgets get slashed by current economic climate but we can prevent this by legalising drugs, a £3.5 billion pound industry
Dear All
Now that cuts are coming down the pipeline because the former Labour Government didn’t regulate the banks properly, there is going to be a very hard bounce for all manner of services.
“How can Scotland maintain high quality policing against the background of drastically reduced resources?”
This is a question asked by the Glasgow Herald, a Labour Party supporting paper.
The answer is to create new resources.
Yesterday, I argued again for legalisation of drugs which would have benefits beyond health, there is an economic benefit too just sitting there untapped.
This is an industry worth £3.5 billion pound; Strathclyde Police need £30 million.
Rather than cutting Police numbers and resources, legalisation could have the opposite effect.
Prohibition has failed and resources are getting ploughed into an unwinnable and phoney war.
It is reckoned for all the time, money and effort; we are stopping about 1% of all the heroin coming into Scotland.
1% by any stretch of the imagination is total failure.
It is now time for the Police to call for legalisation.
We need a proper system in place so that this revenue stream can be diverted from criminals to government.
By not acting we have allowed the drugs trade criminals to fund other criminal activity which in turn uses up more Police resources from counterfeiting to human trafficking.
The Police are an investment in society we cannot do without, we shouldn’t be cutting or freezing recruitment but we have to recognise that the money must come from somewhere.
Sooner or later the penny will drop that the solution to funding is right in front of everyone’s nose.
Legalisation can solve many problems; some other problems associated with drug use will still be there but now so will the resources that can be brought to bear by legalisation.
More and more people know that legalisation is the answer.
I suspect we will see more senior Police Officers calling for legalisation and a proper regulatory framework in the near future.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Now that cuts are coming down the pipeline because the former Labour Government didn’t regulate the banks properly, there is going to be a very hard bounce for all manner of services.
“How can Scotland maintain high quality policing against the background of drastically reduced resources?”
This is a question asked by the Glasgow Herald, a Labour Party supporting paper.
The answer is to create new resources.
Yesterday, I argued again for legalisation of drugs which would have benefits beyond health, there is an economic benefit too just sitting there untapped.
This is an industry worth £3.5 billion pound; Strathclyde Police need £30 million.
Rather than cutting Police numbers and resources, legalisation could have the opposite effect.
Prohibition has failed and resources are getting ploughed into an unwinnable and phoney war.
It is reckoned for all the time, money and effort; we are stopping about 1% of all the heroin coming into Scotland.
1% by any stretch of the imagination is total failure.
It is now time for the Police to call for legalisation.
We need a proper system in place so that this revenue stream can be diverted from criminals to government.
By not acting we have allowed the drugs trade criminals to fund other criminal activity which in turn uses up more Police resources from counterfeiting to human trafficking.
The Police are an investment in society we cannot do without, we shouldn’t be cutting or freezing recruitment but we have to recognise that the money must come from somewhere.
Sooner or later the penny will drop that the solution to funding is right in front of everyone’s nose.
Legalisation can solve many problems; some other problems associated with drug use will still be there but now so will the resources that can be brought to bear by legalisation.
More and more people know that legalisation is the answer.
I suspect we will see more senior Police Officers calling for legalisation and a proper regulatory framework in the near future.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
War criminal Tony Blair offers £4.6 million pounds in 'blood money' to Royal British Legion, works out at £9,200 a British corpse
Dear All
The self style ‘son of god’ and self styled unofficial world leader of the Catholic Church, former Prime Minster Tony Blair hits the headlines by offering ‘blood money’ to ex-servicemen.
The money is cash from his memoirs that was written at the expenses of the war dead, both British and foreign, men women and children who died violent deaths.
Relatives of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan have condemned the gesture by saying that Blair is trying to ‘ease his conscience’ by giving the £4.6million advance and any profits from his book to the Royal British Legion.
The money will go towards a sports centre for wounded soldiers, sailors and airmen to ‘honour their sacrifice’, according to Blair.
This money should be rejected by the Royal British Legion, he placed soldiers in harm’s way to satisfy his sycophantic relationship with the American President George W Bush.
This act is a PR stunt intended only to assuage his guilt over the blood spilled on the battlefield and buy back moral authority.
Blair is a war criminal.
500 British troops were killed in wars launched by Blair during his time at No 10.
It works out at £9,200 a corpse.
Blair has amassed a personal fortune which is reckoned to be between £15 million and £60million since leaving Downing Street in 2007.
Blair’s spokesman said:
“He decided on leaving office that he would donate the proceeds of his memoirs to a charity for the Armed Forces as a way of marking the enormous sacrifice they make for the security of our people and the world.”
This money is blood money, it is an investment in Blair’s future and probably a tax write off too boot.
Douglas Young, chairman of the British Armed Forces Federation, said:
“From what I’ve seen so far of reactions among serving personnel and people who perhaps took part in some of Mr Blair’s operations, most of the attitude has been fairly cynical”.
Since leaving office, Blair has been raking in cash, £1million a year from a consultancy with U.S. investment bank JP Morgan, £1million a year for advising insurance giant Zurich Financial Services, £1million for writing a report for the government of Kuwait on the future of the oil-rich state are some examples.
On top of that he is on the lecture circuit getting paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to deliver an address.
Two half hour speeches earned almost £400,000 in the Philippines last year.
No one knows exactly how wealthy Blair has become as he set up a complicated web of companies through which he channels his earnings without having to declare them publicly.
No amount of money will wash the blood of the innocent from his hands; he destroyed countless lives and has gotten away with state murder.
This is yet another sickening and vile story connected to this man who should be in a cell in The Hague awaiting trial.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The self style ‘son of god’ and self styled unofficial world leader of the Catholic Church, former Prime Minster Tony Blair hits the headlines by offering ‘blood money’ to ex-servicemen.
The money is cash from his memoirs that was written at the expenses of the war dead, both British and foreign, men women and children who died violent deaths.
Relatives of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan have condemned the gesture by saying that Blair is trying to ‘ease his conscience’ by giving the £4.6million advance and any profits from his book to the Royal British Legion.
The money will go towards a sports centre for wounded soldiers, sailors and airmen to ‘honour their sacrifice’, according to Blair.
This money should be rejected by the Royal British Legion, he placed soldiers in harm’s way to satisfy his sycophantic relationship with the American President George W Bush.
This act is a PR stunt intended only to assuage his guilt over the blood spilled on the battlefield and buy back moral authority.
Blair is a war criminal.
500 British troops were killed in wars launched by Blair during his time at No 10.
It works out at £9,200 a corpse.
Blair has amassed a personal fortune which is reckoned to be between £15 million and £60million since leaving Downing Street in 2007.
Blair’s spokesman said:
“He decided on leaving office that he would donate the proceeds of his memoirs to a charity for the Armed Forces as a way of marking the enormous sacrifice they make for the security of our people and the world.”
This money is blood money, it is an investment in Blair’s future and probably a tax write off too boot.
Douglas Young, chairman of the British Armed Forces Federation, said:
“From what I’ve seen so far of reactions among serving personnel and people who perhaps took part in some of Mr Blair’s operations, most of the attitude has been fairly cynical”.
Since leaving office, Blair has been raking in cash, £1million a year from a consultancy with U.S. investment bank JP Morgan, £1million a year for advising insurance giant Zurich Financial Services, £1million for writing a report for the government of Kuwait on the future of the oil-rich state are some examples.
On top of that he is on the lecture circuit getting paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to deliver an address.
Two half hour speeches earned almost £400,000 in the Philippines last year.
No one knows exactly how wealthy Blair has become as he set up a complicated web of companies through which he channels his earnings without having to declare them publicly.
No amount of money will wash the blood of the innocent from his hands; he destroyed countless lives and has gotten away with state murder.
This is yet another sickening and vile story connected to this man who should be in a cell in The Hague awaiting trial.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University