Open letter to Winston, how is Alex Salmond going to make Scotland a democratic country when he cannot even defend democracy in his own party?

Dear Winston

“This is quite an unusual situation for me George. Defending the SNP against an SNP man lol”.

Let me give you a frank appraisal of the SNP from my experiences.

The Scottish National Party is like a middle class golf club, anyone wishing to enter the ‘club’ must have a membership card to gain access, branch meetings, GRA meetings, special events and conferences etc.

However only certain members are allowed to access the facilities and are treated properly.

Those who aren’t part of the 'clique' get lesser unequal treatment.

Some examples in no order of preference:

At an SNP activism day, working with SNP Group leader Allison Hunter, SNP Candidate Chris Stephens and SNP Organiser Richard Bache, Mr. Bache asked if I was okay to get home from the start point. Then Allision Hunter, Chris Stephens and him jumped into a car and sped off with a spare seat in the car, back along the long road I had to walk along.

Opinion please if that is an example of leadership from the woman who is supposed to be seen by some a great team leader?

Another incident is the failure of former SNP MSP Anne Mclaughlin to take up the constituency case of a 70 year old elderly Catholic pensioner who had heart and lung problems. I personally put the case into Anne Mclaughlin’s own hands. A month later she hadn’t contacted the woman, so I spoke to her again at another SNP event to remind her, she said how her staff work very hard blah blah blah.

The upshot of this was that the 70 year old elderly Catholic pensioner who had heart and lung problems never got contacted despite Anne McLaughlin publicly stating on her website that she and her staff deal with all cases.

Opinion please if that is an example of leadership from the woman who is supposed to be seen by some as a great MSP?

The next incident I am only going to skim, information was sent to me that I was the victim of an alleged SNP smear campaign and that information was corroborated by a third party in writing.

These are three examples, however there are others, the point I wish to express is how as a working class SNP member, I was treated like a cunt by them.

I am still waiting for Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, Peter Murrell, Derek Mackay and Ian McCann, all senior SNP to deal with my complaint of an alleged organised SNP smear campaign.

Opinion please is that is an example of leadership from Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, Peter Murrell, Derek Mackay and Ian McCann, all senior SNP?

My friend put it in these terms, if Alex Salmond cannot defend the democracy in his own party, how is going to sell the idea of Scotland as an independent democracy?

“I've never been in a political party and usually vote for independent candidates”.

Well, I would say that you should look closely at parties and also closely at candidates and what they stand for.

“I don't understand why you can't see that a country should have it's own broadcaster”.

In the case of Scotland, broadcasting is a reserved issue, I believe a country should have its own broadcasting if independent; we have no disagreement on that.

“Would France allow it's broadcasting to be run by Germany?”

We are in a global economy so lots of infrastructure isn’t own by purely Scottish or British people.

“Scotland pays in about £400m a year in tv tax and gets back a tiny speck of this amount in Scottish broadcasting. The BBC will go around the world to cover the Delhi Games but would never cover the Glasgow Games”.

I would agree that those are valid points of argument and such arguments must continually be made.

“The £400m tv tax would easily provide a good service for Scotland. Complemented by Sky, RTL etc. Or better still, all subscription. I'm happy for the BBC to go away or give us pay per view. STV provides a perfectly good news service and would be able to offer a world news service if the BBC left the field”.

I think that is an argument ahead of its time, until Scotland becomes independent, then the issue can become live, at present in the current set up, it isn’t the right time and the rugby issue was handled badly by the SNP.

Lots of clever people in the SNP but lots of stupid ones as well, unfortunately some of the stupid ones are in positions of power. The correct tack on the rugby issue was to accept the radio offer, thereby setting a precedent which could be used to highlight unfairness. That didn’t happen and now the SNP have painted themselves into a corner, they have forced the BBC to review all Alex Salmond appearances at any event.

About me:

4th September 2010, I proposed the Scottish National Police Force in Perth.

4th September 2010, I proposed the Scottish National Fire Service in Perth.

I gave a talk about social media, sitting there at the Pollok branch was Kirk J Torrance, ordinary who went on to give a presentation to the SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell on use of social media and was given a job.

I was told by a senior SNP person that in his opinion, I was the hardest working SNP Activist he had ever worked with.

My ‘reward’ by the Scottish National Party ‘golf club’ was to be treated like a cunt by them.

They are smart enough to use my ideas just not smart enough to have them in the first place. I haven’t given them my local government reforms ideas recently, and if you check you will find out that SNP Group leader Allison Hunter publicly stated:

“I haven’t thought about that yet. Actually, I’m not an out-there leader. I’m a team leader. So we haven’t actually thought about that yet.”

The same Allison Hunter who said to me at Westminster 2010 Glasgow Count when I made a joke about 'don’t I do enough for the party' replied:

‘Don’t give me any of your fucking crap; I have been up for the last three days working from 8 am to midnight’.

I let that slide because I was under orders not to cause trouble at the count.

Treated like a cunt Winston!

That is why I am not surprised that hardly any Glaswegians wish to come out and be an SNP Activist for the Scottish National Party.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University