Friday, May 31, 2013
Scottish independence, Alex Salmond and his nasty poisonous vile clique are fading away as commentator Iain MacWhirter says that they have a listless quality when presenting the SNP's case for independence, the indy game is finished
Dear All
Is the Scottish National Party still a
Scottish nationalist party?
I came across Iain MacWhirter’s article and
for some time I have been blogging on how the SNP really isn’t a political
party anymore.
It was a protest movement, which became a political
party but now, it is just a vacuous middle class nasty vile clique devoid of
principles.
The SNP is a right wing ‘party’ which uses
socialism as a backdrop to garner votes, toss in the word, ‘Scottish’, sprinkle
it with ‘hootsman’, allegations of vote rigging by minorities, and other people’s
agendas, and it pretty much is the party as a whole, topped off with Sein Fein
lite and CND supporters, and in the interest of fairness…. thick bastards.
And then there is the attitude of ‘fuck the
working class’!
Iain says, it may seem a little late in the
day to be asking this question regarding the brand of shit that Salmond is
selling, I say that it is better late than never to find out.
As much as Salmond and Sturgeon use
rhetoric of wishing to create a socially just and fairer Scotland, it is a lie.
Actions speak louder than words, and look
how long the SNP senior leadership of Alex Salmond and Ncola Sturgeon held out
over the supplying of cancer drugs to those who needed it.
So, now, people on the fringes of
nationalist politics are waking up, far from being the messiah, Alex Salmond is
Judas.
He has sold out the nationalist cause
because he is a stupid arrogant little man, 18th September 2014 is a
date with destiny, it is a date of political death.
Salmond and Sturgeon haven’t got a radical
vision of independence, his dog and pony show includes policies such as
keeping the pound, the Queen, NATO, MI6, UK energy and pensions policy, in fact
the SNP have done nothing.
It is independence lite with added substantial
risk and no real benefits, and importantly no plans.
80 years of the SNP and they couldn’t
produce a rolling blueprint for independence.
I say that there is a real genuine lack of
talent in the SNP because the party is all about one man, Alex Salmond.
And yes, I do recognise a large number of
sycophants who sniff around his and Sturgeon’s arse, but as the polls show,
they aren't clever, they can’t pull the collapse of independence support back.
Time for a quote!
“My problem is that I have too many
talented people and not enough Cabinet positions”.
As we have seen in Health, Law and
Education, we have three Salmond cronies and three departments which have
systemic problems and failures.
Nicola Sturgeon bailed out of health so the
SNP could pretend she is a ‘clean skin’.
Alex Salmond, due to stupidity or laziness
didn’t want to frighten the horses over indy, but when looking at detail, we
see how utterly unremarkable their vision is, in case you don’t know what the
vision is, I would say, it is getting more of their cronies into public office.
To that end Salmond plays the role of a ’jolly
fat man’ while Nicola Sturgeon plays a ‘concerned citizen’, not that she had
much concern for the women denied drugs who were dying of cancer.
It is amazing the U turn on this issue but
then there is a referendum, and the bad PR was going straight back to
Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minster Nicola Sturgeon.
FMQs is now the ‘trial of Nicola Sturgeon’.
Iain says:
“I'd have to say I am not entirely clear
the SNP knows what it is about any more”.
It is about greed, building political power
bases and holding onto power.
Nationalists find it increasingly difficult
to raise the emotional case for Scottish independence, the campaign was badly
timed, and the longer the campaign goes the less the case is seen as viable.
Blair Jenkins is looking like a tired old
dog, dragging his sorry arse around the place knowing he is wasting his time.
Scottish economists Jim and Margaret
Cuthbert have spoke out on the same sort of stuff I bang on about such as the
need for a Scottish currency.
And Ian says something which I tweeted
yesterday, that Salmond has sold his members, a pig in a Nationalist poke.
What kind of independence is it, they ask,
when key areas of government responsibility are handed over to a foreign power!
And I still believe the screaming for the
pound to be retained is nothing more than a smokescreen to a later move to the
Euro, this will be a political decision to build bridges against a return to
the Union when Salmond and Sturgeon plough Scotland into the deck if they could
pull off a win.
There is no chance of that happening, trust
is a key issue and people don’t trust Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
Some people come to the view the SNP is
offering the worst of both worlds: submitting to the whims of the European
single market and the CAP while staying within the confines of a UK monetary
union.
As to Europe, what has the SNP achieved
other than a few cronies drawing a salary and expenses?
Fuck all!
That is the SNP contribution, and even if
they did speak who would want to hear it anyway?
As the eurozone crisis shows, monetary
union without political representation causes chaos and looking at the problems
of southern Europe, an independent Scotland would be in serious trouble.
In war as in politics, you can’t fight on
two fronts.
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon couldn’t
even be bothered to attempt the much needed government and local government
reforms needed, that is all you need to know about indy.
Scottish independence is a digital virtual
campaign; it has no support on the ground, think back to the indy rally.
5,000 people turned up for Salmond, in
Spain, 1,500,000 people marched for independence there.
The Scottish independence campaign is dead,
as Iain says there has been a listless quality to the SNP's prosecution of the
independence case recently.
In his opinion, it looks like he is saying
the SNP know the game’s up, and has already discounted the referendum and is
looking to position itself for the 2016 Scottish parliamentary elections.
Awhile ago I predicted 1,2,3 for the
Nationalists.
First, they wouldn’t win the Glasgow City
Council election, George Laird right again.
Next they would lose the Scottish
independence referendum, and poll after poll shows how untalented the Scottish
National Party actually is on the ground.
2015, Westminster, they wouldn’t win the
largest number of seats, effectively lose that, and it rather looks like,
George Laird right again, their one hope is a Lib Dem backlash to pick up seats.
1,2,3!
As things stand after the independence
defeat, people will abandon the nationalists; the 90 minute ones who invested
in Salmond and Sturgeon will realise that there is now nothing in it for them
and quietly disappear.
Back will come the SNP anti NATO stance under
the guise of ‘listening’ to members, but it is a false show of unity to harness
available labour to deliver leaflets and get them working to get the clique
elected.
Holyrood 2016; isn’t about electing the
best government for Scotland but rather who is the least offensive and with the
best bribes, there is a startling lack of an alternative.
The others parties, Lib Dems, Tories, SSP,
Solidarity, UKIP and Greens have a mountain to climb to break the two party
state, where the choice is no real choice at all.
The Lib Dems have buried themselves because
of Clegg, the Tories have spent 20 years in the wilderness, SSP and Solidarity
have killed each other off as a force, they need to rebrand like the Tories,
UKIP is too green on the ground, and the Greens are hanging in there… just.
And finally, the SNP plan to flood Scotland
with immigrants and take a billion pounds to aid others out of the Scottish
budget, when people can’t get cancer drugs, that has already turned people away
from the SNP, in times of austerity the SNP under Salmond and Sturgeon won’t
protect Scots.
Scotland needs a nationalist leader.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Scottish independence: Sir Chris Hoy is called a “traitor” to Scotland by nationalists, in 1930’s Germany; the Nazis used the same tactics of smearing opponents to silence debate, the ugly face of Nationalism is Salmond and Sturgeon, grudge, grievance and malcontent
Dear All
Sir Chris Hoy has been called a traitor to
Scotland by supporters of the Nationalists.
The SNP under Alex Salmond and Nicola
Sturgeon is a rather nasty vile poisonous clique; add to it, 30 years of
grudge, grievance and malcontent.
The SNP isn’t a political party; it was a
protest movement that became a political party which ended up as a nasty vile
clique of malcontents.
On this blog, I get cybernat abuse; one
rather unhappy SNP supporter uttered this in my direction;
“This is ground breaking shit man and nae
comments whats wrong wi people that they cannae see this big fat smelly shite
is bang on the money what a pity he is a walter mitty who has invented a bio
for himself that stinks as much as his oxters and scrotum far oot man I need a scare
crow fur ma neeps whit are ye daan this summer apart fae nae washing and
creeping aboot the parks at nicht looking fur a blow job fae a guy fuck of and
die ya big fat smelly cunt”.
The tactics of smearing; have been well
documented of how the Nazis operated in Germany in the 1930’s against anyone
who spoke out against their dogma. In Scotland 2014, under Alex Salmond and
Nicola Sturgeon, the same campaign tactics are used by SNP members and their
supporters.
The word “traitor” has been leveled at Sir
Chris Hoy, I was called a traitor by Hamish, who posted on this very blog, I
set him right on who was a traitor, funnily enough; he didn’t do a comeback to
my assertion of facts.
So, Cybernats or the ‘Sons of Alex’ have
taken to the internet to abuse Sir Chris Hoy of being a “traitor” to his
country, his crime, he said that Scottish independence could harm Scottish
sport.
That statement should have meaning,
Scottish athletes have benefited from access to the UK networks of support; we
lose that after independence as we would not be part of the Team GB.
Telling the truth isn’t something that the
SNP and their cybernat brotherhood like or are prepared to tolerate.
The ‘Sons of Alex’ specialise in online
attacks, so they launched an attack to accusing him of being a “bigoted
anti-Scot”.
Hoy has probably done more than the ‘Sons
of Alex’ during his career to raise Scotland’s profile in a positive way that
most current SNP MSPs.
The UK Government to point out what exactly
their opponents are like personally have lambasted the attack as “shameful” and
challenged Alex Salmond to condemn the behaviour or risk the independence
debate becoming mired in personal abuse.
The independence debate is already mired in
personal abuse that is set to continue, the further the SNP and their front
company sink in the polls; the more anger will be generated.
On twitter, before I forget, the SNP
members have joined a fake twitter account called georgemlaird, using my name,
picture and linking to this very blog, they pose as me spreading filth.
Their latest offering is to imply I am a
sex pervert that filmed people at the Glasgow University Gym.
“also filming my victims in leisure centres
should be legal :)”
I have upset the bigots in the Nationalist
camp.
David Mundell, a Scotland Office Minister,
said:
“The negative and personal tone of the
attacks on Sir Chris is shameful and casts the referendum debate in a poor
light. Everyone has a responsibility to guard against the independence debate
leaving scars that last well beyond September next year. I believe it would be
helpful if the First Minister and the Scottish Government were explicit in
their condemnation of those trying to shout down the views of Sir Chris and
others. The debate on our future must be open to all.”
Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal
Democrat leader, added:
"First comedienne Susan Calman, then
Nigel Farage, now Olympic great Sir Chris Hoy – the nationalists seek to
silence everyone they disagree with.”
An SNP spokesman repeated the now well
trodden ‘defence’ that Nicola Sturgeon has also received death threats and
appalling remarks about Mr Salmond’s father were made on a website linked to
Labour.
This is to muddy the water.
In the past cybernats who were outed have
been shown to have close links to the senior leadership of the Scottish
National Party.
At present, we are experiencing what
happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s, the ‘Sons of Alex’ won’t stop, they are
a vile nasty poisonous clique who despise ordinary working class people and
anyone else who happens to disagree with Alex Salmond’s vision.
A spokesman for the Yes Scotland referendum
campaign said it “deplores all forms of abusive and offensive behaviour in
whatever form it takes, whoever perpetrates it.”
And that is why they have employed a known
SNP smearer called Gail Lythgoe, the wife of Muslim list MSP Humza Yousaf, she
tried to rally a mob against Labour MP Ian Davidson, then stepped back to see
what would happen to him.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
Scottish independence: two leading economics experts Jim and Margaret Cuthbert highlight Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon aren’t going for independence, SNP plan to hand over major decisions to foreign powers, and spent their 100% controlled ‘giro’
Dear All
Scottish independence, the SNP leadership
have conned their party; they have got people doing activism thinking they are
campaigning for an independent country when the opposite is true.
Under Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s
version, independence as Jim and Margaret Cuthbert say falls “far short of any
meaningful concept of independence.”
The Cuthberts are two leading economists,
one of their points is what I have been saying, an independent Scotland must
have its own currency.
The SNP have put a lot of store in their
work in the past, but given the SNP under Salmond has done no work at all of
any real and meaningful value, they have gone for the line of least resistance.
But I believe that there is another agenda,
as much as Salmond and Sturgeon scream rule Britannia for the pound, I think
their real agenda down the line is to take Scotland into the Euro.
If independence happened and it is looking
less likely the further their campaign goes on, then they would want access to
the ECB and lender of last resort facilities from that institution.
That of course is madness, the countries of
the EU are all suffering, and the turning point hasn’t been reached, the EU
needs a Marshall plan, because everyone needs to be lifted up, this is
incredibly difficult to pull off.
It requires a very painful 27 country
default and resetting of debt, it is a nuclear option, but that is for another
time.
Back to Jim and Margaret Cuthbert, they say
that it is “not feasible that anything approaching independence can emerge from
the current referendum”.
Alex Salmond has completely botched the
currency problem in his eagerness to keep the pound.
A Yes vote binds Scotland in fiscal ties
that will radically limit the country’s ability to pursue its own taxation
policy.
His plan is for a token version, this makes
me believe that the pound so fiercely argued is nothing more than a
smokescreen.
A country can’t be truly independent unless
it challenges vested interests and there is nothing that Salmond and Sturgeon
will do that, so independent activists who think they are fighting for a fairer
and socially just Scotland have been duped.
Yes, they signed without understanding and
reading the small print.
Done up like a kipper, they are out working
for a right wing SNP government that is going to climb straight into bed with
big business.
Did you all miss the alcohol minimum
pricing, the extra £100 million generated straight into the pockets of big business!
In looking at the SNP, you have to exercise
looking at detail, Salmond and Sturgeon aren't smart, they aren’t Einstein; their
track records rather shows them for what they are.
Opportunists!
The barrier to real social justice in
Scotland as the Cuthbert argue is the Scottish National Party.
The SNP response to the Cuthbert was that
they disagreed with them on this issue, saying Scotland would have 100 per cent
control over its finances if people voted Yes.
That would be 100% control after the
Westminster government agreed.
Scotland has problems, growing child
poverty, high youth unemployment, and unfair land and wealth distribution.
And so far, the SNP have provided no
solutions to any of these policies except dogma, everything can be fixed after
independence.
But it won’t be!
You only have to look how the SNP operate
under Salmond and Sturgeon, it is crony ridden, the social crusaders, all
promote their own vested interests to form cliques.
Did you look at the SNP selection for the European
elections not a single rank and file member of the SNP selected for the final list!
The SNP proposes keeping the pound and the
Bank of England, retaining a UK-wide financial regulation system, and staying
on with the Queen as head of state.
The SNP has also recently backed staying in
NATO that is a farce that position will change whether or not Scotland becomes
an independent country.
The real choice is “indy lite” with less
rights or the status quo, the choice isn’t really a choice, do I believe that
Scotland should be an independent country, yes, but not under Salmond and
Sturgeon.
For me, it is a matter of trust, I don’t
trust the SNP, and as the polls show neither does the majority.
So, Salmond and Sturgeon have already lost,
their campaign will continue, but it is dead, they want the ‘mugs’ to keep on
being active, working under a delusion.
The SNP is already rotting from the head
downwards, stupid little people who believe because they are where they are that
somehow it means that they are overly intelligence and everyone else is just an idiot.
They don’t have the brains to plan for a
Scottish currency; their roaring over the pound is in my opinion just a
smokescreen for a future move to access the European Central Bank and its
lender of last resort.
When that happens Scotland will be asset
stripped like has happened in Greece.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
Conservative MP Richard Ottaway puts a defence for Britain staying in the EU, the case is looking rather shaky under the current set up, the EU is broken and unless political will and vision comes forward, it will implode from within
Dear All
I like the idea of a European Union, always
have, it has much merit.
However 27 countries show if anything, that
reform is needed, when Richard Ottaway, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select
Committee and MP for Croydon South stood up and gave his “defence”, he
says he got a lot of flak for it.
The EU is broken, and the Euro crisis has
exposed a terrible weakness, who would have thought we would have heard in
2013, that Greek pensioners were looking for food in bins?
Can a spirited defence be made by Richard
Ottaway on that bunny?
Nein, Non, No!
What about the rise of food banks in this
country?
There is the trade aspect which benefits
the UK, but what are we losing, and is that more important?
Whether we are in or out, London remains a
world financial centre.
As to the peace argument, times are more
enlightened than the 1930’s, and of course everyone is signed up to NATO.
UKIP is now the new kid on the block, they
like the genie can’t be put back in the bottle, and they will develop their
appeal, as they grow, they will take votes from different sections of the left
and right.
Although 20 of Britain’s most eminent
business leaders penned a letter to the Independent stating that the
"economic case to stay in the EU is overwhelming".
Let’s get it right, that’s 20 votes! And
only 20 votes!
People especially those at the bottom of
society see austerity, cuts to services, higher population, their lack of
advancement, and a host of other issues like housing, and they see control
being lost.
They aren’t getting help from anyone.
UKIP are the ones doing the talking now,
when was the last time something meaningful was done in Europe by the
Government?
And then that trickled down to the ordinary
punter who could see the nuts and bolts, generally things happen, and to the
public, it is just business as usual, to them nothing changed.
There is a good case for staying in the EU
and there could be made a good case for leaving it, however, people look East
and South and see chaos. The Euro virus is moving northwards, that needs
immediate attention.
A temp fix is to split the Euro into two
currencies, Euro North and Euro South, others have floated that idea in the
past, dogma has killed fixing the current problems.
But I would like to come to my pet idea, it
is the EU internal immigration policy, the broad brush, if you wish to ‘live
and work’ in another EU country, you must have certain resources. This would be
done on a country by country basis, in wealthier countries; you would need more
assets than say the lesser ones.
If the mainstream parties are not careful,
the old joke of ‘the people have spoken, the Bar Stewards’ will be coming to a
venue near you soon.
And as they say in cricket…. You’re out
(loudly)!
I hope it doesn’t come to that, but the
whole EU project needs fixed.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Celtic fan who sang IRA song is cleared of football offence, the SNP put crap law on the books because of a knee jerk reaction, Alex Salmond’s judgment is warped as case after case gets found not guilty, it’s time to repeal
Dear All
Scots pride themselves on having a sense of
fairness, although the Alex Salmond and the SNP try and say that it is uniquely
to Scotland, it isn’t, people can recognize when something is wrong.
The Offensive Behaviour at Football
legislation Act is a load of shit, it is remarkably bad law written by the
Scottish National Party in government with one objective, to be seen to be
doing something.
Well they did something and it was wrong!
I can’t say I am a football fan, I have
never attended a football in about 30 years, despite that I have given the
Celtic Trust some ideas on political campaigning against this dreadful bill.
Well you would do!
A Celtic fan who sang a pro-IRA song at a
match has been cleared in a landmark ruling of behaving in an offensive manner
likely to incite public disorder.
The test was that he did something wrong,
but that the Police who arrested him think he did something wrong.
And that is the real problem of this bill;
it is a piece of crap.
There is a genuine lack of talent in the
SNP.
Calum Graham, 21, was identified on video
by police singing The Roll of Honour when Inverness Caledonian Thistle played
at home against Celtic on August 25, 2012.
So, what is the problem, the Police
overreacted and want arrests and convictions to justify this crap.
Unfortunately for them, there is a legal process
with will see case after case being thrown out.
The Roll of Honour is a pro-IRA song
commemorating hunger strikers in Northern Ireland prisons, isn’t a banned song, by the same token Flower of
Scotland and the British National anthem could see you in the dock, depends of
the Police Officer.
Law by its very nature has to be clear cut.
The Offensive Behaviour at Football
legislation has been criticised by lawyers since its introduction last year,
everyone knows that it is rubbish except the SNP, however, it is said that some
in the SNP don’t like it either.
Lawyers and others such as Celtic Trust
claim supporters are facing police harassment, with their rights routinely
eroded.
That is a fair assessment, right wing SNP
government passing right wing law, civic rights have been eroded.
And, they say, many cases brought against
fans have been dropped or found not proven.
It is a bit hard to sit on a jury when you
get a case like this, in a test of what is reasonable, the conclusion can only
be to find not guilty.
Mr Graham, from Glasgow, admitted he was
one of a group singing the song, and he had often done so, but the key point is
that he denied behaving in an offensive manner likely to incite public
disorder.
So, Inverness Sheriff Margaret Neilson said
it was not enough for a chant to be offensive; it also had to be "likely
to incite public disorder".
If you are at a football match, anything is
controlled public disorder, then they all piss off up the road.
Neilson said:
"Parliament clearly has it in mind
that you must pass this hurdle for it to be an offence,.
PC Barry Inglis told the Inverness Sheriff
Court trial he believed the song could have sparked trouble at the near
sell-out game.
At Inverness Caledonian Thistle, is he shitting
me!
The fact it did not was down to the strong
police presence and the number of stewards on duty.
Assumption and not even evidence in my
opinion, you could find 20 deep who would say the opposite.
Pc Inglis added the song had been changed
to include the words: "England you're a bastard".
Isn’t that poetic licence?
Asked by defence solicitor Duncan Henderson
how many of the dozens singing the song were arrested, he said only two arrests
were made.
Presumably they were standing near the front!
Henderson said the Roll of Honour spoke of
the aspirations of Ireland becoming "a nation once again" and asked
PC Inglis if the anthem for the Scotland football and rugby teams, Flower of
Scotland, contained a similar ideas.
The officer agreed it did.
And when he said that it undermined his
entire case but he did add added The Roll of Honour was a song which supported
a terrorist organisation.
So what!
Police Sergeant Neil Macleod who trains
officers about offensive behaviour at football grounds, was on duty at the
match and at half-time was told complaints had been received about songs.
Presumably he did have the heart to tell
opposition supporters to piss off and grow up.
Mr Graham, said to have never been in trouble
with police before, told the court he had been to more than 300 Celtic matches
and regularly sang the song.
Next stop Britain’s Got Talent!
After the case he said:
"I'm relieved. The last 10 months have
been terrible and I'm glad it's all over." But he added: "I will
never sing the song again."
Given he has an acquittal under his belt,
he is one of the few people in Scotland with a “licence” to sing it, plus he
has case law on his side.
Scottish Tory chief whip John Lamont said:
"It's no surprise to see chaotic
legislation drawn up on the hoof is failing to work. Like so many things the
SNP does, it was simply not thought through”.
Quite so ma’am!
Lamont added:
"And the problem then gets worse,
because as courtroom snubs of this nature increase, the very people the
Scottish Government were trying to crack down on become more brazen."
Dave Scott, campaign director for
anti-sectarian charity Nil By Mouth, said:
"It is very important that we do not
ignore the political dimension to sectarianism in Scotland and the vast
majority of people would believe that the song in question has no place at a
football match. However, this outcome and the sheriff's remarks underline the
urgent need to review this legislation as there seems to be considerable
confusion between the courts, politicians, police and supporters as to what
constitutes a breach of this law."
The Offensive Behaviour at Football
legislation Act is the only bill in Scotland by the SNP that the people will
cry Freedom, because case after case is going to be thrown out, dismissed and
found not guilty or proven!
Parliament should be about in part passing
law, however, the repeal of law has been neglected as well, and in this area,
the Offensive Behaviour at Football legislation Act is one bill badly in need
of being stuck down.
It was a knee jerk reaction carried out by
the SNP because two football managers did a bit of pushing after an old firm
game.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Scottish independence: Alex Salmond’s SNP researchers concoct a fable that a Yes vote would lead to boom in investment, SNP gear up to allow ‘spivs and speculators’ to get control of Scotland’s assets, third world Scotland!
Dear All
In politics credibility is important, in
the drive to Scottish independence, Alex Salmond and the SNP will say anything
to try and re-launch their failed and untimely doomed campaign.
Scottish working class voters don’t trust
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
So far, everything the SNP say about an
independent Scotland is based on nirvana, everything will be brilliant and they
will deliver a socially just society.
It’s a lie, it’s a big lie and no matter
how many ‘stories’ that Salmond and Sturgeon manufacture ‘trading’ in the
market on Scotland’s independence has closed.
And they lost their shirts.
The latest piece of nonsense is that an
independent Scotland would be on course for an instant boom in foreign inward
investment.
Where’s the evidence that investors are
standing by?
There isn’t any, and as we have seen
elsewhere, Eastern Europe isn’t the demi-paradise that the SNP would like to
have us believe.
This story of nirvana is brought to by SNP
researchers!
And it gets better; this is based on
Scotland not being viewed as an outpost of London.
Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia, the
Czech Republic and Slovakia are examples cited as evidence, but we should
remember that these countries started from a low point, Scotland isn’t a third
world country.
The study said:
"There is evidence some of the most
recently independent small countries in Europe experienced a surge in overseas
investment in the immediate aftermath of independence.
Experts and business people believe this
could be mirrored in Scotland – particularly given many of those countries in
the 1990s did not have as developed a market economy as Scotland."
A developed market means less opportunities
for investors not more, it is rather simple economics.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, director of the
pro-independence network Business for Scotland, said:
"We know independence can benefit economies
in several ways and a growth in foreign direct investment is one of them. The
internationalism of trade and even the confidence that comes from
self-determination can lead to an increase in entrepreneurial activity. I was
involved in FDI in Scottish Enterprise in the 1990s. FDI is like a sales
process and, as with all sale processes, getting your foot in the door as a
national brand. A cultural standing in the world helps you build relationships,
and the support package combined with new connections to world markets and a
confident economic outlook can close the deal."
That is such dick!
Scotland already has an international
standing, and given the highly developed network of the UK Government overseas
already does promote Scotland in many areas.
Mr MacIntyre-Kemp described its current
status as a "far-flung undervalued economic region of London and the
south-east."
Just to be clear what he is saying that is
it is the fault of Westminster and English people, this is the same tack used
by the SNP and their front organization Yes Scotland.
Change the record!
Stewart Hosie, the SNP's Westminster
Treasury Spokesman, said:
"This research is a positive and
sensible assessment of the potential for an independent Scotland”.
Does he think the SNP researchers are going
to publish anything bad?
Hosie added:
"What is clear is that countries emerging
into the global marketplace as newly independent places to do business have
attracted surges of investment, and there is every reason to believe that the
same will apply in Scotland."
And that isn’t a fact.
Trying to justify his existence on planet Earth,
Angus MacNeil, SNP Westminster Transport Spokesman, said:
"This research shows newly independent
countries have a great opportunity to build new business as the economy
flourishes and self confidence grows. In my portfolio I am constantly being
alerted about huge concerns over Air Passenger Duty (APD), most recently with
the auctioning of slots for flights from Inverness to Gatwick."
If people are crying over a few pounds then
it is hardly likely that this is stopping them investing millions at present.
To continue on what is seen by many as the ‘anti-English’
tack, the dead horse of its Scotland’s oil surfaced again, as SNP MSP has
challenged opposition politicians on claims the value of oil was not downplayed
by Westminster.
Time for a quote by Alex Salmond:
“My problem is that I have too many talented
people and not enough Cabinet positions”.
This is assumption, and as the old saying
goes:
“assumption is the mother of all fuck alls”!
This study is just more material for
landfill, presumably writing shit is an art form in the SNP!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
Monday, May 27, 2013
David Cameron faces serious problems as Conservative donors threaten to switch to UKIP unless Cameron toughens up on Europe, instead of a swing to the right; he needs to get the EU to fix their entire project; EU internal immigration policy is a good start
Dear All
In politics you need a number of things to
be successfully especially at the high end.
Tory donors have threatened to switch their
allegiance to UKIP unless David Cameron adopts a tougher stance on Europe.
Awhile ago, I came up with an idea, it was
for the EU to adopt an internal immigration policy, at present anyone in the EU
can go and work or live anywhere they so choose.
The freedom of labour is a good idea,
however, the EU hasn’t moved with the times, once it was about 7/8 countries,
now it sits at 27.
Other factors such as the Euro crisis and
the world financial crisis have compounded things, who would have thought in
2013, that Greek pensioners would have to scavenge for food in bins.
The dream of a united Europe is falling
apart.
It needs fixed, but there is a lack of
direction, and the people are angry because of austerity, that anger will push
them towards hard right wing parties and others.
Someone has to speak for the people;
otherwise the EU is doomed at some point in the future.
In Britain, the austerity measures are bad,
but they could be a lot worse, and a lot worse is just round the corner.
My internal EU immigration policy helps fix
some of the problems, but it has to be an EU wide uptake.
In another blow to David Cameron’s
leadership, former Tory treasurer Lord Kalms said he was ‘willing to pack my
bags’ and sign up with UKIP unless the Prime Minister adopted more traditional
Tory policies.
I would suggest that although ‘traditional’
Tory policies appeal to a certain mindset, new ones are the order of the day for
the Conservatives, and have been for decades. The Tories didn’t win the last
election, Gordon Brown lost it.
The upshot of unhappiness is that UKIP
leader Nigel Farage is set to seize on discontent among Tory MPs, and get
fund-raising with an appeal to Cameron’s supporters.
Nigel Farage has been invited by City
financier Crispin Odey to pitch to wealthy donors for support.
Odey says Mr Farage was ‘very, very
attractive’ and a ‘first-rate guy,’ adding: ‘UKIP deserve all the support they
get.’
He told the Sunday Times:
‘I have always been a Conservative but that
loyalty is wearing very, very thin. If UKIP has the right policies, that’s
where we’ll go. I am very, very disenchanted and won’t tolerate being dragged
down into Europe without some fight.’
So, big business wishes to get their feet
under the table with UKIP, it could be a double edge sword, UKIP’s main
strength is that it is a people’s party at present, they don’t wish to lose
that identity and become a mini version of the Conservative Party.
Things look bleak for Cameron, in the
ranks, it is said that, at least one Conservative MP has used a go-between to
discuss switching to UKIP.
Farage has used something I said on the blog
that people in power who try ‘to be all things to all men - that means you are
nothing to nobody’.
If Farage can get backing from more
heavyweight donors, this leads them in a agood position to make an assault on
Westminster parliamentary seats.
Such an outcome would have an effect on
both sides of the border between Scotland and England.
A strong UKIP in the south means that the
SNP can’t run effectively with their anti Tory platform.
The real test of sorts comes in the European
elections, if they do well, they will get more financial support and members.
In Scotland, UKIP hasn’t turned a corner as
they have down south, probably due to poor marketing and lack of people on the
ground, as well as representation in seats.
But despite this, they are seen as a threat
by the SNP and its supporters, which recently led to a bitter confrontation
with protesters in Edinburgh.
Farage
was forced to barricade himself into a pub after angry indy supporting Scots
turned up and started, calling him a ‘racist scumbag’, then they told him to go
back to his own country.
A summit to discuss an electoral pact with
UKIP is also being planned by the Bow Group, this group is becoming more
political and moving away from their current think tank platform, their
president is Sir John Major.
Is a UKIP/ Tory pact possible?
Depends what is on the table, it would help
UKIP enormously, and could be used as a blocker to keep the Labour Party out.
Will 2015 see a UKIP/Tory/Lib Dem pact?
Events dear boy, events, and numbers, UKIP
has a healthy share of the vote but its seats that matter.
Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP who was
only given back the whip after an unauthorised absence from parliament wants MPs
to seek endorsement from UKIP.
She told Sky’s Murnaghan:
‘It almost seems a nonsense where you have
two people who think and have the same values standing against each other.’
She added:
‘Every Conservative MP has to be adopted by
their Conservative association and then they could seek endorsement from UKIP
with a double logo. After all, we have just recently voted to change the law to
allow that to happen.’
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Farage
came out and said that UKIP was speaking to ‘about 20’ Tory MPs about standing
on a joint ticket.
This is good PR however in practice it can’t
work, who do these MPs answer to?
At some point, the EU has to change, if
they won‘t or can‘t, then UKIP will rise and the pressure to leave the EU
will be unbearable, I think the EU can be fixed, however it has been left to
fester without direction for years.
And for the avoidance of doubt, No to Tony
Blair as EU President!
I think we have had enough of him, and
beside, who wants a proxy in that chair for the American President?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Alex Salmond says that the Donside by-election is a test of the SNP Government's record in office, will the SNP run with the fact that they are willing to deny cancer drugs to Scottish people who are dying, 7,000 majority need to get another party to vote for
Dear All
Alex Salmond says that the Aberdeen Donside
by-election is a judgment on his own Government's record.
Wow!
Given the SNP have a massive majority and
the previous SNP MSP died in post; it is hardly a challenge for the SNP.
If the SNP had never held the seat or it
was close, then it would be a real test.
In by-elections from my experience, if
someone dies, then the electorate generally votes in another representative from
the same party.
If this supposed rant was supposed to
impress anyone, then Alex Salmond is kidding himself on, not the public.
The First Minister launched the SNP's
campaign backing SNP candidate Mark McDonald under the banner "Delivering
for Donside – Working for You."
And of course he mentioned the MSP whose
death led to the by-election because that is what the SNP do, I wonder if bothered
to ask the family if he could use that tack?
Salmond said:
"Brian Adam was an outstanding MSP for
Donside, and a passionate supporter of an independent Scotland”.
How did he work that out?
Salmond added:
"He was re-elected two years ago on a
manifesto pledge to freeze the Council Tax for the lifetime of this Parliament,
and support core policies – such as free personal care, the bus pass for
over-60-year-olds, no prescription charges and free education for young folk. I
know these are local priorities because I have been meeting community groups
and listening to people on the doorsteps”.
And less we forget, don’t mention people
like Anne Fisher and Maureen Fleming need drugs because they are dying of
cancer.
Salmond continued:
"These policies require to be
supported each and every year through the Scottish Parliament's budget process
and Mark McDonald is the only candidate who can unequivocally pledge to vote
for them if he is returned to continue Brian's legacy."
In other words, like the majority of the
SNP, McDonald vote is already pledged to anything and everything that comes out
of Salmond’s mouth.
I once her Brian Adam speak; his talk wasn’t
really about politics, it was about how you have to keep trying to get elect
even if the public rejects you.
He spoke well, but it was more of a chat
than a speech, but seemed likeable.
Adam as I said had a healthy majority of
7,000, unfortunately he died of cancer, in his place might come a man who like
his bosses, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon won’t stand up for a Cancer Drug
Fund that is sorely needed in Scotland.
If anything that is the legacy that is
passed on won’t result in a better candidate replacing Brian Adam.
Mr McDonald resigned as a regional list MSP
in order to fight the Aberdeen Donside seat, his place on the regional list was
taken up by a Frenchman, called Christian Allard who supported the decision of
Mugabe in Zimbabwe to remove white farmers from their legally owned land.
Presumably he is another of Salmond’s publicly
unelected.
All four parties represented at Holyrood
are standing in the by-election, in addition to the UK Independence Party,
National Front and two other candidates.
With a 7,000 majority,
the SNP should win comfortably but this isn’t a verdict of Alex Salmond’s
record, the contest is set in an SNP stronghold where the previous MSP died.
What a great shame, that
a man who died of cancer is being replaced by someone who will keep his mouth
firmly shut and hold the SNP line to deny cancers drugs to others, on the basis
that it is too expensive.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human
Rights at Glasgow University
Friday, May 24, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Former leadership rival Murdo Fraser questions Ruth Davidson leadership, 18 months down the line not a lot has been achieved, why have a “Scottish leader” when they just follow London’s lead anyway, where the differences, and standing up for Scots?
Dear All
The Scottish Conservatives have been doing
some soul searching!
20 years so far and counting.
The party has effectively been a spent
force; however they appear to want to be a force in Scottish politics again.
You would think that given they have had
two decades, someone would have come up with solutions to their problems.
But no!
In Glasgow, there is a single Tory
Councillor in Pollokshields, and a single MSP on the Glasgow list, that is their leader Ruth Davidson.
If it wasn’t for the list, Ruth Davidson
wouldn’t be in Holyrood.
Now, senior Conservative Murdo Fraser has
questioned whether the direction of Ruth Davidson’s leadership will “be enough”
to secure a revival of the party in Scotland.
Probably not, when you look at things like
the bedroom tax which the Scottish Conservatives never opposed and actively
supported, you wonder why there should be such a thing as a Conservative leader
in Scotland.
A Conservative leader should be sticking up
for Scots, not blindly rubber stamping anything and everything out of CCHQ.
And before I forget, the hated poll tax
came out of Scottish Conservative thinking, and we all know how that ended.
Like Moses, the Conservatives started a
trek into the political wilderness, and never came back, still out there
arguing about the route, should they do left, should they go right, should they
go centre!
Annabel Goldie’s claim to fame was to chart
a steady approach, not making any waves; it was steady performance, rather like
not moving in quicksand in case you sink further. It was never a strategy to
get her party out of the fix they put themselves in.
Murdo Fraser asks whether the Scottish
Conservative Party “in its current manifestation” is “the best vehicle” for its
supporters.
I would say no, the brand is so toxic, that
a miracle needs to happen with them and the Scottish public; so far Ruth
Davidson hasn’t created any miracles.
And miracles are the order of the day if
the present setup is to make them viable.
Murdo suggests the Tories in Scotland may
have to revisit his controversial plan for a new centre- right breakaway party,
separate from the UK Conservatives.
Let’s say they go with it, a new shell is
every nice, but at the end of the day, it comes to people and what they stand
for, so far, rejection and not even getting the opportunity to present a case
is the situation.
Murdo Fraser does have a good idea for a
new party, and you could say he is the lone voice in the wilderness; his ideas
on other things have been taken up. He now sits up on the backbenches having
refused a shadow cabinet post.
He says Ms Davidson’s leadership has
brought “glimmers of hope for the Scottish centre-right” due to the policy
shift on devolution.
In the public domain that is meaningless,
if people weren’t voting for them before, a slight shift would generate new
voters or get their old ones back.
In Holyrood, it may mean something, in the
outside world; this looks like internal housekeeping and as such is chip paper
wrapper.
Fraser supports extra powers for Holyrood, however,
Westminster is their real problem, Scotland turned their back because of
Westminster policies and unless they fix their problem there, anything done at
Holyrood is just political window dressing.
Is there unease in the Conservative ranks
about Ms Davidson’s performance at Holy-rood during her 18 months as leader?
It hasn’t been great, it hasn’t been poor,
but she should remember that FMQs are also a meaningless piece of theatre, and
she speaks too long, short and sharp would be better.
Ms Davidson said during the leadership
election that the Scotland Act, which beefs up Scotland’s control of taxation,
should be a “line in the sand” on devolution.
She has now stepped over the line, events
dear boy events.
Murdo is right, the Scottish Conservatives
had “been slow to learn the truth” about the reasons for the party’s electoral
failure in Scotland over the past two decades.
In 2015, the chance, ‘one chance to tell
our enemies that they make take our lives but they will’ …. hold on that is a movie
quote. Probably best to start that thought again, in 2015, one chance to reset
the Conservative brand in Scotland.
That requires a platform of new policies
and social justice, the reason for the party being “trapped in a vicious cycle
of declining electoral support” by repeatedly campaigning on platforms rejected
by the Scottish electorate is that they come across as a ‘fuck you party give
us your vote and we will piss on your back’.
Any wonder the support collapsed, whether
Ruth Davidson can bring it all back is doubtful, she has to change, and it is ‘road
to Damascus’ stuff.
That road isn’t natural Tory ground, and
for some it be an uncomfortable road to travel down, who wants another 20 years of decline?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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