Conservative Minister Theresa May's wants an EU migrant crackdown, she is on the right path, the EU needs an internal immigration policy, a new EU border force and political will to make tough decisions, laughingly the Nats who want control of immigration play cheap political point scoring, SNP are a ‘party of protest’ not of government

Dear All

Some time ago I floated the idea of an EU internal immigration policy on the blog, the idea was to regulate the movement of EU citizens so that no member country would be unjustly burdened.

Free movement of Labour would remain but the free movement of Labour would be to a job in another member country.

The current set up is deeply flawed.

Conservative Minister Theresa May is now echoing what I said after she called for EU migrants without a job to be barred from the UK.

The reason for the ‘get tough now’ approach is that official figures show net migration has topped 330,000 people.

David Cameron staked a bit of his political capital in wanting to reduce net migration to below 100,000.

The new figures of 330,000 are extremely embarrassing for the Conservatives, perhaps they should adopt my idea for an EU internal immigration policy because a ‘British fix’ isn;’t enough, the whole of the EU needs to be regulated properly. This is not about banning people it is all about setting a criteria that a person has enough resources available to support themselves after they move to another member state. Each country would set their criteria in-conjunction with the EU.

It would be based on fairness, the same standards would set by a country would apply to right across the board. The resources required by a German would be the same as a Romanian.

Some European leaders don’t wish to sign up to the UK’s attempts to reform the rule on freedom of movement.

They are drawing a line in the sand and saying it is a complete non-starter, this is old thinking, in the past when the membership was small this didn’t represent a problem, it does now.

I have always liked the EU as a concept from the early days, but the organisation has had its problems due to lack of vision.

In truth, I still remain a big fan, but it is hard to see how the EU can continue without being re-invented.

Unsurprisingly the SNP, the party of protest and not of government have waded into this EU row to try and appear meaningful, and as per usual, they are backward and wrong.

An SNP spokesman said:

"Theresa May's comments have less to do with the employment status of immigrants and everything to with her own job prospects as a future leader of the Tory party.”

See what I mean, a real crisis and some clown of a spokesman can’t get past themselves to make this a cheap political point scoring exercise.

No country and afford to have open borders, there must be regulations. If regulations cannot be put in place, if political will cannot be found, then the question of remaining in the EU will be focused in the minds of British people when the referendum is called on continuing membership.

May rightly says there is a "broken European migration system" for the current migrant crisis, and she is 100% right.

But it isn’t just a "broken European migration system", there is a distinct lack of political will in the major capitals to tackle this problem. If unchecked we will see the rise of the far right in Northern European Countries who will be less than agreeable to newcomers.

Recently Alex Neil of the SNP said the Scottish Government would financially support failed asylum seekers if Scotland was handed control over immigration. When I was in the SNP, I used to have a lot of time for Alex Neil, he is a good speaker, on top of his government brief, however, his statement is incredibly stupid at a time when Scots face austerity, lack of jobs and restore to using food banks and soup kitchens.

So, where is this financial support coming from, where is all this money the SNP seem to have their hands on? It’s coming out of the budgets of the poor, the sick and the vulnerable.

There is no chance that the SNP would get control over immigration even if the United Kingdom was to adopt a federal set up.

David Cameron and Theresa May have a mountain to climb if they were to try and push for an EU internal immigration policy, so they will probably just try for a limitation to the numbers coming into the United Kingdom. At present, the Conservatives are trying to do a ‘deal’ with European leaders on reform but I doubt that will be successful as they would hope.

At present there is the biggest influx into the EU in world history, if something is not done it will lead to civil unrest and violence. Just as you wouldn’t tolerate unwanted people breaking into your house, why should you tolerate breaking into your country?

Yours sincerely

George Laird 

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scotland’s unpopular First Minister Nicola Sturgeon becomes an apologist for the Nationalists hate mob who set out to intimidate and bully BBC staff doing their jobs; “The frustration that many (independence supporters) felt was not borne out of a misplaced desire to control the media”, to quote Nicola Sturgeon … “bollocks”!

Dear All

Unpopular Nicola Sturgeon has become an apologist for the hate campaign run by Nationalists during the Scottish independence referendum against the BBC.

She said:

"The frustration that many (independence supporters) felt was not borne out of a misplaced desire to control the media, but from a genuine concern that the playing field didn't always feel even."

There was a genuine desire to intimidate and bully as can be seen by the protests outside the BBC and online hatred towards BBC staff.

Sturgeon like the former despot Alex Salmond claims the BBC's coverage of last year's independence referendum was unfair.

As I remarked on Twitter yesterday, that is like saying a trial is unfair because the prosecution wants to use the truth.

Through-out the Scottish independence campaign, the Nationalists continually lied, distorted the truth, fabricated figures and made claims which no evidence supported. The biggest lies presented to the Scottish public were on the rather thorny issues of currency and the EU.

On the issue of the pound, the SNP tried to hoodwink the public that they could continue to use the pound and it would be backed by the Bank of England.

Some idiots at BT events hosted by former Labour MP screamed; “it’s our pound” as if that had some kind of legal backing attached to it. When the Westminster Government said no currency union, Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond tried to threaten Westminster.

On the EU, Sturgeon said that Scotland would have automatic EU membership and didn’t have to go through the normal entry procedures under Article 49, citing that the treaty could be changed and they could get in using Article 48. They even used Germany reunification as an example which was totally bogus and had no standing to support their case.

Germany reunification was first and foremost a matter of internal German domestic politics; Scotland leaving the United Kingdom was a completely different matter. The United Kingdom holds EU membership, any country leaving the Union, also leaves the EU by default. Scotland doesn’t have EU membership in its own right; that lie was also allowed to flourish during the Scottish independence referendum by the Nationalists. 

Another point worth mentioning is that part of the condition of EU entry is a country must have its own Central Bank and currency.

So, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon knew they were always going to ‘dump the pound’ which they created a smokescreen around to garner votes.

They wanted access to the European Central Bank, so they did a despicable con trick of deception played out on the Scottish public.

These issues were touched on by the Better Together campaign, bloggers such as me; and the wider mainstream media. 

With so much lies and deception coming from the Nationalist camp, it was only right that the BBC analysed the SNP's case for independence in depth. Like raw sewage the SNP kept pumping out a horror story dress up as a fairytale.

For Nicola Sturgeon to claim unfairness in reporting and also claim 'network' journalists, reporting the story for the whole of the UK, were poorly informed is utterly bizarre.

To quote Sturgeon:

“bollocks”!

At present the SNP are trying to cobble a case to get control of the BBC in Scotland, and they are making demands and saying they are willing to be an ‘ally’. The BBC doesn’t need this ‘petty small minded provincial grievance merchant’ stinking up Pacific Quay in Glasgow.

At the Alternative McTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, she launched a strongly-worded attack on the BBC, the wrong time, the wrong place and the wrong subject.

She said:

"I am not saying there was institutional bias in the BBC's referendum output. However, there were occasions when its coverage - through oversight, apparent ignorance of the detail of an issue or as a result of simply following the agenda of openly partisan print media - lapsed from the objective output the referendum deserved into what could seem partial and, at times, pejorative. I don't doubt the effort and integrity that went into the Corporation's coverage. And, for the record, I think that the BBC; and BBC Scotland in particular, has some of the finest political journalists in the land”.

Boak!

Nicola Sturgeon does fake sincerity as badly as young guy tugging away at his first pair of female panties, clumsy and rather crude with a belief of being sophisticated.

Sturgeon added:

In trying to appear Statesmanlike and failing yet again, she stated it was right the case for independence should be analysed to a greater degree than the case for staying in the UK.

But a moan worthy of Joan McAlpine, she complained:

"The status quo and the consequences of voting No were not really analysed at all."

What is there to be analysed, all the information of No which is the status quo is already published.

The consequences of voting No in the Pollok constituency for example were saving the BBC from being shutdown, saving Govan Shipbuilders from being shutdown and saving the NHS from being financially wrecked and thereby saving the lives of many people.

Scotland’s unpopular First Minister Nicola Sturgeon didn’t seem overly concerned with their plight much in the same way as she didn’t seem concerned about helping Joyce in Inverclyde who needed a specialised drug. It took a major relapse before Joyce got help despite Sturgeon being ‘concerned’ and doing the photo op.

The SNP wanted to shut down the BBC if they had won independence and replace it with a new State broadcaster presumably headed up by Blair Jenkins, Jenkins has since disappeared after Yes Scotland; an SNP front run by the Nationalists got handed their ass on the 18^th September 2014.

SNP control of BBC Scotland is a joke in very poor taste; it will also be dismissed as verboten down the road at Westminster. It seems that Nicola Sturgeon is becoming as ridiculous as Alex Salmond with the bizarre outbursts; it is like watching outtakes from failed candidates from the X Factor.

I am a big fan of the BBC, I want them to ask politicians from any party the hard questions; I don’t want them gagged by the SNP goons, the BBC protests were a huge tactical mistake, but what do you expect from stupid small minded little people in every sense of the word.

From the SNP expect nothing and you will not be disappointed.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scotland’s unpopular First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will be an ally of the BBC if they ‘dance to her tune’, BBC reporter Nick Robinson was subjected to a sustain and organised Nationalist hate campaign, Alex Salmond’s feud with Robinson shows how petty mean spirited and nasty the Scottish National Party are, bad losers and also bad winners

Dear All

It seems that unpopular Nicola Sturgeon is saying that her government can be an ally of the BBC if organisation bows down to the Nationalists and accepts her reforms. It seems that Sturgeon wants a new federal structure and new radio and television channels.

That won’t happen.

A federal structure won’t work for the BBC because it would lead to the Nationalists attempting to get state control of the organisation for political purposes.

The BBC will get its charter renewed, there is no question about that, just as people are signed to the NHS as a concept, they are equally signed up to the BBC, it’s their BBC, it’s what they know, what they like and what they want.

Aside from those people who don’t pay their TV licence.

During the independence referendum, the BBC was targeted by the Nationalists, although the leadership kept their distance from the staged managed protests outside the BBC HQ in Glasgow, also missing where the prominent Yes campaigners and SNP politicians.

This is very telling by their absence.

It says to me that these protests were organised and orchestrated much further up the line of the Nationalist camp and the ‘dafties’ were sent in to play the part of ‘outraged ordinary people’, it was all fake.

Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond was asked repeatedly time and time again to condemn the protests and always he refused calling them ‘joyous’. A ‘joyous’ angery hate filled mob bent on intimidation and bullying of the broadcaster and its Glasgow staff.

Outgoing political editor Nick Robinson has accused Alex salmond of wanting control of the BBC, and he is exactly right, the SNP would dearly love to dictate what the BBC shows, especially they want control of the news media output.

The Scottish National Party has and is running a vendetta against the BBC prior to the independence referendum and post defeat. Nicola Sturgeon recently had a private dinner with Nick Robinson and his family along, this is a n attempt to butter up Robinson and distance herself from Salmond’s rhetoric and personal running grudge against Nick Robinson.

No one will buy Sturgeon’s fake sincerity towards Robinson and the BBC, Nicola Sturgeon is a fake. She sits now at the head of a ‘rat ship’, although faces may have changed and some others brought on board, the SNP remains as I have written in the past a ‘rat ship’.

Another one of Robinson’s bang on the money comments was when he described Nationalist protests against the BBC as “Putin-like”. Like the Putin protests in Russia, they were controlled by Putin’s party behind the scenes.

The running feud by Alex Salmond is the realisation by him that he is a fading star whose day has come and gone. Now, he is more like an attention seeking whore on a low grade talent show thinking the more outrageous and stupid he is the more the cameras will keep the spotlight on him.

That will work for a while, but the more coverage of him being ridiculous the more of a liability he will be to the SNP.

Salmond is the poster boy for hatred against the BBC.

Finally, if Sturgeon thinks a few spuds, a side dish of veggies and a roast will buy off someone from the BBC like Nick Robinson, she is sadly mistaken.

Nicola Sturgeon will need a hell of a lot of spuds to make Nick Robinson forget that it was her party members who led the hate campaign against him while Alex Salmond stood back and allowed it to continue, and her trap was also firmly shut as I recall, however she did mumble something when forced to.

No one is forgetting anything Sturgeon, no one is forgetting you are a rat.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Alex Salmond indy is dead, down among the Gravestones

Police Scotland in crisis, unpopular Nicola Sturgeon puts Michael ‘the mouse’ Matheson in as Scottish Justice Secretary to replace the dud that was Kenny MacAskill, now rank and file members of the Police are speaking out about a botched Police service, “some very uncomfortable reading” is code for incompetence, yet again the SNP Government fails Scotland

Dear All

It can’t be much fun working in Police Scotland at present, the service was setup badly, because of this it was run badly, it lacks proper accountability and morale is dropping.

There is an old saying that if everyone knows the score, they can fit in, provided that a reasonable attempt is made to operate a system which is based on sound principles. When the SNP setup Police Scotland, they rammed it through with dealing with the problems they created.

Overnight everyone in the 8 forces was suddenly Police Scotland.

Police Scotland is just a name change, in Scotland, there are several national law enforcement agencies which operate perfectly fine, no one thinks twice that they are a national agency because it isn’t relevant.  

Today on Twitter, I floated my new idea, scrap the office of Chief Constable and instead have an elected Commissioner. Stephen House as I said many times before wasn’t my first choice for Chief Constable; in fact I thought it was important he didn’t get it. I have nothing personal against him and some of the problems would have surfaced regardless who was sitting behind the desk. He does carry some blame but it would be unfair to make him a scapegoat for the political failure of others.

Everyone involved has a slice of that pudding.

When I trotted out the idea of a unified Police Force at the SNP National Assembly in September 2010, it was to have a triple lock of accountability; this would be helpful to the Police and Politicians. Local boards, National Board and a new Justice 3 Committee for oversight; I have written about this before, it deals with issues flagged in the press. Another point which I mentioned by in 2010, was an increase in Special Constables numbers, this would allow members of the community subject to normal vetting to become the traditional bobby on the beat. 

They wouldn’t be community wardens; they would be Police Officers with the full powers that go with it.

As in any organisation, you get surveys asking for feedback, well someone thought it was a good idea to do a survey of officers and staff, however, it seems that everything is not rosy in the garden. Although it isn’t published just yet, it is said to make “some very uncomfortable reading” for Police Scotland.

This is the vibe coming from the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents 98% of police officers in Scotland. Over the last few weeks, I have looking at videos of Policing in America that has gone bad; this for the most part isn’t the experience of Scotland or indeed the rest of the United Kingdom. You can find examples though if you do some research, mostly confrontations happen when either side don’t know the law. We recognise that Policing is necessary, and that the job can be difficult and sometimes dangerous, but it has to be done.

There have been some high profile cases which stick out regarding the calls for reform of Police Scotland, the deaths of two people left for three days in a crashed car and the death in custody of Sheku Bayoh.

These are tragic events, but they shouldn’t be used as an excuse to knock the whole service, ex SNP leader Gordon Wilson used them to call for Federalisation of the Service. This wouldn’t have made any difference to the cases above; both these cases were a failure not at the top but much more local.

You can’t blame Stephen House for these cases.

Chairman Brian Docherty said:

“We know our members are working harder and longer than ever, face greater disruption than ever before and that in parts of the service they are at breaking point. We also know that policing in Scotland has undergone the most monumental public-sector reform and against a backdrop of austerity, pension reform, real-terms wage deflation and a relentless media frenzy, we fully expect the staff survey will make for some very uncomfortable reading. We can’t recall any other body being expected to publish its internal reports, but given the increased politicised nature of policing in Scotland we won’t be surprised that the usual commentators will use this as another stick with which to beat, what is by any measure, an excellent public service".

He added:

“Our members deserve to be recognised for the work they do and service they provide. We believe this survey will reinforce that they have sacrificed a great deal to deliver for our communities and that it is time they were given the chance to catch their breath. We know that unless the service looks after its staff, it is all of our communities who suffer.”

I am going to leave the issues regarding pay and conditions; they can get round the table about that with their employers. The real issues are damage to morale and the increased politicised nature of policing in Scotland. The 8 forces were merged into one service so that front line policing jobs could be protected.

The alternative was job losses.

Kenny MacAskill wasn’t a fan of Police Scotland, so he left it to go on its merry way as he rushed off to chase the independence dream. After he was removed thereby proving my continued point that he was a deadbeat, up pops Michael Matheson as the Justice Sec, given the Nicola Sturgeon seal of approval. At present the Justice Sec is keeping such a low profile that you might be tempted to ask him who he is hiding from.

To add to this tale of woe, we have the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) loaded with SNP cronies who need removed as soon as possible to a park bench to feed the pigeons, services no longer required.

Scottish Labour have called on Police Scotland to publish the survey without delay, however, regardless what is in the survey, the Scottish Labour Party need to do a plan for a reformed Police Scotland.

Any additional information which the survey throws up could be used to shape the service and get it back onto an even keel.

The Scottish National Party is a party of protest and not of government.

Finally, if someone could tell Police Scotland not to have their traffic police do ‘blue light’ runs with their sirens screaming on empty roads outside their HQ in Govan at 3 am in the morning; I would be really grateful, the pigeons round my way need their rest.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale says she is willing to let Corbynistas stand for Holyrood, Labour seeks new blood to tackle the SNP, pay a membership and take your chances, anyone think I should join and put myself forward?

Dear All

One of the things I wrote quite a lot on in the Scottish National Party was the need for Glasgow Labour to do a cull of councillors, not for party political reasons, but for the only reason that matter, some people weren’t doing their job.

And hadn’t been for years, some in the Glasgow Labour Group were using the City Chambers like it was a private club, and given the strength of the party with voters, at that time, no one could do anything about it.

Complaints fell on deaf ears.

2011 rolled by and the SNP won big at Holyrood, of the four campaigns I took part in, 3 people were elected and the fourth came within about 700 votes of putting Pollok MSP Johann Lamont out into the street.

The SNP felt they were on to a sure thing regards taking the council, the Labour Party was at a low point. Anyway, in case people don’t know the Labour Party read my blog along with many others, and the conclusion I came to was that a cull was needed.

Maybe it was coincidence but the Labour Party adopted the same thinking and about 20 councillors were put to the sword, although I didn’t agree with every choice made. This single act of being in fresh talent helped Labour win 44 out of 45 seats contested. In truth despite Labour’s many problems, the SNP in Glasgow made a woefully inept and totally out of her depth Nicola Sturgeon crony as their leader.

So, culls works, but they shouldn’t be used as a blunt sword or one size fits all, if someone is placed as a candidate it must be for a good reason. The only reason that matters is that they will work hard for the people they are elected to serve and in return this will help to elevate the Party in the minds of the public.

Just as a cull was needed for the 2012 council election, a cull was needed for Westminster 2015, that didn’t happened, and the results speak for themselves. People who were previously Labour voters said enough’s enough and swept away all but one Labour MP in Scotland.

Labour didn’t do their cull so the public did it for them.

Next election is in 2016, this is the Holyrood election, as part of the reform agenda by Kezia Dugdale, she is willing to let supporters of Jeremy Corbyn just in the door having joined Labour get a chance to become MSPs next May. New members can indeed reinvigorate Scottish Labour if you pick the right people. The question then becomes what is the ‘right people’, is it going to be the same type of people from the same type of places that has gone before, if so, it is doubtful that progress can be made.

Most people couldn’t name many Scottish Labour MPs before the Labour collapse in 2015, and the same applies to Labour MSPs facing the same fate in 2016.

What was the big original idea out of the mouth of your current MSP?

You probably don’t know and probably don’t even know who they are, were they are or what they stand for.   

Tens of thousands have joined Labour in recent weeks to vote in the leadership, you pay your £3 and that allows you to vote to elect the next leader of the Labour Party, who in all probability will be Jeremy Corbyn.

Under Labour rules, people must be members for a year before they can stand as candidates which is pretty standard for political parties. Given the current situation the

Scottish party recently changed its “exceptional circumstances” rule. I would imagine that is to ensure that if someone is talented then they don’t float off and stand as an independent or join someone else.

Political talent pool isn’t great in Scotland.

SNP MSP James Dornan said:

“Kezia Dugdale has her work cut out for her in attracting new blood to her party. Labour’s continued negativity, infighting and failure to stand up to the Tories leaves them with a gigantic credibility gap in the eyes of the Scottish public.”

I met James Dornan when he took part in a Gordon Brewer radio show in Townhead, he was cheeky to me, I thinking, I will abide just my time. So, when Gordon Brewer pointed for me to speak Labour, I ripped Dornan a new ass on the radio. Jim Murphy who had been jotting down something on paper stopped and looked up as the exchanged took place. Afterwards, Jim Murphy stopped by to say hello and commented on how angry James Dornan was.

I said, yes, he did look unhappy.

What Scottish Labour needs is people with a vision to turn the party’s fortunes around, it doesn’t matter whether they support Corbyn or anyone else, but is does matter that they support the people they were elected to serve. Because that’s the trick if Labour is to get a hearing with the voters.

The days of relying on voters to back Labour have now gone; now it is hard graft, and some people just aren’t up to the task. Paul Martin in Provan, Johann Lamont in Pollok; and Patricia Ferguson are facing the end of their careers. I wonder if they will be knocking on the door of Scottish general secretary Brian Roy to get a new campaigning model because the 2015 one appears rather defective.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Bleeding Scotland dry, second SNP Minister dragged into T in the Park cronyism row, SNP Government leadership have a history of passing public money to organisations connected to SNP members close to the senior leadership, Nicola Sturgeon has a lot to answer for, her mask can’t hide the truth; she is rotten to the core

Dear All

The Scottish National Party is a ‘cult’ designed to promoted the vested interests of a few, if you want money get yourself connected to a senior SNP Minister or better still member of the leadership.

Cronyism is nothing new in the SNP, it was rife under Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’’ Alex Salmond and it still flourishes under unpopular Nicola Sturgeon.

But the good news, if any, is that it is now coming out into the public domain, which places the spotlight firmly on the leadership.

The T in the Park cronyism is interesting because this wasn’t a failing company getting a bailout, it was a successful one with a turnover of about £170 million a year, and in profit.

In profit is the important part of this story.   

Just as Fiona Hyslop is under the microscope, so now is the SNP Chairman and Transport minister Derek Mackay, Mackay is a rat who deserted his wife and kids.

Mackay like Hyslop also took time out to meet DF Concerts after an approach by Jennifer Dempsie.

Dempsie was a former adviser to Alex Salmond, her involvement was she working on a short-term contract with the firm.

Quite right the Labour Party is running with this scandal because it goes right back to the heart of the SNP leadership.

They want to know how Ms Dempsie could “open so many doors” in the Government, the answer is these cannot distinguish the difference between Government and the SNP.

Could an ordinary person get the same access Jennifer Dempsie?

No!

Jennifer Dempsie is the partner of SNP ‘fake Scot’ and Westminster leader Angus Robertson, the SNP is run by the few, for the few at the expense of the many.

Although Hyslop signed off on an “ad hoc state aid” package of £150,000, this money should be returned by DF Concerts.  

Deputy Scottish Labour leader Alex Rowley said:

“Questions have to be asked about how one person can open so many doors in the Scottish Government for the T in the Park organisers. I have already written to Fiona Hyslop asking about Jennifer Dempsie’s role in T in the Park being awarded a £150,000 grant, but now it seems her involvement is much wider. The public have a right to know about all the access that T in the Park organisers had to SNP Ministers.”

Former SNP leader Gordon Wilson hits the nail on the head when he says that Dempsie who is trying to become an SNP list MSP for the Highlands & Islands has “personally lost credibility”.

I would take that further and say the SNP Government has lost credibility, Audit Scotland should run and investigation into how much public cash is being funnelled to organisations connected to the Scottish National Party members.

Already we know of £150,000 in one incident, but there are more in the pipeline, the SNP has made a habit of this in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

The SNP are basically stupid greedy individuals who follow a pattern, they will continue to milk Scotland dry at the expense of the sick, the poor and the vulnerable.

And this will be done under Nicola Sturgeon’s watch with no questions asked.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scottish independence is dead PT2, HMS Artful’s arrival in Scotland clearly shows that Nicola Sturgeon has been politically neutered as a driving force in the independence debate, Sturgeon in power means the ‘coast is clear’, clear enough to park nuclear subs in Scottish waters

Dear All

Scottish independence is stone dead; if you listen to unpopular Nicola Sturgeon making implied threats of the mythical second referendum, just give yourself a little laugh.

Just sit and go…… hehehehe!

Nicola Sturgeon has been politically neutered on independence; the issue cannot be resurrected during her tenure as SNP leader.

She will of course play the ‘angry wee Nat’ card to her supporters to win elections but they are living in a delusion.

The SNP MPs and MSPs will do solo calls to fan the flames but this is entirely meaningless, to stir people in servicing the clique.

Sturgeon has been effectively bought off; another sign of this was the Sturgeon family holidaying with the Queen.

Threats of indy 2 on the EU referendum are entirely bogus, and completely without foundation.

It all just empty hot air.

The British Government know now the ‘coast is clear’, and as the coast is clear, Britain's latest nuclear-powered submarine will soon be arriving at its new home on the Clyde.

HMS Artful is firm evidence, the independence boat has sailed, the sub is the third of the Royal Navy's new Astute class attack submarines. It is top of the line and brand new; currently going through sea trials, her home will be Scotland. The Sub is a 7,400-tonne vessel built in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, so hopefully it wouldn't leak.

So, what future for the SNP leadership now?

Downhill all the way, the new members can know, or will find out soon enough that they have betrayed, and also realise that the public have been ‘bought off’ with pennies and robbed of a future.

It is pointless to be in the Scottish National Party now, they aren’t campaigning for independence anymore; they will not be rocking the boat because they will want to cling to their tax payer funded salaries at Westminster and Holyrood.

So, as you see HMS Artful sailing up and down the Clyde, you can be sure the MoD has weighed up all the issues relating to Scottish politics and know that Faslane is a safe bet for the fleet for decades.

I totally support the nuclear fleet being in Faslane, sadly Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon couldn’t work out that backing Faslane guaranteed Scottish sovereignty.

Their poor judgement on this issue and others were ‘key’ to the independence failure.

Salmond and Sturgeon couldn’t understand what Statehood was all about, or defence or currency or equality or justice social etc etc. The White Paper was the most expensive con trick using tax payer cash of the referendum.

And a pile of rubbish to boot!

This is the most significant indication that the SNP question has been dealt with, and a symbol that the UK is securely intact.

Even with Nicola Sturgeon at the helm in Scotland!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scotland’s unpopular First Minster Nicola Sturgeon sees criticism mount over her botched Government’s handling of Police Scotland, ex SNP leader Gordon Wilson manages in 2015 to get to the same position I had in 2010, a Holyrood Justice Committee needs to have permanent oversight; Sturgeon bottles it on reform yet again

Dear All

On the 4^th September 2010, I attended the SNP National Assembly in Perth; unpopular Nicola Sturegon hosted that event. There were various tables laid out with place cards where people could sit down and discuss a topic.

As it happened, I bumped into someone I knew from various by-elections, we chatted for a bit and then he asked me, what are you here for? I said I am here to propose a single national Police Force and Fire Service. He was of a similar view regarding the Police and I said let’s sit down at the same table together and ram it through.

Anyway, the table had a crowd of non-believers, so taking the lead, I shot down every objection they made.

This is what I said:

1/ Local boards would be kept, (this ran to 8)

2/ There would be a national board made up of about 20 people, two from each local board would be sitting on the National board along with some others co-opted in. This was what I termed stage one reform.

3/ There would be a new justice committee set up, called ‘justice 3’ they would have oversight; this would ensure a triple lock of accountability which would enhance the confidence of the public. No member of justice 1 and 2 would be eligible to sit on justice 3.

You can read my thoughts as this is noted on the blog at the time.

When Police Scotland was setup I didn’t think that Stephen House should be appointed as Chief Constable, his appointment has had difficulties. The service was rushed through as the SNP under the direction of Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond cleared the decks for his failed independence bid. Steering the ship onto the rocks was Kenny MacAskill, the worst justice secretary in the history of the Scottish Government. Macskill wasn’t a supporter of the project and it showed by his hands off approach. He would pop up in Police photos standing next to a confiscated drug dealer’s flash car and think he was some kind of rock star.

When the taser issue surfaced MacAskill said it was an ‘operational matter’ the useless git, and did nothing. What he should have done was order tasers to be withdrawn from service, and if anyone was unhappy, their P45 could be found rather quickly at Human Resources. I don’t favour taser use on the public because of the risk of death due to heart attack or seizure.

I don’t entirely blame Stephen House for the mess the SNP created and then walked off to find someone to blame, in the case of VAT issue, this was “Westminster’s fault” rather than their own incompetence. Other bad PR issues were the closure of local police stations and the arming of officers, I favour an armed force; this was part of what should have been stage two reforms in the event of Scotland being independent. Other law enforcement agencies would also fold into Police Scotland in order to save money and be a more integrated law enforcement body.

Now, former SNP leader Gordon Wilson has launched a bizarre attack on Police Scotland calling for the force to be broken up into four distinct regional bodies. Once Police Scotland was formed there would be no going back, the failure isn’t the idea, the failure is the application and changes made by the SNP to claim ‘ownership’ and they are right, they can claim ‘ownership’ of their botched half arsed changes. It isn’t root and branch reform that is needed now, it is leadership.

Federalism is a buzzword in politics at the moment; Wilson wants a reorganisation to a federal system of regional forces. The four regional forces would each have its own Chief Constable and would be overseen by local authorities.

This is nonsense, the way these people are carrying on you would think they were trying to run NASA and put people into space, it’s a police service. Police Scotland would be run by a federal Executive Board consisting of a Chief Constable as executive chair, a Deputy Chief Constable as vice chair, the four regional Chief Constables and a Director of Finance.

So, where is the accountability?

One thing he did get right was the call for the abolition of the Scottish Police Authority; I support this to see Freeman put out on the street along with the SNP ‘leafletter’ who got on the board.

What a joke these two are in my opinion.

And interestingly, he called for National oversight of the police would then be transferred to the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee, my idea of five years ago.

George Laird right again?

In padding out his case, Wilson lists issues that made national news such as the Sheku Bayoh affair and the off road death on the A9, tragic as these incidents are, they are not reasons for abandoning a national police force to his federal model.

These incidents could happen under Wilson’s new setup.

Judging by the response of an SNP mouthpiece it rather looks like Wilson’s proposals will not get an airing, and they should, because some of the nonsense, he spouts regarding direction is unhelpful and should be challenged.

The service will remain questionable until it is fixed, but it looks increasingly likely that this will not happen under unpopular Nicola Sturgeon as she fired a dud into replace MacAskill as Justice Sec.

You don’t hear much from him; perhaps he is hiding in a coal bunkers somewhere trying to think up something to be recognised. 

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

Labour Leader hopeful Jeremy Corbyn says, ‘I'm a Socialist not a Unionist’, if he ever wishes to be Prime Minister, he better have a good explanation as to why he is suitable to PM, comments like that are enough to supper anyone’s chances of the top job in British politics

Dear All

In politics, there is at present a limited choice which most people see as no real choice describing all parties are the same, whoever gets in isn’t helping them.

In Scotland, the political landscape has changed and not for the better, again, there is a lack of choice but also huge dissatisfaction wh9ich has built up over several years.

Currently;

The Labour Party is in dire straits

The Conservative Party is still toxic

The Lib Dems have been wiped out by Nick Clegg’s bad judgement

The SSP is trying to rebrand itself with something called the Scottish Left Project, which won’t work

The Scottish Greens, well just struggling along

Solidarity which is Tommy Sheridan’s Party is pretty much dead and buried politically, despite his attempts using indy and hope over fear rallies.

Ukip is struggling in Scotland; they have managed to turn anti EU feeling into seats

The Scottish National Party tapped in the dissent of voters but people will find out the hard and painful way that the Nationalists don’t care about them.

Most people are finding out that they don’t have a party to vote for; it isn’t about voting for the most popular it seems that many people, they are voting for the least worst.

For politics to be healthy there has to be real choice, but mostly it isn’t.

Down South; Jeremy Corbyn is looking increasingly like the only game in town as people switch from New Labour Blairities to Corbynites whatever that means. I would say that Jeremy Corbyn represents for Labour a transition.

The Labour Party needs to listen, and act on behalf of the people, not as it was acting like ‘managers’ of the people. It took a long time for Labour to fall in Scotland, and when the Westminster election came, it was like quicksilver.

Now, up pops Jeremy Corbyn saying he is a Socialist not a Unionist, is this going to make voters switch back in Scotland?

Anyone sitting about thinking ‘if only we had a ‘socialist in charge’, personally I doubt it, what people want is a good MP who will work their socks off to get their constituents problems solved, they want a party that addresses the needs of the poor and vulnerable, a party that is pro-active in making sure that life chances are increased for all, and that ‘equality and justice’ isn’t rationed to certain select groups as it is at present.

That is what Scots are wanting, a fair crack of the whip, is that what Jeremy Corbyn is offering?

Or, is he the man who is going to re-run the Labour policies of the 1980’s and not get anywhere and achieve nothing.

 

He is correct when he says that “the Union of itself” did not end austerity, health inequality and poor housing.

Corbyn added:

“Only a radical political programme guarantees those things. That’s why what we were doing in Scotland last week - and will be doing again - is something that does offer an alternative and is therefore attractive to working class Scots to stay within the UK in order to achieve those things.”

A word to look out for in politics at present is ‘alternative’, but in some cases ‘alternative’ is linked to pie in the sky and delusion.

David Miliband, the ex-Foreign Secretary isn’t backing Corbyn, he is throwing his weight behind iz Kendall and claimed a Corbyn victory risked creating a “one-governing-party state”, the party being the Conservatives.

Andy Burnham although standing is hedging his bets because the tide and winds seem to be with Corybn, he says there is a "good deal of common ground" between himself and Corbyn.

He cites transport and education, whoopee!

Yvette Cooper’s campaign doesn’t seem to have steam despite being a well-known figure within the party,

Could she spring past everyone?

Seems a bit ten to midnight if you ask me if she could win given the circumstances as they are at present!

In an interview with what many see as the pro SNP paper the Herald, Corbyn was asked if he was a Unionist.

He said:

“No. I would describe myself as a Socialist. I would prefer the UK to stay together, yes, but I recognise the right of people to take the decision on their own autonomy and independence”.

He added:

“I would hope that we can offer a sufficiently radical economic agenda for the whole of the UK that will ensure that all those traditions of Labour in Scotland, in Wales for that matter as well as in England do come together within the party.”

Corybn rather looks signed up to the Conservatives’ idea of strategic disengagement which to my mind doesn’t tick the box of being ‘radical’.

One thing Corbyn got right is that there needs to be an alternative economic strategy.

He said:

“By offering an alternative economic strategy which addresses the levels of poverty and inequality. Look at health inequality in the UK. The worst places for this are London, Birmingham, parts of Manchester and Glasgow...If you’re poor and in a bad place, you’re poor and in a bad place. Labour can play a huge role in uniting people on the basis of a radical economic strategy and that’s why all of our campaign has essentially been around challenging the political agenda of austerity and it’s chiming with a lot of young people, particularly with young, working class communities in Scotland.”

Tony Blair entered office, he ran on change, he ran on hope, he ran on being an alternative, once he got in f*cked the poor, the sick and the vulnerable.

Scotland eventually had enough, and the rot set in, and it grew and grew and then the entire Labour project collapsed in the most dramatic fashion.

Kezia Dugdale said once elected ‘hear me out’, the trouble is that too many people have closed the book on Labour, and it will take something rather special to get them back. Looking at the situation if there is another vote down the line the Labour Party won’t work with the Conservatives.

This isn’t why they lost in Westminster 2015, they lost in 2015 because people were sick of being ignored; Labour won’t cull bad MPs so the task fell to the public, when it clicked with them, the good got swept away with the bad.

One thing is certain; we will all know pretty early on whether the new team in London and in Scotland will connect with the people of Scotland as they lay out their vision.

This could be the darkest time in the history of the Labour movement on both sides of the border.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

Scottish Conservatives in Crisis, Ruth Davidson failed her first test of leadership in Westminster 2015 election, no gains in seats; add to that the Conservative share of the vote fell, now her Chief of Staff quits, Scotland is crying out for a centre right alternative to the SNP, but they aren’t looking to Ruth Davidson

Dear All

Politics has been not very interesting since the Westminster 2015 election despite a spat of recent by-elections, they produced no surprise winners.

In the Westminster 2015 election, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson badly lost in her first major test of campaigning, the Euro election generate no real data because of the low number of seats, it wasn’t worth considering it as a test of her leadership.

One MEP was returned, Ian Duncan, I thought he would do well given his background and interest in the fishing industry. The Scottish Conservatives ran a rather low key affair of a Westminster election politically; it was rather dull, the campaign centred on Ruth Davidson. 

It looked like an advert to build her personal profile rather than any serious attempt to win seats.

And less we forget, despite high hopes, the Scottish Tories failed to make progress at the election, their vote share fell from 16.7 to 14.9 per cent. I didn’t think they would win any new seats and they didn’t, the campaign was a failure, it was also a benchmark of failing her first real test of leadership.

In politics, it helps to make progress, but you can only make progress if you have something to offer the voters. Ruth Davidson had nothing to offer and in return she got nothing, except slippage of the vote. So, that’s a lost, and when you keep losing, your position becomes untenable because the men in the grey suits wants results; and the Conservatives have a track record of getting rid of leaders who fail to shine. 

Annabel Goldie’s leadership was mostly steady and she did ‘hold the fort’ rather well, but that isn’t progress.

In 2016, there will be the Holyrood election, already it has been announced that Ruth Davidson is abandoning Glasgow to shift over to Edinburgh to live, this is said to because Glasgow can only elect one list MSP and in the Lothian area there is a chance of two seats being up for grabs.

And she might not get elected on the Glasgow list.

After deciding to seek life elsewhere, this prompted some people to use the “carpet-bagging”, I think I even used this myself when she was on the list to try and be an MP in the Bromsgrove seat of Julie Kirkpatrick down in England. An expenses scandal prompted Julie Kirkpatrick to leave politics after it made national headlines.

Anyway, to move on, it transpires that Ruth Davidson has lost a key aide ahead of the 2016 elections. It seems that her Chief of staff Lindsay McCallum unexpectedly quit, apparently there are rumours of unhappiness and a rift with Davidson. It seems that Lindsay McCallum was supposed to be a future party high-flier, to show how well in with the bricks she was, she stood in the Ross, Skye and Lochaber seat. In politics, main parties sometimes put people in seats where they have no chance to see how well they do and perform before they get a chance at a possibly electable seat.

In post less than a year, standing for election and baling out, all seems rather dramatic, especially when one bright spark Tory MSP said:

 “I heard there had been a furious bust-up with Ruth.”

McCallum said her decision to go had been a “personal choice”.

Same for everyone else dear!

McCallum said:

“I wish Ruth well. I hope that the party increases its MSPs next year. I think they have a good opportunity and Ruth is a good leader.”

Presumably she said this without the benefit of looking at polling. Given the drop in share of the vote at Westminster 2015, how exactly did she arrive at ‘good opportunity’?

If going backwards represents a ‘good opportunity’ what does increasing the vote mean?

I only ask in my search to understand the logic given recent events.

A Tory spokesman said the departure had been “amicable”, adding:

“There has been a restructuring of the office and as part of that Lindsay is no longer employed.”

Quite so ma’am!

“I heard there had been a furious bust-up with Ruth.”

Recently, I was talking to someone who said to me that there was a ‘strategic disengagement’ going on by the Westminster Conservative government in regards to Scotland. An example of this is EVEL, English Votes for English Laws, which is wrong, as it will be bad for England and its people, not to have a Scottish voice being heard in drafting and voting on legislation is a weakness. Of course, the SNP bring absolutely nothing to the table when you look at their catalogue of failure of 8 years.

Policy replaced by spin, hype and short term gain, a party of protest but not of Government.

If there is a ‘strategic disengagement’, it may also be happening in the Scottish Conservatives by Ruth Davidson giving up Glasgow to head to presumably a better situation.

I hope that the Holyrood election for the Conservatives isn’t a re-run of Ruth Davidson using it as a platform for raising her profile. If she does, she may find that her leadership and judgement will be called into question.

And then the hunt will be on for a new leader of the Scottish Conservatives which would have to include a commitment to seeing all Conservatives policies to be re-written.

Scotland needs a new strong centre right party to take on the Nationalists, led a new type of leader who is able to bridge the gap and make people believe in a new future.

The low turns outs in by-elections clearly show this is the case.

If there is no improvement in Holyrood 2016 than Ruth Davidson is damaged goods, you can only coast for so long before too many people notice.

The vote share fell from 16.7 to 14.9 per cent so even her own supporters are disenfranchised with her leadership.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University  

Kezia Dugdale elected Scottish Labour leader, Alex Rowley as deputy, no surprises there for George Laird, the new pair better get cracking because the clock on their leadership started the second the result of the contest was announced, Labour need transformed, a cull and a new vision, sometimes you need to go through the pain to survive

Dear All

The votes are in, the result is official but there is no surprise, well at least for me, I said the Labour contest would end with Kezia Dugdale as leader, and Alex Rowley as Deputy.

George Laird right again.

Ken Macintosh has had two attempts now to be leader, each attempt ended in failure, when he stood against Johann Lamont; that was his window of opportunity.

When he said he could be First Minster next year and that he was winning, I was very sceptical, during the Scottish independence campaign, he wasn’t a leading figure. A couple of weekends before the vote on the 18^th September, I came across him and his family in B & Q  in Darnley, to say the least I was highly surprised.

You may remember I wrote a post because someone was asking me in a worried fashion how the vote was going, I said just as Francis Drake played bowls, George Laird was doing gardening, actually more supervising, then doing the thing myself, some people……..

Anyway, since the vote, Ken Macintosh hasn’t impressed but credit where due he was onto something when he said the Labour Deputy leader should be a councillor. I thought this idea was one of exceptional merit but he needed more. And in some respects he was up against the Labour ‘machine’, the party think I assume that because Kezia Dugdale is a woman that they think she is best place to take on unpopular Nicola Sturgeon.

It doesn’t work that way, and unless Kezia Dugdale rises to the new challenges she is going to find in the most painful way how lonely leadership is when things go terribly wrong. Jim Murphy had about 8 months before he experienced the worst Labour result since 1918 for the party in Scotland.

He was seen as the most popular figure coupled with experience so Labour rallied round him.

That ended badly.

Dugdale, the favourite to win the contest, won 72.1% of the vote, while Mr Macintosh was backed by 27.9%.

Holyrood could be another ‘1918’ event which would put pressure on Kezia Dugdale, if I was in Labour, I would try to win in 2016 as normal, but the job of Dugdale is to rebuild the Labour Party in Scotland along with Alex Rowley or they will find they will down to having a rump support which does win enough seats. The Scottish Conservatives have and are experiencing what that is like, it isn’t pretty.

The new deputy leader has aalso been elected, that person is Alex Rowley; in some respects he was the only realistic option on the ballot paper. I was never convinced by Richard Baker and although I wanted to see a councillor hold the post as Deputy, I didn’t think Gordon Matheson could pull it off, and he still has ‘local’ trouble in the Glasgow Councillor Group, half his councillors want him out. He gave it a go and it didn’t pay off, that is the trouble with gambling, sometimes the dice roll not in your favour.

So, Alex Rowley is Deputy leader; his task along with Kezia Dugdale is to rebuild the party, get in new fresh blood and try and set the party back on an even keel. 

Dugdale said:

 "I know that the past few months have been incredibly difficult for Labour members across the country. I know this because I have been out on the doorsteps, I have been there with you. But I have a message for Labour Party members out there knocking their pan in for this party that we all love: we are down but we are not out."

She added:

"I will work night and day over the coming weeks and months to make you proud, to honour that trust that you have put in me today, to give you some hope, to renew your faith in our abilities to transform the communities that we seek to serve.

"And I have a message for the people of Scotland too: take another look at the Scottish Labour Party."

On the reasons why people aren’t voting Labour, she said:

"Firstly, a large part of the population have simply switched off from us. It's not so much that they don't like what they hear; they have stopped listening to us altogether. Secondly, those who are willing to give us a hearing say that they don't know what we stand for any more”.

Right on the first part and right on the second part!

But she failed to explain why they stopped listening; the reason for that is that certain Labour MPs and other elected people had stopped listening to people and helping constituents address their complaints?

What good is electing someone when you seek their help they take their huge taxpayer salary and just ignore you?

This year at the Westminster election, the people of Scotland did a cull of Scottish Labour MPs bar one, next year; the public judging by polls could do exactly the same and wipe out every first past the post MSPs in the Labour Party.

This could happen!

Prior to the Glasgow Council Election of 2012, the Labour Group at the Council experienced the period in their history, things were popping out into the public domain which led to the massive cull prior to the election.

Out of 45 seats contested, the Labour Party won 44, culls work!

Having said culls work, this simply cannot be the only solution to Labour’s deep seated problems, there has to be a vision and that vision must centre on community first.

The Scottish Labour needs to bring in a complete ban on councillors second jobs working for MPs and MSPs. Another matter is raising a councillor’s salary to £30,000 a year so that they can be councillors full time and not part time. Anyone who talks a paid second job during the hours of 8 am to 5 pm gets £18,000.

It will become apparent between now and the end of the year whether Kezia Dugdale and Alex Rowley will be able to change Scottish Labour, after that the Scottish election for Holyrood will make any change impossible during a full blown election campaign.

So, they better get cracking because the clock on their leadership started the second the result of the contest was announced.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Bombshell: Labour leader contender Jeremy Corbyn drops a bombshell on unpopular Nicola Sturgeon, you’re not getting a second indyref, this signals the end the road for Sturgeon as she cannot deliver indy 2, the Scottish National Party are now totally irrelevant in Scottish politics, their day in the Sun has ended

Dear All

It seems that Labour leader candidate Jeremy Corbyn has some rather bad news for unpopular Nicola Sturgeon has she fights to keep her rag tag motley crew, ‘there's shouldn't be another independence referendum’.

With that brief statement, Corbyn along with David Cameron has effectively locked out the Nationalists from trying to build momentum for a second indyref based on the ‘grievance of the day’ as a catalyst.

Now, the SNP’s new found members will be able to wake up to the fact that their becoming activists; in the hope of a quick second indyref is entirely and utterly meaningless.

Nicola Sturgeon won’t be the leader who leads the SNP into indy 2, and she plans to stay as leader or in politics for about another 15 years.

Jeremy Corbyn dropped his bombshell in  Dundee at a public rally with was said to be attended by some Yes supporters, perhaps now the people realise what Nicola Sturgeon is all about!

Corbyn remains favourite to become the next Labour leader, although he said he could work with the SNP, the No to indy effectively kills off any pact. In the event Sturgeon did a deal with Corbyn, her own supporters would be very angry at her selling out publicly.

He said:

“The last time a referendum happened, I was told by Alex Salmond it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – I don’t know how many 
lifetimes are involved in this. I don’t think another
 referendum would be 
credible and I don’t think it
 is particularly likely.”

At present some SNP MP and MSPs are doing the rabble rousing act but it is an act to get the SNP back with a majority of seats at Holyrood.

Nicola Sturgeon has refused to rule out calling another referendum, this is one manifesto commitment that she cannot deliver, David Cameron called the SNP’s bluff on 18^th September and Nicola Sturgeon and Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond lost.

Scotland rejected independence under Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, as I said on the BBC radio 5live programme on White Paper day in November 2013, the question is trust.

The SNP are winning seats because the people of Scotland don’t see the other parties as representing them or their community’s interests.

People just don’t know that the SNP don’t represent them either at present, but the penny will drop.

Nicola Sturgeon like Alex Salmond is a false prophet who can’t and won’t deliver for Scots.

Corbyn is expected to win; he is treading traditional old Labour ground talking about Tory welfare
 cuts, called for Trident to be scrapped and demanded an end to hereditary peers in the House of Lords.

But we should remember the 1980’s are gone, the music still survives but the politics of that bygone era don’t work, even back then they were more about protest than responsible government.

On the Scotland issue of indy, Corbyn said it is
now time to move on from independence question.

He added:

“I think the issues now are about the way the powers that have been
 devolved to Scotland operate, the funding of Scotland and in particular issues surrounding welfare as well as issues of spending on education,
particularly college spending.”

One of the things I have blogged on is that the college sector needs revamped and better funded, something which Corbyn seems to agree with, the other side of that coin, is that the University sector needs slimmed down.

A Corbyn victory is just another signpost of the changing attitude in the UK; it also signals that the Scottish National Party is irrelevant in Scotland along with Nicola Sturgeon.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University