Rise of the Far right: Identitarian movement occupy Brandenburg Gate as they slam Chancellor Angela Merkel for her failure to deal with the migrant crisis, Europe is on the brink as activists demand “secure borders, secure future”, European politicians failing to learn the lessons of history

Dear All

Last night, I bumped into an Austrian guy in Glasgow, and as we had an interest in politics, we started to swap stories about our respective countries.

I was quite surprised how up he was on European politics and the situation that is developing in Europe, and he asked had I seen the video which I have embedded in this post. I said no, but we were quite keen to have me look at it and in turn I wanted the blog readers to cast an eye over it as it.

The productions values are very good, however focus on the message, the far right is getting organised, this video isn’t a guy with a cam doing a shaking wee video production; this video is done by skilled people, educated people.

    

At the weekend in Germany, the Identitarian movement climbed the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin, this was a symbolic act which didn’t go un-noticed in Europe, however it seems the UK missed on it. Someone scaling the Brandenberg Gate normally wouldn’t be news but the people who did are.

The Identitarian movement is a pan-European socio-political movement that started in France in 2002 as a far-right youth movement. As people know I have been blogging for some time on the rise of the far right, not just in Germany but right across Europe, the right have always been here but their influence has been weak and seen as fringe politics. The migrant crisis and the way that European politicians have acted has allowed people of the far right to gain new followers as the elected politicians aren’t listening.

We have seen the flair up of violence by migrants along with other criminal acts, there will be a backlash, and I see a situation where the backlash will not be stopping at migrants, those elected politicians could also be deemed as targets.

Why is the Identitarian movement because it is a reaction to loss of national identity, I still believe that Civil war in Europe remains a distinct possibility and also expect the rise of domestic terrorism.

We could be witnessing the birth of an underground movement right across Europe using the bullet and the ballot box as weapons.

Europe has been to war twice in the 20^th Century, this time around, the warfare wouldn’t be about conquering ground but ethnic cleansing; we will see effectively armed camps spring up. Already there is talk about a European Army, the main purpose of this organisation is to quell civilian populations in European States, when that happens and the first people get killed by this new army group, then the stage will be set for war.

The main aim of groups like the Identitarian movement is power via the ballot box, will power comes control of the State mechanisms, after that discrimination usually follows on from that scenario.

A far right Europe will be anti-immigrant which basely translated that means they will be against the people who have entered Europe during the migrant crisis, tolerance will go, isolation will come in and deportations will rise. The migrants will be forced to go to resettlement camps as their benefits and social housing are removed from them by the State.

In 2013 Markus Willinger, born in 1992, who grew up in Schärding, Austria and now is a student of history and political science at the University of Stuttgart wrote a manifesto entitled 'Generation Identity: A Declaration of War Against the '68ers', and translated into English from German by Aetius and published it in 2013.

The book is considered the founding manifesto of the Identitäre Bewegung Österreichs, in a nutshell, we have been here before, and millions died during the Second World War. Some people say we are already at war in Europe, the recent attacks lend weight to that conclusion, but it is a different kind of war. It is different in that the perceived ‘enemy’ isn’t in another country, different in that elected politicians are deemed to be not supporting the people, the new ‘enemy’ maybe be in the same street, there are no front lines now.

A lot of damage has been done by Angela Merkel, her actions have been incredibly stupid, and the wreckage is plain to see across Europe in Paris, Cologne, Nice and countless other places were fear has taken a grip of the people.

A scared population will end up becoming a violent population.

Is it not amazing that despite the lessons of history that politicians keep making the same mistakes as they seek power; ignore the population and assume that they are political rulers and not servants of the State and the people!

One lesson they might want to brush up on this one, the night of the long knives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives

The use of the mechanisms of the State to kill people deemed a threat to the new order and national security, all it takes to head down that road is the far right winning seats to gain power.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

Carry on Sturgeon, Scotland’s unpopular SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon is hammered as a Sturgeon adviser and Nobel prize-winning adviser Joseph Stiglitz suggests the tactic for an independent Scotland to share the pound was a mistake, oh dear seems that Nicola Sturgeon isn’t all she is cracked up to be, what a let-down for the gullible in society

Dear All

During the ill-fated, poorly thought-out and run and disastrous Scottish Independence referendum, Scotland‘s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond and the ever increasingly unpopular Nicola Sturgeon tried to float the lie that you could trust them.

I trust Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon as far as I could throw them; the bulk of the Scottish population didn’t trust them with their future which was a wise move. During independence, the lie was promoted that the pound, the currency of the United Kingdom was Scotland’s as much as England; this is only true if the Union continues and Scotland remains.

What did Salmond and Sturgeon do, the leadership stated we could use the pound as our currency and that all the guarantees of the currency would remain the same, the fact of the matter is this; although a country can use another currency what they can’t use was access and protection of the host country’s central bank.

The Nationalists promoted that lie and idiots who mobbed out Better Together events screamed its Scotland’s pound as much as England! The SNP do love to use ‘useful idiots’ to do their dirty work and sat back and allowed the lie to spread, as I said they aren’t a credible choice for government of an independent Scotland.

Salmond and Sturgeon wanted people to gamble with their entire personal wealth and the futures of their families, communities and the country. What do we know in 2016, we know that at this point in time if we had voted for independence we would be bankrupt, taxes would be through the roof and services particularly for the poor and disadvantaged would be severely cut or removed altogether.

Salmond and Sturgeon would be all right as they would have access to the wealth of Scotland being first in the queue; along with the rest of the SNP cult duly standing behind them waiting their turn to get Scotland’s riches.

As an economic basket case, the SNP would take these steps, ditch the pound, setup their own currency and central bank and then in the final stage drag Scotland in the EU at which point it would end up like Greece.

Greece is bankrupt and there is no way they can turn their fortunes around while being chained to the Euro currency which has crippled the country.

Scotland’s chance for independence was trashed because of the dishonesty of the SNP leadership, just as Salmond’s time has gone along with independence; Nicola Sturgeon is hanging to milk as much as possible preferably as First Minster before passing the torch onto someone else.

Passing the Torch?

Passing the torch means letting someone else have a crack as the First Minster position to continue the lie that the SNP are stronger for Scotland and the Nationalists still have meaning.

Scotland has spoken about what it doesn’t want at the ballot box, what we have yet to see what it is they do want and who they want to deliver it, a country that is in political flux.
 
The SNP put a lot of faith into Nobel prize-winning adviser Joseph Stiglitz who was used as a selling point, except Scotland didn’t take any notice of him, Nobel Prize winners aren’t what they used to be.

Now, Sturgeon adviser has suggested that the call for independent Scotland to share the pound was a mistake, guess what I have no Nobel Prize and worked that in a few seconds at the start of the campaign.

Recently, Yes Rutherglen invited me to a ‘chitchat’ on currency, the theme was the currency option for Scotland, whether you are for or against independence, the only sensible route for currency in any independence bid is creating your own currency. Why people feel a pressing need to devote an issue a blond man could see if a mystery to me, if you think it out by yourself, you get ‘create your own currency’. Anyway, as I was unwell I didn’t make to the ‘chitchat’ or indeed to the Corbyn/Smith hustings in Glasgow on the same night.

Joseph Stiglitz sits on Nicola Sturgeon's Council of Economic Advisers, given the state of Scotland, how much you can you put in the way of faith given the mess that this country is in under the SNP?

Personally none is my take on events.

Stiglitz says that a new ‘Scottish pound’ could help stimulate the economy and reduce an independent Scotland’s budget deficit.

Bollocks!

Now you might think that I said bollocks too fast there and what the hell do I know, I know rubbish when I hear it and when people say ‘could’ in an sentence what they are really saying is that they don’t know and it’s a guess. Scotland isn’t prepared for independence at any level, at government, local government, business or third sector.

I knew that the SNP bid for indy was a sham right from the get go, nothing was done, the white paper was a load of rubbish not worthy of a read, 650 pages of cack served to hoodwink the gullible by the Nationalists.

Scotland is ain a financial black hole, it spent nearly £15 billion more than it generated last year.

Where is the logic in voting for independence to have a worst standard of living, many poor people vote for independence because they cross the line of having no future during the Scottish independence referendum! I don’t blame these people for voting for independence, I blame Westminster for disenfranchising them so much that they robbed them of a future which is my new idea is for the total devolvement of the DWP to all countries of the United Kingdom.

The dispossessed need to be helped, they need to be turned around, they need more than ever hope, and beyond hope delivery.

As to the Euro, Stiglitz said:

"It would be a mistake to join the euro, by the way, so what they would have needed to do, perhaps, was resurrect the Scottish pound and let it float.”

Stiglitz added:

"If you were forced to join the euro as a price of joining the EU, then I would have very strong second thoughts."

Given the SNP are hell bent on taking Scotland in the EU, they even talked about not having a vote on that important decision because the SNP believe that once you vote SNP you sign up for them to go anything they want under the guise of mandate. The people of Scotland will stick with the British pound as its future looks much better post Brexit vote. The Euro on the other hand doesn’t look so stable, and if you like to read up on the EU and Europe, you might want to keep an eye on the Deutsche Bundesbank that lot have problems building up down the line.

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary, said:

"Professor Stiglitz is the latest in a series of SNP advisers who now see the writing on the wall. Leaving the United Kingdom would have massive consequences and ditching our currency would be one of them. It's high time those at the top of the SNP now accepted the same and apologised for the way they misled people two years ago. There is a simple solution for the SNP on the currency. It's called the UK pound and most people in Scotland would like to keep it. The SNP needs to accept the result of the referendum two years ago and got on with the job of governing."

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said:

“Being part of the UK means we can use the pound and have access to the Bank of England in times of difficulty for our economy. That's a positive argument for remaining in the UK.”

The SNP are slipping in the polls, the shine has come off Nicola Sturgeon as the public refused to back her father getting into public office just recently, one thing is certain that talk of a new indy drive is also meaningless drivel, this was to start earlier this year except that the SNP Deputy Leader was outed for allegedly having an affair with a woman behind the back of his wife who also happened to be the SNP Health Sec.

Independence is like faith, it must be pure and it is highly doubt that the faithful will sit at the feet of Saint Nicola and worship; there is an incredibly bad smell when she speaks about equality, social justice and a better tomorrow.

An independent country means an independent currency, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work that out or a Nobel Prize, but you do need common sense something lacking in Sturgeon and her feral mob.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Dugdale at war; Corbynistas are starting to talk about replacing Kezia Dugdale as Scottish leader if she doesn’t sign up to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership post election, there isn’t a lot of unity in the Labour Party kicking about as battle lines appear to be getting drawn up both north and south of the border

Dear All

Never a dull moment in politics as they say, I think it would be entirely fair to say at the present moment there isn’t a lot of “unity” kicking about in the Labour Party. The leadership contest has rolled on and we have seen allegations, counter allegations, abuse and people attempting to put their spin on what the rules of the party actually mean in practice.

I would also think it would be fair to say that this contest isn’t one of the great ones; it isn’t about a battle of ideas, I see it more about factions and how they wish to exercise control in the party.

This has led to some people getting their noses put right out of joint.

Regardless who wins and it looks increasingly likely the victor in my opinion will be the candidate that I voted for, Jeremy Corbyn, this doesn’t settle the matter.

Scottish Labour had a couple of by-elections recently, one in Irvine where Nicola Sturgeon’s father was humiliated and the other over in Fife where Labour again beat out the SNP.

So, who should take the credit for the wins?

Should it be Jeremy Corbyn or Kezia Dugdale?

If you listen to the Owen Smith camp which Kezia Dugdale sits in, Jeremy Corbyn isn’t a good leader, if you look online at pictures of Owen Smith rallies, the turn out is incredibly poor in comparison with the ‘standing room only’ when Jeremy Corbyn speaks.

Owen Smith uses a lot of buzzwords which people find meaningless, if he thought his slick PR would win hearts and minds, he got a rude wake up call when he hit the campaign. His ‘lunatic’ comment was probably the final nail in his campaign; if you have got to keep talking about your opponent then clearly you haven’t a lot to say about yourself.  

I have to say I was surprise when Kezia Dugdale declared for Owen Smith, if I was the Scottish leader I would haven’t done so publicly, there are certain times when a leader has to remain neutral and don’t let someone ‘sell you pup’ about standing up for your principles, this doesn’t fall in that category.

It seems her declaration has not done down well in some quarters, some people are apparently calling for her to be ousted as Scottish leader, some Corbyn supporters want her gone and the party reset back towards socialism because it is viewed as completely out of touch with Scottish voters. Recently I was chatting to three Labour people on the subject of disengagement by voters making the point that when people are being failed you end up with a backlash, people take their vote elsewhere when someone is willing to stand up for them.

As people in the Labour Party now know, the days of heartlands particularly in the urban areas of traditional Labour voters are gone; Scotland’s voters are in flux, if you want someone’s vote you ‘gotta earn it’ the hard way, it isn’t there on a plate. In the old days Labour completely dominated, 2015 and 2016 elections left no ‘first past the post’ elected Labour representative at either Westminster or Holyrood in Glasgow.

When Kezia Dugdale declared for Owen Smith, she made a rod for her own back, and it is known that she is close to Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray, he in my opinion wrongly resigned as Scottish Shadow Secretary.

The Corbyn crowd want Kezia Dugdale put “out in the wilderness”, if she doesn’t accept Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership once he is re-elected next election. Although Jeremy Corbyn has said he would work with her, one wonders if that applies to his followers having the same view.

At the Glasgow hustings just recently Owen Smith said Dugdale was doing a “brilliant job” which was jeered and laughed by the crowd. In the past I blogged on how Scottish Labour’s problems were created a long time ago, Scotland’s indyref was a trigger for the exodus of voters.

The Westminster 2015 election was a wipe out for the party, and 2016 Holyrood election returned the absolutely worst result for the Scottish Labour Party since its creation in 1999.

If you advocate the status quo and there is no possibility of change or a better tomorrow then people will question why they should support you in contrast to others offering hope. Owen Smith’s ‘vote for me’ and I will continue Tory policies hasn’t gone down well with the working class people in Scotland or indeed anywhere else in the UK.

Could Kezia Dugdale face a challenge from her deputy Alex Rowley who supports Jeremy Corbyn?

Personally I doubt it, part of politics is about personality and Rowley doesn’t appear to me to be a people person who can work a crowd like some other people in Scottish politics.

One of the things which are needed is a new generation of leaders, that doesn’t mean youth that means people with ‘vision’ who can work with the left and right wings of the party around common shared goals.

Education and knowledge are essential to the success of that idea; after all if you don’t know what you are talking about, you are doomed to failure once people get wise to your shortcomings.
To show what Kezia Dugdale faces possibly in future, a Corbyn source allegedly said:

“I’ve never seen that level of duplicity by one leader of the Labour Party towards another. It’s despicable. There was real personal duplicity from her with her being aligned to the coup against Jeremy. Ian Murray led the charge within the shadow cabinet against Jeremy and she’s his elected mouthpiece. The left in Scotland is in the process of realignment and that process does not involve Kezia Dugdale. She should be out in the wilderness.”

This statement doesn’t tend to suggest a ‘forgive and forget’, ‘let bygones be bygones’ approach, more like unfinished business for another day.

Bob Thomson, a former Scottish Labour’s chairman in the early 1990s piped up to say on replacing Kezia Dugdale as leader:

“It wouldn’t be sensible to replace the leader now. The proof will be in the pudding in next May’s local council elections. I don’t think she could survive two election defeats.
“Kez has to accept that if Jeremy wins or whoever wins that we have to support the elected leader. The appointment of Ian Murray to her frontbench after he had resigned from the shadow cabinet was in my view an act of sectarian provocation. If they keep up with this type of behaviour then I think she’d be signing her own death warrant.”

Next year, the council elections will be a big test that is certain; the key battle ground will be Glasgow, Scottish Labour will be pressed hard in their attempts to retain the city, the SNP want Glasgow badly. If there is a disastrous result for Scottish Labour then Kezia Dugdale will find that Jeremy Corbyn supporters will certainly be quick to highlight her role in three epic electoral disasters.

I guess that Scottish Labour better pick people who will work their socks off for the win, this time round, the party can’t afford to have any hangers on who try and coast along while leaving others to carry the load.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Right at Glasgow University

A George Laird production: Train passing under Central Station Bridge

Labour hustings: future and returning Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn conquers Glasgow as he promises of a 'different way of doing things' chimes, Glasgow faithful cheer wildly for change, Owen Smith puts his foot in his mouth with his Scottish Labour “backwards” comment

Dear All

Last night was the Labour hustings in Glasgow, Jeremy Corbyn won that event, the Glasgow faithful turned up and listened to what he said and liked what he said. In an earlier event at the Crowne Plaza, he was greeted with cheers and standing ovations.

Owen Smith has made an extraordinary claim in Glasgow; he said that Labour in Scotland has gone 'backwards' under Corbyn's leadership.

Firstly, that statement is rubbish, Jeremy Corbyn had no effect on what happened to Scottish Labour before he was elected or after he was elected, he played no part in the massive defeat of 2015, he allowed the Scottish Labour Party to do its own campaign in 2016.

Labour in Scotland is in trouble, only a fool wouldn’t admit that, and let’s be frank, some people are still living in denial that they are still part of the permanent establishment. 2017 is the year of the Council elections, this will be another tough year for the party, it is also an opportunity if the party takes it to start to reset the party towards the traditional values that swept in into power previously.

Labour has lost something, not just in terms of votes and activists but something at the core of what does it stand for. Lots of people use the phrase, I didn’t leave Labour, Labour left me; this is particularly common among the disenfranchised working class in Labour heartlands such as Glasgow which are in political flux.

I think a better assessment is that Labour in Scotland hasn’t gone forward, it has treaded water and this is why other political parties are passing it by in the voting stakes.

Kezia Dugdale isn’t having a good time as leader, part of the huge defeat in 2015 along with Jim Murphy, wiped out and humiliated in 2016 which saw the party pushed into third place at Holyrood and on top of that lost her seat to the SNP by about 5,000 votes.

Yup tough few years there!

Kezia Dugdale backed Owen Smith, my view this was a mistake, she should have sat on the fence given her position.

When mentioning Kezia Dugdale’s quality of leadership, it seemed that Owen Smith didn’t get the reaction he wanted as some Labour members openly laughed at him which apparently taken him back quite a bit, playing to a Glasgow audience as people know can be a tough gig, no prisoners taken, no quarter asked for or given.

Having backed Smith in the leadership contest as I said was a mistake by Kezia Dugdale, however, Jeremy Corbyn said:

“I will work whoever the [Scottish] leader is and am quite capable of forgetting anything else that’s happened.”
Kezia Dugdale has the right to vote for who she wants and she has the right to say who she supports, but in the cold light of day, it is one vote same as an ordinary member, and to be honest, most people who are independent of mind make their own choices who they want to lead them.

If Owen Smith was leader would that mean the voters in Scotland would flock back to the party?

No!

They wouldn’t flock back in Scotland and they wouldn’t flock back in England and Wales, Smith burnt a lot of his bridges when he said that he would attempt to block Brexit.

Just as Smith has his problems so does Jeremy Corbyn, I support the Monarchy, Jeremy Corbyn refused to rule out a holding a poll, saying he would not make the issue a priority in a general election campaign.

If he did, guess what, the Labour Party would lose rather badly and he knows it, you don’t tinker with some things, Britain has a long tradition based on our Monarchy, and it is our Monarchy.

I don’t support any action to destroy this legacy and wouldn’t campaign for it, quite the opposite in fact.

I am open to listening to a debate on the House of Lords but not abolishing it, the Lords could be upgraded but I don’t want some pathetic second chamber full with party cronies because of some people’s prejudice and feelings of petty envy.

In a cheap dig over how Corbyn voted in Brexit, Owen Smith lost the contest last night, Jeremy Corbyn responded by said:

“Owen, Owen, I thought we were grown up and we weren’t any longer going to use those kind of questions or remarks.”

Angela Eagle said she was a strong leader woman, and when the time came she bottled it, and disappeared soon enough, the next challenger Owen Smith came long, ran a poor campaign, he has failed to get the vote and support of the party members.

Finally, I would say that Owen Smith knows nothing about Scotland, he came to conquer; he ended up with his tail between his legs.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

SNP now a busted flush politically, Jeremy Corbyn rules out any deal with the SNP as he cites that Nicola Sturgeon and her party would not be reliable allies for Labour, Corbyn is starting to get the hang of the Scottish problem, no deals no discussions no backtracking, Ed Miliband tired sitting on the fence and it blew up in his face in 2015 spectacularly

Dear All

Do you remember Ed Miliband as Labour leader?

His leadership was plagued by gaffe after gaffe and he could not connect with the public at any level, during the Westminster 2015 election, he sta on the fence and allowed talk about doing a deal with the SNP to flourish.

His actions completely undermined the Scottish Party and sent out a message to Scottish voters; it is okay to vote SNP because he would do a deal with them to usher in a Labour Government at Westminster.

How did that work out?

56 SNP MPs returned to Westminster, the worst election defeat for Labour in Scotland since 1918, it left a single MP in the shape of Ian Murray to fly the flag in Scotland. The Labour campaign in Scotland added to the crushing defeat as Jim Murphy used the wrong tack to try and win over voters.

His mini Better Together style campaign which made him even more high profile flopped rather badly.

If you remember my post of February 2015, you get a sense of how bad that campaign was, ‘tat’ doesn’t win election, yapping on about ‘fitba’ doesn’t win elections, getting a beer at a ‘fitba’ match may appeal to a minority but doesn’t win elections.

Can you think of bigger injustices in Scotland?

If you can you could ask why ‘fitba’ was the centre piece of the party’s policies, the jewel in the crown.

Today sees Jeremy Corbyn in Glasgow; he is doing three events I know of in Glasgow so far, the Labour hustings at the SECC, a second event next door early at the Crowne Plaza and a third which is a policy launch somewhere in Glasgow. I don’t know much about the policy launch as I just read the email today about an event in less than 3 hours from now.

This is Jeremy Corbyn’s chance to shine and make his pitch to the Scottish Labour movement of why a return to more socialism is needed to bring back voters who have felt abandoned and subsequently gave their votes to the SNP.

The road to a Labour Government in Westminster isn’t a deal with the SNP, they cannot be trusted and they would if they had the chance try and hold the whole of the UK to ransom to get what they wanted.

There are no deals to be done with the SNP, Ed Miliband thought it was possible and look what happened to him. I should mention later in the 2015 campaign he realised his colossal mistake and tried to switch back to a no deal approach.
By the time he got it right, the damage was done and he lost badly!

Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out a coalition with the SNP, he seems to understand what the rest of us know, the question about the SNP centres on several issues trust, competence and lack of understanding how government works. They think they can just present a demand and like a child the parent will dip into their pocket to supply extra money or powers, it doesn’t work that way.

The SNP is clumsy in the way they do their politics, too small minded and backward looking.

Jeremy Corbyn and his rival Owen Smith have pledged to invest £20 billion in Scotland if they are elected to lead a UK Labour government.

£20 billion sounds good but you need to look beyond the sweeping highline and start on the detail, Labour in Scotland has suffered to win back trust the party is desperately in need of a Nye Bevan, something to reset the party in the minds of the voters.

Jeremy Corbyn appointed the shadow Scottish secretary Dave Anderson, Anderson blew it in Scotland when he said that Labour should consider an SNP coalition "if that is the price that we have to pay to prevent another rabid right-wing Tory government".

That went down like a lead balloon, and in my opinion, Anderson has to go from the position of shadow Scottish secretary probably later on when new people come forward closer to the next Westminster election.

I voted for Jeremy Corbyn, he tickes many boxes, I don’t sign up to everything he says but then who agrees with everyone on everything, but he is right when he accused the SNP of pursuing Conservative-style policies. The SNP are not a socialist party, that is the myth they use to get the working class vote, they are all about big business, centralisation and inward looking thought.

Jeremy Corbyn said:

"Just under a year ago I was elected leader of the Labour Party because people could see a need for change. That need for change isn't going away - and neither am I. It's Labour's commitment to making that difference that means that we're not looking for an alliance with the SNP. Let me make it clear. I will welcome support for all or any of our policies from any other political groups or parties ... but I'm well aware that Labour and the SNP come from different traditions and have different goals. I don't see a party that welcomed (then Chancellor) George Osborne's corporation tax cuts, relentlessly attacked local government and is committed to a benefit cap as reliable allies for a radical Labour government. There are many people who have voted for, or even joined, the SNP who want to see many of the changes we want to implement. I don't think these people are always being served properly by the SNP."

And if there is a need for change then Scotland proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt, people in Scotland want something better, and that is why politics is in flux, Owen Smith in my opinion doesn’t provide that to working class Scots.

Owen Smith isn’t the change candidate!

The news of no deal for the SNP will not go down well with Nicola Sturgeon one by one her chances are being cut, and when the people start looking around at her ineffective government, there will be a change in Scotland again.

The SNP based this existence on independence, people know that the leadership of Alex Salmond didn’t deliver it, they also know that Nicola Sturgeon is a sham and she will not be delivering it either, the talk is there, but the talk is rhetoric!

Jeremy Corbyn has a vision of a fairer Britain, but he also has a task equally as big, deliver people who are socialists into front line politics to carry the message on into government.
People don’t want a Labour left wing that ignores the people, we already have had that thrust on us from the right of the party, the future of Labour is at stake, so the party needs to get the right mix for the British economy and the party.

It is true to say that Labour should have no truck with people who fail to deliver even within its own ranks and beyond.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Labour in Crisis: Labour Leadership hopeful Owen Smith says: I'll block Article 50 until (the) Prime Minister pledges second EU referendum, if you want a cast iron reason why you should not vote for Smith, he has given you it, he wants to trick people out of their democracy, this guy isn’t a leader in anyway shape or form

Dear All

Do you ever wonder if you have done the right thing?

Yesterday, I got an email from the Labour Party asking me to vote in the Labour leadership contest, I knew who I was voting for prior to that email coming into my inbox.

I voted Jeremy Corbyn.

Did I do the right thing?

Of that I have no doubt whatsoever!

I did the Leave campaign in the recent EU referendum, I was noticed for my contribution and end up being a guest on the Gordon Brewer Big Debate Radio show, I had been before but I was always sitting in the audience so for me it was a real treat to experience life on the other side of the table.

Did I do the right thing?

Of that I have no doubt whatsoever!

The Labour Party needs to shift left, especially in Scotland where the party was wiped in the Westminster 2015 elections, I saw it coming, in fact for years decline wasn’t just restricted to the vote going down and general unhappiness, it also showed in the way that people have drifted away from activism.

No candidate gets into public office with help from the rank and file members who pound the pavements delivering the leaflets, doing the street stalls and busying themselves with community business.

I was proud of the way that the Leave Campaign in Glasgow operated and the passion and dedication of the men and women who gave up their free time to make the case for leaving the EU. They achieved a terrific result in Scotland with limited time, limited resources and personnel, over a million votes was garner in the process thanks to their efforts.

Brexit wasn’t just about standing up for the United Kingdom, it was also about locally standing up for Scotland’s people, those who haven’t prospered in the EU dream, those who can’t get work because foreign labour is brought in to undercut them in their own country.

Where were the politicians standing up for the rights of their own people?

Strangely quiet, the price of being ‘diverse’ was further alienation of the poorest society destroying their life chances, restricting their social mobility and subjecting them to stress in the hunt for jobs that doesn’t exists or are so poor in terms of money and conditions, it is a return to workhouse conditions in places such as Amazon which some people describe as little better than a modern day sweat shop.

Owen Smith is standing for leadership of the Labour Party, he didn’t get my vote, his pitch to Labour voters and members is this in my opinion, if you vote for me, I will reach out to Conservative voters and bring forward policies that keep them happy.

If I want to vote Conservative, I would rather vote for the genuine article.

Owen Smith hasn’t impressed me during this nasty campaign, and this Labour leadership contest really is a nasty campaign, whoever wins will not be uniting the party. If Smith’s side wins which I doubt, he will not be seeing Corbyn activists coming out for Smith/ Progress candidates.

The recent statement by Owen Smith that he will block Article 50 until the Prime Minister pledges second EU referendum is proof to me that I made the right decision in my voting.

Owen Smith like Angela Eagle will fade away into the background; if Smith as leader ordered me to campaign for a general election to approve the final deal to leave the European Union, I wouldn’t even bother will him.

Like a million Scots, I want Brexit to be honour, I don’t want a grubby backdoor deal, I want a clean break so that the United Kingdom can begin again.

Tomorrow I go to the hustings in Glasgow for the Labour leadership contest, I may put my hand up to ask a question or I may just sit and listen, I have voted but it is important to see what is getting said from the candidates as they lay out a future United Kingdom.

Smith said:

"Labour won't give the Tories a blank cheque."

First point, although he may think he is ‘Labour’, he isn’t the party and neither are Progress, Labour went downhill when the careerists took over, you just have to look at how hard they have fallen in Scotland via the ballot box.

Smith said that Jeremy Corbyn was “deeply irresponsible” for his comments on the EU referendum result calling for Article 50 to be invoked immediately. Presumably accepting the will of the people doesn’t sit well with Owen Smith.

If he won’t accept the will of the people, he fails the real test of a leader, so who does Owen Smith represent if he doesn’t represent the will of the people?

Big business?

The same big business which wants to privatise the NHS and asset strip this country and pay peanuts to the people stuck on zero hours contracts?  

Owen smith isn’t the solution to the problems of the United Kingdom; he is party of the problem, part of the class who think they are our rulers and not our public servants. Working people built the Labour movement but it got hijack by the middle class who couldn’t get elected as Conservatives, so opted for Labour and Conservative lite agenda, paid for at the cost of those people who they gave lip service to purport to represent.

He added:

"I'm a passionate pro-European and I will fight tooth and nail to keep us in the EU. Under my leadership, Labour won't give the Tories a blank cheque. We will vote in Parliament to block any attempt to invoke Article 50 until Theresa May commits to a second referendum or a general election on whatever EU exit deal emerges at the end of the process. I hope Jeremy will support me in such a move."

This clearly shows why Owen Smith will not be the leader of the Labour Party, already most of the Labour CLPs have declared for Jeremy Corbyn at a ratio of about 6 to 1.

Brexit is happening, if it doesn’t then there will be a huge bloody stink and considerably amount of anger if people are tricked out of what they voted for, Owen Smith may think he is the man in the high castle, but he is about to come down to earth with a huge bump once the election of Jeremy Corbyn is confirmed.

This is the time of the phoney war, the real battle will be the de-selection of the 172 Labour MPs who led the Labour Party to this position it now finds itself.

One de-selection or removal I am particularly keen to see is the vote against Angela Eagle in Liverpool, if you believe what is in the public domain, her CLP want to get rid of her and I doubt that in other CLPs there will be a similar feeling towards others.

It is easier to clear out the 172 Labour MPs than continue to allow them to fester, some people need to be knocked back down to rank and file member, not activist because the reality of the situation is, once people like these lose public office, they disappear!

Perhaps it is better they disappear from ever returning to front line politics!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University    

As the entire World stops over Jeremy Corbyn and Traingate, here is a part of a train I set on fire, lucky for me this is my latest cgi movie clip

We are living in interesting times, former SSP leader Tommy Sheridan is set to get a double damages award of £400,000 from his civil court case a decade ago against the News of the World, could Scotland be possibly the world centre for miracles?

Dear All

When Tommy Sheridan won his civil case for defamation against the News of the World, he walked out of the court into a media scrum, it was like a new year celebration as he punched his fist in the air and declared victory.

Sheridan had used his skills as an orator to convince people that he had been wronged, the News of the World was going through a bad time as allegations of phone hacking engulfed it; the paper was closed down.

I have to say as I did during the time I blogged about this case, a real shame, innocent people lost their jobs as the Murdock Empire was in full fire fighting mode. And the Westminster Labour crowd was out to start rein in Murdock’s power.

A criminal case followed the civil case, in that Tommy Sheridan was unsuccessful, he was found guilty and at the time of that case, I blogged he needed a trial lawyer, but he elected to defend himself.

And he lost rather badly.

Now in the cold light of day in 2016, Tommy Sheridan could receive around double his original £200,000 damages award against the News of the World.

The reason for the extra cash is that between now and then there has been a decade of interest charges.

About 8% a year!

What can you say about this other than wow!

If Sheridan pockets an award of £400,000, it’s a good payday for him and a disaster for the Murdoch Empire, but as they say stranger things have happen at sea!

So, why is Sheridan getting a windfall after doing time in the pokey, well it seems that three judges refused to strike down his defamation win of 2006.

The opinion of the judges was that the jury could have fairly decided that Sheridan was defamed even if they did not believe he was squeaky clean.

The judgment said:

“The verdict of the jury did not necessarily award the pursuer a badge of total credibility, total reliability, or total fidelity.”

I would imagine that Tommy Sheridan will enjoy his £400,000 and also enjoy this victory which may have shocked some people as it came out of the blue.

So, what about his criminal conviction?

Well at present, that still stands and there is no sign of an appeal being successful on that front just yet.

Isn’t law an amazing thing?

I think so, there seems right up there will walking on water and other miracles, so what must the Murdoch Empire be thinking now, I would hazard a guess at, ‘oh for f*cksake’ said loudly while hurling a chair out a plate glass window several stories up!

Hilarious, I think I will ask a Sheriff I know if she can explain this to me on a technical level as I have an interest in law.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

The Battle for Scotland: red faced unpopular Nicola Sturgeon faces the possibility of Court action as SNP Government excludes four Labour Councils from talks on funding, the slum she represents is collapsing as squalor, filth and sex crime run rampant in her constituency, Sturgeon wouldn’t venture in without her armed police escort!

Dear All

The SNP like to pretend that they are stronger for Scotland, the evidence however points to something else, yes; if you had a guess it is incompetence.

When spending cuts come down the line; the SNP Government like to pass as much as possible on to Councils while at the same time tying their hands financially.

 Glasgow has suffered a ridiculous £130 million pound cut to the Council budget, in order to keep services at the same level, the council has had to dip into its reverses of which 40% had to be committed to keep spend at present levels.

I have to say that many liked the council tax freeze however the downside was that cuts to services had to be made and also staff didn’t get replaced; putting a strain on the existing staff. What should have happened was the SNP Government should have allowed councils flexible to increase council tax by around 3% and bank the money into its reserves.

It is dangerous to allow council reserves to be depleted so much for ‘general spend’ when the purpose is for emergencies.

After all, it’s not a piggy bank!

I have said in the past councils need to be reformed, so what does reform mean?

I mean that councils have to generate more income by encouraging use and uptake of council services marketed to make a profit while at the same time keeping the public services ethos.      

Councils can just be seen as financial black holes were money goes in from government and commercial activities are an ‘add on’. If private companies can make profits so can a council, but it will come down to business expertise, getting the right people in place and being pro-active.

It seems that the SNP Government have done something which the SNP is famous for, pass the buck on to someone else to fix their problems; councils have been used as a scapegoat to prop up Sturgeon’s failing government.

The SNP have no vision, and the tat they come out with is at best meagre, it’s all about trying to do things on the cheap under the pretend of helping to achieve quality of life. Here is a story, my friend’s mum is 70 plus, heart and lung problems, and had a spiral facture to her femur after a bad fall. She had to wait two years for a stair lift to allow her to get up the stairs to be allowed to sleep in her own bedroom.

Two years!

Where was her quality of life being forced to sleep downstairs trapped in the living room? Her case was taken up by her son and what a bloody fight he had with the ‘josbworth’ in the council who failed to address the needs of this disabled woman. She was completely failed by the system, and I doubt she isn’t the only one, when you cuts budgets people in genuine need suffer.

Two years of her life taken away from her by a system in need of overhaul not just in the sense of getting enough for the budget but the application of support on the ground. I use this case to show that a council which is starved of funds has to string people out by making them jump through hoops when they should be processing their claim to get the equipment they need.      

Things seem to be coming to ahead as some Scotland’s biggest councils have issued First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with threats of court action over claims of imposed multi-million pound cuts.

So, what happens if the SNP Government gets served with a judicial writ over its position on excluding the rebel councils from formal talks on the financing local Government, we could see a nasty and protracted court case; fights over money are rarely civil.

Recently an independence supporter remarked to me that ‘no one’ was standing up for Glasgow in the SNP Cabinet, I am not surprised as I said before Nicola Sturgeon isn’t interested in Glasgow and its people, and I also previously remarked on the lack of ‘born and bred’ Glaswegians in the SNP elected ranks in the city.

Glasgow, Aberdeen, South Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire left Cosla, Scotland’s main local government body, over funding from Holyrood, I am not sure of the ins and outs of whether that was a good move however, they thought that Cosla wasn’t working properly and provided them with little benefit.

The SNP Government have said that while it is required by law to have dialogue with councils it will only negotiate with Cosla on council funding.

In what will be a very heated election years coming up with council elections, you have to wonder what the ‘wisdom’ is by the SNP Government in having this fight, is there is a law that says the SNP Government can only negotiate with Cosla on council funding?

If there isn’t; you have to wonder what legal basis the SNP Government is banking on as a ‘defence’?

Since the SNP don’t do Law well or government, maybe they should do the right once someone external tell them what the right thing is, clearly they are grandstanding.

Mark Macmillan, leader of Renfrewshire Council, said:

“The Government’s talks on the next funding settlement have already begun without us and in these we expect some of the biggest budget cuts ever seen. If she maintains her current plan to pass down these cuts without one single meaningful conversation, she is effectively turning her back on 25 per cent of the population, including those in her own constituency.

“This is why we have sought independent legal advice and after careful consideration we have grounds to serve the First Minister and her Government with a judicial review writ at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.”

The lie that Nicola Sturgeon standing up for Glasgow exposed again!

Finally in local news from the Govanhill ‘ghetto’ which Nicola Sturgeon’s represents, the slum has been outed for its squalor, filth and sex crime in the constituency which has been branded the ‘shame of Scotland’.

The area is a haven for illegal immigration and organised crime where women cannot walk the streets without fear of being robbed or raped. Sturgeon only visits with armed police officers in tow because presumably she fears for her safety when visiting in daylight hours. One wonders if according to locals why it takes more than a week for Ms Sturgeon to respond to requests for help.

Could it be she doesn’t care?

Yours sincerely

George Laird 

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Making a rod for his own back; Scottish Labour Party are very angry about Corbyn-backed alternative Labour conference after inviting Rise Candidate Cat Boyd to speak, momentum doesn’t impress me by their actions and Jeremy Corbyn shouldn’t be alienating Scottish Labour, because it is they who are key to securing any chance of him becoming Prime Minister

Dear All

As a Labour member, I will be voting for Jeremy Corbyn because he is the change that Labour members want and the country needs at this time.

I will not be even considering voting for Owen Smith.

I think it is safe to say that many people don’t like the way that Jeremy Corbyn has been treated by the PLP or those who sought to undermine his leadership elsewhere in the party.

In the last leadership contest, out of the four candidates standing, I ranked Corbyn the best person out of the four standing.

The idea of the three winning wasn’t appealing to me at all.

Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t had a fair crack of the whip as leader, I don’t agree with all his policies and some elements of his past that he associated with.

What I object to is people standing against him who say that they want the working class to vote Labour so they can carry on with the same policies of the Conservatives which benefit the middle class at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.

If I want to vote for a Conservative candidate, I would rather vote for one in the Conservative Party not one wearing the clothes of the Labour Party and claiming to be a socialist when they clearly are not, by deed, word and actions!

I see Momentum, the controversial pro-Corbyn left-wing group, and don’t see any reason to join them, I voted for the six pro Corbyn candidates not because I wanted momentum in power but because certain people on the Labour NEC were acting disgracefully.

The Labour Party has factions, one is Momentum and the other is Progress, personally I don’t the idea of parties within parties because they are always set up to exclude.

As a Labour member, I object to Cat Boyd, the Rise candidate being invited to speak at Corbyn-backed alternative Labour conference. Cat Boyd stood against Labour as a Rise candidate at this year's Holyrood elections, she had no chance despite massive exposure in the media and came nowhere near getting a seat.

It is counterproductive to have a parallel conference running at the same time as the Labour Party's annual conference in Liverpool, it sends out the wrong message, and it gives those opposed to Jeremy Corbyn ammunition to use against him.

Jeremy Corbyn should also have not endorsed the ‘alternative’ Labour conference either, he will win the leadership contest swept in on a wave of popularity but popularity doesn’t last. Jeremy has one election in him to prove himself, in reality I see him as a caretaker leader to usher in a return to old Labour values which was ignored in favour of NeoLiberalism which has punished the poorest and most vulnerable in society.

As a Labour member, I wouldn’t be supporting the ‘alternative’ Labour Conference and would urge Labour members to boycott it. I also think it shows a level of stupidity in the momentum camp that they organised this in the first place and then had the bad judgment compounded by inviting someone such as Cat Boyd.

A Scottish Labour source said:

"It is bad enough that Jeremy Corbyn is supporting a rival conference at the same time as our annual conference, but inviting our political opponents to share a platform is completely unacceptable. Cat Boyd and Rise stood against Labour Party candidates this year and campaigned against us. Labour activists in Scotland will be baffled that Momentum see our opponents as allies. Coming so soon after (new shadow Scottish Secretary) Dave Anderson's comments about doing a deal with the SNP, this shows that Jeremy Corbyn and his allies have no idea how to effectively build a strong Labour Party in Scotland."

Jeremy Corbyn needs Scottish Labour to re-invent itself to get those Westminster seats, but at present a few things have and will be causing disconnect between the party down south and north of the border. Appointing Labour MP Dave Anderson as shadow Scottish Secretary was a major mistake, his comments on deals with the SNP bombed in Scotland.

If Jeremy Corbyn alienates Scottish Labour, he has no chance of winning a general election; he needs to build bridges not put up barriers.

One thing about this Labour leadership contest is this, it solves nothing, no one standing is the ‘unity’ candidate, and I see more leadership challenges coming from the Parliamentary Labour Party in the future.

I don’t know who Jeremey Corbyn’s advisors are but they are doing a pretty good job of handing out really bad advice to him.

Jeremy Corbyn needs this message rammed home to him, you are NOT a protesting opposition MP on the backbenches anymore, you are the leader of the Labour Party, it is time to adopt a different mindset.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Anger at the ‘Pretend Parliament’: Sturgeon facing growing pressure to abandon Holyrood 'power grab', if Holyrood mattered this would be a major problem, but as more people learn Holyrood is second rate, why should we expect better, the talent isn’t there in the SNP leadership of Nicola Sturgeon and it shows

Dear All

Stupid people afford all of us the opportunity to comment on their stupidity, and the SNP have done much to set tongues wagging!

Unpopular Nicola Sturgeon is facing growing cross-party pressure to abandon a move to make backbench MSPs aides to the ministers they are also supposed to hold to account.

As I have previously said the SNP is a cult and as such they live inside a bubble where no real independent thought is tolerated or welcomed as such we have seen them rising due to the demise of others and we will certainly see them fall.

And when the fall comes it will be spectacular.

One has to wonder who thought that making backbench MSPs aides to the ministers sit on a committee holding their bosses to account was a good idea. Clearly it is a bad idea, and clearly this is a conflict of interest which is damaging to democracy.

As we know the SNP don’t care about democracy or rights or common decency, they are substance lite gimmick politicians.

In an unusual step, four Conservative convenors of the justice, economy, rural affairs and delegated powers committees have written to Nicola Sturgeon to complain about the latest power grab.

It’s a power grab to gag committees functioning properly.

You cannot scrutinise SNP Ministers if said ministers are your boss.

Kezia Dugdale, the leader of Scottish Labour, said the First Minister should reintroduce a ban on ministerial assistants serving on committees linked to their boss's brief. Anyone with half a brain would see the logic of this, but the SNP are turning Holyrood into a sham parliament, a national embarrassment just as they have done in the Scottish Government.

Apparently every opposition party is angry, so what happens if Sturgeon doesn’t budge, well I would say that why play along with a farce, abandon the committees totally, stage a boycott.

A boycott of all committees to prove a point, if there isn’t going to be democracy and accountability they is no point in being played for a fool.

The Liberal Democrats and Greens have also called for a u-turn on this morally dubious decision but how much notice does the SNP take of them!

Conservative convenors stated in a letter:

"It is now clear that several SNP PLOs are sitting on committees which have a substantial link to their minister's own portfolio. This means we have SNP MSPs in parliamentary committees, charged with scrutinising legislation, who are also appointed by those same ministers to help that legislation pass. We believe this amounts to a clear conflict of interest which needs to be addressed”.

They added:

"As new conveners, we consider it essential that our own committees provide the robust scrutiny of legislation which was sadly too often lacking in the last parliament. We are therefore calling on you as leader of the SNP to remove SNP PLOs from committees which have a clear link to their minister's own portfolio. We believe this would help to ensure confidence in the integrity of the Scottish Parliament, and - ultimately - lead to better law-making by your government."

Fiona Hyslop, Culture and External Affairs secretary, once said:

"One cannot serve two masters. One cannot be a ministerial parliamentary aide and serve on a committee."

Apparently this concept is now deemed acceptable, if this matter is dealt with, the committee system should be abandoned by parties, and once the SNP is leaft talking to themselves in committees telling each other how wonderful they are, they will find out the public won’t think so.

Will the idea of a strike take hold?

Personally I doubt it, there are many people who say that Holyrood is a lesser place than Westminster, the work produced there is also of a less quality but there needs to be a stand taken and I don’t think the political will is there for that kind of new politics!

So what is the SNP saying:

"The purpose of PLOs is to provide a link between all parties, Parliament as a whole and Government Ministers. No party holds a majority on any parliamentary committee and all MSPs are able to fully scrutinise Scottish Government ministers. This system has been in place for many years and these complaints seem more like a case of the Tories jumping on a political bandwagon."

Do you see what happens when stupid ignorant people get control of the mechanisms of democracy; it goes right out the window.

If Holyrood had meaning, you could be upset, but since it produces ‘tat’, let the idiots play their stupid silly games, it can always be flagged up later why Scottish independence must be opposed, simply put we are fighting against anti-democratic forces!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Former Alex Salmond aide Alex Bell says Cybernats are damaging the independence cause; one has to wonder why the Scottish National Party members and their allies thought online hatred wouldn’t backfire on them, now they have created new barriers against independence

Dear All

One of the very few good things about the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum is that it flushed out that the Scottish National Party leadership and it lower cult members were a bunch of nasty vicious people.

The vanguard of hate was led by what is called the ‘cybernats’, as people know I had to go through a criminal court to get justice when I was attacked by one of the top 7 outed in the Daily Mail.

It took me 3 years to get justice, in the end, rather than face a criminal trial in open court, Tommy Ball opted not face me in a criminal trial.

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/unmasked-nicola-sturgeons-independence.html

But Ball wasn’t the only hate merchant peddling his trade in the cause of Scottish Independence, elected SNP MP Natalie McGrary who was linked to Tommy Ball was also at it. Her nastiness caused her a whopping £10,000 after claiming that Alistair Cameron of Scotland in Union was a holocaust denier.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/scottish-mp-natalie-mcgarry-pays-10000-damages-holocaust-denier-tweet/

I didn’t get to name Natalie McGarry in open court for her part in the hate campaign against me, but I made sure that people knew who she is, and what she is, Natalie McGarry is unfit to be the MP for Glasgow East.

Natalie McGarry is a close personal friend of Nicola Sturgeon, and Sturgeon is also linked to Tommy Ball, and all three know each other.

So, what are the ‘tools’ of the trade of Cybernats?

The classic attack lines developed by the Scottish Nationalist are limited but effectively nasty:

Paedophile

Homophobic

Racist

Misogynist

They also like to call people homosexual, so you might find during a hate campaign run against you being called both a homosexual and a homophobe by the same person as they desperate search for a weak spot to get a reaction.

In the SNP ranks, quantity of abuse is sometimes more important than quality because cybernats have to keep volume up as they climb new heights of abuse.

Now, it seems that cybernattery has backfire and continues to backfire, secret SNP research has found the party’s gits have damaged the independence cause, probably on a par with the lying committed by the SNP leadership, people don’t want independence under the SNP.

Scotland won’t vote for Scottish independence under the likes of Alex Salmond and the new sock puppet Nicola Sturgeon, the shallow hollow and vacuously inept politician.

You know when you are new in the job people cut you slack to settle in, but the SNP have shown that they are incapable of being in government, they aren’t a government for change; they aren’t even a government for the people either.

It’s ‘Them and Us’.

Of course they lurch from time to time from gimmick to gimmick to try and get short term populist, hence the rise of the ‘selfie’ and ‘Nicola Cares’, substance replaced by spin.  

One of Alex Salmond’s former advisers Alex Bell said internal party polling and focus groups found dogmatic online Nationalists held back the Yes movement failing to convert swing voters before the referendum.

I said years ago, that trying to lie your way to independence was a serious mistake, so in the aftermath of defeat, threats of second indy ref but also new barriers for the SNP and their tame stooges in the Scottish Greens.

As to the SSP, they have fallen off the political radar as the ‘Rise Alliance’ didn’t work at all in their favour to get seats, the curse of Tommy Sheridan did for the SSP and the rebranding wasn’t done right.

No seats at Holyrood, not even on the list!

  

by repelling rather than converting swing voters before the referendum.

Speaking in a debate on Scottish politics at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Monday, Alex Bell also described the SNP government’s White Paper on independence as “drivel”.

If you think back to ‘white paper’ day, I faced off against Natalie McGarry on BBC5 Live, my first time as a guest on the BBC in my own right, I raised the issue of trust at the end which next day Brian Taylor, BBC political editor blogged on next day on the same point. It seemed that I was more in tune with Scottish public opinion pre and post vote.

The White Paper launch was low key, I was in Edinburgh, it didn’t seem to me that Scotland had turned up for the less than historic document being unveiled, about a handful of people turned up, a fact not un-noticed by the BBC. SNP MSP Joan McAlpine likened it to the American Declaration of Independence but as Alex Bell rightly pointed out the document was fluff and didn’t make economic sense.

Salmond and Sturgeon thought they could hoodwink the public by putting on a show, the white paper cost a packet and was rubbish!

670 pages of rubbish cobbled together by people who have no clue on nationhood or anything else.

I imagine the crew that wrote this rubbish must have felt pretty pleased with themselves afterwards when it got printed off, question is why?

In politics like life timing is everything, you can’t keep an idea continually going as the political agenda is moved on by demand, so Scottish independence has a time limit then there is decline if nothing happens.

Bell had to the SNP woes by saying:

 “Let’s be clear. All those websites that are still functioning, all that Twitter argument, all that kind of ‘It’s just right’ [position on independence] is losing the argument. The SNP have this polling. They won’t, of course, tell you that. They won’t ever criticise any of that. But let me tell you now - if you are interested in an independent Scotland, do not go into a dogmatic argument with anyone. Do not support a website which adopts a hostile, provocative view of the other side, because you are losing the argument in that process. And when the histories are written, the polling will come out.”

Far from being open and transparent the recent SNP debacle on accountability at Holyrood shows that the decline and the rot have firmly set in.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14682168.SNP_accused_of_Holyrood_power_grab_as_junior_MSPs_land_key_jobs/

The SNP aren’t talking to Scotland, they are just talking to themselves because they cannot tolerate other people having a different opinion which is why as a party they will fall, they have risen to ineffective opposition, their fall will be self-inflected, what the tipping point will be is open to debate.

If you think back to earlier posts you would have noticed that I repeated said the second term of SNP Government should have bene about reform of Government and local Government, they have done absolutely nothing which was why I was confident that they would lose as spectacularly as they did.

And let’s remember they also lost the EU debate as well, Nicola Sturgeon, 0-2 on referendums, in contrast to George Laird, 2-2!

Labour peer Lord Foulkes said recently:

“I think Alex Bell is absolutely right. It was a negative thing. It really did harm them, the really aggressive ones. However to be fair I’ve noticed a very big change since Nicola Sturgeon took over. I don’t get anything like the same volume of attacks, as if she’s called them off, whereas Alex Salmond gave them a sort of licence to do what they liked.”

If George Foulkes thinks that because Nicola Sturgeon is now running the SNP ‘rat ship’ this is the reason for less abuse, let me clue him in, the reason that abuse has lowered is the simple concept, there is no Scottish independence referendum running.

Come the next one, then will come the abuse!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Nicola Sturgeon really doesn’t get it: SNP Leader Sturgeon dismisses claims Scottish independence would lead to 'hard border' with England, she can’t think of a ‘good’ reason, how about ‘terrorism’ and need to be proactive in national security issues, she is a failed politician

Dear All

One of the major lies pumped out by the SNP leadership during the Scottish independence referendum was that there would be no change, Scots would keep the pound, we would still be members of the EU automatically and life would continue as normal.

No, it won’t, Scotland has a massive black hole in the finances, this can only be addressed by massive cuts to services and huge tax hikes.

Because of the black hole, Scotland wouldn’t even be eligible for consideration to join the European Union for years, I would venture at least not a decade and probably even longer. So, what happens if Nicola Sturgeon gets her way and independence is achieved if they are a mass delusion that grips the country?

Just as the SNP likes to drive wedges between Scotland and England, there would be one dividing line that isn’t open to debate, there will be a border.

And that border would have to be enforced as permanent in the current state of upheaval caused by terrorism in Europe. The SNP want to allow mass immigration into Scotland, a figure of a million has been floated in the past. Given we are unable to pay our way at present; we would be a bankrupt state next door to the rest of the UK.

Westminster doesn’t want that and certainly doesn’t want Scotland used as a backdoor into England by un-vetted migrants.

So, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon dismisses claims Scottish independence would lead to 'hard border' with England show yet again she is deluded, fake and a con merchant.

It will be a ‘hard border’ and a permanent border, free unrestricted travel would be a thing of the past; security considerations override everything.

Sturgeon said there is no reason for anyone to suggest border posts are "inevitable" but that notion completely dismisses the terrorist threat as irrelevant, national security is a concept while people grasp, looking at Europe, you might not know the nuts and bolts of how security works but you know that you want it to work regardless.

Prime Minister Theresa May indicatesxshe wants to maintain an open border with the Republic of Ireland, so what is that based on? It is based on the Irish Government being proactive on national security and economic security, if Ireland was a land route for migrants, the situation would be significantly changed to have a new policy.

Should people from Ireland be free to travel into Northern Ireland, I would say yes, should foreigners passing into the area for holidays etc, you could make the case for yes, should undocumented migrants, clearly not.

SNP MSP Alex Neilvery quickly disappeared off front line politics, however he is back to say that an open border between an independent Scotland and the remainder of the UK "is likely to be very difficult to achieve".

And he has got that 100% right.

So, why can’t Nicola Sturgeon see this? Is it because she is smarter than the rest of us?

Well if you look at the comments of her former law teacher at University of Glasgow, he says he failed to teach her properly to grasp what she was taught.

Alistair Bonnington got it right when he said:

“So in Holyrood, legislative proposals brought forward by the SNP government are neither challenged nor given proper scrutiny by SNP MSPs. Their correct function here is to bring independent critical thinking to the government’s policy. But instead, government bills are afforded obedient adulation, no matter how flawed. This results in Scotland producing the lowest quality legislation in Europe”.

He added:

“I fear I must accept responsibility here. I taught Nicola Sturgeon when she was in law classes at Glasgow University. I seem to have failed to instill in her the most basic rules of how the institutions of government work in the free world. We tried to teach that a one-party government which tramples on the independence of the other arms of the state, and indeed the independence of its own members, is the very antithesis of true democracy. How sad that we failed”.

We now have this failed politician who thinks that having a big mouth is somehow better than having an educated mind.

Ask yourself this, other than lining her own pockets, what are her successes?

We can all point to her failures by the truckload!

Sturgeon says:

"I don't want to see a hard border between Scotland and England any more than people in Ireland want to see a hard border between the north and south”.

What you want and want you get are two different things in life, and clearly she is yet again failing to grasp what is needed as the SNP cult live in a bubble, it is easy to understand why Niocla Sturgeon surrounds herself with ignorant ugly sycophants, she was to be ‘special’.

If as Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond say that Scottish independence is inevitable, then so must there be a hard border.

So, what is a hard border?

A hard border is an area which is used to funnel people to trap them, if you have travelled by air or sea; you know at borders, there are armed police. There are there to deal with the terrorist threat, designed to contain people and their vehicles.

And we have a deluded failed un-aware Nicola Sturgeon wanting people to just come and go and in fact place citizens in peril.

Finally, to drive the point home that Nicola Sturgeon is a fool, Scotland is producing the lowest quality legislation in Europe because Holyrood is a laughing stock, it cost £414 million and is falling apart, it costs £72 million a year to run, and the SNP have lowered the tone of the place.

Can you put any weight on her claim about borders?

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University