Isaac Hayes: Shaft theme (High Quality), this piece of music is timeless and great

SNP, the Party with nowhere to go, Nicola Sturgeon cannot escape her destiny to fail, the sands of time for her have ran out as support for Scottish independence is at its ‘lowest since 2014 referendum’, any second indyref is doomed to fail

Dear All

Do you like music?

I do but I am not an expert, I like what I like whatever it is and from whatever time, we see pop bands and fall as the public have ‘stars’ placed before them as the next big thing. I remember my time at uni where lots of perfectly sensible female medics were all gaga ofver Marti Pellow and the band Wet Wet Wet.

Marti Pellow is now doing Aladdin at the SECC.

http://www.pantomime.com/venues/glasgow

Everyone has their ‘time’ and then they fade, the same applies to political parties and policies.

In 2014, the SNP set the date of Scottish independence as September 14th that died a painful death, the lies and deception killed the dream. After being caught lying; the SNP leaders decided to keep lying, not having learned the lesson.

The truth of the matter, I never saw 2014 as a real date for possible independence, the SNP’s white paper clearly was a piece of garbage and show how the SNP had no idea what they were doing, you can’t win independence by lying to the public no matter what the issue.

At the Glasgow Count, the SNP cheered as they won every constituency in the City, in Pollok they with 30/40 activists got 27k votes, I was in the Better Together team of 5/6 people and we managed to get 22k votes. We didn’t have enough time, resources and people to cover the entire area to make our case but despite that the effort of the group mostly non-party political people was extraordinary. The Labour Campaign was weak and pretty much not effective; no one in Pollok which the party leaders neglected wanted to come out. 

Alex Salmond lost big, he marched the Nationalists up to the top of the hill and then he turned them round and marched them back down again, a humiliating defeat which led to his resignation in the huff. Next comes along Nicola Sturgeon, the shop soiled white hope of Dreghorn, presented as the broom, where Alex had failed Nicola would succeed, and we should remember her ‘success’ is based on people rejecting Labour who had failed the ordinary people. Is there any evidence, well the election results in by-elections show that this isn’t purely a Glasgow epidemic? In Arbroath just recent, the by-election result showed the Scottish Labour Party in fifth place. I have to say this is a surprise considering that Labour had John Ruddy as a candidate, he is experienced, but despite this, he received only 177 votes.

177 votes for a national major party is a shock, but it shows how far the Labour Party has fallen in the eyes of voters, and it is all self-inflicted by the right wing of the party dubbed the ‘Blairites’ who work to their minority agenda at the expense of the working class.

When you have a window of opportunity, you have to act, you can’t wait, the SNP went for independence too soon, the best date in my opinion which I blogged on was 2018 after doing two terms of Government, but as their government was a success of the two terms, they are back to minus square one. The support for Scottish independence is at its ‘lowest since 2014 referendum’.

We are at minus square one because Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP can reset history, it is now harder to achieve independence now since anytime since the start of the first SNP administration.

Bottom line, Salmond and Sturgeon blew it big time.

Support for Scottish independence has plummeted in the past two years but the SNP have still managed to remain the ‘protest’ party as people drifted away from Labour, their ports of call have been Tories and SNP. The findings from YouGov put support for separation at 44 per cent; this is one point lower than the independence referendum in 2014. Although not a big drop, it is a trend that should worry the SNP, they have peaked and the ‘audience’ like pop bands want a new ‘rising star’.

A new political party in Scotland since the SNP is damaged goods.

Backing for the union is at 56 per cent and I expect this to rise as people see the record of the SNP in Government, holding power is a double edged sword, you have the keys to the kingdom but you also have nowhere to hide from failure.

Polster John Curtis of Strathclyde University said the survey was the first to suggest the yes vote had fallen since the indy ref but it won’t be the last, just as you get sick of a hit record played too long, you get sick of a constant stream of SNP people only talking about independence, it is off putting.

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: 

“The standout finding from this poll is the increasing opposition to another referendum on independence, and the drop in support for independence itself now lower than at anytime since the 2014 referendum. On the day the SNP finish their so-called listening exercise on independence, it is now time they finally paid attention to what Scotland it saying - no to a second referendum and no to more division, more uncertainty and more rancour.” 

A Scottish Labour spokesman added: 

“This poll is further evidence that a growing number of Scots are opposed to the SNP’s latest attempt to divide our country”.

Scotland is in political flux, the public may not know what they want but they have pretty strong ideas want they don’t want, they don’t want Scottish independence and they don’t want to vote for Scottish Labour under Kezia Dugdale.

The sands of time are running out for Nicola Sturgeon, every day the distance grows, the chances of indy fade and the dream which they say will never die is in a coma.

The public don’t want an independent Scotland and certainly not one run by the Scottish National Party.

Finally, you might want to go see Marti Pellow at the SECC, apparently he has got his act together unlike Nicola Sturgeon. 

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

Bitch Slapped Hard; former SNP leader Alex Salmond gets turfed out of Holyrood as he tries to use the building for a photo op by staff, and Nicola Sturgeon makes a fool of herself by lobbying for single market membership, maybe its time for a tv show with the intro, ‘previously on the Arse’!

Dear All

You should be angry, very angry as to what passes for a politician in Scotland, we don’t have giants strutting the world stage, we have eejits, self absorbed eejits who can’t get anything right and only think of their own waning importance.

Yes, I came across a story that Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond was blocked from handing over charity cheque in Holyrood because he’s not an MSP, Salmond decided that the rules don’t apply to him only to find out that as a has-been full of himself they do.

We then had the undignified spectacle of Alex Salmond in a foaming mouth rant that that the ‘snub’ was in his opinion “pompous prattery”. Oh how it must have hurt dreadfully the former would be ‘King’ of Scotland to be ushered out the door like a bag of waste.

In an act of defiance, he then decided to have his ‘event’ using the Holyrood building as a backdrop.

Salmond said later:

“Presiding officer Ken Macintosh asked me ways in which the Scottish Parliament could raise its esteem. They could stop acting like a bunch of pompous Westminster prats. The Scottish Parliament’s great advantage is that it has always been accessible and listening to people. To say ‘You can’t do that’ is absurd.”

What has this event to do with Westminster?

Absolutely nothing, this is to use the SNP phrase, ‘the best people to decide Scotland’s future are the people who live here’ and they did just that by telling him to pack up his circus and move along.

A clear sign of not just gone but not welcomed back in my opinion, after such a humiliation as this you would think that Alex Salmond would have gone legal and got a super injunction to stop the press printing the story.

As to Alex Salmond’s assumption that Scottish Parliament’s great advantage is that it has always been accessible and listening to people where did he get that notion from because it is nonsense, the building is regulated; you can’t do what you want in the place.

Personally when I heard this story yesterday, it amused me greatly, the mighty have fallen on a cold wet pavement

Now on to something which really is interesting, sad, pathetic and funny, the Scottish leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon who has become a laughing stock through Europe by her constant antics to get anyone to acknowledge her Scottish Brexit plan for a separate deal for Scotland.

No one has, no country has backed Sturgeon and the SNP, it is a waste of taxpayer’s money and a gigantic waste of time and resources to boot.

For some further amusement, this is the great BBC interviewer taking apart Fiona Hyslop after she tells him he doesn’t understand what is going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNp_l1s8mdg

Gordon Brewer is like Andrew Neil, if you give him an opening or you give him enough rope you will hang yourself. SNP Minister Fiona Hyslop is just out of her depth as the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs.

If you have an understanding of what a contract is, you will realise that the United Kingdom via the Westminster Government holds the contract of EU membership; it isn’t sectioned up between the countries which make up the UK. In effect, the EU deals with the Westminster Government as the sole representative of the contract, the SNP Government has no say, no input in reserved matters.

Scotland’s doesn’t have an EU membership in its own right, and that is a problem for the SNP, no seat at the top table or even the kiddies table either. The problems in Europe are growing; the migrant crisis was like Scottish independence a tipping point for public opinion. Europe has its own internal domestic politics issues, Spain has a problem where the Catalonia region want independence from Spain, in Belgium there is a movement to have the Flemish part of the country leave and become a separate State.

If we were independence if Scottish independence had been granted, the 28 Member States would all have the right of veto of Scottish membership, including the United Kingdom but you can forget them using the veto for political reasons.

It is not a mystery why Spain will veto Scotland, internal Spanish politics applies here re Catalonia, and that issue is a powder keg which a Scottish Membership could set off. Spain by default will veto Scotland’s separate deal no matter what the merits of the case are.

Nicola Sturgeon if she has any brains knows that a separate deal is impossible; you cannot have a deal unless you have a contract and she has no contract of EU Membership for Scotland. Dancing, singing, wee trips to visit Germans or French or Italians makes no difference to the cold hard facts, as a lawyer Sturgeon should know this, unless of course she is a shit lawyer.

As well as getting the cold shoulder by Europeans, Nicola Sturgeon is finding out she really doesn’t have allies will to back her stupidity, her Welsh counterpart Mr Jones said:

“For me, what is absolutely crucial is we get the best deal for the UK — all four nations of the UK.”

Best deal for the UK means no separate deal for Scotland.

Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones said of the separate deal:

“I can’t see how it would work.”

He is right, it can’t work, imagine fighting a fight where you end up looking like an idiot, what kind of strategy is that?

Sturgeon’s Brexit proposals have come to nothing, to continue with this nonsense only makes her look a fool, so keep speaking, she is just a ‘tampax’ campaigner, civic nationalist, vacant and inept.

MEP Esteban Gonzalez Pons, of Spain’s ruling People’s Party, said

“It’s impossible”!

He added:

“This is also my party’s position.”

Alex Salmond’s trips to Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein to pave the way for Scotland to join a “Champions League” of EU bolt-on nations. Is another example of nonsense to dupe Scotland’s people that something is happening when in fact nothing is happening at all!

As the SNP squirm to find anything to show that the Scottish people, the idea of a future bid to enter the European Free Trade Association looks entirely meaningless as well.

Gonzalez Pons said:

“We’re not going to accept Scotland in the single market without the rest of the UK.”

Tory constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said:

“They’re simply stating the obvious that a separate deal isn’t on the table and is unrealistic.”

External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop said:

“Nothing is impossible. We’re in uncharted territory.”

Delusion, the territory isn’t uncharted, what we do know as a fact and this is important, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP aren’t at the helm of anything, they aren’t steering Scotland or the UK to a deal, they are observers.

In a desperate attempt to invent grievance, unpopular Nicola Sturgeon used the fact that Theresa May was absent from the British-Irish Council summit in Wales as Sturgeon was pushing for single market status which will not be happening. Theresa May must deliver full Brexit to the British people and no backdoor deals or funny business will be acceptable to the people.

Nicola Sturgeon backed remain, now as an exercise, put yourself in her position if she had backed leave, what do you think the political landscape would have been then, she would be driving the intellectual agenda instead of being vacuous.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Business as usual; Union bosses are savaging Kezia Dugdale over her leadership of Scottish Labour, Gary Smith of GMB Scotland says the party is a "middle class protest" party which is out of touch with ordinary working class people, 2017 might see a catastrophic defeat which entire wipes Labour of the map as a political force in Scotland

Dear All

To say the Scottish Labour Party is in difficulties is a major understatement, the sands of the time have shifted for the party and they cannot count on the traditional support of what used to be their ‘core’ Labour voters, the working class.

Everyone knows even of they don’t do politics that the problems in the Labour Party started decades ago, and slowly but surely the trust of the people was eroded to such an extent that the tipping point came during the Scottish independence referendum. The reason for the tipping was that the working class had been alienated so much that they used the independence referendum to send a message to the Scottish Labour Party.

The Scottish Labour Party in return didn’t listen to the message, and in 2015, the party was wiped out in the General Election, in my opinion, they deserved to lose and they did so in the most dramatic fashion. All the Labour seats held in Scotland were wiped out bar one; it was the worst defeat in Labour history.

2016, the Scottish Labour yet again decided it was business as usual and yet again lost in the most dramatic fashion, I did the Johann Lamont campaign which was badly run, under funded, started late, had practically no one willing to come out for the candidate and was in effect rudderless. In a branch of circa 216 members at that time, less than a handful were willing to be active for the campaign until the last week, it wasn’t a great campaign to be involved in but not because of the loss but because who was running it.

If you read the blog regularly you will have seen my comments about how Scottish Labour and the working class has been disconnected for a rather long time, some Labour politicians rather than enhancing the brand had effectively lived off it and developed for themselves a rather nice non activist lifestyle. Of course, it should be pointed out that you do see them in the much vaulted photo op so that they can get their ‘tick’ and proclaim themselves as a ‘door step campaigner’.

In 2017, the Council Elections take place, the general feeling in Scottish Labour is that the party will do every badly indeed, and I was told recently in passing from a friend that a senior person in Labour wasn’t sure that the Labour Party would hold the City of Glasgow post May next year, and this person is one of the people leading the campaigning.

It is now interesting that that Gary Smith, leader of the GMB union north of the border is saying that Scottish Labour is a "middle class protest" party, I had a taste of this myself just recently when I was failed as a candidate, I asked for ‘equality of arms’ and the flippant remark of the middle class presumably university educated party officer was to tell me in an official meeting was to ‘take it up’ with Brian Roy, the Scottish Labour General Secretary. At another event I attend I was told that the Labour Party was effectively corrupted and this guy was a former staffer in the party, but here he was openly saying this at a lecture in the City of Glasgow that I attended.

The Labour Party in Scotland has changed, it is as Gary Smith, leader of the GMB union a "middle class protest" party which is also run by the Blairite faction, and these self proclaimed individuals claim that they are the vanguard of the proletariat, the joke is that rather than being the vanguard, they are the people who suppress the working class. It took a considerable time but the people have woken up to the problems in Scottish Labour, the party has now effectively collapsed.

It is highly possible according to Gary Smith that the Scottish Labour Party could find they are in a position that could leave them as the fourth place party behind the Greens. I can’t say I am totally convinced at this point in time that the party slump is that deep, they still have a voter base although it is getting smaller the longer that the Blair faction remains in power and controls the party.

Kezia Dugdale has no future as Labour leader, and when she does say something on major policy either she gets it wrong, is out of step with the people and doesn’t deliver a vision. Complaining about SNP failure is good stuff but you don’t get elected on just stating the bleeding obvious. The Scottish Labour Party has made too many U turns which has affected their credibility and as you know, people have long memories.

Gary Smith wants to rule out any town hall coalition deals with the Tories after next year’s council elections, the Tories have seen their star rise as Labour’s fall, perhaps he thinks any deal only benefits the Tories and not Labour. For ideological reasons, I don’t see Scottish Labour and the Scottish Tories doing a deal in Scotland, there is too much history of attacking the Tories. Given the SNP and Labour are fishing in the same pool for the working class vote, I don’t see them teaming up either in any meaningful way, the SNP don’t work well with others.

I had to laugh when Kezia Dugdale gave her deputy Alex Rowley the position as campaign manager in the 2017 Election, it was a poison chalice to be sure, personally he should have declined the position, but Alex Rowley couldn’t work that out, perhaps he thinks this will enhance his reputation.

It won’t.

What the Scottish Labour Party should have done was to appoint a councillor to be campaign manager or outsourced and brought in an outsider to run their campaign for them. There isn’t a lot of talent in the Scottish Labour Party; there isn’t anyone who could be described as a big political beast in the stature of Gordon Brown, Donald Dewar or Douglas Alexander kicking out.

    

Scottish Labour has many problems, one of them is the constitution, Kezia Dugdale’s I could vote for Scottish independence ended rather badly, third place at Holyrood and she lost her seat as well, and watched in horror as the Tories became the official opposition at Holyrood. Labour donors in effect don’t really want to back a failing Kezia Dugdale leadership, the big names are putting money into the party and this creates a problem.

Alex Rowley, her deputy believes Labour should back home rule rather than just opposing independence, the only game in town isn’t called ‘home rule’, it is called Federalism, and it maybe a bandwagon which Kezia Dugdale maybe forced to move onto in a highly public fashion. Federalism isn’t plain sailing, just as the Scottish football team isn’t geared up to win, neither is Scotland geared up to accept Federalism under its current financial position, we don’t pay our way, and the idea of cuts to an already failing system isn’t a vote winner.

You should read up on this crowd and what they are up to.

http://www.constitutionreformgroup.co.uk/

As blog readers, I supported Donald Trump to win the race to become the next American President, Kezia Dugdale wrongly back Hillary Clinton.

  

On Donald Trump’s, Gary Smith said:

“Trump had some very simple, compelling messages to working class people in America and workers who previously had voted for Obama. He said to the car workers, ‘[we are] not going to allow your employer to export your jobs’. He said to communities that had been hard hit by the American free trade agreement, ‘we are going to bring your jobs back’. "

The problem with Scottish Labour is that they wouldn’t think twice about an employer exporting jobs or contracts to a foreign source, the recent Twitter account called Defend Glasgow's ICT is interesting. They say:

“We are defending Glasgow City Council's ICT services from being outsourced to the multinational Canadian Company CGI by questionable means”.

Why isn’t Labour defending the workers?

Because Labour are the ones making a mistake; and this is a classic example of disconnect which Gary Smith is talking about, Glasgow Labour’s excuse is that they are acting because of the cuts of £130 million to Glasgow’s budget. In effect, this is why there needs to be more choice in elections; and why I will be standing as a independent candidate in 2017. I think it is wrong to outsource the jobs of council employees and in the past, I spoke out against the Aleos, another botched idea to give workers less rights and money.

Smith also said about Labour’s problems:

“I have said this to the Labour party - too often they sound like a party of middle class protest. They certainly don’t sound like a party that is seeking power. We look at the party’s position on Trident, on building defence ships or on energy, [Scottish Labour opposes Trident and fracking] they just don’t sound credible and they don’t sound in touch with working class people or communities.”

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said:

"Labour is the only party in Scotland who stand for what the majority of Scots want - a strong Scottish Parliament inside the UK with close links to Europe. We are the only major party willing to use the new tax powers to invest in public services rather than carrying on the cuts. While the SNP and Tories spent the weekend obsessing about the constitution, Labour focused on defending communities against Tory and SNP cuts to our public services like the NHS, and for a rail fare freeze."

You know, this little speech by the Labour spokesman convinces even more that I was right to cancel my Labour Party membership and stand as an independent.

Finally, I would appoint a senior councillor who knows how to campaign as campaign manager for the 2017 election rather than someone like Alex Rowley who at best will be part time if that!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

The European Crisis, the rise of the far right appears unstoppable across Europe, Marine Le Pen may win the President of France, Geert Wilders may become Dutch leader; the collapse of the EU is gaining pace as more people reject the global elite in favour of national identity politics, civil war remains possible as free speech is attacked, Europe is a powder keg waiting to explode

Dear All

The election of Donald Trump was a shock to the political elite in Europe, they backed Hillary Clinton to the hilt, when the result came, they were in shock, Donald Trump won enough electoral college votes to win.

The Trump Campaign was clever and positive, the Clinton campaign was negative and dire; Clinton herself was a liability.

I would like you to watch this video, the image of the Clintons and their Clinton Foundation has certainly taken a hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PeO0SfCw5s

Basically, protestors are calling the Clintons and the Foundation crooks!

The public image of the Clintons is held in stark contrast with people who have had dealings with them, how do you square up the situation of what happened in Haiti?

In Scotland, unpopular Nicola Sturgeon jumped on the Clinton bandwagon and disgraced her position as First Minister by backing Clinton when she should have stayed neutral. The result by the people of America was a slap right across her face as the humiliation worked its way through. Instead of being gracious which is frankly beyond someone as common as Nicola Sturgeon, she post defeat decided to carry on her snide antics, the jolly fat man Alex Salmond on the other hand also getting it wrong, decided to play ‘good cop’ to Sturgeon’s ‘bad cop’, the sycophantic Salmond on his belly saying ‘let’s give Trump a chance’ was enough to give the dry boak. Also in Scotland, the Scottish Labour leader managed to do her image damage by not only supporting Clinton but by personally going to campaign for her.

Leaders in Europe also got their judgement wrong as the mood for change and the backlash against the political elite is spreading across Europe, the rise of the right isn’t unexpected, it was always going to happen. In Germany and in Austria, the far right is making real gains, and in France, perhaps we might see a watershed moment in French politics. I think at present it is too early to tell but French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has stormed into a shock lead over her presidential rivals, the election it is said for her to lose.

One thing which is a shock is that former French President Sarkozy has been knocked out as a candidate for the election, this is very interesting; the rise of the far right is in part due to terror attacks. The terror attacks in Paris and Nice has rocked a country known as friendly and welcoming, the French are a world power sitting at the heart of Europe. The shock lead by Marine Le Pen is more credible by the fact that this is part of a trend in France with a series of surveys suggesting the Front National chief will lay waste to all the conservative candidates in the first round of the race to become the next leader of France.

As she is a Eurosceptic Ms Le Pen, has vowed to lead the country out of the EU, this looks like Brussels is in danger of the entire EU project collapsing, the political elite have overstepped the mark, they have made people angry and they want revenge and justice over the harm that has been done to them. The EU as we know it may be finished as an entity, the Dutch people have also expressed their interest in leaving, and as we know Britain is leaving after a decisive vote.

The current lead by Marine Le Pen is aid to be in the region of between four and nine per cent higher than her rivals but it isn’t plain sailing, she still faces an uphill task to clinch the top job because of the nature of France’s voting system. In France, candidates are required to win more than 50 per cent of the electorate over a two-round process, if Le Pen crosses that hurdle, she is President.  

She gets the keys to the Elysee Palace and the political map of Europe changes dramatically as the sands start to shift.

America has moved, Austria is getting moblised, Germany is seeing a new kind of politics become mainstream, Italy, the Netherlands is in uproar about having their Brexit vote and even in Britain, there is a collapse of the vote for the ‘fake’ left, the staunch anti Brexit campaigners. Labour MP Owen Smith’s comment about ignoring the democratic will of the people is very telling indeed, it shows that in Britain there is a fifth column whose loyalty is not to the people.

I am not sure whether Marine Le Pen can at this point in time manage to create the sustained momentum need to carry her all the way to the Elysee Palace and to be the next President of France, but she has to be considered more of a serious contender than she has previously been.

Finally, the shift to the right is so noticeable now that the Germans are clamping down on free speech, last night, I bumped into an Austrian in Glasgow who told me about this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHoG3KStuzc

The woman in the video is an American who stayed in Germany, after her video; the German Police wish to question her about her views. The content of her video is pretty forceful and right in your face, but free speech it appears is dying in Germany; this will lead to a powder keg situation which will explode at some point. The trial of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands is another example of free speech being tested by law and it is possible that he and his party could end up the ruling party come the next election.

The EU wants an army, there is only one reason for this; it is to crush internal dissent in EU countries.

How long can it be before the backlash makes the mainstream press and Europe is plunged into civil war?

Something to think about is it not?

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University   

Offside, Tory MSP Douglas Ross faces call to be sacked by the SNP after he missed key meeting to referee Real Madrid Champions League match, given the SNP are a bunch of hypocrites it is highly doubtful that Ruth Davidson will cause a ripple at the pretend parliament, but down the line she might face a problem

Dear All

The Tories were able to capitalise on the collapse of the Scottish Labour Party in 2016, they saw an opening by saying they were the party of the Union when Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said she could consider voting for independence.

The mistake was to prove costly as Labour voters who supported the Union felt betrayed and decided that the Tories were the best bet. Since her mistake, the Labour Party has been rewriting history to now be a party of the Union, one problem, the deputy leader Alex Rowley has since said that Labour is now not a unionist party.

You could say at present the Scottish Labour Party is experiencing a ‘ratner’s moment’ where their credibility is shot, Westminster 2015 was the worst disaster in Labour’s history in Scotland, Holyrood 2016 was the worst disaster in Labour’s history of the Scottish Parliament, voters have deserted them, activists have deserted them and donors don’t want to fund them.

2017 on paper is looking really bad unless they get some good luck by other people’s bad luck, Scottish Labour cannot change their fortunes because of the Blair faction which controls the party.

Double jobbing isn’t new in politics; several people do elected political office as a part time job which provides them with a second additional source of income and security. All the political parties do it, the SNP in the shape of Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond has several money making schemes on the go to rake in the cash. From top to bottom in politics, there are people who are elected councillors who also have a full time job elsewhere; a common trick is to be the councillor and parliamentary assistant to an MSP or MP in the area you were elected to ‘serve’, in effect paid twice for doing the same job.

The Tories did very well because of the stupidity of certain people leading Scottish Labour, but they also now need to play a more clever game if they are to crack open and get seats in council elections beyond their core support.

Douglas Ross is the Tory justice spokesman, ironically he is now facing calls to be sacked as an MSP after he missed key meeting to referee Real Madrid Champions League match. You have to wonder what the mentality was in selecting him in the first place if he wasn’t going to fully commit to the job.

To miss a vital parliamentary committee meeting to attend the match is a disgrace, he wasn’t there in the stands; he was on the pitch running the line at the Sporting Lisbon vs Real Madrid game in Portugal and making a few bob on the side.

So, Douglas Ross gets an MSP salary which is £59,089, he also draws a councillor salary representing a ward in Moray and then he tops its off by referring which is said to be worth £40,000 a year.

The Tories have gone up to be the second party of Holyrood, and if they keep on acting in this sleazy fashion, they will find that the ‘goodwill’ they received in votes can simply banish, previously when Ross disappeared the Tories described this as a “one-off problem”, it isn’t, it is an on-going problem beyond Ross.

I am not joining the bandwagon for Douglas Ross to be sacked as an MSP like the SNP have done, the Nationalists are just as bad when it comes to second jobs, they are hypocrites, I would say that Douglas Ross cannot miss any more meetings of Parliament or duties he has been entrusted with, in fact it would be better if he was replaced as Justice Spokesman and placed on the backbenches if his fitba thing is so important to him.

SNP MSP Ben Macpherson said:

“The arrogance and blatant disrespect of ‘three jobs’ Tory Douglas Ross is simply staggering.

Let’s take out the name Douglas Ross and replace that with Alex Salmond and ask if he would say the same thing publicly.

Imagine SNP MSP Ben Macpherson saying for a second:

‘The arrogance and blatant disrespect of SNP MP Alex Salmond is simply staggering’.

Of course Macpherson would say this or his career in the SNP would be finished, but we shouldn’t associate Ben with having courage.

The Tories last night dismissed Macpherson’s complaint because in politics you don’t acknowledge the complaint of the other side as being valid.

A spokesman added:

“Earlier this year Ben Macpherson asked Douglas to kindly speak to clubs in his constituency about refereeing – presumably this invitation has now been rescinded.”

The Tories might feel this is a storm in a teacup given that Scottish Labour is imploding at present, but in politics the long game is more important, I don’t see any joy for Scottish Labour, this side of May’s council elections, but the idea of the greedy sleazy Tory is still a powerful thought in the minds of Scots.

Tory welfare spokesperson Adam Tomkins was criticised last week after missing a social security committee event because he was busy with his lucrative second job as a university lecturer. I personally don’t see the appearance of Adam Tomkins as anything other than being put in place to help bring in Federalism in the UK. Tomkins like Ross didn’t commit to Holyrood either; in the main it could be that he thinks like me that this is a pretend parliament of not much worth. The reason the place is of not much worth is the calibre of the people elected to it, particularly the SNP along with others made it a talking shop for bullshit student politics.

If anything was to light a fire under the Tories to act on second jobbers, it would be the Scoittish Labour getting their act together, however as I wrote above, the Labour Party in Scotland is imploding.

Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross needs to be removed by Ruth Davidson if he wants to continue going to the fitba, he should be given a straight choice, do you want to be a justice spokesman or do you want to referee, and then let him pick. Of course, she won’t do this, by imposing a standard she would be forced to offer Adam Tomkins the same choice, so Douglas Ross is safe for the moment.

But the Tories down the line might not.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Europe in Crisis, One in three Germans feel they are 'strangers in their own country', Germany is a country that is gearing up for civil war, in a war there are no bystanders, how long will it be before German politicians are seen as ‘legitimate’ targets, Angela Merkel has brought down Germany, soon there will be a backlash

Dear All

Prior to being offered power, the appeal of the Nazis Party under Adolf Hitler was in decline, the German establishment thought by offering Hitler power they coul;d control him.

That didn’t work out too well as history demonstrates all too painful, the second world war is estimated to have cost 50 million lives. The highest toll was on the Russian people which the Germans saw as sub-human.

After the war ended, we entered the cold war as the Allies faced off against the Russians, caused by the actions of Stalin; a recognisable symbol of the divided Europe was the Berlin War.

At the end of the Second World War; we also witnessed a great displacement of people on the move across Europe, Germany lay in ruins, the country was divided up among the allies and the Marshall plan saw a new Germany rise from the ashes. This new Germany would later dominate Europe through the creation of what we know now as the European Union.

The Germans flourished, their manufacturing base was rebuilt, their infrastructure was rebuilt and the country had drive and purpose.

Now, there is a new Germany rising again, not a politician led Germany but a people led Germany, a people abandoned and ignored by the political class as the elite sign up to a global agenda. Angela Merkel has decided to stand for a fourth term in public office as Chancellor; no one in the post war era of WW2 has ever done as much damage to German unity as Angela Merkel.

How much damage you may ask?

One in three Germans feel they are 'strangers in their own country' due to 'Muslim infiltration', this is according to a study. And you should note the rhetoric being used 'Muslim infiltration'; this is strange wording to be seen in research by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation but in keeping with a lot of anger building up in the country. In Germany, such is the disquiet that the security services monitor their people and a quarter say they fear expressing an opinion 'without getting into trouble'. The security services aren’t just active in Germany, in Austria; the internal security is also watch groups like the Identitarian movement and its leadership, the Austrians are going to polls and it is possible that a new right wing government could win the election.

The Identitarian movement is slightly unusual as although it has been classed as a far right movement by their opponents, they don’t quite fight that profile especially in Austria.

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

In Austria, the youth of that country have been quite vocal about who they see as the problem, not migrants as they are seen as pawns but the global elite, who they see as a problem.

The study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation is yet again another clear sign of what is becoming a 'disturbing' polarisation and violence Germany down the line that will lead to possible civil war.

I suspect that this time the civil war will put German politicians in the front line as enemy combatants when the violence starts and people will die. It wouldn’t be just violence that will be used; people will join political parties such as far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). AfD is expected to grow and grow and they will win seats, the worst Germany becomes under the leadership of Merkel and her party, the easier it will be to win power.

When people become fearful they lash out.    

This has already started in German cities; now we have 'Muslim-hostile' marches taking place, violence against refugees being reported and open hatred being voiced toward immigrants. When you hear stories of German children being raped in swimming pools, the Cologne sex attacks, the epidemic of rape in Swedish women by migrants, you get a feeling of a fragmented Europe who will one day rise up against the political class.

What is interesting about the Friedrich Ebert Foundation is that it is associated with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP), the trendy left is worried, worried because they are going to lose their voter base. When left wing parties lose their voter base, it is usually due to them not supporting the very people they were put in place to advocate for, the working class.

The German people haven’t gotten to the place yet where they will rebel as nation but they are on the road. If history repeats itself, when the Nazis took power a lot of people in then political elite end up dead, not just removed from power but removed from life.

Toleration might becoming to an end as Europe becomes more and more polarised, the Muslim terrorist attacks will take care of that down the line; then we will see a massive backlash.

Angela Merkel has opened the floodgates which will destroy Europe as we know it; her legacy isn't about to be written just yet, but future events will shape it. The rape culture she introduced will damn her just as it did the Soviets after they raped their way through Berlin to get to the Reichstag in 1945.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Open letter to Anon: Cometh the hour cometh the Glaswegian, I have decided that I am going to be a candidate for Glasgow City Council standing in Ward 3 which is Pollok, George Laird to hit the campaign trail in the quest for public office yet again

Dear Anon

Firstly thank you for the endorsement of George Liard, however perhaps one day you might also wish to endorse me as well as the candidate for Ward 3 which is Pollok.

“I believe it is time for you to run for the office of Prime Minister of Great Britain. I see you have the potential to become the Abraham Lincoln of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, because I see you as such”.

I assume this is a reference to the freeing of the last great slave encampment of the white working class which needs to be freed.

“The United Kingdom of Great Britain already has it's own Jefferson Davis which is Nicola Sturgeon and it's time that the nation has it's own Abraham Lincoln which is you”.

As I recall Lincoln although doing a great deal of good was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, obviously in politics at present things are a bit dicey especially in Europe.

I think you however have hit the nail squarely on the head when you talked about unpopular Nicola Sturgeon as Jefferson Davis:

“His preoccupation with detail, reluctance to delegate responsibility, lack of popular appeal, feuds with powerful state governors and generals, favoritism toward old friends, inability to get along with people who disagreed with him, neglect of civil matters in favor of military ones, and resistance to public opinion all worked against him. Historians agree he was a much less effective war leader than his Union counterpart Abraham Lincoln”.

Ms. Sturgeon to a tee, are you aware that ‘redneck’ is a term which was used because Scots weren’t used to the Sun and ended up being burnt. Of course, I like the State of Kentucky because of fried chicken, which as you maybe be also aware in bloody marvellous cooked right with onion rings, fries and washed down with cold pepsi.

“George Laird, you are a man of honour, courage, decency, bravery, integrity, greatness, loyalty, etc and the nation very badly needs you to be it's Prime Minister to destroy the Scottish National Party and to end forever Scottish Nationalism once and for all”.

I recently left the Scottish Labour Party, I gave my word to certain people I would stand as a candidate in the 2017 election, leaving the party wasn’t a big deal or a hardship for me, some people thought it was rather funny to discriminate against me. As the Labour Party is in a state of near collapse you would think that someone would have the brains to work out that Labour in Glasgow need all the help they can get with Labour councillors jumping ship, resigning and not being selected and rejected like in the recent case of Bill Butler, the former MSP.

I am not sure about being Prime Minister, but I do think I would make a hell of an MP in the classic sense of William Wilberforce. All I need is for someone to give me a chance to show but in politics, I don’t fit into the clique; of course they are happy enough to use me to get them elected.

Time for a funny story because funny stories brighten the day up, during the Holyrood 2016 election, I did the Labour Campaign of Johann Lamont, it wasn’t very good and even an ex councillor said to me it was a shambles. The campaign started late, hadn’t any money, no one in the Pollok CLP was willing to come out for the ex-Scottish Labour leader.  She lost, however that isn’t the funny part of the take, just some background to pad out the scene so you get a feel for the landscape.

So, as the campaign wasn’t very good, I said we should have some meetings to plan how we all go forward, in fact, I suggest the only two meetings of the campaign, one to sort out polling day, and one to sort out the last week of the campaign and passes to the count. I and others who attended the polling day meeting that everyone who was there would get a ticket to the count; there were seven people and Ms. Lamont. Now, the funny bit, at the next meeting to sort out the last week so the candidate could decide where she wanted to go, at the end of the meeting when I asked about collecting a ticket for the count, Johann Lamont told me that I wasn’t getting a ticket.

How funny is that, to make a verbal promise to someone who had been loyal and then to do this to them. At the first meeting of the Pollok CLP, there was no appearance by Ms. Lamont to thank the people who done her campaign in person, no email or letter to those who had come out and worked tirelessly on her benefit. I don’t think in the end the humour of what happened to me lasted too long, on the night of the count I got a ticket handed to me. I had five months before the election decided to ask someone in another party if they could get me a ticket as a backup. The look on the face of Ms. Lamont and her election agent Kevin O’Donnell didn’t appear to be one of joy that I got in. I think they realised at that point I had an alternative plan and that it precede the rejection of the polling station meeting.

I kept my promise to do the Labour Campaign of Johann Lamont, my campaign finished exactly at 4.30 pm on polling day.

I wonder if on the off chance that there is an early election called by Nicola Sturgeon in 2018 over Brexit would Johann Lamont come and ask me to do her campaign in future when clearly I wasn’t valued and made to feel part of the campaign team. After all, it isn’t like she could say to me that I have made any future promises to her which she could call on.   

To return to Ms. Sturgeon wish you quoted:

“Nicola Sturgeon would shit her pants at the sight and sound of your name”.

I believe that Ms. Sturgeon likes curry which does produce gas commonly known as farts, so I have no doubts her pants (presumably the sensible variety which hold things in) may indeed be visited by shit.

As to scaling the political heights, each journey begins with one step, so I will be standing for council in 2017, and I will keep standing for public office until I get in, some people took quite a few goes to get elected and I am in for the long haul.

In a sense me getting in would be a laugh because the SNP establishment would have to keep their mouths shut which I stand up in the council chamber and hold them to account, and also could you imagine the look on unpopular Nicola Sturgeon’s face if I got in, it would be like her coming home, tired and hungry, walking into the living room and finding out someone had crapped on the living room carpet, the deep shag pile.

Don’t you think that is worth fight for?

Finally, speaking of George Laird types being suitable for public office.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_L._Shoup

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University       

Things Just Got Worse, Blair is back, former PM announces he is 'returning to British politics' and cites the Tories are 'screwing up Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn is a nutter', Blair thinks he can fill the massive hole in British politics, he is responsible for one million Iraqi dead, if the law worked the way it should he would be in the dock at the Hague charged with war crimes

Dear All

Blair is back!

That would be Tony Blair who left office in disgrace, sold out the people of Britain, jumped into bed with billionaires and millionaires and ended up in a ding dong fight between ‘Blairites’ and ‘Brownites’ for the leadership of the Labour Party.

Tony Blair who has the blood of a million Iraqis on his hands is 'returning to British politics' because the Tories are 'screwing up Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn is a nutter'. In a previous existence, it was touted that Blair wanted to be President of Europe and was hanging around presumably in hope that a European job offer would come down the pipeline.

It never did!

The Europeans weren’t interested in President Blair leading a United States of Europe or indeed anything else, they had already picked out someone else, and Blair as everyone knows was seen as America’s poodle. The way he prostituted himself to George W Bush after the Clinton Regime ended was world class toadying of the highest calibre.

Do you remember Blair at George W Bush’s State of the Union address, where Bush pointed out Blair as America’s pal, it was sickening. Post exit from Office, Team Blair has run a business which raked in millions of pounds.

Tony Blair had a great run, he promised much and delivered little, his catchy tune for ‘things can only get better’ was great PR spin, but sitting here in 2016, we should reflect on Blair’s record both foreign and domestic.

In preparation for his return to politics, Blair kicks off by saying that Jeremy Corbyn is a ‘nutter’ and that Theresa May is a 'total lightweight.'

And this bit is especially funny, it seems that Tony Blair like the ‘Blue Brothers’ is wanting to put the band back together again, to that end it is said that he has ‘hired’ Jim Murphy. In 2015, Jim Murphy led the Scottish Labour Party to its worst election defeat in 100 years! So, due to Brexit, we have the ‘big corporations man’ Tony Blair wanting to influence the Government's approach to Brexit, in short many will see this as Blair wanting to sell out Britain to Europe for personal advantage.

To get the ball rolling Tony Blair is hunting for a new office near Westminster because he thinks there's a 'massive hole in British politics' that he can fill.  If he sticks one million Iraqi dead in the massive hole he will still be left with a massive hole, there is no way back for Tony Blair with the public, and certainly no way back in a Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Party. So, other than himself and his right wing Blairites still in the Labour Party who does Blair speak for?  

Is it just big business or the highest bidder?

It certainly isn’t the British people, they have spoken and they have said they want out of the EU and rightly so.

I have little faith that Blair setting up a new institute to seek to influence and advise the Brexit process is a sham, no one will want him, he doesn’t bring anything to the table not from Labour or indeed the Tories, he is yesterday’s man and the circus has left town. He should accept he isn’t wanted by the public and the political class in power.

The quip about May being a total lightweight will not be forgotten even if Blair meets up with May for a ‘coffee’ in the coming weeks. Tony Blair has is already sunk as May’s opinion is understood to be that Blair is part of an 'unholy alliance' of yesterday's politicians who are trying to frustrate the Brexit process. 

Tony Blair‘s choice to recruit former Labour MP Jim Murphy to advise him on how to merge his charity and business interests and to 'bolster the political clout' of his new Brexit-focused organisation is laughable. After his Westminster defeat, Jim Murphy effective ceased to be a political force and more or less just disappeared from the Labour Party however, it was said he still kept up paying the membership fees. How anyone can think Jim Murphy is a good advisor is beyond me. And his appointment is rather strange considering as I mentioned Murphy led Scottish Labour to its worst election performance in history. The Labour Campaign for Westminster 2015 was a shambles, you might remember my post written in Feb 2015; how the Labour Campaign was seriously going down the tubes.

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/fucking-it-all-up-labour-leader-jim.html

Fucking it all up was bang on the money, who runs a Westminster election campaign with ‘fitba’ as a centre piece, especially when that campaign has no merit or mandate because the Scottish Parliament has this devolved issue and not Westminster. It was a stupid small minded campaign that the Labour Party ran and they deserved to lose as badly as they did, they had held voters in contempt.

Finally, I would like to give this documentary a plug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAkr2KhEuuM

It is called the Killings of Tony Blair.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

How to travel on Scotrail if you are an elected SNP representaive

The fake world of Nicola Sturgeon, Sturgeon faces growing calls to resign by the public over her inept and incompetent leadership of Scotland, no amount of ‘selfies’ and ‘fake love’ from children pushed into Sturgeon’s arms can make up for failure to produce the goods professionally and personally for Scotland and its people!

Dear All

For some consider time I have been saying that Nicola Sturgeon is an inept incompetent shallow vacuous woman and unpopular.

This upset the Nationalists community as their fake PR managed ‘heroine’ was held up to the light by me. I have no doubt that Nicola Sturgeon is unfit to be First Minister of Scotland, and no amount of ‘selfies’ with children to act as a human shield by her can change that perception.

It is time that Nicola Sturgeon stepped down from front line politics, she and her ‘team’ aren’t up to the job of running Scotland; it is time that other people or parties got the chance to lead Scotland back into the light from the darkness.

I have mentioned that the SNP is effectively killing democracy in Scotland by the Holyrood Parliament by making the place a laughing stock, prior to the Colin Beattie story breaking, there were other SNP motions of breath taking stupidity that simply beggar belief.

The simple fact of the matter is that the SNP has filled its MP and MSP ranks with third rate politicians who think that pettiness equals politics, that ‘troughing’ expenses to give them luxury is a political statement.

Now more people are waking up to commentators such as me and starting to look at the SNP elected representatives and releasing that they aren’t very good at their paid jobs. Just recently; the calls for Humza Yousaf to resign as Transport Minister have rightly come thick and fast due to is inept handling of the Scotrail role. In grandstanding mode he declared that this morning he would be up at 6.30 am to monitor the situation and go to train stations. We don’t need him to go to train stations, people need him to draw up a plan, and patently he can’t do that, recently he declared that he was no expert on Transport, well, he is isn’t an expert on anything else either from what I can see other than ‘playing the race card’.

It’s great to see Sturgeon sinking in the mud as the stage managed PR attempts to portray her as a kind of superwoman fall flat, her failures both professionally and personally are legion. Sturgeon crawled to the top not by having ability but by playing a role as an angry wee Nat, the ‘nippy sweetie’, the loud mouth buffoon who gives the press good copy as they harvest the ‘stronger for Scotland’ nonsense.

The Brexit vote saw the Nicola Sturgeon standing on the wrong side of history, have you ever asked yourself what would have happened if she had campaigned against Brexit? What would her personal standing be now that the consensus mainstream politically is for leave? I suspect she would be riding on a wave of popularity of the dizziest heights, but she blew it. Sturgeon blew just like she blew Scottish Independence and badly judged the Donald Trump situation.

Her short vision couldn’t see pass what the bigger picture actually is, Trump’s proposed Muslim ban isn’t new thinking, in fact you can google and search previous bans by people from Muslim countries done by other Presidents. Nicola Sturgeon got on her high horse because she needed the Muslim vote in her constituency to ensure that she would carry the seat at the Holyrood election. Now, she has to live with the fact that the leader of the free world is Donald Trump and she has slighted him publicly in the past and like a fool carried on doing so as First Minister of Scotland.

As to her well done letter…… what a clown!   

I think Nicola Sturgeon should resign; her constant grandstanding on Brexit and Scottish independence is unhealthy. The use of Brexit and the new ‘idea’ of adopting the Norwegian model for Scotland is the ravings of a nut case, the SNP aren’t going to get a ‘special deal’ with the EU, those Brexit talks are and will remain a reserved matter. It is good news that people like me get hits on the blog highlighting her failures and urging her to quit. Sturgeon is paid a lot of money, her £147,000-a-year job is based on failure, but the reality is that Sturgeon will not quit, when she goes there isn’t any real talent behind her at all.

The SNP is mentally bankrupt, too many idiots in too many positions of power, people that you wouldn’t trust to organise a piss up in a brewery never mind anything else.

It is also great to see that the ordinary public are speaking out against Sturgeon rather than those in politics, Alex Robson of Clydebank said:

“I'm fed up with her saying she is speaking for Scotland. Well she doesn't”.

It is only two years since Sturgeon was crowned after Alex Salmond left in the huff and beaten man with his tail between his legs, now the penny finally appears to be dropping that the nationalist party is responsible for much of the mismanagement going on north of the border.

The health service is a shambles, run by Shona Robsion, her best friend; Robison is completely out of her depth as Health Minister, not only couldn’t Shona Robison not save the health service, she couldn’t even save her marriage as her SNP MP husband Stewart Hosie ditch her for a younger professional woman which made Robison looked like a ‘bag of spanners’ with a Worzel Gummidge haircut. Personally I loved this story as it also included 3 in a bed SNP MP Angus MacNeil and the rather catchy line from Ms. Serena Cowdy:

“I just can't keep my knickers on”!

Obviously a no nonsense go-getter, I like that, I like the attitude of 'I will not be ignored', do what it takes, quite refreshing in this day and age, but a worry for her partner Stewart Hosie perhaps down the line unless of course this is true love!

Michael Matheson is the Justice Secretary, you might not know this as he spends a lot of time out of the public eye, you might be tempted to think he is in hiding staying behind closed doors must like the Police Scotland who are holding secret meetings which the public and press aren’t allowed into or allowed to see the closed minutes of. Police Scotland is in crisis.

As I mentioned above, Humza Yousaf, the failing Transport Minister who is botching up Scotrail, and said he is no expert, but what is he good for? What does a non-entity like Humza Yousaf do to justify his existence? One thing I have noticed and no doubt that you will have possible notice it too is that the SNP seem to use Muslims like Humza Yousaf to call for tolerance using the LGBTI community, presumably this is to make the SNP look inclusive, which it isn’t .

http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/index.php/2014mar01humza/

Like most SNP stunts, it is exactly that a stunt, one wonders if Muslims like Humza Yousaf who basically flies under the ‘moderate and progressive’ banner will ever stand up at Glasgow Centeral Mosque and demand ‘gay marriage’ is allowed there.

At present there is a change.org petition calling on her to quit, which has attracted more than 32,000 signatures, which misery and poverty plague Scotland, while food banks continue to grow, Nicola Sturgeon is coining in the cash; Sturgeon has raked in more than £1m in income from the taxpayer.

Nicola Sturgeon is pissing on the people of Scotland without the courtesy of calling it rain!

Elaine Hardy from Glasgow said:

"This woman doesn’t speak for the majority of scots, she had embarrassed our brave nation and made us look like spoilt children , she doesn’t keep her word and cannot respect democracy, she lies and cannot be trusted."

S Hutcheson from Glasgow said:

"Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are not fit for purpose. She is an utter embarrassment to Scotland."

Martin Dalzeil from Lanarkshire said:

"The referendum was a vote on UKs membership of the EU, of which Scotland is a part. We must respect this democratic decision”. 

Isobel Strathdee of Dunoon said:

“She says all the wrong things,doesn't speak for majority of Scots and should resign immediately before she does any more damage.”

Robert Wilson from Glasgow said:

“The first minister has never respected the result of the Independence referendum, using any device available to divide the people of the UK. Now she deliberately oversteps her authority by using the Brexit vote as a pretext to drive toward 'indyref2'. Frankly I, and many thousands of Scot are thoroughly sick of this woman.”

As many people know I stood in the Govan by-election in October 2013, talking to people on the campaign trail, it had become clear that Nicola Sturgeon had worn out her welcome in Govan particularly among women. Time after time, I met many women who didn’t have a good word to say about Sturgeon referring to her as an ‘arsehole’.

This wasn’t said in a passing comment; it was said forcefully and with passion, it was nice to see how the tide had turned in Govan against Nicola Sturgeon who people said had done nothing for them when they had gone to see her with complaints.

The SNP is a farce, it is a cult, a party within a party where the leadership surround themselves with the less than gifted to secure their own leadership positions, Sturgeon will continue, she is addicted to selfies with kids, it’s all big hugs and fake love and affection, presumably to make up for the gaping chasm that her life both personally and professionally is a failure to produce the goods for Scotland and its people!

Nicola Sturgeon isn't even a decent human being in my opinion!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University   

Theresa May’s Government kicks reform into the long grass and drops plans to curtail powers of the House of Lords because 'the world has changed', the reform agenda will come back around, is it time that by law a third of all sitting peers must be independents to avoid legislation being clogged up voting along party lines?

Dear All

If you think back to 1997, Tony Blair defeats the Conservatives and becomes Prime Minister; the song used by Labour was ‘Things can only get better’. A raft of laws were brought onto the statute books, the people were primed up to believe that things were about to change for the better.

After getting in the people’s dream that a Tony Blair Government would be better than a John Major Government took a bit of a knock, things did get better but not for everyone. As part of the reform agenda, the Blair crowd decided that the House of Lords was in need of change.

Over the years there was talk of various reforms including having a totally elected second chamber, the idea wouldn’t have improved democratic accountability because it was done out of badness, sheer pettiness by comfortably off rich middle class people pretending to hate privilege.

The reform agenda has been running for some time, but the solutions keep changing as time goes on, in contrast what reforms have you seen of the House of Commons in comparison?

Not a lot.

Here is a link to House of Lords.

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

Here is a link to House of Commons reforms.

http://www.ceelbas.ac.uk/spp/publications/unit-publications/67.pdf

The big reform of note at present is the pan to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 which means in theory that an MP has a bigger constituency to hear representations from the people regarding complaints. In Glasgow, if that reform goes through then one of the 7 MPs stands to get the chop. In this case, I suspect that the Glasgow Central seat will be abolished and the other 6 seats absorb an extra 10,000 voters.

Anyway back to the House of Lords, the sad part of the House of Lords that sometimes the Government of the day puts people into the Lords who shouldn’t be there.  Michelle Mone was given a peerage; I disagree with that appointment and also of Shamed Labour peer Baroness Uddin. 

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061006/Shamed-peer-Baroness-Uddin-allowed-House-Lords.html

The only reform of the House of Lords which would gain public support is the removal of bad peers.

Now, it seems that the UK Government has dropped plans to curtail powers of the House of Lords because 'the world has changed'.

When David Cameron was PM, he instructed Lord Strathclyde to look at curbing the powers of the second chamber, after peers voted to block George Osborne's plan to cut tax credits in October.

He didn’t like the result of a democratic vote which is shameful, the House of Lords for all its faults has many good peers who do valuable work bring experience and a critical eye to the work of the UK Government who sometimes get it spectacularly wrong as George Osborne done on tax credits.

Peers rightly attacked David Cameron's review and the recommendation that hostile peers should be banned from overturning legislation because it would make a mockery of the Parliament and damage its standing in the country and further afield the World. The UK Parliament is called the mother of all parliaments because we are supposed to be the embodiment of democracy.

Tilting the balance of power make have provided the government of the day with a quick fix but in the long run a House of Lords unable to do its job properly serves no purpose, therefore the House of Lords would in effective have been abolished by default and the peers would also serve no purpose beyond a ceremonial role.

The new approach by Downing Street is to seek to build a more constructive relationship with the Lords. This requires the Government to raise its game not just in crafting legislation but also thought processes behind it.

The World as Theresa May has said has changed Brexit is a landmark point in British politics and she needs to attempt to get as many people on board as Brexit sails through the Commons and House of Lords.

To me the big questions of the House of Lords will never be anything else but who is allowed in, do they provide value to the institution and are they acting in good faith in both their role and their stance on legislation.

If the Commons and the Lords don’t allow Brexit to pass, this will create a constitutional crisis which some people think would lead Theresa May to seek a new mandate in a General election. It certainly wouldn’t be anyone’s interest to travel down that route because the ‘anti’ House of Lords people would gain a new platform to push not just for reform but for removal of peers not directly but by attempting to subject them to having a mandate. I don’t think the public have an appetite for House of Lords elections.

Theresa May probably thinks that kicking the reform issue into the long grass is a good idea, it may turn out to be so if people go along to get along, but if Brexit brings matters to ahead she will have to have a Plan B to fall back on.

Finally, one idea for the House of Lords I would like to see is that a third of the peers in the chamber by law must be independent of any party in order not to have a House of Lords weighted down by party hacks who simply vote along party lines.

And I believe this issue is in the best interest of the House of Lords!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University