The ‘Angel of Political Death’, unpopular Nicola Sturgeon has led the SNP to the “brink of collapse”, poor quality leadership, no vision, no delivery, ineffective elected representatives and unable and unwilling to listen, SNP don’t have a future in Scotland, the people have moved passed them

Dear All

The SNP has a problem, stupidity, in fact, I was the first to diagnosis what I described as the ‘Hunter Virus’, I am sure if you do a google search you will find me blogging on this in the past. In the old days, pre 2007, the SNP scrapped along basically going nowhere content to spew in their sweat and juices; then the Westminster expenses scandal happened which changed everything. Westminster expenses scandal was a disaster for British politics, it confirmed what many people suspected for decades; there was a corrupt system and corrupt politicians milking it like a second tit.

A few idiots got put in jail; few scapegoats stakeout for the public to feast on via the Courts, a few convictions and some people got mediocre jail time. In 2007, Jack McConnell was leading what was a disaster of an administration, the public was getting fleeced on council tax and seeing no real benefits. The ground was sown by public anger for change, and change came, out goes the Labour Party and in comes the SNP under Salmond.

The people weren’t putting faith in the SNP, they wanted badly rid of Labour, the protest vote swung into action and the World turned! Protest votes sometimes can be a good thing; it reminds politicians that the public can switch on a dime. There were great expectations as Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon formed a double act, Alex adopted the jolly fat man routine, and Sturgeon was given a makeover to rain her mouth, it was the era of ‘fake caring’. The strategy was so successful, it lead to an SNP majority, of course it didn’t help with Scottish Labour doing nothing meaningful for the entire term from 2007 to 2011.

Now, after 10 years of failed government, right across the board, a failed attempt at Scottish independence and a failed attempt to stay in the EU, people are asking what the point of the SNP is exactly. 2014 showed that the people of Scotland aren’t going to vote for the Nationalist’s plans for an independent Scotland, and the rest of the ‘coalition of the bams’, they aren’t too appealing either.

To get back to the ‘Hunter Virus’, I coined this termed while in the SNP as a member, you for the most part never really get to see how low brow, petty and nasty party members are until you are signed into their ranks.

The public image doesn’t match the private image, and those who are SNP cult members aren’t the sharpest tools in the box, by any means, you can see this in education, health, law and order, and in general planning for the indyref.

Simple minded bastards!

Yes, simple minded bastards, who think that they are super intelligent and it’s you that are thick and can be manipulated all the time. The 2015 election was a protest vote, it was also needed, there were many ineffective politicians who should have been removed by unionist parties, and weren’t, so the public used the SNP as a vehicle for a protest vote. Most of those who lost their seats especially under Labour deserved to lose, and in many cases trash equally rubbish replaced them.
10 years is a long time to be in power especially when you don’t have any real achievements which have benefited the many in a real and useful fashion. It seems that as I mentioned before that Nicola Sturgeon’s task is to lead the SNP into the wilderness, she isn’t a leader of men. I said it loud and often, however, it seems other pundits are starting to come round to my view. I was interested in the comment:

“What’s the SNP got in common with the Bornean orangutan and the Giant Otter?”

The addon was:

“Well, if you believe some accounts, all three are practically extinct”.

Pollsters Populus are saying that unpopular Nicola Sturgeon’s party has started the slide towards doom and are on the “brink of collapse”.

James Kanagasooriam said:

“It is difficult to overstate how poor the SNP’s performance was in June’s general election.”

Yes, 2017 was a major disaster, it wasn’t just the loss of the 21 seats, it was the loss of thousands of votes, imagine losing in some cases 9000 votes in two years, you have to ask yourself hard questions, not just of the party but also of the candidate standing, what were they doing in that area which alienated so many.

In Glasgow, I supported Paul Sweeney who was the Labour Candidate in Glasgow North East, he won by 242 votes, the SNP Candidate was Anne McLaughlin, her campaign was poor, but that was par for SNP candidates right across the city, I am more interested in what she was doing in the two years prior to her defeat.

The SNP had a meteoric rise but they ran out of fuel, they ran out of ideas, and for the last three years, it has been really noticeable not just to the pundits but to the voters. Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t have good ideas; I mean…… a shitty baby box…… a tampax campaign, what a load of tosh!

You might have noticed Nicola Sturgeon trying to do a re-launch of her failed government, and if you hadn’t heard it, the Nationalists have wheeled out the word, and the word is ‘radical’, more tosh, more spin, at this point we are looking at a hung parliament for Holyrood next time round with an SNP minority.

The ‘Hunter Virus’ in the SNP hasn’t a cure, you can’t cure stupidity, recently there was talk of Sturgeon meaning a load of gits called the Scottish Indy Convention, blowhards who haven’t wised up yet either, the ‘new strategy’ is the same as the old strategy which is….. attack the Tories!

Didn’t work last in indyref 1 and certainly won’t work if there is an indyref 2, but will there be an indyref 2? If Holyrood goes to a hung parliament in 2021, the ball will be in the long grass for probably about 20 years. In the meantime, the SNP are like a shithouse rat frantically trying to escape their self created poo, the level is rising and each plop increases the panic!

Nicola Sturgeon has failed, she has reached her sell by date and is starting to hum, only a matter of time before she loses that second indyref vote and then she has nowhere to go but down.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Human Rights Abuse; Anger as members of Muslim Rochdale grooming gang get legal aid to fight deportation, these criminals have already receiving £1m to unsuccessfully defend their criminal charges, if you think we don’t need a new immigration bill with deportation options then think again, Asian paedophiles want to escape justice, society has a duty to stand up and speak out…. Deportation!

Dear All

Yesterday, I was blogging on the end of freedom of movement, and that follows onto why we as the UK need a new immigration bill to fit in with the country’s needs, Brexit was in part for many about the control of immigration, that is and remains a legitimate position to adopt. Across Europe, the migrant crisis has been a disaster in so many ways; it has changed the mindset of many people towards isolationism.

The EU gave us the European Convention on Human Rights, a note worthy document which few could dispute in its general aims; however the application of human rights has been fundamentally abused by some people to circumvent justice. You can read story after story for multiple abuse that has caused the British taxpayers millions of pounds as criminals use the legislation to their own ends.

This case illustrates the point why we needed to leave the EU, why we need full control of our own laws and why a new immigration bill is necessary. Members of an Asian grooming gang are being given legal aid to fight deportation. This case like so many cases involves Pakistani men who operated as a grooming in Rochdale, these people targeted young white children and systematically raped them, it was a vile crime which shocked the nation. In order to attempt to avoid deportation back to Pakistan, these criminals have used the law to invoke Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which safeguards the right to family life. As these people have been put in prison, their Article 8 rights have been suspended by the law, they may have the right to a family life but they can’t access it due to being locked up.

This begs the question, why if there is an Article 8 right is anyone in prison?

The get into jail card in this case is Article 8.2, ‘There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others’.

In legal terms, this plainly means that the Asian grooming gang can be deported back to Pakistan, as clearly the threshold of public safety as a benchmark has been reached. The cost to the taxpayer to fund this abuse of the legal system has already topped more than a £1million to unsuccessfully defend criminal charges.

It is clear that the new immigration must include measures that any foreigner granted citizenship must maintain dual nationality by law if granted permission to stay in this country, in the event of serious crime such as rape, murder and other violent or serious offences after being convicted and serving their sentences, there should be automatic deportation. People are right to be outraged not just by the crimes of these men but by their moves to avoid deportation.

I would have no hesitation in stripping them of their British passports and send them back to Pakistan to send out the strongest message possible. What is more disgusting about this case is that these men get legal aid and Chris Gard and Connie Yates were denied any legal aid in their case against Great Ormond Street Hospital to take sick 11-month-old son Charlie to the US for experimental therapy.

Where’s the justice in that?

David Spencer, of the Centre For Crime Prevention think-tank, said:

‘These men have been convicted of some truly abhorrent offences and it beggars belief that they are now able to run up even bigger taxpayer-funded bills making spurious appeals in an effort to extend their stay in the UK. These men clearly pose a threat to public safety. If someone is born overseas and commit such crimes in the UK, it is absolutely right that their citizenship should be revoked.’

The people of the United Kingdom are very tolerant, we have a great history of helping others in need, however we have seen many people abuse that trust and in the case of Shabir Ahmed, 64, the ringleader of the Rochdale child sex gang, Abdul Aziz, Adil Khan and Abdul Rauf, they should be sent back to Pakistan.

In February, Britain’s most senior immigration judge Mr Justice McCloskey, president of the Upper Immigration Tribunal, rejected the human rights grounds on which the men based their appeals. But they have now been granted permission to continue their fight at the Court of Appeal.

At times like this, we should be thankful that there is Article 8.2 and judges who understand the law and ultimately justice, it is the right decision by Judge Mr Justice McCloskey and we should fully support this important decision.

No one from a foreign country should have anything to fear in this country if they obey the law and do not commit crime, they aren’t expected to maintain a higher standard just the same standard that the rest of us do as a matter of course.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

End of Freedom of Movement, UK Government's immigration policy is branded "a shambles" by pro EU group, there will be a new Immigration Bill going through Parliament next year, it is high time that the free for all, and the damage done to social cohesion was fixed in the UK

Dear All

The end of freedom of movement is essential, not just for the UK but also for the rest of the European Union. When the EU was relatively small, freedom of movement wasn’t a problem, not that the EU has grown to 28 member states, it is very much a problem of epic proportions.

Freedom of movement has been abused; it has lead to flight from poorer countries to rich countries so that migrants can access the benefits system. One of the other drawbacks is that freedom of movement has led to criminal gangs setting up operations such as prostitution and the epidemic which organised begging gangs in our cities.

Once freedom of movement ends, these criminal gangs and their offshoots should see the end of their operations by way of deportation back to their home country!

Immigration is a good thing, too much however is a bad thing; increased competition directly affects those at the bottom of society and unduly increases the pressure on them in so many ways.

Freedom of movement restricts social mobility and choice of indigenous people when the influx cannot be halted because of the way the EU has been setup. The EU is as I have publicly said anti worker and anti country. The solution to Freedom of Movement is what I suggested a long time ago, the EU needed an internal immigration policy in order to regulate the flow of people. This idea probably would have saved Britain’s membership of the EU but the people who run the EU aren’t open minded, their deeds and actions speak for themselves.

One thing which did tremendous damage to the UK was the lie used by the Labour Party under Tony Blair to increase immigration as part of a social engineering experiment, multiculturalism is a failure. People like Trevor Phillips and even Angela Merkel have acknowledged this failure publicly.

I don’t subscribe to the view that the UK Government’s immigration policy is “a shambles” because of the move towards end the freedom of movement after Britain leaves the European Union in March 2019, it needs to happen. Brandon Lewis, the Immigration Minister is right to say that: “Free movement of labour ends when we leave the European Union in the spring of 2019; we're very clear about that." Although there is talk of a transitional or implementation period for up to three years in terms of trade, the political enactment of the ‘direct democracy’ vote must be respected.

When freedom of movement ends does that mean immigration ends?

The answer is no, Britain will still allow immigration; we will see a system which is more in tune with the needs of the country and the people. The scare story of the NHS being crippled because of deportation of EU nationals is a made up story, these people and their jobs in whatever capacity from surgeon to hospital porter aren’t in any danger.

These people are welcome, and they were never unwelcome previously.

There are outstanding issues regarding other parts of Brexit such as free trade and single market access but as long as the direction of travel is maintained in accordance with the wishes of the British people, the transitional or implementation period for up to three years will probably be allowed to go through.

Labour’s Pat McFadden, a former Europe minister, speaking on behalf of Open Britain, a pro EU campaign group said about the end of freedom of movement:

“This is a shambles”.

He added:

“Only hours after the Home Secretary announces there will be no cliff edge when we leave the EU, her Immigration Minister announces a definite end to freedom of movement from March 2019”.

Looking him up on wiki, I came across this:

“he was appointed as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Exclusion at the Cabinet Office”.

So, now he wants to see freedom of movement continue which the direct result results in Social Exclusion for people at the bottom of society.

All I can say is ……… what a cunt!

This is the type of bastard which should be booted out of politics altogether; he clearly by his speech has no real concerns about the state of this country and the break down of social cohesion. He needs removed from his ‘ivory tower’ and face the harsh reality of living in places like Slough or Govanhill as it is now and then experience what the effects of the disaster that is freedom of movement has caused in these places.

There will be a new immigration system in place from the spring of 2019 and that this would be outlined in an Immigration Bill that will go through Parliament next year, the Bill should be about fairness and if there is an argument let it be about the rules and not as we have at present, a free for all.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scottish Labour’s internal war isn’t very entertaining or interesting, imagining watching a battle were you really don’t care who wins or loses, the Labour Party is stuck, in is in a position where it needs major reform and a clear out, it has to learn to be meaningful and useful to the public

Dear All

There is a quiet war going on in the Labour Party, the war tends to shows that there isn’t just a difference of opinion but of who should lead the Labour Party. The Labour Party has been brought to its knees by the right wing of the party. These people are the careerists who can into power through the university route, people such as Blair. They used the fact that there was a traditional Labour vote to extend their influence and more careerists joined and took advantage of the fact.

The Labour Party in Scotland got wiped out in 2015 and 2016, it was dramatic, and continual evidence of the fact that people were willing to reject the party because there was a lack of help from the elected people. Having been brought to its knees, the way became clear for someone like Jeremy Corbyn to win the leadership with a big majority.

His election was a rejection of the careerists who failed not just the party but the people. In response to the right wing, the group momentum came along, they are supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and anti what some call the ‘Blair faction’ or ‘progress’ as it is better known. In Scotland, the Corbyn factor in terms of leadership isn’t installed and the party has Kezia Dugdale. Momentum wants her replaced, and although she has a few allies, the winds of change and the determination of momentum aren’t going away anytime soon.

In order to change the Labour Party in Scotland, the momentum crowd need to replace the ‘gatekeepers’, these people are living on borrowed time, when Edinburgh MP Ian Murray created a stir by resigning and refusing to work with Jeremy Corbyn, it was a betrayal, done publicly. Murray is an ally of Kezia Dugdale and her anti Corbyn stance hasn’t been forgotten or indeed forgive; forget unity, it doesn’t exist.

If you are in the Labour Party, you hold a membership but there are two Labour Parties running within it, either you are pro Corbyn or pro Progress, and to be fair, you might not like either option because there isn’t much in the way of middle ground.

Edinburgh MP Ian Murray is said to be becoming the Chairman of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Party, he got the position due to the help of a group of moderate Scottish Labour peers, ‘moderate’ is a termed used by the Blair faction. If there is a Corbyn government, it will require considerably more Labour MPs to be elected n Scotland, and given the state of the party, it isn’t going to be in the numbers required, for there to be more Labour seats, the SNP has to keep doing the same disastrous course under Nicola Sturgeon. There is a possible two seats which could fall in Glasgow, GSW and GE, these hang by a thread; the SNP know this hence they are deeply worried as their squealing like pigs diatribe of late shows.

Mhairi Black’s recent plea for ‘progressive’ Labour supporters to work with the SNP was an attempt it seems to me to ‘manage’ the voters’ intentions to keep SNP cult members in a job.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/progressive-labour-supporters-should-work-10856580

The SNP is shitting themselves silly, over their future employment prospects, rather like waiting for the axe to fall, as you are kneeling at the block!  They know it is a case of when and not if, they thought they were the embedded new establishment and now they have a wake up call in 2017.

So, what does Edinburgh MP Ian Murray becoming Chairman of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Party mean?

It means nothing, it is a temp measure, finger in the dyke, it is a one step forward and two back because the Labour Party and Momentum have an agenda, they will keep pushing and pushing. The hope for the Blair faction is to attempt to wait out Corbyn so they can get back to ‘normal’, but the genie is out of the bottle. Corbyn in my opinion was never meant to be Prime Minister; his job was to groom a new generation to carry on his legacy to return the Labour Party to socialism.

Infighting in the Labour Party should keep them busy for quite some time, there has to be a clear out, and it is doubtful that there can be a return for the party for quite some considerable time in meaningful numbers. There is always the question of the party activist base having collapsed, this is a serious problem.

Finally, it isn’t a viable strategy to base your future success on a stale SNP who have press the panic button after their support has plummeted and gone into freefall.

Imagine getting elected because you were hated less than the other lot, this is where the Labour Party in Scotland is sitting at the moment!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Wall Footage 2 RMP logo tracking test

Dear All

I have always been a film buff, when I was a kid, I was glue to the Tv set watching movies, I used to wonder how they did the special effects in movies, today the effects you see are literally mind blowing.

This is test material which I have done as I have been learning tracking so I can place objects or pictures into live action footage and then colour correct them to blend in so they look part of the scene.

The test material here is putting, the logo of the Royal Military Police onto a wall so that it looks part of the scene as the actor does her thing.

Enjoy.

I am learning motion graphics because it is going to be the next big thing in political campaigning beyond the photoshop memes and video gifs.

Not bad for someone who has had no formal training?

Finally, I would love to work on a Ridley Scott film, and I am available.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Don’t stick all your eggs in one basket, if you drop it you will be rather unhappy, frustrated Ruth Davidson challenges May Government to lead or lose, the problem with shouting the odds is that it can all turn bad, Scottish Conservatives did well 2017 because they got ‘votes on loan’, they aren’t standing on bedrock by any means

Dear All

If you have learned anything about politics over the last few years, you will know one thing about what is happening in Scotland; everything is up in the air. You can take nothing for granted and huge success can turn easily into epic disaster. 2015, the SNP using the tidal wave of indyref took 56 seats at Westminster, it was a reaction to defeat, no sooner had the SNP settled into the Commons, they started making an arse of themselves, which translated in 2017 into losing 21 seats.

The public is fickle.

2015 vote for the SNP was an emotional vote, after all how can you explain massive voter drops like 9,000 etc in seats, you could be tempted to say that the opposition had ran a great campaign but in the main that wouldn’t be accurate as luck certainly played a part, and also the weather.

It is said that Ruth Davidson is leading a Scottish Conservative power surge at Westminster. Firstly, she isn’t an MP so isn’t leading anything, she doesn’t have a vote, it is true she can claim credit for the wins, but, the public is fickle. The Scottish Conservatives were given an opportunity, an opportunity by Unionist voters who traditionally voted for other parties.

Those votes are on loan.

If she thinks that Theresa May needs to start winning the battle of ideas, then it seems to me at least that if there is a battle, there by definition needs to be troops.

Ruth Davidson has 13 troops, two of whom, I helped get into Westminster in a relatively minor way, Paul Masterton and Bill Grant. So, Theresa May made a mistake, but the mistake wasn’t just down to her, it was a team effort down the road, with the Conservatives having a 20 point lead, they thought that they would win a huge majority.

The public is fickle.

If you remember my back posts, I said, I didn’t understand the logic of going again, to me it seemed a silly thing to do, why have a fight with someone you don’t have to, and for little gain and much risk.

If, I was Ruth Davidson, I don’t think I would be warning Theresa May's lieutenants that the Prime Minister owes her position in Downing Street to the party's resurgence in Scotland. This makes her a hostage to fortune, because if there is an upset, the entire blame rests at her feet.

And once you nail you colours to the mast, you make a rod for your own back, I have to say her statement of her urging May to "lead or lose" is rather odd, it certainly isn’t what I would be saying either in private or in public. The Scottish Tory leader is arguing that “capitalism needs a reboot”, that might be a trendy thing to say but there are also other issues which do so as well, and they are equally as pressing.

Davidson is said to be keen to use her influence to direct Tory policy towards a more socially liberal approach, a softer, "open Brexit" and policies that address directly the concerns of younger voters. Corbyn managed to get the young vote in large numbers for Labour down south.

If we are talking about a socially liberal approach, then by definition the place to start must be the DWP and how they treat people. As to a softer, "open Brexit", if that in any way detracts from leaving the EU or hanging on to policies like the disaster that is freedom of movement, that will be not acceptable to the British people. A majority voted to leave the EU, to take back control of our laws and to restore social cohesion which has been badly damaged not just in the UK but also in the rest of Europe.

Some times being a leader means you need to stand back and be a team player which is essential and also learn to not shout the odds because sometimes things don’t need to be said.  

This comment should be remembered from a well-placed insider, they said:

“We met Gavin Barwell,[the PM’s Chief of Staff in No 10], and made clear to him that if it wasn’t for the Scottish Conservatives, Theresa May wouldn’t have a majority.”

Technically that is true, it is also true that the Scottish Conservatives wouldn’t have a great result if it wasn’t for the assistance given to them by others and also the failures of Kezia Dugdale’s leadership.

I assume we all know that bunny?

What I find funny is that the group of Scottish Conservative MPs would not seek to bring the Government down and would loyally take the Tory whip because they wanted to see Mrs May continue as PM “at least until the Brexit deal is done”.

Think back to the arrogance of 2015, the SNP thought at that point they were the new establishment, two years later the World had turned, who is to say that after Brexit and if there is a new election the 13 Scottish MPs would get returned again?

Their position isn’t secure by any means.

It is true to say that the public don’t like weak government which is why the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon is doing so badly, so Ruth Davidson saying the May Government "has to actually lead" if it wanted to survive isn’t specific to the Conservatives.

Some time ago, I said that Ruth Davidson has her eyes firmly fixed on Holyrood and was wanting to replace Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister at the 2021 Scottish elections.

At present, this is wishful thinking, if you were to say anything about what the possible outcome of 2021 at this juncture you would have to go with hung parliament, certainly not a win for Ruth Davidson. The Unionist card played well for the Scottish Conservatives but they need an emotional response by voters to get their 13 MPs in the door down the road.

Can the Unionist card be used again in 2021 with success?

As to Ruth Davidson being a potential replacement down the road for the Conservative Party, a sunny day doesn’t make a summer, there is a long way to go before anyone, especially the ‘men in grey suits’ sit down to discuss her future. Apparently, there are senior Conservatives who believe Ruth Davidson is just what the UK party needs to boost its chances of victory at the 2022 General Election. Maybe these senior Conservatives should pay a lot more attention to what happened to the SNP and how success turned so quickly to disaster in about two years.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Stepping up to the plate, Westminster Government need to get their act together to maintain trust in Brexit, the decision to go was correct but we need to fix the education deficit which has robbed so many of our fellow countrymen and women of a future, it is time to fix the home front

Dear All

You could make a strong case that if the UK Government had done more to control immigration which was breaking down social cohesion in the UK; then perhaps the Brexit vote would have had a different outcome. Clearly some people were focused on the problem of immigration into the UK and the situation in mainland Europe only served to heighten their fears.

If you asked an ordinary reasonable person what kind of immigration would they like to see, you would probably find they are in favour of a points based immigration system where the needs of the country are met. Being part of the EU and the disastrous freedom of movement cause a breakdown, the EU needed to have an internal immigration policy because at 28 member states it had become too big.

Freedom of movement for work in theory seems a good thing; the problem was the lack of will to address the other baggage which came along with it. The use of freedom of movement allowed criminality and other unpleasant anti social issues to thrive.

The rich, famous and trendy lefties all love immigration, come one come all, but they generally don’t live in the areas where immigration has caused problems, places like Govanhill in Glasgow which has been turned into a modern day slum ghetto where people struggling to get out cannot get decent market value for their homes. It is know that the wealthy tend to stay in predominantly exclusive white areas with very little immigration impact.

Their live is idyllic, then they dress down come on the TV in a slum area and preach to the rest of the population and lecture people on not being racist, these type of people believe in an open door policy. Recently George Clooney the actor was banging on about immigrants are welcome, then we find out that he is packing up his wife and kids to retreat being the Atlantic Wall that is America because he doesn’t think it is safe in the UK.

George Clooney is a hypocrite.

Controlling post-Brexit immigration is said to be a struggle for the Government if it continues to rely on "woefully inadequate" information this is according to a House of Lords report.

I don’t see this as a struggle, no one should be able to board a flight or boat or train to another country without a visa allowing them entry. The Government needs to bring in a points based system which is fair, lawful and meets the need of the country. If simple measures are brought in and the asylum scams are ended then social cohesion can be established again over time. No one claiming asylum should be allowed to walk the streets of this country, everyone should be detained without exception. One of the other reasons for the Brexit vote was the abuse of human rights law to circumvent the system by asylum seekers claiming they are children or homosexual, this was seen by some as a way of getting a free ticket into the UK, once in these people would simply disappear.

This type of abuse made many people very angry which is why 17 million plus voted to leave the UK, and of course matters weren’t helped by threats from Angela Merkel and the EU to punish members who didn’t follow their orders.

What many people must be puzzled at is how in this day and age, is how any Government hasn’t put in place a system to monitor how many migrants enter or leave the country each year, or how long they stay. In places like Germany, if you wish to stay, you need to register.

https://www.sachsen.de/en/1454.htm

The rules are important because without the rule of law there is chaos, so when opposition politicians or trendy lefties scream about ‘come one, come all’, these people only show their ignorance and stupidity, this is calling virtual signalling, basically that is ‘look at me, I am a good person’.   

I agree with Lord Forsyth of Drumlean when he said:

"The Government must have reliable statistics on migration before it formulates new policy, otherwise it will be making crucial decisions - of vital importance to the country's businesses - in the dark”.

After all this is pretty reasonable, acting on information is much better than having to guesstimate.

One of the reasons for the SNP wanting freedom of movement to continue is that it is part of their doomed bid for independence, they haven’t worked out that no one is going to vote for independence with them in charge. Once that gem sinks in they will realise that are trying to lead people who want nothing to do with them. 2015 was an election based on emotion, 2017 saw a step towards logic, and logic dictates that the SNP aren’t stronger for Scotland, quite the opposite, apparently polling suggests that at the next election, from 35 seats, the SNP could be knocked down to 12 seats.

The joke at present to distract people is the SNP trying to act like they are knowledgeable and has all the answers; they might have answers, but they are answering the wrong questions.

An example, for far too long, the SNP have been running a disastrous education programme, one of the most important things that any civilised country must do is invest in the education of its indigenous people. The SNP cuts to colleges goes well beyond the education market, it impacts business and it also directly impacts people and communities which is why I said that there should be ‘four tier’ Education. Four tier Education is about providing opportunities to people to advance their skills, they get better jobs, they pay more taxes, they are happier and have a future.

Lord Forsyth also mentioned that “the employment of migrant workers could lead to businesses neglecting skills and training for British workers”.

I blogged on this for years and years and years in my back posts!

When need skilled people such as nurses, doctors and dentists etc etc, we can get these people through training up our own people and by immigration, the market which all these people come from is education.

At some stage, there will due to pressure be measures to address the education gulf in this country, on both sides of the border, and to be honest that can’t come soon enough.

Years ago, I said when “people have no future there is no tomorrow”, and it is time that people put pressure on politicians to start to deliver on that concept or risk being put out on the street. Corbyn recognised that ‘free tuition’ is essential to Britain, not as an election gimmick but also as away of righting an injustice.

The Conservatives need to bite the bullet on getting Brexit sorted, a points based immigration system and also making education a priority and preferably free, although as we know, it isn’t, the taxpayer picks up the tab.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University  

Raking in the cash, the greed wins out as SNP's Westminster leader Blackford coins in £50,000 a year extra from lucrative outside interests; he needs to squirrel away as much money as possible because he has a limited future as an MP, and Nicola Sturgeon won't be in a position to save many of her cult from an anti SNP backlash at the ballot box

Dear All

The Scottish National Party if it is about anything is about self interest and personal wealth. When Angus Robertson lost his seat, many people in Scotland rejoiced as this pompous fool was kicked out by the electorate.

It was good, a night of celebration which also saw Alex Salmond, even more pompous than Robertson get slotted, their agony was even more severe as they both lost to Scottish Conservatives.

The failure for the worse SNP defeat in living memory rests with Scotland’s own ‘Poundland’ Angela Merkel, unpopular Nicola Sturgeon.

As Robertson got slotted there became a vacancy for leader, with a pool of stagnant talent to choose from, Ian Blackford emerged as the person to be the new SNP leader at Westminster.

If you think back to my previous posts, I highlighted the four groups that make up the SNP Cult, rich, muslim, homosexual and sein fein lite, Blackford is out of the rich clique. Having become leader, he hasn’t made an impact, he never will, his position is time sensitive, you see at some point Ian Blackford is going to lose at the ballot box possibly in the next election.

Many SNP MPs hang by a thread, they must know whether there is an election in 5 years or less, they are out the door, especially in Glasgow which saw Anne McLaughlin defeated recently. Some in Glasgow hang by less than a 100 votes, Glasgow East and Glasgow South West being two seats which presumably Scottish Labour will target along with holding Glasgow North East.

Blackford is in my opinion not a full time MP because he has made clear he will not be giving up his lucrative extra-parliamentary financial interests.

My view is that no MP in any party should have secondary paid employment, I think this is one of the major things which is massively wrong with our democracy, it is an outrage. Blackford probably knows that his position isn’t secure by any means, it is undermined by SNP stupidity on indyref 2, so he wants to keep raking in almost £50,000 a year on top of his £75,000 MP’s salary.

You can understand his logic; he knows he will be kicked out so why give up a steady and profitable earner.

Blackford said:

“I have been a hard-working MP and I will continue to be so. I do think there is a benefit from MPs having experience of life. The fact that I have had interests in business are something, which have helped shape my ability to make sure I can deliver as an MP.”

This is nonsense, it is just meaningless prattling, maybe he can expand and explain how his interests in business tied in with the people on benefits or people with other problems such as housing issues?

The fact is wider experience may or may not be useful.

If we look at this statement by him:

“My priority is, firstly, to represent my constituency and, secondly, to represent the SNP here in Westminster as group leader and I work extremely hard to ensure that I deliver on both of those priorities.”

What happens on a day that his outside interests which make him money clash with his SNP duties? Anyone daft enough to think he will endanger his £50,000  a year, it isn’t like his MP salary can be affected by anyone.

The issue of MPs’ outside interests has been a bone of contention for years because it saw many people in most parties basically abuse public trust and the system of democracy.

In 2015, Labour failed to get MPs’ second jobs banned which is why they should make this a commitment in any future manifesto, no more ‘guns for hire’.

Pete Wishart whose job hangs by a mere 21 votes said MPs should have one master, declaring:

“There should be no second jobs, no paid directorships, no outside interests with a financial return.”

I agree with him but I don’t see the political will to enact such a measure.

Maybe if there is a future Labour Government under Corbyn this matter can be looked at again, however if a careerist like Blair clone Owen Smith gets in, nothing will change.

Blackford can make 3,000 a month for eight hours’ work per quarter as Chairman of Golden Charter Trust Ltd, nice work if you can get it eh? He obviously has an eye on the future and his future as an MP is looking bleak.

Yours sincerely  

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Too stupid to know when you have lost the war, Scotland’s supposed political and academic elite make fresh call to halt Brexit, the loathing of respecting the result just drips off a letter to the press, there is no going back on ‘direct democracy’, the people have spoken

Dear All

How valuable is your opinion?

To you, it is pretty important, but to others, it is less so, have you noticed that there is a tendency in our society that certain people’s opinions seem to be valued more than others, as their status gives them some kind of alleged special insight.

If you are an ordinary joe blogs then you are pretty much deemed not to have special insight, in fact you are considered stupid, someone who is to be ‘managed’ because in reality, you can’t be trusted to think for yourself.

This is the arrogance of the political and academic elite; you call it the ‘old boys’ network’ or the ‘glass ceiling’.

The press seem to have subscribed to this idea as they seek to shape public opinion, because in many ways they also think that you as an ordinary punter can’t think for yourselves either, you need their help.

The migrant crisis was the straw that ‘broke the camel’s back’ with British people, it showed clearly that the uncaring, unelected political elite of the EU held the ordinary people of Europe in such utter contempt, it had to be fought against. The situation in Europe may not be getting the same coverage as before, but the bulk of the problems are ongoing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4703710/Italian-mayor-BARRICADES-hotel-stop-migrants-moving-in.html

This story is interesting, it is interesting because it brings down the migrant crisis to a personal level; how it impacts a community and the aftermath.  Vincenzo Lionetto Civa, mayor of Castel'Umberto in Sicily, led a revolt to prevent a few dozen new migrant arrivals from taking up residence in an abandoned hotel Tensions over migration are running high in Italy, and are expected to get worse. There will be violence; the slide towards this is already in motion. I can see a time were European countries will become not just politically unstable but also in terms of social cohesion. If the EU army goes ahead, these people will be used to suppress internal dissent. From these circumstances will come the real slide undoubtedly towards civil war, and all that goes with it, domestic terrorism will be the new threat that develops in future years in Europe!

The Brexit vote was a game changer in British political history as it showed that ‘direct democracy’, the ‘will of the people’ mattered, the result shocked some people but not me. I knew that Britain’s time as a member of the EU had passed its sell by date. The EU had become not an instrument of European unity as parroted by the elites but an instrument of oppression which tolerated no dissent from ‘mere’ member states or their peoples.

The problem is that post result, the losing side haven’t bought into the concept, Britain is leaving the European Union ….. totally. There is no way back, there is no second vote, there is no scenario which will magic the result into never have happened. There is no EU now as far as the people of Britain are concerned; the ‘event’ is over. To see scores of Scotland’s most high- profile academics and politicians calling for last year’s Brexit vote to be overturned is pitiful, it also shows graphically what passes for self interest, denial of the democratic process and greed. The political and academic elite did rather well out of the EU, they were bought off rather cheap, cheap in comparison to their level of support. The EU was rather good at ‘buying’ support in member states of the political and academic elite.

The fig leaf to cover the anti democratic stance is wrapped in fake concern, citing “its disastrous consequences”, to that a gang from the worlds of politics, business, academia and the arts have signed a letter to the press which is said to be breaking a fragile consensus accepting the referendum.

Bollocks!

There wasn’t a fragile consensus accepting the referendum ever, to speak in those terms is pretty much disingenuous, we have people like rent a mouth former Labour first minister Henry McLeish; his Liberal Democrat deputy Jim Wallace; deadbeat SNP MEP Alyn Smith; and former Tory MEP Struan Stevenson who aren’t the future, they are the past, their time has come and gone!

If you add in the rest of the gang which is said to be a Who’s Who of Scotland’s intellectual elite, including historians Sir Tom Devine and Chris Smout; former chief medical officer Sir Harry Burns; scientist and Edinburgh University vice-principal Anne Glover; distinguished international jurist Sir David Edward; businessman and diplomat Lord John Kerr; and trade union leader Grahame Smith.

It all adds up to 11 people, plus the rest who were daft enough to fight a battle already fought and lost. After doing Brexit in Glasgow, I stepped away; my job was to get enough votes to add to the total for a win. The Leave Campaign wasn’t perfect by any means but on the ground, a small group of people across Scotland managed to pull off a remarkable result, short of money, short of people and short of time, and despite all this, Scotland delivered a million votes to add to the Brexit pot which helped take Britain out of the 40 plus years of membership.

The Brexit talks are still at the phoney war stage as much as I can tell, but already  Dominic Cummings, the former Vote Leave campaign chief isn’t happy he, unleashed a tirade of criticism on Twitter against the Brexit Secretary. David Davis was branded him “thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus”. Perhaps Davis needs more help or perhaps the political tree needs shaken up and he needs replaced. The laugh in my opinion is the continued fake growing concern at home and abroad the UK economy is already suffering from crippling uncertainty over its future relationship with its biggest trading partner.

There isn’t uncertainty about a future relationship because in the end, the people with the money will ensure that the political elite ‘fix’ the problem, you see the real leaders of the world aren’t in politics, they are in business.

This part of their letter you will find amusing:

“We see our society, economy and politics becoming ever more undermined due to the impact of Brexit. We recognise a narrow majority voted to leave the European Union, but the disastrous consequences are now becoming ever clearer – every day. Even before the UK has left the EU, we face falling living standards, rising inflation, slowing growth and lower productivity. In a democracy, it is always possible to think again and choose a different direction. We need to think again about Brexit, to have a UK-wide debate about calling a halt to the process and changing our minds.”

This sums up rather nicely the arrogance of the political elite, they are the ones who got it wrong, they are the ones who are out of step, as to their doom and gloom by saying, “we face falling living standards, rising inflation, slowing growth and lower productivity”.

Did any of this never happen while in the EU?

Every working class person has seen a fall in their living standards under the EU, we have been robbed of a decent rate of interest of our savings in the bank, we have seen the rise of food banks, we have seen unemployment, we have seen breakdown in social cohesion. Maybe the rich politicians and academics living in their ivory towers have been shielded by public money from the taxpayer but the rest of us, the ordinary people have suffered greatly.

Their real concern is for their financial self interest.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Exiting the European Union said:

“In one of the biggest democratic exercises in our history, the British people voted to leave the European Union. The Government is committed to delivering on that mandate, by building a new deep and special partnership with our closest allies and neighbours in Europe”.

The game is over; the new challenge is to be global Britain again, to forge closer links with the Commonwealth.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

The wolves are circling around Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Left Review, the influential left-wing magazine calls her leadership of Scottish Labour "woeful"; it is no surprise that Corbyn’s supporters want Dugdale ousted as Scottish Labour leader, but they might have a wait on their hands if SNP support keeps falling

Dear All

Firstly sorry for being away for a bit, I had a few personal issues which burned up my time to the extend that blogging had to be pushed off the agenda.

Anyway I am back!

One of the things which is an open secret is that Jeremy Corbyn's supporters in Scotland want to replace Kezia Dugdale as Scottish Labour leader, the Momentum crowd have an agenda.

The question is not if Kezia Dugdale will go but when, the rather bad and humiliating election of this year has certainly bought her breathing space, after being wiped out in 2015, Scottish Labour being reduced to a single MP, there are now more happy campers planted down in Westminster.

In Glasgow North East, the people rightly saw fit to give Paul Sweeney the nod and make him their representative for the constituency, in politics, the best man doesn’t always win but in this case, he did.

In East Renfrewshire, Scottish Labour went with Blair MacDougall, the former BT Chief, and mistaken put resources in there as well, I saw that as a waste of time, people and money, he limped home in third place.

One of the laughs I had after the North East campaign was seeing this:

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-the-snp-take-back-glasgow-north-east

Anne McLaughlin who I helped put out on the street apparently cried after losing her seat, perhaps she should have worked hard, faster …… and smarter!

At present, the sum total as I blog this is 14 supporters and a meagre £240 which hasn’t moved in a while, I guess the passion rather fizzled out, 35 days left and nowhere near the £3,000 target. Personally, I have my doubts that Anne McLaughlin will be or should be the SNP Candidate next time round if this parliament goes the full five years.

Back to Kezia, the influential left-wing magazine, Scottish Left Review (SLR) calls the leadership of Kezia Dugdale “woeful”. In their opinion, they are stating quite clearly that problem isn’t just her political leadership but also her personal leadership. They go so far as to say that:

"Labour can’t win in Scotland with Dugdale" and “the left needs to move to remove her and do so soon".

It would be hard to pin the tail on the donkey to say exactly where it all when wrong for Kezia Dugdale, there are so many examples of where she was sitting on the wrong side of history in many important issues. That said if you consider that Scottish Labour is run as a ‘team’, the direction of travel is certainly in the wrong direction so others who advise her also have a part to answer for in this sorry tale.

Do you know the person that says ‘No’ to Kezia Dugdale?

Presumably there must logically be someone who looks at Labour content and says, this idea is bad, and if there isn’t why isn’t there?

The fact that there is now a socialist publication calling for the end of Kezia Dugdale’s leadership, and wants it replaced by the left so they can take control of the party is hardly an eye opener but as the old saying goes when you become the story, it is time to leave.

SLR said Dugdale’s leadership was partly to blame for Scottish Labour not winning more seats that the magazine claimed could have kept the Tories out of power.

Okay, is this true?

The answer is ye!

The key turning point was when Kezia decided to say she could consider voting for independence, this ensured that there would be a Conservative revival in Scotland at the Holyrood 2016 election and also why the Conservatives did so well at the 2017 General election.

That was Kezia Dugdale’s ‘Ratner’s moment’, where she utterly destroyed the Scottish Labour stock price with unionist Labour voters. Jeremy Corbyn's supporters in Scotland are on a mission, they want to "isolate the right-wing careerists" in Labour, I see this as a term which effectively says that ‘party within a party’, although I would imagine this term could apply to those people who got elected and decided that they would sit back on their Labour majorities and do nothing to help the very people who they were elected to serve.

Right wing careerists aren’t just the only problem in Scottish Labour.

Labour MSPs Neil Findlay and Alex Rowley said the party could have won 15 MPs in Scotland if it had toned down its Unionist-focused campaign and promoted Corbyn more.

That is just opinion which I don’t buy into, I gave Alex Rowley a tip during the day he spent on the Glasgow North East campaign, he went into the bookies, my tip was that Paul Sweeney would win that seat, and no one else in Labour would win any other seat in Glasgow. I find it laughable that blame is placed at the door of the "legacy of ‘Better Together", that campaign apart from a few notable exceptions wasn’t ran properly, in fact the spin doctor for Frank Roy who headed up the Brexit Remain campaign said he could spent a lot of time telling people what they wouldn’t be repeating what went wrong in that enterprise.

Better Together’s main problem was that it wasn’t properly supported on the ground by Scottish Labour, something which I commented repeatedly on during the indyref in 2014.

In its editorial, SLR highlighted traditional Labour areas it claimed the party could win seats in if Dugdale was replaced.

It said:

“If Labour had done much better than its extra six seats and 2.8 per cent vote increase – like winning Aberdeen South, Renfrewshire East, Stirling and the Ochils (which they held before but which the Tories took) as well Airdrie and Shotts and Motherwell and Wishaw, the Tories would have had difficulty forming any kind of government. The legacy of Better Together and a politically and personally woeful leadership in the form of Kezia Dugdale are the critical explanatory variables. So it is all very well saying, as left Labour MSPs Alex Rowley and Neil Findlay and others have said, that Labour would have done better in Scotland with more radical approach, namely, empathising Labour’s manifesto, and one less based on opposing indyref2. Logic then dictates that Labour can’t win in Scotland with Dugdale so the left needs to move to remove her and do so soon. Not doing so is to ignore the elephant in the room.”

To address the first point of winning more seats if Dugdale was replaced, this is assuming that the replacement is better, and to be frank, I think this opinion is too subjective to have any real value. The idea that people are voting for Kezia or against Kezia is rubbish, most people don’t and couldn’t name her as Scottish Labour leader. Scottish Labour’s problem doesn’t centre round the failures and bad judgements of a single individual.

This takes credit away from so many who have done so little while in positions of power. Remember when I said pre 2015 that Labour needed a clear out of useless MPs; they failed to act and paid the price.  

Finally, a Scottish Labour source said:

"The author of this editorial is ill-informed and clearly didn't read Kez's manifesto in 2016, which was the most radical in a generation, and has absolutely no understanding of the views of the party membership."

Maybe the verdict of 2016 has relevance as Scottish Labour was pushed into third place at Holyrood, so the manifesto was hardly the golden calf.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University