The Erosion of law and Order in Europe; over 30 NGO Workers Implicated in Facilitating Illegal Migration by Greek Police, the time has now come for severe penalties for corroborators who work in NGO’s who either actively or inactive assist human traffickers into Europe, long tariff imprisonment and total asset confiscation

Dear All 

People trafficking is big business, the traffickers can make millions of pounds transporting people to Europe, it is a criminal enterprise is which assisted by corruption and those who have an agenda who work in NGO’s. NGO’s are Non-Governmental Organisations which take money from various sources including governments. What isn’t well known is the scale that the NGO employees have actively assisted the traffickers in their smuggling operations. Awhile back, I talked about the need for the creation of an EU border force because what is needed to stop human trafficking is a multi-nation approach. The purpose of the EU border force is not to pick up illegal migrants in boats to take them to Europe, but to take them back to Africa or their embarkation point. 

While the governments under the EU remain weak, the stem of migrants has no chance of being halted, and there is no political EU will to do what is needed. Immigration was a factor in the UK voting to leave the EU, along with other issues. What hasn’t stopped since we voted to leave is illegal immigration to the UK, either the UK coastguard has to be beefed up, or the job falls to the Royal Navy to provide maritime security. Anyone picked up in the English Channel should be returned to France, the UK government should not allow asylum claims by changing the law from people who have travelled form an EU country. In order to claim Asylum, you have to claim it at the first country you arrive at, that is the way the system works. Migrants are passing through many EU countries to get to ones they believe will financially benefit them such as the EU. 

In order to stamp out human trafficking and corruption; penalties for people who human traffic must be severe, long tariff imprisonment and total asset confiscation. To those in NGO’s who assist, they are equally as guilty as the criminals who run these organisations. Their punishment must be the same; only by using the law to the maximum will we see a curtailment of the corruption. In a breaking story, a total of 35 people, 33 of them workers from four separate Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), have been implicated by Greek police in helping to smuggle illegal migrants to the Aegean island of Lesbos. 

Lesbos is a migrant gateway which has been over run by violent thugs, the situation has overwhelmed the civil authorities which is why a military solution is needed. One thing which is noticeable; is that the media is to blame for making politicians refusing to do what is needed. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-UmaN-QR1Q 

You can find other clips of how the situation has got out of hand such as this clip. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9jco3f8_9M 

In the police investigation, so far, we have found out that 33 of the NGO workers are said to come from a variety of countries including Austria, Germany, Norway, France, Switzerland and Spain. Two of the others arrested said to be migrants from Iran and Pakistan working for the NGO’s. Greek investigators say the crime group started their activities in June of 2019 and that between them they had facilitated at least 32 border illegal border crossings that saw an estimated 3,000 asylum seekers enter the country. In the world of trafficking, high tech is used to coordinate crime, the group used private internet groups and messaging applications to coordinate information on where migrant boats would leave and arrive on Lesbos. In this case, the NGO members worked with people traffickers in order to get information on migrant boats leaving the Turkish coast, including coordinates and how many migrants were on board the ships. Rather than pass the information to authorities, they kept quiet. How many criminals and terrorists did this group process? 

As well as the police investigation, other agencies of the Greek government were involved such as the Mytilene Security Sub-Directorate, the Greek National Intelligence Service and the Counter-Terrorism Service. Given the previous history of bad blood between Turks and Greeks, it is no surprise that traffickers are using this route into Europe. Greek Naval involvement in Turkish territorial waters would not be tolerated. Turkey has long been a problem being a gateway country which the Turks have paid lip service to stop the trek through their country to Europe. The only people they take an interest in stopping is Kurds, because these people claim various sections of land from southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria in a bid to one day have a country called Kurdistan. 

Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarakis commented on the cases saying that illegal activity form NGOs would not be tolerated. He also added that reducing migrant flows and the role of NGOs is a “top priority” for the current government. This can only be accomplished by a naval solution, which means military. 

In a UK perspective, what is required is our own military solution, new directives on refusal, and law changes were required. Migrant boats arrive on the English coast; this should never be allowed to happen, not in a high tech world we live in. As people know the English Channel is one of the busiest shipping channels in the world. While the law remains as is; abuse of the system which has been known about for years goes on. The asylum system has been circumvented, in order to fix it; we need harsh measures for bogus claims. Anyone caught placed in temporary camps until transferred to a third country, only from here can their asylum claim be processed. At present politicians fearful of being labelled racists by opposition parties farm out their responsibilities to others. But the time to act is coming because this is one can which is rapidly running out of road to be kicked down.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

The SNP Candidate and the Sex Worker; SNP hopeful Osama Bhutta, cousin of SNP Justice Minister Humza Yousaf seeks nomination for Cunninghame North, surely natural justice will see activists reject his attempt to unseat Kenny Gibson, is it time to ask Osama detailed questions about his chequered past and his previous links to a self-employed sex worker, working under the name Mistress Magpie, what on earth caused the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to allow him to be passed?

Dear All 

One thing about the SNP which you might not be familiar with, it is not a proper political party. 

Four distinct groups make up the modern SNP which I have described many times in the past. Lgbt, Muslim, the rich and Sein Fein lite, each of them fight to enlarge their power base within the party. When it comes to candidate selection, the SNP could be described as utter subservient to promoting those people who are part of the clique surround various leadership. This is why so many bad people got selected and then went on to prove that publicly. As well what some see as a ‘rigged’ system of candidate selection, you also have to focus on another aspect of main stream SNP operation, nepotism, the SNP really is the Scottish Nepotism Party. 

Nepotism is the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving these people jobs. In a way, this is why so many people with complaints find that they get no help at SNP surgeries. Nepotism isn’t new in the SNP, it goes back for years. It is done by those elected at the top of the party and further down the chain. 

As SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon grows weak, and many of her SNP Cabinet are deserting at the next election, just as chancers go, so a new batch of the same calibre stand waiting in the wings to fill MSP slots. One person who has floated to the top is the cousin of Humza Yousaf, his cousin is Osama Bhutta or Osama Saeed; he is a former aide to Alex Salmond. When I was in the SNP back in 2010, he stood and lost in Glasgow Central. At a Glasgow Regional Association meeting, I attended he spoke about the need for ‘local champion’ which was a slogan punted by the SNP at that time, ironically many of the SNP candidates in Glasgow, were neither ‘local’ or ‘champions’. 

At that time he was connected to Alex Salmond, I used to remember during by-elections that Osama Bhutta used to turn up with kids in tow. This meant he couldn’t go campaigning, in fact it happened so much, I commented on this to other people. Being connected to Salmond, he maybe felt he was a superstar too good to get his hands dirty with the rest of us. The only thing Osama Bhutta was interested in was Osama Bhutta in my opinion. And actions speak longer than words, don’t they?  

Now, as seats are up for grabs, Osama Bhutta has crawled out of the woodwork, this time, he isn’t using the SNP slogan, ‘local champion’, he is peddling “fantasy economics”, he is arguing an independent Scotland could “literally create money” instead of levying taxes. As he rolled out his idea, he focused on the idea that state doesn’t need tax revenue to spend. He said in a post independent Scotland: 

“Once we have our own currency, we will have the ability to create money and spend it on the things that are needed. The state literally creates money. It does not need our money.” 

To be clear, business creates money by selling goods and services that people want to buy, the state takes money in from various forms of direct and indirect taxation to pay for it. 

After losing in Glasgow Central in 2010, Osama Bhutta skipped the country to go work aboard for Al Jerezza abroad, he spent five years there. Now 10 years after his defeat of 2010, he resurfaces, so what makes him special, is he a super activist? Well, he is the cousin of Humza Yousaf, that’s it, Humza is a Sturgeon ‘ally’ until she stands down, then Humza will be someone else’s ‘ally’. Nicola Sturgeon is weak, as well as fighting Alex Salmond externally with her husband Peter Murrell, the SNP Chief Executive; she is also fighting a civil war within the SNP. The Salmond trial is a watershed moment in the politics of the Nationalist movement. At the next SNP Conference, Salmond’s allies will seek to remove Sturgeon’s husband from power. Once he goes, you can expect to see others follow in his wake, I would say Ian McCann is high priority on the list for ‘services no longer required’. 

One fly in the ointment of Osama Bhutta’s Holyrood dream is that the seat that he wants is currently held by Kenny Gibson, Cunninghame North is in North Ayrshire. As Gibson has been around the SNP a long time, he should hold the nomination, the Gibson dynasty is well known despite being a lesser one than the Ewings or Sturgeon Empire. In this contest, that selection may come down to who is the least objectionable. Gibson has the edge, he has tenure, he was known when a Glasgow Councillor to work his patch in Mosspark, and he probably lives in the area. His wife is also an MP, but she isn’t a political force, she is just an arse. 

An opinionated arse! 

In trying to sell the ‘Osama brand’ in a campaign video to members, he is offering ‘curry’ so that activists can be well fed. I suppose if you haven’t got bright ideas, food may tempt some people. Who knows, maybe he might also splash out on the chicken pakora and soft drinks. In 2010, his Glasgow campaign was notable by the fact that it he had Esther Sassaman in his corner as his campaign manager, her past and current history is also worth looking into. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7766617/Dominatrix-Labour-councillor-suspended-anti-Semitic-slur.html 

The best way I would describe Esther Sassaman is that she is a fucking nutcase! 

It also appears she operates under many different names like Osama. She has admitted she was a self-employed sex worker, working under the name Mistress Magpie, she also is a Plymouth Labour Councillor called Margaret Corvid, as well her original name, Esther Sassaman. Whoever passed this fuckwit for the Labour Party needs permanently removed from candidate selection! Interesting how like Esther Sassaman, Osama Bhutta or Osama Saeed feels the need to operate under different names. You would wonder; what else do these people have to hide from public view? 

One thing which Osama Bhutta isn’t publicising in his election bid for Cunninghame North is his links to Esther Sassaman. 

Osama Bhutta is no stranger to scandal, in February 2010, Humza’s cousin, Bhutta was at the centre of a cash-for-access row when Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon auctioned lunches at Holyrood to raise funds for his campaign. Humza Yousaf was the auctioneer at an event which raised more than £11,000. When the scandal broke, Salmond and Sturgeon cancelled the lunches after a backlash at the parliament. The Scottish Parliament cannot be used for political purposes, and that includes party funding raising, it is in the rules. As well this sleazy episode, Bhutta was also the founder and chief executive of the Scottish Islamic Foundation, a lobbying group set up in 2008 with £400,000 of grants from the SNP Government. This discredited organisation also had Yousaf and his previous wife connected to, some people saw it as a vehicle to give both Osama Bhutto and Humza Yousaf status, which in my opinion neither deserved, but Salmond was cultivating the Muslim vote hard in Scotland.        

The Scottish Islamic Foundation promised to hold Scotland’s biggest ever celebration of Islamic culture in Glasgow in June 2009, but the project collapsed, and ultimately, half the £400,000 grant was withheld or repaid. The SNP Government has form in backing Muslim candidates who set up Muslim organisations with tax payer funded money. They did it with Osama Bhutto and they also did it with Tasmina Ahmed-Shiekh, one may think that there is a pattern here. One thing both organisations had in common is that neither became successful before or after their involvement, which doesn’t surprised me in the slightest. I saw each in my opinion as a sham for SNP candidate promotion. 

Finally, I suppose someone has to mention the fact, it seems Humza Yousaf seems to having many family and friends standing for the Scottish Parliament. The tally so far for standing is Humza, his wife, his multi named cousin and his former assistant, North Lanarkshire Councillor Junaid Ashraf. Ashraf who wants to challenge James Dornan but I don’t think he will dislodge Dornan. I personally have my doubts that the SNP activists will be willing to back Osama Bhutta, especially if they access his back story. You might conclude someone maybe empire building, or could it be that Yousaf’s relatives and friends want their first hand access to a Holyrood salary and expenses? Something is really rotten in the state of SNP Scotland which allows people like Osama Bhutto to access to the Scottish Parliament. I don’t know about you but this is the type of story that reporters need to be asking Sturgeon to explain during her party political broadcasts on the BBC.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

SNP ‘Care Home’ Scandal 2, SNP Education Minister John Swinney backs imprisonment of virus free students in facilities populated by coronavirus infected students; Nationalists put ‘commercial profit before student safety’, already hundreds of students are fleeing Glasgow University Student Plague Villages as they were told they might be locked up over xmas, yet again SNP leaders Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney think people will bow to their threats, clearly students don’t trust their lives in Sturgeon’s hands

Dear All 

Here is a laugh, SNP MSP and Deputy First Minister has publicly said,he is ensuring students can go home for Christmas as an 'absolute priority. This was after his boss, Nicola Sturgeon had them all locked up in student accommodation. Students have come to the inescapable conclusion that imprisonment and threats against them of expulsion are ‘a bridge too far' and decided they couldn't trust the SNP leaders with their lives. 

What is going on here is akin to the 'Scottish Care Home' Scandal which saw the SNP tell hospitals to dump infected elderly people in care homes, to free up beds. 

Glasgow University less than tempting offer of a 4 week rent rebate maybe seen by them as decent gesture but others don't, and the fact that they started up testing quickly is firefighting a bad situation which they never planned for due to their incompetence. Where their game plan fell down was how, when and to what degree the new restrictions and penalties were ‘marketed’. 

In the aftermath of lockdown in student halls, there is now a 'mass exodus' of students from locked down university accommodation. Not only as the Glasgow University botched the PR campaign, so have Nicola Sturgeon and the National clinical director Jason Leitch. Leitch is showing an amazing lack of awareness, when he just up and announced students should not return to their family home as they now belonged to new households. I think; his definition of ‘household’ may to some seem a little vague. Student accommodation is no more a household than a prison or hotel is. Yes, there are shared kitchens, shared communal facilities but in using them it still doesn't rank as a home, people would have to wear a mask, something that doesn’t happen in normal households. In looking at covid, you have to take two things into account, one, hands touching surfaces, and secondly breathing, and how far the exhalation air travels and remains in the air. 

On Friday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon created undue panic when said she presumably off the cuff said that she would support universities expelling students “as a last resort” if they “flagrantly” breach rules. One thing will happen to everyone is that they will breach the rules, either by accident or deliberate, however the sanction regime to effectively destroy someone’s career and thereby their life chances is a step too far. Already the back peddling has begun led by Universities Scotland, who bizarrely said the threat of a ban was a threat of a ban, aye right. 

What should have happened was a plan to take the students with them! 

1/ Temp lockdown to stop the spread.

2/ Test everyone at the halls including staff asap.

3/ Ban all outside visitors.

4/ Require everyone to wear a mask outside their rooms.

5/ Remove anyone infected to other temp accommodation, (Louisa Jordan).

6/ Deep clean the facilities.

7/ Lift the lockdown.

8/ After a couple of weeks, retest everyone.

9/ If all clear; then allow students to have their normal life back.

10/ Have an ongoing discussion regarding safety advice starting now. 

Using threats hasn’t worked well,in fact it has been a disaster, second-year MA History student James Yucel, 19, returned home to England on Friday.  

He said: 

“On Thursday night there was just widespread panic as students learned of the new restrictions. It was utter chaos with students booking flights, trains and getting packed up. It’s been so poorly handled. My flatmate is an international student from the Cayman Isles in the Caribbean who flew into Glasgow and the next day learned all his lectures this year will be held online. He wouldn’t have come if he knew. Like a lot of my friends, I’ve gone home. Out of 50 students I am friendly with in Glasgow, 40 of them have ditched Glasgow and headed home. There was a mad rush to the train stations and airports on Friday. The rules are so restrictive, why would anyone want to stay? We got an email from the university saying there is a yellow and red card system that basically means if you get caught twice going to the pub you will be expelled. Personally, it’s maybe not a good idea for me to speak out about it but I think it’s a scandal. There are a lot of students like me but who are hesitant about speaking out in fear of what the universities might do.” 

In the 20 years I spent at Glasgow University, I have to say the way the University of Glasgow acts never impressed me, my illusions were shattered rather early. The idea that the University of Glasgow is full of kindly old professors and that they are here to help you is a myth. I don’t want to get into my past experiences of maltreatment, but really things haven’t changed. 

As James Yucel said; 

“There are a lot of students like me but who are hesitant about speaking out in fear of what the universities might do.” 

A female student said of the current situation: 

“It feels a bit like a prison. Our kitchen is quite small and I’m sharing with 12 people. I think it’s a crazy expectation to ask us not to go outside and get fresh air. We’ve also seen the police circulating outside a few times because they want to make sure we don’t break any rules. I probably would have gone home if it wasn’t for us being ordered to stay by the uni. It definitely isn’t the student experience I’d have hoped for. It’s been pretty rough.” 

Another engineering student, 18, from Wales, said: 

“We’re not allowed to return home. We’ve been threatened with getting kicked out for going home or leaving the halls. We’re allowed to go for a smoke but that’s it.” 

In the wake of the outbreak, and this heavy handed approach, Glasgow University announced a series of measures in the hope to help the students during the difficult time. You also might be tempted to think that the measures are more about managing the bad PR that they have already created. So, what is their offer, oh before I forget, if covid is still around next year, it could effectively kill off university accommodation in favour of students going for rented flats. The university ‘offer’ is a four-week rent-rebate for all students in their halls; students will receive £50 for food and supplies. What we know about the £50 offer for food is it is a one off payment. Locked up for God how many weeks and compensated with a pittance. I worked out from a website that the ‘offer’ varies depending on where you are staying, £560, if you are up at Murano Street Village to about £450 if you are down at Cairncross Student halls, which when you look at it in the cold light of day is risible. 

What hasn’t been removed is the threat of disciplinary action, which should never have been mooted in the first place. 

A University of Glasgow spokesman said: 

“We would urge our students to abide by the government rules and remain in their residences.” 

It seems the lack of additional response is very interesting because of what wasn’t said regarding punishment and expulsion, short statements are usually a sign of people or an organisation fucking up, and knowing they have fucked up! 

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: 

“We appreciate this is a particularly difficult time for students but the quicker we get Covid back under control, the sooner they will be able to enjoy a more normal student life. The Scottish Government will very shortly produce clear guidance on the circumstances under which students can return home while restrictions remain in place.” 

Well, they better produce that booklet fast or there will be no one to read it in the halls of residence. In the chaos of this disaster, Scotland's Education Secretary and Deputy First Minister said the Scottish Government is working to ensure students are safe and well supported. Is a £50 one off payment for being locked up really what John Swinney calls ‘well supported’? Already it seems hundreds of students agree with me it isn’t and they have fled the campuses to make the trek back home. One thing is certain; there has been a material change in their contract with them and the university regarding accommodation. 

How are you doing to do that John given that covid has returned with gusto, and now Glasgow has the highest Covid rate in UK? Something else which will in future be played down is the SNP Government considering further financial support for universities to help them give refunds to students. He also said ministers have already provided additional funding to universities to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Clearly from what Glasgow University is offering, someone hasn’t put their hands deep enough into their tax payer filled pockets. 

Finally, has SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon just killed off the entire student accommodation sector in Scotland? I wonder how many students currently at Glasgow will either flee now, move immediately after restrictions are lifted, or potential students will simply avoid giving the university additional ways and means to control them via a threat process. Living under threat is not pleasant, and I would suspect the ‘mass exodus’ hasn’t seen the end yet.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

The Age of SNP Un-enlightenment; SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon has caused a choke point in the knowledge of how to defeat coronavirus in Scotland, while she remains at the helm micromanaging her PR image, we can’t defeat the virus, in a land sorely in need of logic, she needs to step down, Scots are led by a ‘wee woman’ in every sense of the word who comes across as just angry, bitter and twisted, Sturgeon as to be led to wisdom because she can’t make that journey herself, and oh how this country knows it, the narrow vision is a price Scots can’t afford to pay anymore

Dear All 

Today is a trip halfway around the world via a youtube video, one thing which helps to increase your knowledge is to educate yourself by looking at what is doing on around elsewhere. As someone interested in travel, despite limited experience, going online to see other places is the next best thing and is as cheap as chips. Yesterday, I wrote about student plague villages and how in my opinion, universities are always going to be high risk locations were coronavirus is concerned. Already, the news is that 124 cases of coronavirus have been recorded at Glasgow University and about 600 people are in lockdown at student hostels. What we don’t know yet is how many of the students with positive coronavirus are sitting in flats. And don’t you think that someone should find out quick? 

I would say; the university campus represents an excellent opportunity for mass testing by the authorities. And to make the testing more accurate that would have to include members of the General council (ex students) and ex staff who use the facilities. As I predicted the virus outbreak probably started in freshers week, already others have voiced the same opinion as me. If you have never been to a freshers week, the best way to describe it is, its like building are packed out like the London Underground at peak time, especially the student unions…. because that is where the beers, opposition sex and entertainment is located. 

Mass testing at any university should be a problem, in fact because you can more or less guarantee the core numbers using it, it is a good way to collect data for a study, and to introduce ways to minimise spreading the virus. One thing is certain, special measures are needed to combat the disease in the university bubble. 

What I don’t get, is why freshers week wasn’t better thought-out, clearly the incoming student body was never going to be a mystery in terms of where they were coming from. The potential for further outbreaks or flare ups exists there from the high risk groups like medics etc. 

Anyway, I want to show you this video I have found, many people who visit Thailand do video blogs to showcase where they have been and to let people know about the area they may choose to visit. Some of the well known Vloggers are Geoff Carter, 20 seconds in Thailand, Kev in Thailand (deceased now, cancer); they do their content from the tourist expat view. Interesting to watch if you ever decided to holiday in the Land of Smiles, the person, I also found to watch is someone who goes by the name of JWINTHAI. I know nothing about them, but their videos are good quality, which is why I wanted to show you one of theirs at random.

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

The location is Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. As you watch this video, I want you to observe the people, although we in the Scotland are wearing masks for entering indoor spaces such as shops, doctors, post offices etc, I was struck by the number of people who are wearing masks outdoors while walking on the streets. My question is this, what do the Thais know that we don’t in terms of prevention? So, I thought, I would check the stats online and see how they compare with Scotland. As far as I can tell, the numbers stack up as cases 3516, people recovered 3353, and deaths 59. Population of Thailand is 69,799,978 people, on a par with numbers in the UK. In contrast, Scotland has had 25981 cases, 4,282 recovered and 2510 deaths. The numbers can be viewed at the links which will be updated as and when. 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/thailand/ 

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/ 

Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP Government when you compare against a country like Thailand haven’t done that well, in fact their achievements are more failures than successes. We should remember the problem here is a lack of a world view on her part. Her rationale is to view everything against what has happened in England, as if it were a contest between the two countries and not a contest against the virus here in Scotland. Sturgeon isn’t a leader which can be seen by the way that she waits for others to act before doing so herself. 

59 deaths in Thailand against 2510 deaths in Scotland! 

The video is worth watching right through to the end because I want you to focus on the volume of people and the fact they are all wearing masks outside. Although Nicola Sturgeon has ‘experts’ in Scotland to trot out like Jason Leitch, Dr Gregor Ian Smith, Professor Fiona McQueen and also her advisor group; I and others are simply unimpressed. They and Nicola Sturgeon haven’t done a good job, lets be honest, too many chiefs and not enough Indians, and to add to the cock ups, Sturgeon “vetting” the advice. 

Finally, lots of people in Scotland are now dead because Nicola Sturgeon really is a dullard, while at Glasgow University; I met people who were so smart that they made smart people look dumb. Nicola Sturgeon isn’t one of them, so today’s piece of wisdom is that to further cut down the virus spreading and limit airborne transmission of the virus in Scotland.

Everyone should wear masks outside. 

Basically, everyone should have their mouth covered; of course, it will take someone like Nicola Sturgeon a long time to get to this position of logic. As a ‘wee woman’ who comes across as angry, bitter and twisted, she has to be led to wisdom because she can’t make that journey herself. Her political journey in public office has been one of failure after failure, there are more people in government monitoring the media than in her advisor group on covid, what does that tell you?

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University  

Scotland’s Mini Plague Academic Villages, Coronavirus outbreak hits Glasgow University accommodation, the university bubble has been burst, special measures will be needed in order to suppress virus numbers because high risks groups such as medics could be the super highway for continual flare ups on campus, the ‘university experience’ is going to be rather curtailed when judged against previous years!

Dear All 

As someone who spent 20 years at Glasgow university in various jobs, I noticed very quickly that each year as the campus filled up with new students and those returning to take part in freshers week, which was week zero. All the way nearly up to xmas, you could expect viruses. So many people from so many countries, always brought disease, after we all went through our annual coughing, sneezing and flu bugs, life would returned to normal in the bubble. 

It was only natural that covid would pop up in various universities; and that fact should be no mystery to you. We are at the start of the academic year and already dozens of students are self-isolating after concerns of a coronavirus 'outbreak' at University of Glasgow student accommodation. Cairncross House sits down at the bottom of Kelvin Way, from my recollection previously, it was teaming with foreign students and some of them will have brought covid with them from their country or picked it up en route to the campus. 

20 students have tested positive for Covid in the past few days with more self-isolating, given the way student life is, even if they fire fight this outbreak, it will be one battle in an ongoing war. Yes, there will be other outbreaks, at Glasgow and pretty much every other university. In terms of sport, university sport is both team and solo, people travelling to other universities to compete. Places like the Stevenson Building will have to see ‘contact’ sport like Judo, Karate, Rugby and other close contact events, all virtually cancelled. University sport also produces a lot of people who then go onto represent Team GB, so standards will certainly drop, because sport by its nature is about perfecting mental and physical skills by repeated refinement. 

In my youth, I taught many students fitness, some of them ended up later down the line funded by the lottery and representing Great Britain. So, I know all about the effort needed to raise people up. It takes a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of disappointments before they achieve competition level performance. One thing which I adopted as a teaching tool was to teach my students to be proficient not just in fitness but also as instructors. Everyone pretty much had to learn to teach as part of my programme, because learning to analyse in turn makes you better. This type of teaching at university was un-usual which is why I wasn’t liked by the teaching staff. 

My students were the best on campus! 

As well as the first positive coronavirus cases at Glasgow University's Cairncross House, there are also cases at Glasgow University’s Murano Student Village. This isn’t near Cairncross at Finneston, it is near the top of Queen Margaret Drive /Maryhill Road. Chances are that freshers week, always busy, was ground zero. For those who don’t know how university accommodation works, inside, it is like a hostel; on your floor will not always people doing the same course as you. If you are doing computer science, next door could be a medical student, dentist student or something doing History. Giving that they all interact, each one potentially sits at the eye of the storm and could be a super spreader passing covid to other groups. On campus, itself, does anyone really think that between lectures each room will be deep cleaned? There isn’t the time, there aren’t enough staff to do that turn around. And yes, there is cleaning staff, but they can’t manage that task, it’s a time and a numbers game. 

You are just as likely to sit at a desk which a covid sufferer previously did, and pick up the virus on your hands, and by the time you get symptoms; who knows who you were in contact with or what surfaces you touched. Some people like medical, dentists and some of the life sciences groups are particularly high risk from coming into contact with covid. Is there a strategy in place to limit their contact with the wider student population? I doubt it, just like the virus spreads so have the high risk groups all across the campus. The flaw in the system is the Accommodation Office, their job is to get you a room, not consider what your course is. Like everyone else, the universities are going to have to learn to isolate people into their various groups, but that requires cooperation. Add to the mix, various activities like sport and social, you are really talking about limiting spread, not eliminating it. 

And if coronavirus isn’t halted then next year, and every year after that there will be the same challenges until some bright spark creates a safe vaccine. So far, given what has been released, we aren’t anywhere near that happy state of affairs. 

https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/08/astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-study-put-on-hold-due-to-suspected-adverse-reaction-in-participant-in-the-u-k/ 

Yesterday, I was talking about the need to develop being ‘self aware’ when out and about, prevention is always better than cure. In space of 24 hours, I have had a lot of people turn up to read that one; someone said the last paragraph resonated with them. So here it is again, ‘in these desperate times, don’t look to Nicola Sturgeon to save you, your family, your friends or your community; you have the skills to do that yourself. When outside, don’t touch surfaces if you don’t need too, that includes, doors, seats, counters, walls, sinks and toilets. Stay two metres apart; always wear your mask in any shop or inside space that isn’t your home. Limit your contacts with other people to the bare minimum, stagger your shopping hours to avoid crowds, if on a bus, try not to touch rails with your bare hands, wear gloves. Always wash your hands regularly and first thing when you return home, and don’t go out if unwell. In the meantime, stay active, both physically and mentally, and you will survive, be self aware, this is your greatest asset in fight against coronavirus’. 

Finally, diversity promoted by some people as a panacea obviously has its drawbacks, every year into the university bubble comes ‘outsiders’, that is the nature of uni, an education factory, but with outsiders comes ‘the bugs’ and this one is particularly nasty. In medicine and other various high risk groups causing transmission, there is no way that risk can be completely eliminated, especially for those in the later years who leave the bubble to go into hospitals etc. It takes one person on one day to pick up the virus and bring it back onto campus, and when you multiple up how many days, how many medics and how many locations, they will attend, you can clearly get a picture forming on how short the odds are they will infect the university community. This why I urge people be self aware, because there really is no other viable option, you can’t rely on others to provide that security blanket, it doesn’t exist.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University   

A Legacy of Utter Failure; SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will put in force new lockdown restrictions in Scotland, coronavirus cases are rising as inept Sturgeon finds out that she is so far out of her depth that she needs outside help to cope, cap in hand she goes to the UK government to prop up her failed regime, take note of this, an entire SNP Cabinet in Scotland and they cannot teach people to be “self aware”, a simple mental tool, to keep them and their communities safe, a change of government is now in the national interest of Scotland

Dear All 

Today is the day, after failing to control the coronavirus in Scotland, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is to introduce new lockdown restrictions in Scotland. This could possibly mean as some suggest no visiting people in other households, it could see yet again business curtailed in Scotland, but more importantly, this could affect campaigning for the next Holyrood election. I always suspected that Holyrood 2021 would be inter4fered with by the SNP in some way other than attempts by indy supporters to ‘game the system’. It is looking clearer that Sturgeon and co are shutting down the country legally so opposition parties cannot function, while at the same time she using the Office of First Minister will roll out daily political broadcasts under the guise of health briefings. 

I knew within a few episodes of the Sturgeon broadcast what was happening, the opposition politicians took serve months to speak out. It took still longer to complain to the BBC what was going on, and haven’t grasped they need their own hour long TV shows as well. There is a democratic imbalance in favour of the SNP who are campaigning with Sturgeon as the sole figure head of the SNP push for Holyrood. One thing that coronavirus has taught us, is that the SNP despite their claims of superiority isn’t capable handling this crisis. Early on during Cobra briefings, we all saw first hand how Nicola Sturgeon sought to undermine a joint approach by leaking policy before the PM. As the virus is spreading again, we now see Sturgeon calling for a ‘four nations’ approach, because in the run up to the Holyrood election, she needs to blame the Westminster government as a key part of her electioneering strategy. 

Sturgeon will be fighting the election in 2021 on a simple message, ‘Toreee bad’, it is the same campaigning strategy the SNP have used in several elections both at Holyrood and Westminster. This revelation isn’t new to you but what it does show is how the SNP is in a rut, they aren’t a progressive party, they stick to the same formula with a few tweaks. In the 13 years of SNP misrule, in one key area such as small business expansion, the SNP have done nothing. The SNP aren’t building up Scotland in business, education or socially, they are playing absentee landlords at the Scottish Government. To the SNP, government is a campaigning vehicle for independence, and departments of state are something they use to draw their ministerial salary. 

The only question about the new restrictions is will Nicola Sturgeon go further than Boris Johnson, well; I would suggest she has a core package and additional package depending on how far Boris Johnson goes. I would say one thing, whatever way Boris goes; Sturgeon will be keen to raise the stakes higher. This is to fit the construct narrative that ‘Sturgeon Cares’. As we have seen how they badly handled the care home fiasco, the truth is Sturgeon really doesn’t care, who puts infected people into sterile environments to infect others? Who wants patients to sign DNR letters as a cover for their mismanagement? It is time that people started raising their voices and speaking out about what is going on around them, because there is plenty to be angry about. 

The fact that coronavirus is spreading isn’t a surprise to me; here is a personal experience just recently about me. I went to the drs to pick up a prescription, mask on, went into the surgery, in front of me was a health worker talking to the receptionist, I stood back two metres to wait till they finished their chat. As I stood there, I noticed the health worker’s clothing which wasn’t special, but she was leaning on the reception counter, bare arms, and touching the counter with her hands. This to me sent out a signal of much unawareness there is in Scotland. When outside, you should be limiting people and surface contacts as much as humanly possibly; especially in places of multiple person footfall like a surgery. Just as drs surgeries can help cure us, we should be aware that sick people use it, and that any virus they have, corona or other wise could be left on their surfaces, doors, seats, counters, walls, sinks and toilets. The only thing other than picking up my prescription that I touched was the carpet and with the soles of my shoes. 

When you are outside, be self aware, don’t just motor along in a daze! 

As well as her previous failures which led to the virus spreading in Scotland, which allows her to do “further and urgent action” as she sees it, she can then say that she will introduce “a package of additional measures” but will aim to avoid a full-scale lockdown. I would say this type of thinking is useless because the public don’t respond well to piecemeal restrictions, they require certainty. When it was pointed out that Sturgeon was just copycatting the UK restrictions, she said that decisions in Scotland were, ‘hers and hers alone’, now she is endorsing the UK chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance because her and her experts are out of their depth. Vallance says new cases could rise daily by 50,000 by October in the UK. By not being a team player with the UK Government, Nicola Sturgeon did her part in ensuring the failure of the previous strategy. 

Finally, in these desperate times, don’t look to Nicola Sturgeon to save you, your family, your friends or your community; you have the skills to do that yourself. When outside, don’t touch surfaces if you don’t need too, that includes, doors, seats, counters, walls, sinks and toilets. Stay two metres apart; always wear your mask in any shop or inside space that isn’t your home. Limit your contacts with other people to the bare minimum, stagger your shopping hours to avoid crowds, if on a bus, try not to touch rails with your bare hands, wear gloves. Always wash your hands regularly and first thing when you return home, and don’t go out if unwell. In the meantime, stay active, both physically and mentally, and you will survive, be self aware, this is your greatest asset in fight against coronavirus.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University   

Nicola Sturgeon’s Holyrood Nightmare; is Convicted perjurer Tommy Sheridan about to make a comeback at Holyrood Parliament, his Solidarity party partners up with Alliance for Independence to stand under their banner as the new Holyrood Yes party, Sheridan’s toxic masculinity will see Sturgeon opt to snub him, ‘woke transcends indy’, and Sturgeon needs a cause since she won’t be delivering indyref 2

Dear All

 

The various campaigns to ‘rig’ the next Holyrood election in 2021 are starting to hot up, it seems that the rules are to be pushed to their legal limits, but one thing that has already been broken is acting in the spirit of the rules. The rise and fall of Tommy Sheridan was a great scandal to watch, from ‘man of the people’ to ‘jail bird’ was just another tale of someone who had everything, throwing it all away by acts of self harm. Having been snubbed by the public, it seems that Sheridan’s Solidarity Party has formally joined forces with Scotland’s new independence party, the Alliance for Independence (AFI). This lays the possible ground work for a possible comeback for the convicted perjurer. 

In days of old, a stint in the jail would have seen the end of someone’s ambition for public office. Tommy Sheridan does those who mad Celtic supporting videos on twitter and youtube, they are essential viewing….. if you want a laugh and want to say WTF repeatedly! Clearly Sheridan has gone the tribal and showman route, just as he latched on Scottish independence to revive his career; he also seems to latch on to Celtic, a ready made audience presumably. The Alliance for Independence (AFI) plans to field list-only candidates next year to game the system or ‘max the Yes’ at Holyrood. The question is who benefits from Solidarity standing under the AFI banner especially in places like Glasgow? 

The bottom of the Glasgow list has two Conservatives, Adam Tomkins and Annie Wells, along side Patrick Harvie, given Scottish Labour hold the other four. It would appear that three seats under the ‘game the system’ approach might be in danger of changing hands. In reality however, I would suggest that the real figure is two seats unless there is a tsunami of change in public opinion regarding the floating voters. You also have to factor in George Galloway’s Alliance for Unity, but to keep it to Glasgow, they have no history, no long campaign running, other than digital, and their lead candidate is a businessman, not a political campaigner who has the in depth experience to craft a bespoke campaign. George Galloway’s Alliance for Unity is really fishing in the Labour Party voting pool. 

Solidarity as a political party is really seen as a Tommy Sheridan vehicle, which was formed in 2006 after his bitter split with the Scottish Socialist Party when his various Court cases came to the fore. So, this is the first pro-independence party to come under the AFI umbrella but it begs the question, will the Scottish Socialist Party also come onboard as well? For the AFI strategy to work; there needs to be only candidates from Sheridan’s party in Glasgow standing. If others come onboard, it waters down the effectiveness so much that it isn’t viable. The same applies to George Galloway’s Alliance for Unity; his major problem is that it is unlikely that the Scottish Labour Party can win any FPTP seats in Glasgow as things stand at present. The only place which might be worth a punt at is Bob Doris’ seat in Maryhill and Springburn for Scottish Labour. Although there 8 constituency seats, Scottish Labour need to select three to put all their efforts into, so that would be Maryhill and Springburn, Glasgow Anniesland, and  Glasgow Shettleston. 

Will Scottish Labour HQ come to the same conclusion as me, who knows, but their track record saw them pump in effort to Blair McDougall’s campaign in East Renfrewshire, and I said, ‘waste of time, money and resources. I was proved right at that election; Blair managed a miserable third place finish. Picking where to fight is just as important as whom to fight, what to fight on and how. How Scottish Labour though that East Renfrewshire was viable was beyond me, they must have been blinded by previous results of Jim Murphy. Murphy was smart enough to know that in order to get in; you have to aggressive work your area and the vote. Blair McDougall might know how to run campaigns but that doesn’t mean he can transition to activist. To help you get your head round what I am saying, Lord King was in charge of British Airways, but no one let him fly the planes! 

AFI will be seen as a Trojan horse by Solidarity, they can’t get elected under their own banner or cause, so they will use ‘indy’ to rehabilitate Sheridan. What I would say, can ‘gaming the system’ do the job for Tommy Sheridan, his baggage is huge, he is a polarising figure and although working for the Russians like Alex Salmond, he isn’t exactly been given the welcome mat back by the Scottish public. Sheridan has had his day, and nothing in the decade since his scandal has changed that opinion for me. 

The AFI was set up by former SNP MSP Dave Thompson, he formerly setup Christians for Independence, it was one in a sea of little independence groups all fronted by SNP people. The idea was to get the public to think that there was broad support for Scottish independence when there wasn’t. If AFI gets its plan seeded in the minds of Yes voters, it could get 24 MSPs, and with the scandals around the SNP at present, this could see a shift to AFI from the SNP on the list. Who knows, maybe Nicola Sturgeon will back this for political expediency but there are dangers, especially if the SNP doesn’t get 65 seats and has to rely on others. Although Sturgeon like Salmond doesn’t play well with others, that doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to ‘use’ others. So, don’t rule out Sturgeon doing a U turn. At present the SNP and Greens have refused to stand aside on the list, I personally doubt the Scottish Greens weak vote on the list is backed by a pro indy vote, to me, it looks shaky. 

In kicking the can down the street, Dave Thompson said Solidarity would get a number of “winnable” places on the lists, and it would be up to Solidarity whether it selected Mr Sheridan as a candidate. 

He said: 

“We are delighted that Solidarity has decided to fight next year’s Holyrood election under our banner. We hope that this will encourage the other smaller pro-indy parties to seriously consider the option of now uniting with AFI and Solidarity to create an unstoppable force for independence at next year’s election.” 

Asked about Mr Sheridan’s character, Thompson said: 

“We’re a broad kirk. Our whole reason is to unite everyone across the political spectrum. Therefore Solidarity are just as welcome as any of the smaller parties.

“I get on fine with Tommy. I have no problem with him. It’s not for me to judge other people’s morals. I’m happy for Solidarity to nominate whoever they wish in due course to the places that we negotiate for them. It’s not for me to make any judgment on that or to tell them what they do.” 

Talk about a lack of judgement on Thompson! What do you think, would you pass Sheridan? He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2011 for committing perjury, works for the Kremlin-funded propaganda outlet Sputnik news, suggested the 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury was an anti-Russian smear. Just as people may question Thompson’s hands off decision, I would think some people would definitely question Sheridan’s world view through his Russian telescope. The agents responsible for the Salisbury attack were identified, and identified as working for the Russian military.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_Skripal#Suspects_and_attack_timeline 

Finally, Tommy Sheridan is very much a ‘loose cannon’, and if he is elected, we can’t expect much, but there could be silver linings, he knocks out Patrick Harvie. Harvie sits at the bottom of the Glasgow Regional list, there are other ‘benefits’ of a Sheridan Holyrood return, there will be the collective condemnation of him by Parliament led by women. ‘Convicted perjurer’ will be flung about like confetti in the corridors of Holyrood. Feminist’s groups would protest him bitterly, maybe a mini campaign to try to convince him to resign, by laying down a guilt trip. It won’t work, but it gives certain MSPs and other grievance monkeys who have the IQ of a hand ball something to do. Then there is Nicola Sturgeon’s anger that someone dripping in toxic masculinity is in the same building as her and not under her thumb. Someone who will see her as she really is lamb dressed as mutton, and old mutton at that, let the games commence! 

Yours sincerely 

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University                                                                                                                                                             

The Further Decline of Standards in SNP controlled Scotland; SNP Health Sec Jeane Freeman is accused of lying to MPs over health meetings by UK Government Minister Alister Jack, how can the Scottish public have confidence in a health minister during a pandemic if they can’t tell the truth, why have so many low grade people rose to become SNP Ministers, the modern SNP isn’t a party based on merit, integrity or common decency, it is a failed social engineering experiment promoting total unsuitable people to public office

 

Dear All  

If you want to do the most damage in politics, if you want to put the boot in, if you want to get the public on your side, don’t lie, don’t take the easy road for short term PR, just do one simple thing, tell the truth. The long campaign for Holyrood has cranked up a few gears as SNP Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has been accused of lying to MPs about a meeting with the UK Government at the start of the pandemic. 

In days of old, when it came to Ministers of the Crown, certain expectations were placed highly on them such as being honourable, decent and moral. Nowadays, we tend not to see that in Scottish SNP politics were lying is an everyday currency traded not on the stock exchange but in parliaments and on social media. The SNP have emerged from the swamp to poison the very essence of Scottish politics, culture and civic society. 

Before continuing with Freeman, a few days ago, there was a murder in Pollok, Glasgow just up from Silverburn Shopping Centre. A violent thug called Omar Sadiq who had a long and significant criminal history, and was linked to the racists who murdered a young white boy called Kriss Donald was stabbed to death. You can read more about what and who he is in the link. 

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/12796497.brothers-of-killers-are-jailed/  

I highlight this story because it gets us to SNP Justice Minister Humza Yousaf, who tweeted after the murder: 

“Dreadfully sad news. My thoughts are with the young man’s family, friends and the local community”. 

This led some twitter users to question the judgement of Humza Yousaf lamenting the death of a violent drug dealer who lived in upmarket Newton Mearns. 

The local community of Pollok won’t mourn the death of someone like Sadiq. After an uproar on social media, Humza Yousaf quickly deleted the tweet, why was that you may ask? Wasn’t the murder still ‘dreadfully sad news’? I think once the violent history of the murdered man came out, and who he was linked too, Yousaf decided to quickly do some quickly backtracking. 

My point is that Humza Yousaf much like Jeane Freeman isn’t fit to be a Minister of the Crown. The decline in standards in public life is linked to people like Nicola Sturgeon and others of her mindset, who promote totally unsuitable people. In her social engineering experiment carried on from the Salmond era to promote minorities, we aren’t seeing the best from these minorities. Years ago, I highlighted the four main social groups that control the SNP, Lgbt, Muslim, the rich and Sein Fein lite. Yousaf is Muslim and Freeman is a lesbian, the race to the bottom in the modern SNP didn’t start with Sturgeon, it happened under Alex Salmond. 

Let’s get back to Freeman and the search for the truth. Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland, told a Westminster committee that the SNP health secretary had misled them when she said she could not recall any communication with him about the virus crisis. Anyone can forget something told to them in passing, but in this case, can you seriously forget having a formal meeting? The Secretary of State for Scotland was questioned by the new Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross about the comments made by Ms Freeman in June. 

Ross said: 

“You said you had a long meeting with Ms Freeman in her office I believe you said, in Edinburgh. At least an hour with just yourself and the health secretary and then you were joined by the UK health secretary. Either you have misled this committee or Miss Freeman has misled this committee. I have a quote in which she told the Scottish Affairs Committee on the 11th June, saying she is not aware and could recall no communication with Mr Jack. Who has misled this committee?” 

The Scottish Secretary replied simply: 

“She has.” 

He continued: 

“My officials attended (the meeting) as well and it was on I think the 12th of March, late in the evening and it went on very late into the evening. I was there for probably an hour before the secretary of state Matt Hancock arrived, and the meeting went on for some considerable time after that.” 

So, what possible explanation could Freeman use to explain away this allegation that she has misled a Westminster Committee? 

1/ Mental illness?

2/ Onset of dementia?

3/ Playing politics?

4/ On medication?

5/ Shit at her job? 

One thing which we all saw early on was how Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP were keen to do everything ‘Scottish’ during the pandemic; most noticeably the public saw how the Nightingale hospital in Glasgow was named the Louisa Jordan. Apparently Florence Nightingale wasn’t good enough for Sturgeon and her ilk. The failure to work together with the UK is a hallmark of the SNP; the common good is set aside, no matter what damage it costs. Alistar Jack also pointed out that communication between Holyrood and Westminster over the coronavirus pandemic had been a "one way street". He accused Nicola Sturgeon of being tight-lipped with the UK Government on the different approaches her government was taking in Scotland; this could be explained by the way ‘sofa government’ works under Sturgeon and her advisors. Jack cited an example how Sturgeon had not told Westminster that she was excluding children from the "rule of six" on social gatherings. 

For Jack to say that the Scottish Government were doing things differently “for the sake of it” is right but he should by now realise that there is no point in urging the SNP administration to “be grown up”. You see the SNP is a party within a party, and the vision is inward looking, they aren’t interested in opinions unless it verifies and upholds their own prejudices and bias. What the Secretary of State for Scotland should looking at is changing the Scotland Act, so when situations occur that need a UK wide approach, everything regarding regulations should all come from one body. Talking about the need to stop confusing the public will fall on deaf ears in the SNP. 

He said: 

“We need to stop the confusion. We should actually just be grown up, and not be different for the sake of it. It hasn’t brought anyone to a different outcome. The prevalence of the virus is as is high in any part of the UK as another. On average all four nations are experiencing similar problems.” 

Finally, we keep hearing that devolution is evolving, but what mechanism is in place when it evolves in an unworkable way? Well, nothing is the short answer, hoping for co-operation where none or limited exists is a fool’s errand, what about putting in place new regulations which have the weight of law behind them? It is known in medicine that to leave a cancer alone sees it spread, cutting it out isn’t done on an emotional level, logic dictates that action for the patient, it is time apply logic to the SNP problem rather than pleas to emotion. People like Jeane Freeman, Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon all rose to the top not because of talent, and its time that Westminster decided to rein in SNP stupidity. As to calling out Freeman by Alistar Jack, its an interesting piece of theatre and electioneering bullet to fire across no man’s land, but to win Holyrood 2021 requires an all out assault. 

Yours sincerely 

 George Laird                                                                                                                                 The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University                                                                                                       

The Return of The Rat; former SNP MP Natalie McGarry yet appears again at Glasgow Sheriff Court accused of stealing more than £25k from multiple pro-independence groups, toxic McGarry, has entered a not guilty plea to all charges, her previous trial judge Paul Crozier said her fraud and deceit had been of the "most serious kind" given the position of trust she had been in, McGarry back in Court on 11th November

Dear All

The long running saga is back, and I am not talking about Mousetrap in London!

Former SNP MP Natalie McGarry is back in Court. McGarry is accused of stealing more than £25,000 from pro-independence groups. In her first trial, the highlights were McGarry pleading guilty, McGarry getting the jail, McGarry using the defence of being mentally ill, and who could fail to forget the court verdict being quashed.

McGarry only spent a few days in jail before being released from her 18 month sentence.

As a victim of Natalie McGarry, I was like many, disappointed that she was out walking the streets. I saw this as justice denied given she had plead guilty. Knowing that she could face jail the first time round didn’t stop McGarry getting preggers, after all if you are keen to avoid jail time, a new born is a useful prop, two is even better! In a post criminal trial verdict of Tommy Sheridan, he used his wee girl in mitigation and I think managed to drag in xmas into it as well. Sadly, although Santa Klaus made it to his house on Paisley Road West, Tommy didn’t that xmas!   

I missed out on the Court room drama first time round but really this trial is a spectacle worth going to view if you can get in.

This is round two!

Natalie McGarry appeared at Glasgow Sherrif Court today facing two embezzlement charges. She is accused of appropriating £21,000 for her own use in her role as treasurer of the Women for Independence group between April 26, 2013 and November 30, 2015. She is also accused of embezzling £4,661.02 for her own use from the Glasgow Regional Association of the Scottish National Party between April 9 2014 and August 10 2015.

The bit which made this case rather ‘meaty’ was when it was revealed in evidence that she was accused of failing to transfer charitable donations raised by the group to Perth and Kinross Foodbank and to Positive Prisons, Positive Futures. In cases like this when the magical £20,000 is reached or surpassed, if a person is found guilty, then jail time is on the cards.  

Natalie McGarry was part of the Glasgow Southside clique which surrounded Nicola Sturgeon. Her brand of poison was on show on social platforms like twitter on her rise to the top. McGarry was also happy to help others commit crime, here is the story about that episode, she escaped being named in open court after her pal; the vile Tommy Ball pleaded guilty.

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

In the new trial, a jury will hear from the prosecution that McGarry allegedly transferred money made from fundraising events into her own personal accounts - and allegedly used cheques, held in the name of Women for Independence, to deposit money into her accounts. All the evidence of the first trial should be available in the second, and the fact McGarry has entered not guilty pleas to both charges isn’t a surprise. Of course, it might be a bit tricky finding a jury who doesn’t know that she already plea guilty to all of this in the first trial. I assume the Sheriff will have to raise this and then tell the jury to forget it.

In the aftermath of pleading guilty in the first trial, passing sentence, Sheriff Crozier told McGarry that her fraud and deceit had been of the "most serious kind" given the position of trust she had been in.

He added:

"You have fallen very far short of the standards the general public should expect from their elected representative. There is no alternative than a custodial sentence as you have shown no remorse."

Her brief, Allan MacLeod said something in the first trial of interest:

“Her position to date is that while she accepts that her financial organisation may have been lacking, somewhat haphazard, at no point has she ever accepted that she dishonestly appropriated any of these funds.”

This raises some questions;

1/ Did circa £21,000 go missing from Women for Independence when she was treasurer?

2/ Did circa £4,661.02 go missing from the Glasgow Regional Association when she was in charge?

3/ Did she transfer all the money allocated to Perth and Kinross Foodbank?

4/ Did she transfer all the money allocated to Positive Prisons, Positive Futures?

And that’s just to get started!

Oh how easy life would have been if coronavirus had wiped out the population of the world and sent those who were left back to the stone ages! Sadly for Natalie McGarry, the world is still spinning, courts are still in operation and her ticket has been called up again. In law, you have a thing called mitigation post verdict which gives your lawyer a chance to tell a sob story. In her case, the first time round, her lawyer said McGarry lived a "very isolated existence".

I don’t know about you but according to the press, Natalie McGarry when sentenced was said to live in trendy Clarkston, last time I checked, it wasn’t anywhere near outer Mongolia. Plenty of buses, trains, taxis going through there, nice parks, libraries, shops nearby and from press photos, the family has a nice car. So “very isolated existence” didn’t wash with me, and neither did it with Sheriff Crozier.

Finally, In the event that Natalie McGarry is convicted in this new trial, isolation will never be a problem in Cornton Vale Prison.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

A Failure of Her Leadership; Glasgow lockdown to be extended by inept SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, her failure to diversify the public health message simply turned people off, Sturgeon can close businesses but clearly the public aren’t buying into her, her party or message on health, you don’t have a negative person lead campaign to fundamentally change people’s lifestyles

Dear All

As much as Nicola Sturgeon wants to keep peddling the myth of competence when it comes to her handling of Coronavirus, one thing we can say with confidence is that she has failed. The real failure is how she and her cohorts micromanage everything, which is why I want to in part talk about how the public message is so weak. The number of corona virus cases is rising, even prior to Sturgeon being taken off the air by the BBC. The message isn’t delivered well because having Sturgeon as the sole voice with a few bit players turns people off. And re-running cheesy Jason Leitch ads on social media platforms isn’t much better. Sturgeon wants to be the only official voice of government on corona, this is down to electioneering. Her and her rabble thought if they did a Joan of Arc scenario that it would hoover up the votes for her in the upcoming election in 2021.

Nicola Sturgeon didn’t, hasn’t; and won’t save Scotland from coronavirus, quite simply she is such a negative that she has no place in promoting what should be a positive health message. Not enough messaging is coming from different voices across civic Scotland, this is because Sturgeon although not a leader is also not a team player. As to the bit players who popped up on her broadcasts, they had the look for people who didn’t want to be there, because they knew they were roped in to be party of a party political broadcast. I wasn’t impressed by The Daily Sturgeon Show because Sturgeon came across as an old faded diva that couldn’t bear the spotlight to be shone on anyone else.

As cases of the virus rise, the last six months have been about the failure to communicate properly and effectively. I see that a new message is needed, and needs to come from a wider civic Scotland base. And it has to be said without anyone who carries political baggage being included. Whether we like it or not coronavirus needs to be stamped so we can live normally, and that means lifestyle changes to enact that strategy. Everyone is keen to have business up and running, but how we need to change and interact when at a business isn’t getting through. When I walk about Glasgow and I see groups of people huddled to close together, kids walking about in packs; who really haven’t digested the message on health.

People haven’t been taught to be mindful of what they do when outside enough; clearly this is the case as number of cases rise up. Lockdown restrictions for Greater Glasgow are to continue for at least one more week it has been decided but clearly people aren’t buying into the message. Sturgeon can close businesses but what she cannot do is take the will of the people with her.

That is gone!

Sturgeon and her crew can preach but really, the message is falling on deaf ears now, meetings deciding strategy from National Incident Management Team chaired by Public Health Scotland are rapidly becoming ass covering talking shops. Seen to be doing the right thing over the air but to people who changed the channel long ago, and they didn’t realise it. How many people who normally would go to the pub to meet up are now home boozing with their mates and god knows who else! Number 6 is the magic number being touted for safety, but that hasn’t truck a chord.   

Nicola Sturgeon said it was “clearly regrettable that these restrictions need to continue”. The downsize of making herself the face of the fight against the virus is that when she is losing and numbers climb she can’t offset the blame.

She added:

“I understand that this will not be welcome news for people living in these areas but given the continued worrying increase in cases we continue to see, we must act to get more control over the virus in these areas. But while cases remain on the rise, early indications show these measures are working. I would ask everyone in the affected areas to continue being extra vigilant, to follow all guidance and to isolate and book a test if they have any symptoms. Do not lose ground now. Above all, I want to emphasise that getting a test – and even getting a negative result – is not a substitute for self-isolating. If you have symptoms, or if you are contacted by our Test and Protect team and told to do so, you will need to self-isolate. Over 900,000 people have already downloaded the Protect Scotland app, which is a really important way to support Test and Protect and also to keep our communities safe. In the face of Covid, we can all feel a bit powerless but, if you have the means, using the app is a way of doing something positive that helps the collective effort.”

Anyone think that Sturgeon is limiting her daily contact to 6 people?

I think most people would say no, and if she isn’t why the hell should she expect other others too? Either you lead by example or you don’t, clearly Sturgeon as she globe trots around from one PR stunt to another thinks she is special. At a Scottish Government’s daily briefing, chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said:

“What is coming through from the data we have been charting, particularly over the last week, is that there may begin to be a slowing down in the rise of cases, but it is still too early to tell whether these measures are having a full effect yet. You have got to remember the incubation cycle for this virus is up to 14 days and therefore it can be quite a significant length of time before you actually see the effects of any intervention starting to play through.”

Is it just me or does Smith come across as ‘pub expert’, his statement that Covid-19 was being spread in “household and social settings” isn’t exactly news! Scotland is a country in need of total covid testing, new public health message and presentations, and repeated deep cleans. Sturgeon and co seem to opt for the line of least resistance and whatever puts her and them at the centre of continual drama.

Finally, as to the contact and trace app, well not everyone has a smart phone or indeed a phone. Although 500,000 people had the app downloaded to their phones, one section of the population hs been flagged up as being let down by it, the elderly. Through-out coronavirus, Nicola Sturgeon and her inept Health Sec Jeane Freeman haven’t covered themselves in glory regarding how the elderly were treated, especially in care homes. You would think you were living in a third world country the way these people have been abandoned to their fate. As the virus comes back, what opinion do you have of how the last 6 months have been managed by Sturgeon? Certainly, you can’t call it a success, but what the hell would you call it?

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University