Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year; 2020 was a difficult year for the world, let the light shine in 2021 for all of us, many happy returns to you and your family, be safe, be covid aware, don't drink and drive, enjoy the holidays, and find whatever peace you can

Dear All

It is that time of the year again so without further ado; Merry Xmas and a happy New Year to you and your family when it comes!

2020 has been the most hellish year for the entire world, many people have died from coronavirus, and there seems no end in sight. There are various vaccines to combat covid but there is also news the virus has mutated. We can expect problems in the future running into 2021. Brexit transition is nearly done, will it be deal or no deal? One thing for certain any deal must be a good deal, or the Prime Minister Boris Johnson will find himself fighting for his political life, both from within his party and externally. My view is that given the lack of goodwill by Europeans, we should just walk away with no deal and trade under WTO rules.  

2020 has caused many people to live in fear, but we can't live that way, 2021 is the year of Global UK's birth. It is a time when we must look forward, and we must go forward. The winds of change are still blowing not just in Scotland but right across Europe. Britain may be the first to leave the EU, but I doubt we will be the last, and for the record, we should never go back in. The EU will destroy themselves as country after country will turn on them, there will be an awakening that the EU is anti worker and anti country.

Covid-19 was the big story of this year, but Brexit was also right up there as well, to a lesser degree, the Alex Salmond Inquiry commanded attention. Why was his story so important, because it touched on how rotten to the core that the Scottish Government has become under Nicola Sturgeon. The quote of the year regarding Nicola Sturgeon came from 'the Queen of the Flumps' who tweeted her assessment of Sturgeon:

"My Parents brought me up to respect the Government. To never “hate”. To respect other people’s points of view. Today, I’ve never HATED another human being as much as I HATE Sturgeon. The FM is a duplicitous, narcissistic, lying, Anglophobic BITCH".

The majority of that sentiment is shared by Nationalists and Pro Uk supporters.

I would like to thank all the people who took the opportunity to drop by the blog to read and comment on the stories posted, I try to be enlightening, educational and entertaining. There are serious points to my blog, and one is highlighting the failure of the political class. In Scotland, that failure is pretty obvious, the remedy however seems to escape people nationally. So, here is my advice, don't vote for bad parties, and especially don't vote for bad people. What do I mean by 'bad people;, there are the ones who when elected to represent you don't. There are bad people in many parties, and idea that you should remain loyal is a concept which doesn't stand up anymore. One thing however is that you must vote, politicians fear the voters, the more that vote, the better chance we have to get rid of dead weight. If you think your politician failed you, your community and the country, don't vote for them ever again.

All in all, this year, I wanted to embark on a different format but that got pushed back, but in general it was a good year blogging given the un-usual circumstances.

Finally, see you all next year; the battle for truth will be starting early as there will be a lot to comment on especially in an election year.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Fixing Scottish Labour; Sir Keir Starmer fluffs his major speech to Scotland, doesn't provide answers to problems, dodges questions over Richard Leonard's leadership, provides no solution to party infighting, announces a constitutional commission chaired by Gordon Brown that Scots didn't ask for, don't want and will not engage with, Scotland doesn't want federalism, and federalism will not win back Labour voters in Scotland, its time Labour recognised that their problems are internal, which is why the Scottish public are not voting for them

Dear All

Sir Keir Starmer has decided to look at the 'Scottish Question' being from the rightwing of the party, he has an 'oven ready' solution, which is simple, uncomplicated and wrong. If we take the example of a fire, his solution to put it out is throwing more petrol on it. When the Labour Party was controlled by Tony Blair, he inflicted the disaster that is known as Scottish devolution on us. Firstly, the system was setup to be rigged, it was setup to be anti democratic, it was setup to exclude the public having a say on part of the people elected to the Scottish Parliament. The list system is a corrupt practice which foster on the public, people who would under entered parliament any other way.

The Labour leader has been giving a speech on devolution, and what he says is the need for a fresh alternative to Scottish independence this morning. There is said to be a listening exercise in the pipeline with Gordon Brown being touted to chair it. But a question I would put to you is what is 'listening' if it results in Keir Starmer attempting to shove federalism down Scots throats? No one in Scotland is interested in federalism, the Scottish public have shown no interest in it, the Nationalists don't want it, and the pro UK voters are against it. So, who is Starmer listening too, given the entire country of Scotland aren't interested.

Does federalism fix the problems caused by the SNP?

The answer is no! Could federalism win back the voters who deserted the Scottish Labour Party? The answer is no! So, who benefits from federalism? The SNP as they get powers which in part, is part of their fallback strategy of a gradualist approach, and to making the UK seem irrelevant to voters. What Keir Starmer isn't going is addressing the core issue, which is, why won't people vote for the Scottish Labour Party? The answer is uncomplicated, they don't like the policies, and especially, they don't like the people who have been selected as candidates? The decline of the Scottish Labour is linked to decline of the party to serve the interests of the people they were elected to represent. It is also historically linked to policies which hurt Scotland, particularly in poor working class areas? Who can forget that it was the Labour Party who introduced the bedroom tax, who can't forget it was the Labour Party that introduced ATOS health assessments, who can forget it was the Labour Party who introduced enhanced benefit sanctions?

Scottish Labour has one single MP in Scotland, in a recent by-election for a council seat, they polled well under double figures, and considering they are a major political party, that is a disgrace. One thing you will have noticed on my blog is a lack of 'good news' stories about the Scottish Labour Party. If you want to know why that is, the answer is simple, I simply cannot find anything of note that they have done which is good enough. I can't find anything which I would even consider is even Nye Bevan lite which is worth the trouble to write about. You may say what about the free 'fanny pads' which Scottish Labour led the charge for? I would say, how would you stack that up against free prescriptions? If you had to pick what was more important to society, which would you come out in favour of, as providing the greater good? 

To highlight my point, Sir Keir Starmer dodged questions on a range of Scottish Labour Party issues, for example, he was unable to say what the biggest achievement of Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard. There hasn't been a major achievement by Richard Leonard, but there are issues which could be a major achievement, if he had the courage and foresight to tackle them. I have blogged on some of them previously. Issues I have mentioned in the past include reform and reviews of all the CLPs, review of the Scottish HQ staff and practices, and introduce a new campaigning model. If he was to make a start on that, he would be seen as forward thinking, taking the party in a new direction, or even seen to be making an effort. He would have had a CV ready for anyone who challenges his leadership on being proactive. Starmer has also decided to dodge the prickly question of how he will tackle infighting within Scottish Labour because the solution has to be drastic. So, the solution has to be brutal which is why he has no interest, but what are the nuts and bolts of fixing Scottish Labour's warring sections? It's no secret who the players are, and what is need is a cull, either done quietly or my preferred option done in public. Starmer has to simply say, anyone who undermines the party will be removed from office, or as a candidate, or have the whip removed. And to ram the point home, they and their activities will be monitored, so don't even make one mistake.

Starmer was asked how he planned to increase support for Scottish Labour with the same leader in place. I suppose this is an awkward question because without reform is meaningless. Entering the Holyrood 2021 election after being effectively dormant as a party for an entire year doesn't tend to inspire confidence either. Nothing worthwhile has been done this year by the Scottish Labour Party to even frame in the minds of Scottish voters that Scottish Labour is a government in waiting. You could even say the ill-timed intervention of Keir Starmer and his federalism question is an anchor round the party's neck going forward. Scottish Labour doesn't want to touch devolution with a bargepole going into this election, because it has no value for them in talking about it. Pro Uk voters don't want any part of this, in fact, this could lead to a 'Ratner's moment' for the party if they place this in a manifesto.

I have said repeatedly, that the Scottish Labour Party is in no fit state to campaign as an organisation, the activist base has declined, the education of activists is thread bare poor, the infighting makes campaigning unpleasant. I have turned up to campaigning sessions, and been made to feel unwelcome, in fact, on one occasion, even a party official noticed how I was treated and spoke out about it. In a group photo, being taken, the person taking the photo even adjusted the camera to ensure I was 'clipped' out, then the photo was stuck up on twitter as a record of who turned up. I think the idea was to give the misleading impression that these people were driving political campaigning forward in Glasgow South West.    

Asked about the infighting Starmer replied:

"It is vital that we rebuild trust in Labour and in Scottish Labour in Scotland. That's absolutely what I'm committed to doing every day, every week, every month, into May of next year and then on from there, working with Richard Leonard and Scottish Labour.  It is absolutely clear that in order to achieve that we need to unite as a party and I'm absolutely committed to that as well but that is the challenge, and it's the challenge that I have to rise to and I completely accept that."

Basically what Keir Starmer is saying amounts to nothing, it's like run on sentences where the speaker feels that he has to stick in a required amount of buzz words to appear meaningful. Nothing he said in anyway points towards answers or solutions to Scottish Labour's problems. And let's be clear. Scottish Labour's problems are his problems, no fix of Scottish Labour means no prospect of entry to Number 10, and ultimately reducing the tenure of his leadership.  

When I read that Starmer announced that he will start a constitutional commission in the new year, headed up by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, I wasn't impressed. It's the wrong thing at the wrong time, and headed up by the wrong person. Gordon Brown is already pushing federalism. Clearly the commission should have had a neutral chair appointed who had no fixed public position. Is there a point to the constitutional commission, no, it is a waste of time, the outcome has already been determined. A constitutional commission should not be a front for party political advancement, if devolution is supposed to be fluid, then will the commission look at the removal of powers? Will that even feature as a discussion point? And who will be appointed to this constitutional commission, and what remit will it have, isn't the whole concept wrong as it appear to be a single party vehicle? In a democracy, surely any constitutional commission must be opened up to be cross party for it to have any legitimacy?  

On the thorny issue of Brexit where the Labour Party got it spectacularly wrong, misjudged the British people, and failed to support the current government when a united front was called for against Europe, this issue doesn't get any better for them. When Starmer was asked if he thought there should be an extension to the end of the transition period, as called for by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. He failed to say no! Starmer is a remainer, so even at this late date, he cannot bring himself to admit he was wrong. he said:

"I don't want an extension, I want a deal. Get on and deliver that. Just delaying it further isn't going to help."

As Starmer knows, the Europeans want things they are not entitled too, such as access to UK fishing waters. Something which Boris Johnson cannot give away, if he does, he risks open warfare in his party, and importantly seeds his own destruction as leader. Johnson would also endanger his majority in 2024 which he and his advisors should know all too well. If he cannot get a good deal, then coming home with a bad deal is political suicide, he might as well resign his premiership and while he is at it, his seat in the House of Commons. The Conservatives are a party who get rid of leaders very efficiently and ruthlessly.

Finally, having entered Scottish politics, Keir Stamer's speech is a wobble, maybe he is finding his feet, however, it cannot be seen as a good start. He isn't fixing any of Scottish Labour's problems. He isn't inspiring voters and activists, he has potentially gave the Nationalists another stick to beat Labour with, in the shape of the constitutional commission, he has setup something the Scottish public didn't ask for, wants or needs. And I doubt he asked the real immediate question to Richard Leonard, what resources, personnel and money can the party provide you with in order to win over lost constituency seats for Holyrood?

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Drug deaths in Scotland: SNP Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick loses his job after Scotland recorded its highest ever number of drug deaths, 'Slow Joe' failed to protect 1,264 vulnerable people who died, failed to stop cuts to drug treatment budgets, and failed to fight hard enough for his brief, he was a bad team player, in a bad team, led by a bad team leader in the shape of Nicola Sturgeon

Dear All

As you know, I like to think I have my finger on the pulse of the nation, and what is best for Scotland. When it was revealed how incompetent SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick was as Scotland Public Health Minister, to some it may have been a revelation. But to me, it was just further confirmation of the theme which I have continuously blogged on for some years, the SNP are incompetent, and the SNP are a party of protest but not of government.

I am sure it amazed people when SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick stood up in the chamber of Holyrood and sounded like someone who was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Watching in him woefully speak was cringe worthy at best, and painful at worst of someone who was living out a personal humiliation in front of the nation's TV cameras. When I was watched Fitzpatrick recently, I thought, is he ill, is he on drugs, is he drunk, is he really that stupid? You got through the list of things so you can try and rationalise what you are seeing and hearing from him. Fitzpatrick's recent appearances where frankly bizarre. Having effectively disappeared for most of this year, political commentators like myself began to wonder where he was, but when he resurfacing, it turned out to be a corker for the Scottish public. When ask for the date of Covid vaccine rollout, he went on a mad ramble which caused the Presiding Officer to inject, and tell him to answer the question.

So, was the question hard to answer? Well, let's look at the question and see if it needed a rocket scientist to brought in to answer it.

'When will the Covid vaccine be rolled out in Scotland'.

I think you will agree looking at the question, there is no mystery to what was being asked, so all Fitzpatrick had to do was:

1/ Stand up.

2/ Say, 'the Covid 19 vaccine roll out is scheduled start 8th December'.

3/ Sit down.

When people saw how inept Fitzpatrick was, little did they know this was the tip of the iceberg. In his future interactions with the press, he was asked questions which he should have known as public health minister. When John Mackay on STV asked a simple question of 'how many rehab beds are there in Scotland for drug addicts'? Fitzpatricks answer was hopeless, but he did say he would ask someone to do the work and find out. He didn't know, and worse than that, he quite brazenly stated he would get someone else to do his job for him which should have sent alarms bells ringing. Anyone watching that interview would have to ask why he was so unprepared to answer simple questions about his job. And watching the interview it seemed to me, he had a screen set up off camera which possibly might have contained information for him to refer to as a prompt. It would be unreasonable to expect anyone to know every single aspect of their job with total 100% recall, but Fitzpatrick came across as someone who seemed that he didn't know anything about his job.

Given the seriousness of the role of public health minister, you would think he would have taken on that job with a bit more due diligence on his part. Also in the current climate, you would also think he would be up to speed on everything as a supposed professional. This would be expected, especially in the middle of the biggest pandemic in living memory ever to hit Scotland, and the biggest drug death problem also in living memory.  

I have said repeatedly before the 2014 referendum, and made the point time and time again since, the SNP treat the Scottish Government as a 'part time' job. When elections, Conferences and referendums appear, they abandon their desks. In the two years between 2012 to 2014, nothing of note was done by the SNP Government, everything was put on the backburner for the SNP Ministers to go campaigning. Reluctant working seems to have become ingrained as part of the SNP culture in government, real work was replaced in government with the pushing of personal agendas. Government, was also used a campaigning vehicle for Scottish independence, and in particular pushing the lgbt 'woke' agenda in Scotland as personal projects of Sturgeon. Scottish Government Ministers are supposed to be Ministers of the Crown who act with dignity and integrity, can anyone say what the SNP is doing with the Scottish Government in anyway fits that description?

SNP MSP Joe Fitzpatrick was a joke as the Scottish Public Health Minister.

He was part of the SNP cult, part of the Hosie Dynasty, and part of the main SNP lgbt clique, the most powerful grouping of the four main factions which control the SNP. Fitzpatrick as part of the Hosie Dynasty was in the one of the main power bases of Nationalism in Scotland which helped his rise up through the ranks. If you check out Fitzpatrick's bio on wiki, you can see his rise to fame was via the National Executive of NUS (Scotland) route. He also before his election to the Scottish Parliament, he worked for husband and wife, Dundee SNP parliamentarians Shona Robison MSP and Stewart Hosie MP. He also did a stint as a Dundee Councillor. Other than a spell in the Forestry Commission, it seems that Fitzpatrick was just a political hack. As we know now, Fitzpatrick's biggest failure was that he didn't fight hard enough against the drug treatment cuts while he was a minister. He didn't publicly speak out against the cuts to his budget either which shows you the caliber of the man. Fitzpatrick was a bad team player in a bad team, led by a bad leader in the shape of Nicola Sturgeon.

When he and Nicola Sturgeon were told there would be problems by cutting the drug treatment budget, this fell on deaf ears for both of them.

1,264 people lost their lives in the last year because Joe Fitzpatrick was a bad public health minister, and Nicola Sturgeon is a bad First Minister. Earlier in the week, I tweeted that if Nicola Sturgeon didn't sack him by the end of the week, her intervention would be seen for what it was an SNP PR gimmick. In order to attempt to kill off the story, Sturgeon who want to keep Fitzpatrick felt the heat was too great to ride out the storm. Especially in light of the excessive death toll caused by her and Fitzpatrick's failures, someone had to fall from grace. So today, SNP MSP Joe Fitzpatrick has resigned as Public Health Minister. The question must be, why did it take him so long to resign? The opposition exerted mounting pressure on him over drugs deaths failings, and he was facing a motion of no confidence. As the pace of the storm gathered it was clear that he would lose a vote of no confidence. After being brought in for a chat with Nicola Sturgeon, it transpires that he agreed that 'he should leave government'. Just as Margaret Ferrier was quickly sacrificed by Sturgeon to save her neck, so too was Fitzpatrick to protect 'Saint Nicola of Dreghorn'.

On leaving Government, Fitzpatrick said:

“It has been the privilege of my life to serve in the Scottish Government and, during that time, the most heart-breaking and difficult problems I have faced as Public Health Minister is the harms and deaths caused by drug use. I have worked with families who have felt the burden and weight of grief from drug use. I want to thank them for their candour and the amazing efforts they make to try and make our country better and safer for all. As the minister responsible for this area I, ultimately, take my responsibility. It is clear that my presence as a minister will become a distraction, when we should be focused on achieving the change we need to save lives. There is nothing I can express that will ease the loss that so many families have felt due to a death from drugs use. I can only say how sorry I am for their loss, and that hearing the experiences of the families and the recovery communities will never leave me.”

The guy who didn't fight enough hard against the cuts to the drug treatment budget says he is sorry, well sorry just isn't good enough!

1,264 people are dead because Fitzpatrick was unable and ill-equipped mentally to do his job properly. Results speak for themselves! Most of the ordinary public don't see behind the curtain of politics, I have, and I have met Joe Fitzpatrick in person. This was during the SNP campaigning to try and elected David Kerr to Westminster in the 2009 by-election. Hand on heart, Joe Fitzpatrick is a clown. When Labour MSP Neil Findlay stood in parliament and said that Joe Fitzpatrick was a 'nice guy', I was like, 'what the fuck are you on'? So, let me give you my opinion of 'slow joe', during that by-election run by Stewart Hosie, Fitzpatrick turned and without knowing nothing about the area, the campaign or what resources available, started to throw his weight about like he was someone important. It seems that not have a clue about what he was talking isn't a recent occurrence for this guy.

As Fitzpatrick was sacrificed to save Nicola Sturgeon who is ultimately responsible for the1,264 people who lost their lives, he now will be sitting safe and sound on the SNP backbenches. In his place, in comes another Sturgeon 'pal' in the form of Angela Constance. Constance has been appointed as a dedicated minister for drugs policy. To me this smacks of another twist in the continual PR spins and twists to con people that the SNP are working to solve problems. The new SNP twist is, two for the price of one, drugs czar and, new public health minister, who will be nominated on Monday. In a field of uninspiring candidates for new public health minister, the top five would appear to be Jamie Hepburn, Emma Harper, George Adam, Ash Denham and Alasdair Allan. In some ways looking for a suitable candidate for SNP public health minister is like looking through the bucket in a bargain book store.

So, I would have to go with Hepburn as public health minister, the less objectionable option out of the SNP 'bargain bucket' of candidates.

Nicola Sturgeon said:

“I thank Joe for his work as a minister and the service he has given to Government over the last eight years, firstly as Minister for Parliamentary Business and then as Minister for Public Health. While the time has now come to make a change in the public health brief, no one should doubt Joe’s hard work, dedication and sincerity. He will continue to champion the interests of his constituents at Holyrood, and I wish him well in the future.”

No one should doubt 'Joe’s hard work, dedication and sincerity'?

If we start the list at 1,264 families of those that died due to the mismanagement of the public health brief by Fitzpatrick would they support Sturgeon's assessment? I personally doubt it, and the list of dissenters to her view in the general would ensure that figure climbed even higher.  

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said:

"After 13 years of failure, no-one can have any confidence in Nicola Sturgeon's disastrous drugs strategy and the resignation of her public health minister changes nothing. If this was about the shocking number of drug related deaths this year, he would have gone on the day the numbers were released. The families of the 1,264 people who lost their lives in the last year to drugs will take little comfort in his resignation. They are more interested in how we have reached this shameful position after more than 13 years of the SNP being in power, with Nicola Sturgeon in charge of health for much of that. We urged the First Minister to agree to our proposed £20million funding for rehabilitation but got no commitment. All the focus must be on the urgent public health crisis of Scotland's drugs deaths epidemic so we can finally start to reverse the tragic number of lives being lost from drugs ”.

As to the new illusion which we are being asked to swallow, Drugs czar Angela  Constance will now lead the Scottish Government's work on tackling drugs harm. She will report directly to Nicola Sturgeon, which is a novelty because Sturgeon is known for not knowing anything about anything bad ever. Interesting Constance's appointment is only May's Holyrood election. So, are we to believe that Constance will turn around in 5 months what Nicola Sturgeon, Joe Fitzpatrick and the SNP Government failed to do in 13 years?

I see the appointment of 'lightweight'  Constance as a PR 'fix', nothing more.

Finally, just like I highlighted about SNP attempts to fix failed ventures in business, using SNP taskforces, the SNP is using the same defunct model on fixing the Scottish drugs problem. Constance will work with the ultra trendy 'Drug Death Taskforce', which should be renamed the Drug Rehabilitation Taskforce, because the whole point of it is saving lives, and improving quality of life. This lively 'Death' group will allegedly be taking actions necessary to reduce Scotland’s drug deaths and better support those living with addiction. The opposition should demand a debate on what those new measures will be, and when they will be introduced. There should also be a specific cross party over watch committee to review the work done by Angela Constance, and its progression. And there should never again be cuts to drug treatment services by the SNP, and parliament should ensure this when budget votes happen. Joe Fitzpatrick is 'sorry', not sorry enough that he had to be brought in first to see Sturgeon before we saw the back of him. Yet again, you have to question the judgment of Nicola Sturgeon, she picked this deadbeat as a minister, and she cut the drug treatment budget.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scotland's Twins of Evil; Heartless Scots sisters who robbed their elderly grandparent escape going to prison after lenient judge lets them go, and he doesn't impose an order that they pay back the money, justice under the SNP is a mockery, if you feel angry about this, the best way to protest is to donate to the gofund page setup by the family, read the full story on that page, and if you can help, please do so

Dear All

You may remember I did a blog post on an elderly couple who got robbed by their relatives. It was such a compelling story of utter betrayal, it was something I wanted to comment on. Over the years, there has been a decline in acceptable standards of behaviour, of course there are good people but hiding in the crowd there are bad people. Being bad people, they eventually come a cropper, mostly due to arrogance and their own stupidity. Irvine Sisters, Clair and Louise Smith stole their gran’s £8k life savings, they then went on a spending spree with their new found wealth.

The family got in touch with me on Facebook and asked me to share their gofund page.

So, if you have the time, and are willing to spare a few pounds, then please donate to restore some of the money that was taken, you will also restore something else that was also taken away, their hope in the decency of humanity.

http://gofund.me/e2170db9

In this case, even a little can mean a lot, if you read this story, please post the link to the gofund page on as many websites as you have access too. The page has background on the case, and is written by a family member, so you will be getting a front row seat into what actually happened, and what the aftermath was. So many people are in need of help, but this case is worthy of your interest and any help you can give.

Finally, the judge in their case didn't jail them, he also didn't impose a condition that they pay back the money they stole, as faith in politicians and the media drops, you can to the list of organisations which can't place your faith in, our Scottish Courts. The victims never received justice, sadly not unremarkable in the Scotland run by Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish National Party who form the government of Scotland.

George

Loyalty to the EU before Loyalty to Scots, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon shows where her true loyalty lies as she abandons the workers of BiFab, Sturgeon will put EU first every time before Scotland and its national interest, the lazy and incompetent SNP have yet again failed to save an important employer, because when it comes to business, government and driving Scotland forward, they are so far out of their depth, do you think it is wise to put your job, your savings, your pension and your home in the hands of SNP, they are destroying this country now, we need to vote them out now!

Dear All

There several things you can say about SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP Government, the first and most important thing is that they are deeply incompetent. The SNP is not a party of substance, it is also a lazy party, it is a party with a limited attention span. Whereas these attributes don't matter in a party in opposition because they don't impact the lives of Scots, in government, the effect of lazy and stupid can wreck lives. Recently a company called BiFab went to the wall triggering a political argument in the Holyrood Chamber. And par for the course, inept Nicola Sturgeon raged at the opposition about how she was busy 'saving' it. She even chipped in abuse at Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard because he showed support for the workers. Ironically as she denounced the Labour leader for being pictured with the workers, Sturgeon herself 'cashed' in on her own 'selfies' for the internet.

Having previously invested in helping the company out, which amounted to the old formula of using UK taxpayer cash. The SNP then effectively abandoned the company when what they needed most was more than a cash injection. In a Question time programme many years ago, a panelist said to Nicola Sturgeon, a simple statement of fact, she isn't a wealth creator, she isn't going to get people jobs. You could see by the look on Sturgeon's face that the panelist had struck a nerve. Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP haven't the skills to build business or make Scotland attractive for new investment. You see there is no depth to the SNP leadership, we have seen this countless times, they put money into businesses or organisation then leave the real work of saving a situation to others. I have blogged before about how the SNP leadership under Nicola Sturgeon jump on a problem business, get their "selfies" taken with the workers, and then disappear. Later as per usual, the business fails or isn't able to retain the same level of workforce or generate new business but Sturgeon is long gone.  

BiFab in Fife demise is just another business that Nicola Sturgeon failed to save because as I mentioned, business needs more than money flung at it, like a human it needs support in many ways, and that support must be ongoing. Where was the ongoing support for BiFab? Where was Nicola Sturgeon brokering deals on behalf of the company? BiFab went under because of a lack of 'viability' which means they had no orders, couldn't generate business. So, here is how the SNP work, at the start 'use' the workers and company for PR purposes for Sturgeon to look good, then at her back comes Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop to effectively deliver the bad news. The SNP Government isn't going to help BiFab, because SNP Ministers say they could no longer intervene, but the reality is, they don't want to do the long hard slog to make the company viable.

Can you name one real business that the SNP have ever saved?

I cannot, the SNP make bad choices, but more than that because they have such short term vision, all they do is peddle false hope. The SNP aren't hard to work out, they repeat the same mistakes, time and time again, and crucially, they never learn from them. The Scottish Government ploughed £37 million of public money into BiFab and became a minority shareholder, all so Nicola Sturgeon can have some soundbytes that the SNP is 'stronger for Scotland' and few selfies. £37 million of public money wasted and down the drain, if it was a one off, you could say I am being overt harsh, but BiFab being abandoned isn't the only business that has gone under after the SNP 'helped'. Given the record of failure as an SNP Education Minister, Fiona Hyslop was 'well qualified' for the fake post of Economy Secretary. I suppose you could describe her role as 'interested observer' than an actual player on the park.

The SNP is like any band of tinpot dictators love to give themselves titles, this is to justify super charging their MSP wages to max them out, and of course picking up Ministerial cars along the way. In many respects they remember me of the Russian elite who have made for themselves a privileged lifestyle, when they are in effected just glorified spokesman and women, mere puppets who aren't deciding anything. To show where the SNP's loyalty lies, Fiona Hyslop said that further funding would have contravened EU state aid laws and ministers have ruled out nationalising the firm. Firstly, this shows how the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon put loyalty to the EU above loyalty to Scots. Secondly, we have left the EU, and there is only a couple of weeks till the transition phase ends, but the key item, in my opinion is that Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out nationalising the firm.

BiFab maybe a medium size company, but the lesson to be learned is the SNP have no intention of saving businesses even if they ever manage to win a second referendum. The SNP don't believe in Scottish independence, they believe in fake independence, they believe in Scotland being ruled by the EU. The SNP believe that Scotland and its resources should be turned over for the EU to be plundered. Did you notice how quickly they were to cite that they won't help Scots because it contravened EU state aid laws. If the SNP was ever to take Scotland into the EU, no business would be protected by them, they don't believe in the Scottish national interest, nor do they eblieve in its economic security.

When questioning Fiona Ms Hyslop at Holyrood about the farce of BiFab's demise Conservative MSP Graham Simpson, said:

“We, the Scottish taxpayer, get a minority stake in the company and not even a seat in the board, and the Canadian company for £4 gets a majority of the company. It seems to me a pretty rotten deal if the taxpayer is putting in the vast amount of money, £37 million plus extra which takes it up to £52 million. You get a minority stake. The other side of the deal £4 for 67 per cent share of the company. That is a rotten deal.”

No seat on the board was because the SNP Government have no interest in having someone on the board to watch out for the UK taxpayers' investment.

Ms Hylsop said of the failure:

“What we were bringing in was their (DF Barnes) expertise, their acumen, their knowledge of the market, that they would be the board that could run the company, that we would not be directly involved in running the company, they would be responsible for that.”

The SNP love to blame others for their shortcomings, they also love that other people do their work for them, the SNP Government could be described a 'cut and paste' government, a government that follows others less they be judged. They always want to have a scapegoat, the current coronavirus of lacking behind Boris Johnson's decisions is a clear textbook example of how they operate. So, this xmas, the workers of BiFab will get their P45 in their xmas stocking, it will be a bleak xmas and new year for the workers. Jobs are hard to find in their line of work, so these people maybe unemployed for quite a long time. Next year, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP say they are going to hold a second independence, that is of course a lie. Next year, there will be no indyref 2, the SNP want to do their usual trick and fool the gullible into voting for them. 2019, they stood for election for Westminster on a platform that they would stop Brexit, they didn't, and importantly they knew they weren't going to stop Brexit. So, what was the SNP real motivate in that 2019 election? Quite simple really to work out, they wanted Westminster to provide them with what is called 'short money' to bankroll the party. At Westminster, just like at BiFab, the SNP performs badly and uses UK taxpayer money while doing so.

Finally, there will be no indyref 2 next year, but that won't stop the SNP selling that lie to the Scottish public and its supporters. Nationalists need to wake up to the fact that the SNP is a protest party, it's not a party of government. They need to wake up to the what passes for quality of candidates and politicians in the party. That journey may have already begun due to the Salmond Affair where Nicola Sturgeon's SNP government attempted to 'stitch up' the former First Minster of Scotland. In that episode, the SNP's Government incompetence was plain to see and like everything they touch doomed to failure. Do you think, it is wise to put your job, your savings, your pension and your home in the hands of SNP if they achieved independence? Maybe you should take a trip to BiFab in Fife and ask the workers of the company that has gone under, how they rate the SNP Government performance, firsthand knowledge always the best source of information!

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

The Age of the Corrupted and Biased Media; The Scottish Labour Party demands impartiality probe into 'The Nicola Sturgeon Show' on the BBC, it is looking increasing clear that the Holyrood 2021 is being manipulated, will Sturgeon and the SNP use lockdown measures to suppress political campaigning in targeted areas where they are under threat, with the BBC seemly corrupted and biased, will it take Ofcom or the Courts to get a fair election for Scots, and in a wider sense should the role of the BBC as the nation's public service broadcaster be reviewed

Dear All

It's 14/12/2020, the year is nearly at an end, ordinary people are focused on two things, the last two biggies of the year. Xmas and New Year, xmas for the weans and new year so the adults can get pissed. This time of year is very emotional, it's the time when things come to a head, arguments simmering for ages explode and all manners of accusations fly about the place. One argument which has been running for ages, is the fact that SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon has used the coronavirus briefings on the BBC as party political broadcasts. It took the main parties several months to click onto something which I flagged up within a couple episodes of watching The Nicola Sturgeon Show. As I was calling out what her show was, a party political broadcast, it took circa six months for my call to be taken up.

Here is another prediction, Nicola Sturgeon will want covid briefings on the BBC to continue well into the middle of next year, if she can get away with it, right up to the 'short campaign'. The question which follows is will she expand who gets to do the briefings, with people re-standing for election or will she hog the limelight as the SNP run with a narrative of Nicola, the 'Saviour of the Scottish Nation'. Basically a Scottish poundland Joan of Arc with the tackiness that entails. If the SNP run with 'Saviour of the Scottish Nation', we can expect the SNP to roll out how Sturgeon done a magnificent job. The two obvious candidates for telling Scotland what a wonderful job that Sturgeon done are, Jason Leitch and Professor Devi. Depending on how thick the SNP think the Scottish public are, it will be either subtle or a sledgehammer approach in that messaging.

We now have less than six months to polling day, the BBC know this but still they allow the SNP leader to not just dominate the TV screen, but also they fail to provide other party leaders with equal opportunity to comment. Pro UK parties aren't getting fair opportunity and equal access to the public. Do the BBC know what they are doing? Well they certainly do, and they do know that The Nicola Sturgeon Show unbalances an election in 2021. Scottish Labour has complained before, but then they drifted away from complaining, they should never have stopped. The Covid Briefings can and should be done by BBC Presenters, there is no reason that they cannot perform the task of a daily briefing. Sturgeon holds no qualification in medicine or any field which could impart knowledge that a broadcaster could simply read out. Scottish Labour should have acted sooner, the six month delay gave Sturgeon legitimacy to continue the broadcasts. How many times on this blog did I hammer home the need for Scottish Labour leadership to be more on the front foot?

Too many!     

Now, it seems, nearly a year after the Nicola Sturgeon Show started, Scottish Labour is demanding an impartiality probe into Sturgeon’s daily briefings on BBC. This is a matter which cannot be left to just the Scottish party, it can't be left to one individual, it has to be front and centre of the National Party. Both Kier Starmer and Richard Leonard must act together on this issue. At present, the UK broadcasting regulator, Ofcom has been asked to investigate whether Nicola Sturgeon’s daily coronavirus briefings breach impartiality rules. The answer to this is yes, and the breach is multiple times, and done deliberately to pass on an 'anti Tory message'. The Labour peer George Foulkes says BBC Scotland need to change the TV coverage to remove the First Minister. It is clear that the section of journalist questions should be removed as a bare minimum, this is the part of the Sturgeon Show which is the worst offender, but more than that, Sturgeon needs to be replaced. The idea that she is needed to front a Scottish Government briefing is a nonsense. George Foulkes also highlights, the fact that BBC Scotland, the scene of Nationalist protests in the past wouldn’t do so without being forced. He added this is “because they feel intimidated by the overbearing attitude of the Scottish Government”. The BBC should recognise they are one of the main arteries that gives the SNP oxygen, if the BBC cut back on their coverage or gave others equal footing, the SNP would be lesser in the eyes of the public. The lack of alternative views and the undue focus on Holyrood makes Scotland a rather inward looking place. Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, but we are continually feed a 'Scottish diet' of division and grievance by the SNP using the BBC as a medium.

What is needed now is non partisan public health officials and BBC presenters to present the Covid facts rather than SNP politicians. It's time to end the reign of President Sturgeon, who should use the Scottish Parliament for her political statements instead of accessing our public broadcaster. George Foulkes is right as he said if the live briefings continued into next year’s Holyrood election campaign it would be an “outrageous breach of the impartiality rules which Ofcom has a responsibility to uphold”. This to me is so obviously the plan, but how can the SNP do this, well it is simple, they slow down the rate of vaccine inoculations, they have a series of targeted mini lockdowns in areas where they are expected to do badly, they complain about Westminster holding back vaccines, everything will be done to make the narrative that Nicola, the 'Saviour of the Scottish Nation' is 'saving us. All of this is simply about gaining time, Sturgeon needs lockdown to extend into the middle of next year to hamper parties, she needs to stall the Alex Salmond Inquiry, and she needs to hold up reports on her failures across the entire government spectrum.

Nicola Sturgeon wants another 5 years, I suspect by then, she will have salted away enough money and pension contributions so she can step back as leader or fly the coop to another job. So, far it seems like all SNP leaders in the post leadership world, job opportunities post leadership seem remote for her. When was the time you heard of an SNP leader ending up in a high paid and prestigious job after they stepped down? They don't end up in the EU, they don't end up at the UN, they don't end up as UK Ambassadors, they don't end up on the boards of Fortune 500 companies, they don't end up on the boards of prestigious NGOs. You might ask yourself, why is it, but you can work it out easily, it's their governmental record. You see in the uncompromising cold light of day, the SNP leadership are incompetent, so why would anyone drag people like that into their operation?   

How successful will Labour peer George Foulkes be in the latest effort by Scottish Labour to reduce the amount of airtime of Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP Government. Well, the wheels grind slowly, so nothing will be done this side of 2021. His case which I said should be fronted by Kier Starmer and Richard Leonard doesn't lack substance, but what it does lack is bite. Solo efforts as 'part' of a campaign is a nonsense. Even last August when the party demanded an urgent meeting with the head of BBC Scotland, they should have brought in National leadership. Their approach was 'half in and half out' because the party wasn't willing to commit fully to this because they didn't want the charge leveled at them that they were anti public health. The Scottish Labour instead decided to hedge their bets and send out a single person to complain and thereby given deniability and distance to the Scottish Party leadership. Inability like this is why Scottish Labour struggles, people respect strength, they also respect people who have a clear vision, what they don't respect is sending someone else out as a proxy for them to do their job. Seven days ago, I was writing about what Scottish Labour needed (again), I wrote about the three main things.

'Three things that the Scottish Labour lacks are loyalty, unity and purposeful leadership'.

This is a party matter which should be taken up by the National leadership!     

As well as Scottish Labour complaints,  The Scottish Tories also accused Sturgeon of using the briefings “to promote SNP policy and stir up resentment”. I suppose you could ask where is their Ofcom complaint? Where is the Lib Dems Ofcom complaint? Where is the Scottish Greens' Ofcom complaint? Sturgeon knows that there is a case against her for her removal from our TV screens which is why she counters with the weak argument that this could undermine public health messaging. Public Health messaging has already been undermined, it got undermined at the start by her own government Health Officer who was caught breaking the rules. As cases climb, Sturgeon's broadcasts achieve nothing in terms of public health messaging, basically the public are doing their own thing now.

Finally, clearly the BBC is unwilling to act, the new BBC Director-General Tim Davie did have a meeting with George Foulkes but he then pass the ball down to the new BBC Scotland director Steve Carson. Who is Carson doing to pass the buck down too? Ofcom, it seems is the only hope unless a grounded case for court action is possible under breach of impartially rules which compel the BBC to remove The Nicola Sturgeon Show. What does this sorry episode tell us, in essence we are learning that our media is staffed by people who have been corrupted. The BBC was held in the past to be a beacon of trust, in 2020 it seems any pretence of impartially has gone. Is the 2021 Holyrood election going to be rigged to favour a particular party, well looking at the all events of the past year, it is looking increasingly likely that this election is being manipulated or if you prefer 'rigged'.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Spend, Spend, Spend, Absentee 'SNP' MSP Derek Mackay is spending taxpayer's cash like a lottery winner, despite being in disgrace, Mackay claims yet more Holyrood expenses, why does he need to claim money for a flat in Edinburgh when he is no longer a Minister, is it time for a rules change or better still new government in 2021 to end a loophole costing us thousands of pounds a year?

Dear All

As the world descends into madness, there are some things which will never change, one such is the status quo is the SNP MPs and MSPs raking in as much UK taxpayer money as possible. When the 'schoolboy' scandal of homosexual SNP Minister Derek Mackay became public, the Nationalists were noticeable by their lack of condemnation of his actions. So, what was sleazy Derek up to? Let's look back at history to get a sense how it shaped his future, previously he was photographed with a crook who swiped £10,000 from a bank he worked at. Normally, this type of story should have been the end of him, but his closeness to Nicola Sturgeon saved him. Mackay and the fraudster it was reported were often seen reveling at gay clubs and bars. As part of his alleged seedy lifestyle, sources say Mackay and his crooked pal were part of a group that “cruised the scene using their power to get what they want”. 

As in any scandal, somewhere, you will find someone who is willing to talk, an insider said:

“Mackay and Barclay were regulars in venues like the Polo Lounge in Glasgow. They were both in a group that liked to hang out at the parties and drink and try it on with younger men. There was behaviour I would call eyebrow-raising. Mackay always seemed to be drunk and he was handsy. It’s part of that culture: older men cruising younger men and using their status and power to get what they want, which is ultimately in most cases is whoever they’re after. It is creepy but it’s widespread.”

As the insider spilled their brand of beans, you might have thought this would have sent the alarm bells going off at SNP HQ. Apparently not, given the status of Mackay and the wider lgbt wing of the SNP who control the party, SNP HQ were Sturgeon's husband is the CEO were surprisingly unconcerned. As the world kept turning, Derek Mackay found a new interest for his attention, he saw a young 16 year old boy. Mackay in his 40's, liked the look of 16 year old, he thought he was cute, he liked his hair, and was constantly sending him texts. What Mackay's ultimate plans for the boy were, we will never  know because when the boy's heroic mother found out, she put a stop to it and later people eventually said what was going on was “predatory” and “grooming”. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon initially attempted to down play the scandal as Mackay was her Finance Secretary, her spokesman said continually and made reference to there being “nothing illegal or unlawful” in Mackay’s behaviour which produced circa 270 messages of Mackay pestering the boy. As the scandal built up steam, Mackay was later suspended from the party and its Holyrood parliamentary group, pending an internal probe. The probe hasn't been heard from in ten months, maybe someone should ask who are the investigators?

Derek Mackay couldn't be saved by Sturgeon. I was half expecting the Nationalists to come out with a narrative bordering on 'love story', but in the end as more material made its way to the public domain, Sturgeon didn't want to catch the bad PR from Mackay. He rapidly quit and became rightly a leper. In politics, people talk, they talk about what you say, what you write and what you do, and all of it, is then used against you when they find a suitable juncture. You can bet a pound to a penny that somewhere someone or group is reading everything I write on social media for the purposes of revenge. I am a marked man by the Nationalists, however, I will point out when I said the SNP was a 'rat ship' under Salmond and Sturgeon, how many people on the Nationalist side, nearly the best part of a decade have managed to come to the same conclusion. If you check out the replies from people on the Wings over Scotland posts regarding what people call the 'stitch up' or 'conspiracy' against Alex Salmond, you will see many people echo in part what my thoughts about the SNP. Oh, they really hate Sturgeon, and the guy who shares a house with her, Peter Murrell, Wings' crowd hate both their guts.

Currently the Wings posts on woke and genderwoowoo are having to steer a tricky course through SNP supporting waters.

https://wingsoverscotland.com/two-women/  

The reason I highlight this post is because, awhile ago while in the SNP I had the misfortune to meet the 'Hunter Clan', check the Wing's post and comments section on what they think of Sturgeon's election agent now. SNP Cllr Mhairi Hunter, obviously I could do a tirade on her but I think I covered all that needs to be said about Sturgeon's dug, and her odious mother on this post of 2016. You should click on the link contained within it, for something I wrote in 2012. I did coin the phrase, 'the Hunter virus' years ago, basically it referenced my opinion of how thick the Hunters were. In a post Sturgeon world, I doubt there will be a place for Mhairi Hunter in the SNP, or on Sturgeon's coat tails.

Background knowledge gives you a sense of what these people are really like, beyond the false media presentation, so I like to fill in the gaps for readers.

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-great-escape-snp-councillor-mhairi.html    

Back to less than amazing, Derek Mackay, a decent man who had been exposed such as SNP MSP Derek Mackay had been, would have resigned as an MSP immediately. But when you consider the characters of filth which gets passed in the SNP, you cannot expect standards of decency to apply to basically low brow and immoral people. Derek Mackay decided to stay, as per the norm, the first thing a scandal laden SNP MSP does is 'go to ground'. They chose to hide as the initial strategy, in the hope that the media scrum moves on. And that is what Mackay did, he ducked for cover. While in cover, did he and the SNP plot a return through the back channels, who knows, but given the background, and given other issues, Mackay was frozen out publicly. People speculated why but the reasons don't matter, the court of public opinion has found against him, parliament turned their back on him, and Sturgeon lost a close lgbt ally. In the case of Mackay, he may be gone from Holyrood, but he still makes news, he has claimed more than £8,500 in parliamentary expenses since he resigned in disgrace. New figures released by the Scottish Parliament show the former SNP Finance Secretary has no problem that the public should fund his lifestyle, he billed taxpayers for £4,164 between April and June this year. The tally just keeps going up, the money was on top of £4,406 he claimed in February and March, making a total of £8,570.

Regardless that we are now in six months leading up to an election in 2021, the Scottish Conservatives who have ran with this story from the start, called the scale of the claims "shocking". We all know the axiom, a fair days pay for a fair day's work but Mackay isn't working as an MSP, he isn't attending parliament. Most of the Mackay's expenses have been for an Edinburgh flat, and to make the point again because it is important, he hasn’t been seen in the Scottish Parliament since he quit at the start of February. People have the right to know what Mackay needs expenses for, especially when you read that he claimed £327 for 10 days accommodation costs in Edinburgh in July, nine of them when Holyrood was in recess. So, what was Mackay doing in Edinburgh, and who was he meeting and why? Did he just go through to Edinburgh with a loaf of bread to feed the ducks in a public park pond?

One thing which surprises me is that Mackay still has a 'spokesman', I suppose when you need money, you have to sometimes hold your nose, less the stench of your employer causes you to vomit. His spokesman said the claim had been within the parliament’s rules. Under the rules, MSPs can get the money even if they don't to attend parliament under the Edinburgh accommodation provision. Anyone think that loophole should closed?  

Scottish Conservative Glasgow MSP, Annie Wells, said:

“It is shocking the former SNP Cabinet Secretary has totted up over £8,000 in expenses when hide nor hair has been seen of him in Parliament. Derek MacKay is given this money to help represent his constituents. There is no evidence he is, following a disappearance that would impress Harry Houdini. If he can’t do his job, and turn up to Parliament, he should resign, instead of hiding at home while claiming expenses and an MSP salary.”

A spokesperson for Mackay added:

“The expenditure complies with Scottish Parliament allowance rules and Mr Mackay’s Renfrewshire North and West constituency office is continuing to operate in line with the Scottish Government’s Coronavirus guidance in dealing with casework and making representations on behalf of constituents. The constituency office has directly assisted with more than 680 cases this year.”

Of the 680 cases, how many did Derek Mackay have an active involvement in? How many people involve in the 680 cases did Derek Mackay meet face to face? I ask this because Mackay's spokesman only talks about the constituency office directly assisting people. They don't appear to mention him, which you would think they would be at pains to stress on his behalf. The Mackay case represents what is wrong with Holyrood, bad people cannot be removed because the political class resist any attempt to put in mechanisms so the public can recall the rotten apples. Is Derek Mackay, one of the rotten apples, I would say look at the stories in the public domain and judge for yourself. He was accused hanging around with a crook, he was accused of "grooming" and "predatory" behaviour towards a 16 year old boy. He has been accused of failing to represent his constituents properly, and he keeps claiming public funds to rent a property which he need not do so anymore, which also isn't in his constituency. The train service to Edinburgh is fast and regular, he doesn't need an Edinburgh flat, so why is he hanging onto it?  

Finally, and to remind you yet again, Nicola Sturgeon told Holyrood that she was “not aware of any further allegations or any conduct of a similar nature” relating to Mackay. It seems that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is the most ignorant woman in politics, of the activities of those people who are close around her. Do you think it is possible that in every major SNP scandal which has broken about people close to her, she had no knowledge of their shortcomings. Given her closeness to the lgbt community is this possible she knew nothing given their massively disproportionate size in the SNP holding elected positions, staffer jobs and running party committees and other offices? Her defence is that she is a 'leader' who isn't told things by anyone, until it effectively appears in the national press. Given the size of the support staff et al that Sturgeon is linked too as well, given the size of her Glasgow Southside clique, how much weight do you place on her denials? Mackay will hang onto the end because in staying to the bitter end, he will get a shed load of cash.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Scottish Labour Coup for Xmas; right wing dis-loyalists in the Labour Party consider new bid to oust leader Richard Leonard as their fears rise that the Scottish Labour Party is facing 'annihilation' at the Holyrood election, these acts of constantly undermining the leadership helps that happen, but help from Keir Starmer for the plotters, no, I doubt he wants to inherit half a party unwilling to work for him

Dear All

In a previous post, I highlighted how Scottish Labour is broken, and the truth of that is not just polling, but also election results. There are several issues that makes the party dysfunctional but two stick out like a sore thumb, the minor one is the 'fifth column' in Scottish Labour that supports independence. Then there is the main problem, that is the disunity caused by the Blairities who never accept the current leader. Ever since the downfall of Jeremy Corbyn, the right wing of the Scottish Labour Party has been keen to kick out Richard Leonard. Despite handy hints he should go and flannel of how he is a 'nice guy', Leonard is staying put. The right wing of the Scottish Labour Party wants a return to the illiberal days of Blairism, where voters, the left and members like myself, will back a return to supporting a party that 'manages the public' but doesn't represents the public. In the mind of middle class university educated careerists, Blairities, this a yearning for the golden years of power. Sadly for them, Blairism was the destruction of Scottish Labour's vote in Scotland, the idea that they can win back the Scottish people is fanciful in the extreme, rather than evolve, they remain trapped in the past.

Three things that the Scottish Labour lacks are loyalty, unity and purposeful leadership. No one can effectively be 'the leader' of the Scottish Labour Party unless both sides can rally behind the leader because they will only be a factional leader leading half a party at anyone time. Instead of falling in behind Richard Leonard, working with good grace and integrity, the right wing of the Scottish Labour chooses to destroy any chance of making progress with the public and at elections. There is a line in the movie, The Tuskegee Airmen where Andre Braugher says:

'a fair and impartial opportunity is all we ask, nothing that you yourself wouldn't demand'.

A quarter of a century later, the same phrase has currency in the Scottish Labour Party. So, why won't the right wing of the Scottish Labour Party do something rather than  nothing for Richard Leonard, but more than that something also for the members, and activists who do the graft? I remember a story that on the night before an election, senior Labour figures went out for drinks and a show, that was the same night, I was going round the doors. This is one of the reasons why I don't buy into unity speeches or place much faith in some people in the party. 

Although there is talk of another coup, let's be clear, it's too late for that now, 2020 is gone, and there is no way that anyone will get Richard Leonard to stand down, so he will be the leader taking the party into the 2021 election. He will do so handicapped by three main obstacles, by disunity, by lack of reform, and also by lack of long campaigning. Of course, we shouldn't forget that the press is playing their party in promoting Scottish Labour's destruction, and the Blairities are using the them fully. What is happening appears to be a concerted attempt to show that Scottish Labour's infighting makes them not credible as a future government in waiting and less palatable to contemplate voting for them as constituency MSPs. I suppose the common word usage for the actions to undermined Leonard is 'sabotage'. The right wing of the Scottish Labour Party is willing to throw away a future election, while at the same time holding onto their positions, whether that be as a paid politician, staffer or party worker.   

The sabotage of Richard Leonard is being done by Blairities under the guise that they want to save the Party from “annihilation” in next year’s Holyrood elections. It doesn't matter who leads Scottish Labour into the next election. Blairities 'saving the day' is also clearly is a nonsense, some of the names put forward as the 'saviours' are Jackie Baillie, Sarah Boyack and Anas Sarwar. You will notice that all the names appear to be all Blairities, it seems no one from the left can lead the Labour Party in Scotland. Can anyone explain why those on 'the left' are deemed incapable, for this I want you to look past the current crop of usual suspects as they don't represent the left as a whole. An issue which needs asked is why the Blairities who must know the party is broken, (since they broke it), have never came forward with plans to change the party for the better?  

A leading insider who doesn't have the courage of their convictions said:

“If Richard stays as leader, Scottish Labour is finished.”

And to show that the coup has more than one, a former minister says Scottish Labour was facing an existential threat.

“Keir knows the position. Lots of people are saying we are heading towards annihilation. There is a strain of thinking that says: if we let Richard stay and he loses at the Holyrood election, then he will go and we will recover.”

'We will recover' is such horse shit, did the party recover when Johann Lamont, Jim Murphy or Kezia Dugdale led it? 

They added:

“The trouble is, it will be too late by then; we would have lost half of our MSPs, lost public confidence and we might even have been overtaken by the Greens. The position would be irrecoverable.”

Public confidence has already been lost!

It went 13 years ago if you using the 2007 election bench marker, as a tangible signpost. As to being overtaken by the Scottish Greens, the core vote of the party as it stands at present makes this highly unlikely. But with Blairities sabotaging the party publicly, they may make that happen, but it will not be Leonard's fault, the blame lies with the right wing of the party. Could the party loses more seats, well, yes, is the short answer if SNP Version 2.0 takes off and they capture lots of list seats. And then there is the threat from Alliance for Unity because they would be fishing in the same voter pool as Scottish Labour. Last September, an attempt was being prepared at the party’s Scottish National Executive to oust the leader, it died a painful death, and those involved sneaked off to lick their wounds. Then came the next drip drip in the shape of MSPs Mark Griffin, Daniel Johnson, James Kelly and Jenny Marra. They came out to tell Leonard they had lost confidence in him, and they called on him to stand down. Their logic was this would avoid an electoral “catastrophe” in next May’s poll, since, Jenny Marra has decided to quit for family reasons, I guess 'saving the party' wasn't that high on her agenda.  

I suppose in one respect the return of Blairism to Scottish Labour coupled with a federalism agenda would be interesting to watch, simply because this would be the “annihilation” event for the Scottish Party. If you look at three scenarios, Leonard goes before Holyrood, Scottish Labour does badly, Keir Starmer is fucked in 2024, scenario two, Leonard stays, loses badly and again Keir Starmer is fucked in 2024. Scenario three, Leonard does well, gains seats, but still for Keir Starmer, he is fucked in 2024.  Scenario three would appear to me to be the less viable, because the party is broken, and there is no attempt to fix it. Scottish Labour is key to whether Starmer can't get into Number 10, this means that he is forced to accept Scottish Labour is broken. The party needs reform, and that means, all of it, and that does mean people have to be removed, sacked and de-selected. Labour insiders close to Sir Keir Starmer say he remains privately convinced about Richard Leonard, this begs the question why? Where is Starmer's concern for the party being broken, can he not recognise this? Can his staffers not recognise this? Can his allies in Scotland not recognise this? Why does Starmer think all the blame lies at Richard Leonard's door? The Labour Party lost Scotland due to Blairism, does Starmer think that those who left as voters et al are going to come back? Why would they come back for Keir Starmer? Is attempting to impose federalism which neither the pro UK or indy voters in Scotland want a magic pill, but the SNP will take anyway if it means getting more powers, is this his actual bargaining chip? Appeasement of Nationalists who won't vote for Scottish Labour?  

It is said that Keir Starmer is allegedly caught in a dilemma over Richard Leonard's leadership. He is said to be unsure of whether he wants to start a fight about ditching the Central Scotland MSP. Firstly, Keir Starmer knows 'fuck all about Scotland', his London based advisors know 'fuck all about Scotland', his northern 'allies', the anti Leonards are part of the problem. The party's idea of federalism fixes the indy problem is such naive bullshit, it comes out of the same wing of the party which gave us the Scottish devolution disaster. Wrong 20 years ago, and wanting to be wrong 20 years later, one development is that senior figures are calling on Starmer to get in touch with the unions and pressurise them, trade unions to use their influence to get Leonard to resign. Is Keir Starmer so dumb that he is willing to go that route? 

An insider said:

“The unions are key. Keir needs to pick up the phone and talk to them.”

Another said:

“We need to have a last go at a vote of confidence because if we wait until May, it’s all over; regardless of how difficult this is and how much blood there might be on the carpet. We might not even get to a formal vote; it might be a case of presenting to Richard the evidence he is going to lose a confidence vote and try to give him a dignified exit.”

In a chatty mood, the Labour insider added:

“He’s (Starmer) convinced it’s the right thing to do; I’m not sure he’s convinced it’s deliverable.”

As the Labour insider has indicated that a fresh attempt to oust the Scottish leader was now being seriously considered, at the highest party levels, he and they should get on it, if you cock the gun, you have to pull the trigger. Especially when confirming the ploy by saying:

“Yes, absolutely.”

One peer noted:

“Richard has tried but it’s not working. The plea should be to his conscience. He needs to do what is necessary to save the party; that’s the key thing. There is no personal animosity towards him; he should just step aside and let someone else come in who can mobilise Scottish Labour.”

“Richard has tried”, tried what exactly? As a member, I have had nothing from him or the party that anything is being tried. So, what is this, changing policy, changing people, changing structures, what represents 'tried'? I see business as usual, I don't see tried on anything, maybe someone can give me a link if they know of anything which Richard Leonard has tried out and communicated to members.

Finally, an STV poll put Scottish Labour on 14% of the Scottish vote, this places them still in third place. This remember is a party that once ruled supreme in Scotland, and this is a disgrace, but it didn't overnight, and didn't happen under Leonard. The Labour Party demise started more 20 years ago. Bad leaders, bad MPs, bad MSPs, bad policies and bad choices simply chipped away the voter base. If Keir Starmer does feel the pressing need to stick his oar in, maybe he should consider my idea for a review of all CLPs and Scottish Labour HQ, and I am not talking about people dropping by for 'tea and a chat', I am talking a forensic un-emotional breakdown of their operations with recommendations for change. As to the Scottish Blairities, Starmer should instruct them to show loyalty, commitment and drive, if they aren't willing to show that, then they should be told up front, there is no place for them as elected politicians or a future in the party. It's also time to impose a two term limit on list MSPs to shake up commitment to overhauling the party, so far I see people who appear content to languish on the list system.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

The SNP Industry of Fake Hope; Scottish workers anger explodes as un-caring SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP Government fail to step up to save part Scottish Government-owned BiFab, as the renewables company files for administration, will Nicola set up another phoney SNP Task force prior to the workers hitting the job centres, we're all wise to how the SNP operate now

Dear All

One of the sick jokes that the SNP loves to pull off as part of their ongoing deceptions is saying that they are 'Stronger for Scotland', but as their record clearly shows on business and communities, everything they touch ends in disaster. Over the years, countless Scottish businesses have gotten into trouble, only to have Nicola Sturgeon turn and say she will 'save' them. To that end, the SNP hit upon the gimmick of setting up what they called 'SNP taskforces'. These taskforces however didn't save anyone, and their "help" could be best summed up as pointing people in the direction of the job centre. You may wonder, how long has the SNP using the 'taskforce' gimmick, well you can see by a web search, nearly a decade. I did a google search because the Hall's factory in Broxburn was one story which the SNP overplayed their hand, and as usual were as much use a chocolate teapot. These 'save businesses' tactics were part of a mirage that the SNP were a serious government that business could trust, especially in the run up to the indyref in 2014.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/workers-furious-as-halls-of-broxburn-axe-1363263

But Hall's isn't the only SNP save a business failure, post referendum, the SNP had a go at saving Tata Steel plants north of the Border, their 'help' consisted in Sturgeon's Government launching a search to find a buyer. I know what you're thinking, is that it, a search?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/614274/SNP-shipbuilding-tycoon-rescue-bid-Tata-plants

This year, another SNP task force got off the ground, again, headed by Nicola Sturgeon, this time to save jobs at Rolls Royce. Rolls Royce was once East Kilbride’s biggest employer, now 545 East Kilbride residents are now facing redundancy. Can Nicola Sturgeon save these jobs, the answer is no, you see despite 13 years in power, the SNP isn't interested in business or economic prosperity. You can see this by simply looking at their record, and their token interest towards it, checkout the nonsense that is Business for Scotland. Like many SNP supporting organisations it is simply a vehicle for some people to get a platform, to then go onto be SNP candidates and then politicians, they also use the charity route as well. The task force to save Rolls Royce jobs is being personally led by Nicola Sturgeon, its name, the Scottish Aerospace Task Force. So, here is my theory of how the task force will operate, it will look at the problem, realise that they can't fix it, so they will come up with the solution, that someone else should be called in to fix the problem. 

So, who would that be?

The obvious answer is Sturgeon will call on the UK government for help! Since Nicola Sturgeon isn't capable of solving the problem, the standard SNP default position is to get someone else to do their job for them. Getting other people to do their job for them is something I witnessed time and time again when I was in the SNP. The SNP cult don't like hard work, which is why they trick people into working for them as activists, while they sit back and 'manage'. The same laziness format simply moved across when they took over Government in Scotland. Rolls Royce employees should look for other jobs, save yourself because Sturgeon can't or won't due to having no experience of business. And her track record of failure isn't a well to drawn from. Rolls Royce employees are on their own, they have to get their ducks all lined up in a row.

Because the SNP wants a second referendum, we are seeing them doing the same play acting as was used prior to 2014, they think they can hoodwink business, and they think they can hoodwink the public as being competent. Covid and its restrictions have set Scotland back years, business has suffered, and many of them will go under. But before I go on, here is a link to read, because you have to understand the scale of incompetence that the SNP Government presides over. Broken promises is all the SNP have to offer people, which is our reality while they remain in Government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/15_04_11_labourdoc.pdf

Although 100 failures are listed, that isn't a full list by any means, failure by the SNP is on an industrial scale and it is very expensive for Scots and their families. In the lead up to the 2014, the SNP told all sorts of lies, one that sticks out was that 'Scotland would be the Saudi Arabia of renewables', you do remember that indy campaign which Nicola Sturgeon was put in charge of? Of course youn do, and you remember, she was the 'face of indyref' sitting on the Yes Scotland board. 6 years later, is Scotland,  the Saudi Arabia of renewables, it isn't, has it created massive wealth, no, hasn't it, did it created a major jobs boom, no, it didn't. Literally everything the SNP gets involved in goes bad. BiFab in Fife part owned by the SNP Government is believed to be on the brink of financial collapse, it also "exposes the myth" of Scotland's renewables revolution. The SNP's student union mentality of a green revolution cost Scotland dearly, Scotland is becoming an unattractive place to invest in because of the SNP Government. Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) and the jobs of the workers will probably go to the wall, I suspect they have hit that point of no return. The yard had been operating on a skeleton staff of just 30 people and they have zero contracts on their books.

A company spokesman said: 

“BiFab can confirm that the board has agreed to place the company in administration following the Scottish Government’s decision to remove contract assurances”.

In this case, despite the uproar, I don't see Nicola Sturgeon rushing to their aid, I don't see an SNP task force rushing to the rescue either. The truth of this sorry tale is that the SNP despite all its talk has never had a proper frame work for business to prosper. The SNP model appears to be to destroy the country, destroy communities and fail to provide opportunities in jobs, and in education to train up Scots. The conclusion for the destruction of the country is that the SNP want to break it, so that their poisoned chalice of independence seems viable.

Finally, there is an alternative. There is a way to make Scotland better, create jobs, provide opportunities, and that is to vote for pro UK parties to smash the SNP monopoly. They have a stranglehold over Scotland based on deceit and illusion. Scotland doesn't have a future under the SNP, a few trinkets thrown at people like £500 to the NHS staff is contemptible. This xmas, some people will be losing their jobs, £500 would come in handy, but the money Sturgeon is tossing around would be better served helping the poorest and the vulnerable. Nicola Sturgeon turned her back on BiFab because she wants to serve a different master, and that is the EU. Politicians say, 'sacrifices have to be made', Nicola Sturgeon is willing to sacrifice you, because deep down she doesn't care about doing the right thing. She is a prophet of  false hope.

Yours sincerely

George Laird                                                                                                                        The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University