Dear All
There are certain SNP MSPs who serve unusual functions inside and outside Holyrood, in the chamber, you get people like Kenny Gibson MSP, whose sole objective at FMQs is to sit behind SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and bang a table enthusiastically, you get others like Christine Graham who sit behind Sturgeon, she scowls and looks miserable to give the impression that Sturgeon is talking about 'weighty matters'. But there people two other people who also stick out, they are seemly used for saying 'daft' things in the media usually at a time when the heat is on Nicola Sturgeon. The two people who I am referring too are John Mason and James Dornan, both Glasgow constituency MSPs. If you were to ask me who is worse for verbal stupidity, I have to put my hands up and say, I can't stick a playing card between them. I think however, it would be fair comment to say that John Mason's comments and opinions are more 'daft' than malicious, whereas James Dornan specialises in being more nasty and offensive.
The reason I think the reason it could be argued that they are playing a role is that hardly any other SNP MSP does what they are going, it could be argued that their interventions maybe used a release valve when a scandal threats to impact on senior leadership. The use of diversion tactics isn't new in the SNP, it is so common as to be noticeable. You see the SNP as well as having people like Dornan and Mason have a spad operation who continuously generate 'product' in the hope that the media will run with that instead of media releases from other parties. This is why many people think the SNP is so crap, their spad operation cannot produce high quality media releases so a never ending stream of garbage is pumped out to 'tame' media professionals at newspapers and television presenters. These people think they have an 'ear' to the wall within the SNP but they are being used, in some ways it ranks as an abusive relationship. Too much rubbish is pumped out with the occasional real news story to justify the relationship.
Trust in politics has been dying for some time, trust in the media likewise has been dying, Covid 19 has been a lightening rod that woke up many people to the corrupting relationship between the political class and the press. We have seen an extraordinary turn of events as the media has refused to be hands off certain issues and stories, while some others are effectively ring fenced from asking about the truth. What the SNP spads in the party and government, along with people like Dornan and Mason have done is instill a sense of hopelessness, that their nonsense is the way things are and cannot be changed. Is Holyrood’s Covid Recovery Committee run by the SNP simply about rubber stamping what the SNP has done? Have they ever spoken out as a group and held a position which is against the SNP Government in any real sense? We were told Holyrood would be a new kind of politics, there isn't a new kind of politics in Holyrood because it is now engineering from being 'left' vs right' to 'pro UK vs Scottish independence'.
The SNP have no interest in seeing the Scottish Parliament evolve!
Today's intervention by SNP MSP John Mason accusing Scotland’s hospitality sector of “crying wolf” is typical of what the SNP do, attempt to shutdown criticism of Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Government. In the minds of the SNP, everything which is decided on high cannot be questioned and must be seen as fact. So, when you get business leaders telling MSPs that extending the vaccine passport scheme would be “nothing short of devastating”. You get John Mason using 'data' which isn't significant as it relates to his personal story and a few snapshots in time which are not statistically relevant or meaningful. So, what exactly did SNP MP John Mason say? What was his burning truth which counters what business leaders across the entire hospitality sector are saying?
He said: “Do you not think you have slightly over-stated your case and a certain amount of crying wolf? People are not taking you seriously because you use such strong language like ‘devastating’. I have tried to get into a restaurant in Edinburgh on a Wednesday night and it was absolutely full. I’ve gone into a pub on a Wednesday night in Edinburgh – couldn’t find a seat. (In) Glasgow last Friday night, I was in a restaurant – absolutely full. Parts of the hospitality and licensed trade sector seem to be doing absolutely fine. I just wonder, do you not think you are somewhat exaggerating it?”
In what is called urban like Edinburgh and like Glasgow, you have vast populations, some establishments do better for many different reasons, such as quality, location and price. So, should city centre location which can experience high foot fall be compared to other locations locations when quite clearly you cannot compare apples and pears in terms of cash flow? Holyrood is the poor relation to Westminster, if you view Westminster as a Champions League, Holyrood is a third division Scottish club. Some people wrongly I would suggest would say that it is because the place is so young. That is not the cause of the political poverty in Scotland, it is because of the calibre of certain individuals who make up the bulk of the MSPs.
They are not thinkers!
To me, Holyrood’s Covid Recovery Committee isn't really interested in evidence, they are simply playing a role, what role is that? Being there! They are like an extra in a movie who is talking in the background but says no words because they have been asked to mimic speaking. Well, I would suggest that some MSPs are just mimicking being politicians, there role is lobby fodder. They are told how to vote, they are told when to ask questions, they are told to read out questions prepare for them. In football, you would recognise this as a the 'set piece', think of David Beckham.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUBk0J9ijjU
The set piece in politics in the SNP is usually done so that an MSP asks a question to make Nicola Sturgeon look good, these people are just 'feeders', so that Sturgeon scores the goal as all knowing and all seeing. This is to give the impression that she is super intelligent, but as her track record in Government away from the chamber and the 'set piece' shows the exact opposite. Bad judgment, bad choices, bad decisions, no narrative and no vision. Nicola Sturgeon ran the NHS in Scotland into the ground, and then bailed when the cracks couldn't be papered over. Everyone after her, either failed to manage, was inept or just plainly disinterested.
If there is a sector which Scotland sorely needs, it is the hospitality sector, a huge amount of businesses who are part of what is called the 'tourist trade' need to be financially active all year round. There are periods like Christmas and the summer which are vitally important to them, losing such periods due to covid is devastating. This isn't just a Scottish matter in terms of how covid killed off the hospitality sector. It is happening all over the world, here is a video of hospitality that has been devastated in the world famous City resort of Pattaya in Thailand. This was done by an American vlogger who lives in Pattaya, his channel if you are interested is called Ride4Kickz, I recommended it because of its diverse content, and quality of production an presentation. It is like watching someone living out their life and having adventures and living a day to day life, good and bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNM4p0ZDXA8
In Thailand, just like in Scotland, the hospitality sector has suffered badly, however in Thailand, the problem has been much worse, we should feel lucky that we had a UK Government in Westminster which has saved many jobs, many businesses and done so much to keep people afloat, but not all people managed to save their businesses. If there isn't a return to normality soon, either by a significant” amount of funding or opening up the market without restrictions, it is said that “a very substantial proportion of businesses will not survive the winter”. Such information doesn't gel with people like John Mason, and even if he acquired it what good would it do him, the SNP has a Cabinet in name only, Nicola Sturgeon has gone down the same route as Tony Blair, 'sofa government'. To me, looking at Holyrood, committee has been devalued so much that under the current setup, you could ask, do they provide any real value.
Is there any value in a committee which cannot affect change?
Nicola Sturgeon will announce whether the vaccine passport scheme, will be extended to other parts of the hospitality sector. This reminds people of the 1930's and the Gestapo where the phrase, 'show me your papers' was a staple in many WW2 movies. Given that double vaxxed people can still carry and transmit covid, the passport scheme isn't about stopping covid, it is all about control and surveillance of the population. Why is it that all governments seem to be following the exact same measures of oppression at various stages? It is happening most notably in Austria, Canada, and New Zealand, will it happen further in Scotland? Well that won't depend on covid, it wouldn't depend on science, it will depend on polling. Polling for the 2022 Council elections in Scotland. You could argue next year the SNP will take a real interest in those elections than usual, since they are trying to create a narrative that there will be indyref 2 in 2023. There wouldn't be, but since Nicola Sturgeon didn't get an offer of future employment at #Cop26, she needs to keep Nationalists turning on her by appearing to act interested. The longer Nicola Sturgeon falls to deliver indyref 2, the more support she will lose inside and outside her own party.
Asking for proof of double vaccination or exemption to enter nightclubs and large gatherings, is a bit like asking for an MOT, thinking that a year's MOT must mean a car is good for a year. An MOT only means on a set date a vehicle was passed as roadworthy, it does mean that within that year the car will remain roadworthy. A person who gets a covid passport can get infected any time after getting the passport, so they have effectively a licence to infect others when they get infected. Have a think about that for a moment! It has been too late to stop covid spreading, it is now a matter of managing it. The reason for opening all business back up is simple, the more places that are open, the less chance of people becoming infected. We are told that the hospitals are filling up with covid cases, mostly people who have been double vaxxed. Depending on who you read and believe, there will be a second pandemic, which should be titled, 'Covid Vaccine Injury', that is covid with heart attack, covid with stroke, covid with neurological disease and a whole host of other serious problems like suppression of immune response. The more people who get injected, the more that hospitals will fill up, this is a statement of fact, a brutal truth which can be found in government data in many countries.
I would say that there is a financial imperative to opening back up the whole economy, to draw in as much as possible in tax to supply money to our health services, less business making money, less tax collected. If Nicola Sturgeon doesn't grasp the nettle and allow the hospitality sector to remain open, and hampers the sector by making changes on December 6, many people will be affected in the long term. Scotland due to its location cannot allow a key sector like hospitality to suffer any longer. As I mentioned on twitter, a friend who has been double vaxxed was infected with covid, we should now be treating covid in the same manner as a flu. If you get it, stay in ride it out, if it is bad seek medical help. Gavin Stevenson from the Scottish Licensed Trade Association said that extending the lockdown and restrictions scheme would be “little short of devastating for a substantial proportion of businesses”. He is making a valid point, and he added the worthless and it is worthless vaccine passport scheme is “typically” seeing a drop in turnover of between 20 per cent and 40%.
Stevenson said:
“There’s a direct correlation there between the implementation of vaccine passports and a substantial and unsustainable decrease in trade. Any proposed extension of the scheme is deeply unwelcome for the sector and, of course, this is not particular to just Scotland, we have now got data from Wales – a survey this week showing there’s been a substantial decrease in trade in the Welsh sector.”
He added:
“If the Scottish Government is determined to proceed with the rollout of the scheme, it would be absolutely essential to have significant financial support go in place – otherwise a very substantial proportion of businesses will not survive this winter.”
Finally, politics is about power and money, so Nicola Sturgeon should take heed that money, generation of money by business is a priority now and going forward. SNP SMP John Mason accusing the hospitality sector of “exaggerating” the problems facing the industry is wrong, to dismiss what they say by saying they had been “crying wolf” is also wrong. His snapshots in time don't encompass an entire industry, and it should be pointed out as done by Gavin Stevenson that all the venues John Mason had mentioned are not currently subject to vaccine passports. This is what I mean about how Holyrood is like a third division football league. In the past, I said Holyrood is a second rate parliament full of third rate politicians. If you wnt to learn about governance, if you want to learn about politics, if you want to learn about Statehood and State craft, then Westminster is the place to be. In the end, it could come down to polling which decides if the passport scheme is extended, not science, not data, nothing more than one woman's desire to minimize the seepage of support away from her. The pandemic is over, the epidemic is here, and it will spring up at various points in time, it is now a management operation for keeping as much normality as possible. I campaigned for John Mason a few times when I first started being politically active, he has fallen a long way since 2008 and the by-election of Glasgow East where he won by 365 votes.
Yours sincerely
George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
1 comment:
An excellent post outlining some of the scheming behind the SNPS governance of our country and how we are used by them in their diversion tactics and devious ways
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