Enough to make you weep

So there I was, with some time on my hands today and I thought I'd pop over to Labourhame for some light relief. I shouldn't be so unkind, as there are some very interesting articles on the site, from people who make an important contribution to the debate on Scotland's future. A link for Tom Harrris popped up and over I went to his latest twitter piece. Shocked is not the word to describe my reaction to what I read.

"BREAKING: Now "YesScotland" website is selling drugs to your children. Probably."

What is this man on?

I mean, in the rough and tumble of the political playground you expect a grazed knee or a wee hooligan to grab a girls pigtails, maybe someone to kick your ball away, but there are limits. Aren't there? Or was the rule book completely tossed away the day the SNP came to power?

Now, I don't expect to agree with every politician. I will disagree with many of them but I will respect them if they are sincere and fight their corners with coherent words. But I can't respect Tom Harris. I often wonder if he's trying to carve out  a place for himself in the comedy niche that surely exists at Westminster.  Actually, it's probably pretty full up at the moment, so maybe he's trying to invent a new club for politicians who are quite beyond the pale and have nothing positive to contribute. I despair for Scotland. Tom is enough to make you weep with utter embarrassment.

On another subject, the remoteness of the Highlands was brought home to me this morning. On a rare day off I walked to my local newspaper shop in Drumnadrochit only to find that there were no papers on the shelf. Why? A head on smash on the A9, which very sadly resulted in the deaths of 2 drivers. One of the vehicles was taking the daily papers up to Inverness. So no papers here today. The resulting blockage of the A9 also resulted in some produce not being available in supermarkets. An upgrade to the A9 is long overdue, actually it is a national scandal that the road is single track in many stretches. If there was a positive argument for Independence then an upgrade to Scotland's transport system would win many a Yes vote. Politicians take note. Except Tom Harris, he would probably make some bad taste joke at the expense of the people living up here.

And onto my last topic of the day. I went out to hang up my washing today, it's a washing kind of day, sunny, light breeze and I couldn't move for bunting. Red, white and blue, street parties in the village, cries of God Save the Queen, the National Anthem straining from hundreds of throats. 

Actually, I'm talking complete rubbish. An Enid Blyton view of Drumnadrochit perhaps, but very far from the truth. I personally couldn't care a jot about the jubilee. It hasn't escaped my notice that there is an awful lot of coverage on the TV and radio. So while we are all struggling to make a living, pay the bills and wondering when someone from the Leveson enquiry will be carted off to the Tower, let's remember the pomp and circumstance that is currently being rolled out to remind us all what a thoroughly grateful bunch of subjects we all are. Or, if you are me, you are able to spit out the rubbish that they attempt to ram down my throat. I've got better things to think about.

Lamp posts and other posts

It's been an interesting week in the world of politics. Well, in Drumnadrochit it's pretty quite but travel a few miles east into Inverness and there are signs of life. The lamp posts have the odd bit of colour in the shape of party signs attached to them. Plenty of SNP signs and, surprisingly, from the Conservatives. No Lib Dems as yet, nor Labour. They are probably being dusted down as I type. There must be an election coming up.
The local rag, the Inverness Courier, half fancies a good SNP showing, but the local Independent candidates are not exactly warm about working with the SNP. It will probably be a coalition council, you see. I've never understood Independent candidates in the Highlands. I've always suspected that there are a few secret Tories among them. If you look at the political representation of the council, there are no Tories. I wonder where they are. If there are secret Tories then they are a spineless bunch. Still, I could be incorrect in my suspicions.

The current Administration is made up of members of the Independent Group; Liberal Democrat Group and Labour Group. The pie chart shows the make up. 

Blue - Independent Group (25)                                                   

Cream - Liberal Democrats (21)
Red - Labour (6)
Yellow - SNP (18)
Dark purple - Independent Members Group (6)
Green - Independent Alliance Group (4)

On other notes, we've had the insulting spoof map of Scotland created by the Economist. That's another barrow load of Yes votes. Thanks for that.

The good old BBC, not to be outdone, is now showing it's clear bias as displayed by a leaked video. Brian Taylor, political correspondent, is shown giving a briefing on the forthcoming referendum. The link is below, where you can form your own opinion. I know what I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Dt8RAqZzA

So, in the forlorn hope that Brian Taylor actually reads doggerel on people's bloggs, I have a little appeal to him.

Brian,

You are obviously passionate about your chosen profession and you clearly have your own viewpoint.

You have crossed a line and display clear bias. You have crossed your own Rubicon.

With this in mind, I would dearly like you to articulate your personal position. 

If, as I suspect, you are a Unionist, can you please take this opportunity to tell us, your viewing public, who actually provide your pay, what are the benefits to Scotland of the Union.

Thank you,

WM

The Three Stalinists

As a resident of the Highlands, I have always taken my freedoms for granted.
Freedom to roam, freedom to speak my mind and freedom to use new media without fear of intrusion by the Government of the day.
That has now changed with plans to give the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) real-time access to Skype, instant message and email data.
Strangely some Lib Dems have now published a letter expressing disquiet. I've included the letter, below, and it is clear that the characters who represent the Highlands do not share their concerns.
I can only conclude that the Lib Dems pictured above approve of the excesses of the Tory Government, support the proposals to the hilt and are therefore secret Stalinists.
Until they come out and express concern I will, as a resident of the Highlands, feel nervous that local elected representatives wish to push for the adoption of the tools of a Totalitarian state.

"Liberal Democrats have a proud history of defending civil liberties, both in opposition and more recently in a coalition government. We successfully opposed the Labour government's undermining of data privacy in 2009, and since taking office in 2010 we have turned back the tide of Labour's erosion of these liberties. So far we have destroyed the ID cards database, halted the indefinite retention of innocent people's DNA, turned off the ContactPoint database, stopped the mass fingerprinting of children without permission from their parents, and ended child detention for immigration purposes.

Just a few months ago at our spring conference in Gateshead, we reaffirmed our commitment to "undo the damage done [by] Labour's assault on basic freedoms". We called for stronger safeguards on existing surveillance measures to guarantee that the balance of power is firmly in favour of ordinary citizens. We asserted the Liberal Democrats' long-standing tradition of protecting human rights, and agreed that it is our "duty … to safeguard basic freedoms against the encroachment of state power". Liberal Democrats all over the country have sought to reverse the substantial erosion of individual freedoms, as the government committed to do in the coalition agreement in 2010.

Following worrying reports of possible government proposals to collect real-time information on people's activity online, including from social media sites, we were pleased to hear the deputy prime minister making clear his commitment to civil liberties and protecting privacy, and confirming that the government will publish draft legislation with sufficient time for consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny. It is absolutely vital that the public get a chance to see and debate the details of any proposals to extend state surveillance, not just being presented with a Home Office fait accompli. It is also essential that the initial plans include adequate safeguards – which should be stronger than the current weak controls. Liberal Democrats in government will not follow the last Labour government by sounding the retreat on the protection of civil liberties in the United Kingdom. It continues to be essential that our civil liberties are safeguarded, and that the state is not given the powers to snoop on its citizens at will."
Julian Huppert MP, Annette Brooke MP, Malcolm Bruce MP, Mike Crockart MP, Andrew George MP, Mike Hancock MP, John Leech MP, Greg Mulholland MP, John Pugh MP, Alan Reid MP, Adrian Sanders MP, Ian Swales MP, David Ward MP, Mark Williams MP, Roger Williams MP

Tavish Scott and the bitterness of failure

One of the inescapable points within the debate on Scotland’s future is the personality of the people involved.

In a previous incarnation on the web, I ran a little project named “The White Feather Club” on Facebook. Within these pages I highlighted, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, the various high profile Scots who have, in my opinion, let Scotland down.

Having taken a bit of time out from the White Feather Club, I realised that a revisit to the various personalities is now needed, particularly as the debate intensifies. I also intend to speak from the heart. I do not belong to any political party but I do want to take advantage of new media to make a contribution, however small.

Recently I was appalled to hear the ideas of Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland and his fellow Lib Dem Liam McArthur of Orkney. Now that the initial furore has died down, it’s time, I believe, to look more closely at Tavish Scott as a person and to try to understand why he articulated such extreme ideas. Briefly the pair suggested that if the Scottish National party were to win independence in the autumn 2014 referendum the northern isles could refuse to leave the UK, or demand a much greater local take of Scottish oil revenues or even declare independence themselves.

In short, in my opinion, Tavish has shown himself to be Anti-Scottish. There is no other way to describe his words. To advocate the break up of Scotland is simply shocking in the ambition.

A close look at Tavish’s CV gives the game away;

http://tavishscott.com/bio/

I’m afraid that Tavish is simply a professional politician. He has tried to carve himself a career within the framework of the Lib Dem party and, quite simply, has been a failure. He is now marginalised and bitter. I suspect that Tavish probably blames every one else for his disintegrating career. He is little man, with little political intellect, no vision and a negativity born of ill will and malice.

The sad thing for Tavish is that he clearly fails to identify the opportunity that he is presented with to make a positive contribution to the future of the entire British Isles.

Instead, seeing his career flounder and his undoubted ambition for a peerage in the House of Lords go under the waves, he has reacted like some spoiled schoolboy who has lost his marbles in the playground.

All of which brings me to an idea that I have been toying with for some time and have found difficult to articulate. It is this;

I do not believe that Tavish and others like him actually have any sense of altruism in the sense that they have big ideas to present to people in order to change society for the better. With his shocking ideas regarding Shetland and its relationship with a Future Scotland, Tavish shows himself to be very much less than a politician. I’m not exactly sure what he actually is, but on thing I am certain, the good people of Shetland deserve better than this bitter man as their representative in Scotland’s Parliament.

Scotland will be Independent. Get used to that idea and hold onto it.

While others talk about Tea-Gate, Consultation-Gate and other "Gates" to numerous to mention, I thought I would do some forward projecting.
So what will I be looking for in a Future Scotland?

Nations are often judged by their creations, their contribution to science, their cultural footprints or, indeed, by negative themes.

I wish Scotland to be judged by the way it looks after it's own, it's people, especially the disadvantaged in society.
Goodness knows, we have our fair share of the disadvantaged in Scotland's society; the poor, the ill, the vulnerable, the under-educated, the poorly housed.
As someone who knows only to well that there is a large number of people living among us who require a helping hand to live their lives, I will take this opportunity to ask that Scotland is viewed by the world as the place, the nation state, the society from which all others take their lead.

As an example to the world, Future Scotland's caring society must be the bench mark against which all other nations measure themselves.

I would wish for a society where there was step in the education of young people, perhaps between leaving school and further education, or going to a job, where some time was spent by all in a caring profession.
There used to be youth movements in some countries, pioneer movements, or peace corp organisations, where there was an aspiration to do good, to learn skills and attitudes that would assist in later life.

Well, in Future Scotland, I would wish for just such an aspiration to be put into practice. A step in education, in growing up, in aquiring life skills and putting them into practice for the greater good of society.

To help others....now wouldn't that be a theme to run through a society and by which that society was measured?
Much better than Trident, the accumulation of obscene wealth................at this point I was going to include a 3rd example by which the current UK society is defined, and you know I couldn't think of a 3rd!