Salmond Caught

Check this for a conversation :- Alex Salmond to Mike Russell - Mike I have decided that your new book needs changing and I've written about the bits I want changed or taken out.
Russell to Salmond - But Alex what about my integrity ?
A.S. do what I say or you won't be the candidate.
M.R. Surely the membership decide who will be candidates.
A.S. Don't make me repeat myself.
M.R. OK I'll do your bidding.
A.S. That's a good lad.
M.R. What about my suggestion of a flat tax where even big Sean Connery would pay the same as my butler, or cleaner I'm sure Sean would come back and stay here if we pleaded with him.
A.S. Nae problem laddie.
M.R. What about my suggestion re. co-operating with the Tories ?
A.S. Right on son., they're good wi money an profit.
M.R. How about my wheeze about the Scottish people having a veto over all Holyrood decisions, that way we could take the money and let them make the decisions, that way we don't get the blame.
A.S. Yer bang on with that one - now gie ma boots a wee lick before ye go !

Dear reader the above is of course tongue in cheek but make no mistake it's based on facts as revealed in the Sunday press, Salmond can, like old Joe Stalin make and break SNP careers as shown by his Freudian slip about Russell toeing the line or else he's out. He ( Salmond ) did advocate dealing with the Tories and he's also sanguine about the ultra right wing flat tax. He and his pathetic party have been rumbled again, the least said about the groveling Russell the better but he is, incredibly enough an ex SNP leadership contender, and, still regarded as one of their big hitters. How do you like the glimpse of Salmond the political gangster ? Remember also that the SSP are in bed with this lot.

SSP DISHONESTY

Messrs. Hogg & McCartney of the SS are quoted in today's Paisley Daily Express as saying that the Labour Council are damaging sports and recreational facilities, Hogg is pictured at Millarston with a pathetic placard claiming that these fields are well used which must be as big a surprise to the people of the area as it is to me. Along with others in the labour movement I have learned through bitter experience what Hogg's word is worth and that is less than nothing. I know the place well and even when my children attended St. Mirin's High School which stood there until six years ago the place was very rarely used at all and is used even less now, that's a fact, but it doesn't suit the ambulance chasing Hogg & McCartney of the SS. They are not about to let the truth get in the way of their latest trumped up story to try to damage Labour. According to the logic of the SS and these two fantasists, the Labour Council's investment of £4.5 million in sports facilities, mainly football, is a bad thing, that is their ludicrous position. Is it any wonder that their mountain of lost deposits is beginning to constitute an environmental hazard. One final thing, who are the mysterious two small boys who seem to appear in every picture of Hogg where children can be used to shore up his dodgy arguments, they are there again in the background, pretending to be locals, who can they be ?

SNP AND SSP TREACHERY

Today’s Paisley Daily Express has a picture of SNP Cllrs. demonstrating against the proposed housing transfer, the SS have also been on this case for some time. The SS membership consists of the highest level of middle class activists of any party, they are also overwhelmingly home owners who have never done an honest days work in their lives. They continue to bray about privatising housing, and they know that’s not true but it’s all they’ve got, one of their activists Ian Hogg ( his name is now a byword for treachery ) is so keen on council housing that he personally has been involved in the buying and selling of two council houses in the past ! The SNP’s stance is nothing short of contemptible they made up their narrow minds a long time ago to oppose no matter what, I have been on the RHA Shadow Board since the beginning and I have gone to great lengths to try to understand the issues in order to do what I believe to be the right thing for our tenants. These two odious groups have the same thing in common, they are both willing to risk the future security and comfort of thousands of tenants for their own narrow political ends, that is an example of the utter contempt that they have for real working people. Ask yourselves why there is constant argument and debate in the Labour Party about this issue while the SNP and the SS all agree, is there not one dissenter ? This stinks of duplicity, they are a disgrace, I want people to make an informed decision and I recommend a yes !

LEADERSHIP

This is topical with the Lib. Dems. And Ming ( the mediocre ) Campbell, They long for cheerful Charlie Kennedy who is cruelly displaying his superiority over old Ming at every opportunity, not difficult I hear you say. This party used to stand for something, they once had a ‘liberal tradition’ what happened to that party which once included famous Labour names like Foot and Benn. They are now like the old right wing Tories and they are a disgrace to their own history, old Ming can no longer hide his instinctive reactionary views, he was part of the Glasgow University group which included John Smith, Donald Dewar and Jimmy Gordon, all Labour stalwarts, young Ming weighed up his chances and decided with rat like cunning that he would not thrive in those shadows and decided to become a big fish in a mediocre small Liberal pool. Ming Campbell serves to remind us all that ambition can creep as well as soar.

WHAT ABOUT MY OWN PARTY’S AND THE COUNTRY’S LEADERSHIP - Well should he go or stay longer, I say go in the near future, for the good of party and country. The squabbling now going on is great for the gutter press but it doesn’t concern me much, it’s the biggest job of the lot and as such any senior Labour politician should want it, anyone within touching distance of the ‘greasy pole’ would hardly be worth their salt if they didn’t desire the job. We in the Labour Party have nothing to fear except fear itself, we have half a dozen or more excellent people in and out of cabinet who would cut a swathe through any opposition parties, I say let’s get the gloves off and have a proper robust election in full view of the public I would like to see it done at conference complete with hustings and big crowds, that would knock our opponents out flat. My choice would be Gordon Brown, Britain's best ever Chancellor and destined to be a great Prime Minister and World Statesman, as a party member for nearly forty years I have come to admire him and trust him implicitly, he’s a gut socialist and a Labour Party man to his fingertips so, go for it Gordon you have everything to gain for the country, the party and to fulfil your burning desire to serve and bring about a better society, here and in those places where people less fortunate than ourselves are suffering. Gordon Brown’s only flaw is Raith Rovers but we can all be afflicted by that kind of insanity at any time.

JAMIESON & HENRY (CRIME FIGHTERS)

Unlike Cagney and Lacey or Dalziell and Pascoe these two are for real. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson and Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry are tackling crime with a vengeance, they are doing exactly what it says on the Labour tin, and I’m delighted with their commitment to the struggle, particularly the fight against illegal drugs. This evil trade destroys lives, families and communities. Paisley welcomed our own Hugh Henry recently as part of the ‘ Shop a Dealer ‘ campaign, proving again that he has his finger on the pulse of local communities who are suffering because of drug crime. Along with Cathy Jamieson he is to be congratulated on this and other projects not least the initiative to confiscate the profits of the dealers and suppliers, there’s nothing worse for a community than to see these evil people drive through in big fancy cars with no visible means of support, it’s galling for them, and the Scottish Exec. to their credit are tackling it, my advice is to do as Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry says and join the fight by ' SHOPPING A DEALER ' they are doing a difficult job very well and I say, more power to them.