Friday, July 25, 2008

GLASGOW EAST

The dust is settling and the sight of Sturgeon and Salmond (the spiv) with their poodle on tele. I've forgotten his name already is a nauseating sight, still as a famous American candidate who lost the presidency said "well folks that's democracy, the people have spoken - the b------s"

By - Elections for any Govt. which has been in power for a long time are always likely to produce dramatic results, this one is no different, notwithstanding the size of the swing, we have seen it all before but I didn't expect to lose. Margo McDonald and Jim Sillars could fill the SNP in on the historical details if they weren't 'persona non Grata' with their former braveheart comrades., some of whom have been browbeaten and have learned to toe the spiv's line and keep shtum (we have a couple in Renfrewshire) Some now 'sleep with the fishes' and others, more numerous, didn't believe in anything much to start with.

There is no doubt that Labour suffered badly from a lengthy period of continuous negative attacks from the media, this will continue as they go for Brown, that along with a long honeymoon period for the SNP from the anti Labour press both north and south proved too much to overcome. Some people of course come out with the drivel about what would happen nationally with this swing, i.e. one Labour MP left, aye right.

I remember John Major's Govt. lost five By Elections and went on to win the General Election and massive swings have been reversed on many occasions so a sense of perspective is called for here.

About the campaign itself I would say this, the press were describing it as fair and good natured, this ignores two things, Mason who was I feel a bit of a straight man for the 'spiv' not unpleasant though, which is why I don't believe that it was his idea to play the sectarian card by bringing up the 'Embryo Bill' This was a distasteful and underhand move to get the Catholic support and it had Salmond 'the spiv's' fingerprints all over it.

Secondly, how do you choose a candidate ? is it because that candidate is brilliant, honest, diligent, experienced ? all of these or any combination of them would be valid.
Except of course if you are talking about the SSP, in that party if your name is the same as one of the front runners e.g. 'Curran' you are a shoe in so, hey big Frankie how are ye ? is it any wonder we can no longer see them behind their pile of lost deposits ?

My reaction ? today I went round parts of my ward and knocked on doors to talk to my constituents and give them my perspective and explain how we would win the next General Election and, I got a good response, but then again my constituents are in SNP controlled Renfrewshire. nuff said !

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Terry, I used to quite like you but this is enough! Yes Mr Mason may have a few 'traits' we do not like, but he is a hell of a lot better than the alternative, Ms Curran! Voters in the east end were not confused! We voted as we felt, the Labour party have abandoned their base support.They would rather appeal to 'middle england' than the working classes that supported then for eons. My Dad and yours I think! And me!

Anonymous said...

I predicted a big swing against Labour but I thought they'd get in.
Obviously this government has seen better days and I think a fair few voters wanted to give them a shock. Some people seem to feel they've been taken for granted a wee bit.

A few of my friends and relatives ( I live in Glasgow East) are unhappy about some of the redvelopment plans for Easterhouse and said they wouldn't be voting Labour for this reason. It's pretty unfair as nothing is final as yet and as far as I know Margaret Curran is pretty open minded on the subject -it's more a council issue than a Labour issue.

I also think the situation with the Labour leadership in Scotland has been a problem. The timing of this has been lousy and IMO gave the SNP a big advantage.

For my own part there are a few aspects of government policy that I'm unhappy with but I genuinely don't feel that Labour are doing as badly as the press would have you believe. For me Labour's current woes are more due to poor presentation that anything more serious. There's still a lot of good will towards Labour so the situation isn't hopeless.

Anonymous said...

Pathetic.

Everybodys fault except New Labours

keep it up, its obviously working, at least for your own self delusional fantasy.


Yawn

Allan said...

And yet, you couldn't beat "the spiv" and his pet monkey.

John Mason wasn't great during this campaign, you touched on his (HIS) flip floping on stem cell research. As i pointed out on Tartan Hero the other night, a good interviewer would have at least asked the question if this is your stance, how would you defend it from people with Motor Nerone disease, or MS.

But at the end of the day, this is a vote against New Labour, a vote against the slow privatisation of our Post Offices (hmmm nothing about PO closures here???), a vote against the profitering of our public services (PPP/PFI), a vote against the laziz faire attitude towards our gready grasping banks, but above all its a vote against the thatcherite policies this government have pursued over the last 11 years.

It is something of a tragedy that waiting in the wings to take over are Comedy Dave and the Boy George, instead of the change that this country needs!

Anonymous said...

Why have Labour decided to Margaret Thatcher a state funeral?

Anonymous said...

Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha..

Dust settling? - What about the tumbleweed drifting serenely by your deluded dreams?

(James) Gordon Brown as party leader = Less than 100 seats in the 2010 general election.

"I feel good".

Anonymous said...

You are a poor loser. You only have to visit parts of Glasgow East to see why you lost. Decades of Labour Councilors and more than ten years of Labour government and the poor and the old (if they live that long)have got poorer. People unable to pay their bills while the local Labour MP was paying his wife £72,000 and running his 'office' from his home.

John Mason is a well respected hard working local councillor (unlike yourself).

Did you not see the voters on TV saying why they will not be voting Labour ever again ?

Anonymous said...

Wounld you be interested in a wee bet on who will win the next general election ? Say £1000 ???

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 25/07/08
You are in a small minority even within the SNP if you believe that Mason is better than Curran.

I didn’t say the East End voters were confused, I said that the SSP insulted them by using a candidate with the same name.

I haven’t abandoned Labour’s core and neither did lots of East Enders you seem to have overlooked how close it was.

I find it difficult to understand how people can claim to be Labour and vote for someone else, perhaps they have forgotten who it was that delivered Thatcher and the destruction of the area, the SNP.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 25/07/08

“Some people seem to feel they've been taken for granted a wee bit” Some people have been getting fed this line morning noon and night by the anti Labour media would be more accurate.

Labour have done many good things but, it’s becoming more and more difficult to get anything positive into the public’s perception, Brown / Labour can’t do anything right according to the press and that wears away at our vote.

We will be back, after over a hundred years of struggle and the achievements we have made for working people we are not about to go away.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 25/07/08

I take it you don’t read my blog then ?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Allan) 26/07/08

I wouldn’t describe Mason as that I said ‘poodle’ meaning he was being worked by Salmond, he seemed a reasonable type for a Nat. to me.

The interviewer gave him an easy ride, shock.

Your para. On what the vote was about is risible, there many factors and people love the spotlight, they love to make the news and the By Election and the anti Labour media gave them that chance, that’s one of the main reasons that By Elections turn out shocks.

This won’t be the first time that the SNP have helped the Tory comedians to get in, remember how we got Thatcher, think SNP, think treachery, think Scotland’s shame.

Anonymous said...

Terry you have obviously not been reading Scottish newspapers on your hols! They were all pro - Labour, and I do not just mean the redtops!
I stand by my original words to you in that traditional Labour voters are feeling that the party is now too intent on making itself appeal to middle england.
I do not think this was a protest vote - I believe you have a strong SNP prescence in Renfrewshire Council?
The tide is turning Terry and unless the Labour Party can "read the runes" I fear disaster for you all.
Of course we will probably be independent in Scotland by then and not so worried about what happens at Westminster.
Roll on more devolved matters I say!

Anonymous said...

Listen Terence, seriously, if you lot are to have any chance of remaining in business in Scotland in a decade's time, you need to pull your head out of the sand.

There is a real visceral hatred of Labour floating about. I was in Parkhead on polling day and folk were going out of their way to tell us how much they wanted Labour to lose. It wasn't a protest vote Terry, people are seriously scunnered.

Either you admit your party's failings and try to address them - in which case you may be able to mitigate the damage. Or you can (as I hope and expect) carry deluding yourself that everything will work out OK in the end and that nasty Mr Salmond will go away some day.

No doubt you'll put these comments down to 'bitter Nats' or the like. Fine. It's your party's funeral.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 26/07/08

On one level, if a drink sodden old half wit like Churchill and various braying royal idiots can have one why not anyone else ?

Or maybe we want to make absolutely sure the old war criminal is dead.

And lastly I wasn’t aware that we had decided to do this.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 26/07/08

Perhaps you have poor concentration skills or you are too young to remember other SNP ‘earthquakes’

Try asking Margo and Jim what happened next.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 07:23

If you have a strong belief in something as I do with Socialism and you are not a ‘poor loser’ then you are cheating people, Nationalists wouldn’t understand that.

Glasgow East suffered greatly under 20 yrs. of Thatcherism and she was brought to power by the SNP we will not forget the shame and devastation you brought on us.

Anonymous said...

Curran has a personality of a type which,it seems to me, you come across a lot in glasgow.She seems to think something in her life experience is more profound and more meaningful than the average punter and she knows what life is really about, in a way in which other people do not.

She also thinks that she and her party have a monopoly on compassion.This gives her a right to shout over people and claim she lives in the east End when she doesn't.

Politically she is well to the right. she supports Trident renewal and blasting foreign cities and civilians ,like baghdad, if the yanks say so.

I just do not see politicians like that cutting in Scotland any more.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 07:30
Make it £5,000

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 15:42
I was in Ireland not Outer Mongolia and I had constant access to any British papers I wanted and they were and are consistently anti Labour.

Despite boasts that the SNP would destroy Labour in Renfrewshire we got 17 seats each and the Labour Party got 1,500 more in the share of the vote.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 16:05

I’m touched by your concern, I haven’t met many Nats. who displayed such decency and good will to their Labour opponents.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 16:36

I think it’s the case that she like many in the Labour Party and movement have a better grasp of what working class struggle is about, we have over a hundred years of fighting this fight, if we are contemptuous of people like the SNP and the SSP etc. it’s because they are a diversion, flag wavers and badge kissers.

The SNP have no political anchor other than dislike of the English, they will join anyone and accept anything without a political thought, not unlike the Lib. Dems. They don’t really stand for anything.

The SSP etc. are nothing more than people who don’t have the stamina or the stomach for the real fight and prefer to stand on the sidelines and posture, capable of floating easily from Internationalism to Nationalism with breathtaking hypocrisy. I hope this helps.

Allan said...

Well the rather unkind description of Mason was mine, thats why there were no "" around them. I appologise for those remarks.

I think that every proper socialist will agree with me on the second paragraph. I don't really understand why you want to protect the second generation thatcherites that currently make up the current government. If you really want to blame someone, except the pro-New Labour media that we have in Scotland, blame Gordon Brown.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Allan) 26/07/08
There are thousands of good proper socialists in the labour Party, accusing me of wanting to protect Thatcherites means one of two things, either you do not read my blog or you are a liar.

Gordon Brown is a good decent and honest man and he has my full support and admiration, apart from the Record which is weak in it’s support where is the support for New Labour in the Scottish Media, who is attacking Brown, were they pro. Wendy, McConnell, McLeish ? Are the critical of Salmond ?

Anonymous said...

Hi Terry

Just thought I would let you know for the record: The SSP picked their candidate before Labour. At that time your touted candidate was a Councillor Ryan. We did not expect Labour to have such trouble finding anyone willing to stand such that they ended up having to change their own rules by having a teleconference NEC to allow Margaret Curran to stand. Therefore how we can stand accused of selecting our candidate to have the same surname as the Labour party candidate and thereby steal votes is beyond me. To summarise - we picked our candidate first, and at a time when nobody expected Margaret Curran to be a candidate.

Gerry McCartney

Anonymous said...

'“Some people seem to feel they've been taken for granted a wee bit” Some people have been getting fed this line morning noon and night by the anti Labour media would be more accurate.'

There is a bit of media input but I really belive that the result was fuelled in part by some resentment towards the Labour council in these parts.

Labour are bringing change to the East End but they're not telling folk about it! My partner works for planning in Glasgow City Council and there is a lot of great stuff in the pipeline as well as some more controversial developments. The thing is hardly anyone in Glasgow East knows about them.

By taken for granted I mean that Labour believe their vote is loyal and don't always take the time to let folk know what they are doing for them. Labour really have to do a fair bit of self-promotion.

Anonymous said...

I didn’t say the East End voters were confused, I said that the SSP insulted them by using a candidate with the same name.

Remind me Terry, who was announced as a candidate first?

Oh, that's right it was Frances Curran, because you lot were all too busy dithering over choosing your fifth choice candidate.

Your sour grapes are so pathetic it is funny.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 27/07/08

I’ll take your word for that Gerry, you wouldn’t stoop so low, the SSP though ?
I withdraw the accusation.

Anyway Labour lost by 300 odd and the “Judean people’s front” and the “Judean back to front people” got approx 1,000 votes between them, how does that make you feel ? Did you all get invited to the Ceilidh ?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 27/07/08
Labour have done a good job trying to rebuild after the ravages of the Tory years but the anti Labour media were never going to broadcast that.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(jane spencer) 16:05
Read my email to Gerry McCartney of the SSP - it’s anything but funny, you have delivered for the Tories again.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(jane spencer) 16:05
Read my email to Gerry McCartney of the SSP - it’s anything but funny, you have delivered for the Tories again.