Q - TO CLLR. MACKAY SNP, LEADER OF RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL. WHAT IS 2+2 ? CLLR. MACKAY, "IT DEPENDS HOW YOU LOOK AT IT" !

Council leader Mackay SNP recently made a complete hash of presenting figures relating to cuts in teaching jobs; his figures were a shambles and he was obliged to revisit them on several occasions resulting in the blame being laid at the door of some poor anonymous secretary who allegedly made a mistake. He desperately wriggled around trying to justify the loss of 122 teaching jobs using figures which were changeable and replaceable, various versions were used until they found the figures they wanted; still; you learn from your mistakes right ? well; in the case of the numerically challenged and hapless council leader it would appear not. Here we are a couple of weeks later and he has just issued another set of figures straight out of the “I Didilum & Co. Accountancy Manual”

Cllr. Mackay and the SNP/Lib. Dem. administration have quite rightly been slaughtered by everyone over the cuts in education, almost £9 million in fewer than two years, a shameful figure and one which he finds impossible to justify. The Council Leader has consistently claimed that education was protected proportionately better than any other council departments; this is serious stuff right? following the last debacle you would think would you not that robust measures would be put in place to avoid any more embarrassing accounting blunders? Well you would be wrong, he has quite unbelievably got this wrong as well.

Here are his latest spurious figures, put together to baffle people and allow him and the administration to wriggle away from the responsibility for their horrendous treatment of education in Renfrewshire.

Education savings (cuts) = 1.8%, proportionately less than all other Departments ? WRONG! THE FIGURE is 1.4% NOT 1.8%

Education has been protected with the 1.8% savings (cuts) proportionately below all other departments. STILL WRONG! THE FIGURE IS 1.4% NOT 1.8%. They can't even get it right when the truth is more favourable to them, this is serial incompetence, the Marx Brothers are now running Renfrewshire Council.

Once again Convener of Education Cllr. Cameron is conspicuous by her absence here; Derek has relegated her to the bench a few times like this when he reckons that a matter is so serious; that only his mighty intellect can deal with it. Can she possibly be any worse than him ? can anyone ? if I were her I would be asking for a transfer, he is humiliating her.

Wrong, and Wrong again Derek, back to the abacus and the dunce’s cap for you, an examination of Renfrewshire Council’s own figures show the following.

These figures clearly show that no less than 5 Depts. Were better treated than education, education was not as Cllr. Mackay says the best treated. Making a hash of the figures once is unfortunate doing it twice and so close together looks like it could be disingenuous.

The cuts of nearly £9 million in less than 2 years is the reason for the cuts in teacher numbers, making Renfrewshire the worst place in Scotland for pupil/teacher ratios in secondary schools and 2nd. worst for primaries as well as causing the poorest morale among educational workers in living memory. Well done Cllr. Derek Mackay; Education Convener Cllr. Cameron and the SNP, well done Eileen McCartin and the Lib. Dems. Have you no shame, no sense of decency?

Following Cllr. Mackay, Cllr. cameron and the Ed. Dept. last wretched venture in to statistics someone rather unkindly suggested that they were now obliged to remove their shoes and socks when counting past ten, I think it was meant as a joke then; but now! despite the shambolic dissaray of the teacher numbers you would expect a bit more rigour surely, If I was that typist who got stitched up the last time I would keep my shop steward close for a while.

Are you ;like me wondering if SNP Conveners/Leaders ever resign?

It's Pacquao in 8 rounds for me.

Every now and then someone in the world of boxing captures the imagination of the public in a way that most other sportsmen and women can only dream about; Ali, Sugar Ray 1&2, Duran, Marciano etc. you can pick your own favourites and we all like to argue over that famous phrase “pound for pound the best boxer in the world” I believe this was first said about Sugar Ray Robinson, not a bad place to start, we all have our opinions and my vote goes to Sugar Ray 1 so there I’ve said it.

It has been the great misfortune of Ricky Hatton that his career has coincided with 2 fighters who have with some justification laid claim to that unofficial title, Floyd Mayweather who knocked him out after coming back from retirement and the present incumbent in most boxing fans opinions, Filipino phenomenon Manny Pacquiao who will surely knock him out or stop him on Saturday night .

I like Hatton; he has a mighty heart and is a bit of a throwback to past fighters who feared no one, allways ready to take on anyone including world class yanks, unlike the serously flawed Joe Calzaghe who fought for 15 years befor finding his way to America to fight 44 year old ex champ Bernard Hopkins who still took him the distance. Hatton is capable of knocking out anyone he fights with his power and; perversely that has become a problem for him at the top level. At the dizzy heights where people like Mayweather; Pacquiao and latterly De La Hoya ply their trade any weakness is spotted and savagely exposed and to them; Ricky is a one trick pony, if he doesn’t knock you out you will beat him. This brutal logic is why these guys are the top in the business, further down the pecking order Ricky can knock out, stop and even outpoint opponents but Saturday night’s opponent could not be further away from the middle order fighters in that part of the pecking order.

Hatton I.M.O. is the warm up bout for the fight that everyone wants to see and the man waiting to step in to the ring with Pacquiao once he has defeated Hatton is our old friend the great boxing and dancing champion Floyd Mayweather who is of course retired again but; is still only 33 years old, you can smell the money from here.

I think Hatton will fade away after Saturday night but he owes no one a dime he has always given it everything. Manny gave De La Hoya a savage beating in his last fight and even although Oscar was past his best he is still a hand full for most fighters, he has surely now reached the stage where he looks across at the man in the opposite corner and sees a guy with a long beard and white robes who is carrying a scythe, he made his mark though. This little Filipino warrior is quite phenomenal he starts his fights at an incredible pace with incredible energy throwing countless punches from everywhere and from then on he steps it up a gear, his hand and foot speed will be too much for Hatton. Ricky is about to feel during this fight as if he is surrounded, I hope it’s a good pay night for him and he will cling to the old maxim of having a puncher’s chance, it’s one man against another etc. even if it is Manny Pacquiao.

Manny has already done something quite unusual for modern day boxing, in an interview he finished not by threatening to rip his opponents ear off and spit in the hole but; by wishing Hatton good luck, the same goes for me.

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY - REMEMBER "YE ARE MANY, THEY ARE FEW" (SHELLEY - THE MASK OF ANARCHY)

To Renfrewshire Council today to attend a rather dignified event called Workers Memorial Day, this is a day set aside to remember all workers who have been killed or injured at work or as a result of work. A modest crowd of Approx. 30 people gathered at the front of Renfrewshire Council’s main building where there is a plaque in honour of such workers. A lone piper played a lament and a couple of speeches were made followed by a minutes silence and then a photograph taken of everyone around the plaque. This took place at the side of the very busy path leading to the front entrance to the council and hundreds of visitors and council workers were coming and going as this took place, I formed the unfortunate opinion that the vast majority had no idea why we were there which is a great pity.

Recent events in the North Sea serve to remind us of the price of oil in much the same way as we were often reminded of the price of coal and fish in the past when disasters happened, these people deserve to be remembered and respected in the same way as others who have lost life and limb doing their jobs whether it be police fire ambulance or military, they all contribute to our society.

Undoubtedly one of the main causes of accidents and incidents at work is the drive for ever greater profits, for many years I worked in the Gas Industry which has it’s share of dangers and I’ve seen risks being taken because of money, I was lucky to be employed by direct labour with a strong union; unlike some of the unfortunate contract workers who did the same job as me for less pay and in far more dangerous conditions, many of these unfortunates were Irish immigrants who were being exploited, not unlike today in fact. This was as a result of the chase for profit, profit which makes the capitalist system which we live in corrupt and dangerous. Quite simply capitalism regards money as more important than people, I speak as someone who has worked on a building site on scaffolding while a contract worker doing the same job as me was working precariously high from a ladder and very little if any HSE on the site O.K this was 25 years ago but this lack of attention to HSE still goes on, it’s something that has got to change.

I caught a glimpse of old friend; comrade; and fellow Glenburn boy Alan Ritchie now General Secretary of Ucatt, the Construction Union on T.V. last night, he was breathing fire and brimstone over his interviewer as he mauled the industry; the Govt. and everyone else about failures to protect workers, he made the point that the Olympics was a possible major problem waiting to happen if HSE was not properly addressed. as he explained why the Olympic Games' building project risks disaster, he made the point that some firms were getting away with murder, just like that building site 25 years ago. Alan chairs the joint union committee which deals with the Olympic project and is quite rightly demanding that direct employment be used with proper union contracts. He also made the salient point that the Sydney Olympics using direct employment saw the loss of one life while the Athens Olympics which used a poorly regulated workforce saw 13 lives lost and they were only recording the registered nationals who died not the foreign workers, there s a high price to be payed for not being organised.

He said with cold fury that the best way of murdering someone in the UK today was to set up a construction company break HSE laws and get a derisory fine, as little as £7,000 in past cases.

It’s quite simple, any company who knowingly breaks HSE law resulting in accident or death should have those responsible put in prison and; much much more has to be allocated to this serious problem to stamp out what we are all used to calling “cowboy builders” those who have lost their lives and suffered horrible injuries deserve at least not to have suffered for nothing we as a society owe them that, think about them and workers everywhere today.

"THERE IS ONLY ONE THING WORSE THAN GETTING TALKED ABOUT, THAT'S NOT GETTING TALKED ABOUT. - DR. DAVID STARKEY - (AFTER OSCAR WILD)

What a stushie ! Question Time on the BBC and brave little Scotland is maligned by the evil English pantomime villain old “Stinky Starkey” Dr. David Starkey Historian to people like us. In measured upper class tones he describes our country as a feeble place, Bobby Burns as deeply boring and; horror of horrors; he cruelly describes the bagpipes as awful; well, “sumdae haud me back” I’ll marmalise him.

Starkey is a right wing populist commentator on almost everything, a “rent a quote” super star and he knows how to target his audience, lumbering inadequates like Mike Russell SNP MSP and minister for shortbread should wear a bulls eye target sewn to their a***s when taking him on; what an embarrassing mismatch, Starkey wins hands down, he can’t miss for several reasons.

Firstly he knows that there is more than a grain of truth in his comments, anyone who doubts his comments on Bobby Burns should be forced to read and re-read “my hearts in the highlands” Shakespeare, Shelley, Yeats etc. would have kenneled the fire with this doggerel while Burns fans claim it as great poetry. If you played bagpipes to prisoners you would end up in the Court of Human Rights for inflicting cruel and inhuman torture. People like Russell stupidly allow themselves to be forced in to a position of defending this junk and calling it our culture, Starkey is cute enough to know that.

Starkey also said once that the Queen “lacked education and had no idea of history” described her as “an uneducated housewife; who has simply been left some wonderful possessions” and said she was;” a bit like Goebbels in her attitude to culture” with the Queen at his Elizabeth I exhibition he recalled that “she seemed more concerned with the late arrival of her gin and wine than the displays” as well as saying "The Scots and the Welsh are typical small nations with a romantic 19th century-style nationalism." He is not all bad then right? He didn’t offer apologies for any of this and they can’t have his tongue cut out and nailed to the door of the Bloody Tower; nor can they stick his head on a pike outside Parliament so, I think the Oaf Russell can “whistle Dixie” for his apology.

Starkey is though; a genuine ugly B*****d of a man; cynical, cruel and reactionary. I believe this to be the result of frustration at having to live his life under the shadow of people like Eric Hobsbawn, A.J.P. Taylor, E.P. Thomson and many more, historians well out of his class people who never dreamed of behaving like him because they never had to and never would anyway. This is the cause of the calculated bad behavior and the endless sneering. But hold on, Mike Russell SNP falls for it and; I’ve just spent an hour writing about him, never again.

WE (THE SNP/ LIB. DEM. CABAL) DO THE CUTTING, YOU THE HEAD TEACHERS WILL TAKE THE BLAME !

What must head teachers in Renfrewshire think of the council’s education convener Cllr. Cameron SNP; they are unfortunately unable to comment but they will be upset obviously at the SNP/Lib. Dem. cuts in education of nearly £9 million in less than 2 years in office, who would blame them for that but, they get on with the job as best they can and do their utmost to deliver a good education service despite savage cuts by the SNP led administration.

Imagine their dismay then at the convener when she came away with this slippery piece of evasion; at a full council meeting when she and the administration were under attack for cutting music tuition in half she said in mid rant “anyway it wasn’t us who cut the music tuition it was the head teachers themselves who did that”

So, head teachers are told that they have to accommodate cuts of approx. £9 million and they are quite rightly included in the discussions about this. Cuts are identified in various fields which they are obliged to swallow and get on with it, one of the cuts we now know is music tuition which we also now know caused a furious reaction from parents, children, teachers and the public. From the parents of a P6 pupil to internationally renowned conductor James McMillan and music schools and musicians, from orchestras to newspaper music critics; the chorus of disapproval was and is overwhelming, the Glasgow Herald’s music critic Michael Tumelty furiously describing the SNP led councillors who took this decision as ‘lunatics’

This led to Cllr. Cameron’s lowest moment yet; when the heat was on and she was under pressure; when she and the administration should have had the courage of their convictions and stood up to be counted; when they should have done the honest thing and defended their actions what did she do? She shamefully shifted the blame on to the head teachers, remember these cowardly words “anyway it wasn’t us who cut the music tuition it was the head teachers who did that themselves”

Approx. £9 million of education cuts in under 2 years and the pain and dismay which must be going with those cuts, especially for the head teachers who still have to somehow deliver and; when one of the cuts blows up in to a storm of resentment what does she do? She runs and hides; she and the SNP can’t justify the cuts and they don’t have the courage to try.

Parent to Cllr. Cameron, Cllr. Mackay et al. “Why did you cut music tuition?” Cllrs. Cameron, Mackay et al. “it wisnae us; it wis a big boay who dun it an ran awa, an he looked like a head teacher” How goes the "esprit de corps" among the teaching profession in Renfrewshire with people like this in charge?

This is the reality of the SNP/Lib. Dem. administration folks, remember it in future.

SNP EXPOSED AGAIN - USING TENANTS THEN DOING A "U TURN" ON HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS.

Who remembers the consultation to transfer Renfrewshire’s council housing stock to a Housing Association? It was a couple of years ago and the tenants answered no by a very narrow margin. As always the parties fragmented in to the normal camps with the SNP keeping their powder dry until what they thought would be the most opportune moment for their own political gain, with a completely cynical disregard for the tenant’s welfare. The opposition were as always motivated by their desire to damage Labour rather than help the tenants. This was what we accused them and the other oppositionists of doing at the time and here we are now being proved correct.

Cllr. Mackay SNP and Cath McEwan SNP were on the shadow housing board along with me and other councillors, there were also people from no political parties who brought their experience to the table. Over a period of time we discussed matters and I mentioned to several of the non political people that I was sure that Mackay and McEwan would walk out with as much publicity as they could drum up when they thought the time was right, some of the less worldly members expressed doubt over this, and they made a point of saying sorry for doubting me when the walk out happened.

Was I right about their reasons? Well we now have an SNP led administration and guess what? Ferguslie Park Housing Association applied to have another consultation on the remaining council houses in Ferguslie and! come on, you’ve guessed it right? the SNP agreed to let them do it. There’s more, the housing which will be built on the site of the old empty council building will be of mixed tenure and will include so called ‘affordable housing’ these affordable houses will be built and owned by? Come on keep up; a “HOUSING ASSOCIATION “ with the SNP’s blessing, while bragging nationally about building council houses, locally they are using the Housing Associations, contradicting everythng they themselves said about them, humliating themselves again.

My position remains the same, what's best for the tenants comes first without being hidebound by old traditions; over the years I have worked with Ferguslie Park Housing Association in particular and I would have no hesitation in recommending them as suitable providers of affordable housing. The SNP have done another shameful “u turn” once again illustrating that they don’t really stand for; or believe in anything.

A little while ago Labour were accused by the SNP and the SSP (who are very quite about this) of ‘selling out the tenants’ ‘giving away our houses to the private sector’ ‘betraying our tenants’ etc. etc. and here we now are with the SNP embracing the Housing Associations, they have no dignity, and are an embarrassment to Renfrewshire and Scotland. The road to Damascus once again runs through Cotton St.

What a bunch of Janus faced hypocrites, broken promises continue to build up and they show themselves; not for the first or the last to be self serving slaves to expediency, nothing is worth anything to them, behaviour of this kind can only come from people and a party with no self respect and no honour whatsoever, the SNP.

"OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE" - SIR WALTER SCOTT.

Is anyone keeping count of the SNP’s lies from the last election? L.I.T. – Student Funding – Police No’s – Lower class sizes – School Building – 1St. home grants – etc. etc. there’s too many to remember them all, all lies, with no shame.

The latest is now upon us, the promise to provide free access to swimming pools for Scottish children is now officially an “Ambition” alas like all the others it’s no longer a “promise”

Glasgow and Inverclyde are the only councils now doing this but that’s no consolation for the wretched dissembling SNP because; these two councils were already doing this before the 2007 election.

Here are two deceitful fraudulent SNP statements; can you spot the change in the language?

“Children will be given free, year-round access to council swimming pools.”
SNP Manifesto 2007.

“Many local authorities in Scotland already provide free admission to public swimming pools for targeted groups, and we have a clear ambition to go further.”

SNP Sports Minister Shona Robison.

What will be next, Should we run a sweep? who will be the next Janus faced SNP minister to mouth such disingenuous guff? There seems to be nothing that they won’t say or do to avoid saying “we lied”

RENFREWSHIRE EDUCATION IN THE HANDS OF SNP CLLRS. WHO CAN'T GET THEIR SUMS RIGHT !

“Scottish Government have provided the resources to ensure that a council tax freeze will have no adverse impact on frontline services.”

Derek McKay, Paisley Daily Express, 28th January 2009.

It seems the more we investigate education cuts the more the SNP’s rhetoric unravels; we now have the truth about falling school numbers, the truth that is; as opposed to what the SNP and the Education Dept. have been telling us. recently Council Leader Derek Mackay over and above his risible quote at the top of the page rather condescendingly suggested that we didn’t understand how teacher numbers worked saying, (I paraphrase) “It’s really quite simple; as pupil numbers decline we require less teachers and Renfrewshire pupil numbers have declined by 1,000 this year compared to last year” this has allowed the SNP led Renfrewshire Council to cut 122 teachers this year.

Oops! I wonder if any of the officers involved in this are ex Maths teachers. You see we now know that the actual number of pupils less than last year is less than half that figure at 430, when I was in school you got the belt for that kind of error, it done me no harm as they say because; I am now confident that the SNP; even if their policy of getting rid of teachers was the right one, which it is not (ask Fyona Hyslop) they have made a huge mess of the figures can we look forward to Derek announcing new teaching jobs? what do you think? As if that wasn’t enough for the hapless Cllr. Mackay and the embarrassed officials; we learn from the latest Govt. Stats. that Renfrewshire now has the worst pupil teacher ratio in secondary schools in Scotland, oh and did I mention that Renfrewshire are second bottom over the whole of Scotland for this ratio in primary schools as well. Take a bow Education Convener Cllr. Cameron SNP and the SNP / Lib. Dem. administration with you and, once you have bowed, keep your heads down in shame.

During the last Labour administration we raised teacher numbers while rolls fell and this administration is cutting them.

“Sufficient funding has been provided to local government to maintain teacher numbers at 2007 levels which, at a time of falling rolls, provides headroom to make progress on reducing class sizes”

Fiona Hyslop SNP Govt. Education Minister.

The above statement was an SNP election lie; it’s not happening and it won’t; in Renfrewshire class sizes are rising rather than falling, another cruel SNP deception. Instead of reducing class sizes to 18 in Primary 1, 2&3 as promised the SNP here are saying that they will reduce P1, 2&3 to 25, they are not even attempting to disguise their contempt for parents, teachers and children they are quite shameful.

“we will cut music tuition by half and no children will be disadvantaged by this”

This is what the SNP / Lib. Dem cabal are saying, it’s not really necessary to analyse the statement too closely it has been put in print by Cllr. Cameron the chief architect of the fiasco that is now Renfrewshire Education as well as Cllrs. McLaren and McCartin it is breathtakingly stupid. They also agree that it is fair enough to half the tuition and keep the cost to the families the same, honestly, check it all for yourselves, I’m not making any of this up, this is the reality of the SNP – remember it in future.

The SNPs pathetic response to criticism of their Government’s failure on class sizes is that it’s councils and not Govt. who decide on class sizes which begs the obvious question, why did you put it in your manifesto then? Was it; as now seems obvious; to lie to people and con them into voting for you? You don’t need to answer that we have all worked it out.

"REPORTS OF MY DEATH ARE AN EXAGERATION" - (EL COMMANDANTE FIDEL) - (AFTER MARK TWAIN)

JFK was probably the first American President to realize that Fidel Castro was a very difficult man to frighten; he was courage personified, added to that was a fine mind, an enormous doze of charisma and the absolute conviction that his cause was just. Kennedy knew after the Bay of Pigs invasion that he would either have to bomb the island back to the Stone Age; make some kind of deal or; create a “Mexican Stand Off” The hawks advising him knew that the bombing was not an option no matter how much they wished it was; the deal with a communist regime was likewise a non starter and, they therefore settled for the 3rd. solution. They wrongly assumed that a tiny 3rd. world country would be unable to survive the hostility and power of the worlds mightiest super power, the rest as they say is history, history created in no small part by the man who was to become one of the century’s greatest icons, a beacon of hope to millions and a hate figure to those who felt threatened by his communist revolution, Fidel Castro.


At his trial in 19 53 for the attack on the Moncada Barracks which saw him go to prison Fidel said “Condemn me. It does not matter. history will absolve me” fast forward 50 years and the new president of America Barak Obama is putting in place measures which should have been put in place by Kennedy and every other American president since, like Vietnam, the ingredient that none of us foresaw was the speed of developing communications. Vietnam was lost because the world was watching it on TV and Cuba was also in the public eye making it more and more difficult for the Americans to justify their aggression against their tiny Cuban neighbours. As Ali said to the visibly tiring Foreman in the “rumble in the jungle” “George you’re in the wrong place to get tired” So it was with successive presidents who found themselves facing the wrong man to get tired against, none of them wanted to be the one to say “uncle” for fear of being branded soft on communism, Obama’s stance is made to look all the more courageous when you consider the posturing of past incumbents.


It’s no secret that I am a huge admirer of Fidel and the Cuban revolution, their achievements in education health and housing are the stuff of legend; particularly as the USA stood over them snarling. I wonder what is going through Castro’s mind now; no one can seriously doubt that he has triumphed and so has Cuba, they have better infant mortality rates as well as better literacy and numeracy rates than their mighty neighbour; Fidel will as usual play this cleverly; this is where he wants to be heading and he will play the ageing diplomatic statesman to the manner born. He knows that the key to Cuba’s future is co-operation with America and he also knows that Obama knows that America’s position on Cuba at a time when they are dealing with China, Russia and even North Korea is becoming more and more untenable and also making America look like a foolish bully.


No USA president has ever been a match for him and Obama will be all to aware of that; he will make the right noises and make progress gradually, this will still take time and it’s only the beginning but it’s a hugely significant start. The American Senators who met Castro described a friendly, fit, healthy man whose mind was as sharp as ever despite his age, He must be overjoyed at seeing this turn of events, he is back at centre stage again and even his enemies must be wondering what they are up against. If he meets Obama the fly on the wall in Castro’s office will have the most envied position in the political world for that meeting.


If I were Fidel I would be tempted to say to Obama; “welcome Mr. President as you can see we are still standing and still maintaining our revolution, what has happened to America? It looks like Capitalism collapsed before Cuba did” he won’t of course; he is a lot smarter than me; a lot smarter than a lot of folk in fact. If only he were 20 years younger.

MARK HIRST IS AN SNP ADVISOR AND EMPLOYEE - HONESTLY!

Mark Hirst, SNP researcher to Christine Grahame MSP, what a pairing; the woman who hates the world and everyone in it and the Spin Doctor who stokes that hatred. Sacked by Sandra White SNP MSP for calling the Union Flag “the butcher’s apron” a phrase I first heard uttered by another character consumed by hatred Cllr. Bruce McFee SNP; a charming man who recently used the phrase “the final solution” in a debate in Renfrewshire Council about Travelling People. Displaying characteristic SNP loyalty Hirst tried to drop White in it by suggesting that she sanctioned his comments.

This guy now dips his toe into the churning waters of Irish politics in a most unsavoury way; he claims that the peace process is a sham by Sinn Fein; he reckons that they do not want quick progress; why? because according to him using 50 year old sectarian language; they intend to outbreed the British Unionists. Mr. Hirst is quite happy to slither around in the sectarian filth which most decent people are trying to make a thing of the past; he claims that the plan is to have more catholic voters than protestant and by doing that they can vote for a United Ireland. This is not the drunken sectarian bigot of the street riots and the football terraces, this is an SNP employee with influence in the party, an advisor to an SNP MSP, Christine Graham, if ever a couple deserved each other; this is the face of the SNP.

Years ago at the time of the Paisley double By Election I made my way to a preordained pub for a beer when the polls closed before going to the count. While in the pub a group of what I could only describe as goons came in; about 6 of them; all dressed in black wearing SNP stickers on one lapel and another yellow badge like an arrow on the other, I think they saw themselves as some sort of elite para military SNP group although they would not say who they were. It stays in my memory because they were handing out a small news letter which was blatantly Anti Labour, Anti English and Anti Catholic it’s headline read “keep Scotland protestant- vote SNP” I have often wondered what happened to them and their followers, have they been absorbed into the SNP mainstream I wonder.

This SNP employee (Hirst) also claims that Sinn Fein’s tactics will stir up disorder and the Unionist UK Govt. will use this disorder to frighten Scottish voters away from independence, sometimes the tartan veil slips and we get a glimpse of the ugly face of Scottish Nationalism don’t we. I urge everyone to monitor this guy’s situation, will he be dealt with? my money says; no he wont, my guess is that he has too much popular support in the SNP for the men in grey kilts to touch him.

For a good cause.

This is an excerpt from my daughter Rayleen's blog - it's a very good cause and I hope people will contribute.

Thursday, April 02, 2009
Race for Life

SPONSOR US PLEASE!!

A group of the girlies from work and myself are going to be doing the Race for Life for cancer research in Glasgow this June. There are 11 of us taking part and this link (http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/TRS) is where you would go to make a donation. We may only be walking the course but we are still training hard and hoping that we raise enough money to make all of us proud. So many of our lives are touched by cancer and this is a great way of showing that you care, making a difference and who knows your donation of £5 could be that extra amount that funds the cure of this horrific disease. Over the last ten years alone we have made dramatic improvements in treatments and prevention so your donation really will make a difference. Thanks have to go to TRS as they have been a fantastic support, please give generously, and thanks in advance from ...Sharon, Rayleen, Karen, Sheila, Jennifer, Belinda, Nicola, Ashleigh, Charlene, Heather & Gillian. XXX

"FLANNELLED FOOLS AT THE WICKET OR THE MUDDIED OAFS AT THE GOAL" ( R. KIPLING.)

The quote above is my old mate Kipling trying to put sport in to perspective, he reckoned that sport acted as a diversion from more serious matters. Years ago I used to say and still do that football clubs should take more responsibility for the education and development of their young players. Kids as young as 12 are signed and developed in to professionals in an environment where they are not encouraged to think about anything but football; often to the detriment of their general character. The result can be a ‘man child’ on the scrapheap in his late teens through lack of ability or injury with no training or skills to do anything else, lost to football and society, tragic. Or alternatively a ‘man child’ living a glamorous life with wealth beyond the dreams of avarice but; just like the tragic ones, with no skills or training in anything except football.

I recall watching a television piece years ago where the cameras were given access to Celtic training and the players relaxing, it was funny ha ha and funny peculiar as well as we watched them cavorting around playing practical jokes on each other and; listening to their banter became embarrassing as these grown men, approx 25 to 35 years old talked and behaved like 14/15 year old schoolboys. They were completely unselfconscious as they addressed each other by the most childish and completely inappropriate ‘nicknames’ Johnny Doyle was called Doyley not Johnny, Ronnie Glavin was called Glavey not Ronnie, Roy Aitken was Aitkey not Roy, it was clear that they lived in a bubble and had made little progress as thinking adults since signing as schoolboys. Inevitably they would appear on the front pages rather than the back ones because of some indiscretion when allowed out; caused in no small measure by their completely alien daily lives, as long as they could kick a ball on a Saturday nothing mattered. In actual fact they were not the only ones to blame when incidents happened that showed them in a very bad light nor for that matter is Barrie Ferguson despite his puerile behaviour.

Clubs nowadays are more involved in a young player’s development over and above football and rightly so, they now realise that a young man with money; cars and fame who has no grounding in how to behave normally will sometimes go completely off the rails. In Ferguson’s case it was an accident waiting to happen and he is not entirely to blame, his rise to fame was spectacular but it was always IMO tinged with falseness, a talented player for sure but not, definitely not the world class performer that the wretched Scottish Football press built him up to be while encouraging Rangers vast support to think along the same lines. You can’t fool all of the fans all of the time and some of the more astute fans knew what they were watching, an above average; talented player; certainly good enough for Scotland’s international team but not captain marvel as some would have us believe.

I believe that his own native intelligence would have told him this in a quite voice that gnawed at him, he came to know this and it grated on him for years, he was lauded by a puerile Scottish sports press who recklessly created a hero who was fatally flawed, these are the bastards who are now baying for his blood. He was all to aware in his heart of hearts that when it came to the real big tests he couldn’t compete with the real world stars, he turned in to a nasty piece of work borne of frustration, snarling at everyone including his own team mates. Had he been nurtured as a young player and taught about life as well as football he may have avoided this ignominy, those responsible for running his club and his life are culpable, how could the game he loved and his captaincy of club and country cause a young man to be consumed by such anger and aggression? Football needs to look at itself.

Him and the goalkeeper McGregor’s behaviour was outrageous and their response to their punishment made them look like; as I said; overgrown spoilt kids with very little grasp of real life. They will both be trying to come to terms now with the fact that they were not untouchable and sometimes even they have to answer for their behaviour, it’s a great pity that no one was able to direct them as youngsters in a way which could have avoided this. I think that a period away from the Scottish football goldfish bowl might suit them both I hope so.

They are guilty sure enough but so are all the clubs who put results and profits before a young player’s well being and development not just their football development, those clubs are aided and abetted by a grasping unspeakable Scottish sporting press who are the scum of the earth.

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast. (Congreve)

The big match was scheduled to take place today in the council chamber; today we would get to the bottom of why the SNP/Lib.Dem. Cabal cut music tuition in schools in half, right? wrong I’m afraid. You see you can only have a match/contest if both sides turn up and today the SNP led administration didn’t show; they were there in body of course; minus their spines; but fled the scene after about 15 Mn's. cowering behind a procedural scam which they concocted to avoid having to defend their policy of cutting music provision in Renfrewshire Schools . The packed gallery was aghast at the crude cynicism displayed by Scotland’s bravehearts, make no mistake about it, these people are the lowest of the low when it comes to political chicanery.

The rules are that the motion must be moved and seconded which was done by Labour’s Jim Harte and Ian McMillan, any amendment must then be moved and then seconded, this was done by Cllr.Cameron SNP and Cllr. McCartin Lib.Dem. The rules are that at any time after this anyone can move “that the question be put” and if the Convener; in this case Cllr C Lawson SNP is satisfied that enough discussion/debate has taken place she can agree to the vote. Despite the fact that not one speaker out with the movers and seconders had had a chance to speak, she gave the go ahead and the SNP/Lib. Dems. won the vote and then slithered away, the meeting was over and the SNP had quite disgracefully stopped the debate taking place.

Ironically the man responsible for leading this ignominious retreat was none other than braveheart Bruce McFee, the self styled political bruiser and SNP tough guy, he was first to hide behind a procedural trick and ran away from the fight, he crept off “homeward tae think again” equally responsible I’m sad to say was Provost Celia Lawson SNP who is normally one of the few SNP members to show human tendencies, she could have prevented this and inexplicably she didn’t, I can only assume that she was sufficiently instructed by the fundie tendency, likewise Cllr. Derek Mackay, they both couldn’t get out quick enough and Mackay significantly didn’t say a word. “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown Derek”, this was a victory for Brucie, watch yer back son.

These Philistine vandals have robbed Paisley children of the right to learn and enjoy music, think what this country would be like with these people holding an overall majority; the smell of burning books would be everywhere to the perpetual sound of pipes and drums playing, a nightmare scenario that doesn’t bear thinking about.

The worst Education Convener in living memory; Cllr. Cameron SNP remains defiant and stands by her statement that music students in Standard Grade and Higher will not be disadvantaged by the musical tuition being halved; because the provision for this level will remain the same. This is a cause for worry not just because it’s incredibly stupid but; because there is no one on her own side who can take her aside and say look for F***s sake you idiot “the child in the year before Standard Grade will; by the time he/she gets to S.G. have lost half a years tuition and, even worse; the child doing music in primary 6 will; by the time that he/she gets to S.G. have lost a possible 3 years tuition. It’s not a great idea therefore to say they won’t be disadvantaged now is it? None of them are prepared to say anything, what is going on? can they all be that stupid or are they all feart from her.

Anyway the matter will not rest there; we will continue to pursue this and strive to get the children of Renfrewshire back their entitlement to proper music tuition, one music expert reckoned that deciding to destroy a music tradition is easy and quick, building it back up is a momentous struggle, we must not allow the SNP/ Lib. Dems. to get away with this, I urge people to complain to their councillors particularly if they are SNP/Lib.Dems. Let them know how you feel about this despicable and small minded act of educational vandalism.