THE SNP/LIBDEM EDUCATIONAL VANDALISM IN RENFREWSHIRE GOES FURTHER.

Cllr. Cameron SNP (P.D.E. Dec. 29 2010) shamelessly suggests that replacing 60 primary teachers with unqualified sessional workers will benefit our children; I find it difficult to accept that anyone could actually believe this let alone Cllr. Cameron who is convener of Education. This is what the SNP/Libdem coalition intend to do, sack 60 primary teachers and replace them with unqualified sessional staff. Not satisfied with cutting over £12m. from the education budget in 3 years, closing schools, cutting music tuition, leaving us with the worst pupil teacher ratios in Scotland, removing school transport and causing the worst teacher morale in living memory they intend to continue wielding the knife.

These unqualified staff will work on subjects like citizenship, better health, sport and cultural activity. As far as I'm aware these things already form part of the learning experience in our primary schools so what is this really about? At the Labour Group meeting where these proposals were put £1.2 million of savings was mentioned: not by me I hasten to add; it was said by Mr. Naylor the Director of Education for Renfrewshire Council.

Claiming to improve education by sacking 60 teachers and bringing in unqualified sessional workers is the most bizarre suggestion I have heard since Cllr. McCartin Libdem leader stated in a letter to the Glasgow Herald that our music students would benefit once the SNP / Libdem coalition cut their music tuition in half. That is a true statement, from the woman who is deputy council leader and convener of social work services.

This is about cuts, not improving our children's education. The SNP/Libdem administration on Renfrewshire Council are morphing into a version of the Tory/Libdem Government at Westminster, they clearly share the Governments enthusiasm for vicious cuts to services and they also share their determination to make the most disadvantaged pay the price. It is another example of the contempt that the SNP/Libdem administration have for the electorate; compounded by their arrogant attempts to convince us otherwise.

CABLE, CLEGG, THE LIBDEMS, THE SNP – APOLITICAL AND AMORAL EVERY LAST TREACHEROUS ONE OF THEM.

Being the kind of person I am, I am loving every minute of Vince Cable's humiliation, this being Christmas I hope that what is happening to him is even more painful and embarrassing than it would normally be. Modern British political history has been tainted by the emergence of squalid little self serving groups of liars and backbiting groups since the gang of 4 formed the Liberal Democrats. Rogers, Owen, Williams and Jenkins: each one with a personal grudge set the scene and later merged with the Liberals, a historically significant party sold out by weak politic lightweights like the wretched David Steel, a man who missed his vocation in life, he was born to play Uriah Heep. Dennis Healy summed the lot of them up with his description of the truly treacherous and disingenuous David (Lord) Owen "the good fairy made him handsome, charismatic and intelligent, then the bad fairy came along and made him a shit" Dennis whom I rarely agreed with certainly got that one right!

A year ago most people could not have told you who Cable: Clegg: Moore: Alexander etc. were. People like me who devote a lot of time to politics knew the reason for that and more and more members of the public are now discovering that reason. They were and still are nonentities and we are now seeing the consequences of such people being put in power, those who knew these cowards knew they would roll over for anyone who would give them a sniff of power, the same thing happened in Renfrewshire when the Libdems rolled over and were bought by the SNP add the arrogant Libdem leader in Renfrewshire the Bully McCartin to that list of infamy.

While McCartin and her lap dogs are happy to cut schools, libraries, swimming pools, school transport etc. etc. Clegg and Cable swore on a stack of Bibles that they would never concede certain dearly held principles. Does the term dearly held principles mean the same to Libdems as it does to other people? Let's have a look and see: I would suggest that among all the crap spouted by the Libdems the best known is PR this we were assured was their Raison d'être their reason for being in politics they abandoned it for a job with the Tories. No rise in Tuition Fees was a solemn promise to students and they sold the students down the river as well. I remember arguing in the council with Libdem leader McCartin who was vehemently opposed to nuclear power: it was her party's policy and she was proud of it: now as part of the Tory Govt. They have ditched that as well. Then we have Trident, non negotiable they said well guess what? They lied about that as well and have accepted the Tory Trident position.

Here in Renfrewshire we have the awful spectacle of the Libdems supporting the Tory Govt. while in coalition with the Local SNP who oppose the Tory Govt. two parties clinging to power despite having to tell all kind of stories to stay there it is humiliating for them but they don't have the courage to do the right thing. Blatant hypocrisy fits them like a glove: the inexperienced and cowardly council leader Derek Mackay SNP in a moment of blind terror at a council meeting stuttered out from panic stricken lips that the Tory/ Libdem Government cuts "were about right" while the vicious Libdem leader McCartin sails on like like a Mafia Don prepared to sink to any depths for the money and a taste of power: for her there is nothing: Cuts, Tuition Fees, Trident, PR etc. etc. that would interfere with what benefits her she would happily send weans back up chimneys if there was something in it for her.

Let's face reality here, the Tories, the Libdems and the SNP deserve each other, when the chips are down there is no difference between them and they will eventually pay the price for such deception and absence of any morality. We will remember them at future elections.

WIN LOSE OR DRAW; THE STUDENTS HAVE CHANGED THE GAME – THEY HAVE SHOWN THAT DECENCY, COURAGE AND SOLIDARITY ARE STILL PART OF THEIR MAKE UP.

Watching the establishment close ranks against the students has been exasperating and entirely predictable. The overwhelming consensus from the sewer that is Murdochland is that the students are a gang of thugs who are out of control and only interested in violence and destruction, readers of this blog will recall that that was what I predicted when the first demonstration took place. To put it all into some kind of perspective we now have a situation where spraying graffiti on Winston Churchill's statue is a far greater crime than assaulting a young student by hitting him over the head with a truncheon and causing him to be admitted to hospital to undergo brain surgery and this after refusing him medical attention. Stories as expected are now being invented and credited to "sources" among the student protestors and lies reported as "an insider told us" etc. etc. Theresa May the Home Secretary is now blatantly stating that the students were a disgrace and bent on violence, due process anyone? Will a judge throw out any charges because the Home Secretary has prejudiced the outcome? Will we see any charges brought against any Police Officers?

"honest M'Lud it was the horse's fault that the protestor got trampled not mine"

Meanwhile one or two papers are telling different stories but they are being dwarfed by the Murdoch Empire and you will look in vain to find any TV or Radio programme prepared to break ranks. Dig deep; persevere; and you might find references to unprovoked brutal police tactics; not necessarily from students but from adults who were there and many of them are of exemplary character some were parents of some of the students and many were education professionals, teachers, lecturers etc. Very little evidence is caught on film of the violence reported by the obsequious media but that doesn't stop them from painting word pictures for us that are shameless in their bias and pro establishment leanings.

Let me delicately throw in another part of the jig saw that has not been mentioned, I am doing this because I have experience of such matters. I have been on many picket lines and demonstrations in my 62 years the most obvious would of course be the coal disputes (coal disputes not Miners Strikes) the fawning media insist on 'miner's strikes' because that description avoids telling us that there are two sides to every dispute and perhaps it's possible that either side could be wrong, even the employer/government side. There was a thing called the "picket line shuffle" we would link arms and so would the cops and we would shove each other back and forth with lots of threatening noise etc. the only injuries sustained at this were toes trod upon, we used to chat away to the cops during this performance. They took great delight in thanking us for the overtime pay they were making and we would wind them up by asking where their ID numbers were.

The ID numbers were missing again in Parliament Square, pickets were told on the coal dispute lines by some numberless cops that they weren't in fact cops but military, who would have thunk it? In democratic Britain as well with a law abiding Tory Govt. running the country. Here is another mystery from those days. When hostilities were done for a while miners and their sympathisers would debrief and discuss the day's events and it became obvious after a while that we were asking ourselves who some of our own team were. Many of them were not known and they were mostly unwilling or incapable of taking instructions from the union marshals, they appeared and disappeared with the trouble, they were not the usual suspects, Anarchists: Socialist workers; Maoists etc. they were well known to us so who were they?

"Agents Provocateurs" are people who incite crime to get someone else arrested and have been used by Govts. For centuries for this purpose and I'm not talking about the political agitators here I'm referring to the forces of the state. Many believe including me that It was done during the coal disputes and I have no reason to doubt that the present Govt. would do it again, Is it possible do you think that we might have seen them in Parliament square the other night?

WHEN THE TORY/LIBDEM WESTMINSTER BOAT GOES DOWN THE LAST TWO RODENTS FIGHTING OVER THE LAST LIFEBELT WILL BE CLEGG AND CABLE.

Who remembers Vince Cable raising a laugh by describing Gordon Brown as Mr. Bean ? I guess that Brown being the man he is would not have taken any great satisfaction were he watching Cable today leading the Govt. on his bill to raise Student fees. Cable was more "Mr. Has Been than Mr. Bean" and me being the kind of man I am, unlike Gordon Brown revelled in his wretched performance at the despatch box. A hesitant shifty exhibition from a man whose political star is falling as fast as the snow surrounding us; and very few are more deserving of a spectacular fall from grace than this quack of a politician. Round here we have a saying to describe a person who simply can't be trusted: we say "He/She has more faces than the town hall clock" and Mr. Cable displays every devious one of them. His already collapsing body language was such that we half expected to see a crumpled suit with no one in it as his masters P.M. Cameron and Deputy P.M. Clegg left the chamber before the debate started, a case of rats leaving a sinking ship surely. Whether the Govt. carries the day is now neither here nor there as far as the Liberal Democrats are now concerned, their mendacity is clear for all to see; they no longer have anywhere to hide and are staring into the political void and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of crooks and backstabbers.

It would be difficult indeed to find a clearer cut case of a political party being so palpably caught out and shown as a bunch of fraudulent shabby crooks. They have been exposed for the way they conduct politics, which is to promise everything to everyone safe in the knowledge that they will not be in the chair when the music stops as Pat McFadden Labour MP so eloquently put it in the debate. That is why they signed the NUS pledge but they are in the chair and they have been exposed as opportunists who stand for nothing. It was not as they are trying to say now only one part of their manifesto it was a central plank and deliberately designed to buy student votes. It is now 18:47 PM and we know that 28 Libdem shysters voted with the Tory Govt. the bill to raise tuition fees and cut the education teaching budget by 80% has been agreed because of the support of the Liberal Democrats, will people remember this act of treachery.

Will any of you; like me; spare a thought for the bright boys or girls who because of what happened today in Parliament will not manage to access higher education. Perhaps the one who would have discovered a cure for cancer or the common cold could have been one of those youngsters who missed out because of what the Tories and Liberal Democrats did today, we can't say can we? Perhaps one of them could have become the ordinary hard working teacher who inspired a young pupil to enter higher education and go on to achieve things which could be of benefit to society. We will never know but we do know that it is possible and that makes them (the Govt.) guilty of vandalism against us all. When talent, intelligence and diligence fails because the Govt. for ideological reasons places financial penalties in the way of young people we, you and me and all of those protesting students and their families have a right to damned angry. The gutter media has already started to trash the protestors and it will get vicious. That makes it even more important that progressive forces and progressive people stand four square behind the students and refuse to be lied to by Murdochism. If we allow the Govt. to carry on down this road we will be back to the vicious eighties and the evil shadow of Thatcher will descend on us again. Time for the whole Labour movement, parties unions and the rest of decent society to stand firm, raise our voices so they can be heard in the Camen Isles and the Bahamas where the tax dodging Tories are wintering.

Another shameful step has been taken towards a society long desired by the Tories and most Liberal democrats where those who are fit and well off don't pay for the poor and sick while those parents who do not have children or are well off do not pay to educate the children of parents who are less well off, and our society slips back again under these political fraudsters. Once again we here in Renfrewshire are left wondering at the completely untenable position of the SNP in the local council. Today in the fees debate the SNP were fierce in their anger against the Liberal Democrats. SNP MP Pete Wishart was particularly aggressive and angry he treated the Libdems with scorn and not a little contempt, one can only assume that Mr. Wishart was performing a little cameo for the cameras. This situation again shows the contempt that the Renfrewshire SNP/Libdem cabal have for the voters; how can they (SNP _ Libdems) be at each other's throats in Westminster and in bed together in Renfrewshire? They are now following a pattern; recently the SNP led administration in Renfrewshire refused to condemn the Tory/Libdem budget of savage cuts from Westminster when the SNP leader and Holyrood candidate Derek Mackay said at a council meeting and I quote "the cuts are about right"

Today saw a new low for the Tories and an even deeper low for the Liberal Democrats at Westminster, young people in future will pay the price of their duplicity, for the sake of a whiff of power and a ministerial car. Nonentities like Danny Alexander and Michael Moore both Liberal Democrats prove to be as handy a pair of MP's as money can buy, while here they continue to enjoy the support of SNP council leader Derek Mackay and his 'minder' deputy council leader the Libdem Leader Eileen McCartin. In all honesty readers can any of you bring yourselves to vote for these people again?

“BLISS WAS IT IN THAT DAWN TO BE ALIVE- BUT TO BE YOUNG WAS VERY HEAVEN” (WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Another day of huge student protests passes and the ruin of society predicted by the Sun, Telegraph and Daily Mail did not seem to happen. Instead what we got was a display of anger tempered with self restraint and determination to be heard, this time there were far more young students from schools rather than universities. Attempts by the right wing media to portray all of this as violent anarchy are failing: they are failing because of increasing technology, it is harder now for the police to lie about numbers present as well as using excessive force against protesters because it is a fact that in a large crowd nowadays perhaps 90% of those present will have a mobile phone/camera, even the most diligent and brutal police group find it difficult to seize tens of thousands of cameras and smash them. Even then they used mounted police to charge demonstrators who were perfectly well behaved, a fact that the Chief of Police knew nothing about when interviewed later, there is a pattern here, like the Brazilian electrician shot dead and the newspaper seller whose manhandling by police led to his death. The police issue several versions of events changing them as quickly as they are exposed as lies, we await with patience to hear why it was thought necessary to charge the crowd with horses, perhaps while they are at it they will explain why it was also necessary to keep thousands of young people under collective arrest without charge or evidence of crime; some as young as 13 for nine and a half hours in freezing conditions without water or access to toilet facilities. We may have to wait a long while, meanwhile can we not dispense with our hypocritical babbling about our precious democracy and freedom. When police can: with impunity hold thousands in captivity and prevent people from walking down a street peacefully, boasts about democracy and freedom etc. are flawed and hollow, it's about time we admitted it.

Finding amidst the demonstration a police van unattended slap bang in the middle of the oncoming crowd struck me as being very suspicious; am I alone in finding this rather bizarre? It was the type of vehicle which we see carrying officers to various locations where they are deemed to be needed, where were they? Did the "Mets. Finest" turn and flee abandoning their van in the face of the baying hordes intent on violence and havoc? Some of those 13 year olds can be particularly vicious you know: I suppose you can't be too careful. I have searched in vain to find an explanation for a police van abandoned; not parked remember but abandoned to the mercies of the vicious hordes of nasty 13 year olds and even worse 17 and 18 year old female students whose violence is legendary. Unfortunately for the vicious press liars and for whoever thought up the idea of leaving the van in the hope that it would provide bad coverage of the demonstrators the technology I mentioned kicked in. We got some stunning photos of a very dignified and determined group of teenage schoolgirls who had formed a cordon around the van to prevent it being vandalised, well done to those girls. Perhaps we will get an explanation for that, maybe some of the press photographers who were right on the spot at exactly the right time to catch some youngsters climbing on to the roof and kicking the van. Some of the crowd were so vicious that they could plainly be seen cooperating with the press photographers who asked them to kick the van again so they could get a better picture, perhaps it is just the case that British rioters are so much more better behaved than our European colleagues "after you Cecil with the iron bar" "no no you first old chap" it's British breeding probably.

The students continue to lead the way and the Unions are making the right noises about massive resistance to the Tory/Fibdem Govt. Some Govt. people BTW in offering a solution for the economic situation have hit on the not so innovative idea of blaming the lower orders for breeding so much, we have been here before and they serve to remind us of the utter viciousness of the Tory Party and the pathetic obsequiousness of the spineless Fibdems who stand for nothing absolutely nothing, no political anchor and no lie they would not tell to get a taste of power, no cause they would not ditch, they are crooks and crawlers everyone of them.

I congratulate the students again and I also encourage the unions and every other person and or organisation that believes in justice and fairness to do everything we can to rid us of these parasites once and for all and don/t forget we are not just talking here about Tories we now have a cabal of backstabbing liars and traitors propping them up, the Liberal Democrats who will if there is any justice never be forgiven or forgotten, they have gone the same way as the treacherous SNP when they brought us Margaret Thatcher and they, like the SNP will have to wear that badge of shame for a long long time, in my case for ever. Direct action is the way forward; don't make the mistake of thinking that we are dealing with an honourable enemy. Think back to Thatcher and before her as well. The enemy are the self seeking supporters of Capitalism whether they are prominent and bullish Tories or underhand crawlers like the Liberal Democrats and the Tartan Tories of the SNP we must be determined to take them on and the place to do it is not the late night TV studios, the place to do it is the streets.

Posted by Cllr Terry Kelly at Sunday, November 28, 2010
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THE WORLD SURVIVED REAGAN AND BUSH, CAN WE SURVIVE PALIN?

When 'Spitting Image' ran a sketch years ago showing President Ronald Reagan answering one of his aides by saying "Nicaragua? that's the big guy with the beard aint it?" we all laughed uneasily, we knew the biggest military and economic country in the history of the planet was being lead by a congenital idiot and the world was a less safe place because of it but: Corporate America was willing to risk it because they would get seriously rich, so what! that's Capitalism right!

Fast forward on a nightmare journey and we find another congenital idiot George Bush as president of America he once said ''Our politically correct society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards...There's going to be a retard summit at the White House.''
We laughed and showed a rictus grin as the Bush years held the world in an uneasy embrace: we had stopped asking by then how such people could become so powerful. Corporate America smiled from the sidelines as it's pockets bulged with green, that's Capitalism right!

Right now we watch horrified as the never ending Korean conflict flares up again with nuclear capability on both sides; we should all be reflecting uneasily that one of the apparently plausible presidential candidates for 2012 is Sarah Palin: believer in witchcraft; slaughterer of animals for fun and congenital idiot. When asked what newspapers and magazines she reads on a political talk show she couldn't name a single one and said
"All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years. Two days ago when asked about the Korean flare up she said "But obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies."

North Korea backed by China are the communist enemies of South Korea who are backed by America. I sometimes think that I remember this stuff as part of a nightmare. This woman could conceivably become the most powerful person on the planet: the world looks on aghast and says "surely even Americans can't be that stupid" but: we said that before with Reagan and Bush did we not? Corporate American crooks continue to win while placing idiots in positions of great power and they thus ensure that their wealth continues to grow. Here is a nice thought as we approach Christmas, cherish the season of Peace & Goodwill and try not to think 2 years ahead try not to think that in Reagan, Bush and Palin we could have lived under the world leadership of the third congenital idiot American President, all of whom had and still have access to the Nuclear Codes.

POSITIVE ACTION IN HOUSING [home@paih.org] ACTIVELY STANDING UP FOR JUSTICE AND PROTECTING OUR GOOD NAME.

The British Government have been thwarted from carrying out appalling policies against Asylum Seekers in Glasgow, vigilance is required against any further attempts to persecute people who are very vulnerable and living in our midst. Let's make it clear that we will oppose any further attempts to disperse these people who are now our neighbours, read the following statement by the agency protecting them.

STATEMENT REGARDING CANCELLING OF UNITED KINGDOM BORDER AGENCY (UKBA) LETTER TO 600 GLASGOW FAMILIES BY DAMIAN GREEN, IMMIGRATION MINISTER + URGENT FUNDING APPEAL FROM POSITIVE ACTION IN HOUSING
Glasgow MPs Have stated that immigration minister Damien Green has cancelled a letter forcing asylum seekers out of their home with 3 days notice. We understand from Glasgow City Council sources that the UKBA now recognise the timetable is unachievable. Negotiations between them and the Council, GHA and Y people are to continue. Council officers are trying to point out the merits of the existing contract and the risks of terminating it. More information will be provided by Friday 26 November.

A Council source today informed Positive Action in Housing that:
"It is important to remember that this is not just about accommodation. Glasgow Council has a dedicated and well qualified/trained team who act as gateway to whole range of services from council and other bodies - social work, education, translation, medical services. Ypeople (YMCA) are not equipped to handle the larger numbers and already rely on council services and support. Angel Group cannot get even the accommodation right far less provide any support."

Robina Qureshi, Director, Positive Action in Housing, said:
"We welcome the fact that the Immigration Minister has cancelled the UK Borders Agency's potential eviction letter to 600 Glasgow refugee families which threatened to put them out of their homes inside three days. The February 2011 deadline is effectively dead. We now hope that he will also consider whether it is right and proper to put families into accommodation provided by private landlords when there are growing concerns about these agencies' ability to provide accommodation and support similar to the Council.

"The Council, similar to the city's refugee support groups, clearly has concerns about the ability and competence of private landlords contracted to the UKBA, to handle a contract involving vulnerable families.

"Positive Action in Housing remains concerned about the health and safety of vulnerable families and the sick, elderly and disabled people if they are transferred to poorly regulated and substandard accommodation run by unscrupulous private landlords whose sole motivation is profit. We believe that Glasgow City Council is the best housing and support service for the refugee families.

"However, if the contract is not going to be reinstated with the Council, then we believe that Glasgow's registered social Landlords are safer, more reliable and better regulated alternatives. Certainly their health and safety record in housing vulnerable people is impeccable.

"We remain committed that if any families are moved against their will or even one child is forced to move school then we, alongside our extensive networks of supporters, will publicly support and advocate for each and every family, and have the resources ready to do so.

"The UK Borders Agency has underestimated the strength of feeling about the agency's actions on Scottish soil. From the hundreds of emails and letters we are getting from the public, people are disgusted. Members within the Jewish community have also raised comparisons with what happened to Jews in Poland and Nazi Germany.

"Asylum policy in the UK remains a torture test for would be refugees. The psychological torture lies in a UK asylum policy that claims to offer sanctuary then systematically treats vulnerable people like criminals and liars. Their most basic human rights are violated. People seeking asylum are amongst the poorest of the poor, they are forbidden to work; they humiliated by being forced to take benefits that are up to 45% below what UK citizens get, they are marked out in shops when the use the "Azure card", they must 'spend' the card as soon as they get it, they are forbidden to save up for things like their children's school uniforms because the money on the card is invalidated after a matter of days, they risk falling into destitution at any point in the asylum process and no homeless unit or soup kitchen is allowed to help them. They live in the housing no one else wants. Those houses will lie empty again if they are forced to vacate now. Throughout their asylum claim they face the threat of destitution, detention or deportation. They can languish in such a system for seven years without reprieve. Their mental health is often severely affected as a result – something that rarely happened before they arrived in this country.

"The asylum system attacks human dignity. Many people seeking asylum escaped and survived torture, multiple rape or seeing their loved ones killed, and endured the pain of separation from their young children in order to find peace, democracy and liberty - words that regularly ring out to countries around the world from the BBC World Service no less. The mental torture is the realisation that they risked their lives and left their family, home and country, for nothing, only to find themselves vilified as social parasites by the country and to find anything but peace, democracy and liberty. Those words must seem so hollow given the treatment they received at the hands of the UK borders Agency and its privately contracted cohorts.

"We urge everyone who supports this campaign to please keep up the pressure and keep sending in your messages of support to home@paih.org. We will pass them on".

Write to your MSP, MP and MEP. To find out who your local representative is, just enter your postcode in http://www.writetothem.com/ and email them from the website.

The following should be included, Alex Salmond, the firstminister@scotland.gsi.gov.uk - Scotland Secretary michaelmooremp@parliament.uk - Damien green, immigration minister,greend@parliament.uk; - Phil Taylor, Head of UKBA Scotlandphil.taylor@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk - David Crawford, Head of Social Work, Glasgow City Council: david.crawford@sw.glasgow.gov.uk - Theresa May, Home Secretary at mayt@parliament.uk - Or: Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

( Positive Action in Housing) - Please support our work and donate what you can. You can send a cheque made out to PAIH Ltd and post to Positive Action in Housing, 98 West George Street Glasgow. Alternatively give an online single or monthly donation at http://www.justgiving.com/paih/donate. Just Giving reclaims Gift Aid automatically and pays donations to us directly at the end of every week. The site is 100% secure. Donate securely online at http://www.justgiving.com/paih/donate

To get the very latest info on our campaigns and more, follow Positive Action in Housing on: Twitter: http://twitter.com/PAIHLTD Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/paihltd Website: www.paih.org

"FEED THE WORLD" "CHILDREN IN NEED" "REMEMBRANCE DAY" "PRINCE WILLIAMS WEDDING" ALL THE WORTHY CAUSES EH?

If the tax payer has to foot the bill or part of the bill for "big Willie's" wedding would it be in order to insist that the whole Ruritanian circus be put out to tender to ensure that the tax payer gets value for money? Or since we are being assailed on all sides by the professional serfs of the media telling us how pleased the country is at the news and how we are beside ourselves with glee at being given the honour of paying for it, why not put it to the test?

Instead of taking tax payer's money to pay for the wedding of the son of one of the world's richest families why not give people the option of voluntary contributions. Get the expert royal flunkies to estimate the cost and then make a public appeal, I'm thinking children in need here and I'm on a roll, think of Remembrance day and Feed the World, surely Prince William is at least as deserving as them. A pound donation gets you a red white & blue paper dunce's cap, a fiver gets you 5 red white and blue dunce's caps, to be worn with pride by all patriotic Britons. The Royals would make a mint not only are they so gracious and generous to us subjects that they let us fund their castles, stately homes and lavish life styles but they would be letting us help with the wedding, priceless! They must love us; their subjects so much!

This could be a win, win situation; if the sum donated exceeds the cost of the wedding and we are able in some way to prise it from their grasp it could go to charity, who could disagree with that? "OK Philip that doesn't include you" we could have Terry Wogan on a Saturday night slot with the running total and a wee spot for patriotic entertainers who will of course donate their time for the common good "oops perhaps not Wogan" he insisted on a fee for children in need remember, the Irish need the money right?

BTW has anyone else noticed how quiet the Nationalists have gone over this farce, these are the independence warriors who sing to the tune of "The Sash My Father Wore"

"Oh Scotland hiznae goat a king an hiznae goat a queen,

How can there be a second Liz when the first wans never been.

Now they sing -

"Oh it's all gone quite over there,

Oh it's all gone quite over there"

The only thing which could upset this splendid patriotic idea would be if the great British public were to say "hey you pal, see that idea to donate to the Royal Wedding, go and shove it ** *** ***** ya b******s" but there is surely no chance of that happening is there?

SLEEKIT SCOTTISH PATRIOTS LOSE THE LEAD FROM THEIR PENCILS.

My post on the cowardly cybernats 22/11/10 who accuse people of committing crimes from anonymous positions was I hope self explanatory. It seems however that the Secret patriotic writers have rather quickly bottled it. None of these "Bravehearts" has managed to muster the courage to make their accusations in public and identify themselves.

These are the people who want you to believe they can stick up for Scotland, they are afraid to show themselves in public, what kind of leadership does cowards like that produce. They don't have the guts to say something to someone's face, they have to say it from under their rock, what did the people of Scotland ever do to deserve this mob living amongst them?

The offer still stands Bravehearts, have you got the 'smeddum'?

A MESSAGE FOR THE WEE SLEEKIT COWERING SNP POSTERS.

I learned a long time ago that the average attention span of the "common or garden" SNP member was akin to that of a goldfish. Yet again I am being sent posts which contain libellous allegations against people who if I printed them might take action against me, the senders have chosen to hide while indulging in this rather pathetic behaviour. If I print what they say without identifying them then it's me who is held to account.

For those SNP clowns who are doing this there might be two problems, one is that they are genuinely so thick that they don't understand what they are doing, always a distinct possibility with our tartan teuchter fellow Scots. or they are simply too limp of wrist and lacking in bottle to defend themselves so, let me tell them again.

If you want to attack someone personally by way of accusing them of some misdemeanour or other then you must identify yourself, I know what I am now about to say will be completely alien to you but that is the 'fair' way to do these things, make your accusations and have the smeddum to stand by them, think of that poor wee Mel Gibson and the sacrifices he made for Scotland when you remember that he got executed for 'bonnie Scotland' it's the least you can do. I know that recent events have left you bereft but that is no excuse for allowing standards to slip is it? think of Braveheart Scotland: ID yersel, or Oor Wullie: ID yersel, or Moira Anderson: ID yersel,

.

RENFREWSHIRE PEOPLE ARE NOT AS DAFT AS THE SNP/LIBDEMS THINK!

Perhaps this might be a good time to clarify why there has been severe criticism of the SNP/Libdem cabal running the council over their cavalier spending on pet projects like Gaelic Choirs, Christmas Lights and Fireworks displays. Not many people dislike music, fireworks or Christmas decorations so why the controversy? The SNP/Libdem mob have milked the fireworks/Lights etc. for every ounce of propaganda they can get, designed to make Holyrood candidates Mackay SNP and McCartin Libdem look good. As an exercise in political chicanery and stomach churning opportunism it is par for the course for such people.

They would have been hoping and praying that no one would look at this more closely but they have been rumbled. They have managed up to now to hide their true intentions but their recent budget gives the game away, pensioners, schoolchildren, people with learning difficulties and many more will pay the price of having an SNP/Libdem council with their vicious cuts. They have taken their lead from the Tory/Libdem Govt. at Westminster which the SNP here support as well (remember SNP council leader Derek Mackay saying "the Tory/Libdem Govt. cuts are about right" we won't forget that, nor will we forget the SNP/Libdem decision to award senior council officers on £70,000, 80,000, some over £100,000 a rise of 23% while introducing a £20 charge for disabled people to park their vehicles and removing death insurance from their lowest paid employees.

Let me try to explain this using a concept which is clearly alien to the SNP/Libdem let's try truthful questions and answers, SNP Cllr. Mackay and Libdem Cllr. McCartin could ask these questions and try to imagine the answers they would get from us the people of Renfrewshire. Derek and Eileen will be referred to as D&E I will give just a couple of examples and perhaps they will join in.

D&E – "We the council coalition give you a choice" people, "go on then"

A 23% wage rise for senior officers or more teachers?

A Gaelic sing song costing £30,000 or free transport for adult disabled people to their centres?

More Fireworks or do we keep halls open for the elderly and needy ?

More money on Christmas decorations or safe transport to school for our children ?

Good people what you see ABOVE is what an honest council administration would have done, this administration have chosen mendacity. I invite anyone particularly SNP/Libdem members, Cllrs. or supporters to write to me and say if they would be prepared to ask these questions of the people of Renfrewshire. Are any of them willing to let the people choose between Christmas decorations and massive rises for wealthy people; and safe transport to school for young children on dark cold and dangerous winter days? It's not complicated is it; why are they hiding from it. The people are now seeing the cost of this SNP/Libdem coalition, a group who would rather pose with pop singers than look after the people of the area who they were elected to serve and who need looking after.

Cllr's Mackay and McCartin have to be congratulated on their ability to keep a straight face while singing the praises of their farcical so called consultation "Difficult Choices for Difficult Times" nowhere in this carefully worded exercise in manipulation do you see a single question using the above format used by me, reason? They are afraid of the answers, can you guess at the response to a perfectly straight forward question from a senior officer put in an honest way such as "Do you agree that my salary should rise from £100,000 to £123,000 while we the council remove elderly centres and cut safe transport for school children" ? You won't find questions like this in the wee conjurers book from this SNP/Libdem coalition because they don't have the courage or the integrity to ask it.

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CHILDREN, ELDERLY AND DISADVANTAGED PAY FOR SNP’S MACKAY & LIBDEM MC CARTIN’S HOLYROOD BIDS.

Like McCaig's folly in Oban we here in Renfrewshire have our own version courtesy of the SNP/Libdem administration. Stood there looking out over the Paisley skyline is what I would like to suggest should be called "Mackay's Folly" I refer of course to the huge and spectacularly ugly scaffold tower put there at huge expense to accommodate a 17 minute firework display. This would be a suitable monument to the conceit and lack of common sense of SNP Council leader Derek Mackay and the massive ego and self-importance of his puppet master the truly awful Libdem leader Cllr. McCartin. Sadly we have to reflect that McCaig in Oban paid for his folly out of his own pocket while the SNP/Libdem cabal picked our pockets, yes yours and mine, to pay for their delusions of grandeur here in Renfrewshire. It's short sighted, gratuitously ugly and over priced and as such it's not difficult to see why the SNP/Libdem coalition found it attractive.

Hot on the heels of this ignominy we had more embarrassment for the scattercash administration with huge amounts of our money being paid to entertainers to switch on Christmas lights, a job which used to be done just as well by local schoolchildren. All of this comes on top of a Bill of £30,000 to bring the Mod to Paisley. These are what we call vanity projects by the administration designed to give a quick boost to their support and their ego, they rely on people not complaining because no one wants to seem like a scrooge or a killjoy: it is about as contemptuous as you can get but it doesn't wash with me.

Running a council administration is like running a household budget: unless you are very rich indeed it is a matter of priorities. Put simply when money is tight do you buy a nice big decorated cake which all the family will enjoy or do you buy "tatties n mince" which is what they need, this administration metaphorically have bought the nice big cake and let the family go hungry. We all like Music, Fireworks and Christmas Lights but here is the important question, do we have more important priorities? The answer to that is a thunderous yes; we have more than enough to make the council spending border on the criminal and a shameful buying of votes.

The SNP?Libdem council have made it plain that Gaelic Choirs are more important than elderly wardens and music tuition in our schools, fireworks are more important than Classroom assistants and teachers and Christmas lights are more of a priority than providing safe transport to school for our children or centres for our elderly population and those citizens with learning difficulties. This is the reality of electing an SNP council or one aided by the Libdems who sit in power at Westminster while sharing power with the SNP here in Renfrewshire, these people have no shame and no conscience, they are a disgrace to the people of Renfrewshire.

When a fragile and vulnerable old person complains about losing their warden the coalition will say "what are you on about; you can hear a Gaelic choir; if you can afford it of course, if you don't speak Gaelic you can always learn right" or a parent complains about a lack of teachers they will say "you don't know how lucky you are you got a fireworks display for a full 17 minutes" (£2,941 per minute) and to the worried parent who fears for their child's safety when walking in cold dark weather to school they say "you have never had it so good didn't you see Olly Murs switch on the Christmas lights, what do you mean whose Olly Murs? "

The real question for all you voters out there is, does this SNP/Libdem administration share your priorities? well does it?

I think that anyone who has the priorities of this SNP?Libdem council should not be sanctioned to run a whelk stall, you the citizens who have paid for this scandal should go along to your Councillor's surgeries' and tell them what you think of them or; you could put your thoughts down in writing and send them to SNP Council Leader Derek Mackay and his 'minder' Libdem deputy council leader Eileen McCartin. Both these chancers are standing for election to the Scottish Parliament that's what the extravagant fireworks etc. were really about, they are treating you with contempt, don't let them away with it!

 

 

A BIT OF A ROYAL DO! PAID FOR BY ME AND YOU!

Dear fellow beleaguered citizens, just when you think that there are no further insults which the rich can throw at the poor in Britain today we are about to see a cracker. Prince William or "big Willie" as his fiancée Kate Middleton calls him (yes I know, I think we can start worrying about her already) have announced their intention to marry. By the time this takes place we will have a great many disabled people who have had their paltry benefits cut by this Tory/Libdem cabal at Westminster likewise the unemployed and we will have forced Labour introduced for those who are out of work as well if they turn down a job, they can have benefit stopped for 3 years and no one has mentioned their children yet! now is the time for a new Charles Dickens to emerge. These things and a whole lot worse will form the backdrop to the obscene extravagance and hoopla of a Royal Wedding still, out of the kindness of their hearts the Govt. and the Royals will seek to have you feel part of it all by allowing you "the tax payer" to pay for it, a kind of national bonding exercise if you will, they just never stop thinking about us their subjects do they?

I bear no ill will toward the young couple "big Willie" is of course known to us and seems pleasant and rather well balanced for a Windsor and I know very little of Kate except of course that she is not a Catholic but I do object to paying or even part paying for a wedding between two families who are multi millionaires, it actually amazes me that I still feel obliged to say that. 30 years ago the cost of his Parent's big day was £30 million, worth what today I wonder, nor did we get a refund when it went pear shaped, still it sold a shed load of tea towels right? Such is the magnitude and success of the con trick perpetrated on the British public by the monarchy that the reason for and cost of such minor details as 27 wedding cakes? 10,000 pearls hand sown on Diana's dress and 6,000 police officers lining the route of the wedding party has never been questioned, a monumental triumph of what our Jewish friends call Chutzpah.

Today's papers tell us that the recent wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden cost £1.6 Million and the taxpayers paid half, even then it lead to an upsurge of support for republicanism. It is a never ending source of amazement to me that many people including newspapers in this country who would quite gladly imprison someone for fiddling a few pounds from benefits are prepared to fork out for this farce, they will tolerate the Queen applying for grants to erect fencing around her Balmoral Estate to keep her subjects out while advocating strict punishment for others much less well off.

Before a penny of taxpayers' money is spent on this circus could we not at least pursue the debt of around £6 Million left by the late Queen Mother, that went awful quite didn't it? It should be a great mystery how this woman described by her biographer (I paraphrase) as a "hard drinking old snob and racist bigot" ever got to accumulate such debt but it's not, and an even greater mystery as to what happened to the debt but it's not: the answer to all of our shames is she was a Royal, a dreadful snob and racist who never paid for anything thus exploiting her status but still a Royal and in our society of serfs that makes her Teflon.

ALL HAIL THE DIRECT ACTION OF OUR BRAVE STUDENTS, LETS SUPPORT THEM NOW!

At first glance I thought it was coverage of events from Greece or perhaps France or Spain. Massive crowds ferociously attacking grand city centre buildings; protestors putting on a show of strength and defiance in a huge anti establishment demonstration. Then the strap line across the bottom of the screen caught my eye and I slowly realized what I was watching, the building being attacked was the Tory Party Headquarters in central London and the attackers were British students who have been brutally targeted by the Tories and grossly lied to and betrayed by the wretched Libdems, what joy! what a relief! someone has said enough is enough and decided to act and they rose "like lions from their slumbers in unconquerable numbers" as Shelley once said. All praise to them and I hope this is just the start.

While politicians of the left stand by and say we must protest peacefully for fear of the Murdoch disease afflicting us the students with all the impudence and confidence of youth strengthened by the justice of their cause and the revolting nature of the politicians they were attacking simply grasped the nettle. This is where we were in the sixties, seventies and eighties, prepared to mobilise and fight back against injustice, students were to the fore then and as someone of that past generation it makes me feel proud to see them taking that roll again. The future chances of university education for a generation is the prize, nothing less, a prize worth fighting for and the hope that it will lead on to further action.

We are about to hear a lot about violence and anarchy in the next week or so but take note, we will not see any comparison with the violence and destruction that the coalition Govt. is unleashing on the poor of our country the destruction of lives and communities that they have set out on; that will not be reported, the Murdoch cancer will again be directed through TV and Press to undermine genuine protest, that means it's time to stand firm and fight back.

My congratulations to a Mr. Richard Smith who sent a short letter to the Guardian Newspaper today saying the following "Students trashing property? Must bring back golden memories of the Bullingdon Club for Dave, George et al. Happy days"

Time to demand that our politicians, Union Leaders community activists, churches etc. act and don't let this brave initiative by the students slip away, time to join in with our fellow workers and students across Europe and make a difference. We have stood back long enough and watched horrified as the most vulnerable in society are deliberately targeted by the Tory/Libdem Govt. if you need reminding about the injustice of it all remember the Tories friends are still avoiding paying hundreds of billions of pounds in tax while the Govt. builds a fatuous and bogus campaign against so called dole scroungers. As they sometimes shout from the football terraces its "time tae get right intaerum" we will have nothing left if this Govt. survives a full term.

SUNDAY, A DAY FOR SOME SERIOUS THINKING.

I make no apology for raising this matter now so close to Remembrance Sunday because the timing has been dictated by P.M. David Cameron. I refer to his hypocritical decision to lecture the Chinese on Human Rights during his visit to that fascinating and mighty country. His haughty and arrogant behaviour has forced a debate on whether "people (Britain) who live in glass houses should throw stones" His vaunted proposals to tell them off about democracy and people's rights was always mendacious and built on sand but, not an unusual pose to strike considering the upbringing enjoyed by him and the nefarious mob there with him. People like Cameron, Osborne, Clegg etc. were not brought up to see Chinese people or many others for that matter as their equals, they were schooled to believe that they had won first prize in the lottery of life by being born British. The Chinese though will see through them with ease and perhaps humour them a bit or possibly tell them to stop talking nonsense; they might even throw in a few examples of which there are many as to why they are talking nonsense.

There is a saying which goes "The sun never set on the British Empire because the good Lord would never trust the British in the dark" This could have been said by many including India, Ireland, Palestine, Iraq, The Falklands Etc. Etc. The cretin Bush now tells us that he was right, he has no regrets, torture was O.K. Blair concurs by his silence, neither of whom and I make the assumption here that Blair knew and said nothing, spoke about America's intention to bomb Iran at the behest of the Lunatic State of Israel, we find out about it now and are left to gaze in awe at these two "bringers of death" and tremble at their crazy certainty.

So: many people now who used to think of Remembrance Sunday as a day of peace and thought about past losses are thinking about the behaviour and character of our own country. Cameron has perhaps inadvertently done the country a good turn by highlighting such matters. It is right to honour the dead and that means the dead of every country and those of every colour and religion. The best way to do this and also the best way of reminding people about the terror, cruelty and utter stupidity of war would be to have a universal day of remembrance which reaches every corner of the world allowing the whole "family of man" to reflect that we stand continually on the precipice and that that is no way for civilized people to live.

I will leave the last word with the last veteran of the trenches to die; Harry Patch, who had had a long time to consider his feelings dying at the age of 111.

"War isn't worth one life," "it is calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings." - "politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organising nothing better than legalised murder."

In the last years of his life, Patch warned some young naval recruits that they shouldn't join.

I think that he rather than the useless generals knew what he was talking about.

"It's Tommy this and Tommy that and kick im out the brute - But it's saviour of his country when the guns begin to shoot" (Kipling)

"Now every April I sit on my porch And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march Renewing their dreams of past glories
I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?" and I ask myself the same question"

(Anti War Song - The Band played Waltzing Matilda – Eric Bogle)

The older I get the more disenchanted I become with Remembrance Sunday and the military circus which has overtaken it. This Sunday we will see pictures of thousands of ex Service men and women marching to military bands, they will march past dignitaries festooned with medals, gongs, fierce looking toy swords and uniforms which owe more to Ruritanian farce than anything resembling the truth, they will salute these people many of whom have never heard a real gun go off. Most prominent among them of course will be our absurd Royal Family dressed up like a Gilbert and Sullivan chorus line and just about as useful in a fight. I always feel obliged to say at some point when discussing such matters that I am not a pacifist I believe that it is sometimes necessary to fight wars as in WW2 which was a "good war" if you will, it was good guy against bad guy and quite straight forward, so straight forward in fact that recent adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer greatly by comparison.

I have tried over the years with increasing lack of success to try to consider Remembrance Day without my mind going through the utter stupidity and waste of what it reminds us of, the slaughter, the mind boggling number of dead and injured, the lost generation and the other lost generation who were their friends and loved ones whose lives were also shattered. Most of all I think of the Politicians and the Generals, the officer class, mostly pampered clowns to whom the Army was a second choice because they were too stupid for the city. Consider the following; I can't find the words to express or make clear my feelings about it. Both sides in the trenches were aware that hostilities were to cease from early in the morning of the 11^Th. and some of these officers still insisted on sending men out to fight and depart this life right up to 11 A.M. the scheduled time for cease fire. It is a matter of record that men were dying right up to 11 A.M. because they were ordered to continue, despite knowing for several hours that the war was effectively over. As I say I can't find the words to describe those responsible for such folly, let's just say it makes me rather angry but: at least those responsible got medals so that' O.K. then right? We even have statues to some of them for God's sake. Remembrance Sunday stopped being about the war dead a long time ago and is now a jingoistic military circus which glorifies war and is more to do with supporting present wars than remembering previous ones.

More than anything else the so called "Great War" should be remembered first and foremost by all countries involved as a matter of shame, utter burning shame that millions died because people could not come to an agreement, shame that Politicians and the rulers of societies around the world allowed this to happen. I do not wear a poppy and have no intention of doing so for two main reasons, the first I have talked about above and the second is because of the huge betrayal of the whole notion of the day and what it has become in terms of raising money through charity for families and wounded servicemen and women. Those who made sacrifices and paid the price of war, we eulogize them and tell them they are heroes and they will never be forgotten so; why do we make them rely on charity? Why is it that the biggest group of people with parallel backgrounds in our prisons today are ex servicemen and women? Approx. 10,000. Who knows how many are homeless; addicted to drink or drugs or locked away in mental institutions; how many live lives of quiet desperation in a single accommodation surviving on benefits and emotionally crippled: how many have simply been abandoned because they were unable to cope after life in the services? Someone is not telling the truth about this whole business.

This Remembrance Sunday takes place against a chorus of accusations of murder and torture against our forces. Our Ally; the Cretin Bush; has admitted that torture was used against civilians, he reckons that's O.K. The young man from next door who waved goodbye to you as he left resplendent in his uniform could 'God forbid' be one of those who went on to commit torture or murder, that is the reality of war! that's what it does to people. We need to tell that truth, why did German soldiers make suicide pacts with each other in the nightmarish French trenches rather than be captured by Scottish Regiments? A sobering thought and no mistake but; that is war. A great many of our servicemen and women did not join the forces to kill people, many were bored and wanted to travel, some were unemployed and some fancied learning to Ski, scuba dive or parachute from a plane.

We owe it to them and the others who are thinking about stepping into harm's way to at least tell them the truth about the whole sordid business. I have no wish to stop remembering the war dead they have my respect no matter the side but I think we should try to restore some dignity to the whole business and start giving our servicemen and women a proper fair deal; telling them how wonderful they are and then cutting them adrift is simply not good enough, this is what happened to the wounded from the Great War and 92 years later it is still going on we as a nation should be ashamed of that.

http://rideforpalestine.blogspot.com - sign the petition to help the Palestinians.

Here is an easy to understand statistic from the Israeli invasion of Palestine and the crimes that the Israeli's continue to commit.

No. of illegal Israeli settlers on Palestinian land: -

19 72 - 11, 00 - 20 09 - 571,000

This number continues to grow as Palestinians lose their homes, farms and villages to the brutal Israeli invaders. Use the number in the title block to register your protest!

PALESTINE ! THE TRUTH. RALSTON COMMUNITY CENTRE 03 11 10 6PM.

It is easy to forget that some people are worse off than ourselves sometimes, when all this SNP, Libdem, Tory misery and treachery surrounds us we can easily forget about others; this is the case with the beleaguered people of Palestine. They continue to suffer under the lash of their Israeli occupiers who treat them as sub humans and destroy their homes and steal their land. Here in Renfrewshire we have a chance soon to touch base again with the Middle East catastrophe which the Palestinians suffer daily. The pain never goes away for them as the Israeli Govt. tries to destroy them and their country, it has become one of history's great crimes, racist and fascist in nature and being perpetrated by Israel whose people suffered from similar crimes in massive numbers, are they suffering from collective amnesia? On Wed. November 3^rd. 20 10 at Ralston Community Centre Allanton Ave. Paisley PA1 3BL at 6 PM a meeting will take place sponsored by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The organisation owes no particular allegiance to any party and all are welcome.

One speaker will be Ali El Awaisi who is a survivor of the Mavi Marmara; the ship which was attacked while carrying medical supplies to the Gaza Strip. Heavily armed and highly trained Israeli Commandos attacked the ship which was carrying peace activists and slaughtered some of them. Here is a chance to hear firsthand what happened and what continues to happen while Governments; our own past and present included wring their hands and do nothing. The image of Palestine which the world sees is that of a teenage boy throwing stones at an Israeli tank, why? What makes a young boy go up against a tank armed with stones? Is it safe to say it must be something serious, come along to this meeting and hear it from them! Ask questions if you want, you will get the chance to hear answers which are not filtered through the Murdoch opaque TV screen or distorted by the sycophantic cowardly British media who tremble before their American masters, see you there.

No one could blame the working people of Renfrewshire for feeling a wee bit sorry for themselves: we face a future of savage cuts by the Tory/Libdem British Government, cuts I would remind you which were described by Renfrewshire Council's SNP leader Derek Mackay as "about right" backed up by his coalition partner and enthusiastic supporter of her Libdem colleagues in the Govt. Eileen McCartin Libdem, a woman who believes in nothing except what is good for her personally. Times will be getting hard and these two and their lumpen SNP/Libdem supporters will continue to swindle voters while Mackay tries to avoid the fact that he is one of the useful idiots along with McCartin who are forced to support the Govt. She because her wretched party are part of it and he because he doesn't have the bottle to go up against big Eileen who has him by the shorts because without her the Renfrewshire cabal breaks up. Remember this lot folks when you next step inside a ballot box, between Westminster and Renfrewshire there exists a coalition of Tory, SNP and Libdem and none of them give a damn about working people and their families. Did you vote SNP? Libdem? even Tory? Well think about it hard, you got stitched up by people who have no idea of honesty or decency: don't let them do it again.

CLLR. MACKAY (SNP) & CL MC GURK (LIBDEM) IN THE END OF THE PIER SHOW.

The above two comedians are insulting our intelligence. Until the SNP candidate for Holyrood Derek Mackay and his advisors decided that picking a fight against SPT might be spun and manipulated into something which might reflect well on him no one knew much about it. Except that most people had a vague idea that it was made up of many councils and provided transport services to Strathclyde, in many cases they were cheap services because of the economies of scale which SPT enjoy. Evidence of this can be found by anyone who cares to check the attendance and involvement of Renfrewshire Council’s representative on the SPT Libdem Cllr. Marie McGurk. Prior to them coming up with this spurious dispute she was mainly conspicuous by her absence and no one at the SPT knew her. She is now referred to by Derek Mackay as an excellent representative for the council, what kind of standards are they Derek? Or for that matter Marie?

Cllr. McGurk may well have been at some meetings and may well have slept through them which might explain her lack of any impact but; more often than not she would be absent; I wouldn’t be surprised now though to find her attendance has improved since she was publicly humiliated for her terrible attendance record by the Labour Group and the fact that Cllr. Mackay wants to use this for publicity. You cannot avoid the point that what the SNP and Cllr. Mackay are now regarding as some kind of disaster inflicted on Renfrewshire by the SPT was never referred to or mentioned by Renfrewshire Council’s delegate to the STP Cllr. McGurk until her SNP paymasters told her to start singing their song.

Cllr. McGurk is a pleasant enough woman who wouldn’t recognise the SPT if one of their busses ran her over. She is there as part of the coalition jobs hand out, she enjoys the benefits of being part of the SNP/Libdem cabal on Renfrewshire which provides her with funds and a delusion of power. Like her colleagues in the Libdems she is a political nonentity but they; like her enjoy that feeling of power and of course the money. She will now have to say what she is told to say at SPT meetings, write letters written for her by the SNP describing herself as the “outraged Cllr. McGurk” and generally jump up and down attacking SPT when told to by Derek Mackay. She has no choice! her and the other Libdem Cllrs. took the 30 pieces of silver and now they have to earn it that’s why they now support removing busses from school children, closing swimming pools, having the worst teacher pupil ratios in Scotland and of course supporting the Tory / Libdem cuts by the Government as demonstrated by the SNP candidate Derek Mackay who said at a full council meeting recently “the cuts are about right”

This farce will run and run as long as they think they can profit from it, if they decide it’s a busted flush at some point they will pull the rug from under Cllr. McGurk and leave her swinging in the wind. By then she will have made herself the No.1. enemy of the SPT and her only comfort will be that chimera of power and of course the money, don’t forget the money. Does anyone believe anything anymore that is said by the SNP or Libdems?

SNP CANDIDATE DESPERATE TO FIND A CAUSE.

Today’s Paisley Daily Express carries a barefaced example of a politician abusing his position of power for private political gain. That politician is the increasingly more and more distressed SNP candidate for Holyrood, SNP Council Leader Derek Mackay. It has become clear that the SNP group and Cllr. Mackay have seized on the SPT to pick a fight with and give Derek a much needed cause to champion, watch as he portrays himself as the Renfrewshire David against the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Goliath it should be good for a laugh notwithstanding the cynicism of it all. But: you should remember as the bogus causes are highlighted by him and the SNP that he and they are prepared to risk the benefits that people need get their own ends.

In his column he portrays himself as the man to fight Renfrewshire’s corner and represent the local community: the parents of children now walking 3 miles to school where their children are suffering the worst pupil teacher ratios in Scotland, the elderly who now don’t have wardens and the student teachers who can’t get a job as well as those who are about to take the brunt of the savage Tory/ Libdem Govt. cuts. Cuts which he and the Renfrewshire SNP/Libdem coalition administration supported will no doubt be glad to hear it. I can’t say it often enough and I intend to keep repeating it, he has no place to hide. In a debate at the last full council he Derek Mackay said “The government cuts are about right” A wee while ago he awarded senior officers of Rengrewshire Council, some already earning 70, 80 90, £100,000 a year raises of 23%, the people’s champion right enough!

In his column he tried to big himself up by saying the Labour Councillors on the Scrutiny Board which is investigating STP and its dealings with Renfrewshire Council tried to prevent him from speaking, a load of bull. I am one of those councillors and what we did was ask him what he was doing there as he had no expertise or experience of the subject. Anyone who is asked to address the Scrutiny Board is invited because they have a degree of knowledge or experience of the subject under examination, hence road engineers, bus company’s user groups etc. were asked to contribute, he Mackay has none of these things.

Make no mistake about this he was there for 2 reasons 1/ because being Council leader got him in and 2/ because he is campaigning for a seat in Holyrood. He saw the chance of some good publicity as you can see from today’s turgid Mackay column imaginatively called “the real MacKay” perhaps a career in literature awaits him if he doesn’t get to Holyrood? His lack of knowledge and his attempts to sound important were so wretched that despite being given a 20 minute slot on the agenda he only managed to speak for a pathetic 5 minutes where he seemed to get smaller by the second, he then bolted out and refused to take questions, despite my Labour comrade Jim Sharkey and me entreating him to stay.

Cllr. Mackay will no doubt be trying similar stunts and we will continue to expose him for the dissembling political charlatan that he is.

WE ARE THE KICK ASS YANKS!

Is my understanding of the siege where the young Scottish aid worker lost her life correct? Did her American rescuers actually throw a grenade into the place where she was being held captive? Am I getting this wrong? Was Robert Duval leading the raid wearing a US Cavalry hat?

DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS - COURTESY OF THE SNP-LIB DEMS- AND TORIES.

The first two paragraphs below are from a statement by Wendy Alexander which I agree

with entirely.

"The decision of the Scottish Government to attempt to resell land acquired to facilitate the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) is a desperate act by an administration determined to cover its own inadequacies in handling this vital transport intervention. The cancellation cost Paisley Town Centre an estimated 700 much needed new jobs. The cancellation of GARL was a political decision of the most petty and spiteful kind. It was never fully thought through. After making the decision the Scottish Government has had to employ a raft of misinformation to justify its decision and one by one these mistruths have been exposed as fallacy. The first reaction was to claim the costs had escalated - not true. Then the scaremongering of other budgets being sacrificed was used until Network Rail stepped up to offer the finance; the business case was then falsely trashed and finally to peddle urban myths such as trains running empty or no environmental benefits. Ever since the decision last September the government machine has been working overtime in doing everything it can to vilify GARL. The myths have been exposed and the Scottish Government stands accused of ripping off Renfrewshire.

Even Renfrewshire Council decided to keep the GARL legal agreement alive so a new administration could make the project work after next May. The Scottish Government's scorched earth approach would rather write off over £40 million of public money than engage in any dialogue which may discomfit them. SNP members who purport to represent the local areas where this investment would bring real benefits to their communities should be deeply embarrassed."

The charge sheet continues to grow and it looks bad for the SNP while here in Renfrewshire it looks worse: it is now difficult to find anyone here who will admit to voting for them. They are repenting at leisure their decision to join with the Lib. Dems. Without even bothering to discuss any agreement Cllr. Mackay should have taken a step back and had a long hard look at who he was negotiaiting with, he has been a member of Renfrewshire Council long enough to know Cllr. Eileen McArtin’s character. She is enjoying being deputy leader of the council and she has Derek by the throat, she gets what she wants by threatening to pull the plug on the coalition. It is impossible to pick anyone worse to have any power over you than her: I have had the misfortune of knowing her for some 12 years and I can honestly say that I have never once seen her display any kindness or compassion for anyone or anything accept what is in her own selfish interests, and it’s all done from what she ludicrously thinks is some kind of moral high ground.

If you don’t agree you should consider why the SNP Lib. Dem. Alliance on Renfrewshire Council supported the Tory/Lib. Dem. Govt. Cuts at the last full council. Think about that one carefully, the SNP who have always claimed to hate the Westminster Govt. And all things Tory supported their vicious cuts, come on! why? ask why? The answer is simple and brutal and the brutality did not come from Mackay, he was simply told by the deputy leader McArtin that she was not prepared to vote against the Lib. Dems. Who are in coalition with the Tories in Westminster, vote against the Govt. and our little arrangement is over, Mackay of course bottled it and she is now dominant.

The faces of the SNP so called hard liners were a picture as they sat in silence and let this betrayal go through council. Perhaps the treacherous Mackay and his supporters should remember the saying “revenge is a dish best served cold” and there are some particularly vicious and underhand SNP waiters eyeing his back and waiting to serve him. Remember folks when you here about more savage cuts like child benefits and winter fuel allowance for the elderly the Renfrewshire SNP/Lib. Dem. alliance Supported them.

ED. MILLIBAND.

The big hall was full as Ed Milliband stood up to make his first speech as the youngest ever leader of the Labour Party: the drama which surrounded his narrow victory had left delegates drained: the fact that the victory was over his older brother David made the tension almost unbearable. By late afternoon the dust had settled and both brothers were bathed in the warmth and love of an emotional conference where delegates were once again taking on a messianic tone: this is of course de rigueur for the election of party leaders yet: there was something fascinating about the spectacle. This guy really did come from nowhere and he looked like the coolest person in the hall.

I had the pleasure of meeting him at the hustings arranged by local MP Jim. Sheridan here in Paisley where I told him he was second vote on my ballott paper and he said “I’ll settle for that: second preference votes are important and there is always time to change your mind” he was relaxed and confident: exactly ‘the kind of guy you would want with you if you went to rob a bank’ as my Da. used to say. On cue we have the siren voices of the right sniping away: my old Glenburn neighbour Andrew Neil did his loyal grovelling best to undermine the moment as usual by sniping in his voice over as Milliband left the hall like Danton leaving the assembly. Do predictable right wing political dinosaur TV journalists like Neil not have a sell by date? Then he was being called a prisoner of the unions and red Ed. Don’t you long for proper debate? we are turning into America listening to these has beens: time for some new blood Rupert! “he owes his election to union votes” who do you think said this? Norman Tebbit? David Cameron? Alex (the spiv) Salmond? Actually it was said by Tory Life Peer Baroness Warsi who despite never having won an election in her life sits in the Lords and helps to rule over us. She is also unusual in that she is a Muslim of Pakistani descent but she could be any old harumphing Tory hereditary oaf, she ran for election handing out blatant homophobic poison but: she has the arrogance which only comes from being a Tory, and that’s what counts.

Ed. Milliband spoke of a living wage of £7 an hour and getting rid of payment systems that see bankers being paid more in a day than the bank cleaner gets in a year. He stated the rather obvious when he said there will be no peace in the Middle East as long as Israeli settlers continue to build on land which they have stolen and the World Court regards as a crime, he said “it is just wrong” why do so many other politicians find that so hard to say? He has shown already that he is a tough customer and he will already know that he is going to have to be real tough and then some. The Rupert Murdochs: Andrew Neils: Adam Boultons and the rest of the reactionary news clan are waiting and these people believe in nothing except who is paying them. It will be like a blood sport and do you know what? I’m sticking my neck out: no doubt some will say it’s wishful thinking but: I think he’s got the right stuff.

FRANCE AND ITALY'S SHAME - THE PERSECUTION OF THE ROMANY.

There have always been elements of society who look for someone to blame when things get a little rough; perhaps they can’t resist scare stories in the press and they get upset and angry, it could be major events or trivial, the evil that is bigotry never sleeps and is never far away. Another common trait is for such people to blame those who are in some way “different” from the main stream, in most cases the ones being picked on are not really different at all but that doesn’t stop the abuse which comes their way when the mob mentality takes over, what the mob perceives is what’s important.


A couple of years ago I went on a travelling holiday in Europe, one country in particular; Poland was a wonderful place to visit and while there a guide pointed out to me a camp just outside of the beautiful sophisticated city of Krakow where several hundred Romany people were living: it took a certain shine off the visit to see the conditions they lived in and the hatred that locals displayed toward them. They were blamed for every petty crime in the area and it struck me hard to think that Poland is arguably the most Christian country in the world with an estimated 90% plus Poles attending Sunday Mass. This is what prejudice and bigotry can do. In a country which would claim to be devoutly Christian this was tolerated, most of the good natured generous Poles I met had no problem with it.

Today in Europe we have millions of Romany people who are living in a situation which is fraught with danger and worsening, the harshness of their lives has been part of their existence for hundreds of years yet some people want to make it worse. Some might argue that France and Italy are two of Europe’s most cultured and historic countries: certainly the French and Italians would. These two countries however are leading the way in carrying out what famously in Tsarist Russia used to be called pogroms: when thousands of Jews were persecuted and expelled from their homes. It was barbarism then and it is now and it’s happening in countries which boast the Louvre and the Sistine Chapel: culture indeed eh? Both of these beautiful famous countries are mired in shame, Romany people are protected from persecution by European law and I hope the European Parliament lands on France and Italy hard.

Predictably we here in the UK are guilty as well: the situation is nowhere as big but when it comes to unreasoned prejudice we are guilty as hell. We have Gypsies from northern Europe who regularly face severe prejudice in the South of England and around the rest of Britain we have “Travellers” who get the same bigotry and wretched prejudice aimed at them. Romany, Tinkers, Gypsies and Travellers have been leading their particular life styles for centuries and they will not change now: why should they? As a local councillor I get complaints when Travellers arrive and more often than not they don’t amount to much when investigated, there is no great number of incidents which require action from the Police: check and see. A regular Traveller’s camp appears near where I stay a couple of times a year and they stay for a month or so and move on. Over my time living here I’ve had 2 cars burned out another car stolen, my house broke into twice and none of it was done by Travellers: what does that tell us?

I believe that Travellers should have proper facilities in each council district to accommodate them when they stop there: this happens in many English towns and it works very well, we ought to be doing the same. As you curl up in your warm bed tonight think of those Romany people women and small children included who are out in the elements because of the brutal actions of some countries who like to refer to themselves as cultured and sophisticated. Do what I’m doing and write to your Euro MP’s and complain, demand that the Euro. Parliament protect these people. The law demands it and so does decency.

I'M NOT USUALLY IMPRESSED WITH WORDS LIKE LORD, SIR OR MAJESTY BUT, IN THE CASE OF SIR JAMES BLACK, I WILL MAKE AN EXCEPTION.

When your face appears on a stamp you could say you have made it big time, some people get their image on a stamp or their picture shown worldwide but even then it doesn’t begin to tell the story of their genius their character and the contribution they made to the world. Such a person is Sir James Black the Nobel prizewinning physician and pharmacologist who died earlier this year, he appears on a stamp launched today. A truly remarkable man who happens to have been born in Uddingston and raised in Fife or put another way he was Scottish born. Born in that part of the UK called Scotland and we should be proud of him. I am often accused of being in some silly way anti Scottish which is rubbish and Sir James Black is a hero and should be celebrated as such because of his life and achievements. It’s nice and it’s a bit of a bonus to be able to say “I come from the same country as Black and Alexander Fleming” Etc. as long as we don’t fall into the trap which cod patriots often fall into of associating in some way their greatness with being Scottish. Scotland can no more claim the credit for Sir James Black’s gifts and moral fibre than it can be blamed for the Moors Murderer Scottish born Ian Brady, good or bad they belong to the world.

James Black’s greatness manifests itself to me in two major ways, I can’t begin to understand how his brilliant mind worked but I can appreciate what his mind produced and I can also appreciate how he lived his life. His life outside the laboratory or high academia was unremarkable and identical to millions of people who work marry and raise a family, so what I hear you ask? Well; had he chosen to he could have lived his life as one of the richest people in the world, rich in fame and adoration as well as “wealth beyond the dreams of avarice” Quite literally millions of people avoided death due to his invention of the ‘Beta Blocker’ for heart problems and millions more due to his invention of the drug Cimetidine which treats stomach ulcers. These two inventions saved the health service billions of pounds and continue to do so; millions of operations for these conditions became unnecessary because of James Black and his beautiful inquisitive mind, these are the two major manifestations which make him great his achievements and his lack of interest in making money from them.

I would rather see statues to people like James Black and Alexander Fleming than some of the so called Scottish heroes real or imagined which we see today, these people are more entitled to be called heroes and have our children taught about them than past imaginary loosely researched heroes who beat up the English. A man like Black epitomises what is best about the human race. We should use him as an example to future generations, a man dedicated to science and saving lives without a thought for personal gain. How great would it be if society used people like him to look up to and copied his character but: hold on now this is beginning to sound like Socialism, what a great idea.

SNP LOVE AFFAIR WITH ENGLISH TORIES ENDURES IN RENFREWSHIRE - IT'S OFFICIAL.

09/09/2010 09.30 am and ringmaster Provost Lawson brings the circus to order: Renfrewshire Council is in now in session. The first half is as usual tedious and repetitive except for a minor comic cameo from Cllrs. Eileen Mc Cartin and Bruce McFee the gist of which was a plea for understanding about the serious financial position we are in. Let’s agree they said that when we have to make cuts that no one tries to make political capital out of it. Cllr. McFee and Cllr. McCartin are the kind of people who would stoop to any level: employ any dirty trick and carry out any misdemeanour as long as they were satisfied they would not get caught and here they were trying to ask for understanding and cooperation. The toxic mix of arrogance and stupidity displayed between them is jaw dropping. Every time I am obliged to be anywhere near Cllr. McCartin I can’t help thinking that this woman is a demonstrable exponent of Christianity: in her case I believe it’s the Roman version. Think about her and Mother Theresa of Calcutta together; you have to laugh otherwise you would cry yourself to death. I have never come across a less Christian individual in my life than McCartin: no wonder the churches are all being converted into ‘Cash n Carries’

A Labour motion was put which condemned the Tory/Libdem Westminster Government for its latest proposals to carry out savage cuts which hit the poorest in society. The motion highlighted the proposal to cut Job Seekers Allowance from £65 to £55 a week. Here surely was food and drink to the anti Engurlish rabid SNP knuckle draggers: the dirty Engurlish Tory/Libdem B******s cutting services to the Scottish jobless: everyone waited for the Braveheart spirit to explode: and waited: and waited, “I have an amendment” screeched McCartin to the sound of audible sighs.

We then witnessed the complete collapse of any self-esteem and any dignity that the SNP might have had. McCartin assisted by the truly wretched Cllr. Mackay came to the rescue of the Westminster Tory/Libdem Govt. Let’s look at this again: forget McCartin she is a shameless loud mouthed bully who will do anything for a sniff of power and a few pieces of silver. It’s Mackay who is the story: the leader of the council and the SNP, the crusader for independence the conscience of the Scottish people blah blah blah. He backs an amendment which supports the London Tory/Libdem Govt’s cuts it doesn’t add up does it? Well actually it does when you know the players, this is what happens when “thieves fall out” or in this case when two apolitical opportunist parties like the SNP and the Libdems join together.

The Libdem tail has just wagged the SNP dog because Mackay is politically spineless: his position should have been one of so called braveheart Scottish nationalists refusing to support a British Tory Govt. carrying out cuts in Scotland. What we got was a gutless capitulation to the bully McCartin’s threat to bring down the Renfrewshire SNP/Libdem coalition if he stopped her supporting the British Govt. with her Libdem friends in it. Lie down with dogs Derek and you wake up with fleas.

Was it coincidence that SNP Cllrs. like McFee: Nicolson: Adam: Mitchell sat navel gazing and brooding: these clowns are famous for being unable to stop talking not sitting in silence. There is now clearly another question in the ring: as well as the survival of the coalition there is now the question of the survival of Mackay who is now badly wounded in the eyes of his revenge driven rivals. He made them support an English Tory Govt. and he will now limp toward his inevitable humiliation as his party’s Holyrood candidate, meanwhile McFee and company are left to consider with relish that “revenge is a dish best eaten cold” it couldn’t happen to nicer people.

Last night in Edinburgh Labour won a by election seat with over 50% of the vote and the clock is ticking: it looks more and more like a good: if cowardly idea for Cllr. Mackay to get himself on to the list as well as challenging for a first past the post seat which he is very confident of winning according to his bragging in the local press, so confident that he is on the list as well. Aye right Derek!

"the British Govt. cuts are broadly right" (SNP council leader Derek Mackay) at Thursday's meeting.

To cap it all the (wee spiv) Salmond has binned his promised referendum on independence. How much more can the true believers take? Ochone ochone it will all end in tears.