The boycott of goods from Israeli occupied Palestinian territories continues to gather support and Israeli settlers in the West Bank are calling it “financial terrorism” Chutzpah eh? I urge everyone to do the same and refuse to buy Israeli goods from occupied Palestinian land such as the West Bank. If the goods don’t state “Produce of Palestine" don’t buy them every little helps; join in and help a just cause.
My congratulations and respect goes to The Methodist Church of Great Britain who have voted to boycott all products from Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, and to encourage Methodists across Britain to do the same. This is the result of action by Palestinian Christian groups along with Jewish groups from inside and outside Israel. The world council of churches and most other countries condemn the occupation of Palestine by Israel. This is a case of religious people looking at the Middle East and acting according to their Christian and Jewish beliefs and they bring hope to the region. Read the labels closely it doesn’t take long, do not buy from Israeli settlements on Palestinian land the boycott is beginning to bite let’s make it bigger and more successful.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
SHOULD THE TORY GOVERNMENT TELL WOMEN WHAT TO WEAR?
Had someone asked me a couple of weeks ago what a Burqa was or a Hijab I would have been struggling. I might have guessed it was worn by women I kind of knew that but which women? Again I would have struggled, Muslims; Arabs? is it Asian women or is it headscarves they wear? Anyway it clearly was not an issue with me, let people wear what they want was my attitude. Now I know that the Burqa is a garment worn by women of the religion Islam as is the Hijab and both are designed to preserve a woman’s modesty by stopping men who are not from their immediate family from seeing in the first case their bodies ‘Burqa’ and in the second their faces ‘Hijab’ This clearly IMO is a bit unfair on women as Islamic men are not obliged to cover up in public, still it’s the choice of some but unfortunately not all of these women which is not right but; I can’t see why it should stir up such a storm, perhaps they will change it themselves someday through their own preference.
Politics and the Media when combined together can sometimes throw up some rather odious and quite repellent characters one such is Tory MP Philip Hollobone who has decided to bring forward a bill which would ban these Islamic women from wearing such items of clothing. He states that he objects to speaking to someone who does not let him see their face which is something which we all do when we use emails; letters; telephone etc. as does this Tory opportunist. He senses an advantage for himself and with rat like cunning he reckons the red top rags will back him up; when times are hard it is handy to have someone who is different and looks different to blame and who could be more conspicuous than a woman covered from head to toe in a Burqa. Tory MP Hollobone also refers to wearing a Burqa as "like going around wearing a paper bag over your head" Obviously a well educated and charming man.
I don’t think that women covering themselves up in such a way is a good thing even if some women desire this, it does not seem to me to represent progress but; this Tory MP trying to get a bill to ban it through Parliament is grossly over the top and disproportionate. What this tells us though about the Tory MP and his party is that they have not changed and when they see the chance to play it; the “race card” is never far away.
Politics and the Media when combined together can sometimes throw up some rather odious and quite repellent characters one such is Tory MP Philip Hollobone who has decided to bring forward a bill which would ban these Islamic women from wearing such items of clothing. He states that he objects to speaking to someone who does not let him see their face which is something which we all do when we use emails; letters; telephone etc. as does this Tory opportunist. He senses an advantage for himself and with rat like cunning he reckons the red top rags will back him up; when times are hard it is handy to have someone who is different and looks different to blame and who could be more conspicuous than a woman covered from head to toe in a Burqa. Tory MP Hollobone also refers to wearing a Burqa as "like going around wearing a paper bag over your head" Obviously a well educated and charming man.
I don’t think that women covering themselves up in such a way is a good thing even if some women desire this, it does not seem to me to represent progress but; this Tory MP trying to get a bill to ban it through Parliament is grossly over the top and disproportionate. What this tells us though about the Tory MP and his party is that they have not changed and when they see the chance to play it; the “race card” is never far away.
Friday, July 23, 2010
NO JOKES TODAY ABOUT SALMOND - IT'S NOT IN THE LEAST BIT FUNNY, HE IS QUITE SIMPLY OUT OF HIS DEPTH.
Alex Salmond is completely accurate in terms of international laws and precedents when he and his fool Macaskill refused to attend an American enquiry into the Lockerbie bombing. The Americans are now saying that he was invited and not instructed to attend as some news outlets have been saying; there is no precedent for one country demanding that someone from another country attend anything. Would the American president respond positively to such a request/demand? ‘who is this dude Salmond tell him to go take a hike’ America does not; despite appearances rule the world and their behaviour over this enquiry has been like that of an undemocratic bully.
Salmond however as usual cannot stop himself from swaggering and grandstanding and by doing so he has managed to turn a success into a setback. He could and should have dealt with this in a different way but; as is often the case he proves himself to be out of his depth and the buffoon MacAskill with him when it comes to the world stage that they so covet. These American politicians are chasing votes and elections are not far away and he has given them an out by behaving as he has. They; particularly the Republicans will point the finger at Britain for failing to cooperate and in turn blame Obama for not acting tough enough. Unfortunately Salmond is nowhere near intelligent enough to cope with this and the Republicans will be thanking their lucky stars that they are dealing with a foreign affairs novice and a dim one at that.
Salmond had he had a bit more nous should have lectured the Americans on international law in a polite genial way and then agreed to attend because he has as he keeps saying ‘nothing to hide’ and as a friend of America he would be delighted to accommodate them in this grave matter. With the proviso repeated as often as possible that he is doing this out of friendship and compassion (remember that word) because no one can make him do it etc. etc. Instead; what he has done is play into the hands of the right wing politicians and the febrile American media who will now castigate him and Scotland and by association Britain for saying ‘we are clean’ Can’t you hear the booming riposte all over America; whipped up into a rage “if you are clean what are you afraid of” The reactionary American press and media outlets know their clientele and they are not a pretty bunch; think of the Tea Party Protesters (look it up) they are now a massive group and they say variously that Obama is a) a Terrorist b) a Marxist and c) not even a real American and a lot more.
Salmond’s craving for the limelight has once again led him into a position where he cannot win and neither can Scotland; oh he might never attend and he might brazen it out but; as every good and smart politician knows perception is everything. He and us will be perceived as disloyal and devious so; come on, if our hands are clean then let’s help our American friends to find closure. Because we want to not because they can force us; because they know they can try to force us but we know they can’t. Let's do it for the right reasons and possibly teach our US cousins a thing or two about manners and behaviour.
Salmond however as usual cannot stop himself from swaggering and grandstanding and by doing so he has managed to turn a success into a setback. He could and should have dealt with this in a different way but; as is often the case he proves himself to be out of his depth and the buffoon MacAskill with him when it comes to the world stage that they so covet. These American politicians are chasing votes and elections are not far away and he has given them an out by behaving as he has. They; particularly the Republicans will point the finger at Britain for failing to cooperate and in turn blame Obama for not acting tough enough. Unfortunately Salmond is nowhere near intelligent enough to cope with this and the Republicans will be thanking their lucky stars that they are dealing with a foreign affairs novice and a dim one at that.
Salmond had he had a bit more nous should have lectured the Americans on international law in a polite genial way and then agreed to attend because he has as he keeps saying ‘nothing to hide’ and as a friend of America he would be delighted to accommodate them in this grave matter. With the proviso repeated as often as possible that he is doing this out of friendship and compassion (remember that word) because no one can make him do it etc. etc. Instead; what he has done is play into the hands of the right wing politicians and the febrile American media who will now castigate him and Scotland and by association Britain for saying ‘we are clean’ Can’t you hear the booming riposte all over America; whipped up into a rage “if you are clean what are you afraid of” The reactionary American press and media outlets know their clientele and they are not a pretty bunch; think of the Tea Party Protesters (look it up) they are now a massive group and they say variously that Obama is a) a Terrorist b) a Marxist and c) not even a real American and a lot more.
Salmond’s craving for the limelight has once again led him into a position where he cannot win and neither can Scotland; oh he might never attend and he might brazen it out but; as every good and smart politician knows perception is everything. He and us will be perceived as disloyal and devious so; come on, if our hands are clean then let’s help our American friends to find closure. Because we want to not because they can force us; because they know they can try to force us but we know they can’t. Let's do it for the right reasons and possibly teach our US cousins a thing or two about manners and behaviour.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
MEGRAHI LIVES AND SOME PEOPLE ARE ANGRY HE IS NOT DEAD. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE THEY?
The fact that Al Megrahi was released to die at home was the right outcome. Accusations about whether BP or Libyan oil deals were involved as well as even the question of his innocence or guilt are irrelevant. A prisoner facing death was allowed to go home and die among his loved ones that is what matters and that should be allowed to stand alone; it was the right thing to do whatever people’s reasons were for doing it.
We now have an unappetising squabble among countries and politicians over this and the stench of hypocrisy is overpowering. American politicians and the British Government are posturing to look tough when what they are really saying is “we have been cheated, we want a dead body; where is the corpse we were promised” Two thing here; there are votes at stake and this macho posing is not new, we have seen it all before and it is sickening. Some time ago Bill Clinton was running for the presidency and his opponents were trying to portray him as ‘soft on crime’ he interrupted his campaign in a massive blaze of publicity to fly home so he could personally sign a death warrant on a convicted murderer who had a mental age of 12 years. That shut his opponents up OK but what does it make Clinton?
Unfortunately David Milliband has seen fit to run with this bunch in an attempt to boost his chances of becoming Labour leader, he will have to do it without my vote; as will Ed. Balls who played the race card over immigration. Salmond is predictably seizing the moment to appear on the World stage like a fairground barker selling dodgy goods while the clown MacAskill continues to rattle on about Scottish compassion which is of course as much of a myth as German arrogance, Italian cowardice or Irish stupidity. It’s people who are compassionate; arrogant or stupid not countries or nations, MacAskill desperately claiming some special compassionate characteristic for Scotland is pathetic.
If people want a special enquiry then so be it but don’t let it interfere with the reason for Megrahi’s release, his name, his origins; even the crime itself should not come into this. Even if there was not one single voice claiming his innocence even if he admitted guilt he should still be where he is today, among his loved ones, that is compassion and no country or state has the exclusive right to claim it as theirs.
We now have an unappetising squabble among countries and politicians over this and the stench of hypocrisy is overpowering. American politicians and the British Government are posturing to look tough when what they are really saying is “we have been cheated, we want a dead body; where is the corpse we were promised” Two thing here; there are votes at stake and this macho posing is not new, we have seen it all before and it is sickening. Some time ago Bill Clinton was running for the presidency and his opponents were trying to portray him as ‘soft on crime’ he interrupted his campaign in a massive blaze of publicity to fly home so he could personally sign a death warrant on a convicted murderer who had a mental age of 12 years. That shut his opponents up OK but what does it make Clinton?
Unfortunately David Milliband has seen fit to run with this bunch in an attempt to boost his chances of becoming Labour leader, he will have to do it without my vote; as will Ed. Balls who played the race card over immigration. Salmond is predictably seizing the moment to appear on the World stage like a fairground barker selling dodgy goods while the clown MacAskill continues to rattle on about Scottish compassion which is of course as much of a myth as German arrogance, Italian cowardice or Irish stupidity. It’s people who are compassionate; arrogant or stupid not countries or nations, MacAskill desperately claiming some special compassionate characteristic for Scotland is pathetic.
If people want a special enquiry then so be it but don’t let it interfere with the reason for Megrahi’s release, his name, his origins; even the crime itself should not come into this. Even if there was not one single voice claiming his innocence even if he admitted guilt he should still be where he is today, among his loved ones, that is compassion and no country or state has the exclusive right to claim it as theirs.
Monday, July 19, 2010
"HE'S A HIGH FALUTIN TOOTIN SHOOTIN SON OF A GUN FROM ARIZONA, RAGTIME COWBOY JOE". I THOUGHT THIS WAS A COMEDY SONG NOW I THINK HE MIGHT BE REAL.
"Goodbye to my Juan, farewell Roselita
Adios mes amigos, Jesus e Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be deportees"
(Deportees-Woody Guthrie)
The above song by the great American Woody Guthrie is about a plane crash which killed Mexican Illegal workers who were being deported after working in the California Fruit Fields; the kind of people described offensively by Mel Gibson as ‘Wet Backs’ the knuckle dragging reactionary Gibson reminds me of the following saying, “to see what God thought of wealth you need only look at those who have it” This song was a staple diet of the folk music scene which me and my friends and brothers frequented years ago. It helped us learn how America along with others exploited immigrants and illegal workers. Woody Guthrie spent a lot of time and energy trying to organise these workers.
In Arizona today right here and now they are passing a racist law which allows police to stop and interrogate anyone that they suspect might be an illegal immigrant. If a George Clooney lookalike is strolling down the street somewhere in Arizona with a guy who looks like Jimmy Smitts who will get his collar felt? President Obama is to launch a Department of Justice lawsuit against Arizona to stop this, I hope he succeeds. Arizona officially voted not to have a “Malcolm Luther King Day” as well, is it something in the water I wonder? Apart from the Native American Indian all Americans are immigrants or illegal’s anyway; perhaps they should rename Arizona “Hypocricyville” This sickening backward step by Arizona will lead to people who are stopped being put on a police file for not having the correct papers with them whether they are legal or not, which means a great many Latinos and very few non Latinos.
Predictably those who holler the most against the Latino workers are those who take advantage of them as cheap labour and they will howl even louder when officially permitted workers demand more money to do the menial jobs that they don’t want.
This is what happens when times get hard; some people look to find someone ‘different’ to blame, in Arizona they are blamed for everything from rustling to bank robbery and murder ignoring the fact that the immigrant Mexican community has lower crime levels than the others and the fact that such crimes go on where there are no Latino illegal’s. In Britain in the middle to late 19 th. century and the first half of the 20 th. century the Irish who fled the Famine got the blame and in Nazi Germany it was the Jews, an American state is about to take us back to that way of thinking. There are far more of my own family here and in America than there are in Ireland where we immigrated from; that’s because we stuck to it and survived by supporting each other and working hard. It sickens me to think that the most advanced country in the world and the richest is about to start treating people the way those immigrants were treated all those years ago.
As a teenager I experienced this prejudice when looking for work, me and some mates would split into two small groups and the first would approach a factory and ask for a job and we were sometimes asked “what school did you go to” when we said St. Mirin’s we were told there were no vacancies, when our second group went they said they had attended Camphill Sec. School and were given forms to fill in for jobs. Many times I felt like answering the “what school” question by saying “I went to a school where 2 + 2 = 4 what other kind is there you f*****g moron” but I didn’t want arrested as well as discriminated against.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
Send These, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Poem – By Emma Lazarus on the statue of liberty.
Do these moving words still stand for anything in this great country, if they do, someone needs to remind the people of Arizona.
Adios mes amigos, Jesus e Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be deportees"
(Deportees-Woody Guthrie)
The above song by the great American Woody Guthrie is about a plane crash which killed Mexican Illegal workers who were being deported after working in the California Fruit Fields; the kind of people described offensively by Mel Gibson as ‘Wet Backs’ the knuckle dragging reactionary Gibson reminds me of the following saying, “to see what God thought of wealth you need only look at those who have it” This song was a staple diet of the folk music scene which me and my friends and brothers frequented years ago. It helped us learn how America along with others exploited immigrants and illegal workers. Woody Guthrie spent a lot of time and energy trying to organise these workers.
In Arizona today right here and now they are passing a racist law which allows police to stop and interrogate anyone that they suspect might be an illegal immigrant. If a George Clooney lookalike is strolling down the street somewhere in Arizona with a guy who looks like Jimmy Smitts who will get his collar felt? President Obama is to launch a Department of Justice lawsuit against Arizona to stop this, I hope he succeeds. Arizona officially voted not to have a “Malcolm Luther King Day” as well, is it something in the water I wonder? Apart from the Native American Indian all Americans are immigrants or illegal’s anyway; perhaps they should rename Arizona “Hypocricyville” This sickening backward step by Arizona will lead to people who are stopped being put on a police file for not having the correct papers with them whether they are legal or not, which means a great many Latinos and very few non Latinos.
Predictably those who holler the most against the Latino workers are those who take advantage of them as cheap labour and they will howl even louder when officially permitted workers demand more money to do the menial jobs that they don’t want.
This is what happens when times get hard; some people look to find someone ‘different’ to blame, in Arizona they are blamed for everything from rustling to bank robbery and murder ignoring the fact that the immigrant Mexican community has lower crime levels than the others and the fact that such crimes go on where there are no Latino illegal’s. In Britain in the middle to late 19 th. century and the first half of the 20 th. century the Irish who fled the Famine got the blame and in Nazi Germany it was the Jews, an American state is about to take us back to that way of thinking. There are far more of my own family here and in America than there are in Ireland where we immigrated from; that’s because we stuck to it and survived by supporting each other and working hard. It sickens me to think that the most advanced country in the world and the richest is about to start treating people the way those immigrants were treated all those years ago.
As a teenager I experienced this prejudice when looking for work, me and some mates would split into two small groups and the first would approach a factory and ask for a job and we were sometimes asked “what school did you go to” when we said St. Mirin’s we were told there were no vacancies, when our second group went they said they had attended Camphill Sec. School and were given forms to fill in for jobs. Many times I felt like answering the “what school” question by saying “I went to a school where 2 + 2 = 4 what other kind is there you f*****g moron” but I didn’t want arrested as well as discriminated against.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
Send These, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Poem – By Emma Lazarus on the statue of liberty.
Do these moving words still stand for anything in this great country, if they do, someone needs to remind the people of Arizona.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
COMETH THE HOUR COMETH THE MAN OR, IN THIS CASE COMETH THE WOMAN.
The Labour leadership contest throws up 5 candidates who in terms of experience and qualifications are remarkably alike; all 5 have been in Parliament and the Labour Party long enough to know the ropes when dealing with both institutions and all 5 are Oxbridge graduates. In terms of who to pick therefore it would be difficult to choose the smartest, they are also roughly the same age; all 5 are good commons performers and all 5 come across well in the media; some people will obviously claim special preferences for their candidate because they will argue that their choice is in fact smarter, better qualified and more experienced etc, but; I personally think there is not enough between them to decide using such criteria.
How to choose then? For party members there is only one way, what do they stand for and what are their records like on the issues that you as a Labour Party member consider to be significant? 4 of them have similar voting records and comparable opinions on some big issues. These 4 are in favour of the Iraq War, Trident, PR and Reducing Immigration. The 5 th. is opposed to these policies; she is Dianne Abbott; she also described Peter Mandelson as “a source of poison in the government” Her reputation as a staunch Socialist did take a dent when she opted to send her son to a private school, she took flack for this and deservedly so, so much so in fact that some so called left wingers are trying to use that as a motive for not supporting her. I say to them; if you buy this line this you are suggesting that sending your child to a private school is a greater transgression for a left wing candidate than supporting the Iraq War, PR, Retaining Trident and playing the Race Card over immigration. For her opponents that is not a sustainable argument if you are genuinely on the left.
From what I can see she stands where I do on every issue and she is closer to the Labour traditions than any of her opponents. She would take the party in a leftward route, back to our roots in the working class communities and lead the fight back which is urgently needed. She would provide a new impetus; she is a charismatic intelligent fighter for Socialism, oh! and did I mention that she is black and that she is a woman? She and Labour have the chance here to make history let’s go for it.
How to choose then? For party members there is only one way, what do they stand for and what are their records like on the issues that you as a Labour Party member consider to be significant? 4 of them have similar voting records and comparable opinions on some big issues. These 4 are in favour of the Iraq War, Trident, PR and Reducing Immigration. The 5 th. is opposed to these policies; she is Dianne Abbott; she also described Peter Mandelson as “a source of poison in the government” Her reputation as a staunch Socialist did take a dent when she opted to send her son to a private school, she took flack for this and deservedly so, so much so in fact that some so called left wingers are trying to use that as a motive for not supporting her. I say to them; if you buy this line this you are suggesting that sending your child to a private school is a greater transgression for a left wing candidate than supporting the Iraq War, PR, Retaining Trident and playing the Race Card over immigration. For her opponents that is not a sustainable argument if you are genuinely on the left.
From what I can see she stands where I do on every issue and she is closer to the Labour traditions than any of her opponents. She would take the party in a leftward route, back to our roots in the working class communities and lead the fight back which is urgently needed. She would provide a new impetus; she is a charismatic intelligent fighter for Socialism, oh! and did I mention that she is black and that she is a woman? She and Labour have the chance here to make history let’s go for it.
Friday, July 16, 2010
WILL CLLR. MC CARTIN AND HER 3 LIBDEM LAPDOG'S TREACHERY BE REMEMBERED? I'LL TRY TO REMIND PEOPLE CAUSE I'M HELPFUL LIKE THAT.
Some 2 weeks ago the local labour Party went out leafleting as it does most weeks; they managed to deliver a good amount thanks to the efforts of our party members and friends; so what I hear you ask. Well a couple of days after this leaflet drop there appeared a letter in the Paisley Daily Express from none other than Cllr. McCartin the leader and also head of the soliciting department for the local Liberal Democrats. Ms. McCartin was not thrilled; the leaflet went out in her ward you see and she was as joyful as a one legged man in an a**e kicking competition.
The fact that her deeds and those of her colleagues in her own wretched group and in their even more abject SNP partners since they formed the coalition from hell has left her and them vulnerable seems to have escaped her. That is no revelation to those who know her and have had to put up with her conceit and ignorance over the years; she has the appalling but deserved reputation of being impervious to everything but blows, utterly uninsultable you would have fared better trying to insult the late far more agreeable Bernard Manning, so what did the Labour leaflet say to provoke this rush to print? Let’s see.
The cruel Tory budget wouldn’t be possible without Libdem support.
The Libdems have supported the Tory 20% VAT bombshell.
They have supported risky cuts to public spending despite previously denouncing them.
They have backed the freezing of child benefits and cutting tax credits for millions of families.
In Renfrewshire they supported SNP cuts to teacher jobs and the cutting of school busses.
In Renfrewshire they have supported the SNP’s increased charges to the elderly.
Cllr. McCartin hopes to get away with this catalogue of disgrace but we don’t have it in mind to let that happen.
She; (McCartin) clearly thinks that repeating falsehoods makes them true, such as accusing Labour of walking away from a coalition. Would she have entered a coalition if Cllr. Mackay had demanded her resignation as the price for a pact? That’s what Clegg did with Gordon Brown; Cllr. Mackay would still be getting treatment if he had dared suggest such a thing, it was the Libdems who walked or more accurately crawled away.
The Libdems stated prior to the election that some things were non negotiable and they would not deal with anyone unless they got their way on such things as; Abolishing Trident, Delaying Cuts, no VAT rise, and the introduction P.R. and in a breathtaking display of spineless duplicity they discarded all of them.
In Renfrewshire the Libdems came last in the number of popular votes cast and third out of the four parties; they got 4 out of 40 seats and Cllr. McCartin has the quite reprehensible effrontery to claim this as some kind of mandate.
At future elections people will remember their Westminster betrayal and in Renfrewshire their support for the SNP closures of libraries, schools, swimming pools and the unpardonable decision to remove school transport. They supported savage education cuts meaning we have the worst teacher pupil ratios in Scotland thanks to Cllr. McCartin and her SNP colleagues. She claims that people are joining the Libdems “because of what we stand for” is this what passes for humour in the Libdems? What they stand for! Read that again readers “what they, (the Libdems) stand for” can I be the first to know what that is when they tell us? They will without shame join the Tories, or the SNP or Labour, meaning plainly and frankly that they are “up for sale” to the highest bidder at all times no matter who that is, they wouldn’t blink at joining the BNP.
Their ‘policies’ are what they are told to adopt by their paymasters. They believe in nothing and they stand for nothing and shamefully, they form the Renfrewshire Council Administration, we are left to wonder if Cllr. McCartin has any shame, any sense of decorum, just what depths is this woman prepared to sink to, will we ever find that out?
The fact that her deeds and those of her colleagues in her own wretched group and in their even more abject SNP partners since they formed the coalition from hell has left her and them vulnerable seems to have escaped her. That is no revelation to those who know her and have had to put up with her conceit and ignorance over the years; she has the appalling but deserved reputation of being impervious to everything but blows, utterly uninsultable you would have fared better trying to insult the late far more agreeable Bernard Manning, so what did the Labour leaflet say to provoke this rush to print? Let’s see.
The cruel Tory budget wouldn’t be possible without Libdem support.
The Libdems have supported the Tory 20% VAT bombshell.
They have supported risky cuts to public spending despite previously denouncing them.
They have backed the freezing of child benefits and cutting tax credits for millions of families.
In Renfrewshire they supported SNP cuts to teacher jobs and the cutting of school busses.
In Renfrewshire they have supported the SNP’s increased charges to the elderly.
Cllr. McCartin hopes to get away with this catalogue of disgrace but we don’t have it in mind to let that happen.
She; (McCartin) clearly thinks that repeating falsehoods makes them true, such as accusing Labour of walking away from a coalition. Would she have entered a coalition if Cllr. Mackay had demanded her resignation as the price for a pact? That’s what Clegg did with Gordon Brown; Cllr. Mackay would still be getting treatment if he had dared suggest such a thing, it was the Libdems who walked or more accurately crawled away.
The Libdems stated prior to the election that some things were non negotiable and they would not deal with anyone unless they got their way on such things as; Abolishing Trident, Delaying Cuts, no VAT rise, and the introduction P.R. and in a breathtaking display of spineless duplicity they discarded all of them.
In Renfrewshire the Libdems came last in the number of popular votes cast and third out of the four parties; they got 4 out of 40 seats and Cllr. McCartin has the quite reprehensible effrontery to claim this as some kind of mandate.
At future elections people will remember their Westminster betrayal and in Renfrewshire their support for the SNP closures of libraries, schools, swimming pools and the unpardonable decision to remove school transport. They supported savage education cuts meaning we have the worst teacher pupil ratios in Scotland thanks to Cllr. McCartin and her SNP colleagues. She claims that people are joining the Libdems “because of what we stand for” is this what passes for humour in the Libdems? What they stand for! Read that again readers “what they, (the Libdems) stand for” can I be the first to know what that is when they tell us? They will without shame join the Tories, or the SNP or Labour, meaning plainly and frankly that they are “up for sale” to the highest bidder at all times no matter who that is, they wouldn’t blink at joining the BNP.
Their ‘policies’ are what they are told to adopt by their paymasters. They believe in nothing and they stand for nothing and shamefully, they form the Renfrewshire Council Administration, we are left to wonder if Cllr. McCartin has any shame, any sense of decorum, just what depths is this woman prepared to sink to, will we ever find that out?
Monday, July 12, 2010
EL COMMANDANTE LOOKING GOOD AND STILL WITH PLENTY TO SAY.
There are not that many people in history who are recognisable by one single name or letter, Ali and JFK spring to mind. The man in the picture is one such person; in fact he and one of his close friends and comrades make 2 such people, they are of course 
Fidel (Castro) and Che (Guevara) for a country as small as Cuba this is quite an achievement. Fidel is a giant of history, triumphant vanquisher of no fewer than 9 US presidents and a man that President Obama thanks the Lord for allowing him to avoid because of his (Fidel’s) poor health. His enemies have been trying to get rid of him for 50 odd years and he has been making fools of them for the same length of time. There is something about these anti imperialist Socialist warriors which makes them resilient, watching Mandela the other night and seeing Fidel in today’s papers is simply inspirational, I hope they live forever.
Fidel (Castro) and Che (Guevara) for a country as small as Cuba this is quite an achievement. Fidel is a giant of history, triumphant vanquisher of no fewer than 9 US presidents and a man that President Obama thanks the Lord for allowing him to avoid because of his (Fidel’s) poor health. His enemies have been trying to get rid of him for 50 odd years and he has been making fools of them for the same length of time. There is something about these anti imperialist Socialist warriors which makes them resilient, watching Mandela the other night and seeing Fidel in today’s papers is simply inspirational, I hope they live forever.Fidel continues to infuriate his enemies who have been floating stories about his imminent demise for decades; he just keeps popping up to embarrass them. About 1 ½ to 2 years ago a delegation of US senators visited Cuba and met the great man and came back with stories which drove his opponents crazy, apparently his health had deteriorated which was no surprise for someone in his eighties but his mind was razor sharp and he was happy to discuss world events and international politics for hours and his grasp of events was vice like, according to them he was amazing.
Last week he visited a scientific centre and he continues to write media columns, he is also about to do interviews on TV to discuss his fears for world peace with reference to the US Iran coming confrontation as he describes it. Apparently he considers himself as being too young to be blown up by a nuclear bomb. Cuba continues to be a beacon of progress for the oppressed people of the world and many South American states are following the Cuban example. For those who tried and still try to undermine Castro and Cuba’s achievements it is already too late, Cuba has proved in the most difficult of conditions that it is possible to run a decent society where everyone has health care, education and housing; as well as reaching out to those in poorer countries where Cuban doctors and teachers volunteer to work and it’s certainly not for financial gain. That’s one of the reasons that it’s too late for his enemies to harm him the world has seen and still sees the example he set out and no one can now take that away. How many look at Cuba with admiration and wonder what they could have achieved if the US had not spitefully fought them all the way. Che was to die in Bolivia spreading the revolution, killed by the Bolivian army sponsored by the CIA.
About 3/4 years ago a Cuban medical team were working in the jungle towns and villages of Bolivia they were specialists in eye surgery and the treatment of eye diseases. They were taken to a man in a village that was unable to see because of an eye disease which had gradually rendered him blind. The Cuban medical team operated on him and restored his sight. This man was Sergeant Mario Teran an ex Bolivian soldier, years before as he pointed his gun at the captured Che Guevara; Sergeant Teran was told by Che to “steady your aim you are about to kill a man” years later in 2007 a man wrote a letter to his local newspaper in Bolivia thanking the Cuban doctors for restoring his father’s sight, his father was Sergeant Mario Teran, the man who killed Che Guevara.
THE HATE MOB CONTINUE TO LEAD WITH THEIR CHINS.
One of the mob who are involved in this spat about the latest hate campaign against me cowers behind the label “innocent bystander” in keeping with my intention to let you know what these low life characters are about and just how thick they are I offer the following. He accuses me of being a coward for not criticising David Milliband for visiting and dining with his relatives who are Jewish settlers on the West bank when he visited Israel as Foreign Secretary some time ago. My response which I thought might have been an end to it was “I knew nothing about this” considering that I keep a close eye on Middle East affairs I thought this rather odd.
The “innocent bystander” suggested that I check the story carried by the Jewish Chronical on 22/11/07 I duly did this and found the following.
“A report that Foreign Secretary David Miliband took time out to dine with relatives at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank threatened to overshadow his visit to the region this week. The report, strenuously denied, was broadcast on Israeli Army Radio and comes in the run-up to the Annapolis peace summit next Tuesday.
What then does this tell us about the level of competence shown by the guy hiding behind the title “innocent bystander” there are several things which spring to mind but I will confine myself to the main one, this imbecile thinks that in a dispute with me his reliance on the word of the Israeli Army Radio trumps that of the British Foreign Secretary, I will rest my case here.
The “innocent bystander” suggested that I check the story carried by the Jewish Chronical on 22/11/07 I duly did this and found the following.
“A report that Foreign Secretary David Miliband took time out to dine with relatives at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank threatened to overshadow his visit to the region this week. The report, strenuously denied, was broadcast on Israeli Army Radio and comes in the run-up to the Annapolis peace summit next Tuesday.
What then does this tell us about the level of competence shown by the guy hiding behind the title “innocent bystander” there are several things which spring to mind but I will confine myself to the main one, this imbecile thinks that in a dispute with me his reliance on the word of the Israeli Army Radio trumps that of the British Foreign Secretary, I will rest my case here.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
I SEEM TO HAVE DISTURBED A SACKFUL OF VERMIN AND IT HAS BECOME QUITE ENTERTAINING.
Dear readers this is a great time to read the comments section of this blog: I have mentioned before the dire standard of some of my critics well now is a good time to see for yourselves what I mean. The comments are obviously orchestrated but they provoke a kind of jaw dropping incredulity: it’s difficult to react with mirth as you might feel a trace of sympathy for the level that the writers operate at. Suffice to say they are a sorry bunch: in fact you would be hard pushed to find a better example of hate filled inarticulate cretins: I swear I can hear the sound of white coats flapping as I read their stuff. Despite it’s truly awful level of bile and sheer idiocy it comforts me somewhat to see the calibre of those who are so opposed to me, I’m certainly getting something right if I’m disturbing this lot brain dead fascists, it’s cathartic in fact.
Friday, July 09, 2010
BLOGGING'S EASY, THE CAUSTIC WIT OF THIS GUY MAKES ME JEALOUS. HE / SHE IS THE PLAYER WHO CAN PUT THEIR FOOT ON THE BALL AND PICK A PASS.
I don’t often publish comments but: this one is a gem and made me count to ten: my thanks to to the writer.
THE HATE MOB ARE BACK BUT STILL IN HIDING. (1)
Tell: would you pay attention to a dog turd ?? no of course not so why bother with (corrugated soundbite) and related loons. "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it" Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
Publish Reject
THE HATE MOB ARE BACK BUT STILL IN HIDING. (1)
Tell: would you pay attention to a dog turd ?? no of course not so why bother with (corrugated soundbite) and related loons. "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it" Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
Publish Reject
"OH THE HORROR THE HORROR" - (HEART OF DARKNESS) - JOSEPH CONRAD.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani aged 43 having served 5 years in Jail and received 99 lashes is to be stoned to death: her sex? female: her crime? adultery: the place? Iran: the time? now the 21St. Century.
The appetite for revenge and barbarism is indeed worldwide: it is difficult to imagine anything more horrible than this but: I believe that that is because most of us don’t really think too intensely about the methodical and deliberate act of legally taking the life of a fellow human being. Imagine offering stoning or a firing squad to a condemned person: most people would instinctively choose a bullet as it takes seconds whereas stoning can take hours. Have you really considered this though? What if the prisoner decided that stoning would give him/her another couple of hours to live despite the suffering and, maybe just maybe something might just turn up during that time to save them: let me ask you these 2 questions 1/ just how daft does my suggestion sound? plenty daft I hear you murmur. And 2/ how many times have you been condemned to death? My hypothesis is that arguing for stoning to death is entirely understandable but: it puts some people in the position of supporting capital punishment as long as it’s not by stoning or maybe some other means and; there are many.
I agree of course with those who are horror-struck by the very thought of stoning this woman to death (it’s nearly always a woman BTW) but: I find it impossible to look at it in isolation. After all no one has ever been executed and came back to give us their opinion of the method have they (Jesus doesn’t count here) my point is of course that taking a life is wrong: end of story and I find the argument about which method to use every bit as repellent as the act itself.
There are a very strident and large number of people in the UK who would gladly volunteer for the job of executioner: I came across one at the election who made me think: he was a guy who was in my class in school and we hadn’t met or spoken for decades. He walked past me at the polling station and I hailed him expecting him to ask who I was but: to my surprise he came over to me calling me Terry and challenged me in no uncertain terms to support capital punishment which I refused to do and he was incensed: so much so that he left saying he would not vote for any of us. I thought about this and I realized that I still recognized him because he is an ex soldier who involves himself in Army charities and parades etc. it completely escaped me that he would still know me because I am a councillor and like him I’m every now and then in the paper. He was not the guy I remembered from school who was a great laugh and a really nice guy: he was consumed with rage and frustration. He had recently attended a dinner with a young soldier who not long after that was stabbed to death in the street while on leave. I realize now that he thought he had the answer and I have no way of knowing what he might have seen and done while serving but: I recognize him and more like him as being people who in fact don’t have the answers and with no disrespect to him, the Army is not the place to find those answers.
As is habitually the case the western countries are screaming barbarians and such at the Iranians but as is the case again they / we: are living in glass houses, in the US you can serve life in a hell hole prison by the “3 strikes rule” 3 crimes and in you go and they can be any crime from murder to jaywalking. They also put to death mentally handicapped people and those on death row are overwhelmingly black, I wrote about a prisoner on death row recently who cheated the executioner by dying of natural causes: he was 97 and wheelchair bound as well as blind and suffering from several diseases as you do at that age but: he was still on death row and had they got him fit enough they would have executed him. What about China where we are told people in great numbers are executed? We still deal with them, big trading partners right.
The chorus of disapproval in Britain is warranted but: seriously flawed and hypocritical: in Saudi Arabia years ago we saw a young Princess beheaded in public for adultery and we learned of thieves having their hands cut off; not chopped off mind you but amputated in hospital by surgeons and followed up by full medical recovery care, women who are raped are put to death for being unclean! FFS who are we kidding oh! Did I mention that we deal in oil with the Saudis?
The West describes countries like Iran as being trapped in medieval times which always makes me think of something from the Spanish Civil War which wasn’t in medieval times but 70 years ago. A large Madrid prison was used to hold Republican women prisoners and it was staffed by Nuns, these Nuns did the job of executing these women prisoners: they dragged them: sometimes from their children and wrestled them screaming on to the scaffold and hanged them to the sound of praise from Franco and the Church, the Nation who gave the world Cervantes: Goya and Picasso were capable of this and the nation who gave the world Wagner: Bach: Goethe and Kant also gave us Goering: Himmler and Hitler so a little perspective is required: stoning to death is an abomination but it doesn’t make Iran unique.
We have been watching the demonization of Iran for several years now by the West: mainly the US and Israel and they are itching to go to war with them. Don’t let the propaganda persuade you that it would be right to start bombing them, world pressure can work and get them to stop such behavior as well as banning the death penalty worldwide, killing is wrong it’s not really that difficult to understand. Whether it is the horrendous stoning of a woman to death or the horrendous dropping of big bombs on a population.
The appetite for revenge and barbarism is indeed worldwide: it is difficult to imagine anything more horrible than this but: I believe that that is because most of us don’t really think too intensely about the methodical and deliberate act of legally taking the life of a fellow human being. Imagine offering stoning or a firing squad to a condemned person: most people would instinctively choose a bullet as it takes seconds whereas stoning can take hours. Have you really considered this though? What if the prisoner decided that stoning would give him/her another couple of hours to live despite the suffering and, maybe just maybe something might just turn up during that time to save them: let me ask you these 2 questions 1/ just how daft does my suggestion sound? plenty daft I hear you murmur. And 2/ how many times have you been condemned to death? My hypothesis is that arguing for stoning to death is entirely understandable but: it puts some people in the position of supporting capital punishment as long as it’s not by stoning or maybe some other means and; there are many.
I agree of course with those who are horror-struck by the very thought of stoning this woman to death (it’s nearly always a woman BTW) but: I find it impossible to look at it in isolation. After all no one has ever been executed and came back to give us their opinion of the method have they (Jesus doesn’t count here) my point is of course that taking a life is wrong: end of story and I find the argument about which method to use every bit as repellent as the act itself.
There are a very strident and large number of people in the UK who would gladly volunteer for the job of executioner: I came across one at the election who made me think: he was a guy who was in my class in school and we hadn’t met or spoken for decades. He walked past me at the polling station and I hailed him expecting him to ask who I was but: to my surprise he came over to me calling me Terry and challenged me in no uncertain terms to support capital punishment which I refused to do and he was incensed: so much so that he left saying he would not vote for any of us. I thought about this and I realized that I still recognized him because he is an ex soldier who involves himself in Army charities and parades etc. it completely escaped me that he would still know me because I am a councillor and like him I’m every now and then in the paper. He was not the guy I remembered from school who was a great laugh and a really nice guy: he was consumed with rage and frustration. He had recently attended a dinner with a young soldier who not long after that was stabbed to death in the street while on leave. I realize now that he thought he had the answer and I have no way of knowing what he might have seen and done while serving but: I recognize him and more like him as being people who in fact don’t have the answers and with no disrespect to him, the Army is not the place to find those answers.
As is habitually the case the western countries are screaming barbarians and such at the Iranians but as is the case again they / we: are living in glass houses, in the US you can serve life in a hell hole prison by the “3 strikes rule” 3 crimes and in you go and they can be any crime from murder to jaywalking. They also put to death mentally handicapped people and those on death row are overwhelmingly black, I wrote about a prisoner on death row recently who cheated the executioner by dying of natural causes: he was 97 and wheelchair bound as well as blind and suffering from several diseases as you do at that age but: he was still on death row and had they got him fit enough they would have executed him. What about China where we are told people in great numbers are executed? We still deal with them, big trading partners right.
The chorus of disapproval in Britain is warranted but: seriously flawed and hypocritical: in Saudi Arabia years ago we saw a young Princess beheaded in public for adultery and we learned of thieves having their hands cut off; not chopped off mind you but amputated in hospital by surgeons and followed up by full medical recovery care, women who are raped are put to death for being unclean! FFS who are we kidding oh! Did I mention that we deal in oil with the Saudis?
The West describes countries like Iran as being trapped in medieval times which always makes me think of something from the Spanish Civil War which wasn’t in medieval times but 70 years ago. A large Madrid prison was used to hold Republican women prisoners and it was staffed by Nuns, these Nuns did the job of executing these women prisoners: they dragged them: sometimes from their children and wrestled them screaming on to the scaffold and hanged them to the sound of praise from Franco and the Church, the Nation who gave the world Cervantes: Goya and Picasso were capable of this and the nation who gave the world Wagner: Bach: Goethe and Kant also gave us Goering: Himmler and Hitler so a little perspective is required: stoning to death is an abomination but it doesn’t make Iran unique.
We have been watching the demonization of Iran for several years now by the West: mainly the US and Israel and they are itching to go to war with them. Don’t let the propaganda persuade you that it would be right to start bombing them, world pressure can work and get them to stop such behavior as well as banning the death penalty worldwide, killing is wrong it’s not really that difficult to understand. Whether it is the horrendous stoning of a woman to death or the horrendous dropping of big bombs on a population.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
THE HATE MOB ARE BACK BUT STILL IN HIDING.
Dear readers: I have just been directed to a site called (corrugated soundbite) new to me, whose raison d’être is to attack me personally: it’s just like old times: perhaps the author has just been released or something. Anyway it is not to be missed for those of you who don’t mind gazing into the minds of some people who are quite clearly manic and driven by some kind of malignant fury. The writer claims that his apparent hatred for me is political but a cursory glance shows that to be claptrap. I am going to assume that this moron is male and he has some serious problems on board, what problems and why does he have them though: that is the question. We have of course been here before and like the last time these people prefer secrecy: something which I have a problem with: not in terms of disagreeing with my point of view: I’m quite happy to argue my case with anyone. The problem is that they are the kind of people judging by what they write that you just find hard to believe: they are like wayward children in an rudeness competition trying to see who can say the ugliest thing.
I have never been able to come to terms with the fact that these things are written from a hiding place and: saint that I am I could never write a letter or comment using such language without facing the person I am attacking I just couldn’t do it: I have never written anything anonymously in my life and I don’t ever intend to: maybe it’s the way I have been brought up and it’s obviously that this is the way this writer has been brought up: I can’t help wondering and shuddering to think about the influences on someone which can turn out such utterly odious people.
The writer has a massive feeling of resentment that’s palpable but: why me? I’m sure that I have enraged and wound up plenty of folk: I’m quite pleased about that it's politics but this is not as a result of anything I’ve said. That leads me to suspect that this guy hates the Labour Party: particularly the Renfrewshire Labour Party: he seems like someone whom the party might have spurned and didn’t grasp the extent of his ambition: his ego and his state of mind. He is also a bit preoccupied with demonstrating his rather flaky intelligence the florid overstated language suggests a guy who is rather insecure and is therefore desperate to impress, all in all an nasty and quite creepy character.
I suspect that he has tried to aggravate me before and has had a go at sending me comments and hasn’t had much success arguing with me and this sleazy caper is a result of his frustration: nothing I can do about that but what he is writing would never get printed on my comments page and he is mad as hell at where he finds himself. He is not alone of course: he’s not the first and won’t be the last to be beaten up by meon the blog; perhaps he will try again at the comments: he is welcome to have a go: within the rules: meantime I would recommend a strong coffee and a dark room then an application to rejoin the human race.
I have never been able to come to terms with the fact that these things are written from a hiding place and: saint that I am I could never write a letter or comment using such language without facing the person I am attacking I just couldn’t do it: I have never written anything anonymously in my life and I don’t ever intend to: maybe it’s the way I have been brought up and it’s obviously that this is the way this writer has been brought up: I can’t help wondering and shuddering to think about the influences on someone which can turn out such utterly odious people.
The writer has a massive feeling of resentment that’s palpable but: why me? I’m sure that I have enraged and wound up plenty of folk: I’m quite pleased about that it's politics but this is not as a result of anything I’ve said. That leads me to suspect that this guy hates the Labour Party: particularly the Renfrewshire Labour Party: he seems like someone whom the party might have spurned and didn’t grasp the extent of his ambition: his ego and his state of mind. He is also a bit preoccupied with demonstrating his rather flaky intelligence the florid overstated language suggests a guy who is rather insecure and is therefore desperate to impress, all in all an nasty and quite creepy character.
I suspect that he has tried to aggravate me before and has had a go at sending me comments and hasn’t had much success arguing with me and this sleazy caper is a result of his frustration: nothing I can do about that but what he is writing would never get printed on my comments page and he is mad as hell at where he finds himself. He is not alone of course: he’s not the first and won’t be the last to be beaten up by meon the blog; perhaps he will try again at the comments: he is welcome to have a go: within the rules: meantime I would recommend a strong coffee and a dark room then an application to rejoin the human race.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
"WHAT'S IN A NAME? THAT WHICH WE CALL A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET" ROMEO AND JULIET, BY THINGMY.
About 6 weeks ago at a full council meeting Renfrewshire Councillors heard a quite unexpected declaration which rather puzzled us all: I didn’t give it much thought at the time except to join in with some joking about it. We have in our midst at Renfrewshire Council 2 rather exotic creatures: objects of great curiosity and humour: they are Tories you see, rather like finding a hen with teeth or a rocking horse’s s***e. The aforementioned ‘statement’ made by Cllr. Clues was that he and the rest of his party (Cllr. Langlands) were not in fact ‘Tories’ at all: and were in fact members of the Conservative and Unionist Party, I know what you are thinking: a nice snappy modern title for a nice snappy modern party right? Anyway we pondered the implication of this to no avail: we could not figure out what provoked this rather surprising affirmation: I’m sure that they know that everyone including themselves uses Tory so: what’s his angle I thought what’s he up to?
Here we are now 6 weeks on and the newspapers are carrying stories about an upheaval in the old Tory Party, I think I’m right in saying the oldest political party in the world, let’s call them the C.U.P. from now on and not offend the Renfrewshire 2 O.K. ? The aged Party has to modernise we are hearing: time to clear out the old guard and introduce young blood. Even Annabelle’s impeccably tailored jaiket hangs on a shoogly peg is the latest wisdom. Would you ‘Adam n Eve it’? I do hope what I am about to say does not harm her but: I feel obliged to leap to her defence and indeed to the defence of Cllr. Langlands. I’m sure he will also be feeling the cold breeze of change on his neck and I know him well enough to know that he will not mind me mentioning that he is no ‘spring chicken’ either albeit much younger than me. Some of these young whippersnappers might even have him in their sights (no names no pack drill) I say to him in all sincerity, Ian: people have crossed the floor before: it would be “pro bono publico” old chap.
Annabelle would be a public loss: politics would be less engaging without the self deprecating humour and rapier wit which she demonstrates with such ease, her drollness and impeccable comic timing make her a kind of Tory Party Chic Murray: Salmond (the spiv) fears no one in the chamber as much as her. Despite my own public political opinions I think the C.U.P. would be making a mistake to “ditch the pilot” as it were: she is the most popular C.U.P. / Tory politician in Scotland since eh: since: ah: since: O.K. I’ll abandon that search.
I raise this now because as I read the papers about the wished-for reinvention of the old “Tory” party I also noted the proposals for ‘rebranding ‘as well: yes indeed there are some who would change the name but: I find this confusing. Are they advocating changing the name of the C.U.P. as Cllr. Clues and Cllr. Langlands insist on calling it or are they referring to changing it from the name Tory which of course everyone else calls it. I fear they are being a wee bit disingenuous here and what they are not quite ready to say is that these ground-breaking discussions will relate to Scotland only: for reasons which are utterly obvious to those hardy souls who still fly the C.U.P./Tory flag despite recurring electoral humiliations. I will not rehearse the reasons for these defeats out of compassion for my 2 Renfrewshire Council colleagues: notwithstanding this I would not want to forego the occasional cordial discussions we have. Without our 2 C.U.P. / Tories I would not be able to have an intelligent exchange or engage in affable banter with anyone out with my Labour Colleagues.
In a spirit of good will then I would like you the readers of this blog to join with me in suggesting a new name for the C.U.P. / Tory Party: I know that our 2 Cllrs. read the blog occasionally and I would like them to feel free to use any names suggested: this invitation comes with a caveat though: any suggestion which is profane: lurid: blasphemous or offensive will not be printed even if it is accurate.
I am quite fascinated by this name change caper as I went through something similar some years back when New Labour was invented by ‘Tony the great wizard’ I don’t remember being asked for my view on this: perhaps they guessed it: and I still don’t know if the name New Labour has any proper validity: it doesn’t with me you will be shaken to learn. I wonder if I have just got myself into trouble there. Anyway I am a member of the Labour Party: have been for approx. 40 years and I have never used the term New Labour and I’m not about to start now: I prefer to say when asked “I am a member of the Labour Party and a Socialist” if others can say New Labour then I can say Labour and Socialist: that’s fair enough isn’t it?
Here we are now 6 weeks on and the newspapers are carrying stories about an upheaval in the old Tory Party, I think I’m right in saying the oldest political party in the world, let’s call them the C.U.P. from now on and not offend the Renfrewshire 2 O.K. ? The aged Party has to modernise we are hearing: time to clear out the old guard and introduce young blood. Even Annabelle’s impeccably tailored jaiket hangs on a shoogly peg is the latest wisdom. Would you ‘Adam n Eve it’? I do hope what I am about to say does not harm her but: I feel obliged to leap to her defence and indeed to the defence of Cllr. Langlands. I’m sure he will also be feeling the cold breeze of change on his neck and I know him well enough to know that he will not mind me mentioning that he is no ‘spring chicken’ either albeit much younger than me. Some of these young whippersnappers might even have him in their sights (no names no pack drill) I say to him in all sincerity, Ian: people have crossed the floor before: it would be “pro bono publico” old chap.
Annabelle would be a public loss: politics would be less engaging without the self deprecating humour and rapier wit which she demonstrates with such ease, her drollness and impeccable comic timing make her a kind of Tory Party Chic Murray: Salmond (the spiv) fears no one in the chamber as much as her. Despite my own public political opinions I think the C.U.P. would be making a mistake to “ditch the pilot” as it were: she is the most popular C.U.P. / Tory politician in Scotland since eh: since: ah: since: O.K. I’ll abandon that search.
I raise this now because as I read the papers about the wished-for reinvention of the old “Tory” party I also noted the proposals for ‘rebranding ‘as well: yes indeed there are some who would change the name but: I find this confusing. Are they advocating changing the name of the C.U.P. as Cllr. Clues and Cllr. Langlands insist on calling it or are they referring to changing it from the name Tory which of course everyone else calls it. I fear they are being a wee bit disingenuous here and what they are not quite ready to say is that these ground-breaking discussions will relate to Scotland only: for reasons which are utterly obvious to those hardy souls who still fly the C.U.P./Tory flag despite recurring electoral humiliations. I will not rehearse the reasons for these defeats out of compassion for my 2 Renfrewshire Council colleagues: notwithstanding this I would not want to forego the occasional cordial discussions we have. Without our 2 C.U.P. / Tories I would not be able to have an intelligent exchange or engage in affable banter with anyone out with my Labour Colleagues.
In a spirit of good will then I would like you the readers of this blog to join with me in suggesting a new name for the C.U.P. / Tory Party: I know that our 2 Cllrs. read the blog occasionally and I would like them to feel free to use any names suggested: this invitation comes with a caveat though: any suggestion which is profane: lurid: blasphemous or offensive will not be printed even if it is accurate.
I am quite fascinated by this name change caper as I went through something similar some years back when New Labour was invented by ‘Tony the great wizard’ I don’t remember being asked for my view on this: perhaps they guessed it: and I still don’t know if the name New Labour has any proper validity: it doesn’t with me you will be shaken to learn. I wonder if I have just got myself into trouble there. Anyway I am a member of the Labour Party: have been for approx. 40 years and I have never used the term New Labour and I’m not about to start now: I prefer to say when asked “I am a member of the Labour Party and a Socialist” if others can say New Labour then I can say Labour and Socialist: that’s fair enough isn’t it?
Sunday, July 04, 2010
WHEN CAN SCOTS. ASIANS JOIN THE SNP? WHEN THE SNP TELL THEM, OK?
Are the SNP preparing to throw in the towel: have they accepted that the game is up: can they feel the rising water lapping around their ankles? We read today that a supposedly orchestrated coup d'état has been defeated by the SNP who changed their own rules to prevent people whom they don’t like or trust from joining the party, or the ‘conspiracy’ as it should accurately be called. Hundreds of applications flooded in at the last minute which would have allowed the applicants a vote in choosing Holyrood candidates: that would of course have weakened the stranglehold of Salmond (the spiv) and the faction which runs the profoundly undemocratic SNP. It is also reported that a lot of the applicants had Asian names: what will the Asian community which has been courted so diligently by the Gnats. think now? Now that they know that they were only invited to join when the SNP thought it prudent for them, not when they had the chance of electing their own candidates. It was always transparently obvious that the SNP support for Asian communities was bogus: it was never anything other than a ruse to buy their votes: stunts like selling dinners with ministers at Holyrood and awarding grants for Asian projects were used to convince the Asian community that the SNP were on their side. The truth is that the nationalists have no more sympathy for the Asian community than they do for the English whom they hate. They have callously used and manipulated the Asian vote for their own political ends: perhaps more of the Asian community will begin to look more closely at them now after this calculated decision by the SNP to exclude them.
Have you wondered about the SNP’s Pakistani candidate Mr. Hanif: businessman, slum landlord and devoted dad who likes to teach his kids how to fire a Kalashnikov assault rifle? I assumed that we had seen the last of him but it turns out that he is apparently still an SNP candidate for Holyrood. How could this guy survive? Is there another political party in the UK who would not have booted him out: excluding the BNP of course who would have not allowed him to be a member because of his race not for firing dangerous guns with his children: why did they keep him? it is bizarre. I think there is a story to be told about the SNP and the Asian community which will not play well for the Gnats. if and when it eventually gets written.
If the Renfrewshire SNP are anything to go by then they have had their chips: they are now saddled with a coalition with the Libdems, known everywhere else as the Torydems as they shore up the savage Tory Budget cuts with relish: it should be interesting over coming months to see how the SNP support their Libdem partners in Renfrewshire while they (Torydems) support the Tories in Govt. This should be good experience for wide eyed Cllr. Mackay who leads the council; this is where selling any principals you might have had leads you: this predicament does not of course apply to Libdems because they never had any principals to start with but you (the SNP) at least used to have independence, before you bottled that as well.
Holyrood elections approach and the SNP are fighting like ferrets in a sack: they are only too aware what is coming their way: remember the SNP hubris surrounding the election of the pathetic Salmond flunky John Mason when he won Glasgow North East? “this is the end of the Labour Party” bragged Salmond (the spiv) the repellent little creep (Mason) spent his brief time as an MP trying to spread lies about Labour candidates, I have kept a picture of him standing next to Labour victor Margaret Curran as the result was announced. He had taken the seat by 365 votes and found himself swamped by a massive 11,848 majority for Labour's Margaret Curran, the look on his face is a pick-me-up for me. No wonder the SNP candidates for Holyrood are dashing for the cover provided by the ‘List System’ they have nightmares about Mason and his slaughter: what if anything must be going through the heads of SNP nonentities like Dr. Bill Wilson, Gil Patterson and Sandra White and no, you are right I didn't pick those names at random.
Two further things about the Renfrewshire SNP 1/ where are they; they can’t be found in public. At Renfrewshire’s leading community occasion the Barshaw Gala we were there with our stall and we were the only political party there! unprecedented over recent years: they have gone into hiding. Quite a lot of people asked where their stall was on the day, if you can call “where are those SNP b******s” asking for them that is. 2/ I have grown accustomed over the years to being insulted by the SNP morons who attack me when I write about them on this blog and I duly did just this on Sunday June 27 – 2010 I have had no comments from them, despite taking some considerable time to deride them and insult them in a most truculent manner. The tartan towel is being thrown in and the tartan frocks are being put away, those guys who write the 50 verse dirges about Bonnie Chairlie and the sorryfull glens and but n bens are sharpening their pencils, ochone, ochone !
Have you wondered about the SNP’s Pakistani candidate Mr. Hanif: businessman, slum landlord and devoted dad who likes to teach his kids how to fire a Kalashnikov assault rifle? I assumed that we had seen the last of him but it turns out that he is apparently still an SNP candidate for Holyrood. How could this guy survive? Is there another political party in the UK who would not have booted him out: excluding the BNP of course who would have not allowed him to be a member because of his race not for firing dangerous guns with his children: why did they keep him? it is bizarre. I think there is a story to be told about the SNP and the Asian community which will not play well for the Gnats. if and when it eventually gets written.
If the Renfrewshire SNP are anything to go by then they have had their chips: they are now saddled with a coalition with the Libdems, known everywhere else as the Torydems as they shore up the savage Tory Budget cuts with relish: it should be interesting over coming months to see how the SNP support their Libdem partners in Renfrewshire while they (Torydems) support the Tories in Govt. This should be good experience for wide eyed Cllr. Mackay who leads the council; this is where selling any principals you might have had leads you: this predicament does not of course apply to Libdems because they never had any principals to start with but you (the SNP) at least used to have independence, before you bottled that as well.
Holyrood elections approach and the SNP are fighting like ferrets in a sack: they are only too aware what is coming their way: remember the SNP hubris surrounding the election of the pathetic Salmond flunky John Mason when he won Glasgow North East? “this is the end of the Labour Party” bragged Salmond (the spiv) the repellent little creep (Mason) spent his brief time as an MP trying to spread lies about Labour candidates, I have kept a picture of him standing next to Labour victor Margaret Curran as the result was announced. He had taken the seat by 365 votes and found himself swamped by a massive 11,848 majority for Labour's Margaret Curran, the look on his face is a pick-me-up for me. No wonder the SNP candidates for Holyrood are dashing for the cover provided by the ‘List System’ they have nightmares about Mason and his slaughter: what if anything must be going through the heads of SNP nonentities like Dr. Bill Wilson, Gil Patterson and Sandra White and no, you are right I didn't pick those names at random.
Two further things about the Renfrewshire SNP 1/ where are they; they can’t be found in public. At Renfrewshire’s leading community occasion the Barshaw Gala we were there with our stall and we were the only political party there! unprecedented over recent years: they have gone into hiding. Quite a lot of people asked where their stall was on the day, if you can call “where are those SNP b******s” asking for them that is. 2/ I have grown accustomed over the years to being insulted by the SNP morons who attack me when I write about them on this blog and I duly did just this on Sunday June 27 – 2010 I have had no comments from them, despite taking some considerable time to deride them and insult them in a most truculent manner. The tartan towel is being thrown in and the tartan frocks are being put away, those guys who write the 50 verse dirges about Bonnie Chairlie and the sorryfull glens and but n bens are sharpening their pencils, ochone, ochone !
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
