A SAD SIGHT FOR AN OLD SOCIALIST TO SEE. CALTON HILL EDINBURGH SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21 2013.

I was a great admirer of Dennis Canavan years ago when he fought on the left of the Labour Party for the causes which meant so much to us both. I also think that the party made a big mistake when they refused to endorse his candidature for Holyrood. That as we now know set in train a series of events which saw him make an equally bad mistake by leaving the Labour Party, thus beginning his sad descent and bringing him to the sad place he is now, ensconced as he is now with egomaniacs, political shysters and hidebound single issue zealots in the reactionary cause of nationalism. From Socialism to nationalism for a potentially great left wing crusader is a tragic journey, very very poignant. He gave his enemies what they wanted, his resignation, if ever there was a man whom I thought would stand and fight and never give in for what he believed in it was Dennis. I could never however be unkind to him though because he gave so much and suffered so much as well in other ways.

I was watching home made films and photos of the independence rally and saw Dennis speaking, the picture was taken from behind and to the side of him. There in much profusion in front of him were the vivid flying colours of various organisations waving in their enthusiasm; he can still move a crowd can former Labour MP Dennis Canavan.

My heart went out to him though when I saw with horror that he surely could not avoid seeing the bright yellow banners of the Flemish Nazis who had come to show their support for the snp, no surprise of course when you consider the snp's history but, Denis Canavan! being cheered on by Scottish Nationalists and Flemish Nazis and fascists, Dennis Canavan!

OK lets be generous; it was after all an old and much loved comrade I was watching, did he see them? I'm afraid so, did he know who they were? I don't know but their presence was well trailed, did he mention them? I don't know. If he saw them; knew who they were and did not mention them what then? I will out of respect for what he once was reserve my judgement but in all my time in politics it is one of the saddest sights I have ever witnessed. I want so much to see him beaten in this struggle and beaten heavily and I never thought I would ever hear myself say that about Dennis Canavan and that made it a very sad day for me.

“I TOOK MY HARP TO THE PARTY BUT NO ONE ASKED ME TO PLAY” ALEX SALMOND – SEPTEMBER 21 20 13, EDINBURGH.

The snp's Nicola Sturgeon bullishly and rather comically announced a crowd of 30,000 which is a nice tidy number and represents 0.6% of the population of Scotland give or take a few. The "Harry Margolis" or Polis as we here in the west call them announced a dangerously precise sounding number of 8,300 which is 0.16% of the people of Scotland, heads are no doubt swimming at the colossal figures, imagine the logistics of stewarding such a gathering, I understand the Scottish Association Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Guides provided the extra stewards required to support the overstretched Polis.

The discrepancy arises of course with the contradictory calculations of the not quite gigantic numbers who attended the so called "march for freedom" led by the snp in Auld Reekie today. There were in fact just to confuse things further 3 estimates of the numbers, 8,300 by the rozzers, 15,ooo by the organisers and 30, 000 by the cerebrally challenged Nicola Sturgeon, it was ever thus I hear you experienced marchers say. The inevitable jokes have started with the pitiless and derisory description of the event as a stroll rather than a march for freedom, people can be unkind can't they? But; on the other hand people do not like political parties so blatantly trying to; as our American friends say "blow smoke up their asses" with "asses" being rewritten to replace the good old British word "arses" meaning of course that the political party in question is lying about the numbers.

A rather meaningless football match at Celtic park today attracted 6 or 7 times the lowest estimate; 4 times the middle estimate and 2 times the highest estimate, woe and twice woe and even bloody well thrice woe for the wretched snp it would seem, ochone, ochone , o'f******g'one, the game's a bogey. The appalling fact is that Hibs and Hearts draw bigger crowds and they are unarguably utter s***e . It looks like car boot sales will see a rush in kilts and wee toy daggers for sale over the next couple of months as the remnants of the snp rabble lug themselves " hameward tae think again" meanwhile the Scottish Police Force will have to endure the indignation of being placed on the burgeoning list of organisations who are part of the great Global anti snp conspiracy, they will be distraught, no doubt about it, Polis heads will roll under an snp dominated separate Scotland.

With apologies to TS Elliot, and for the snp.

"this is how the world ends, this is how the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper" this by the way hurts me as much as it hurts them and many other Scots. honest it does.

THOSE ARE MY PRINCIPLES, AND IF YOU DONT LIKE THEM....WELL I HAVE ANOTHER SET” (ALEX “GROUCHO” SALMOND)

Prior to the great banking crash of 2007/2008 one of the party leaders was constantly critical of the Government for being too strict with their banking regulations,
can anyone guess who this cavalier clown was? It was none other than Alex Salmond, the financial hustler's friend, the pal of the stock exchange gamblers and shysters.

And today we have a party leader declaring that he will "bring the Royal Mail back in to public ownership if Scotland becomes independent and if it gets privatised by the Tory/Libdem Government today, note with extreme caution that he was asked on several occasions to say re-nationalise and he refused to say it. Can you guess who it is? Yes! It's Salmond again, and on this occasion his finance minister John Swinney refused to give a similar commitment the night before on national TV, when asked the question, oops. The road to Damascus appears to have relocated to Edinburgh's Royal Mile, from right wing monetary enthusiast to left wing Marxist revolutionary in one fell swoop, that's wee Eck, if you believe him?.

Does his desperation over the impending laugharendum have a part in all this? From the man who said "we Scots. did not mind Mrs. Thatcher's economic policies so much" to the crusading advocate of the socialist shibboleth of nationalism in jig time, what a man, what a crook, what a Janus faced swindler, villain, fraudster, imposter, phoney, low life crook, choose your own description folks.

Does anyone still believe anything he says? Vote "No" to separation to get rid of this vulgar embarrassing character once and for all.

THE HERALD, IT’S JOKE JOURNALISTS AND THE RUG CHEWING NATS.

The snp/separatist/cybernat crazies have been repeating their interminable drivel about how the BBC is anti Scotland and anti snp, it's an exercise in getting your excuses in before the laugharendum drubbing happens, then they will cry foul once again to the sound of loud ringing laughter. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the comments column of the newspaper which used to be The Glasgow Herald, a once decent newspaper which has been allowed to deteriorate to a dreadful degree and is now a laughing stock. The lumpen nats have been led by the nose by the Herald's own version of the chuckle brothers the hapless third rate journalists Ian Bell and Iain Macwhirter or just "Bell and Macwhirter" Scotland's own end of the pier comedy duo. I have discovered to my cost that these people will not allow criticism of the paper or these journalists, hence the comment below which they refused to print----------- again. It's a glimpse of what an snp run separate Scotland would be like.

The level of vitriol and paranoia from the kailyard school of Scottish journalism and the nationalist crazies grows in equal proportion to the proximity of the forthcoming laugharendum. The wannabees and third division girners like Bell and Macwhirter and the snp/separatist/cybernat posters have become a pathetic joke and there is still a year to go. Where are they going to end up, what level of bulldung will they end up writing and who else will they find to accuse of bias and anti Scottishness? who else will feel their lash? flower growers, Quakers, dog owners, the scouts, the guides, little old ladies, sun bathers? Enemies and conspirators, insults and abuse for poor old bonny Scotland, real or imagined, where will it end?  

SNP STILL DUCKING AND DIVING AS LABOUR CALL THEM OUT ON BEDROOM TAX AND THEIR SEPARATION SUPPORT FALLS TO 25%

As their lies and deceit become more exposed Labour are mounting a challenge to the snp's duplicitous stance on the bedroom tax. People are becoming more aware that Salmond and the snp want the bedroom tax to harm as many Scots as possible. Their twisted logic sees that as advantage to their narrow separatist agenda. Put simply and crudely they believe that that will allow them to blame the English for the pain being suffered by Scots. and that is why they have chosen to do nothing to help those Scots caught up in this iniquitous Tory charge on the poor.

Scottish Labour has called for concerted action by the Scottish Government to help protect Scotland's social housing tenants from the impact of the coalition government's Bedroom Tax. Scottish Labour is bringing forward a package of measures which will offer 

assistance to all social tenants now, without having to wait until after a general election or until 2016.
 

Scottish Labour has previously supported the Govan Law Centre petition which called on the SNP Government to amend housing legislation to protect social tenants from eviction. As the SNP has resisted the petition, Scottish Labour is now bringing the proposal forward as a members' bill. 

As an integral part of the package of support required, Scottish Labour has also asked the SNP Government to provide additional funds to local government and housing associations to help plug the financial gap which is growing by the day as a result of increasing rent arrears. Both offers made by Scottish Labour to work together with the Government to find a consistent approach across Scotland for all social tenants have so far been refused by the SNP.
 

Labour's Jackie Baillie said:"With the impact of the Bedroom Tax becoming more apparentand every day, it is right that we bring forward a package of measures which will ensure that no tenant who is genuinely unable to pay the Bedroom Tax, loses their home. "With the SNP refusing to act for all of Scotland, I have decided to bring forward a Member's Bill with the assistance of Govan Law Centre, which will ensure that any social tenant who is genuinely unable to pay the Bedroom Tax will not be evicted."The Bill will help ensure that our most vulnerable are protected. It is for times like these that the Scottish Parliament was created and the Bedroom Tax is the perfect example of just how Parliament could act now to make a real difference to tenants across Scotland."This is bigger than party politics and bigger than constitutional arguments. Scots are looking to us for leadership on this issue. It is not too late for the SNP Government to work with parties who want to see action on the bedroom tax. They have the

Labour's Ian Gray said "The financial impact of the Bedroom Tax on Scottish tenants is £50 million. That is less than 0.18% of the Scottish Government budget, a fraction of last year's underspend. But the wider impact is huge. 80,000 households are affected, many with children, many of them including someone with a disability. There are no smaller houses for them to move to. Meanwhile councils and housing associations face the prospect of soaring rent arrears, threatening cuts to other council services and undermining Housing Associations ability to borrow and build."Yes, this is the Coalition government's fault but apportioning blame is not enough. Scots want politicians to work together to protect our poorest and most vulnerable."We can, and we must, act by working together to find the resources to protect councils, housing associations and above all, tenants."
Labour's Mark MacMillan; leader of COSLA and Renfrewshire Council said:"Despite the rhetoric, we know that councils of all political hues are facing growing financial pressures and our tenants and housing association tenants are growing increasingly concerned about what lies ahead as their rent arrears mount. "We've seen SNP councils threaten evictions to tenants who are falling behind as a result of the Bedroom Tax. It simply isn't good enough for individual councils to be left to try to plug the financial gap on their own. Housing associations can't simply be left on their own to try to cope with the financial impact of the loss of rental income."Scottish Labour councils commit that no tenants who fully engages with their local authority to minimise their debts and who make every effort to pay their rent will be evicted. This joint approach is needed as all of our requests for SNP Government action, made both individually and through COSLA, have fallen on deaf ears."So with this commitment from Scottish Labour councils and from Scottish Labour in Holyrood to bring forward the money and the legislation needed to ameliorate the impact of this much-reviled Bedroom Tax, there is a comprehensive approach to ensure action is taken now to help our poorest and most vulnerable. Scotland deserves nothing less.