A QUESTION FOR NICOLA STURGEON !

The snp are on the run again from a perfectly straight forward question which I have been asking them. It could hardly be more simple yet no one wants to address it from the nationalists who have gone uncharacteristically quiet.

When Gordon Brown was appointed Prime Minister a huge, no doubt orchestrated snp cacophony of abuse was directed at him and Labour based on the fact that he was appointed without a vote. They have since then continued to accuse him and Labour of being undemocratic, totalitarian, dictatorial and much more since that day, insisting that he should never have been recognised as PM because he was not voted in to that position. 3 days ago those accusations ceased. 3 days ago the snp appointed Nicola sturgeon without a vote and not one snp member, elected official, councillor, MSP, EU MP or even supporter has raised a voice in protest, not one.

What has happened to their democratic outrage? Their wrath? Their righteousness?. Is this an unprecedented outbreak of amnesia?, a massive collective head injury?. Or Is it in fact an embarrassing example of synthetic rage and hypocrisy, will anyone answer me, sturgeon must be ‘de facto’ undemocratic, totalitarian, dictatorial, right?, surely we are entitled to have this anomaly cleared up by the snp. What a way to begin a career as first minister and leader of her party, how can we the people of Scotland take seriously someone who runs away from such an obvious position of cowardice and mendacity.     

"THE OLD WILL DIE AND THE YOUNG WILL FORGET" DAVID BEN GURION.

The above quote from David Ben Gurion Israel’s first Prime Minister was his response to accusations (which he acknowledged) about Israel’s occupation of Palestine and their atrocities against the indigenous Arab peoples of that beautiful peaceful country. Well, “the old” he referred to are indeed dead as is he, but what of the young? have they forgotten?, I leave you to judge.  Today the beleaguered Palestinians and millions across the world are celebrating a victory for justice and a triumph over evil as the Westminster Parliament voted overwhelmingly last night to recognise the State of Palestine. Israel and its Zionist war criminal leaders will be livid, they will try to undermine the seriousness of this vote but, make no mistake about it this is hugely significant and a huge blow to Israel. Public opinion is changing and has been shifting against Israel for some time now. Israel’s most potent enemy is not Hamas or any other military threat it is publicity. The all seeing eye of the ubiquitous camera and the courage of the people using the cameras, the unforgiving and relentless photographic evidence, the eye witness accounts and detailed stories of indiscriminate atrocities being committed by them against non combatants is what  will finally destroy them, just as it did America in Vietnam. The iconic picture of the tiny naked Vietnamese girl fleeing in terror from the American napalm attack damaged them more than the Viet Cong ever could and Gaza today echoes that situation, how many people are there like me who instead of picturing olive groves and peaceful scenes picture a small boy throwing a stone at a tank when they think of Israel?.  

This is a small but important step forward for Palestine but there is still a long way to go. More and more people are realizing that Israel is running out of friends, more and more people are refusing to visit the country or buy its produce; they are becoming international pariahs who slaughter Palestinians at will as the past 3 conflicts in Gaza have shown. They talk about peace while annexing Palestinian land, building illegal settlements and refusing to obey the UN and the world courts. They refuse to allow the right of return of refugees, they refuse to return land taken by war, they refuse to agree to East Jerusalem belonging to the Arabs and they confine the Arabs behind an apartheid wall. The state of Israel is a match for any brutal and tyrannical country that ever existed. Eventually they will be defeated and justice will prevail. Meanwhile I urge everyone to have no dealings of any kind with them.             

WHEN YOU AVOID VOTING IT'S NOT REBELLION IT'S SURRENDER.

The heading above this post "when you avoid voting it's not rebellion it's surrender" is from my American correspondent in Chicago who keeps a forensic eye on politics in the USA and here in his native Scotland. 

Salmond is running out of time for telling lies, 'ergo' there is a light at the end of the tunnel. His latest underhand scam is to portray the people who avoided paying the poll tax as some kind of heroes or rebels he want's their votes so it's another bribe like the council tax freeze and other freebies for those who can well afford to pay. I have no quarrel with people who disagreed with the poll tax or people who protested against it, I personally was the Chairman of the Shortroods anti poll tax association here in Paisley and like most others I ended up paying it but we did not fail, it destroyed Thatcher after all. 

When we are considering salmond's intention to grant an amnesty to those who did not pay we must consider what happened to those who in fact did avoid paying, what punishment if any did they receive for breaking the law?. How many non payers do you know who were charged?, I don't know a single one, all those I knew paid it despite their hatred for it, that is because they knew that it was the right thing to do. They knew that no one has the right to refuse to pay a tax which is legal and democratically levied no matter how much we despise it. If we say it's all right to refuse to pay such a tax how do we deal with the billionaires who dodge paying taxes?, is it now OK according to salmond for Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, KCMG PC AKA "Lord Ashcroft " the multi billionaire bank roller of the Tory Party not to pay taxes?, no matter how you slice it it certainly looks that way. 

For those who refused to pay and faced charges I have respect, for those who refused to pay and went "missing" I have no respect, they abdicated their right to vote so that they could avoid paying, they sold their democratic rights, rights which were secured for them by hundreds of years of sacrifice and struggle. Mr. salmond is leaving still showing his contempt for the Scottish people, by bribing them, he thinks we are all as bent as he is.    

"You cannot hope to bribe or twist (thank God!) the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to." Humbert Wolfe.

Here is something that never changes. Lies are told constantly by the right wing media to portray their view of the world, a spun story, an oft repeated rumour, lies and innuendo, they are all the stock in trade of the Capitalist media journalist. The result of this constant barrage of propaganda is that many people, most of them honest and decent form, through no fault of their own a consensus of opinion about societies so called 'problems' and, more importantly who is to blame for them.This supply of misinformation comes in many forms from across a wide range of sources as disparate as the BNP and SNP with the former blaming blacks and the latter blaming the English all the way to the "quality" newspapers and commentators. The table below is an example of where this can lead and then consequently lead on to division and ill informed prejudice. Don't be fooled by them, check whatever they tell you, then check it again. I read once about a young man who had left home and when his parents wrote to him asking questions about how he was getting on, what his accommodation was like what job was he doing etc. He wrote back saying that he had a nice flat and he was working as trader in child slavery, he thought this would be preferable to admitting to them that he was in fact a journalist.          

PAY YOUR TAXES, THAT'S THE SOCIALIST WAY.

This poll tax pursuit development is interesting if you want to try to gauge the grasp that the snp members have on reality. We have a group of people who dodged the Poll Tax and a larger group who paid it, most of them reluctantly. Very few of those who opposed it actually did so in the face of the law most disappeared without recourse to the barricades. The snp now in their undignified scramble to appear left wing are posturing and rattling their sabers against the injustice of the tax as we all did back in the day.

I believe 100 % in paying taxes, taxes are a sign of civilisation, fair progressive taxes even more so. That it (the poll tax) was an iniquitous tax IMO is indisputable and that gives it's opponents two clear choices 1/ pay it, and 2/ don't pay and face the sanctions, notwithstanding protest and argument. Refusing to pay and going underground is not an option because others have to pay it, it is like the strike breaker who accepts the pay rise that his work mates fought for, it's simply not on it's about unity and solidarity. How do we maintain any united front if we say to working people I hated the poll tax as well as you and I know we paid it but those who didn't pay and hid are to get an amnesty, that is not a recipe for building unity among people.

I want to see a lot more money collected in taxes but lots of people would object to who I would take it from, you probably seen them on TV from Birmingham over the last couple of days but we must make fairness our watch word and that means everyone pays what the government decides we must pay and to get multi billionaires like Lord Ashcroft and the rest of them in the net we need to be the government. When we get something like the Poll Tax or indeed The Bedroom Tax we get rid of the government we do not run and hide. I would advocate that defaulters should pay but because of the time which has elapsed I would make those payments as manageable as is humanly possible.

The snp have predictably accused others of chasing this money when the truth is that councils are obliged by law to pursue debt, snp councils will do it as well despite salmond pretending again to be ‘Wolfie Smith’. If we write to salmond and say, I don’t like that local council tax so I’m not paying it and I now know that you will support my decision, right?, aye F****n right!. This is beginning to look like another ‘Del boy’ salmond “in terms of the debate” scams. 

COULD THE WEE GREEN MEN FROM MARS BE NO SUPPORTERS?.

Rumors are now circulating about mysterious alien forces employed by the "Better Together" campaign. They claim that BT were able through a hitherto unknown process of osmosis to force yes voters to put their crosses in the NO boxes. Senior government sources have admitted that they feared this might happen because they have been aware of unexplained signs of brain interference in the 'Yes Camp'. Soon to be retired snp chief 'heid banger' alex salmond is said to be incandescent with rage and demanding a full investigation and an immediate re run of the referendum as he rages incoherently about the "Engurlish Bastards" whom he claims "have all goat it infamy".   

WHEN WILL THE REST OF THE WORLD PUT A STOP TO ISRAEL'S CRIMES?.

Salford Trades Union Council Motion on Gaza

Motion Reads:

This Salford Trades Union Council condemns the outrage perpetrated by the Israeli State, by its attack by land & by air on the population of Gaza.

Israeli has now crossed the rubicon of humanity by the destruction of life & its disregard for property. It pursues the illegal building of settlements and annexing of East Jerusalem in contravention of UN resolutions that call on them to desist and return to its 1967 borders.

The renegade Israeli State has consistently ignored United Nation's call for the return of Israel to its 1967 border's.

This Salford TUC demands that:

- mis-named Israeli Defence Force (IDF) cease its continuing bombardment of Gaza City & surrounding area's.

-the IDF remove its armoured weaponry out of, the area known as the Gaza Strip.

- Israel frees Marwan Barghouti and the thousands of political prisoners being held on concocted charges.

- those member's of the British Parliament who are "Friend's of Israel" question why, by association, they support the actions in Gaza.

We call upon the world to:

- condemn the Israel State & ask Israeli citizen's to renounce its government's policy.

-boycott all Israeli goods & services until progress is made towards returning land stolen from Palestinian people, as per relevant resolutions UN resolutions..

- support any call for Israel to be removed from all European Sport connections while the blockade of Gaza and illegal occupations continue.

We call on Hamas to:

- cease their missile attacks on the people of Israel, so that talks on a lasting peace can recommence.

The acts of inhumanity cannot be justified, the history of the Jewish people's os one of centuries of human misery and yet they allow this perpetration of another race to occur in their name.

The Salford Trades Union Council, fully supports a two state solution based on a peaceful transition.

Motion Ends.

WHEN IS 45% GREATER THAN 55%?. WHEN SALMOND AND HIS SNP FLOCK SAY SO APPARENTLY.

The last refuge of the "tartanshirt" scoundrels that is social media still contains some of the shell shocked 'useful idiots' who bought salmond's lies. Their rage is strong and their hatred is palpable as they stammer out their loud-mouthed defiance. It must be difficult for some NO campaigners not to feel a pang of sympathy for them but, not for me. They are behaving in defeat exactly as they did in the campaign, shamefully. The lies, abuse, and belligerence continues as the predictable and wretched cries of "we were cheated" ring out and the world looks on askance as they humiliate Scotland with their grotesque reactions to the clear, decisive and richly deserved defeat. Can anyone recall the Labour Party accusing the snp of cheating when they won in 2011?. Did Labour call for a rerun?, did Labour try to declare themselves as winners despite losing?, did Labour accuse the snp voters of being tricked?. One victory for the snp in a referendum would see the end of all elections, there is now no doubt of that.  

The NO campaign was always IMO going to win but two things happened to our advantage as polling day approached, these two things were connected and they were catastrophic for the separatists. The first happened because they were becoming aggravated at their lack of growth in support and they made what turned out to be the biggest blunder of the campaign. They decided to take a chance on fear, they turned to negativity and in doing so they chose to use the most emotional and provocative of all subjects, the Scottish NHS. They deliberately started scaring the old and defenceless, the parents of young children with serious and chronic conditions and those for whom the NHS is a constant comfort blanket in their lives.

Battle commenced immediately on this volatile issue and this led to the second catastrophic event to hit the snp in the campaign, this was the angry intervention of the man who is still by far the biggest political beast in the UK Gordon Brown, and he was not pleased. Overnight he became the story and the separatists were immediately in a panic as he cut a swathe through their lies and shabby deceitful tactics. With 3 weeks to go the 'Scottish Lion Roared' and the whole of Scotland listened and so did the UK as he went on a rampage across the country galvanising the NO campaign, crushing our opponents and steadying the ship containing the 'silent majority. From the point that he intervened the yes campaign were bound to lose, all the big hitters on the NO side tactfully stepped aside as 'big Gordy' shook salmond and the yes campaigners warmly by the throat. there is nothing in UK politics more guaranteed to strike terror in to an opposition than the approach of Gordon Brown when he is 'ready to rumble' and so it proved as he delivered the result with a little help from salmond and the snp whose bottle crashed at a crucial time. All thanks to Gordon Brown. He clearly has a huge part to play in politics, possibly Scottish politics if he wants to meet the challenge, I hope he does.    

“NOO THEY ENGURLISH B******S UR MESSIN WAE OOR BRAINS” (ALEX SALMOND).

Rumours are now circulating about mysterious alien forces employed by the "Better Together" campaign who were able through a hitherto unknown process of osmosis to force yes voters to put their crosses in the NO boxes. Senior government sources have admitted that they feared this might happen because they have been aware of unexplained signs of brain interference in the 'Yes Camp'. Soon to be retired snp chief 'heid banger' alex salmond is said to be incandescent with rage and demanding a full investigation and an immediate re run of the referendum as he rages incoherently about the "Engurlish Bastards" whom he claims "have all goat it infamy".   

SALMOND DEPARTS AND THE SNP CRAZIES PREPARE FOR A BLOODBATH.

"all political careers end in  failure" (Enoch Powell). If there was ever a political career that deserved to end in failure it is that of alex salmond. Make no mistake about it the announcement of his resignation represents an ignominious failure. With apologies to TS Elliot, "he goes out not with a bang but with a whimper”. His one political goal in life was independence, it was 'thee' single issue, his ‘raison d'etre’, and he has failed to deliver it despite being snp leader during a 20 year build up to this moment. The hatred also that he has created among the Scottish people will take decades to fade if indeed it ever does and it will be his legacy.

The defeat in yesterday’s referendum was decisive and unequivocal and certainly robust enough to settle the matter for at least one if not more generations and that will negate the success he claims of getting 1. 6 million Scots to vote for independence. The profile of those who supported the yes campaign is such that it excludes huge swathes of the population and draws heavily on the poorest areas, without salmond and without a chance of another referendum in the near future that momentum will be lost. All that has really happened is that people who do not normally engage in politics through no fault of their own will now drift away. They have been rallied by dangerous rhetoric based on grievance against our neighbours in England who have been identified as the enemy and seduced by uncosted promises of a better tomorrow, a tactic which, as we know has been used before as a cruel deceit by dishonest charlatans. Everything that the separatists could have hoped for has happened and helped to gain that momentum and it was still nowhere near enough.

His leaving also leaves a huge gap at the top of the snp and, the man responsible for this is salmond himself. He has methodically and cynically over the years created a leadership structure which makes him look good because, quite frankly, those promoted by him are pedestrian in the extreme. Neil, Russell, Swinney, Hislop, Constance, McKay etc. lack gravitas and intellectual rigour. Perversely enough Nicola Sturgeon who will start as favourite to succeed him is the most high profile and over promoted one of all and is simply not credible as a First Minister. He ‘salmond’ has thus presided over a rise in political representation for the snp, gained control of Holyrood and delivered a referendum while at the same time leading them in to a very vulnerable position if they lost the referendum which they did and if he goes and he is going.

Casting a very large shadow over all of this is Gordon Brown. There is growing speculation that he might be eyeing a seat at Holyrood and he is still the biggest political hitter in the UK as was demonstrated this week with his explosive intervention in the referendum which helped to consolidate the NO vote and gave the whole campaign a huge lift. The personal abuse used by the most mild mannered snp supporters toward Gordon Brown is a clear indication of how much they fear him. The fillip that Brown’s presence and possibly Alastair Darling’s as well would give the Scottish Parliament would be difficult to overestimate. And the boost to Labour’s electoral appeal would be massive. Interesting times ahead.             

THE FAT LADY SANG AND DECENT PEOPLE JOINED IN THE CHORUS.

The fat lady has sung and her song was liberating and cleansing. Almost 3 years of lies and intimidation by the yes campaign brought to an end by that hope for mankind, ‘the ballot box’. I awoke this morning to find that the Vote NO posters in the windows of our house had been removed by a very relieved and scared family member. This was done as soon as the result was announced.

This morning there are many many decent people who can sit back and allow a feeling of pride to wash over them, they have been forced to watch their country being consumed by hatred and bullying, they have been forced to endure aggression and abuse the likes of which has not been seen since the days of Mosley’s Blackshirts, all emanating from the yes campaign, the bullets being issued by alex salmond and latterly the truly wretched Jim Sillars and fired by the mob.

The much spoken about ‘silent majority’ watched and patiently waited, they were horrified but they knew that they would eventually get to play their part, their resolve never wavered and their determination to stamp out this evil was solid, their revenge if you will would be “a dish best served cold” and yesterday they struck with a vengeance. Simple black crosses on ballot papers, millions of them all across Scotland reclaimed the streets from the marauding  ‘tartanshirt’ barbarians. The ordinary decent citizens, the undemonstrative people who live next door and are simply good neighbours to all of us struck at the heart of the nationalist brute and destroyed it and I salute them. “Nationalism is a disease” (Einstein). Racism, fascism and nationalism are bedfellows and the price we pay to control them is constant vigilance. The great German playwright Bertotl Brecht put it better than I ever could when he said about the demise of Hitler in his play “The resistible Rise of Arturo Ui”. “Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.”

THE FAT LADY HAS CLEARED HER THROAT AND SHE IS NOW PRACTICING HER SCALES.

The man with the big cigar and the rolls Royce “The Bookie” started paying out on a NO victory in the referendum yesterday, Monday, September 15, 2014. That’s 3 days before the poll. WTF does that say?.   

IT'S ODDS ON A NO VICTORY AS THE FAT LADY CLEARS HER THROAT.

The snp and their followers have, as I predicted brought ignominy on Scotland through their yes campaign. The behaviour of their followers has been frightening and embarrassing, reminiscent of scenes which were last witnessed in the 30’s as the Moseleyite blackshirt mobs of The British Union of Fascists used violence and intimidation to deal with anyone who opposed them.  Considering the squalid history of the snp it is no surprise at all that we have witnessed this thuggish behaviour.

They have lied again and again since the start of the campaign, creating phantom groups of pro independence supporters, using deception to ensure that  a majority of their supporters could pack TV meetings and other meetings in public halls. They have also been traducing every opponent who challenged their bizarre assertions no matter how qualified and distinguished they were in their field. Celebrities as well who dared to show support for the UK have been subjected to the foulest abuse imaginable and supporters of the NO campaign have been disinclined to display their support  for the union by turning up at meetings, putting posters in their windows at home or stickers on their car windows for fear of violence and or vandalism, this is not Weimar Germany at the time of Hitler and the Nazis folks, this is Scotland at the time of the snp and alex salmond.  

The day approaches, will the people of Scotland choose to vote NO thus favouring reason, debate and truth or will they choose yes and plump for odium, belligerence and mendacity?. The United Kingdom has survived for over 300 sometimes turbulent years, sometimes it has been one step forward and two steps back but the overall result thus far has undoubtedly been progress. That is not to say we are satisfied or complacent, far from it but the more observant and analytical among you will I’m sure conclude that this struggle is by definition a long haul, look at any other country and you will find problems and yes we have our share.

In my own lifetime I have been able to listen to parents and grandparents tell stories of what could only be described as hard hard times when lives for people like us was often short and brutal, their lives testify eloquently to the progress that has been made under the union. Compare if you will the progress made in the fundamental fields of Education, Health, Housing and the Welfare State among others. These improvements would of course have happened without the union but I find it hard to accept that they would have been as inspiring and certainly not as rapid.

I will therefore vote NO, not only for my children, and their children but in remembrance and appreciation of my parent’s and grandparent’s generations, their struggles and their vision, for their courage and sacrifice and their dream of the future, that is the torch we carry, let’s make sure we do not drop it, VOTE NO.            

A BRUISING AND UNCOMFORTABLE ENCOUNTER FOR THE SNP POSTER BOY.

I watched Labour’s Douglas Alexander on the “Scotland 2014” programme last night where his opponent was Humza Yousaf, rising star of the hard working snp Asian community as they debated independence. I mention this because I want to advise people to watch this mismatch, you can find it on line. Catch it if you can because it could turn out to be the last time you will see Mr. Yousaf  on our screens, at least until the referendum is over.

A couple of nights ago I watched the same Douglas Alexander toy with the snp’s Nicola Sturgeon like a cat with a mouse, the makeup of that programme and the recent bad publicity for the snp tartanshirt  street mobs made it impossible for her to morph into “Sturgeon Stairheid Snarler” and consequently no one noticed her. Douglas Alexander’s task was easy and it showed on the night, proving that you do not have to yell if you are armed with the facts and the truth.