Scottish Political News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4193288.stm

Lib Dem MSP Mike Pringle is the architect of a proposal to levy a 10p tax on every plastic bag given to purchasers by retailers in Scotland. According to him, it's not about raising money for government to spend on itself.

"I believe my bill will help change perceptions towards our use of resources in Scotland as well."

So here's my perception of how retailers' resources in Scotland are used. First of all, they purchase goods to resell. These purchases are subject to Value Added Tax. They are then transported to Scotland (if imported from outwith the EU they will be subject to one of 14,000 import tariffs, on top of which VAT will be imposed) by road, the fuel in the tanks of the lorries subject to the highest level of fuel tax anywhere in the western world.

The premises they are delivered to will have been subject to stamp duty land tax upon their purchase or lease. These same premises have the highest level of business rates in Britain attached to them, for the privilege of trading in Scotland. All staff therein will have to pay income tax and national insurance contributions. On top of all this, the retailer will also in all likelihood have to pay corporation tax, if he can somehow miraculously manufacture a profit.

Now, said retailer will have to monitor his plastic bag expenditure and tax his customers, or more likely absorb the tax into his selling price. This new tax will presumably require monitoring by the Executive, so more civil servants will have to be specifically recruited, at taxpayers' expense, to perform the vital role of...Watching carrier bags.

Have I missed a meeting? Are Labour and Lib Dem MSPs now charged with annoying us to death with their own self of importance? By the way - Scottish life expectancy remains the lowest in western Europe. One quarter of our children still grow up in poverty. Scotland still has the highest prison population in Europe. Our transport infrastructure remains appalling. We still have hundreds of thousands of people eking out an existence on benefits, and our business class continues to underperform. Can you hear that fiddle Mr Pringle? It's drowning out the sound of the flickering flames...

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1857562005

Lucky Jack, a new biography on the First Minister by Lorraine Davidson, a now London-based Daily Mirror hack. At first glance, it would appear to show great disparity between the official line of complete harmony between Holyrood and Westminster. Of course, most of the exasperation would appear to be coming from the FM. How the FM threatens to go public with a row over payment for the security costs of the G8. How Jack is now a confirmed Brownite. How Jack, a simple shepherd's son has grown to lead his flock of followers (I think they're alluding to a Jack/Jesus comparison there. Not the sheep/Scottish labour voter one everyone will jump to).

How very comnvenient, what with the 2007 elections approacing, coupled with Gordon Brown's encroachment upon Number 10. Obviously I haven't read the book - it isn't released for a few weeks yet. I think we can guess what's coming though. Serialised in the Daily Record in the run-up to Livingston. Interviews with the author and "expert" commentators on STV. You know the sort of thing.

Lorraine Davidson is a former reporter for Scottish Television, that bastion of impartiality which also supplied Donald Dewar adviser David Whitton, former Labour cabinet minister Lord MacDonald and where for many years the daughter of Willie Ross, former Labour Scottish Secretary was chief political correspondent. Ms Davidson was also Director of Communications at the Scottish Labour Party during the 1999 Holyrood elections. Tom McCabe, presently Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform is her former partner. It was Ms Davidson who was able to first publicly reveal the identity of the woman Jack McConnell had his extra-marital affair with.

If this book is anything other than one of the last examples of incestuous spin as a dying artform then I for one will be astonished.

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1851562005

Anyone remember when Saucy Jack was running for the post of First Minister, following Henry McLeish's abacus abuse? His first tactic of course was to get the dirt out of the way first, to effectively remove any hardware prospective opponents may have held in an attempt to barge their way to the role. Well, here we are again. Jim Devine, trade unionist and confirmed Labour candidate for the Livingston by-election ("I'll never be Robin Cook, but at least I can lace his boots") has now purged himself in a "tearful confession" to Ra DailybrokenRecord, of his past serial marital infidelities and conviction for drunk driving.

Of course, following McConnell's confession in 2001, the message to potential opponents was loud and clear: We'll Play As Dirty As We Have To. With the Holyrood elections approaching, and with Labour's share of the vote trending to fall by 9%-11% from their Westminster showing, defeat here could well see a momentum build which may lead to their removal from power in 2007. Expect their behaviour at this by-election to be as desperate and dirty as ever...

I downloaded a trial version of anagram creator software. This allowed me to create ten whole anagrams, some fabulous, some rotten, some of them cruel and apositely cutting. It would be a cheap shot to publish them of course, but here they are. :)

SCOTTISH GREEN PARTY
Strangest Hypocrite
Praise Grotty Stench, and...
Cretin's Grotty Phase

TOMMY SHERIDAN
History Madmen
This Randy Memo
Horny Mates, Dim

SCOTTISH CONSERVATIVE PARTY
Victory Or Pathetic Vastness
Victory Invests Catastrophe
Is Vast, Pathetic Controversy

BRIAN MONTEITH
I'm The Brain. Not.
I Am The Torn Bin
I'm Throbin' Neat

SCOTTISH LABOUR
Rich Louts Boast
Obstruct So Hail
Hot Cutlass Biro

NICOL STEPHEN
Lenient Chops
The Clone Spin
Helps, Not Nice

ROSS FINNIE
Risen Of Sin
Infer In SOS
Sinner If So

JACK MCCONNELL
Jam 'N' Cock Cell

FIRST MINISTER'S QUESTIONS
It Is Monster's Fine Squirts
It Isn't Sore Squirm's Finest
Feminist Squirts In Tosser

Chinese oil company CNOOC recently launched a bid to buy US-based Unocal. They don't look like succeeding this time (Chevron do), but they have identified three other, bigger takeover targets. I doubt they are even interested in the business; they want these company's oil reserves, and by buying whole corporations they are essentially buying billions of dollars worth of oil at a huge discount.

I wrote the above paragraph a month ago on this blog. Yesterday, China bought its first North American oil company, the largest ever Chinese corporate purchase. China National Petroleum (CNPC) paid just over $4billion for PetroKazakhstan who, despite the name are Canadian, thereby neatly bypassing regulatory and political interference. The Chinese now have control over much of Kazakhstan's oil reserves, and bought them at a discount to barrel-value.

China has promised access to its market to Australia and New Zealand in exchange for access to natural resouces such as oil and gas. Kyrgyzstan is being gifted hydro-electricity stations, an improved road and rail network - all paid for by the Chinese, in exchange for access to more natural assets, such as gold.

CNPC - China's largest state-owned corporation, has deals to pump oil in countries as diverse as Sudan, Angola, Nigeria, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador. China now has oil and natural gas deals with Iran worth more than $100billion. Given that Iran plans to launch a Euro-denominated oil bourse, the Americans are jumpy. Especially when you add the fact that the US government has almost no domestic or European buyers of American debt for the reason that foreigners have flooded the market and made returns negligible in comparison to other investments. Those foreigners are almost exclusively Chinese.

In short, oil is going nowhere lower anytime soon. Yesterday confirmed this. By blocking the sale of Unocal some US politicians were no doubt hoping that a bloodied nose would deter China permanently. Not so.

The tariffs and quotas imposed on Chinese garments by the US and EU are now having the effect of hurting no-one but ourselves, as retailers decry a lack of stock in the run-up to the busiest trading period of the year, as customs officers threaten to burn hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stock which has exceeded quotas. Sooner rather than later this will be dropped, and China's exporting, manufacturing and energy-burning will resume apace.

By 2007, if oil is sitting at $85 a barrel - not an unreasonale estimate, given the geopolitical outlook - Scotland would have a potential annual surplus (and how rare would that be in the post-Chinese industrialisation western world?) of some £11billion, ceterus parabis. Combine that with fuel costing £1.20 per litre and a hike in inflation and how rosy would Labour's - indeed, any British nationalist party - election prospects be?

I'm not suggesting that Scotland votes for independence on something as mercurial as the price of commodities - the arguments in favour go a lot deeper and further than that in my opinion. But when you are trying to win over an apprehensive electorate, it is a near-nuclear asset to have in your armoury.

http://www.sundayherald.com/51368

A nice little story from the Sunday Herald, where Robbie Rowantree, a failed candidate howls at the moon of Tory indifference. For those who can't be bothered clicking on the link, I include a brief summation:

On the UK party as a whole
"Riven by homophobia"
"Complacent on race relations"
"stuck in a time warp"
"flag, faith and family shit"

On the Scottish Tory MSPs
"wittering on about nonsense"
"a source of humour rather than a potential government"
"unable to recognise the hole they are in"
"incapable and inarticulate"
"strange old people talking about foreigners, gays and criminals"
"no dent on the Scottish vote"
"would be sacked if company executives"
"mass hara-kiri would not cause any disquiet"

On David McLetchie
"Uninspiring"
"A donkey leading lions"

On Annabel Goldie
"An aged spinster, unrepresentative of the average Scot"
"a 1930s caricature"

On appointing racist joke-teller Jackson Carlaw deputy chairman
"reinforces the stereotype of Tories as racist xenophobes"

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said Rowantree’s opinions were his own “personal views” and argued that they carried little sway in the party. Maybe not, but they seem to hold a whole lot of sway with the entire population of Scotland who are not Tory party members. Although even they don't seem too happy.

I have made it plain before that whilst this blog advocates independence it does not come from an Angry-Corrie perspective. Whilst I will always try to highlight just how badly being in a political union with a much larger neighbour is for Scotland in a social, cultural and economic sense I will never point the finger of blame for this at our neighbours, the English. All of Scotland's problems are of Scotland's own making. Equally, all of the solutions to those problems lie within our own hands. It is the intention of this blog to contribute to the economic and intellectual argument for independence with a firm footing in today's real world. There will be no misty-eyed reminiscence for past days of imagined glory from me, purely an urge to make the days ahead better.

However...Some things just cannot be resisted.

Today marked the 700th anniversary of William Wallace's horrifically brutal execution at Smithfield in London. He was dragged, naked by horse for a mile in order to tenderise his body for the torture to come. He was then strung up by the neck until almost dead then brought down; saw his genitals ripped from his body, followed by the evisceration of his intestines before he finally lost consciousness and was beheaded. The torturer's art was a skillful one back in the day. The longer they could keep the 'guilty' alive, the more popular the executioner. Finally, he was cut into pieces, his various body parts displayed across both England and Scotland. Regardless of your view of the man or his many myths, the fact that the Executive can artlessly avoid the very mention of his name, bearing in mind the reasonance which it still carries with the people they purport to represent, on the date of such a notable anniversary, perhaps says more about his enduring legacy than mere words can.

Those who now represent Scotland are now ensconsced in Holyrood, Westminster and Brussels of course. One of them, Mike (sorry, that's Lord...) Watson, MSP for Glasgow Cathcart was today pleading Not Guilty to two charges of attempting to set a fully-occupied hotel ablaze, allegedly because he was refused alcohol on the basis that the bar had closed, despite having been captured on CCTV.

The only (brief) mention made of Wallace by the Executive today came from the Culture Ministry: They had run a competition for Scotland's schoolchildren to write a short story which incorporated the spirit of Wallace in a number of Labour policies, such as healthy eating (sic). The winning entry came from six Strathaven students, who wrote about a playground statue of Wallace coming alive to deal with the problem of school bullying. Well done to them. Maybe on his next soujorn into the world of the living he could pay Lord Watson a visit, and teach him something about what it means to be priviledged enough to carry the aspirations of your country...

Dealbh ùr bho stailc a’ BhA an seachdain seo chaidh! (Tha mi duilich mura bheil sibh a’ faighinn an fhealla-dhà).

Sgrìobh mi an aiste airson Wikipedia mu pàipear-naidheachd an Herald. Tha mi ‘n dòchas gu bheil mo Ghàidhlig math gu leòr. Ach uill, ‘s urrainn do dhuine sam bith a bhith ag atharrachadh e! Co-dhiù, seo e:

‘Se pàipear-naidheachd broadsheet beurla a th’ anns An Herald. Bidh e air fhoillseachadh air Diluain gu Disathairne ann an Glaschu.
Tha e aon de na pàipearan-naidheachd beurla as sine anns an t-saoghal. Chaidh an pàipear fhoillseachadh an toiseachd ann an 1783 leis an t-ainm Glasgow Advertiser. B’e Iain Mennons an deasaiche an toiseachd.
Dh’ atharraich e an t-ainm aige dhan an Herald and Advertiser ann an 1802 agus an-sin an Glasgow Herald ann an 1805. Chaidh e làitheil ann an 1859. Ghluais am pàipear do togalach Theàrlaich Rennie Mac an Tòisich air Sràid Mitchell ann an 1868. ‘Se an togalach seo an Taigh-Solais a-nis, an t-Ionad Albannach airson Ailtearachd, Dealbhadh agus am Baile.
Cheannaich Sir Eòghann Friseal am pàipear ann an 1964 agus an-sin, ghabh Tiny Rowland seilbh air ann an 1979 le Lonrho PLC.
Ghluais am pàipear do oifigean ùr air Sràid Albion ann an 1980. Bha iad air a dhealbh coltach ri togalach Black Lubyanka an Daily Express ann an Lunnainn.
Dh’ atharraich e an t-ainm aig an pàipear dhan The Herald anns a’ Ghearran 1992. Cheannaich am manaidsearan (leis an ainm Caledonian Newspapers) e anns a’ Chèitean 1992. Cheannaich Scottish Television e an-sin anns an 1996 agus dh’ atharraich an t-ainm aige gu Scottish Media Group an dèidh.
Dh’ ùraich am pàipear anns a’ Chèitean 1998 agus chuir pàpear peathar Didòmhnaich, an Sunday Herald, air bhog ann an 1999.
‘Se Newsquest (pàirt de Ghannett) an seilbheadair a-nis, cheannaich iad e bho an Scottish Media Group ann an 2003 airson £216m an dèidh reic connsachail.
Tha tuilleadh leughadairean aige na broadsheet nàiseanta sam bith eile ann an Alba. ‘Se Marcas Dùghlas-Home an deasaiche an-dràsta, mac-bràthar Sir Alasdair Dùghlas-Home.

‘Se Wikipedia leabhar mòr eòlais air-loidhne. Tha e fosgailte airson duine sam bith a bhith a’ cuideachadh leis. Tha nas motha na 1000 aistidhean aige an-dràsta. Tha mi air a bhith a’ sgrìobhadh mu ball-coise na h-Alba.

Ach, cha sgrìobh mi mun an geama air Didòmhnaich! Tha mi a’ feuchainn a dìochuimhneachadh.

New measures being implemented by Tony Blair look set to crack down on civil liberties and human rights. The Prime Minister aims to amend existing human rights legislation to allow him to close Mosques and deport Islamic preachers more easily if they are not UK citizens. How will threatening the closure of Mosques do anything to promote integration? The Muslim communities in the UK must feel themselves to be under seige at the moment and it seems that Blair may be making things worse. The Muslim Council of Britain has already condemned the wide ranging proposals as "counter-productive".

According to the BBC News website, the new criteria for triggering the deportation process "...will include advocating violence to further a person's belief, justifying or validating such violence..." Does this mean the US President is no longer welcome in the UK and will be refused entry or deported due to his actions in Iraq and subsequent justification of US violence in Iraq and Afghanistan? Sadly I doubt it. Double standards again.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears was on Newsnight defending the proposals to deport people to countries where torture and murder by the ruling regimes was commonplace. Apparently the UK Government are putting in place "memoranda of understanding" with the governments in question. Well, I guess that makes it all OK then. I'm sure none of the regimes would dare to breach such an agreement in the face of international condemnation. Oh wait, they get condemned already for their inhumane practices? Ah well, just ready the planes, load them up and wash your hands of the consequences. That's the plan, isn't it Hazel? When did the Labour Party, the supposed champions of the people, become such cold hearted bastards? Somewhere around the time they swapped principles for power probably.

Also on the BBC, there was a section with profiles of three young Muslim women in the UK. The interviewer asked them repeatedly if they considered the suicide bombers who targetted London to be Muslims. Of course, it was plain that the bombers were Muslims and each of the young women made this point although they stressed that they were not adhering to the rules of their faith. The interviewer appeared to want to be told that the suicide bombers could not be considered Muslim. The overtone was almost aggressive and the intervieweees didn't appear happy with the conduct of the interviewer. With segments like this the BBC is doing nothing to help discourage religiously motivated attacks.

Uncle Pauly spoke with Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and, at the time, the youngest MP in Holyrood. The interview was conducted just a month after the July ‘05 London bombings.

UP : Derek, where do you think the terrible events in London leaves the UK government’s plans for ID card introduction? I would not say that Labour are making political capital out of the bombings but is the case for ID cards now stronger, weaker or unchanged?

The case for ID cards is still fundamentally weak. This seems to be a solution in search of a problem. ID cards won’t prevent terrorism, or other crime, but they will cost us a heck of a lot of money. Suicide bombers have no need to shield their identity, and there will be a market for fake ID cards which will be good business for the criminal fraternity. And the notion that ID cards will be voluntary is ridiculous – if they are introduced they will become compulsory soon enough.

UP : Approximately 90% of respondents in poll taken after 7/7 favoured stronger powers for the police in combating terrorism. It would appear there does exist a growing inclination to forgo freedoms for security. Do you really believe there exist practical steps that the UK security forces can take to prevent another suicide bombing?

It’s difficult enough to protect against the type of terrorism that we were used to, such as the way the IRA operated. The only way we can reduce the attacks is through better intelligence, to target the supply of the materials the terrorists need and disrupt their operations. There are things, like allowing the use of wire-tap evidence in court, which can help but there’s no single issue.

UP : Sahid Malik, MP for Dewsbury, in the aftermath of 7/7 has suggested that the Muslim community need to do more to combat extremism. Will the kind of extremism we saw last week be defeated by a process of alienation within Islam or is more action needed?

It’s difficult to say. There will always be extremists who disregard what religious leaders say. It is very difficult to know how to influence these people; if you think that blowing yourself and others up is a suitable course of action, you’re so far outwith the realms of normal society that I don’t know how open to influence you are.

UP : The government’s planned religious hatred bill : an effective method of countering extremism or a curb on free speech?

I think Religions are strong enough to be criticised; when it comes to incitement etc. that is already a crime. Free speech should be protected as far as possible.

UP : Derek, many in the media and public have voiced shock that the bombers were British and brought up, largely, in the UK. Were you shocked at this revelation?

I suppose so, but should we be? Extreme beliefs don’t respect borders.

UP: “The case for ID cards is still fundamentally weak”: I agree. I’ve always thought that having ID cards reduces the police and public’s appetite for more intuitive or ‘hunch-based’ crime detection. Do you think Charles Clarke is getting cold feet over the issue?

I doubt it – this is very much a key Labour policy and they will want to press ahead regardless. I hope it can be stopped, but I’m not optimistic.

UP : Many from the extreme left believe that the Iraq war is directly responsible for 7/7. Even if that were true would a withdrawal from Iraq by US and UK forces reduce the chances of future terror? How important is a free and functioning Iraq now in light of 7/7?

Iraq or not, the way we live in the West is what makes us targets. A withdrawal would send a dangerous signal if it happens before Iraq is stable. A functioning democracy in Iraq could bring change to the whole region.

UP : . . . “could bring change” . . . you don’t sound very confident. Is Iraq becoming quagmire?

No, but we don’t know how a functioning democracy in the region would impact on the other countries; it might create a ripple effect, or it could be the exception.

UP : You say it’s “the way we live” that makes us a target but how big a factor is a resolution to the Israel/Palestine conflict in reducing Islamic terrorism?

My guess is that a resolution would do nothing. It is the very existence of western culture that seems to be the problem. And any solution in the Middle East is going to involve the preservation of the State of Israel – unacceptable to many of the extremists.

UP : Moving a little closer to home . . . I’ve always thought that the Union of two formerly warring races, Scots and English, is something of a paragon. Do you think the UK’s political structure offers anything in the way of a model for bringing together warring factions in the world?

I’m not sure how well it would travel. It’s telling that there are still pressures on the Union, 400 years after the Union of the Crowns, and 300 after the political Union. Having said that, it does show that it is possible to live together on a relatively small piece of land.

UP : It strikes me as inconceivable that anyone in Scotland would ever resort to terror to further a breakaway from the UK. Our Nationalist movement use debate, representation etc to further their cause. Why no Scottish extremists?

It’s always been obvious (at least in recent years) that if a majority of Scots want independence, they will get it. So there’s never been any real sense of grievance to motivate extremists in Scotland.

My last post was an unaccountably long time ago; something happened where my browser was not enabled to receive cookies whatever they are. As I have never refused a biscuit myself I was completely baffled by this and couldn't cope with it at all, I'm back and this time I'm mildly annoyed. At everything really. My work placement is a bit toss, but paradoxically and/or conveniently my mother, acting as unofficial advocate since I am having lots of absences and can't really take in anything above the level of an intelligence-insulting lecture on Good Communication in the Workplace, had a meeting with my supervisor last Friday and I had a fit right in the middle of it, and I might-to-will get my hours reduced. This would-to-will be nice.
And I got a new flatmate, whose ten boxes of books I had to help bring up from his friends' van and who swears at the cat in Italian. He keeps things clean and plays the guitar and sings in the evening, so I like him just as much as the invisible flatmate we had before; and he's a Socialist, which helps economise on arguments.
All this doesn't help me sound annoyed, and a lot of the time I'm not. The sun shines a good bit, and my cat is behaving as well as she can, and I might get to write something for Chartist. But all Socialists should maintain a kind of low-level pissedoffness, just in case.

‘Se an Scottish SPCA an t-ainm a th’air an t-SSPCA a-nis. Tha iad ‘n dòchas gu bheil seo a’ stad daoine a’ toirt tabhartas gus an RSPCA - buidheann-charthannachd Sasannach - tro thuiteamas. O chionn ghoirid, dh’fhàg cailleach £250,000 gus an RSPCA an àite an t-SSPCA.
Ach chan eil seo dìreach duilgheadas aig an SSPCA. Tha mòran buidhnean-charthannachd Sasannach a’ sanasachadh ann an Alba. Chan eil iad a’ dèanamh e soilleir nach eil iad ag obair ann an Alba. A bheil iad a’ dèanamh seo a dh’aon ghnothach? ‘S dòcha. An urrainn dhan a’ Phàrlamaid a bith ag iarraidh gu beil buidhnean-charthannachd a’ dèanamh soilleir far a bheil iad ag obair?

'Se an Scottish SPCA an t-ainm a th'air an t-SSPCA a-nis. Tha iad 'n dòchas gu bheil seo a’ stad daoine a' toirt tabhartas gus an RSPCA - buidheann-charthannachd Sasannach - tro thuiteamas. O chionn ghoirid, dh'fhàg cailleach £250,000 gus an RSPCA an àite an t-SSPCA.
Ach chan eil seo dìreach duilgheadas aig an SSPCA. Tha mòran buidhnean-charthannachd Sasannach a' sanasachadh ann an Alba. Chan eil iad a' dèanamh e soilleir nach eil iad ag obair ann an Alba. A bheil iad a’ dèanamh seo a dh’aon ghnothach? 'S dòcha. An urrainn dhan a' Phàrlamaid a bith ag iarraidh gu beil buidhnean-charthannachd a’ dèanamh soilleir far a bheil iad ag obair?