The above image seems to best illustrate the attitude of the Labour Party and their current denials of any wrongdoing in the Steven Purcell affair. Head in the sand and arse aloft, awaiting the latest engorged brown envelope missive from their wealthy backers.
Naturally after some fairly detailed work by reporters from both the Sunday Times (Scotland) and (surprise surprise) Scotland on Sunday, which highlighted the connections and influences on Purcell by Willie Haughey, the err Glasgow fridge magnate, emphatic denials of any wrongdoing by Steven Purcell or Glasgow City Council are spread around the media like soggy confetti.
As well as this ineffective denial strategy, Labour and their friends in the gutter press have devised another opportunity to kick the SNP in the balls, through the comments of a somewhat hat stand old age pensioner who suffers from views on sexuality last seen in public back in the 1970's.
The Daily Record can't seem to make up their mind, last week they informed the world that a drugs gangster had footage of Mr Purcell snorting coke, this week in an article that would bring a tear to Gordon Brown's glass eye, they inform their readers that 'Steven is on the road to recovery'. All that's missing is a floral tribute and a card for everyone to sign
This defence is doomed to fail, much like former councillor Purcell's 'stress' strategy went down like a BNP float at Notting Hill carnival, it scored a resounding big fat zero in the honesty and credibility stakes. Honest journalists (yes, there are some!) and political observers are informed by the salacious tittle tattle of politicians of all stripes. Within moments of Purcell's decisions to quit as leader being released to the media, the tittle tattle started. Some of our straight backed, give-the-fellow-a-chance type blogger's, admirably if not a tad naively, swallowed the whole 'stress' line, hook and sinker. Unfortunately for them and Mr Purcell, enemies old and new were soon out of the woodwork trumpeting alternatives to stress, none more volubly than former mentors and those recently retired through ill health quangocrats.
Attacking your political opponents over perceived slurs or repeating the mantra, "nothing to see here move along please," does not make the story go away, nor does it convince the public that everything Labour in Glasgow is kosher. Serious questions have to be answered. In all sincerity, this is not, in my opinion, a party political issue. If an SNP, Tory, Lib Dem or Green Council Leader was snorting coke with gangsters and was deemed to be far too close to multi-millionaire businessmen and nightclub owners with huge financial interests in the decisions of Glasgow City Council. I'd be saying the exact same thing
Sticking your head in the sand is the fast track way of letting your political opponents kick sand in your face. It's time...to open up. Do yourselves and Scotland a favour, root out this culture of patronage and cronyism that has held Scotland back for so long
The only empathy I share with Mr Purcell is his hulk like rage aimed at the Vodafone helpline staff, they seem to have spectacularly failed to Bring His World Together...
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16 comments:
Have you been reading aangirfan?
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2010/03/purcell-stefan-king-james-mortimer.html
Nope, but I will now.
"patronage" surely not "patriotism"?
Yes, Labour will try to milk this latest episode to draw fire form a spectacularly bad week.
Willie Haughey, who has given £1m to Labour, is alleged to have benefited financially from a series of decisions involving cocaine shyster Steven Purcell.
That raises some very very serious questions about the far-reaching influence of the party donor, after all Haughey is a former director at Celtic football club and is one of Scotland’s most influential businessmen.
Last year, he attended a private dinner in Glasgow where the guests included the prime minister and Jim Murphy, the Scottish secretary. In February, he donated a two-week holiday at his villa in Florida for a Labour fundraising dinner at the Glasgow Hilton, which Gordon Brown also attended.
Meals where Ian Gray attended paid for the public purse via Steven Purcell and a partly privatised arm of the council where the directors are paid handsomely again from the public purse.
Jim Murphy has done a 'macavity' after his bad press on faith, Israel and immigration over the last few days.
Iany Gray is not only mired in this cash for access scandal but has hiw own East Lothian branch in complete meltdown over Anne Moffat with whom he shares an office that they have both claimed rent for through their expenses but which is owned outright by Labour.
Add to that the shambles that is labour's knife policy at a minimum of £25-80 million and you can see just how little labour have progressed and just how much the media has been shielding them over these last couple of by-elections after getting a fright at Glasgow East.
Leave it to their friends in the press to try and turn this round, it only shows even more starkly where Scotland is, a crossroads.....
Doh, thanks Messiah! Duly changed.
Rab, I'm delighted that someone's mentioned Mr Mortimer by name, he appears to be one of this individuals with a big stake in where Glasgow goes.
Read to the bottom of the article to see who backs his plans to put Glasgow under glass...
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/roof-plan-will-make-buchanan-street-a-glass-act-1.955741
Incidentally, did anybody see the SNP Tactical Voting blog post 'CyberNats' make the headlines. Again.' this morning?
I'm told it contained yet another mention of yours truly, and scurrilous allegations as to my supposed unmasking. Rather ironically, it amazingly appears to have vanished into the cyber ether as wistfully as young girls tears...Has Jeff been got at?
In other news, I'm a smidge disappointed that young Yapping 'My Party Right or Wrong' Yousuf, saw fit, not to include my post on his blog today, where I gave some context to the Alan Clayton story, particularly Clayton's mention of his own daughter and crack cocaine. For the record, Mr Clayton is in my opinion, a dramatic old homophobe who should have to pass a sanity test before being let loose on the internet.
I'm doubly disappointed that Yousuf didn't avail himself of the opportunity to describe in detail the comments I'm alleged to have made.
Poor show Yousuf, you're obviously not the reasonable young man I thought you were when we sat beside each other at the infamous (in David Maddox's mind) Blogger's Breakfast last year.
I was unaware that the river Styx was in Egypt. You live and learn.
I note that BBC Scotland's Political Goliath, Brian Taylor still hasn't commented on Purcell since the 2nd of March and then only to extol sympathy? I was intrigued to discover recently that this Scottish blog is moderated from Newcastle-under-Lyme, near Stoke in NotScotland....
BTW Isn't a blether a continuous two way process?
"I was intrigued to discover recently that this Scottish blog is moderated from Newcastle-under-Lyme, near Stoke in NotScotland...."
http://quirkynats.freeforums.org/corruption-in-bbc-moderation-t193.html
Mark, it's not just cuddly Brian Taylor who has gone quiet, what about Glasgow's, nay, Labour's leading blogger, Tom Harris? Not a peep out of him.
One of the problems with this story is that, like the Westminster expenses scandal, it is Jeux Sans Frontières - probably everybody is mixed up in it somewhere and the trail of culpability is practically infinite, from the press to the police to all the people who stood to make money.
There will be certain people who are aware that they may also wish to book flights to Australia, and maybe Rio, before this is fully sorted out.
"Sticking your head in the sand is the fast track way of letting your political opponents kick sand in your face."
Well I never knew that.
On a serious note. Mark, it ill behoves you to make light of Alan Clayton's comments.
Those comments were very wrong and clearly caused distress.
Not so long ago. when you took involuntary redundancy, you yourself complained about the stress caused to you and your family.
The case for Scottish independence does not hinge on which Party has the least sleaze, nor on which Party has the most edgy bloggers (Guido, yourself, George Laird, Old Holborn, et al).
Hi Hamish, I didn't intend to trivialise Mr Clayton's comments. They were the latest in a long line of distasteful thoughts he's committed to the internet, which I have previously criticised him directly for. Which I do again. I do regret that our media choose to use his comments as a diversion to the bigger questions regarding Purcell and patronage.
A friend left a comment on Mediawatch this morning that summed it up succinctly, "your readership are by and large
intelligent and educated people, well able to draw their own
conclusions, Mediawatch would be much more effective if you let the
newspaper articles speak for themselves."
Me edgy, I'm about as edgy as a distressed spacehopper!
Hugely interesting that Willie Haughey fears no investigation by the Audit Commission.
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/2892350/Tycoons-snub-over-Purcell-row.html
I wonder if he feels the same way about a Strathclyde polis funny handshake investigation?
Vodaphone, Bring My World Together.....classic
Perusing the output of Mr Alan Clayton he appears to be a dingbat, homophobe and plonker
Mark
SNP has approached Strathclyde Police to investigate it's in the Cally M.
Time the lid was lifted as this cannot continue if we are to achieve Independence a forge ahead with building a better society, which should be bereft of corruption. Unlikely but the rot needs to be surgically removed.
I'm in awe that Glesga citizens gave accepted the status quo of these dinosaurs!
CD
Glasgow will look after Steven Purcell because he is one of the boys. The softly softly tip toeing by the media over Purcell has been astonishing to say the least but not surprising.
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