Somebody's got to pay.

Recognise this happy chap above? No, well like the Lee Marvin character, Walker, in the iconic John Boorman daylight noir film, 'Point Blank', I'm a great believer in the theory that if you go far enough up the chain in an organisation, you always find the one man who makes all the decisions. 

The man in the photograph is Craig A. Dubow, no not the one with the gun, that's Lee Marvin. Craigie boy sits at the top of the corporate chain and is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gannett Company Incorporated of America. He makes all the decisions. 

Gannett is the largest newspaper publisher in the USA, operating some 90 daily newspapers and 23 television channels, including the tabloid 'USA Today'. The company was founded by former Republican presidential candidate Frank Gannett, whose family arrived in the USA via Dorset, the Netherlands and Scotland.  

In the UK they operate under a subsidiary called Newsquest, owning and running 17 daily and 300 weekly newspapers, including the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times. It could be said that as the man at the top of the chain, Mr Dubow's decisions and deliberations directly impact on the news that these 'Scottish' papers deliver.

It is claimed that Newsquest executives are so cowed by Gannett, that not only do they have to raise their hands when nature calls, but they also have to submit a lengthy cost benefit analysis, breaking down the gross cost of their ablutions and what impact such bowel evacuations might have on the Gannett share price...

Some of you may remember Pete Wishart of the SNP in 2007 alleged that Newsquest had mislead the Competitions Commission as to their intent regarding jobs and err standards, when they paid SMG £216 million for the three titles in 2003. Subsequent strikes, redundancies and dramatic collapse in the quality of reporting may have proved Mr Wishart as being not too far off the mark in his assumptions.


After the Sunday Herald's excruciating mea maxima culpa regarding inferences by Ms Go Lassie Go , Mandy Rhodes at Holyrood magazine and The Drum magazine that their relationship with lawyers Levy and MacRae was a conflict of interest in the reporting of the Steven Purcell cocaine story, one can't help wondering if the Newsquest executives are starting to check the exit strategies. Herald editor Donald Martin's decision to leave Glasgow for the bright lights of Dundee and the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Sunday Post, this was a career move that allegedly caused spontaneous outbursts of joyful applause and whoops in the Herald building.


The news today that Newsquest chief executive Paul Davidson dumped 16,250 of his Gannett shares on the market, netting a tidy $200,000 profit may be causing further ruffles, particularly as 16,250 is the maximum he's allowed to sell under US Security and Exchange commission rules.  These shares are his reward for seeing the Newsquest group shed 23% of their workforce to a mere 5,100. Has he seen the writing on the wall? 

Mr Dubow, the man at the top of the chain has been rewarded nicely too, bringing home an estimated $8 million last year after seeing sales decline by 22% and the workforce decimated by some 6,000. He garnered snorts of derision when he announced in 2008 he was taking a cut in salary from  $7.5 million to $7.3 million. The poor man.

A dedicated blog which chronicles every twist and duplicitous turn by Gannett and Newsquest executives makes for excellent reading and is a great foreshadow of what probably awaits journalists at the group. It shines a bright light into the murkiest corners of the old Herald group who have managed to drag the good name of good old fashioned Scottish journalism through the mud. 


Mr Dubow can thank his lucky stars that he doesn't owe Lee Marvin's 'Walker' any money.

The orriflame of a crusade.

Your chance to ask the elusive Mr Murphy any question under the steely glint of the Piewatcher General, Brian Taylor, watch out...he bites. Secretary for the State of Scotland

Who cares?

24 seconds of Westminster democracy in action.

Labour in a river in Egypt.

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...

 The Sunday Times (Scotland) double spread by Mark MacAskill and Jon Ungoed-Thomas.

Is there something rotten in the state of West Dunbartonshire Council?

T

There's something just a tad whiffy coming out of West Dunbartonshire Council. On Thursday 11th of March the details of the recent best value report were put into the public domain. The Accounts Commission, more or less branded the council, the most inept in Scotland.

Last month, the council asked the Scottish Government for permission to borrow £9.8 million pounds to help balance their books. Citing the expenses accrued during the Single Status Process as the main reason for their debt, despite originally having a pot of £21 million from which to fund the scheme. 

All of this would be fine, as most councils have contingency funds to which they can dip into on occasion to help pay interest rates etcetera, whilst still maintaining the good governance of the local authority....However, West Dunbartonshire Council's contingency fund is in a seriously bad way. Ordinarily it would hold funds in the region of £5 million. The contingency fund is currently sitting at a barrel scraping, £250,000 - the price of a nice wee hoose in Balloch.

Since 2007 the council has been run by an SNP/Independent coalition. This has not gone down well with the Labour party, long used to having control of the Council, the MSP and the MP. The chinks in their armour began to appear when traditional Labour corruption raised its ugly head, just before the 2007 election, when problems of internecine warfare broke out amongst labour councillors, with scandals in tabloids and accusations of council contracts surreptitiously awarded to businesses owned by Labour councillors, etcetera. So far  - so Labour corruption. Fast forward to last year and we discover the chief executive of the council is doing the Hokey Cokey (no Purcell reference intended) with his job, he's quitting, he's sacked, he's retired, he's no, he's shaking it all about...and so on. Not it would seem a happy bunny.

Naturally, the upper management, the majority who were placed in the Council during the heady Labour years, simply get on with running their council. The council is operated by council officers with no time or inclination to listen to their political masters, just like every other council in the country. Honest hard working men and women to the core...or are they? Accusations of cronyism, waste, patronage, nepotism, deception etcetera swirl around the councils ankles, again, just like every other council in the country. 

However, what adds grist to the mill in this case is the very odd action of the council sending out this rather strange correspondence to businesses whom they have worked with in the past.

A brief perusal shows you the letter suggests that WDC's books are well and truly kippered, that they don't know who they owe money to and vice versa don't know who owes them money. Are they simply asking businesses, in a recession,  "Do we owe you any money? If so please let us know asap, and we'll square you up in a trice." or words to that effect. So far, so generous. It's always nice to know that councils care so much about their contractors and suppliers that they'll chase them up in times of financial strife. Ok, I've laboured that particular point long enough. 

What's really interesting is that the council contact has an email address at the council, but uses his mobile phone number (what WDC employees don't have landlines?) and 'if we do owe you any money please fax details to this Edinburgh number'...Edinburgh! Has there been a seismic shift and Dumbarton Rock is now encroaching on the Bass Rock's territory? Further investigation of the fax number leads to an IT company, a cross google on their fax number and address lead to this document which in turn leads to this fraud detection company. Investigative Data Mining Ltd is the UK's leading consultancy specialising in the use of advanced data mining techniques to detect, prevent and investigate fraud.

Are we to presume that West Dunbartonshire Council having been on the shard end of one of the worst 'Best Value' audits in living memory have opted to seek external help in preventing fraud or is it more likely that they are attempting to clear out the stench of alleged fraud within their own coffers? 

Much like there is a case for the Scottish Government assuming control of Glasgow City Council, the same should be said of West Dunbartonshire Council.

Little Ms Moffat, a tuffet too far.

Ms Anne Moffat MP, the delightful lady who compared the First Minister to the little moustached German chap who started some unpleasantness in the 1930's, is facing a long drawn out firing squad by her own side.

The poor lady who was attacked by unknown assailants who purloined her jogging jewellery, but not her Blackberry, has had a fraught relationship with the local East Lothian Labour Constituency Party. 

Seen as a 'flown-in' high profile Union member from down south, with links in 'nearby' Fife. An earlier attempt to de-select her after concerns over her eye watering expenses, lack of evidence of any local work, rude and unruly behaviour towards party employees and branch volunteers and allegations of a fondness for the liquid side of life, the local constituency were thwarted by Labour's National Executive Committee who allowed the block vote of the Union to ignore local concerns.
 
Last night she was convincingly rejected by the local branch of her East Lothian constituency 25 - 5. It's rather damning that only five loyal acolytes could be found to support Ms Moffat. It's even more of a poor show, that the largest constituency Labour branch in Scotland could only muster 30 souls to participate in the de-selection of their sitting Member of Parliament. Naturally, rather than abide by local democracy, the dithering, clunking fist of the Labour Party NEC have decided that all 500 constituency members should be consulted.

One would naturally presume that Mr Iain Gray MSP, as a dedicated and high profile constituency member, and a man who knows his way around assembling a Marquee, was in attendance at last nights vote. I find myself pondering as to which way Mr Gray voted in such a terribly important ballot. Will questions be asked by our ever so independent press?

Propaganda legitimised...

I see the Herald & Times Group - Evening Labour 'Ripped Off Glasgow' campaign has been nominated in the Campaign of the Year section of the Scottish Press Awards. I had no idea that this illustrious body had a fantasy/propaganda section...

Proof At Last. Hugh McMillan

It's in the rock record.
but we could have guessed.
Years ago, balmy Scotland
hugged the equator,
golden beaches, lush forests,
coconuts, bars on stilts,
beach volleyball, then one day
earth's orbit tipped to an ellipse,
plates shifted, the oceans shut,
and on that flimsy pretext
England came hurtling up
from its place in the Antarctic
and slammed us with its icy spine
into the North Atlantic,
shunted up the sheuch
of Iceland with all the ensuing
mountains, herring, sleet,
Sundays, words like sheuch...
That's it. No need for further talk.
At last, at last, it's proved, it's all their fault.

Roncadora Press 

Hugh McMillan 

Steven Purcell: 'My Cocaine Hell'. Exclusive

How soon before Mr Purcell's £5000-a-day crisis management team manage to sell his 'exclusive', 'How the Evil CyberNats Turned Me Into A Cokehead.' story to one of the Scottish tabloids? 

The same tabloids that have been ever so reluctant to dump all over Mr Purcell and the Labour Party this past week. An 'Exclusive' wherein, we will no doubt encounter a chastened, refreshed and tearful Mr Purcell pouring his heart out over his anguished torment, his loss of power, his fair weather friends, his search for love, his take on the many personalities, politicians and criminals he's encountered and his view of the modernised Scotland he was destined to lead away from the vile yoke of separatism.

Naturally should such an event occur, then those same tabloids who dithered, obfuscated and minimised the story, when Mr Purcell's resignation as Glasgow City Council leader first broke, will be first up to splash the wonga in Mr Purcell's direction, through his PR team, naturally. That would be the same PR team that has a huge influence on the stories the tabloids love to brand as 'Exclusive'. There's nary an 'Auld Firm' story that doesn't have their size 11 predator boots stamped all over it. The access and influence such people have over the 'power of the press' is quite simply wrong.  A newspaper industry dependent on parasites, who control their stories and screw them out of substantial sums has lost direction.

 As to Mr Purcell's fondness for the Bolivian marching powder, well, as Glasgow, indeed Scotland is blighted by a drugs epidemic, where an unimaginable amount of money is spent educating our youngsters on the dangers of drugs, where our police spend the majority of their time fighting the criminal effects of drug dealing, the NHS mop up the mess left by drug consumption, (how much out of their £11 billion budget goes on coping with the aftermath of drug abuse?) all I can say is congratulations Labour and their drinking and dining buddies in the Scottish press for keeping this story out of the public domain. Your silence has allowed the man who would be King to run a £2.4 billion budget, four-days-a-week, to the best of his ability as a functioning addict.. 

Remember behind every gram of coke lies a trail of misery, controlled every step of the way by criminals. Mr Purcell, snorting a couple of lines at the opening of some new fancy hairdressers salon in Drumchuckie, leads all the way back through the hard men gangsters in Glasgow's East End, via corrupt cops, customs officials, venal financiers, drug barons, to dirt poor bastards in hot climates scraping a living at the business end of a gun. Where do the profits end up? Well let's look at security companies, taxi companies, tanning salons, nightclubs and bars. Where 'special' clientèle can snort to their hearts content, safe in the knowledge, that if anyone kicks up a fuss, somewhere along the line, a cop, solicitor or politician has their back. 

This story has set back all the good work previous Labour politicians and policies have done in fighting drugs. How can Labour councillors, MSP's and MP's stand up now and pontificate on the dangers of drugs, knowing that they have protected and promoted one of their own, who was at the very centre of Scotland's drugs problem? This is a problem that will be with us for years to come.

  

Steven Purcell resigns as a Councillor

 

News just in that Steven Purcell has resigned as a Councillor. STV have broken the story after a fraught week for Mr Purcell and the Labour Party.

Naturally there are now lots of questions to be asked, about his alleged use of cocaine and just who else was aware of his supposed use of the Class A drug in the City Council.

Steven Purcell and our national gift of meiosis.

It appears that the Media House attempts to control the Steven Purcell story is in danger of blowing a tyre and plummeting down the ravine labelled 'No Chuffing Chance'. 

For the first time in living memory the Hootsman actually defied convention, alleged threats of legal nastiness and reported yer actual bona fide-oops-Labour-in-the-shitter-news. News, which I hasten to add that the blogosphere has been voraciously whispering les gros mots about, behind cupped palms, since Monday evening, that Mr Purcell's stress, has been attributable to an alleged pharmaceutical dependency. 

Jack Irvine's task was made even more Herculean when STV reported today that Mr Purcell went AWOL from Castle Craig Rehab centre on Sunday afternoon and told their gobsmacked audience that our dear chums at Lothian and Border were called in to poke about the bushes looking for a rather lost, bewildered and somewhat dis-inhibited Mr Purcell. If Castle Craig were a psychiatric institution, rather than a 12 step addiction centre, most patients would have been sectioned under the mental health act, and there would be no need to call police for a patient, unless of course when there is a significant danger of self harm.

As much sympathy as I have for any poor soul dependent on medication, legal or otherwise, to get through the day, I honestly feel, the time-line to Mr Purcell's implosion needs further investigation from our doughty press pack. 

Just exactly was said at Gordon Brown's table to Mr Purcell at last Thursday's Labour fund-raising dinner at the Glasgow Hilton, when according to all the impartial Labour supporters and Rangers manager Walter Smith, who were in attendance, that Mr Purcell was 'at the top of his game'? What was it that made him, a few short hours later, express a desire to get the flip out of Dodge? Were the raffle tickets so eye blisteringly expensive that Mr Purcell, according to Paul Hutcheon, had to be 'escorted' home? Who were the MSP's with whom he had 'convivial' talks on the Friday morning? Did they not notice anything untoward in his presumably agitated state? Is Mr Purcell paying for Media House representation, and Levy &McRae defamation specialists from his own pocket or could it be that the Labour Party or friends of the Labour Party are dipping into their own deep pockets? Who overruled the rather expensively assembled 'Team Glasgow' who wanted to come clean and fess all?  How long has Mr Purcell, suffered from this alleged dependency, did he ever self medicate in the Council Chambers or whilst on Council business? Does Glasgow City Council have a mandatory drug testing system for its employees, does this apply to elected members or merely officers and other lower paid employees? Where exactly did Mr Purcell procure the pharmaceutical in question?  

One presumes, with a desperate desire to be truthful and transparent, that the new leader of Glasgow City Council will immediately instigate an investigation into these and sundry other questions of nefarious goings on at the City Chambers.

Naturally, in a normal independent country, a free press would be asking these questions rather than swallowing the cheap party line of praising some chap down on his hunkers and predicting his meteoric return a few weeks after defeating his inner demons.


Come on the press pack, you can pursue other people with great vim, gusto and template cut and paste reporting, how about doing some actual digging and living up to the once exalted title of 'journalist'?

So farewell Stephen Purcell....amended, or is it?

It's alleged today that Glasgow City Councillor Stephen Purcell has decided to stand down as Council Leader, due to stress. 

It's a great pity that people who decide to devote their time to serving in public life fall by the wayside like this. The burden of carrying Glasgow City Council and the Labour Party on your shoulders must be an immense task, particularly for one so young.

I was discussing with a friend recently how Scottish politics has simply boiled down to this macabre game between politicians and journalists, where the journalists intrinsically do not believe the politicians are of a calibre that the title has traditionally merited, and politicians in a desperate attempt to appear capable, strive to come up with more and more ludicrous 'visions' to ensure press coverage and their justification for the use of the title. 

Naturally this leads to the question of why otherwise sensible people get into politics. There are very few, from any party, that I've met, that do not work more than 39 hours a week. Family life and personal life are put on hold, whilst the politician puts their all into, what is in essence a very stressful popularity contest, where, increasingly, adherence to party dogma is of paramount importance.

I suppose politics has really moved away from discussion about the principles and theories best suited to good governance, to capitalising on attracting those stirred enough from the general malaise and apathy of the electorate, to actually get to the polling station and put their X against the candidate they feel best represents them.

As to Stephen Purcell's 'resignation', as the leading light of the Scottish Labour party machine, I imagine the only Labour politician in Scotland who will benefit from his removal from the spotlight is none other than the Secretary for the State of Scotland, and future leader of the Labour Party in Holyrood, the not so shifty Jim Murphy MP.

 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Well just when it looked all dignified and a done deal, the rumour mill goes into full effect, aided of course by the news that Councillor Purcell has engaged the legendary Scottish PR guru Jack Irvine of Media House to handle all press enquiries for him. A pricey ticket no doubt.

The latest sniff  is that a former chief executive of a certain Labour laden quango did not go gently into the night, preferring to toot in his tuppence that stress is one of the symptoms of the modern age and hard put upon executives have to resort to all sorts of aides to get them through the night. 

David Maddox, you silly rucker.

Some of you may remember the stushie at the turn of the year, when former Sports Minister Stewart Maxwell, according to David Maddox of the Scotsman, claimed that he wanted Rugby withdrawn from the Olympic games...

The erroneous Scotsman.

Call to drop Olympic rugby to help protect Scotland's sevens side Published Date: 30 December 2009

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By David Maddox 

A FORMER sports minister has called for rugby to be removed from the Olympics because it might undermine the Scottish team.

But the comments by Nationalist MSP Stewart Maxwell have been questioned by former British Lion Gavin Hastings, who claimed most Scottish rugby players aspire to play for Scotland and Britain.

Mr Maxwell has claimed that there is a danger of the International Rugby Board (IRB) cancelling the Rugby Sevens World Cup when the form of the game is included in the Olympics in 2016. This would mean that the main international sevens team for Scots would be the British one.

Mr Maxwell said that this would be wrong, especially as sevens, the smaller team version, was invented in Scotland.

He called on the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) to act to save the national sevens team.

The West of Scotland MSP said: "The SRU must use their place in the IRB to stop this plan that will push Scotland's sevens – the home of sevens – off the world stage.

"The IRB seem determined to scrap the Sevens World Cup – taking away Scotland's right to compete as a rugby sevens team in a major tournament. For this to happen to the country that invented the game is unacceptable."

Former Scotland captain and British Lions legend Gavin Hastings told The Scotsman that rugby was different to football because Scottish players aspire to represent both Scotland and Britain.

"If I or any other former British Lion was asked whether representing the Lions was up there with my international experiences, of course I would say 'yes'," he said.

"It would be a shame if the Sevens World Cup was lost and Scotland could no longer play in it, but you have to remember there would still be a Scottish team in the Commonwealth Games," he said.

"Overall the benefits of rugby being included in the Olympics and the profile that gives the sport is worth the loss of the Sevens World Cup."

The SRU, along with other rugby union boards, has long campaigned to have sevens introduced to the Olympics to help raise the games profile around the world.

Dominic McKay, the SRU's director of communications, said: "We take pride that sevens, invented in Scotland, will now spearhead the worldwide growth of our sport as a by-product of the IOC's decision." 

Surprise, surprise poor David got it wrong by, about oh let's be generous and say 100%.

Doffing of the tweed bunnet to Mediawatch for the story. You may have purged me from your blogs of additional interest, which doesn't mean to say I'm a bad person! (name that film?)

Square go in Lockerbie?

News that our Libertarian chums favourite poster boys for the right-for-everyone to have free speech, the sartorial anti-Islamic Scottish Defence League, are to stage a protest in Lockerbie on the 27th of March has aroused much anger in the local community. None more so than in my own household, as the 27th is my birthday and the last thing I want to do is leave behind the jelly and ice-cream, drive over to Lockerbie and laugh at a handful of barely literate, bigoted racists locked inside a pub surrounded by Dumfries and Galloway's thin blue line.

Thankfully, the admirable John Dennis, Secretary of Dumfries TUC is in the process of mobilising the good and the great of D&G to go along and have a counter protest amble. I dare say Megabus will be dropping off other protesters from points North and South.

Details of the proposed march have appeared on the delightfully titled Casuals United blog, which claims: “After the fiasco of the police abusing their powers and arresting and or/turning back innocent people trying to attend the Edinburgh demo, the Scottish Defence League will be holding a respectful vigil at Lockerbie on March 27 2010.” They further claim, “This is also a protest against Kenny MacAskill, who denies the SDL free speech and defended the release of the man responsible for the Lockerbie outrage.”  

Unfortunately these mouth breathing sock puppets do not realise that the people of Lockerbie are sick to the back teeth of being known primarily for the fact that a bombed plane landed on their town. If the SDL/EDL believe they will find a warm reception from the local people they are very much mistaken and may find locals welcoming them in a similar vein to that which is normally associated with the Lockerbie and Moffat boys annual post agricultural show fisticuffs larks.

Naturally there are those who view these ossified bigots as being at the forefront of some kind of Cromwellian adventure in tea party politics, sadly the same view existed with the excruciating debate on allowing Nick Griffin the BNP mouthpiece to appear on Question Time, where predictably in an attempt to show how anathematised they were to his very existence the other contributors entered into a freestyle hate fest competition to see who could come up with the most withering put down. As predicted this gave Griffin the appearance of a victim and the BNP membership rocketed in the days following the broadcast. 

Allowing the English Defence League and the so called Scottish Defence League the right to assemble and promulgate their own special brand of race hate under the banner of free speech, is as defensible as allowing paedophiles into child care. They are the bastard offspring of the National Front and their godfathers, the Nazis.

Independence? Ye cannae do that in the EU....

Interesting report in the Barcelona Reporter today. It appears that those pesky Catalunyan's have gone and organised a conference on the vexed question of countries seeking Independence within the EU. The session titled "Independent state in Europe? was organized by the Cercle d'Estudis Sobiranistes foundation and by the institution Horizonte Europe, and has been inaugurated by radical dude President of the Parliament, Ernest Benach.

According to the report commissioned by Stanford University, there are "legal and political arguments" that support the concept of the "internal extension" of the Community when territories that are already part of it become independent of their current state. 

It also indicates that neither Catalunya and other territories from Spain or other European states such as Scotland (Great Britain) should apply for admission as new members of the EU, they only have to ask for recognition its new status". The report mentions legal and political arguments applied to interpret the treaties of the European Union, and in this sense, indicates that the international practice shows that in cases of "succession of States", the policy developments set the legal reality and not vice versa.

The report acknowledges, however, that in the EU now there is no legislation governing internal succession, so there is a situation of a "legal vacuum" before which he would have to apply "the rules of customary international law".

The report suggests ways to "pave the way for internal expansion, such as preparing the "Catalan founding documents" -Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and submission to the European Court of Arbitration.
 
The Cercle d'Estudis Sobiranistes  have a rather charming animation showing just how many European countries have succeeded in gaining Independence over the last 100 years.







 

Genius, Brown CGI'd.

Why can't Reporting Scotland use these kind of graphics? I want to see the Tartan Overlord eating his pie in the same style.

Time ripe for a military coup?

Here in Blighty we seem to take some form of perverse pleasure in Johnny Foreigners debilitating history of military coup d'etat's. The recent sabre rattling over the Falklands, and the frankly hatstand assertion by a BBC reporter that we somehow collectively look back fondly on Thatcher's election saving 'conflict' with Argentina and their hard jawed, golfing Generalissimo Galtieri, got me musing that the conditions which normally prompt the military men to stiffen their upper lips, firmly clasp the old Webley revolver and takeover governments can't be too far away.

Most of the components that would ordinarily lead to a disenchanted military seizing control of the levers of government and imposing strong arm tactics on the electorate and economy are already here. 

We've seen the erosion of civil liberties; the introduction of the nanny surveillance state, a basket case economy built on second mortgages and credit cards, with uncountable debts and no way out of them, a crushing depletion in our manufacturing base, rising unemployment figures, ( Iain MacWhirter's frankly terrifying account in yesterday's Sunday Herald talks of 2.5million, factor in the part-time and the underemployed sees that figure head north, possibly up to 8.8million,) the rise in popularity of the scapegoat baiting far right, a rapidly increasing ageing population whose care will fall squarely on the shoulders of the young, the break down in our social fabric, squaddies getting blown up every other day whilst bogged down in an unwinnable war with poor resources and no discernible tactics, add to the mix the fact that the Yanks have just Guantanamoed the only senior Taliban member that fancied a negotiated chin wag and you start to get the picture how plum tuckered Afghanistan really is.  

Our version of democracy has been flushed down the bog. Apathy rules completely. The irony that more people pay to vote for their favourite on everything from 'Britain's Got Extra Chromosomes' to 'Big Brother' than participate in yer actual bona fide elections, tells the tale. I was rather perturbed, but not completely surprised to discover that more people voted for the blind chappy who participated in the last 'Big Brother' popularity contest, than the entire number of votes cast in last years Scottish MEP elections. 

The ongoing expenses and sleaze scandals that infest UK politics are not going away, the public are becoming more and more pissed with politicians with each passing day. After the initial furore of the expenses, I naively thought we'd see humbled MP's apologising and doing their utmost to win back support in their neverending beauty pageant. Not so, the sight of seasoned trough fillers demanding reductions in amounts due back is enough to float yer back teeth.

We have, in Gordon Brown, a PM with multiple personalities, none of which attract the multitude. His appearance after the crap 'Men and Motorist' terrorists at Glasgow Airport was the last time he looked like an actual man of gravitas, opposed to the wraith that currently infests our telly screens getting wibbly about dead weans and his father's moral code. He and his barrel scraped cabinet seem incapable of empathising with or understanding the tortuosities of their constituents.

Our oppositions north and south of the border suffer from intellectual cowardice. An old Etonian cabal is not the answer, the days of our private schools producing the type of chap who profoundly distrusted rhetoric and was capable of administrating an empire whilst buggering the third under butler is long gone. Instead we're left with the scion of a watered down merchant class, determined to fill their boots and those of their friends the have-mores. In Scotland, the official opposition are plain embarrassing, I mean Iain Grey, really. How far removed is he from Plato's philosopher turned King?

The number of recently retired military chiefs, when safely ensconced behind the barriers of their gilt edged pensions, belatedly discover silvery tongues and speak out against a PM who breaks D-notices for PR purposes is on the increase, the junior ranks must look around at their better equipped allies, their supposed superiors (Bob Ainsworth ffs) who supposedly espouse state and nationhood and grieve. How soon before one of them cracks?

 

Scotland civilised?

I know that all those disenchanted with the mainstream media, dead tree press etcetera like to shout out and moan about the perceived bias for one political party over another or the media's preoccupation with trivial stories over more worthy serious ones. I know this because, on occasion, I feel the same way too, in fact I'm a regular moaner. However, a story just came to my notice this morning via a facebook link I rarely look at, involving what is at best a flagrant abuse of the right to free speech, at worst a cover up of Hollywood proportions.

Now some or many of you may already know the story of Hollie Greig, It may be that I'm so far off the radar that I've missed it completely and others in our little bit of CyberScotia have covered it better and more succinctly than I. Either way, here's what I now know of Hollie's story.


Hollie is a 30 year old woman who has Downs Syndrome. It is claimed that from the age of six, she was sexually abused by her father, as she grew, he began 'sharing' her with her older brother and a long established Aberdeen paedophile ring. In 2000 after suffering 14 years of abuse Hollie confided in her mother. Formal statements were made to Grampian Police. 

All details and names of Hollies abusers were given to the police. Hollie's alleged abusers included a Sheriff, a policeman, social workers, a nurse, an accountant, a solicitor, a fire officer, married couples and others. The alleged rapes took place at the homes of the individuals and that of the Sheriff's sister. 

This is where the story veers off into conspiracy and rather frightening allegations. Despite no charges ever being brought against the alleged abusers by Grampian Police, Hollie was awarded £13,500 in compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in April last year. Physical evidence and interviews with a senior police officer corroborate Hollie's story. This must surely raise the odd cynical eyebrow.

Journalist Robert Green has covered the story at great length. I've included video links below, naturally these keep getting hauled off You Tube as the allegations within are incredibly serious. 



After investigating and planning a documentary, BBC Scotland abruptly dropped the case, despite admitting that Hollie was a reliable and accurate witness. It is important to stress that both the police and qualified medical experts have described Hollie as a competent and entirely honest witness.

Our media have mostly ignored or been scared off from this story. The Lord Advocate Eilish Angiolini has been cited and is involved in the story, from her days as Procurator Fiscal in Aberdeen at the time of the allegations.


The story reached an unpleasant moment  when Robert Green was arrested last Friday on his way into Aberdeen City Centre to distribute leaflets regarding Hollie's case. He has been charged with that great catch-all, breach of the peace. The only paper to cover his arrest so far is the Press and Journal.


Robert Green has named all the victims and the abusers, he poses an amazing number of questions that need to be answered, they range from an established paedophile ring, multiple rapes, a cover up at the highest level in the Scottish legal system and a probable murder.


Hollie's Blog




















Found the excellent Scottish Law Blogspot which gives a much more detailed report than I do. Please click on it.

No ribbing please.

 

Here we go, the nation is about to get ice fever once again. After last months outbreak of illegal bonspiels throughout the country when doughty maidens and roguish pensioners sneaked past sleeping policemen on to frozen lochs and hurled 40 lbs of granite over the surface, the smooth indoor Olympic game to best them all is back in action.

Scotland, sorry Team GB men have already played one game, with David Murdoch's world champion rink losing their first game in the round robin section 6-4 to European champions Sweden. The women's team, skipped by 19 year Eve Muirhead have just beaten the current world champions China 5-4. 

After the public acclaim that Rhona Martin and team garnered when they won Olympic gold and the great google box watching public stayed up to watch them in their millions, one would have assumed that sponsors would be falling over themselves to associate themselves with a sport that encompasses individual resolve and teamwork. The winning rink should have been fast tracked to a life of reward and luxury, endorsements, fragrances, clothing lines etcetera...Well they would in America. Imagine my surprise, therefore when I discovered that Team USA Curling are co-sponosored by 'Hurry Hard' condoms.

'Hurry Hard' are sponsors with a difference they have a charitable side with proceeds of all condom sales being split between USA Curling and Monterey County AIDS Prevention programme. http://www.mcap.org 

Other sponsors of Team USA include Laphroaig whisky...sound familiar? 

Team GB are sponsored by the exciting Primary General Limited a commercial underwriting company based in Leeds.

I suppose the question is this if either of our teams win Gold will we see them being backed by something a bit more laudable than a commercial underwriter? 


 

Click Opera no more. The digital fat lady has sung.

So farewell Click Opera possibly the most widely read, influential blog ever written by a Scotsman.* Nick Currie aka Momus, has ceased to blog. I seriously doubt more than a few of us in Scotland, except for the exalted post-literate, have ever noticed, heard of, or even read Nick's writings, muses, dissertations, cries for thoughtful examination. Instead, so insular has civic enlightened Scotland become, that you can forget minimalist introspection of what is Scotland, we're currently embroilled in the high dramas of half eaten pies, fraud and expenses corruption. 

Alas my raising the spectre of Momus, is all too late, as he decided, on the eve of his 50th birthday, to stop adding to his blog after 6 years of almost continuous daily updates, from Berlin, Tokyo, New York, Finland, Budapest, Paris etcetera.

The recent polls of Scottish blogs really puts our parochial Scotland into perspective, as giddy as I am for this cheesy blog to be recognised in the various categories and delighted that punters voted for me, be that through notoriety, honesty or a mission to spread mischief, our standards in the Scottish blogosphere are lower than a pregnant snakes belly.

Yes, there are a few writers who are erudite, can set out their stall with an argument, counter argument and reasoned conclusion, but on the whole we have few, if any, great chin-stroking thinkers, merely some pretendy shock authors, a few limited wordsmiths a clutch of gag meisters, a honk of psephologist's (whom you'd most likely avoid at any normal social gathering) but sadly no true leaders in contemporary thought inhabit our little bit of tartan cyberspace. I don't claim to be anything other than someone who occasionally fancies boring a few similar like minded souls with some particular twist on an old story, or as is more often, I enjoy a piss take on others pomposity, eventually, like Nick Currie, it gets old. 


In the next ten years, of course, blogs will have gone the way of the filofax, Presidents will pardon by tweet, facebook will implode under the sheer weight of its own self importance, bebo and myspace will be the sole preserve of lovelorn paedos and vice cops.

Who knows what will replace the blaaawg, what other sources will we have for catching up on the latest thoughts of our philosophers in exile? No doubt there'll be an app along shortly to tell us what we are going to do next, what we are going to do next, what we are going to do next...


* How could I forget Dumbarton-born David Byrne who fled the country as a fresh foetus, yet whom, our tabloids still love to still claim as one of our own.

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/ 

Further links to Momus:

Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus_(artist)
 

Web- http://imomus.com/
 

Blog - http://imomus.livejournal.com/
 

Wired: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/imomus/2005/11/69429
 

Lyrics: http://www.phespirit.info/momus/
 

Free downloads: http://www.ubu.com/sound/momus.html

 

Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0bJV6VtNKY

His latest (2008) album: http://www.filestube.com/13202190ae9a424b03e9/go.html

His column for the New York Times: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/author/nick-currie/
Blogging conference - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4105106

Thanks to El Bloggo for the above links.


Just to show how cosmopolitan one Scot can be, here's Nick's interview in this mornings Libération...in French.


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/imomus/more/libegrab.jpg