Nezavisna Crna Gora - Nezavisna Scotland

Every so often I look at BBC Scotland's response to potentially damaging stories for the Labour party and their lack of reporting and being a fair sort of chap give them the benefit of the doubt. I ponder that perhaps these stories that so inflame my pro-Independence chums are not that big a story, that perhaps we're guilty of being desperate to see an institution we're all share holders in, stand up and give us some unbiased reporting on the latest Labour slip up, faux pas, blatant piece of political chicanery or outright corruption. Sadly, we've become so accustomed to being on the kicking end, that just once it would be nice to see the shoe on the other foot and our viewpoint perhaps get a bit of fair coverage.

The Rami Okasha story, where  former Secretary for the State of Scotland, Jim Murphy's senior aide actively tried to smear a member of the public for having the temerity to submit a Freedom of Information request on the whole Wendygate £995 donations, I felt was something that at the very least deserved a little bit of the notorious grilling that the beebs permanently aggrieved political journalists and morning disc jockeys dish out to their SNP counterparts. Alas not to be, never reported, nothing to see here move along please. After Baroness Dreich and Douglas Murray's deeply offensive anti-Scottish comments on Radio 4's 'Any Questions' I considered the reaction from the English audience as excellent, the majority of the Sutton Coldfield appeared to cheer Murray and Dreich inane dribblings. My thoughts were along the lines of, good let them believe the bollocks these people have just spouted, let the middle England resentment that all of us Scots are alcoholic, benefit scrounging wannabes living off English largesse flourish, let them foster that discontent and actively end the Union from the English side. Let the insults from English BBC grow to such a crescendo that eventually a Scottish voice in BBC Scotland might say enough is enough. Again not to be.
 
Which brings us neatly to the latest Iain Gray farrago. It may not quite be the smoking gun we'd want it to be, but it is something that one might expect BBC Scotland to cover following the Sunday Herald, Scotland on Sunday and Sunday Express coverage. When nothing appeared on BBC Radio Scotland morning news or their online presence. I sent a message to a BBC presenting friend asking if the item would be covered in the news. So far, sadly no reply.
 
I suppose I'm in quite an unusual position in that I have friends who are Montenegrin and I have actually visited this beautiful little country. 

My wife and I met brother and sister Milica and Branko on a beautiful beach on the Florida Keys nearly 20 years ago. We all hit it off, finding shared interests and things to laugh at in a sterile straight laced American atmosphere. Particularly a park ranger who looked remarkably like Leslie Neilson of the Naked Gun movies, who gave Milica and I a ticket for 'failure to wear appropriate swimwear in a swimwear designated area'. She was topless, I was err bottomless... Camping, imported beers, racoon dodging and shrimp gorging are some of my memories of our short time together. Their English was excellent, they had driven from Montreal to the Keys in, if memory serves me correctly, a gas guzzling late 1970's Oldsmobile Cutlass sedan, piloted by Milica's Dutch boyfriend, Johan. 

They were surprised to discover that a few years earlier we had driven through Montenegro en route to Turkey, driving a tiny Fiat Uno. Yes, we did drive it through the Paris peripherique, and no we didn't bump into any black Mercedes...

Our Montenegrin chums were confounded at the news that an Uno could drive that far but were utterly gobsmacked to discover that we'd not only stopped in Titograd but stayed the night, in what was then a featureless town almost enirely devoted to Soviet era architecture.

 
 Over the years Milica and I have kept up correspondence. Thanks to the arrival of the internet, communication is easier, photos and stories are now shared on facebook and by email. Two years ago family illness prevented us from visiting Branko in Montenegro. Milica lives in the USA these days selling exclusive jewellery for one of those companies whose shiny baubles are beyond the reach of 99% of this planets mortals. 

So when Iain Gray, Scotland's own International Man of Misery, put both his size twelves in it by erroneously inferring that Montenegro was involved in 'ethnic cleansing' and made reference to a war crimes tribunal and a peacekeeping mission, I sought Milica's opinion on this slur on her homeland.

She was not best pleased. Milica is not into politics. For your elucidation I've included some of the relevent text from her response below. For the uninitiated CG is an abbreviation of Crna Gora, the real name for Montenegro.

I took a quick gander and that lady from the Embassy had a point. I got a bit irritated when I read his retort so spoke to Mom about it and she said that all it really took was the vote. Yes there had been World Wars, but that didn't have anything to do with independence of CG? What kind of reference was that.. Didn't the rest of Europe suffer through the wars also? geez... The guy yapping on about the crimes and cleansing is an ass who should look up his info a bit better before he spews BS. Uninformed politicians are not my thing as you can see. I usually keep my opinions to myself and don't really like to talk about politics, but when someone is being stupid and since you were asking... :)


Milica goes on to illustrate something that I am sure will bring bells for those of us in Scotland and our relationship with England.

It always irritated me to get clumped in with the neighboring country. I know I don't like to be called something I'm not, which is probably a common thing and is likely what brought about the separation for Montenegrins I suppose... It was one thing to be Yugoslavian. Everyone was united as a country and yet also kept their identity. People were Yugis, and whatever else it was, and nobody really seemed to mind one way or the other, but even then, the people of Montenegro were NOT Serbian. We may have all spoken " Serbo Croation"  throughout the country but we all also spoke our own language and were proud to be who we were. 

When the country started splitting up, and Yugo was done, the Montenegrins were not going to get lumped in with Serbia. The Montenegrins were not Serbian. There is a difference between them and for some reason Serbians always liked to say that Montenegrins were the same thing, but the folks in CG don't feel that way... Obviously or they would not have voted to separate...

It was quite simple and quite fast when it came down to it. The people were ready for it. They just didn't want to do it like savages and waited out there time, then took back their name. We did have our own Royal family before the country was made one based on external war time negociations, so I still don't understand why the Serbians seem to think that Montenegrins should have remained part of their little clump, but oh well... what do I know...



I still think that guy is full of S--t though...
Really irritates me... He should research the facts and look into who was in Den Hague before before he says stupid crap. I always loved how people would write history as they pleased without all the facts... Sort of why I don't get into politics and I don't usually comment on any of it... 

Then again isn't it the winners of a war that write the history books... even if all the details were not correct, and much of what was said during that time was not completely truthful or evenly discussed about ALL sides... BUT I'm not going to get into that now :) It would turn into a long dissertation



The chances are that Iain Gray, in his ignorance intended to sympathise with the people of Montenegro being simply bracketed with other Independent countries who had achieved normalcy. His spin being that Montenegro suffered for Independence, that it didn't just take a bit of baby kissing, some fancy posters and a mere 40 days to settle the will of a people. By conflating that with war crimes, etnic cleansing and UN tribunals he misjudged a wonderful people who have witnessed horrors on their borders, suffered great privation and shown extreme generosity in opening their borders to the suffering. Most of all the Montenegrins I've met are funny and not afraid to poke fun at themselves. Iain Gray owes them an apology for trying to score cheap political points against an opponent who out thinks him at every encounter. Most important of all, when he does find a selection of words that placate Montenegro, BBC Scotland should report it.

Hurrah, 'Health, wealth and happiness.' Except for viewers in Scotland

In this period of goodwill to all men and excessive festive overindulgence it's heartening to see that Aberdeenshire has been chosen as the locale with the best quality of life in all of Scotland.

The Scottish media are quoting this 'fact' from the Bank of Scotland's annual Quality of Life survey which is compiled by the banks Housing economist, Nitesh Patel. Down South where the leafy suburbia of Embridge was chosen as the bestest place to live in the whole of the United Kingdom, for the third year running, the media of course refer to Mr Patel as Housing Economist at the Halifax, for some reason the two banks are entirely seperate entities in the public mind, down there, darned if I can figure out why.

Naturally, I was as giddy as he Tartan Overlords milliner  that Aberdeenshire placed so high as to come top of the poll. What's that you say? Aberdeenshire came top of only the thirty-two Scottish authorities. Oh well surely the best place to live in Scotland must have placed quite high in the UK table...Ahh I see Aberdeenshire placed 178th -- ahh that'll be a drop of 25 places from dizzy heights of last years 153rd. Fear not, I'm not forgetting Wales. Monmouthshire came in at a nose bleed inducing 189th.

So that means there are 177 places in England that have a better quality of life than the best place in Scotland. Not to worry, Mr Patel informs us that Scotland benefits from good ratings on the environment, low population density and the absolute clincher for me...low levels of traffic. 

Southernville does remarkably well on such indicators as health, weather, employment levels and average income. The average weekly wage in Elmbridge is £1018. Yes, that's a weekly wage of One Thousand and Eighteen Pounds per week...

I'm quite sure the good people of Embridge deserve this level of remuneration. Stockbrokers and professional footballers, after all are only people who deserve to enjoy to enjoy the fruits of their labour...Although it must be a living hell having to put up with a slightly higher density of population and terrible traffic jams.


Overall, this lovely annual survey convinces me that it's becoming as rare as a smile on Iain Gray's coupon, to find any reason for the continuation of this forced marriage of a Union.

So, to readers in Scotia, where did your local authority place in this survey?

Kirsty Wark : an aide-mémoire...

Lest we forget. Let me take you back to thursday the 7th of June 2007. The Tartan Overlord called for an emergency session in Holyrood to read out and answer questions pertaining to a 'memorandum of understanding' that Tony Blair, the then PM, had signed with Col Gaddafi in Libya about an exchange between each countries nationals held in the other country's prison. As we all know, there was only one Libyan national held in a Scottish prison. 

Blair, his spin doctors and lackeys in the British media kicked up an almighty fuss claiming that this was nothing to do with Mr Al Megrahi. The Libyans went on record saying that Megrahi's case was the whole point of the meeting. Gaddafi's son claimed "When Blair came here we signed the agreement. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and politics and deals were all with the prisoner transfer agreement."


The Unionists in the Scottish Parliament for the one and only time in nearly four years agreed unanimously that Blair had no right to make decisions which directly affected the process of Scots law without consultation with the devolved Parliament. Within hours the London knives were out for Jack McConnell for having the temerity to agree with Salmond.


BBC Newsnight brought out the big guns in its defence of Blair and unleashed Kirsty Wark on an unsuspecting nation.




The question posed was simple, which government was telling the truth the British, Scottish or Libyan? 

 Now thanks to Julian Assange, we know. Libya and Scotland were telling the truth. The discredited Labour Party in England and Scotland were guilty of lying to the electorate, their friends in the media were guilty of bombast, disinformation and promoting the lies of their friends. 

When will Richard Baker, Iain Gray, Tony Blair, Douglas Alexander, David Miliband, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Jim Murphy, David Cairns, Elaine Murray, David Mundell, Russell Brown, Tavish Scott and Annabel Goldie apologise to the Scottish and British electorate?

The Megrahi effect...

So here we are, the morning after the Megrahi Wikileak. Citizens of a normal country expect to be able to go to their newspapers and read all about the most contentious story in Scotlands recent history. A story that has lead the hyperbole on everything from boycotts of Scotland and Scottish goods, demands that our First Minister and Justice Secretary appear before another countries Senate committee, that his release somehow was responsible for Gary McKinnon's likely extradition, that he was released on the orders of BP. A whole panapoly of accusations, lies, cant and hypocrisy from Labour, Tory and Lib Dem politicians have filled our pages for the past 15 months. So one might reasonably expect that Scotland's fair and impartial media would have some comments to make on the 'Megrahi effect', particularly the opportunity to justify them standing up on their hind legs and braying like donkeys at every possible opportunity. 

So how does BBC Scotland, our nations favourite broadcaster, report the biggest  story this year in their 'What the Scottish Papers' say section? 

Not a chuffing word. But hey let's keep banging on about the weather and how it's the SNP's fault.

Never mind, surely it's reported elsewehere in Scotland, let's see what the Unionist politicians had to say about it in the Scotsman's version...

  
Oh, not a sausage.

Nevermind BBC Radio Scotland have just had an interview with the Tartan Overlord -- about the weather...

A Parade of Treats.

So there we have it, on the day that British justice shows itself to be firmly ensconsed in the US Government's back pocket, Wiki leaks manages to release the cable we've all been waiting on.

It's left to The Guardian to tell us that the London government were terrified that the repercussions Gadaffi threatened would be another 'Switzerland', whilst pointing out that the Scottish Government had turned down a 'parade of treats'.

Just what did Gadaffi try to tempt the Tartan Overlord with?

If it wasn't iced doughnuts, was it perhaps treasure?

Or maybe Gold stuck away in tax free vaults?

Nope,  how about oil deals? 

After all isn't what that weasel Senator Menandez claimed with his Senate committee? That the Scottish Government had been in cahoots with BP, and Megrahi's release was merely pretendy cancer cells greasing the wheels of commerce?

What of those pygmies that stood up and crowed at the top of their lungs exploiting the pain and loss of all the victims that the Scottish Government had been up to shenanigans with Gadaffi.

 

Hey Scotland wake up, is this is the shower of lying, manipulative, underhand bastards you want representing you? 

How do I feel about it? Words can barely begin to demonstrate the disgust and...

Monday, 24 August 2009, 14:05
C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 001946
NOFORN
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE AND NEA/MAG
EO 12958 DECL: 08/24/2019
TAGS PREF, PTER, UK, LY
SUBJECT: SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT HOLDS EMERGENCY SESSION AS
DEBATE OVER MEGRAHI DECISION REACHES FEVER PITCH
REF: A. LONDON 1925 AND PREVIOUS B. STATE 80743
Classified By: Ambassador Louis B. Susman, reasons 1.4 (b/d).

1. (C/NF) Summary. The Scottish Government severely underestimated the both USG and UK public reaction to its decision to grant compassionate release to convicted Pan Am 103 bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on August 20. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has privately indicated that he was "shocked" by FBI Director Mueller's public letter. The media continue to report U.S. anger over the decision, and concern Scotland will be targeted economically, through reduced U.S. tourism and whiskey boycotts. The media speculate that the UK Government had a hand in the deal to maintain good diplomatic relations with Libya and secure oil and gas deals, which the UK Government has denied as "completely wrong" and "offensive." Today (August 24), the Scottish Parliament meets to hear Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill's explanation of his decision. The media speculates that Scottish opposition parties, all of which are on record condemning the decision, may move against the Scottish National Party's (SNP) minority government in a vote of no confidence, though the two-thirds majority required to secure such a move would be very difficult to obtain. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has not yet made a statement on Megrahi's release, with other Cabinet members maintaining that it was a decision for the devolved Scottish Government. Given growing discontent and speculation about a UK Government hand in the deal, Brown may have to make a statement soon. Meanwhile, local Scottish opposition politicians are using the issue to call into question the SNP government's credibility and competence. End summary.

Reaction to USG Statements

--------------------------

2. (C/NF) The UK media have widely reported on FBI Director Mueller's letter to MacAskill and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mullen's comments on the Scottish Government's decision to grant compassionate release to convicted Pan Am 103 bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi. Washington-based Scottish Government Representative Robin Naysmith told CG Edinburgh Sunday, August 24 that Scottish First Minister Salmond was "shocked" by Mueller's comments, which were "over the top" given that President Obama had already commented on the decision. Naysmith underscored that Scotland received "nothing" for releasing Megrahi (as has been widely suggested in the UK and U.S. media), while the UK Government has gotten everything - a chance to stick it to Salmond's Scottish National Party (SNP) and good relations with Libya. (NOTE: We expect Naysmith to be engaging heavily in Washington on these issues. END NOTE.)

3. (C/NF) The media have also reported growing concerns that American anger over the decision will translate into a boycott of Scottish whiskey and reduced American tourism in Scotland, an approximately USD 416 million business annually. In a previous meeting with CG Edinburgh on Friday, August 21, Salmond reiterated that he and his government "had played straight" with both the USG and UK Government, but implied that the UK Government had not. During the meeting, which occurred before the Mueller and Mullen statements, he said he wanted to move beyond the Megrahi issue and deepen Scotland's relationship with the USG. He said the Libyan Government had offered the Scottish Government "a parade of treats," all of which were turned down. (NOTE: Roughly fifty percent of Scottish exports go to the U.S., and over 450 U.S. businesses employ over 100,000 Scots in Scotland. END NOTE.)

4. (SBU) Scottish Government statements, including those from Salmond, have acknowledged the "strongly-held views of the American families," but underscored that those views are not shared by all of the victims' families (referring primarily to the British families). Salmond defended the decision, saying it was "right in terms of (the Scottish) legal system" and "what (they) are duty-bound to do." Salmond is also reported in the media to have said that the USG had made clear that, while it opposed Megrahi's release, it regarded freeing him on compassionate grounds "far preferable" to a transfer under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA). (NOTE: While indicating the USG's preference for compassionate release over a PTA transfer, as described in reftel B, Salmond's statement does not mention the USG's strong opposition to any release, particularly one that would allow Megrahi to travel outside of Scotland. END NOTE.)

Scottish Parliament Holds Emergency Session

-------------------------------------------

5. (SBU) The Scottish Parliament holds an emergency session Monday at 1430 local time (August 24), calling on Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill to explain his decision. All three opposition parties in Scotland (Labour, Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats) have condemned the minority Scottish National Party (SNP) government's decision to release Megrahi. The media openly speculate that a vote of no confidence will occur if MacAskill does not resign, but it would be difficult for opposition parties to garner the two-thirds majority required (87 of the 129 seats), if the SNP is able to maintain control of its 47 Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs).

6. (SBU) Scottish opposition political figures, like Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray and former Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell, have condemned the decision to release Megrahi, calling it a "grave error of judgment." Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavis Scott said, "The SNP's credibility at home and abroad is in tatters. Scotland's must not be allowed to follow with it."

Compassionate Release for Oil and Gas?

--------------------------------------

7. (SBU) The UK media widely speculates that the UK Government had a hand in the decision to release Megrahi in order to maintain good diplomatic relations with the Libyans and to secure oil and gas deals, citing the now infamous 2004 "deal in the desert" between former PM Blair and Libyan leader Qaddafi, recent meetings and correspondence between PM Brown and "Muammar," a recent meeting between Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and Qaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, and other high-level trade delegations. Qaddafi's personal thanks to Brown, the Queen, and the British Government after embracing Megrahi in a televised statement have fanned the flames and increased calls for Brown to explain the UK's involvement in the decision-making process. Mandelson insisted to the media that it is "completely wrong" and "offensive" to suggest that Megrahi's release was linked to trade deals. A Foreign Office contact reiterated to Poloff August 24 that such speculation is "completely absurd." He acknowledged that the Libyans had raised Megrahi at every turn in their burgeoning diplomatic relationship, but said that Megrahi's release was "never directly or implicitly" linked to any deal.

UK Government Reaction

----------------------

8. (C/NF) Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is currently on holiday in Scotland, has refrained from comment. Acting PM Chancellor Alistair Darling has said, "you either devolve the responsibility for criminal justice or you don't," a position that Foreign Secretary Miliband supported in interviews on Friday, August 21. Miliband affirmed that "the sight of a a mass-murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing." Conservative leader David Cameron has sent Brown a public message condemning the decision and calling on Brown to "make clear his own views" on the decision.

UK-Libya

--------

9. (C/NF) Foreign Office North Africa team leader Rob Dixon told Poloff August 24 that the UK has been telling the Libyan Government, through Saif al-Islam and the Foreign Ministry, that the Libyan Government's handling of its September 1 national day festivities will determine the future of the UK-Libya bilateral relationship. Dixon explained that the UK has explicitly told the Libyans that Megrahi should not be featured in any high-profile way. He said that the UK has also told the Libyans that Qaddafi's personal thanks to PM Brown and the Queen were "unhelpful" and the UK Government's "unhappiness" had been communicated "in clear terms." Dixon said the Foreign Office will take stock after the September 1 festivities.

UK-Scotland

-----------

10. (C/NF) Dixon termed "absurd" MacAskill's comment (in his original August 20 statement about Megrahi's release) that the UK Government's refusal to make representations was "highly regrettable." Referring to MacAskill's welcoming of a public inquiry into the case, Dixon said such an undertaking would be "nearly impossible" given the way devolution works. Dixon implied that the comments were designed to blame the UK Government for putting the Scots in a position to have to make a decision. Dixon told Poloff on August 24 that the Foreign Office had had no contact with the Scottish Government since the decision was announced.

Comment

-------

11. (C/NF) It is clear that the Scottish Government underestimated the blow-back it would receive in response to Megrahi's release and is now trying to paint itself as the victim. It seems likely, especially given the increasing speculation that the UK Government had a hand in the decision, that Prime Minister Brown will have to address the issue publicly. Meanwhile, local Scottish opposition politicians are trying to undercut the SNP minority government's credibility as much as possible.

12. (U) Tripoli minimize considered.

Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_Kingdom

SUSMAN

Like snaw aff a dyke...

Shitting crikey. This weather is not a disaster; it is not catastrophic, Scotland is not gridlocked, there are no Godzilla's roaming the earth munching people in their slow moving cars, flaming meteorites are not thumping into the planet, we are not ruined, we've not ground to a halt, being late to work is not a tragedy, zombie snowmen are not eating your babies as they walk home from school in the snow, roads have no emotions, they are not treacherous, sub-zero temperatures do not equate to a cataclysm. 

It snowed, some people decided to plough on despite the warnings of err snow, more fool them. 

Here's Dougie with the sports news. 

A Scotsman, an Englishman, a Welshman and an Irishman walk into a bar...

I've always been miffed at the stereotype of the cheap, miserly, frugal, parsimonious Scot, the type who created the Grand Canyon when he dropped a penny down a gully. I always believed it was a myth broadcast good naturedly by our English friends, much like they've created jokes about everyone else in the world, you know Krauts, Frogs, Eyeties, Dagos,  Spics, Yanks etcetera. Then there's the really embracing racial ones that I'll refrain from using. But back to stereotypes, much as Paddy is thick and Taffy a thief. Jock is always tight with his money. It's an image that's been perpetuated around the world through popular culture and commerce. 

Companies use it in advertising discounted goods and deals. I've seen tartan clad images extolling the savings to be had from Floridian garden centres to French bags for life. Other nations portray us as tight wads who'd rather die than spend a penny on an indulgence. Take a wander in Southern Germany and grimace while the locals explain to you why the Scots are similar to their covetous, grasping, money obsessed Swabian neighbours...

I don't know the origins of where this reputation for parsimony came from. I suppose a people traditionally never more than a wage packet away from poverty have had every right to be frugal and careful with their money. But to be openly chided as being money obsessed, well it's a bitter pill to swallow. Dr Johnston's quip about oats when he grandly rumbled "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people" perhaps set the tone. I would have had a lot more respect for Boswell if he'd turned round and lamped the good Doctor rather than obsequiously titter at his wit and erudition. The twat.

Since Charles Dickens misread an Edinburgh gravestone marked 'Ebeneezer Lennox Scroggie - Meal Man' and somehow contrived it to read as 'Ebeneezer Scrooge - Mean Man' and thus created the archetypal Scottish miser in 'A Christmas Carol' we've all been screwed. Even Robert Louis Stevenson gave us the truly wretched miser Ebeneezer Balfour in 'Kidnapped'.  Disney got in on the action as early as 1943 when they created the prototype for Scrooge McDuck in this propaganda film that was supposed to stop honest working Ducks from spending their dosh on zoot suits and hootchy cootchy red hot mamas and spend it on tax for guns instead...




The above film was supposedly banned, not for the couthy but biased depiction of the Scot, but instead for suggesting that taxes should be used for guns -- mmkay guns are bad...

The writers of the Beverly Hillbillies created Milburn Drysdale, the greedy Scottish American banker who tried to steal the Clampett's money and stop them spending on luxuries. Generations of kids around the world have grown up with the Glaswegian Scrooge McDuck as their dominant example of what a Scot is like and how we react to money and its non spending. In The Simpsons we have the two best known 'Scots' in the world in C. Montgomery Burns, as a Scottish-American miserly Billionaire and arguably the most famous Scot of them all, Groundskeeper Willie. A man not known for his profligate ways...

So it's fair to say that culture has given us a reasonable kicking as stingy tightwads. Proof of our nations generosity during the annual charity whine-a-thons is always mentioned on our local news but only ever raised for comic effect down south, where it is suggested that we donate more per head, because -- we have to. 

In the world of reality even Andrew Carnegie, possibly the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known, a man who gave away £80 million for libraries around the world was regarded by the London and American press as a miser, because he didn't tip in restaurants... 

In political life, despite all evidence to the contrary, the hard of thinking Unionists trot out the timeless nugget that all Scots are state subsidised spongers too mean and miserly to let go of London's benefits largesse... 

All my life I've fought against this mince, believing that the people and friends I see around me, are generous to a fault, give freely to charity, man the stalls and barricades, lend a hand, support each other. That Scots are far removed from this hurtful and malicious sterotype.  

That was until I had a look at the results of the latest poll done by the Scottish Social Attitudes survey, conducted by Professor Heinz Wolff  sorry Professor John Curtice of the Scottish Centre for Social Research. Media commentators barely able to contain the squirming in their pants gushed forth, telling us that support for Independence was at a low of 23% -- a full one percentage point lower than when the SNP took Government in 2007. 

Ha, they laugh in the face of Independence. I had a look at the poll and yeah verily it stated that when 1,495 folk in Scotland were asked for their Constitutional preference, a mere 23% of the face painted, die hard, deep fried mars bar warriors expressed a desire for an Independent Scotland.


So that's it then, the game is indeed a bogey, there's no point in continuing with the struggle, nuts to all that as-long-as-one-hundred-of-us-are-still-standing malarkey...We're well and truly rammed up the chuffhole without a puggle.


But wait one wee minute, further down the poll, in fact the very last part, has this thoroughly wordy, but worthy set of questiona:


Say that it was clear that if Scotland became an independent country, separate from the rest of the UK, taxes would be the same as now.
 
In those circumstances, would you be in favour or against Scotland becoming an independent country?

Now, let us say it was clear that if Scotland became an independent country, (separate from the rest of the UK), people would on average pay an extra £500 a year in tax.

In those circumstances would you be in favour or against Scotland becoming an independent country?
 
And, say it was clear that if Scotland became an independent country (separate from the rest of the UK) people would on 
average pay £500 less a year in tax.

In those circumstances would you be in favour or against Scotland becoming an independent country?

	Taxes same	TaxesUp	Taxes down
	%	%	%
Strongly in favour/in favour	36	16	45
Neither in favour/nor against	23	15	17
Against/Strongly against	38	66	35
Don’t know	2	2	3
Sample size	1495	1495	1495

So look at that, if your average tight fisted miserly Jock can be persuaded that he or she will save £500 a year on their tax bill they'll be quite happy to vote for an Independent Scotland, all for the saving of roughly £1.37 a day. A jump from 23% to 45% in favour of Independence all for the saving of £500. To those 22% arrivistes, you cheap, miserable, miserly 90 minute patriots, you're selling your countries future for the equivalent of a Daily Record and a Mars bar a day.

Imagine how many more of these free loading bastards would sign up if we could show them that an Independent Scotland, successful in business and society could save them a grand a year? 

Give me fiscal autonomy or give me debt.

Yep, I know I've been quiet of late, weather, family, life etcetera has got in the way. Also, every time I've spotted something approaching half interesting to write about, the ever expanding and fact-tastic Scottish bloggeratti usually get to it by the time I've stopped musing...yep I do have occasions to muse.

Anyhoo, I spotted something yesterday that seems to have been lost in the plethora of St Andrew's day malarky of Scotland Bills, hilarious and terrifying Wikileaks and the ongoing snowpocalypse.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, she of President Bill and the current US Secretary of State, sent Scotland a Happy Saint Andrew's Day card on behalf of the American people. 

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Scotland as you celebrate St. Andrew’s Day on November 30.

Scotland’s unique culture and traditions have long been admired around the world, and the special ties between our two nations date back to the founding of the United States. From Patrick Henry and John Paul Jones to Davy Crockett and Neil Armstrong, trail-blazing Scottish-Americans have helped shape the history of our country in profound ways.

Today, the United States and Scotland continue to share strong ties rooted in our common ancestry, values, and interests. Our people work together on many of the most pressing challenges of our time, and both houses of the United States Congress have Friends of Scotland Caucuses to further promote friendship and cooperation between Scotland and the United States.

I wish the people of Scotland a joyous St. Andrew’s Day celebration and a successful year ahead. We look forward to further deepening our friendship throughout the future.

Now colour me sentimental, but I was really chuffed by that random act of pleasantness. Naturally I'd have been happier if she given us a wee row of kisses at the bottom, however, the sentiment is there and that's enough for me. Given the madness emanating from the Megrahi affair, I found it comforting that the USA could be bothered to extend a friendly hand for shaking. Naturally this err positive story didn't impel the Scottish media to give it much coverage as they were universally writhing in paroxysms of orgiastic delights over the fact that we can now set our own speed and alcohol limits and shock horror oh and ban neds from shooting drug dealers with air rifles. Only STV managed a bit of online presence and covered the story, highlighting the fact that this greeting was delivered by telegram. The site of a young feller wading through the snow to deliver this missive to his Eckness fair cheered me up no end.

It was particularly nice, as some of our blessed Unionist dependence junkies have decided to add the Megrahi effect to the Gary McKinnon extradition bollocks mix and come up with the entirely without-any-foundation claim that McKinnon will be extradited to the USA. This despite the intervention of that one eyed bloke who used to be Prime Minister's intervention, who, fair do's to him, plead for McKinnon to serve any sentence in the UK.

My local MSP Elaine 'Tiny Tears' Murray in  The Herald

was front and centre with her own distinctive brand of caterwauling. “There is no doubt that Kenny MacAskill’s flawed decision to release the Lockerbie bomber damaged our international relationships, but it is important to establish that it did not have an impact on other specific cases.” 

Now that sounds to me like she's calling for an investigation into the Megrahi release which will display concrete examples of how compassionate release equates to 'damaged international relationships. In the words of the Wendy, bring it on. It'd be nice to see Tiny Tears doing something worthwhile for a change, she's been gulping at the public teat in Dumfries since 1999 and has exactly diddly squat to show for all her harpy like shreiking.


Anyhoo back to the 'telegram' from Mrs Clinton. She makes reference to trail-blazing Scottish-American's Patrick Henry, John Paul Jones, Davy Crockett and Neil Armstrong. John Paul Jones and Armstrong are well known for having Dumfries and Galloway backgrounds. I might claim Davy Crockett as a D&G boy, although I can only loosely presume he is connected to Crocketford... Patrick Henry, on the other hand is someone I'm not too aware of, other than his "Give me Liberty or death." speech he's never really registered on my Scottish connection radar. So I was delighted that a wee internet trawl revealed that his father was from Aberdeen and attended the city's Kings College before heading off to Virginia as an, ahem, plantation owner...where young Patrick was born.

There's a fabby wee biography about the chap here I particularly like his role opposing the Stamp Act which revolted against the Westminster Parliament's claim of authority to tax the colonies...sounds familiar!  One of his more famous orations, the Ceasar-Brutus speech, inferred the British king was facing assasination if he continued to quash American liberty, I'm sure things don't have to go that far today, after all we live in a democracy, don't we?

It won't go away...

Whilst BBC Scotland and STV were behaving like proud toddlers displaying a freshly laid turd in their little hand, with their exemplar coverage of Scottish prisoners getting flat screen tellies and Anne McLaughlin tweeting that listening to Labour MSP's in committee would go down better with a dose of anti-depressives, a real story was taking place, this past week, in of all places our pretendy wee Parliament in Holyrood.

Media coverage of the 'Justice for Megrahi' campaign group appearance was displayed in all its cringe laden paucity. Thankfully those legal beagle coves at The Scottish Law blogspot have done a fantastic job of providing tip top coverage of it, including video of the committee sitting and testimony from Prof Robert Black, Dr Jim Swire et al. If you're interested to read, see or hear the evidence that was dismissed by our three noble Scottish judges, then these clips behove you to listen to what wronged a man to universal vilification.

As  Professor Black told the committee, 'the conviction rests on the premise that Mr Al-Megrahi was the man who bought the clothes from the shop Mary’s House in Sliema, and which were later said to have been wrapped around the suitcase bomb which destroyed the Boeing 747'. According to this theory, consistently rejected by amongst others the Maltese government and Air Malta, the bomb left from Malta and was transferred onto the Pan Am Flight in Germany.

Professor Black continued,'Tony Gauci, the Maltese star witness for the prosecution, had only ever said that Mr Al-Megrahi looked “a lot like the man” who bought the clothes from his shop in the days before the bombing.'

“He also said in his first police statement that the man was more than six feet tall and over 50 years old. At the relevant time in 1988, Mr Al-Megrahi was 38. He was then, and remains now I presume, five foot, eight inches tall. Still, the court held that he had been positively identified,” 

It's rather ironic that today, 14th of November, is the 19th anniversary of the day that Megrahi and Fhima were accused of being the bombers. It's an ugly anniversary coming a mere six weeks before the 22nd anniversary of the plane blowing up over Lockerbie. 

The near three years of investigation, when huge amounts of pressure were put on eensy weensy Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary to come up with suspects and the Scottish Judiciary to firm up a conviction have to be reexamined. The Scottish Government were not in existance at the time, let alone in power. This investigation took place during the dying days of the Thatcher government. A government more noted for sleaze, corruption, dodgy arms deals than honesty.  


The Scottish government have three important questions to answer:
  

• Will you open an independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp van Zeist conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988 as called for by the petitioner and for the reasons given in the petition?

• If not, will you provide a detailed explanation why not, specifying whether there is any legislation which would prevent you from holding such an inquiry, what this legislation is and how it prevents?

 

• Who would have the power to undertake an inquiry in the terms proposed in the petition? 

 

 

 It's time...



 






.

Boobs, tubes and pubes.

Since last Thursday's spectacularly biased Question Time, the ugly spectre of media bias has been twisting and turning throughout these tartan tinged interwebs. Blog posts have been written, complaints sent to the BBC, a collosal 10 minutes on Saturday morning before 9am were devoted to the perceived anti-Scottishness on Radio Scotland. A campaign was even started on the People-Power-Change campaign site 38Degrees (more of that later), ohh and the Scottish wing of the Labour party held their conference in the 650 seater Corran Halls in Oban.


Naturally the BBC had to cover the conference. We'd already had circa 200 hours of coverage from proper London Labour, but hey here's a chance for our Scottish media to swirl a glass or two with some holidaying big Labour hitters, getting down with their Celtic brethren whilst getting misty eyed about Grannies Hielan hame...

Friday morning conference started with Iain Gray appearing on Radio 4's Today programme, where he was given the opportunity to dazzle and shine a UK wide audience with his wit, erudition and statesman like utterings. Rather predictably he duly ignored every question Evan Davies put to him about what he would do for Scotland and instead whined out his default setting about the SNP and their 'Broken Promises'(c)Labourparty2007-2011. 

Similar cringe laden coverage continued throughout the day on the various BBC 'outlets'. The Northern British department were cock-a-hoop with delight at the thought of pressing the clammy flesh of alien-in-human form hithing Ed Miliband. Young Jamie McIvor drove North, looked Red Ed in the eye and gushed his way through his interview with the great leader in waiting. I would have given a link to this, but rather unsurprisingly 'Reporting Scotland' is 'Not available') on the BBC's iPlayer...although the Labour Party Political Broadcast is still available, as is 'Conference' which was played on BBC 1 last night and will be available until the 8th of November... 

Saturday saw bonny lassie Harriet Harman wade into the conference and upset the SNP hatefest by labelling a Lib Dem twunt a Ginger twunt .

This attack on Danny Alexander overwhelmed the rest of her speech in which she accused all Lib Dems of being Tory mutants...bang goes any chance of a reprisal of the Lib-Lab pact 1999-2007, unsurprisingly her speech is still available on the iPlayer...one blessing is that it utterly overshadowed any coverage of Iain Gray's leader speech...

Obviously BBC Scotland are a wee bit miffed that they'll have to wait until nex year to continue the live Labour love in, but that doesn't stop them giving prominence to the best of the conference throughout their website and letting us read the thoughts of Anne McKechin Labour's shiny new shadow Secretary for the State of Scotland...no, me neither... I don't mean to be overtly insensitive here, but, could someone please suggest the poor woman undergoes a SuBo type transformation. I mean FFS I thought this was Prescott in a wig at first. Back when I were a lad the lassies that supported Labour were hot-to-trot-sassy-right-on-young-things, what the chuff have they morphed into? Have the Baillies, Lamont's and Currans of this world eaten their aesthetically pleasing easy on the eye Labourite lovelies...and not in a good way?

However, I digress, as per normal. Now that the Conference season has finally come to an end, it's interesting to note the differing coverage given to Labour's Northern British branch versus that given to the Scottish Government. SLAB were give live streaming throughout the conference Friday to Sunday. The SNP were given the Tartan Overlords speech on the Saturday. Labour proclamations were reported as good news, SNP utterances were prefixed with the phrase 'SNP Accused of' (c) Scotsman 1926-2011

Now I'm sure this is just the usual canard of paranoia that we Independence supporters are routinely told we suffer from...but the following images, I think tell a wee tale. The first is a screen grab of todays Politics section on the Scotsman, you'll note there are exactly nine articles headed 'Scottish Labour Party Conference'. The other  image is a screen grab from Monday the 18th of October, the day after the SNP conference in Perth, it has five stories headed 'SNP Conference'. The Labour articles are reported with gravitas, even the fluff job the normally splendid Kenny Farquharson gives Iain Gray, although his charismatic tattie scone gag falls a bit flat, as does the alarming prospect of retro Labour. The corresponding SNP articles are mostly trivialised coverage e.g, 'A tip of the hat to FM's wife' and and Angus Robertson laughing at himself...ho and indeed ho.

 

 

All of which makes your average Independence supporter ponder just how heavily stacked in favour of Labour are the media cards? Even something as simple as the Conference tv coverage is dubious, SLAB on Beeb One last night. SNP on BBC Two two weeks earlier, now everyone knows that BBC One has higher audience figures than Two, so why did the Beeb in Scotland choose Beeb One for Labour?

Those admirable coves at Newsnet Scotland have covered the perceived media bias extensively, as have Ms GoLassieGo, Gerry Hassan and even the Borders favourite stay-at-home blogging Spectatorite Alex Massie joined in, with a youth speak dig at Dimbleby. I was therefore delighted to discover that someone had decided to suggested a campaign against this malarkey to 38Degrees. They've recently thrown themselves behind such campaigns as Stopping the Tories selling off the Forests and fighting the UK governments plans to store phone and internet data..those campaigns received, respectively 71 and 38 votes before the organisation set about their targets with great vim and gusto. So far, so admirable. Yet the current number for a campaign against Media Bias is sitting at some 673 votes with a respectible 204 comments. Enquiries as to when they might engage with the campaign or even chat about it, are met by a firewall of silence...Could it be that our hip young digital age gunslingers are only interested in the big issues that like concern London and Londoners? Are these Nathan Barley's at all interested in points North of the M25...If you're on facebook, give their page a visit and make their acquaintance, you might even want to leave a message on their wall.

There's nae Oil, ye cannae cope, yer doomed.

Following the Tartan Overlords less than tub thumping speech at the weekend, where he deliberately refused to walk on water, heal the lame and cure blindness, the Scottish media are set to turn their whinge levels up to eleven and go on the offensive of belittling Scotland and those of us who choose to live here, but want a better country. 

The cries of doom, gloom and the end of the world are already sharing newspaper space with some neddish English footballer and the conundrum of where he'll find his next wodge. Apocalypse noo seems to be the phrase du jour.


Chief among the whingetastic this morning is an article by Brian Currie, formerly of the esteemed Evening Times and now political editor at the Herald, which has as expected, a cringe laden response from three of the finest Unionist Stooges in Scottish politics.

Messrs Gray, Rumbles and Brownlee, take great umbrage at Salmond's comments about Scotland having a 'pocket money parliament'. They decry him as a 'spoilt child' so ner ner ner ner ner, as their level of debate goes. 

Mr Rumbles of Sunderland Poly and Sandhurst College, goes a little further and accuses Salmond of "bombast about his dream of a separate country." Mr Rumbles, the very epitome of a bad weather Geordie, might have been better served making a comment about a little commented or explored story concerning his own Aberdeenshire constituency and emanating from a seat of learning a mere hop, skip and a jump from his Durham primary school.

Professor Jon Gluyas a renowned global expert on CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) & Geo-Energy of Durham University has calculated that oil recovery using carbon dioxide could yield an extra three billion barrels from the North Sea over the next 20 years - enough for all UK power, heat and transportation for two years.


Prof Gluyas report commissioned by DONG energy and Ikon Science Ltd states, "My figures are at the low end of expectations but they show that developing this technology could lead to a huge rejuvenation of the North Sea." The amusingly titled DONG energy are the Danish state owned leading energy company. With revenuue in the region of some £7 billion, they are leading lights in windfarm, biomass, hydro and geothermal power. Oh they also own and operate oil licenses in their small section of the North Sea...

So how did the Scottish media react to this press release sent out by Prof Gluyas and his team at Durham University?

Well a quick online search reveals the story was picked up by an impressive TEN media outlets. Chief among them the mighty Aberdeen Evening Express whose reporter Charlotte Jordan, who normally covers important stories like Dog Bites Horse,
managed to squeeze out an impressive 77 words about Prof Gluyas 'suggestion'. What's that I hear you say, what about the Scotsman, the Herald, BBC Scotland and the plethora of London media titles who become Scottish by adding the misnomer Scottish to their mast, how many of them reported this rather important story? Not a fuc*ing one of them, that's how many.

The other nine titles who picked the story up a mere five days ago are mostly engineering titles oh apart from The Northern Echo who trumpeted, 'Report Aims To Secure Our Energy Supplies For 50 Years'. Similarly nebusiness.co.uk played up the fact that Teeside can expect to exploit this North Sea Oil and Gas boom...


So coming after an exceptional summer of fresh oil discoveries in Scotland's sector of the North Sea, here we have further proof that if we were ever to believe the oft repeated mantra from our Unionist dependence junkie politicians that the our Oil is running out, that all not need be doom and gloom. We need only to start pumping carbon into the oil wells, to displace the previously difficult to get at oil...Don't expect to read about it in our slathering Union loving press, after all we wouldn't want the Jocks to get uppity again...

======================UPDATE===26==FEBRUARY===2012=================

Click photo below to enlarge and read.