tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10833876654723769462024-03-12T18:44:13.146-07:00NoMoraDiasporaThe thoughts of a former member of the Scottish Diaspora, now returned to Glasgow.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-60316018110726038142019-07-31T12:37:00.000-07:002019-07-31T15:18:43.607-07:00The English Language - an Act of UnionI'm not a huge fan of the Union flag. Fans of teams I don't support and racists have tried to highjack it over the years to represent them, whilst there really isn't any reason I would have to wave it. I do remember it being used in the Scouts where I regularly swore allegiance to God and the Queen before it but as I'm a republican atheist I'm not sure that I could be accused of holding it with any particular reverence.<br />
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If you asked me what the flag of my country was, I'd answer in a heartbeat that it was the Saltire. That's what I'd wave when I'm supporting my team at Murrayfield or Hampden. That's the flag I took to British Lions games and no-one batted an eyelid - after all, I'm Scottish.<br />
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Whilst I'm generally of the view that Scotland is a distinct identity and one that has survived 300 years of Union, I'd be in favour of Scotland reassessing its relationship with England and Europe. Westminster has shown over the years that given the choice of benefitting the SE of England to the detriment of Scotland, it doesn't spend much time considering which course it will take.<br />
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But still, the Union Flag. Today, we're in the United Kingdom, an entity formed in 1707 as the result of the Scottish Parliament agreeing the 'Union with England' Act, complementary to England's 'Union with Scotland' act and resulting in the creation of a country 'united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain'. As with all things there are benefits and downsides to the United Kingdom, but it helped us to forge ahead with many great achievements through the years - to deny that would be churlish. To do it from a position of relative comfort is a denial of reality. To want to revisit the terms of the union, well that's just fair enough.<br />
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Of the many things we share with our neighbours is the English language. It's a living & evolving thing of beauty. It won't be held fast by rules, it derives itself from German and Latin, steals from French, absorbs dialects and cultural references annually, as our bawbag neighbours (I before E except after C ) from Edinburgh might attest with Irvine Welsh's shorthand "Weegie" finally making it into the Oxford-English Dictionary in 2019.<br />
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The English language is tolerant, inclusive and open. It is made better by it's adopted children. Any language that is in the capable hands of Susie Dent is to be treasured and that is why when a language leaflet is designated as being in English - UK, it should proudly bear the mark of our shared history, not suffer the indignity of pandering to small minded people who can't see past their own prejudices. It should not be bullied into some colloquial statement that would seek to deny others the recognition of their contributions.<br />
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-6312896688223352972018-08-20T11:45:00.001-07:002018-08-20T11:45:42.689-07:00The Twitterati are no TwitsHaven't blogged in ages, but been thinking about it for a bit recently. Mostly I've been on Twitter. Much more lurking than engaging, but there is some gold in them hills - once you learn to discern the spambots from the real people of course. What's really been interesting of late is that almost everything that the government and other forces of Brexit ever say about our impending departure from the EU gets analytically taken apart with facts, figures and actual expert analysis. It's fascinating, but whilst this happens on a daily basis on my mobile phone the official opposition and others in Westminster are apparently sanguine about an illegally won, advisory referendum which effectively split the vote driving us out of an organisation that we helped found and set the rules for.
This one has gone viral - and admittedly it is Farage, rather than anyone significant - but there are plenty more in the sea.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dear Mr Farage, as an NHS doctor who cares for terminally ill inpatients, let me tell you what’s disgraceful. 1/n <a href="https://t.co/jYIXmzGdzz">https://t.co/jYIXmzGdzz</a></p>— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) <a href="https://twitter.com/doctor_oxford/status/1030122574381023232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Check out this one
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First was 1992, NOT to leave or remain, but to ratify Maastricht. Split was 50.7% to 49.3%. It was rerun a year later, in 1993, after Denmark got opt outs in four key areas, including currency and defence. It split 56.7% to 43.3% for ratification. Do you people just not do facts? <a href="https://t.co/RxV4XC4g2K">https://t.co/RxV4XC4g2K</a></p>— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) <a href="https://twitter.com/sturdyAlex/status/1031163288036548608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But what is the source of all the claims made by Brexiteers? Where do they get this guff from? They can't just make it up surely? They get fed this nonsense from somewhere. My own opinion is that back when Bojo the clown was penning his amusing skits on the European Union he was making up stuff to paint the EU in a poor light and as the subject of his 'British' humour. Some mild mocking for the tall popinjays of the EU, let them know that we're not for being bossed about by bureaucrats like them. It wasn't difficult to see that the author of these skits was as much a George MacDonald Fraser fan as myself. It wasn't even worrying that his satirical musings were as fast and loose with the facts as Flashman - indeed, the Flashman papers are often surprisingly accurate on their historical details, unlike our dear Bojo.. It seems now though that his caricatures of the EU 'unelected Eurocrats' did chime with some people. They read and believed, They took him at his word and they didn't find the humour, they found fuel for their ire. The caricatures came to life in the febrile imaginings of those angry little Englanders who choked on the thought of Johnny Foreighner pan frying British cod with Spanish Chorizo. And here we find ourselves 20 years later having to snuff out the fires, which were once mere sparks of humour - but the joy of seeing that log sparking on the hearth, is now replaced with the grown up fear the the curtains might well catch fire.
Anyway, the old Chinese curse of living in interesting times has caught up with us. The times are far too interesting for my liking at this point. I worry for my kids future. I worry about the way the media and official opposition seem so aquiescent in allowing an internal tory dispute to drive us into the arms of Jacob Rees-Mogg and his crew of utter shites! A bunch of Eton boys who fantasised of running the country, without ever knowing what the country was. What a shambles! Something must happen to change this. People need to start mobilising and arguing this clearly. Arguments need to be had, which means thoughts need to be assembled and aired. The mood needs to change and these people who are failing us so desperately need to be removed from power permanently.
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-47713693039716202172013-12-27T02:04:00.000-08:002013-12-30T01:21:12.974-08:00Here to see one another through...
I attended a dinner with the magnificent <a href="http://www.sandystrang.com/dnn/">Sandy Strang</a> performing the role of guest speaker. I have to say he had me laughing for 20 minutes solid, before a subtle change of tact to celebrate some of the more philanthropic endeavours of the club.
One quote in particular has resonated with me ever since. I'd like to believe it's a suitable mantra for how I have always seen things anyway, but had never managed to put into words - perhaps I'd never even thought about putting it into words. But here it is:
<blockquote>"We're here to see one another through, not see through one another"</Blockquote>
I like it as a sentiment, but the other thing about it is that it seems to be anathema to Tory attitudes. Try to imagine Ian Duncan Smith or any of the other cabinet toffs using it as a guiding principle. No matter how hard I try I just can't see it chiming with them. No matter how hard they might try to convince us otherwise, by their actions, it's just not their way of seeing things. It crystallises for me the significant difference between this (and every other) Tory government (foisted upon us) and the kind of people I'd like to see running the show. Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-72004796324543717612013-04-03T01:36:00.006-07:002013-04-03T01:36:54.644-07:00Ofgem, Ofcom, Ofwat - So What?News today that Ofgem have fined SSE £10.5million for miselling their gas and electricity products. To make up for 'their bad', SSE had already established a £5million 'mis-selling' fund to compensate affected customers - they've paid out nearly £400,000 from this already, but no mention of what hoops you need to jump through to make a claim i.e. get compensated for them dishonestly exploiting your need for gas or electricity, whilst presumably you remain a customer being bled dry to feed the near 40% rise in profits they made last year (£397.5m in the 6 months from April to September 2012). As if that wasn't enough they lumped a 9% price hike upon us which we simply take on the chin.
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What happens to the fine money though? Well, it's paid into the Exchequer's Consolidated Fund - a single bank account. That's now George Osborne's money, presumably he'll use it to further bribe his rich pals in the banking sector not to abandon us... No, it doen't go back to the customers or get fed into the network for these improvements which they apparently need (that's why the companies need so much profit don't you know!).
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So here it is as I see it. A private company uses the networks which our forefathers paid for and built, to leech as much money as they can from us. They make eye-wateringly, huge sums of money in profit and yet still come back to the well for more. If they get caught telling porky pies to steal our custom from the other suppliers who already have us by the short & curlies, they get a fine equivalent to approx 1/80 of their annual profits - which goes straight to the government - I always think our money which goes to the government should be classed as tax. They can raise prices pretty well as they please - hmmm, Wonder how they'll make up that missing £10million from this year? As they raise prices, our tax contribution also rises linearly - so no real reason for the government to object, but if the government do want to make a show of punishing the companies, they 'fine' them - which increases the government take, but does nothing to mitigate the flow of money from our wallets... <br />
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Have I missed anything?
This is capitalism. This is S.E. England economics.... Better together? Aye Right!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-46888218654462216162013-04-02T08:29:00.000-07:002013-04-02T08:29:04.974-07:00March Misery Makes Maggie's Monster More MeaningfulBack in November I convinced (perhaps even cajoled) 2 of my oldest friends into joining me in the <a href="http://monster.maggiescentres.org/" target="_blank">Maggie's Monster Bike & Hike</a>. An altogether excellent sounding adventure up the <a href="http://www.greatglenway.com/" target="_blank">Great Glen</a> starting with a 31 mile mountain bike trail from Fort William to Fort Augustus, then a hike to Inverness. My angle was that this would be a nice way to mark the 25th anniversary of our leaving school. As a Fair-Trade evangelist, Ewan possibly leaves Finlay & I somewhat in the shade for his efforts to make the planet a better place than when he found it, but Finlay and I haven't exactly been barbecuing baby seals either, so supporting the Maggies centres fits nicely with all our philosophies.<br />
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To be honest, the appeal of our entry lay more in the challenge and the opportunity to take on a trip which we know will be rewarding in itself, but the month of March has given me plenty to think about. <br />
I've been sick. Not terminally sick, not even uncomfortably sick 24 hours a day. Just a low level discomfort caused by a chest infection that didn't clear on it's own, then didn't respond to anti-biotics, and is now probably responding to a 2nd set of seemingly more powerful anti-biotics, which are in turn making me feel pretty average. I'm not the only person in this boat - apparently there's a lot of it going about. Certainly I know a few folk my age who have had viruses and bugs this year which have seemed to take an age (4-6 weeks generally) to clear. The thing is though, it only takes about 3 days of low level crappiness to make me forget what it was ever like to feel well - I know, I'm a whinger!<br />
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After a week of bleugh, I just want to feel better, but life is going on around me. My children need my attention, my wife needs my attention, my work needs my attention, the bills need paid, the house needs tidied, the garden needs tidied, the washing needs done, the ironing needs done. All I want to do is lie on the couch in peace, feeling sorry for myself and all I've got is a bit of a chest infection, not pneumonia, not pleurisy, not ... dare I say it and tempt fate... cancer. The scariest of words! I can't begin to imagine the difficulties someone faced with such a prognosis goes through and that's just the start of their woes, for as I say. Life doesn't stop when you're not well. Things carry on and they start to get on top of you. That's the issue that the <a href="http://www.maggiescentres.org/about/what_is_maggies/who_was_maggie.html" target="_blank">Maggie's centres</a> were created to address.<br />
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I hope you'll feel able to help me help those who definitely need a wee helping hand at a most horribly difficult time.<br />
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Visit our <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Jubilee2012" target="_blank">Just Giving page</a> and spare what you can.<br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-11614645811160638562013-04-02T07:47:00.000-07:002013-04-02T08:43:20.716-07:00A Fair Point - Worth Remembering<div dir="ltr">
Now, I'll admit that i don't necessarily keep myself up to date with the minutiae of council affairs. I have my expectations on the service levels I expect to be delivered for the tax I contribute. Most of my expectations revolve around the norms for a civilised society that wants to avoid outbreaks of bubonic plague and likes to see the young educated to a point where they will make a decent contribution to our continued existence. I have my issues with the various services offered and might just contend that some of the council workers could do with a reality check, but just to be clear, I have never in my life before this con-dem government even heard even mention of the 'issue' that is people on welfare having more rooms than the government or council think they realistically need. </div>
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I have never considered it unfair that some welfare recipient, housed by the council in the first place, might be in a gaff that is deemed to have more rooms than the recipient actually needed-I'm just delighted they have a roof over their heads and hope it isn't too horrific a neighbourhood. </div>
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I have never, ever heard any council ever complain that the difficulties they have could be made easier by suddenly having to re-house thousands of the poorest people in society just so that they can continue to receive the benefits they need to survive.</div>
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Let noone forget that the Tory argument here is that the £1.31 billion pounds raised by the 50p tax limit is being cut - in order to gift those of us (it is us, as we're all in this together apparently) lucky enough to earn over £1million, at least an extra £42,295 per annum, whilst an estimated 660,000 of the poorest households will be denied an average of £14 per week - the argument is one of <i>fairness</i>. (figures courtesy of the excellent <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/the-poor-suffer-cuts-our-leaders-coin-it-in-society-is-torn-apart-a-society-torn-apart.20653246">Ian Bell</a> in his most recent Skewering of Millibland and the Clones).
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Given that the 3 mainstream political parties have essentially become identikits of one another, vying for the centre-right spot owned by Blair, managed by public schoolboy, media, politics & marketing graduates who've never held down an honest job in their lives, but who all hope to emulate the illustrious <br />
<del>non-war-criminal</del> former leader, to ultimately access similarly lucrative after-dinner speaking careers once they've embued us with their brilliance, I had almost forgotten what a shower of cunts the Tories actually are... Hopefully none of us will be making that mistake again too soon.</del></div>
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-74462798496156233592013-03-24T02:48:00.001-07:002013-03-24T02:48:53.575-07:00Nexus 4<p dir="ltr">Haven't blogged in. quite some time, despite having had plenty of opinions to air. 2013 has a few events in the pipeline that I'd like to capture though, so with my snazzy new Nexus 4, I've installed the blogger app. Get ready for all sorts of poorly formatted and barely proofed rants, made possible by the enormous step forward in technology that is the android swipe keyboard.</p>
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-16892464607204165082012-04-23T03:55:00.000-07:002012-04-23T03:55:33.061-07:00That Doosan thing...I'm not going to try to defend or castigate the SNP government for the Doosan thing last week, I think it looks bad on them, but what bothers me immensely about the whole subject is how a massive company in Renfrewshire could postpone a proposed investment in a Renfrewshire site (MP <a href="http://www.james-sheridan-mp.org.uk/">Jim Sheridan</a>, Labour), including a large number of engineering jobs and Labour miss it entirely for 4 months. I mean if there was one area in which you might have thought Labour would have some interest or perhaps even activists involved it would be in Industrial relations and any plans for employing large numbers of people on Clydeside engineering would be right on their radar. But no, nothing, nada. It's all a big surprise to then that Alec Salmond didn't highlight it for them (really??).
I mean if Labour aren't able to keep their eye on the ball in the one area where you might have thought they could be halfway competent, what the devil would they be like in areas in which they are less expert, such as hospital PPI contracts... oh!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-20616251355244083792012-03-07T02:17:00.002-08:002012-03-07T02:27:53.076-08:00Gone Cyclin'Scottish Politics... yawn!<br />Scottish Football... yawn!<br />Scottish Rugby...... sob ;-(<br /><br />Jim has gone cycling and is going to be racing Finlay over<a href="http://etapecaledonia.co.uk/"> 81 miles of Highland Perthshire roads</a> (no tacks this year you miserable f*ckers!) in May.<br /><br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/omzXeC3tjDpGn4_nuKU0fVjH_lzxzLDYG7jlgv3QnOY?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TiXoiwX5NgM/TzwljkjAPBI/AAAAAAAACnM/glbuwb6fhls/s400/13112011286.jpg" height="255" width="400" alt="Thoroughbred Italian Beauty" /></a></td></tr></table><br /><br />Check out the history <a href="http://fitformyforties.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-yer-bike.html">here</a> and progress in general <a href="http://fitformyforties.blogspot.com/">here</a>.<br /><br />Donate money <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Etape2012">here</a>, where if you leave your details I'll send you all you need to know in order to win a bottle of Royal Salute whisky.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-83023215895189874762011-06-06T03:09:00.000-07:002011-06-06T03:13:41.442-07:00Economist's explainedI think the <a href="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/cuts-attacked-by-people-who-think-they-are-a-bad-idea-201106063910/">Daily Mash</a> tends to do a rather good job with the news, but if you're not a fan, here's an excerpt from the latest spat between people who think cuts are bad and those who think they're good, which I particularly enjoyed.<br /><br /><blockquote>The people who signed the letter stressed it was a very important letter because they were not just people who did not like the cuts, they were economists.<br /><br />Blanchflower added: "We feel it would help raise the level of debate if you could pretend that this time we have got it absolutely right."<br /><br />But their plea was rejected by people who read articles instead of headlines.<br /><br />Helen Archer, who usually gets all the way to the end and then has a thought, said: <span style="font-style:italic;">"People seem to have this idea that economists are motivated by facts and evidence instead of raw political prejudice. It's very queer."</span><br /><br />She added: <span style="font-style:italic;">"They're not scientists. They're not even astrologers.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"They are like a drunk priest trying to explain the immaculate conception with a broken Etch-a-Sketch."</span></blockquote><br /><br />See!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-10132099557873207712011-05-02T03:28:00.000-07:002011-05-02T03:33:46.372-07:00The Vatican gets it right!!!As a lapsed Catholic who had found in his antipathy towards the church in recent years growing towards disdain I'm shocked to find this morning that only the Vatican have been able to find an appropriate response to the news that the USA undertook a military operation within the boundaries of an independent country, resulting in the death of their great adversary - I wasn't aware that Osama Bin Laden had been through a trial and had verdict passed upon him, but apprently we're told in great cheer that Justice has been served... We'll see!<br /><br />Still, amongst all the bluster we get this from the Vatican.<br /><br /><blockquote>But the Vatican warned that no Christian should celebrate the death of the al Qaeda leader.<br /><br />“A Christian should never rejoice” over the death of a human being, said Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, although bin Laden would have to answer to God for spreading hatred and ordering the killing of so many people.<br /><br />“Osama bin Laden, as everyone knows, had the grave responsibility of having spread division and hate among people, causing the deaths of an innumerable number of people and exploiting religion for these purposes,” Father Lombardi said.<br /><br />He said the Vatican hoped that the death of bin Laden “would not be an occasion for more hate, but for peace". </blockquote><br /><br />Quite so! but I hae ma doobts!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-66378580664823660742011-05-02T01:01:00.000-07:002011-05-02T04:03:00.886-07:00Infinite Monkeys......clattering away on an infinite number of keyboards will at some point produce the correct sequence of keystrokes to reproduce a Shakespearean play.<br /><br />I often feel like my blog efforts are a wee bit like an effort from some of the other less 'lucky' monkeys. <br /><br />What am I saying and why am I saying it? <br /><br />When I try to say one thing I say too much and someone jumps in to argue about the thing I was really just using as a prop for my main argument and we get dragged into some semantics.<br /><br />It's not just me though. If I indulge in some discussion with the Labour webbie chaps, I often find after I've addressed the bit that annoyed me about what they've said it turns out that's not what they were wanting to talk about anyway... ho hum!<br /><br />It's a frustrating business, but this blogging lark is definitely good exercise for the mind and a worthy way of honing your own arguments (well, the nasty extremists aside!). Sometimes though you find yourself in the company of true wordsmiths, such as the esteemable <a href="http://the-universality-of-cheese.blogspot.com/">Mark MacLachlan</a> who writes of the Labour party...<br /><br /><blockquote>"I believe that a profoundly honest social movement that mobilised to help the working man and woman has been subsumed from within by careerists desperate for power and willing to do almost anything to hold on to it."<br /></blockquote><br /><br />With this one paragraph the monkeys can stop their key-bashing antics and go back to swinging on the trees - for I've found the paragraph I needed.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-55485358058444755782011-04-20T03:12:00.001-07:002011-04-20T03:12:43.491-07:00Lowlights of an otherwise lovely weekend...It wouldn't have been much after 4pm on Saturday afternoon with my 3 year old, that we sadly watched the shell-suited, burberry becapped, teenagers excitedly locate the best spot between some bushes and high on the hill of Queens park overlooking Pollokshaws road, for them to imbibe the far too many 2 litre plastic bottles of strong cider that they'd somehow managed to procure, despite most of them looking under 16, never mind 18.<br /><br />I did wonder which of them would end the night over the hill in the Victoria's casualty department... <br /><br />I did also think back to the New Year's eve I was inadvisedly carrying a bottle of beer on the streets of Byron Bay, where the Police officer, blessed with common sense, simply took the bottle from me, poured it down the drain, put the bottle in the bin and invited me to wisen up and enjoy my evening... <br /><br />It's such a shame that these gangs of teenagers are so devious in their efforts to get drunk in public that they manage to do so so far from the watchful gaze of our constabulary, who seem to prefer spending Monday mornings in teams of 3 setting nefarious speed traps in places where motorists are likely to be accelerating away from town towards that National speed limit sign... (don't worry, I was travelling in the other direction!)Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-32011854751988766422011-04-15T03:54:00.001-07:002011-04-15T04:03:15.958-07:00Children's exercise - FFS!I've been annoyed with this children's PE debate since the last election. I just don't understand what the problem is in delivering 4 hours of PE a week for Primary school children.<br /><br />Now, admittedly I went to a school with rather low numbers but I suspect the problem here is not the supervision, but what actually constitutes PE / exercise and how it could be undertaken.<br /><br />In Primary school my teacher regularly took the entire class to the gym hall where we played wee games for 45 minutes. You didn't need to get into shorts and t-shirt for it.<br /><br />We played rounders, tig, crab football (where you could easily tell who was in the cubs and who wasn't) and learned to skip.<br /><br />Sometimes we had an old guy who could play the piano a wee bit. He came along and we had a mini-choir session, then we did some dancing - which as far as I'm concerned is about the best exercise their is... don't believe me? Check out the professionals on Strictly and ask any of the celebrities who make it through the first few weeks.<br />You could have a dance in your classroom if you just shoved some of the desks and chairs to the side for a wee bit... <br /><br />So who is it that's not able to deliver some exercise to the children as part of a fun filled daily education?<br /><br />Is the problem defining what constitues exercise? or is it teacher's inability to think outside the box or is it that the inner city kids are crammed into some shoebox where swinging low, never mind a cat is impossible.<br /><br />What's the bloody problem?Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-80230535294754805182011-04-15T01:02:00.001-07:002011-04-15T01:32:27.762-07:00My Scottish Political CompassHat tip to <a href="http://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/">James Kelly</a> for the link to the <a href="http://www.scottishvotecompass.org/">Scottish Vote Compass</a>. It poses some interesting questions which helps to focus the mind, after all - as James pints out - Labour and the Lib Dems have pretty much copied the SNP manifesto and <a href="http://planet-politics.blogspot.com/">Stuart Winton</a> quite rightly parodies Salmond's latest wheeze of increasing the now popular council tax freeze to 5 years - I hate it when politicians indulge in this playground game of who can piss the highest. Labour annoyed me last week with their 2 week cancer scam (pick a number and half it!). Salmond had no need to play top trumps in this petty way! <br /><br />Anyway, onto my political alignment and it doesn't really surprise me to find that the party I am most aligned with is the Greens. They generally talk sense as far as I can see, even if they can get a wee bit dogmatic at times... Not as half as dogmatic as the old school Labour boys who despise themselves for actually having a National identity I suppose...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsLRGh2EAvJloY_fxq-nvK-lwaeZKpjJNmFK8baC_SWAGAmqD5bsId12oal3_q6AKfd6JatI08F8_lERLXqYO5Asfu9gk3uNuWscUkXdB9MY1FjH6VtkMtyMHy4JhFYx6jzryP81ta6wpx/s1600/ScottishCompass.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsLRGh2EAvJloY_fxq-nvK-lwaeZKpjJNmFK8baC_SWAGAmqD5bsId12oal3_q6AKfd6JatI08F8_lERLXqYO5Asfu9gk3uNuWscUkXdB9MY1FjH6VtkMtyMHy4JhFYx6jzryP81ta6wpx/s400/ScottishCompass.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595720876306021218" /></a><br /><br /><br />That doesn't change much though, as this particular election is much more about the battle between Labour and SNP than any other election in my lifetime. I'll be voting SNP & SNP. If they win, I'll be haranguing them from the rooftops about Green issues - then again... they've actually not got that bad a record on that front either... Hope Patrick Harvey gets back in though!<br /><br />PS I realise that image is probably a bit small, but if you do the compass youself you'll get the gist of where I stand - slightly left wing social liberal... seems a reasonable place to be...Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-39782056605867960812011-04-13T01:05:00.001-07:002011-04-13T01:35:19.273-07:00Tribute to Giggsy - a true legend of the game!Modest, unassuming, Legend, role model, boys-own fantasy hero, superstar of the global game... There's only one Ryan Giggs!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywP9r4v1v2qTwc7zifFhvOiWpaQBU7dRmubZuDiP0CjqV7ea8-URDgZ0V7d58hShO7lSAJ5vJl7qoKxGc08GvBCCGyUTmfwnq3YyZAjiMjdeDkgbmibj_7vK211h0TdbwkCf8GD_RL8b7/s1600/ryan-giggs.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 344px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywP9r4v1v2qTwc7zifFhvOiWpaQBU7dRmubZuDiP0CjqV7ea8-URDgZ0V7d58hShO7lSAJ5vJl7qoKxGc08GvBCCGyUTmfwnq3YyZAjiMjdeDkgbmibj_7vK211h0TdbwkCf8GD_RL8b7/s400/ryan-giggs.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594976898367875826" /></a><br /><br />There are few footballers that I'll point out for my son if he takes an interest in the game. Sometimes they release their career highlights. There's space on our shelf for a Henrik Larsson DVD. There's space for a Brian Laudrup DVD. Dad will still have his old Jimmy Johnston and Lubo Moravcik videos - assuming we still have a video player, but there will need to be a new shelf built for the Welsh Wing Wizard who has been enthralling me for over 20 years now.<br /><br />Pleasing to note that as a youth he also played a bit of rugby - what's the chances that it was having the opportunity to play both codes that helped him to develop into the all round, ball playing, team minded, maestro that he became? I like to think so.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-75944389680283915422011-04-12T16:10:00.000-07:002011-04-12T16:22:04.523-07:00Selling of Debt... WTF???I meant to write about this when I heard it on the radio the other day, but then I convinced myself I must have been dreaming that people were seriously using this kind of patter. <a href="http://nomoradiaspora.blogspot.com/2011/04/tavish-scott-on-newsnight.html">Tavish on newsnight </a>reminded me to look it up though.<br /><br />The Lib Dems want to <em>sell Scottish Water's debt </em>on the money markets then use that money to invest in the economy...<br /><br />That sounds smashing - can I sell me debt too? How does that work anyway? You give me money, then you pay off my credit card bills, no? <br /><br />Ah wait, you give me money to pay off my credit card bills, but I owe you that money back, presumably over a certain amount of time with perhaps some wee stipend to you for your troubles - it's very decent of you to go out of your way like this for me. In any other circumstances I would probably have had to borrow the money... which is kind of like what this is, isn't it? Ah, no in this instance I'm borrowing against my assets - it's a kind of secured loan then is it? No, No, No it's nothing like that, I'm just signing over my assets to you kindly International bankers for safekeeping whilst I pay you back the money, plus stipend, that you've <del>loaned me</del> purchased my debt with. Very good<br /><br />Selling off debt - LMFAO!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-76621420983912486842011-04-12T15:55:00.000-07:002011-04-12T16:09:22.455-07:00Tavish Scott on newsnight...Just watched Tavish Scott on Newsnight... oh dear!<br /><br />On the lib dem MPs that broke their promise (written pledges no less!) on tuition fees...<br />Well, they're not up for re-election just now, but if they were I'm sure they could explain it to you...<br /><br />On Labour U-turns<br />Terrible hypocrisy on their part, they've just copied the SNP<br /><br />On Council tax freeze<br />After 4 years of SNP government, we see that was a great policy...<br /><br />On closing A&E's<br />Terrible that we were going to do that - thank goodness the SNP got in and showed us how to behave properly.<br /><br />On Prescription charges<br />Well, I wouldn't have done it, but now that it's been done (by the SNP), you'd be crazy to undo it...<br /><br />On Coalition<br />We'll need to see what Labour tell us to do... after all we're the Scottish Lib Dems and we need to differentiate ourselves from the London Lib Dems - who are being pushed about by the Tories. People in Scotland would never accept that.<br /><br />On Independence<br />I'm totally against that... even though we're totally different from the London Lib-Dems and I think we need more Scottish solutions for Scottish problems, well apart from having fully independent Scottish solutions, obviously!<br /><br />On other stuff...<br />Well, yes we've sold the jerseys for a sniff of power down South, but I've prepared a cracking answer for you about the single Scottish police force - why don't you ask me about that?<br /><br />On Scottish Water<br />You'll just need to ask the other parties why they don't want £1.5 billion for the Scottish economy... Go on ask the other parties! Why are you asking me all these questions that aren't about the police anyway?Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-37586803397650985732011-04-06T01:08:00.000-07:002011-04-06T01:46:30.898-07:00Andy 'Lock em Up' KerrAndy '<a href="http://spinwatch.org/-news-by-category-mainmenu-9/171-scotland/4865-concern-at-huge-profit-for-firms-behind-pfi-projects">1 hospital for the price of 2</a>' Kerr, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, was on Radio Scotland this morning, not only pushing the Labour line of mandatory sentences (6 months apparently) for people caught in possession of a knife, but absolutely resolute in his determination that a Labour government would find the money to fund this policy.<br /><br />So, there you go. Not only are they still pursuing a policy opposed by senior police officers and highly qualified candidates, such as former president of the Law Society of Scotland, <a href="http://www.journalonline.co.uk/News/1009365.aspx">Ian Smart</a>, but in these austere times, they're going to make finding the money to lock up everyone carrying a knife a priority. It seems the Labour lunacy on this is not restricted to Richard Baker.<br /><br />Iain Gray, Andy Kerr, Richard Baker, Jackie Baillie - those are the candidates Labour think appropriate for running this country. Don't let them do this to us!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-57578805031232796912011-03-31T02:23:00.001-07:002011-03-31T02:40:08.412-07:00Shurely it's Sean for PresidentJust up from my sick bed... it seems there's an election coming up... These days I prefer to catch up with the news from the blogosphere - at least the contributors are (mostly) honest about their allegiances.<br /><br />One of the most fair minded and objective bloggers on my list of favourite reads must be <a href="http://planet-politics.blogspot.com/">Stuart Winton</a> fae Dundee. So I do take seriously his criticism of the SNP reusing the 'Alex Salmond for First Minister' slogan on the ballot papers - then again it wasn't the SNP who came up with the rules and the first objective of the SNP campaign must be for them to win the election - the people will decide, whether other parties feel the electorate aren't smart enough to understand the ballot paper or otherwise - Personally I'm more concerned about the AV referendum overshadowing the Scottish elections with UK wide politicking from Labour, Consevative and Lib Dem on that peculiar issue. I'm pretty sure that the aim is to drown out the SNP's election message with Unionist propoganda.<br /><br />Still, that's not why I'm here today, Stuart's blog title <a href="http://planet-politics.blogspot.com/2011/03/alex-salmond-for-president.html">Alex Salmond for President?</a>, reminded me of the excellent <a href="http://www.tartanspecials.com/">Tartan Specials</a> song for big Sean, and seeing as I need cheering up - here it is:<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BZR-2cm9aIA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-79506375280582713022011-03-18T08:31:00.000-07:002011-03-18T08:53:49.177-07:00'Arry's gameSo if you were a Spurs fan - and I'm not, but I do have a good friend who is... happens to be a Ghanaian chap who has suffered years of abuse from his Arsenal supporting mates. Well, if you were a Spurs fan wouldn't you just be marvelling at how much difference a decent manager can make to your team's fortunes.<br /><br />Harry Rednap took over at Spurs in 2008 whilst they were sitting bottom of the English Premier league. He eventually guided them to safety and the League cup final (lost on penalties to Man Utd). In 2009-10 Harry took Spurs to 4th in the Premier League and a potential place at the top table to enjoy the untold riches of the European Champions League (including places for 4th placed teams from rich countries, but let's not be too churlish about his achievements!) qualifiers.<br /><br />In season 2010-11, He's guided his team through a tricky qualifier and into the group stages, where they've been to the San-Siro and beaten current holders Inter Milan to qualify top of the group. The first round of the knockout games saw them return to the San-Siro where they conquered the mighty AC Milan.<br /><br />Next up, Harry takes his team to the Bernabeau to face Jose Marinio's Real Madrid. What a season for Spurs fans!<br /><br />PS Of course, I doubt any of this could have been achieved without the able assistance of the mighty Joe Jordan. So big it up for Joe too!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUaI-6N4pvTRzst2VohestuKoyHDM-gwjvcab-7mImv6LNCx75GY8CT_sS9XL_esGFkcQSrX3gBrNd12cUU1KLaddIXe4tum7yytgUSWlWY3zSGkzfrQXnwcJzxbFeHyeLqhrx5ZlcYgd/s1600/joe+jordan.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUaI-6N4pvTRzst2VohestuKoyHDM-gwjvcab-7mImv6LNCx75GY8CT_sS9XL_esGFkcQSrX3gBrNd12cUU1KLaddIXe4tum7yytgUSWlWY3zSGkzfrQXnwcJzxbFeHyeLqhrx5ZlcYgd/s400/joe+jordan.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585448486580687122" /></a>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-75879136887958246632011-03-11T06:59:00.000-08:002011-03-11T07:55:47.618-08:00Invictus & the 16th manI watched the movie 'Invictus' recently. A decent enough movie based on an incredible story that really didn't need the Holywood treatment and to be fair to Clint Eastwood (director) I don't think he went overboard with it.<br /><br />What I felt it was missing though was that actual intensity of the matches as they were played. That's why it was such a pleasure to catch '<a href="http://30for30.espn.com/film/the-sixteenth-man.html">The 16th man</a>' on ESPN. Morgan Freeman narrated much of this documentary, but this time it was easier to just enjoy his beautiful delivery than to have to worry about whether I liked him playing the role of Nelson Mandela.<br /><br />The reality of the match scenes and the footage of the real ANC movers and shakers, who hated the Afrikaaners with all their being, coming to acknowledge that Mandela's hand of friendship across that terrible divide and support for the detested Springboks was much more powerful than any Hollywood movie could possibly muster.<br /><br />One of the key elements of the story was the fear and respect that even the mighty Springboks held for Jonah Lomu<br /><br />Here's why<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OsXTa7UCGlk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Incredible to note that throughout his career the big man suffered from a debilitating nephrotic syndrome and yet still achieved what most mere mortals can only dream of.<br /><br />As powerful as any imagery though was the reading of the poem which inspired the movie title.<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Invictus</span><br /> <br />Out of the night that covers me,<br />Black as the Pit from pole to pole,<br />I thank whatever gods may be<br />For my unconquerable soul.<br /><br />In the fell clutch of circumstance<br />I have not winced nor cried aloud.<br />Under the bludgeonings of chance<br />My head is bloody, but unbowed.<br /><br />Beyond this place of wrath and tears<br />Looms but the Horror of the shade,<br />And yet the menace of the years<br />Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.<br /><br />It matters not how strait the gate,<br />How charged with punishments the scroll.<br />I am the master of my fate:<br />I am the captain of my soul. <br /></blockquote><br /><br />Incredible to think that these stoic words from a Victorian poet could have helped Nelson Mandela not just to survive his incarceration, not just to win over his oppressors and become their master but to inspire them to their own glory over the mighty opposition which was the Lomu inspired All Blacks.<br /><br />Anyone got any ideas for Sunday?Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-75617857390346470032011-03-11T01:28:00.000-08:002011-03-11T01:37:09.104-08:00Fred the *anker's SuperinjuctionI have to admit that yesterday's story about Sir Fred Goodwin's superinjunction just made me laugh. The result of parliamentary privilege means that John Hemming was able to highlight this story which would otherwise not have been permitted - I don't get this bit, but I assume the reports are allowed to talk about what Mr Hemming said, rather than simply talk about Fred Goodwin without good reason... as if him destroying the eceonomy wasn't good enough reason to occasionally spit some venom in his direction...<br /><br />Sir Fred Goodwin (but Bad Loser apparently!) knighted, via Gordon Brown (lest we forget), for services to banking, apparently doesn't want to be called a banker anymore. Small wonder I suppose given the poor name bankers have these days, but a wee bit strange seeing as he was the most high profile of the psychopaths who nearly destroyed capitalism.<br /><br />Just for the record though:<br />Fred Goodwin was a banker for more than a decade, taking senior posts at Clydesdale and RBS before accepting the role of RBS chief executive in 2001.<br /><br />He gained the nickname Fred the Shred for his ruthless approach to business.<br /><br />After RBS’s takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007, widely seen as one of the worst business moves in recent history, Sir Fred’s banking career went rapidly downhill.<br /><br />The bank, under his leadership, was brought to the brink of collapse, requiring a £45.5bn state bailout that brought it 83% into public ownership. (INcidentally, I think the UK coffers might do very well in the long run out of that wee bit of business!)<br /><br />However, he is still eligible for a £342,500 annual pension – reduced from £700,000 in the face of public outcry – meaning that although he is now technically an ex-banker, he draws the sort of income from banking that most of us could only dream of.<br /><br />Sir Fred - You are a *anker and always will be in my eyes!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-87603095010447276652011-03-11T01:09:00.000-08:002011-03-11T01:24:49.047-08:00PFI / PPPJust a few links to some 'critiques' of PFI / PPP projects.<br /><br />I'm not generally a Guardian reader, but they have a nice collection here<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/pfi">http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/pfi</a>.<br /><br />You should look out especially for a chap by the name of <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2010/11/22/the-uks-odious-debts/">George Monbiot</a>, who seems to have done a lot of research on the topic and has managed to resist being converted to it's charms.<br /><br />Even the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8279974/Private-Finance-Initiative-hospitals-will-bring-taxpayers-60-years-of-pain.html">Daily Telegraph</a>, who you might think would normally be champions of the captains of Industry getting to fleece us got around to thinking they might just be taking the piss somewhat on this.<br /><br />It's little wonder that the SNP tried to find an alternative to this. I can see the difficulty though. Once the financiers have managed to get their grubby fingers into the till, how could we expect them to be a wee bit less greedy? Of course they're going to resist efforts to fund projects which don't result in them earning their vulgar fees.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083387665472376946.post-62029247569531255792011-03-04T07:35:00.000-08:002011-03-04T07:55:11.803-08:00Credit where it's dueWhilst the cost of being sick in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12646111">England</a> is about to rise by another 20 pence it was heartening to hear this week that Labour actually voted with the <a href="http://www.newsnetscotland.com/scottish-news/1735-prescription-charges-abolished-by-snp.html">SNP</a> on an SNP initiative, leaving the Tories and Lib-Dems to squabble over the title of most mean-spirited party - with Bill Aitken recently having to stand down as the Tory mouth piece on Justice, there was certainly an opportunity for the Lib-Dems to step up to the plate.<br /><br />Whilst it is typical of the Tories only to consider short term costs rather than long term values, what on earth has happened to the Lib Dems, whom I could once upon a time identify with?<br /><br />Well done Labour though!Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00797359279671022904noreply@blogger.com4