NoMoraDiaspora

Economist's explained

2011-06-06T03:09:00.000-07:00

I think the Daily Mash 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.

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.

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."

But their plea was rejected by people who read articles instead of headlines.

Helen Archer, who usually gets all the way to the end and then has a thought, said: "People seem to have this idea that economists are motivated by facts and evidence instead of raw political prejudice. It's very queer."

She added: "They're not scientists. They're not even astrologers.

"They are like a drunk priest trying to explain the immaculate conception with a broken Etch-a-Sketch."

See!

The Vatican gets it right!!!

2011-05-02T03:28:00.000-07:00

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!

Still, amongst all the bluster we get this from the Vatican.

But the Vatican warned that no Christian should celebrate the death of the al Qaeda leader.

“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.

“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.

He said the Vatican hoped that the death of bin Laden “would not be an occasion for more hate, but for peace".

Quite so! but I hae ma doobts!

Infinite Monkeys...

2011-05-02T01:01:00.000-07:00

...clattering away on an infinite number of keyboards will at some point produce the correct sequence of keystrokes to reproduce a Shakespearean play.

I often feel like my blog efforts are a wee bit like an effort from some of the other less 'lucky' monkeys.

What am I saying and why am I saying it?

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.

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!

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 Mark MacLachlan who writes of the Labour party...

"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."

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.

Lowlights of an otherwise lovely weekend...

2011-04-20T03:12:00.001-07:00

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.

I did wonder which of them would end the night over the hill in the Victoria's casualty department...

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...

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!)

Children's exercise - FFS!

2011-04-15T03:54:00.001-07:00

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.

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.

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.

We played rounders, tig, crab football (where you could easily tell who was in the cubs and who wasn't) and learned to skip.

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.
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...

So who is it that's not able to deliver some exercise to the children as part of a fun filled daily education?

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.

What's the bloody problem?

My Scottish Political Compass

2011-04-15T01:02:00.001-07:00

Hat tip to James Kelly for the link to the Scottish Vote Compass. 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 Stuart Winton 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!

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...

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!

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...

Tribute to Giggsy - a true legend of the game!

2011-04-13T01:05:00.001-07:00

Modest, unassuming, Legend, role model, boys-own fantasy hero, superstar of the global game... There's only one Ryan Giggs!

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.

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.

Selling of Debt... WTF???

2011-04-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

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. Tavish on newsnight reminded me to look it up though.

The Lib Dems want to sell Scottish Water's debt on the money markets then use that money to invest in the economy...

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?

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 ~~loaned me~~ purchased my debt with. Very good

Selling off debt - LMFAO!

Tavish Scott on newsnight...

2011-04-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

Just watched Tavish Scott on Newsnight... oh dear!

On the lib dem MPs that broke their promise (written pledges no less!) on tuition fees...
Well, they're not up for re-election just now, but if they were I'm sure they could explain it to you...

On Labour U-turns
Terrible hypocrisy on their part, they've just copied the SNP

On Council tax freeze
After 4 years of SNP government, we see that was a great policy...

On closing A&E's
Terrible that we were going to do that - thank goodness the SNP got in and showed us how to behave properly.

On Prescription charges
Well, I wouldn't have done it, but now that it's been done (by the SNP), you'd be crazy to undo it...

On Coalition
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.

On Independence
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!

On other stuff...
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?

On Scottish Water
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?

Andy 'Lock em Up' Kerr

2011-04-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

Andy '1 hospital for the price of 2' 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.

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, Ian Smart, 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.

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!

Shurely it's Sean for President

2011-03-31T02:23:00.001-07:00

Just 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.

One of the most fair minded and objective bloggers on my list of favourite reads must be Stuart Winton 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.

Still, that's not why I'm here today, Stuart's blog title Alex Salmond for President?, reminded me of the excellent Tartan Specials song for big Sean, and seeing as I need cheering up - here it is:

'Arry's game

2011-03-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

So 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.

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.

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.

Next up, Harry takes his team to the Bernabeau to face Jose Marinio's Real Madrid. What a season for Spurs fans!

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!

Invictus & the 16th man

2011-03-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

I 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.

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 'The 16th man' 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.

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.

One of the key elements of the story was the fear and respect that even the mighty Springboks held for Jonah Lomu

Here's why

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.

As powerful as any imagery though was the reading of the poem which inspired the movie title.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

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.

Anyone got any ideas for Sunday?

Fred the *anker's Superinjuction

2011-03-11T01:28:00.000-08:00

I 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...

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.

Just for the record though:
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.

He gained the nickname Fred the Shred for his ruthless approach to business.

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.

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!)

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.

Sir Fred - You are a *anker and always will be in my eyes!

PFI / PPP

2011-03-11T01:09:00.000-08:00

Just a few links to some 'critiques' of PFI / PPP projects.

I'm not generally a Guardian reader, but they have a nice collection here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/pfi.

You should look out especially for a chap by the name of George Monbiot, who seems to have done a lot of research on the topic and has managed to resist being converted to it's charms.

Even the Daily Telegraph, 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.

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.

Credit where it's due

2011-03-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

Whilst the cost of being sick in England is about to rise by another 20 pence it was heartening to hear this week that Labour actually voted with the SNP 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.

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?

Well done Labour though!

Gratuity, tip or service charge

2011-03-04T03:34:00.000-08:00

Had the pleasure of lunch at a plush West end establishment yesterday to celebrate my wife's birthday. The food was outstanding, but I have to say although I was neither impressed nor displeased with the service it was something of a surpise to see a 10% service charge on the bill, but hey ho! 10% is pretty much the standard for tips in restaurants isn't it? Actually I've no idea what is expected these days, but I tend to run with 10% because I can, but more often than not the actual sum will depend on the cash I have in my pocket, and that's an important point actually, for usually I pay by card unless we're in a group, but having worked as a waiter myself I know I much preferred a wee spot of cash between me and the customer without any need to bother the exchequer about the outstanding service I'd just delivered.

So, fair enough if the restaurant want these things formalised, who am I to quibble - I offered to pay the bill as it was and let them sort ot all out for themselves. What I really didn't like though was the waiter then handing me the card machine at the point where I'm expected to say whether I want to add a gratuity or not - to the bill at which they've already added my expected gratuity!

I didn't appreciate that at all - and if you've got a restaurant you should know this. It's the little things that make the difference between a great restaurant experience and an average one. Leaving the place feeling like the staff are trying to hoodwink a wee bit extra from you isn't the sort of thing I equate with a 'great' restaurant experience.

On the point of tips though, what's the story with taxi drivers? Why do they expect a tip at all. I don't mind rounding up to the nearest pound, but to have to deal with their surliness when I expect my change is a disgrace. They've got a meter running and must get a fair price for the service I'm after and which they provide. Why they should expect any more is beyond me.

Closer to the Heart

2011-03-04T03:14:00.000-08:00

Greatly amused by the Labour blogger who recently rationalised his distillation of a Salmond answer at FMQ's to 'bluster' without actually mentioning the points Salmond had made by quoting Simon and Garfunkel "a man hears what he wants to hear
and disregards the rest". In essence he's admitted that he doesn't care what Salmond actually said anyway - not very objective to my mind, but then I'm no party apparatchik or apologist.

Much as I like Simon and Garfunkel though I tend to think that my political inclinations are rather better expressed by Geddy Lee - enjoy!

and don't forget

Go jump off a cliff...

2011-02-24T00:39:00.000-08:00

I've been having a wee interchange with my blog buddy Braveheart, who keeps me in mind of the narrow perspective that people from the West of Scotland seem to suffer. He's a moderate, sensible fellow by his own admission.

The crux of our recent debate has been that education stramash. Renfrew led SNP were considering diluting the teaching staff, and had the gone so far as trying to find a way to spin it as some sort of mutually beneficial, improvement to kids education. Personally, I reckon if someone gets trained to deal with a class room of kids and deliver a syllabus, then they're a teacher and they need to be treated as teachers, so it was all a bit of smoke and mirrors bullshit in order to make cost savings - why we don't just apply some sort of levy to those massive multi-national supermarkets instead of cutting our own throats and stifling our children's education I'll never know!

Anyway, Braveheart, being the fearless Labour spinner that he is reckons that's a much worse scenario than the situation in North Ayrshire where the Labour led council considered a proposal to cut the school week from 5 days to 4.

Now, neither proposal has actually come to fruition, but from my persepctive it's at least encouraging to note that the councils were willing to think outside of the box and give some air to all the proposals - I've been in enough brain storming sessions to see the merit in allowing all ideas to be be put on the board and then discussed in the group scenario. At least you get a consensus on what's acceptable and what's not. Sometimes you even get a better understanding of the original problem... but that's all by the bye. I'm not much impressed by the hysterical reactions from our supposed political leaders to these sorts of suggestions though.

The highlight of this wee debate though has been Braveheart suggesting that I go jump off a cliff - he seems to be under the impression that this is an idea I might dismiss out of hand immediately... poor boy!

Check this out:

PS The Sound track is pretty good too!

PPS Why don't we have a levy on those multi-million pound, multi-national companies that are killing our town centres again?

Sickening...

2011-02-08T00:47:00.000-08:00

Last night on the way home from work the weasel words of Richard Baker on radio caused a sick feeling in my gut. To think that the Labour party might foist this oik upon us for the princely sum of £520.

As sympathetic as I am to the SNP, I'd be as happy with a true Labour government. Alas, this mob of liars and hypocrites don't come close to what I would wish a Labour government to be. They have no vision for the country they'd like us to be. Their centralising tendency and Central belt obsession bothers me. The class envy so endemic in their representatives irks me. I don't believe in any of them and after this Megrahi debacle they have lost all credibility - as if appointing Jackie Baillie as Shadow Health secretary had left them with any credibility - in Scotland.

They'll still be a major force after the next elections. They may even form the next Scottish government. It's a sickening thought!

Calibrating the Moral compass

2011-01-27T01:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I'm not sure where I stand. Occasionally I rant just for the fun of it! Quite often I (attempt to) play Devil's advocate for fun. I'm a big fan of Al Murray and it's not been unknown for me to play the part of the sexist, mysoginist, xenophobe, racist, sectarian bigot - more to poke fun at the people who actually hold such views than anything.

I'm not a highly paid sport's broadcaster though and I'm not responsible for helping the dull witted amongst us form their opinions, therefore in my view it's entirely right that Andy Gray and Richard Keys should no longer hold the responsibility of such a position either - although I am a little uncomfortable with the sacking offense in Andy Gray's case being something which he was recorded doing quite some time before he actually received his official warning about such behaviour.

So, there you go. I'm willing to indulge in such banter with my mates either in the pub or at work - but I am coming around to appreciate that if someone was to overhear my tea break, sectarian rants without knowing that I was actually christened RC, they might imagine they are sharing a workplace with the worst the Copland Road stand has to offer, rather than the witty raconteur I imagine myself to be... but I'm happy to see someone else lose their job for an equivalent miscontruction.

I guess I'm a hypocrite!

On the other hand, I can console myself with the fact that my views often align exactly with such luminaries as Nelson Mandela and Ian Hamilton QC whilst I've always opposed the lying, war monger who highjacked the Labour party.

Feeling better about myself already!

The Daily Telegraph and PFI

2011-01-25T00:38:00.000-08:00

It occasionally surprises people familiar with my leftish views to find that I'm an avid reader of the Daily Telegraph. I can't stand the Guardian with the way it's journalists appear to fall over themselves in efforts to find the most outlandishly left wing position. To me it reads like some student flyer written by faux intellects who are never willing to subject their witterings to any sort of scrutiny.

In recent years it has been the Telegraph who have produced the most outstanding stories, in particular I've enjoyed the way in which they have exposed the outrageous hypocrisy of our MPs with regard to their expenses.

Now it's time for the Labour PFI fans to take cover though, for finally some serious rigour is to be applied to the scam that is PFI. Such a shame the Conservatives couldn't do it when in opposition - but then again it's in their nature to give our money to big businesses. The Lib Dems position on PFI... what is it again? I've no idea what those jelly fish actually have to say about anything. Of course, In Scotland we've had the SNP shouting from the rooftops about the how ridiculous PFI is with it's '1 hospital for the price of 2' economics, but for some reason that's not taken seriously elsewhere... and even in Scotland, the politics is so partisan it doesn't seem to matter. Labour can do as Labour will and the downtrodden people of Glasgow East will still come out to support the likes of the Martins.

So, this morning I am delighted to see the Telegraph announce a series of reports on PFI, and I can't wait to hear the justifications for it given by political giants such as Andy Kerr. Perhaps those voters in Scotland willing to listen to both sides of an argument may actually remember the SNP's opposition to this scam from day 1.

VAT & Fuel analysis

2011-01-18T14:21:00.002-08:00

Whilst I'm still ranting about economists I recall a radio interview last week with some so called International Oil Analyst who was finding it extremely difficult to see how the government could help in steadying the price of fuel. I'm going to assume he's another Tory with an arts degree...

A quick google search found the petrolprices web site. For the purposes of this rant, I'm just going to run with the figures they give.

On the 1st of December 2008 a permanent 2p increase in fuel tax was introduced to offset the rate cut in VAT from 17.5% to 15% bringing the duty rate for the main road fuels up to 52.35p per litre.

So, that's fuel duty up 2p deliberately to compensate for a cut in VAT... Were they funding the VAT cut by hitting the motorist? I don't remember this - but what you should know at this point is that the fuel duty we pay on every litre of fuel is also subject to VAT - tax on a tax! Yep, I hear you - No, that doesn't seem fair to me either!

On 1 April 2009 the duty rate for unleaded petrol and diesel was increased by 1.84 ppl to 54.19p per litre and again on 1 September 2009 by 2 ppl to reach the level of 56.19 per litre. These rates were planned to be increased further on 1 April 2010 to 2013 by 1ppl above indexation each year.

The plan is to deliberately increase the price of fuel at the pump for everyone at a rate above an index in any case. So, it's been deliberate policy to make fuel much more expensive for a number of years (remember, the price of fuel has a direct impact on the price of everything you need to live... apart from your mortgage - that goes up when the price of everything else rises too fast!)

On the 1st January 2010 the VAT rate reverted to 17.5%.

You're looking for the bit where the 2p added to the Fuel duty was rescinded aren't you... I know I was...

The 3p fuel duty rise scheduled for early 2010 was delayed in 2010 Budget with the duty going up by only 1p a litre on the 1st of April. This went up by another 1p a litre on the 1st October 2010 and is scheduled to go up by 0.76p on the 1st January 2011.

What 3p fuel duty rise? Where the hell did that come from?

Now a simpleton like you or me might argue that the VAT returning to 17.5% should really have resulted in that 2p rise being rescinded. Of course, Whitehall are a lot more generous spirits than you or I. What they've done is NOT raise the price by a further 3p per litre rather than cutting it. We're 1p per litre better off - don't you see? ... Well apart from that 1p increase in April, but you were probably expecting something worse by then anyway.

A 0.76p increase on the 1st January 2011 brought the duty rate for the main road fuels up to 58.95p per litre. This coincided with the 2.5% increase in VAT rate, which is now at record high of 20%.

I hope you weren't expecting them to cut fuel duty to compensate for that 2.5% increase in VAT (tax on a tax in this case), thereby proving that the previous 2p rise wasn't just another attack on the car owner, were you?

To be fair to the oil analyst, he was actually struggling to see how the government could help stabilise the cost of fuel across the country, rather than stabilising the cost of fuel, but that hasn't stopped me frothing at the mouth over the upward pressure they have deliberately imposed on fuel prices - which is surely the root cause of a significant proportion of the inflation they seem so concerned about.

In response to the analyst though, surely it isn't beyond the wit of man to devise a discount on the fuel duty based on geography and the normal fluctuations within the market; if the will to find a solution actually existed - after all, they managed to devise London weighting for civil servant's salaries to address the inequity of living in London...

An economist makes sense of it...

2011-01-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

With special thanks to Braveheart who in breaking from his usual habit of defending Labour's economic illiteracy, has found an economist who has managed to compute that the reason why inflation is so high is a result of government policy and a rise in the price of International raw materials "fuelled by City based speculation" ( No doubt he means those wankers in London who find it appropriate to award themselves millions of our pounds in bonuses ) - Fucking Bravo! An economist who can count!

More than an ability to count, this chap can actually think a wee bit too! Check this bit out! Apparently "real incomes in the UK may be under pressure because of a fundamental rebalancing of the overall economic equation within the world economy" and so he gets to the humdinger of a conclusion

"if there is a reaction within the UK which sees ordinary consumers penalised for something that is entirely beyond their means to rectify through altering their pattern of consumption the consequence is that we will, inevitably, see an exacerbation of the fall in household income, and the creation of the environment for a double dip recession, which will inevitably follow.

So people getting shafted all ways because of government policy and having their disposable income rapidly diminished by those government policies are unlikely to need or respond well to further reductions in their disposable income, particularly not when the excuse for that (2nd shafting) is an alleged need to address the rising prices caused by the government policy (original shafting) in the first place.

All that does though is further enhance my view that economics is nothing more than opinion and occasionally some common sense. I don't know why I'm surprised, it is an arts degree after all. What I really don't understand though is why they seem to be held in such high esteem.

Economic theory

2011-01-18T04:59:00.001-08:00

I'm no economist. I really don't get it. I bought a book called "How economics explains everything" and it was the biggest pile of pish I've ever read. I take a look in the economics sections of various papers from time to time and as far as I can see economic forecasting is nothing more than guesswork based on past examples - sometimes they even use relevant past cases on which they base their predictions...

How so many of these geniuses failed to recognise that a system whereby really dodgy American mortgages could be wrapped up with occasionally good investment opportunity and rebranded as AAA bonds / securities / whatever whilst the people making the rating were getting incentivised to produce more AAA rated bonds / securities / whatevers... well that's beyond me. Then again I'm a simple engineer.

So, it's no surprise then that I find myself at a loss to explain the situation we are faced today with regards to inflation, VAT and interest rates. Apparently inflation is above target and that has come as a surprise to some of these bankers / economists... Maybe if some of them tried living in the real world with appropriate bonus-free salaries, the effect of the price of oil might not so easily bypass them?
Anyway, I digress. Here I stand as a UK mortgage holding householder with a small family which includes 2 pre-school dependants. I don't suppose that makes me an out of the ordinary case study. I've got a mortgage, keep my home heated, buy food regularly and drive to work regularly. I work in the private sector and haven't had a pay rise in 4 years...
Due to increases in the price of oil and gas my heating bill has risen considerably over the last couple of years.
Due to the increase in oil prices, the cost of my food shoping has risen considerably in the last few years - see the cost of basics such as bread and milk.
Due to the increase in Oil prices, the cost of my commute has risen considerably in the last few years.
Now the government has added 2.5% to VAT which they expect will directly result in a 1.4 point rise in inflation, breaching the 4% level.

In order to 'cool the economy' it is apparently the view of some economists that interest rates need to rise in order to take some money out of the economy. That's some euphimism for taking more of my money in order to further reduce my disposable income, lest I am tempted to go on some massive spending spree tipping us into the abyss.

I just don't have the words now to express the anger and helplessness I feel as I stuggle to live in this country of bountiful resource being run by mad men who'd rather see me lining the pockets of Multi-National Energy company's shareholders whilst living in poverty than imagine a country without Trident. Lunatics who think that big business and big banks can really survive without a civil society for them to operate within.

The bile is rising!

Gorgeous George

2011-01-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

Tremendous news that Gorgeous George Galloway is to throw his hat into the ring for a seat at Holyrood. He's exactly right about Iain Gray and it will be interesting to see how the non-entities on the Labour bench respond to someone actually showing them what Labour's values once were.

As an added bonus, the next time the yanks start demanding we sent someone over to explain our actions to them we've got a man who's already handed them their own arses on a plate.

BBC Wales

2011-01-17T05:07:00.001-08:00

With my fancy new Sky+ HD system installed, I realised last night that in order to see Match of the Day 2, I wouldn't need to suffer through the agony of Sportscene Scotland with it's less than stimulating coverage of the less than stimulating SPL. No, I could simply select one of the alternative BBC regional channels and skip straight to the highlights of Liverpool Vs Everton and Manchester United at Spurs.

I was slightly bemused to notice that whilst in Scotland we are forced through the trauma of our National game before the Premier League highlights program, in Northern Ireland they get a politics show pushing MOTD back in the schedule.

I opted for BBC Wales, if only to enjoy a melodious Welsh voice delivering the regional news and weather. Interestingly, the Welsh regional news sports section included coverage of the weekends rugby results as well as the football and also the Ice Hockey where I discovered that the Dundee Stars had beaten the Cardiff devils 2-1 ending the Cardiff sides 22 match winning streak... I didn't even know Dundee had an Ice Hockey team - never mind one that sounds like it might actually be quite good.

I quite enjoyed it as a News Bulletin and it made me wonder whether it was just the novelty of a different take on the days events that had me so impressed or is BBC Scotland really just a parochial wee sideshow with no interest beyond the Old Firm and what Labour have to say about the SNP?

Single Police force

2011-01-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure I understand the arguments against a single police force - The Scottish Police. We're not such a big country. Computing power and Telecommunications infrastructure, if not transport, has undergone quantum leaps since a Police Federation comprising of 8 distinct police forces was envisioned.

I don't really see how any of it can actually save much money in the short term though. Any savings through the increased purchasing power of the new unified force would surely be drastically outweighed by the consultancy fees for the new design of uniform, badge and vehicle livery {(c) Inverclyde public sector management}.

We'd still need the same number of Police officers to police the same number of citizens in the same number of cities and spread across the same (poorly connected) countryside. Those police officers would still report back up a command chain to someone responsible for the managing the policing of the local area. People accused of criminal activities would preseumably still be reported to the same procurater and the courts would presumably continue to be inundated with the same people.

There would still need to be adequate IT support in order to support the integrated police databases and provide local support.

How would it save any real money? What difference would it actually make?

Quel Damage!

2010-12-24T13:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry to hear that the authorities have managed to do for Tommy Sheridan, where the News of the World failed. Such a shame that it has come to this, that the state is so willing to expend countless police hours and resource on behalf of the Murdoch empire. Let's not forget the News of the World were willing to pay the equivalent of the damages Sheridan was awarded, for a tawdry piece of uncorroborated 'video' which didn't even show Sheridan's face.

I've no doubt he'll be doing a considerable stint inside - whilst the News of the World won't even be printing an apology for the 'lies' that they printed in exaggerating Sheridan's antics. It's a funny old world right enough!

Still, I'll always remember Tommy Sheridan as the young, firebrand agitator who stood up against the indignities of the Warrant sales, executed as part of Thatcher's assault on the poor. He was the one who fought for what was right and he was the one whose actions saw the Scottish parliament abolishing that abominable and humiliating deed. If only a few more of our politicians could see there way to getting a bit of 3-way bedroom action, we might have a parliament worthy of the name.

Another 6 charges dropped...

2010-12-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

The farce continues. The Crown prosecution service has taken to court umpteen charges against Tommy & Gayle Sheridan, dropping them willy nilly as they've been refuted or the witnesses discredited. Appraently the crown are allowed to continue dropping bits of the charges here there and everywhere as Tommy Sheridan has expended his efforts defending himself against them, but still the reamaing few are there for the jury to 'sharpen their focus'... I wonder what teh prosecution line will be?

"Come oan, there's nae smoke withoot fire. Look at aw thay charges we've dropped - he must surely have done something wrang"

I hope the jury see through it, stick with the verdict of the original trial and send a clear message to News international and the Crown Prosecution service.

1 down 1 to go

2010-12-17T05:40:00.000-08:00

The Procurators, having embarrassed the Scottish Judicial system for long enough, have finally dropped the remaining charges against Gail Sheridan this morning. Terrific news! Hope she has Tommy home with her next week as a free man to enjoy a good family Christmas and allow them to get on with their life.

The American wheels of justice

2010-12-10T01:48:00.000-08:00

It seems the anti-American agenda on the internet is ill founded. The Septics have every right to be concerned that people might find out what they're saying behind their backs - after all, how can you claim to be the world's moral authority if your opinions are revealed to be based on idle tittle-tattle or ill formed impressions of a foreign, sovereign, states's judicial system.

The concerns about Gary Mackinnon not getting a fair trial from these bams is just paranoia. Just because they come across as an nation of immature, gung-ho, rambo wannabes who simply can't handle getting a reddie from what they see as an inferior species shouldn't stop us extraditing a guy, who broke no laws in this country, over there to be made an example of.

I mean, how can we not love and respect a country that takes it upon itself to exonerate a dead rock star for flashing some 40 years ago.

How do the people who drive snow ploughs get to work?

2010-12-09T04:43:00.000-08:00

Way back in my childhood Billy Connolly was making something of a name for himself. We used to titter endlessly at his description of the wee guy biting his own willie to undo Russian behemoth, Ivan the Terrible, and his deadly full-pretzel hold. We listened on LPs and when the big yin was making an appearance on Parkinson, I was allowed to stay up to watch. Later when we got a video recorder, it was no-brainer Christmas present for the old man - one of the big yin's video classics.

One of the lines I remember most was his question about the people who drove snow ploughs and how they got to work. It's a cracker! So simple that I still can't work out why I find it funny. Is it that it was so obvious to me that the council (who ran the gritters and snow ploughs back in the day) would have known the bad weather was coming and would have had a plan in place to deal with it before the weather arrived, that it just makes it a stupid question to ask? Apparently not!

Still, I'm astonished to read lately that the guy responsible for sending out the snow ploughs is apparently Stewart Stephenson. Well, no wonder it all went tits up for us this week. He was probably at home over the weekend, not really bothering about the snow ploughs - surely someone else must cover him when's he's on holidays or something? Maybe not! Anyway, Stuarts at home chilling out with his wife or whatever it is he does of a Sunday and it's only when he gets into work on Monday and the snow has already started that he realises he'll need to call out the ploughs... alas and alack. Noone seems to have answered the heavy philosophical question posed by the big yin all those years ago... "How do the folk who drive the snow ploughs get to work?" The driver's cannae get to their big rigs with the plough on front and grit spreader on the back and we're all in the stew 'cos Stewie boy was chillaxing at home when he should have been on the blower to the drivers telling them to get intae work early on Monday.

Hell mend him I say! No need to ask any questions of the board at Transport Scotland. I imagine it's probably just a hobby for them to be involved in keeping the transport system running. I mean, just because this group of people happen to make big claims about their vast experience and knowledge of transport matters and are maybe remunerated in some small way for helping guide us on these matters, why the hell should Stephenson get off the hook for no getting in early on Monday and organising the ploughs to be out there before we disappeared under the forecast blizzards.

Julian Assange overtakes Tommy in Intrique

2010-12-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

Whilst I've been enjoying the socialist, class warrior's recent upturns in courtroom fortune - what with the Crown dropping bits of their story left right and centre, the former SSP self-impoloding all over again with their contradictions and poisonous bile, the drama has been on hold in the last few days to allow Julian Assange to overtake Tommy in my file of intrique.

The judge has apparently refused bail to Assange on the grounds that he's a flight risk... This coming after Assange was 'arrested by appointment at 09:30' - which suspiciously sounds like he handed himself in to me - now I'm no criminal mastermind, but people handing themselves into the authorities don't sound like folk looking to do a bunk.

Channel 4 news tonight had some absolute belters on with US senators claiming he should be executed or assinated asap - They didn't actually know which law had been broken. Indeed, one went so far as to claim if one hadn't been broken then the law needed changed so that they could execute him.

The strange thing is, it's not Julian Assange who has damaged the United States or any other country for that matter. It's the buffoon's who have been reporting on world matters / International diplomatic affairs in the manner that they have been which has actually caused the embarrasment. Surely the damage to the US Conservative tradition can only have been further sullied by the reactions of these prominent politicians and advisors.

Kicking myself...

2010-12-07T05:01:00.000-08:00

Never mind Tyre kicking, I'm kicking myself. Last year I slid about on the ice like Bambi in our front wheel drive car, that supposedly proves German advancement through Technology.

Having lived amongst the sausage munchers for a cracking couple of years back in the 90's I'm more than familiar with their habit (now enshrined in their laws, I believe) of having 2 sets of wheels, one for summer and one for Winter on their cars. It makes perfect sense. If you're going to shell out a significant wedge for a car, then a coupe of hundred quid on keeping the damn thing roadworthy in rotten weather makes sense. Not doing it because we only really have a few days of freakishly bad weather is false economy!! Remeber that! It's a false economy - don't be swayed!

I looked into getting some Winter tyres last year and after various discussions with dealers I decided the best way forward was to procure some 2nd hand wheels and get them fitted with the Winter tyres. You don't need snazzy alloys in the snow - noone can see them anyway! Plus in realy bad conditions you're pretty likely to be hitting kerbs and pavements as you try to park in the snow.

The results is that we can say with some degree of confidence I'm a lazy fud with some good ideas and pretty poor finishing skills!

From this year onwards we are a 2 sets of wheels for the car family!!! I promise!

Every cloud...

2010-12-01T01:55:00.000-08:00

It's long been a bone of contention between myself and any radio DJ that I deign to listen to on my route into work that they shouldn't bang on and on about the great stuff they're going to be playing in about half an hour, or just after 9.
Dominic Diamond when he was on in the mornings was a real sinner in that regard, but Billy Rankin can be a bit like it too. I'm sure they don't mean to annoy me, but I've got to get to work and I don't get the chance to impose my musical tastes on my colleagues once I'm there... which is why this Winter wonderland weather which has forced the school kids to stay at home and everyone else to drive at 10mph has been such a boon. I stoicly trooped into work this morning well after 9am with 'Bad to the Bone' still reverberating round my head... cracking stuff!!!... but it's not all good... It turns out that about 9am they start telling you what they're going to play at 9:30am... tossers!!

Barbarians team

2010-11-30T05:07:00.000-08:00

What a disapointing Barbarians selection

Barbarians: James O'Connor (Aus), Joe Rococoko (NZ), Drew Mitchell (Aus), Adam Ashley-Cooper (Aus), Ma'a Nonu (NZ), Matt Giteau (Aus, capt), Will Genia (Aus), Salvatore Perugini (It), Stephen Moore (Aus), Neemia Tialata (NZ), Anton van Zyl (Stormers), Chris Jack (NZ), Rodney So'oialo (NZ), Martyn Williams (Wales), Colin Bourke (Chiefs). Replacements: Keven Mealamu (NZ), John Yapp (Wales), Quintin Geldenhuys (It), Daniel Braid (NZ), Andy Ellis (NZ), Stephen Donald (NZ), Seru Rabeni (Fij).

I'd have liked to have either seen more home Nations players - surely John Barclay was worthy of a shout - or to have seen the efforts of the travelling Samoans better rewarded with some Barbarian acknowledgment.

Why Mealamu should be rewarded with a Barbarian cap after his thuggish antics at Twickenham is beyond me.

A Gentleman's family

2010-11-29T02:41:00.001-08:00

I'm not quite sure why it's called that, but late last Wed night, a beautiful, healthy, baby girl arrived to complete our home arrangements. The 3 year old boy is delighted to have a new baby in the house - even more so with the presents that she seems to have brought with her, although I suspect he's a little bit disappointed in her propensity to sleep all day and is quite unaware of how much energy mummy is expending in the night, trying to feed her.

Still, it's wonderful to have a new baby about the place.

Plus ca change...

2010-10-20T05:11:00.001-07:00

I've been mulling over multiple topics for blogs lately and there's more than a few subjects that I'm interested in these days.

The joke trial of Tommy Sheridan & Gail on Perjury for example (Hope Tommy wins again, not because I don't think he's been a shagger, more for the fact that I believe the original jury understood exactly what they were doing and were well within their rights to come down on Tommy's side - What has followed is a shambles!)

Rooney... good grief! If ever there was a time to knuckle down and just play football it's now. Who advises this loon? I simply can't see him settling overseas.

Trams - was over in the beautiful city of Bordeaux recently. It's not so long ago that they transformed their city with the introduction of a tram system and a few terrific other developments. The surrounding roads are still gridlocked morning & night as people try to get to the places trams don't go...

French food... Simple food, well cooked, superb! but on talking to my host, he was most surprised to hear how terribly we treat the wonderful fresh ingredients we have on our doorstep... I'm not sure he even believed me when I explained about Youngs seafoods shipping langoustine to Thailand to be peeled, deep-fried and frozen for a return to our domestic market. I am happy to report though that Scottish Smoked Salmon is still revered in France as the king of fish.

In the end though, I find myself overwhelemed with how many great blogs there are out there and astonished at the arrogance of yon Andrew Marr gadgie, with his plookey, weans, living at home analagy for people who make a far better fist of his job (media commentator) for free... is it jealousy do you think?

In response to the Marr chappie, I recommend you visit the web site of Jonathon Mitchel which I fell upon when reading the recent offerings from the similarly excellent Lallands Peat Worrier and his link to the QC's musings on Compassionate Release.

The end of an era... and the start of something new...

2010-10-01T01:42:00.001-07:00

It is with mixed emotions I hear that my good friend Finlay has decided to sell up his Guest house in Fife. The beautiful east Neuk village of Crail has become a real favourite of mine over the years and the hospitality at Caiplie House second to none.

He's a recently married man and it's time for a lifestyle change for him, so that's pretty exciting news and I look forward to seeing where he goes next.

If you're looking for a lifestyle change of your own, you could do worse than take a look here... http://www.bandbforsale.biz.

The Sons of William march on...

2010-09-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

Cracking result for the cream buns last night. They've certainly never been my cup of tea, as an institution or for their fan base, but you have to admire the manner in which Walter Smith has pulled them back from the Abyss, cajoled them into winning 2 Championships despite the crippling finances in the background and now a runner in the Champions league! An Away point at Old Trafford and a home Victory! Super stuff!

Hats of to Wattie!

Cheese!

2010-09-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

I don't suppose there will be that many weary travellers who come by this way without having already visited or having the intention of reading the praiseworthy efforts of former (vile) blogger Montague Burton, but if you haven't already experienced the Universality of Cheese or are vaguely interested in the notions of truth and hypocrisy bustin', then go see Mark... here .

Footballers, hookers and the press

2010-09-06T06:25:00.001-07:00

My world cup prediction for England was that their own press corp would find some way to publish a lurid story about one of the star players and cause tension in the camp. The internet is already rife with unsavoury rumours about the captain, but the team's performance was such that there was nothing the press could have done to make it any worse anyway. Anyone who is genuinely interested in how these overpaid loons spent their vast fortunes really needs to find something better to do with their time, but I really don't understand the mentality of people who continue to buy newspapers that so regularly set about undermining their National sporting ambitions.

Latterly it was thon lanky beanpole of a striker Peter Crouch who was in trouble for sleeping with a 'hooker', but now the main man Rooney is back in the news for also alledgedly using a prostitute. Many people often ask why these rich young superstars need to pay for sex, but the truth is they're not actually paying for the sex so much as paying for the girl to leave the next morning and for them to keep schtum... which is where my moral compass goes seriously awry! Part of me thinks it's a fairly grim business, but the other part of me thinks fair play to the girls who get to make a serious bit of moolah on the back of just doing what comes naturally. If the likes of the notorious belle de jour can carry it off and live with themselves, then who am I to tell them how to live their life.

Still, I can't help but think that 21 year old Jennifer Thompson who apparently charges £1200 per night hasn't gone and shot herself in the foot. Who's going to be paying for an escort who doesn't understand discretion? How's she going to return to a 'normal' life when she's exposed her 'secret' life so overtly? I hope the News of the World have compensated her well enough.

Who are the winners here?
News of the World gets a brief increase in circulation.
Rooney gets himself in big trouble at home and probably in his workplace too, unlikely to favour future interviews with the News of the World. His continued selection for England causes tension and distraction in the camp.
Jennifer Thompson gets reputation as a prostitute who doesn't understand the value of discretion.
The great English public, get to support that Australian/American press tycoon once more undermining their National football team in the name of tittle tattle.

My heart goes out to Coleen for having her life trashed in such a humiliating and public manner. I wonder which levels of hell will be reserved for the Journalists, the gobby hooker and the thicko footballer. Is it possible to put them in order of most offensive and if I did would it be too deep an insight into my character?

Blair pushed a disaster upon us

2010-09-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

No, not the Iraq and Afghanistan debacle, but apparently Tony knew Gordon would be a disaster and so it proved... So why did he allow it to happen, he was the man the public trusted to run the show?

Top leadership skills! or a classic See You Next Tuesday?

Scottish football - warped sport

2010-08-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

With the moral arbiters wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth at the possibility that some Pakistani players might have allowed bookmakers to lose vast sums of money - Quel Damage! - I note that the Scottish back pages have quickly forgotten Celtic's woeful European performance - what with that magnificent late penalty at Motherwell, who wouldn't think the corner had been turned! - and are celebrating the elevation of Anthony stokes to the Old Firm... What a joke!

With the war criminal still in charge of them, despite forking out a fortune for the worst manager in their history then replacing him with an untested and utterly inexperienced manager with a history of confrontation, particularly with their arch antagonists on the other side of the city... I am disgusted today that 3 games into the season they've signed the Hibs striker.

Having opened a new stand and with their history of boardroom parsimony I suppose it's only to be expected that Hibs would allow it to go through, but how disappointing for the Hibs fans to find that once again their club is treated as nothing more than a nursery for the Old Firm. No doubt time will pass and the the knuckle draggers will be bemoaning the lack of domestic competition which prevents them competing beyond... err August!!!! in Europe...

What sane competitive league would allow a team from the same league to sign a key first team player from one of it's rivals just after the start of the season, i.e. after pre-season training is complete and the manager has bedded in his first team? I understand that the manager should need to have contingencies for losing a player to injury, but to lose a top player who has been an integral part of your strategy and planning for the season must be utterly gauling. To lose him to a rival giving them both your player and an insight into your plans for the season... it's beyond belief!

Scottish Football? A cruel Glasgow-centric joke played on the rest of us!

The eternal and unchanging word of the Lord...

2010-08-12T01:04:00.000-07:00

I received this email from a mate. It's pretty funny, but as I'm a sad engineer I thought I'd check its veracity. It turns out that Dr. Laura Schlesinger does indeed exist and did use some poorly chosen words in a debate about homosexuality.

The version of the letter I received was attributed to James M. Kauffman, however that bit turns out not to be true - which is a shame, such great work shouldn't go nameless... maybe the original author feared a backlash of Levitican proportions. I've added links to the biblical references for your viewing pleasure...

In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.

The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14) I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan.

Joined up thinking

2010-08-10T01:16:00.000-07:00

So, the Edinburgh festival kicked off at the weekend, and I had a fantastic Sunday through in the capital. Took in a few shows, enjoyed the ambience in the High Street, the beauty of our ancient capital and the joy of great company.

I wasn't the only one though. There were thousands of people there on Sunday, and so there should have been for it was the day of the festival cavalcade.

So, bearing in mind that Edinburgh in August is one of the world's great jamboree's, where artists and entertainers from all genres gather to celebrate their vocation, you might think that the powers that be, who we trust to run our country might manage to think about how people will be getting over to enjoy this extravaganza.

The obvious way to get from Glasgow to Edinburgh is to jump on the train at Queen street, where the service typically takes around 50 minutes as it rattles through Croy, Falkirk and Linlithgow.

On a Sunday, there is one train an hour from Queen street up until 12:30. After that, the service doubles to 2 trains per hour. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the 11:30am train on Sunday morning resembled a high speed sardine can when it left Queen street. The level of discomfort then endured by people paying £10.80 for a return journey as our fellow passengers at the subsequent stations joined us, is indicative of the contempt in which Scotrail holds us. Is it really too much to ask that the people responsible for our transport infra-structure remove their heads from their arses and have a think about where people are likely to want to go and when. Big events require integrated thinking. We never get it!

What's good for the goose...

2010-08-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Aw for fox sake! Just when I thought that stirring controversy from fuck all hee haw, was the sole preserve of the Labour MSP, Alex Neil steps up to the plate to demand the resignation of Karen Whitefield... her crime? She's written letters of congratulations to Primary school children heading off to the big school after summer...

If there was some controversy over how Ms. Whitefield had obtained the addresses, maybe a quiet word in someone's ear over the aye's and naw's of database access. The dangers to children however are not from someone in public office sending them a letter of congratulations. To pretend that this is somehow an issue of child protection rather than some reprehensible and petty party political point scoring is insulting to us all.

Alex Neil MSP - "Seems to have little grasp of perspective! Must do better next term - perhaps paradoxically, should consider not trying quite so hard!"

Pathetic Peacock prefers pointless party political protest to personal pride

2010-08-05T01:55:00.001-07:00

Sad to see yet another Labour MSP stoop to the depths normally occupied by Richard Baker in order to get some press time. How pathetic is Peter Peacock? In, what I can only hope is faux, indignation he 'slams' Alex Salmond for a quip made to the excellent Scottish golfing magazine, Bunkered.

Mr Salmond told the current edition of Bunkered magazine, in an interview before last week's meeting in Dornoch, that ministers would be promoting the local hotel and good causes in the Highlands.

He added: "Having said all that, the fact that I've never played Royal Dornoch crept into the equation. As someone who has played hundreds of Scottish courses, I feel bereft that I`ve never played Royal Dornoch, but I`ll be putting that right soon."

Peackock's reaction:

"This is an extraordinary admission from Mr Salmond and an abuse of public money," the former education minister said.

Sometimes I think that the Unionist parties have taken it upon themselves to convince that electorate that we are too wee, petty and stupid to be responsible for our own affairs. If that's the case, good on Peacock and Baker for their willingness to take one for the team paying the price of their own dignity. Personally, I'd rather have Alex Salmond talking us up than have these stooges talking us down. I'd rather have the likes of the first minister giving rural communities the sort of boost that his quip could have been, without some big mouthed dummy spoiling the potential in order to score a worthless party political point - but hey! that's just me!

When I was 11...

2010-08-03T03:38:00.001-07:00

Astonished to read this story about 11 year old girls being on the pill.

When I was 11, the summer holidays were amazing. The weather was generally pretty good. Mum & dad both worked, but I had a Raleigh Grifter and some great pals and grew up in the sort of town where a lot of you probably went on your holidays anyway, so life was safe and fun.

At the start of the summer holidays during Wimbledon and for a few weeks beyond, Brent and I would head off to the tennis courts straight after breakfast and try to emulate the amazing Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors. McEnroe won Wimbledon that year, but I don't think either of us really took to him in the way that we did to the long haired swede or the enigmatic Connors. I can remember preferring Chris Evert-Loyd to Martina Navratilova, but was never really sure why.

If I wasn't playing tennis or riding my bike, then I was over at Kenny's really long back garden where we dreamt of being like Ian Botham. 1981 was the year of the Botham ashes, but it's not like beating Australia was such a great feat when we all knew that the West Indies would wipe the floor with either of them anyway. Still, it was lots of fun. I still maintain he was something of a 'chucker' with ball in hand.

If I wasn't riding my bike, playing tennis with Brent or taking part in an 'electric wickets' game of cricket over at Kenny's then I was almost certainly in Alastair's back garden, where his mothers washing line and poles were about perfect for a goal. The neighbours fence at the back prevented most of our headies and crosses going out of bounds. The only problem with playing football at Alastairs was that he was a mad Rangers fan and left footed, so he always got to be Davie Cooper and I had to be Dundee United... very tiresome for a tim, you know!

One thing that I absolutely know that I was not doing was shagging. I enjoyed at least another 7 blissful summers before all that yucky stuff starting getting in the way of my childhood fun. How worry I am for the daughters of today.

One More Chance!!

2010-07-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

Driving home from our visit to Granny Mac's today, the Janice Forsyth show (Radio Scotland) has a wee thing going on (can't remember what radio shows actually call it when they have wee things going on!). Anyway, this wee thing was called 'Covered Love' or something like that. Todays song of choice was Big Country - Tracks of my Tears; The way they finished every show (and that was quite a few!) that I saw them do.

I can't believe that it's close to 9 years since Stuart Adamson died. He was a massive hero and inspiration to me. The tracks of my tears today would have been for the big man. Big Country at the Barrowlands (many times) is where it was for me in my late teens and early twenties. I don't listen to the music that much these days, but I was delighted to hear it live on the radio this morning. Janice said that it was the B-Side (wonder if the kids today know what that means?) to Chance.

Guess what I found on you tube?

Chance - Live.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I always have.

Political Compass Revisisted

2010-07-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

Saw this on one of Subrosa's 'Other things you might like' widgets today and thought I'd revisit the old political compass. Surely now that I'm a middle-aged parent with responsibilities I'll have moved towards the Authoritarian Right...

Aye!

Admin error

2010-07-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

Like all those busy MP's and MSPs who seem to have forgotten the rules about expenses or whether or not they'd finished paying their mortgages I occasionally have wee administrative blips myself.

Cutting to the chase, I find that although I've been a constant lurker on the excellent Lallands Peat Warrior site for quite some time, I've never added him to my roll of honour on the right. I'd assume that most folk who find themselves here for whatever reason might then easily meander towards the 'cogitations from a cranachan cairn', but if you haven't I'd definitely recommend it, if only to enhance your vocabulary... you may need this though!

It's the bare necessities

2010-07-29T03:23:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a picture of the boay eating a cone with you all. We went to the park, we played on the swings, he asked if he could have an ice cream and I had the pennies in my pocket to get him one. Fulfillment for me and him. He gets the joy of the cone and I get the pleasure of buying it for him. It made me think a wee bit about life's rich tapestry and how the simplest of things can bring the greatest of happiness. What more does man really need than the opportunity to provide for his family?

Who thinks we should go?

2010-07-28T00:59:00.000-07:00

I'm doubtful about the guilt of Megrahi. I fully supported Kenny MacAskill's decision to send him home to die. I don't doubt the carthartic effects of being back in his homeland amongst his kith & kin has extended his life beyond the 3 month prognosis - which was not considered to be a certainty, but rather a "reasonable estimate"... actually if you want all the words MacAskill used, you can find them here.

I'm not quite sure why the US Senate commitee can't just look up the details on google as I have just done, but that's for them to worry about. After all, they're the legislature of a foreign country and who on earth am I to tell them how to go about their business? Then again, that's exactly why I am 100% behind Kenny MacAskill and Jack Straw declining their 'invitations' to attend a senate hearing. All the information available to the Scottish government and the reasoning behind MacASkill's decision have been made clear and is easily available. The difficulty might be if you expect a balanced media to have reported what MacAskill actually said, rather than the slimey words of Richard Baker or Douglas Alexander's slant on what he sort of said, then you'd struggle I suppose.

So, on that point, I've managed to find a host of bloggers who both agreed and strongly disagreed with the original decision to release Megrahi, now singing in unison that we should not be kowtowing to the US senate, having to explain ourselves. The only people who think we should are Richard Baker, Councillor Terry Kelly (who seems to think Alex Salmond should go for some reason) and the editorial team of the Scotsman. All fine, balanced, analytical minds I'm sure you'll agree, but I find them out of kilter with general opinion in the country - maybe that's just the section of society I find myself in. If you think otherwise, I'd love to hear why. Leave a comment - maybe even a link to your own blog.

A Day Out and a wee saunter down memory lane.

2010-07-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Was up at Loch Lomond yesterday for a spot of golf. Played the Carrick... well I say, I played the Carrick, really I wasn't very good. Came joint last in the day's play - so just remember that when you read that I wouldn't actually recommend the Carrick as a golf course for a tourist. It's certainly not a 'resort' style course playable for fun. The greens were incredibly slow and there were just far too many hazards all over the course for my taste. There are a lot more fun and historic courses around Scotland without having to pay the sort of Green fees that are called for up there.

The clubhouse / changing rooms were fantastic though... but then so were the bar prices! So fantastic indeed that we headed up to the Inverbeg Inn for a few beers before heading back to Houston for a meal at the Fox and Hounds, which was superb as always.

I worked as a waiter in the Inverbeg Inn back in 1987 and had an absolute ball that summer. I just can't believe it was 23 years ago now! but what changes have taken place up there. The place just looks superb now. A really good refurbishment if ever I saw one. I'll definitely stop in there for a spot of food sometime soon. The end of summer up there, just as Autumn's colours start to appear with an evening sun is how I always picture Ben Lomond.

Labour and the Tories want to give up British sovereignty

2010-07-23T02:17:00.000-07:00

Never mind that they want to be run from London, Labour and the Tories now believe we should be beholden to the USA.

Richard Baker, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, said: “It is quite extraordinary Kenny MacAskill has ruled out appearing before the US Senate inquiry. He and Salmond are the men responsible for the decision and they are now running scared.”

Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader, said: “The SNP would be the first to complain if anybody refused to co-operate with them so they must comply with this request from the US Senate.

The USA has no authority to 'summon' anyone, never mind the leaders of a sovereign Ally, to account for actions taken within their own juristiction. I'm getting heartily sick of seeing this moron Richard Baker's name appear everywhere. Given the old adage of infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters one day producing a Shakespearian play, perhaps one day he'll say something sensible, but I doubt it'll be anytime soon. What the devil does Ian Gray see in him? Well, apart from the £520 campaign contribution.

Agents of the State II

2010-07-23T00:18:00.000-07:00

Ian Tomlinson undoubtedly died as the result of an unprovoked attack by a Riot Squad policeman, but because the first police employed pathologist didn't do a very good job, neither the policeman nor the family will get day in court to exercise the evidence.

The authorities have once again let us down badly in what appears to be little more than a poorly contrived cover up.

The Met Police are out of control. The Authorities have little idea what it is that we expect of them. They're willing to extradite a computer nerd to a foreign state to face charges for a crime that didn't exist when he 'committed' it. They've dragged us into foreign wars under false pretences and now try to claim it was a good idea for other reasons - all I know is that we're a bigger terrorist target than we ever were before. They tell us that they are not complicit in the use of torture when interrogating terror suspects, when all the evidence suggests otherwise.

I don't believe them and I don't believe in them!

Agents of the State

2010-07-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

I hate it when we descend into the classic Scottish "Aye, but whit aboot" type of discussion.

So, for no particular reason, I've been musing on the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes. Innocent Brazilian electrician going about his business when brutally slain by the Metroplitan Police force, quickly followed by an orchestrated media campaign to distort the story, including a classic smear campaign against De Menezes good name (rape allegation!).

In the end, after 2 seperate police enquiries, the first of which absolved everyone of any blame, the 2nd of which slammed the police command structure. The crown prosecution service couldn't bring itself to bring charges against anyone, but a corporate action under the Health & Safaty at work act was successfully brought against the police, who were then fined... presumably, we the tax payer would eventually be ok with giving a public service vast sums of money in order to fine it back of them after paying out other vast sums to lawyers...

In the final wash out, the Metropolitan Police paid undisclosed compensation plus legal costs to the family in order for them to drop their ongoing litigation against the force. No member of the Metropolitan Police force faced prosecution. No member of the Police has been dragged off to die in a foreign jail. The payment of compensation has been deemed enough to satisfy the Brazilians demands for justice.

I wonder how we'd react if things were the other way about?

The bile is rising...

2010-07-21T01:13:00.000-07:00

I've been getting increasingly hacked off with the reporting of how naughty we Scots have been and how we're in big trouble of the big boays fur no doing what they think we should do.

1. How's Capt. William C. Rogers III enjoying his dotage - that's the former American Naval officer who shot down an Iranian airliner in Iranian airspace, whilst he was fannying about in Iranian waters, just in case you we wondering - the Yanks awarded him their legion of honour at the end of his stint on that particular ship.

2. The Libyans and the Yanks and everyone else agreed to have Megrahi tried under Scots law. He's been convicted under Scots Law and was serving his sentence under Scots juristiction. If the world didn't trust us to do the right thing, there would have been no trial or conviction in the first place! On that particular point though, I do wonder whether we didn't make ourselves stooges in the first place, given the doubts I have (shared by Dr. Jim Swire) over the validity of the conviction.

3. I've no doubt that had he spent another 3 months in Greenock prison, he would have died. The carthartic effect of him being returned to his homeland and family can not be underestimated. So fuck up with the criticism of the medical reports which quite clearly stated it was an estimate in the first place!

4. I'll enjoy the praise from the likes of Nelson Mandela and the potential peace that our compassionate treatment of a dying man could bring about over the criticism of any war mongering c*nts in Westminister or Washinton.

I know I'm not alone. Munguin says it here and James Kelly says it in many great posts, but Dark Lochnagar covers the anger I'm starting to feel best. I'm delighted to be in such fine company.

Open season... Dreaming of Fife...

2010-07-19T03:40:00.001-07:00

I had thought the summer's sports events were all over as news of the football pre-season was starting to dominate the back pages of the papers, but had almost entirely forgotten that the British Open was in St. Andrews.

It was terrific to see the Old Grey toon on the box all weekend though. St. Andrews and the North East of Fife must be one of my favourite parts of the world. The weather is better through on the East coast, I love the pubs and there are some great restaurants - BTW have you ever heard of the Fife Diet? A cracking idea that appeals to me in so many ways.

I'm not sure that I'd ever be that bothered about actually going along to a golf event though. For one thing the TV coverage is superb! I really enjoy Peter Allis's work - and I know he's not eveyone's cup of tea. The coverage and the camera work though is superb. I can even enjoy the golf on the radio, although the 5-Live limerick competition did become a bit of a distraction on Sunday afternoon. I've got no aspirations to play on the old course or to follow someone about the place watching them do what I can only dream of. I'd much rather go when the place is a bit quieter. Did you know the Old course is public and you can just walk across it on a Sunday? There's a beautiful seafood restaurant just over the road from the back of the R&A clubhouse too. A walk across the historical old Course, down by the beach and a walk in spot at a tip-top restaurant - that's my idea of a decent Sunday afternoon, far from the madding crowds! As for golf courses, well you could hardly beat Balcomie Links in Crail for scenery, history and a challenge. Leave the old course to the pros and the tourists.

On other matters golf, my far too generous in-laws offered to replace my recently broken 3 wood as a 40th birthday present. The result is that I'm now the proud owner of a Yonex nanospeed i. I'd never dream of spending that sort of money on a club for myself, but the gift was given for that exact purpose and what a club it is! I hit a hundred ball on Saturday and I could easily have stayed at the range and hit a hundred more. I cannae wait to get this wee beauty out on a course... I feel a trip to Fife coming on!

If you've not been to N.E. Fife, you should go. It's braw! If you ask nicely, Finlay might even do you a deal too ;-)

Is that a kayak in your pocket...

2010-07-12T07:43:00.001-07:00

So, for my 40th birthday weekend we got together with a few old pals and headed North. Quite often the wee group of weegie snowboarders and general outdoor enthusiasts that I belong to head towards Aviemore, but don't really love Aviemore itself. Normally we get a cottage or something in Boat of Garten, Carrbridge, Nethybridge... smaller places near to Aviemore.

This time I wanted something bigger than those wee villages but definitely not Aviemore. Fortunately for me a mate had heard of the Craggan's outdoor centre in Grantown on Spey. I'd been through Grantown a few times and liked the look of it, so called them up. Big Keith couldn't have been more helpful as I hummed and hawed about numbers and activities.

We went up on Friday night. With my wife by now pregnant, we stayed in the An Cala guesthouse in Grantown, where Val and Keith have deservedly earned their 5 stars from the Scottish Tourist board. With most of the gang having headed up on Friday, we had a cracking meal at the Garth hotel on a beautiful summers evening.

On Saturday, we hired some bikes from the outdoor centre and set off on a wee ride down to Boat of Garten. Unfortunately, Nicola managed to turn what should have been a tricky wee manouvere through a stream into a full blown plummet into a ravine... Always wear your helmet's kids! Nasty cut to the face and a couple of black eyes, meant she had to trek out to Aviemore for a clean up and tetanus check... But you don't knock a Glasgow girl so easily and she was back in the afternoon for glass or two of celebratory fizz!

The rest of us then spent Saturday afternoon larking about on the pond, learning the basics of kayaking and playing some great games in the pond, before finally learning how to enter the water from the slide.

Saturday night was mainly spent up at the Bothy. Just a few kms into the hills from the outdoor centre, the bothy is right beside a bigger bunkhouse, where a stag party of 27 guys were supposed to be staying. The guys were in terrific humour, but they headed out into the wilds of Grantown whilst we built a bonfire and sat about enjoying the simple pleasure of good craic with old friends and enough beer to float a battleship.

On Sunday, Finlay and I headed down to Carrbridge for 9 terrible holes of golf on a cracking wee course, whilst the rest of the gang drank coffee and read papers in the glorious June sunshine of the Scottish Highlands - what a waste of a morning!

No Mora Blogger?

2010-07-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who has dropped by for doing so. Especially thanks to everyone who bothered to comment.

I tried my hand at blogging because I thought journalism looked easy and I wanted to prove the point... well other than proving that people are equally capable of typing out dull, repeitive, copied ideas, I'm not really sure I proved anything.

At the previous elections I had some pretty strong SNP sympathies, but I felt pretty strongly that the stereotype of the Nationalist sympathiser was unfair. I wanted to express what I felt were my own reasonable reasons for supporting the SNP and try to disprove the notion that the SNP are some crackpot band of Anti-English rednecks. I'm a left wing, libertarian at heart, but I think of Scotland as a Nation with a history and an identity. I think of it as a resource rich land worthy of protection and I don't feel that London rule has always put Scotland's interests first - why should it and how could it?.

I'm utterly scunnered with politics though but even more so with what passes for our politicians - with the odd exception. Instead of regurguitating other people's political analysis, this is now the blog of a 40 year old (just 2 weeks ago, cheers!), left wing, libertarian who is going to do his damnest to enjoy life and leave a positive imprint.

Take it easy!