New website launched by the purveyors of the excellent Scots language books Itchy Coo - have a look at the Burns winners.
Excellent stuff!
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Another promise kept
Good to see that another SNP election promise is well on course to being met.
"1,000 extra police officers over four years" we said.
"1,000 extra police officers over four years" we said.
Calman - factually incorrect
After having given lawyers a dose of gratuitous (but obviously well-deserved) abuse, I have been chided by m'learned friend.
In the midst of such tomfoolery as legal types getting on tall cuddies, m'learned friend points out that the report of the Commission to Repaint Devolution contains factual inaccuracies. I've not had a chance to check his points yet, except this one:
The Labour Party was formally committed to home rule during the 1920s but growing ambivalence in the party led to the formation of a strongly devolutionist Independent Labour Party in 1932 and Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1934.
Well, you'll find that Labour had home rule in its policy platform in the 1880s (delivered nothing in government for over a century, right enough); Keir Hardie stood as an Independent Labour Candidate in March 1888; and the Independent Labour Party was formed in 1893.
None of that matters, of course, when you consider the incredible infamy of the idea that the SNP was formed from disillusion within Labour's ranks. There's only one place I've ever seen such tosh written - the Scottish Labour Party's website. Reliable and impartial research from Calman then.
Here's a more accurate view, filched (with no shame) from the website of Dingwall SNP (fine chaps and chapesses):
The Party's somewhat confusing origins can be traced back to several organisations advocating Home Rule in the 1920s and 30s. In 1928 The Scots National League (formed in 1921) and the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association (formed by John MacCormick in 1927) both combined with poet Lewis Spence's Scottish National Movement to form the National Party of Scotland.
The NPS can be seen as the most direct forerunner of the SNP as it shared the same left of centre, civic outlook as the modern party and the same commitment to independence. Many of its members were also involved in the literary and artistic renaissance that took place in Scotland in the 1920s. The first nationalist to stand for election was Lewis Spence, who contested Midlothian and Peeblesshire Northern in 1929. He won 4.5% of the vote and came fourth.
By 1934 the National Party had amalgamated with the smaller, more right wing Scottish Party to form the Scottish National Party.
Of course, it's not entirely accurate, I prefer to say we took over the Scottish Party and decided to change the name to the Scottish National Party - and a fine party it is, you should all join!
Don't trust the Commission to Repaint Devolution - their trousers are on fire. Mind how you go! (c) the train driver.
Beige, but with a hint of Brown ...
So Calman has reported - and very boring it was. The Commission to Repaint Devolution has recommended exactly what it was told to recommend by the Westminster machine - except for one line on page 120 "It has become clear throughout the first part of our investigation that devolution cannot be made to work properly. We have, therefore, changed the direction of our efforts in order to map out the best route to independence."
A bit strange that this is the only bit hand-written, but there you go.
This committee, the equivalent of a do-nothing machine but with less dynamism, strikes me as the close cousin of television as a babysitter. It doesn't matter what it says so long as the picture keeps changing.
It's like having an anarchist federation - a bureaucracy unsuited to its intent with a cacophony of unrelated but arrogant self-interests and a stunning misunderstanding of the meaning of the words in its title. Except the anarchists have better T-shirts.
I do like the fact that there's an anarchists' magazine called Organise though ...
A bit strange that this is the only bit hand-written, but there you go.
This committee, the equivalent of a do-nothing machine but with less dynamism, strikes me as the close cousin of television as a babysitter. It doesn't matter what it says so long as the picture keeps changing.
It's like having an anarchist federation - a bureaucracy unsuited to its intent with a cacophony of unrelated but arrogant self-interests and a stunning misunderstanding of the meaning of the words in its title. Except the anarchists have better T-shirts.
I do like the fact that there's an anarchists' magazine called Organise though ...
Monday, 1 December 2008
Poverty in the midst of plenty
The BBC is carrying a story about research done by Sheffield University boffins for the BBC.
It appears to show that Scotland has suffered badly in terms of poverty over the last 40 years with now 31.5% of Scottish households classified as 'breadline poor' - the worst figure measured (27.3% in 1970; 22% in 1980; 26.8% in 1990). Except the 31.5% figure which gives the BBC its headline of Third of Scots 'breadline poor' is from 2000 - eight years ago.
It's shameful that anyone should be in poverty in a nation as wealthy as Scotland - and that shame is thrown into sharp relief by the banks bail-out - but there are more recent figures (much more recent) and we should be using them to understand the depth of the problem and begin to get some understanding of what we might be able to do about it.
I know that Brown's imagery economic miracle and the measures he took to keep the boom going were damaging to Scotland's poor, and I know that some of the steps taken by the SNP Government in Edinburgh will go a small way towards helping Scotland's poor, but before we start excoriating Brown and praising the SNP we should get the up-to-date figures.
Then we can get on with it.
It appears to show that Scotland has suffered badly in terms of poverty over the last 40 years with now 31.5% of Scottish households classified as 'breadline poor' - the worst figure measured (27.3% in 1970; 22% in 1980; 26.8% in 1990). Except the 31.5% figure which gives the BBC its headline of Third of Scots 'breadline poor' is from 2000 - eight years ago.
It's shameful that anyone should be in poverty in a nation as wealthy as Scotland - and that shame is thrown into sharp relief by the banks bail-out - but there are more recent figures (much more recent) and we should be using them to understand the depth of the problem and begin to get some understanding of what we might be able to do about it.
I know that Brown's imagery economic miracle and the measures he took to keep the boom going were damaging to Scotland's poor, and I know that some of the steps taken by the SNP Government in Edinburgh will go a small way towards helping Scotland's poor, but before we start excoriating Brown and praising the SNP we should get the up-to-date figures.
Then we can get on with it.
A Las Barricadas!
Legal action continues apace in the battle to stop the (insert raging epithet here) takeover of HBoS. When I say apace, I mean apace, there'll be lawyers having to actually work for a living for a change.
I call for more! Alistair Darling should make it clear now what Government support HBoS would get if the vote was to plough a lone furrow. Hornby and co should also be making clear how the internal situation of the bank has changed since the Lloyds TSB ram-raid was announced.
This song wouldn't work with any other bank...
I call for more! Alistair Darling should make it clear now what Government support HBoS would get if the vote was to plough a lone furrow. Hornby and co should also be making clear how the internal situation of the bank has changed since the Lloyds TSB ram-raid was announced.
This song wouldn't work with any other bank...
Negras tormentas agitan los aires
nubes oscuras nos impiden ver
Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte
contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.
El bien más preciado
es la libertad
hay que defenderla
con fe y con valor.
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