Gnats defeated on draconian alcohol age restrictions

News has just come in that the Gnats have been defeated in the Scottish Parliament on their draconian plans to increase age at which alcohol can be bought in Scotland from 18 to 21 years.

It would seem that a combination of the votes of Lib Dem, Labour, Tory & Green MSPs saw off the Gnats and their daft legislation. Legislation which would have meant that a serving member of the Royal Regiment of Scotland could be killed in battle but be unable to buy a can of beer in an off-license. Legislation which would have meant that a newly married teen or early twenties couple could not have bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate their nuptials. Legislation which would have meant that people would have the vote for 3 years before they could drown their sorrows if the Gnats won!

Of course I accept that Scotland as a nation has a drink problem, however, I believe that the way to address this begins with the effective enforcement of existing legislation, especially when it comes to corner shops flogging bucky (Buckfast) by the bucket-load to teens or those acting on their behalf. We also need to seriously look at how alcopop style drinks are marketed at an increasingly younger market and generally have a serious look at the entire nation's relationship with alcohol.

Scotland's alcohol problem requires a "National Dialogue" not knee-jerk legislation.

Eck in fantasyland

Eck Salmond heid honcho of the Gnats seems to be living in fantasyland if he believes that they can gain at least an extra 14 seats at the next Westminster election. Reasons? Well at the 2005 Westminster election the Gnats won 6 seats and came 2nd in 20. Two of their held seats Perth & North Perthshire and Angus are held by a small majority (Perth 1521, Angus 1601) and are vulnerable to folk voting Tory to oust the Gnat type tactical voting.

Lets have a look at the 20 seats where they are second:
Airdrie & Shotts. Labour majority 14 o84. Swing required 21.2%.
Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill. Labour majority 19 519. Swing required 25.5%.
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East. Labour majority 11 562. Swing required 14.8%.
Dundee West. Labour majority 5 379. Swing required 7.3%.
East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow. Labour majority 14 723. Swing required 15.4%.
Falkirk. Labour majority 13 475. Swing required 14.7%.
Glasgow East. Labour majority 13 507. Swing required 21.8%.
Glasgow North East (Speaker). Speaker majority 10 134. Swing required 17.8%.
Glasgow South West. Labour majority 13 896. Swing required 22.4%.
Glenrothes. Labour majority 10 664. Swing required 14.3%.
Inverclyde. Labour majority 11 259. Swing required 15.6%.
Kilmarnock & Loudon. Labour majority 8 703. Swing required 9.8%.
Kircaldy & Cowdenbeath. Labour majority 18 216. Swing required 21.8%.
Lanark & Hamilton East. Labour majority 11 947. Swing required 13.7%.
Linlithgow & East Falkirk. Labour majority 11 202. 12%.
Livingston. Labour majority 13 097. Swing required 14.8%.
Motherwell & Wishaw. Labour majority 15 222. Swing required 20.5%.
Ochil & South Perthshire. Labour majority 688. Swing required 0.735%.
Paisley & Renfrewshire North. Labour majority 11 001. Swing required 13.5%.
West Dunbartonshire. Labour majority 12 553. Swing required 15.1%.

As they borrowed two seats from us at last year's Holyrood elections they must be added as Westminster targets too:
Argyll & Bute. Lib Dem majority over Gnats (4th) 9 070. Swing required 10.5%.
Gordon. Lib Dem majority over Gnats (4th) 12 910. Swing required 14.5%.

In a YouGov opinion poll which was published on the 8th of April voting intentions in Scotland were listed as Labour 35% Gnat 31%. Bearing in mind that Labour polled 38.9% and the Gnats 17.7% at the last Westminster election this shows that the Gnats have achieved a swing of 8.6% since then. This would mean that of their Labour target seats they would win Ochil & South Perthshire, Dundee West and be quite close to (but no coconut) Kilmarnock & Loudon. Say they also win one seat from us but lose one of their holds to the Tories, then they would have a grand total of 8 Westminster seats. A far, far cry from the 20 that Eck wants - does the man's arrogance and smugness have no end?

Being slightly less controversial, I would argue that voters tend to punish an unpopular government with whatever club available. This in Scotland could see us taking Aberdeen South, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh North & Leith and Glasgow North with the Tories possibly taking Dumfries & Galloway, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh South West & Stirling. Of course this will only happen if the current Government continue with their lack of popularity and remember that Broon will probably, given our current political landscape, continue until 2010. The Gnats also need to remember that people vote differently when voting for Westminster than they do for Holyrood.

"Slasher" Swinney

So Finance Minister John Swinney reckons that he's found £600 million of savings in this years budget. Well has he? Not quite - around £400 million has still to be identified by Councils, Health Boards, Crown Office, Police, Universities and Colleges will all be attacked by "Slasher" Swinney.
Councils will have to find £174 million in savings and the NHS boards will have to save £154 million. Councils on the worst settlement will be hardest hit and lets hope the NHS savings/cuts come from bureaucracy rather than front line services. I don't know about you but take a Council Tax freeze and add £174 million in "savings", suddenly we have the Scottish Government cutting services to the people of Scotland.

Lib Dem Finance Spokesperson, Tavish Scott MSP, said:
"Health Boards, local Councils, Universities and colleges have just been given a target with no evidence or detail on how they will meet it."

Independence referendum - our policy is wrong

It is my sincerely held belief that our policy of denying the question of Independence on a referendum on Scotland's future is totally wrong and completely unjustified. This policy, to the best of my knowledge, has never been decided by the sovereign body of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, party conference. Sometimes I feel that the Democrats word in our party name is undervalued.

The referendum should consist of four questions:
1. Return to Westminster only government
2. Status quo
3. Increased powers for Scottish Parliament
4. Independence

Being a Federalist I would vote for option three and I believe that the majority of Scots would also support that position, which happens to be Scottish Lib Dem policy and one that I heartily agree with. Virtually no-one other than the loons of UKIP would favour option one, though I suspect a fair few Tories would harbour that in their hearts. There may be a little more support for option two and there will be a certain belief in option 4 - I suspect somewhere between 20-35% of people would take that option. Polls regularly show that our position of greater powers for the parliament is by far and away the most popular.

The other reason for changing policy and having the Independence question?
The Gnats would lose and be killed stone dead for at least a generation and their electoral support would melt away like snow aff a dyke.

Salmond to face grilling by all MSPs on Trump

Gnat 1st Miniature Eck "two jobs" Salmond is set to be questioned by all MSPs over his involvement in the Trump planning application for a golf course hotel and hundreds of houses on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire. Of course the Gnats MSPs will be their usual supine lick-spittle selves and try to do everything in their power to give their boss an easy ride.

The debate is being called as the parliament's Local Government Committee voted 5-3 for a debate in Parliament with the three Gnats on the committee trying to stifle debate.

There are six key points in the report:
1. Trump tried to influence Salmond by sending him newspaper cuttings suggesting that the project may be moved to Northern Ireland.
2. trump phoned Salmond personally before the application was called in.
3. Despite his insistence that he was acting as a Constituency MSP, the 1st minister's office was closely involved in the process surrounding the Trump proposals.
4. mandarins were worried that wee Eck would meet Trump when he went on his jolly to New York.
5. Former worst minister, new labour's soon to ermine clad Jack McConnell, was keen to have his then administration involved with what he deemed as a "good news story".
6. Eck's staffers have had worries about the legitimate opposition to the plans and the fact that he seemed to be ignoring their concerns.

More to follow on this one.
Gnat MSP Kenny Gibson suggests that "most people are bored rigid with this affair". As usual Gibson's talking through his arse and even if that were true it is no justification for the Gnats puerile attempts at stifling debate on the issue.

Wee Eck "Cavalier" in attitude to Trump development

The Scottish Parliament's Local Government Committee has just published it's report on concerns over the Scottish Government's behaviour regarding Donald Trump's proposed $1 Billion golf development in Aberdeenshire.

Committee Convener, Duncan MacNeill MSP, suggested that: "The committee believes that, far from taking a precautionary approach, the first minister was cavalier in his actions and displayed, at best, exceptionally poor judgement and a worrying lack of awareness about the consequence of his actions"

The BBC reports that Several SNP committee members disagreed with a series of its conclusions. Quite frankly I would be astonished if any Gnats didn't back their heid honcho to the hilt as they seem to believe that shouting nothing is wrong loudly and often will make people believe that all was done properly. They are going to be sorely disappointed though. I'm sure there will be many more blog posts about Eck and Trump before all the alleged dirty linen has been aired.

Quote of the week from Nicol Stephen

In today's First Ministers Questions Scottish Lib Dem Leader Nicol Stephen MSP caught Gnat 1st miniature, Alex Salmond MSP, an absolute cracker on the Gnats evasion and broken promises regarding student debt.

He said "Who should we believe; Fiona Hyslop or Fiona Hyslop.com?"

This is in relation to the fact that Education Miniature Hyslop told a bare-faced lie last week when she denied that the Gnats had ever promised to abolish student debts.

Here's the quote from her own website: Yes. The outstanding student loans, with the exception of those sold to the banks, is owed to the Scottish Executive. This can be written off.

So Fiona, fib or faux pas?

Gnat Committee Convener becomes censor

The Gnat Convener of Holyrood's Rural Affairs & Environment Committee today turned into a censor by banning a legitimate line of questions which Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles was about to put to SEPA (Scottish Environment protection Agency) officials who were appearing before the Committee.

Mike was trying to ask questions as to why SEPA officials had withdrawn their objection to proposals to make major alterations to the MacDonald Highland Resort in Aviemore when Gnat MSP Roseanna Cunningham ruled the line of questioning "Out of order", leading to Mike leaving the meeting in protest. The owner of the MacDonald Highland Resort gave the Gnats a £30 000 donation last year.

Mike Rumbles has now lodged a complaint with the Conveners Committee in the Scottish Parliament.

He commented:
"I am outraged at the gagging order imposed by the SNP Convener of the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee.

Our committee is conducting an investigation into flooding. My question to SEPA officials about why they had withdrawn an objection to a planning application in Aviemore clearly fell within the remit of this investigation.

The Convener’s spurious reasoning that the Local Government Committee is examining the Aviemore planning scandal is simply untrue. No other committee is examining this issue. Regardless, that would not justify preventing SEPA officials from answering straightforward questions designed to expose potential flooding risks to this new development in Aviemore.

I am appalled that the SNP Convener has played party politics with such an important issue and I believe that she has risked bringing the Scottish Parliament’s well regarded committee system into disrepute.”

What a Gnat plonker

Gnat list MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife Christopher Harvie hadn't made it onto the radar before now. He has successfully attracted the attention of the media with his comments about Lockerbie and the dress sense of Scottish teenagers. I'll simply let the pillock speak for himself:

"On getting to Lockerbie, I discovered that the place is a dump - it was Tescotown. It should really have a certain attraction of a rather sombre kind as a place where something terrible happened; there are, after all, places on the western front and that sort of thing that have such an attraction for families who have lost people there."

"There are some attractive Victorian buildings, but roughly two thirds of the shops in the main street are derelict, and there were lots of kids hanging around the place smoking, drinking and so on. It was not in the least attractive. "

There is also the issue of Scottish youth, and I am afraid that I have to describe it in the following way. Travelling back and forth on the bus from Galashiels, the local kids get on and put their feet, with big muddy trainers, right up on the seats opposite."

"The kids are a problem, and those are the people that the industry needs as its staff. It is a problem that one encounters almost nowhere else in Europe. "

"It must also be said that the most immense fortune that has been made in Scotland in the past few years - that of [Sports Division founder] Tom Hunter - has arisen from selling people what must be the ugliest clothes worn by anyone on the entire continent. "

"Bavarian kids rarely wear anything other than knickerbockers or something like that, but here that is replaced by universal sports goods, barely concealing the fact that Scotland is perhaps the least healthy nation in western Europe. We have a lot of problems there. Our remit . . ."

I wonder if he's been taking his medication?

Gnat Minister Mike Russell said that the remarks were "over the top" but then, incredibly, said that calls for an apology were a knee jerk reaction. The poltroon Harvie has now apologised.

P.S. The high fashion comments come from someone who regularly wears Plus Fours around the Parliament.

What a shower of wimps

As is my norm in the morning I tune my radio to Radio England, sorry I meant Five Live, only to hear Nicky Campbell ( Scottish by birth but gone native presenter of the breakfast programme) wittering on about the great English earthquake. Little damage and almost no-one injured!

If Scotland had an earthquake where hundreds died and millions of pounds of damage had happened the news would barely register on the English Broadcasting Corporation's radar. OK, perhaps that's a tad OTT, but the basic principle is sound. Parts of the BBC are becoming the EBC. Five Live and News 24 are just two examples I can cite. This simply gives ammunition to the Gnats and is inherently weakening the Union.

C'mon Auntie, you can do better than this.

Visit Scotland, Visit Berwick-upon-Tweed

There's been some ballyhoo up here about a couple of opinion polls in which the denizens of Berwick-upon-Tweed expressed their desire to leave England and become part of Scotland.

One survey for ITV1's Tonight programme saw resident's vote by 1182 to 775 in favour of becoming part of Scotland. nother poll in the Berwick Advertiser saw 78% vote to leave England.
The town has a population of 11 600 and is part of Lib Dem MP Alan Beith's constituency and has 13 Lib Dem Councillors to 10 tories and 6 Independents.

It has been suggested that the pro-Scotland sentiment is due to a feeling of being on the periphery of England and of isolation from London. Cynics would suggest that it is more likely to be the realisation that the average Scot has £1500 more spent per annum on them from the public purse than the average resident of England.

I'm sure Mike Moore who is Lib Dem MP for the neighbouring Scottish Constituency of Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk would welcome all those extra Lib Dem voters with delight.

Of course Gnat heid honcho Eck salmond has weighed in with a threat to start legal moves to bring Berwick back into Scottish control, according to the Scotsman newspaper. You would think that he had more to do with his time, such as runnning his Gnat Scottish "Government".

Tory MP facing suspension over allowances

Derek Conway the Tory MP for Old Bexley & Sidcup is facing a 10 day suspension from the Commons over upheld allegations that he wrongly misused allowances to overpay his son who was working for him part-time. (Wonder if he knows who the allegators are? - don't ask - this is a wonderful modern urban myth about an old Labour Councillor in Lanarkshire.)

The Commons Standards & Priviledges Committee has ruled that he should repay The overpaid bonus sums" . Conway's son Freddie was paid at the full time equivalent of nearly £26 000 per annum but the Committee noted "no records appear to exist of actual work that FC did for his father, or the work he was required to undertake." they added "we are astonished that there appears to be no evidence, independent or otherwise, of any aspect of FC's work for his father" they further said that he had little or no contact with his father's office, either in the House or the constituency." During most of this period Conway junior was studying full time for a degree at Newcastle University. Newcastle is a mere 315 miles & a 5-6 hour drive from Sidcup.

The Committee further added that the arrangement was "at the least an improper use of Parliamentary allowances and at worst, a serious diversion of public funds."

"taking together our assessments of the salary level paid to Fc and the number of hours he was remunerated, we are of the view that Conway misused the staffing allowance."

It's my opinion that events such as these, Labour's ongoing donations troubles and the Gnat's possible problems over allegations that a donor had Scottish Government Ministers intervene in the planning process, all tarnish the public view of politics and politicians. It's high time that we gave serious consideration to the public funding of political parties and banned individual donations of more than, for example, £1000.

Salmond piste off in new planning rumpus

It has emerged that Gnat FM Eck Salmond is embroiled in another planning stooshie. This one is to the tune of £30 000.

He is accused of meddling to rescue plans to expand the MacDonald Highland Resort in Aviemore. The Chief Executive of the company which owns the resort is Donald MacDonald who, last year, donated £30 000 to the gnats.

It seems that he spoke with Scotland's Chief Planner on the issue and also instructed Environment Minister Mike Russell to contact SEPA (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) who had objections to the development which were holding up the planning process.
Within days of the Minister contacting them SEPA dropped their objections.

Scottish Ministers are barred from interfering in planning applications unless it is in their capacity as a Constituency MSP. Aviemore is not in the Constituency of either Salmond or Russell.

Truth will out, eventually.

Gnats U-turn on nuclear power

Well the honeymoon period for the Gnats so called "Scottish Government" is well and truly over, I'm pleased to say. For far too long this ill-assorted group of whingers, held together only by desire to destroy the Union, have been getting an easy ride from the Scottish media and, in particular, by the serious press (I can't with hand on heart call them quality press).

In the latest in a long line of broken promises, u-turns and flip-flops, they have now decided to approve British Energy's plans to extend the life of Hunterston B nuclear plant, which is 14 miles from my front door in Ayrshire, for 5 more years until 2016, with the possibility of another extension after that. A plant which incidentally, is only working at 60% capacity for safety reasons.

Here's what their 2007 manifesto had to say on nuclear power:

"No to Nuclear
As a starting point a Scotland led by the SNP will say no to new nuclear – power stations
or dumps. An SNP government will make clear that Scotland does not require a new nuclear
power station.

We will involve all of Scotland in the preparation of extensive and effective clean energy
legislation.

It is important for Scotland that we have comprehensive legislation to take forward our clean
energy ambitions. We will therefore bring together stakeholders on a cross-party and non-party
basis so that we can agree a joint approach to clean energy legislation and introduce a bill in the
second year of government that can attract a consensus in parliament."

Yes, yes, yes, I know that there is plenty of wriggle room in their but they have positioned themselves for years as being anti nuclear power and all behind green energy. It's quite pathetic that at the first test of their claims, they failed miserably.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not dogmatically anti-nuclear. If the nuclear power industry could safely reuse their waste for future energy production whilst keeping us safe from radioactive contamination, if we didn't have radioactive beaches in northern Scotland, if we did not use any nuclear materials for weapons, if we didn't have convoys of nuclear material criss- crossing the country, then, and only then, would I be willing to support nuclear energy. Until then I stick with the old adage that "the only safe fast breeder is a rabbit".

26 Aberdeenshire councillors & a "First Minister" with questions to answer

News has just broken that Councillor Martin Ford has been sacked as Convener of the Council's Infrastructure services Committee by 26 votes to 10. This is because he, following customary practice, gave his casting vote on the hugely controversial Donald Trump development which was planned for the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire. This is craven behaviour by the Councillors who voted to sack Martin and seems like vindictive political behaviour of the crassest sort.

An emergency meeting of the full Council is also to be called. The "Scottish Government" has also "called-in" the decision, which the Council cannot overturn themselves, as they bollocked up their rules which meant that the Infrastructure Services Committee has final say on major decisions like this rather than Full Council.

In another interesting development in this ongoing saga, it seems that Gnat First Minister, Alex Salmond, used his Ministerial limo to travel to a meeting with Trump's underlings the night before his "Scottish Government" called-in the planning decision to have the final say on the proposal. Salmond cannot comment on the planning process and may well have broken the Ministerial Code of Conduct by using his official limo to attend this meeting. Salmond has also recently been wined and dined by Donald Trump in New York.

I had been in two minds about this proposal but the bullying behaviour of the Trump organisation, the destruction of a SSSI and the opinion of people whose views I respect have brought me round to opposition. Perhaps if the Trump lot had been a little more flexible over the site then a decent compromise could have been reached.

If the Gnat "Scottish Government" overturn this planning decision then they will have prostituted Scotland and all they will then be doing is haggling about the price to have international capitalist's F*** us over.

LATE EXTRA: I now understand that 3 Councillors were absent from the meeting today and 29 chose to abstain on the vote.

Blow for Scot Gnats as only 23% back break up

As reported in virtually all Scottish media this morning, support for independence has fallen to a 10 year low of 23%. This must be a slap in the face for the gnats and their leader Eck. It also confirms that many people voted gnat in May as a way of giving the sitting Scottish Executive partner parties a slap and to tell us to buck our ideas up.

The great news for us in the Scottish Lib Dems is that 55% of Scots favour our long held position of greater powers for the Scottish Parliament.

Only 10% believe that the parliament should be abolished and 8% believe that the Parliament should have no taxation powers.

Lamassoure-Severin report might bode ill for Scotland

The European Parliament voted in Plenary Session today adopting the Lamassoure-Severin report on future numbers of MEPs for EU member states. This will mean that the number of UK MEPs will fall from the current 78 to 73, which has worrying implications for the number of Scottish MEPs. We currently have 7, including my employer Elspeth Attwooll. It is possible, depending on the PM, that this will fall to 6.

If our numbers reduce to 6 then, in my opinion, will give the Gnats an open goal against the Federal & Unionist parties in Scotland. Why? Well Malta (Pop. 400k), Luxembourg (Pop. 460k), Cyprus (Pop. 766k) & Estonia (Pop. 1.3m) will all also have 6 MEPs. In addition; Slovenia (Pop. 2m) will have 8, Lativia (Pop. 2.3m) 9, Lithuania (Pop. 3.4m) 12 and Eire (Pop. 4.2m) will also have 12. The Gnats will surely argue that Scotland, with a population of just under 5m, would be confident of having, at least 12 MEPs if we were "Independent in Europe". They will then use this as a club to beat us Lib Dems, New Labour and the Tories for opposing their loony tunes plans to have the UK broken up. Worrying. However there are quite a few stumbling blocks before this happens so there may be a ray or two of sunshine for us yet.

http://www.elspethattwoollmep.org.uk/

A grubby, tacky deal stitched together in spite filled rooms

Today North Ayrshire Council had a full Council meeting. At this meeting the SNP (8 Councilors), Tories (3 Councillors) and 4 of the 5 so-called Independents produced a last minute motion to exclude our 2 Lib Dem Councillors from ALL COUNCIL COMMITTEES! This passed on the casting vote of the SNP Provost.

How can these people be so arrogant as to exclude our democratically elected Councillors from participating on the Council's Committee structure? The whole thing was cobbled together by the SNP as I understand. This is a despicable, politically immature, act which makes me fear that the new proportional system of electing Councillors is not understood by the SNP with the increasingly irrelevant Tories and 4 of the "Independents" going along for the ride.

I understand that the SNP are flexing their muscles as the 2nd largest group on the council but it's no way to win friends and influence people and a bloody affront to democracy. They have let themselves down and, most importantly, have let down the people who elected them.

If this is how they are behaving locally then how are they going to behave as the governing party in Scotland? - very badly, I fear.

Maybe we should take a lesson in democracy from England where all Council Committees are shared out on a proportional basis.

A final word to the SNP & Tories and their "Independent" (sic) bedfellows: stop your political posturing and tribal politics - the folk of North Ayrshire deserve much better.

The end of a friend

Yesterday I decided that I'm finished with the Sunday Herald. It's been coming a long time now and as I've been a loyal reader since it's inception in February 1999, it's feels a bit like losing a close pal. But I've had enough, as we say in this neck of the woods, I'm fair scunnered. It used to be a moderately left-of-centre newspaper but generally politically balanced. But for months and months all that seems to happen is the Lib Dems and Labour take a battering, indeed it feels like reading the "Sunday Gnat". Yesterday's enormous article by Alan Taylor about the Heid Gnat being the straw and camel moment.

I quote: "If Salmond is to lead the Nationalists at Holyrood after May 3 he must come from third place to first in order to eclipse a LibDem majority of 4500 and thus win the Gordon seat on which he has set his heart. Nor can he expect any help from the Tories, who four years ago finished second, and Labour, who came fourth with almost 3000 votes. Indeed, it is perhaps fair to surmise that the enemies of the SNP, and of Salmond and independence, will do everything they can to ensure a LibDem victory, even to the extent of standing aside."

What utter balls! The Tories and Labour standing aside - sheer claptrap! We will squeeze their voters very hard in our determined fight to beat off this chancer who wants to represent two different sets of constituents in two different parliaments. This man Taylor doesn't even have the courtesy to name the sitting MSP! I've been up to Gordon many times over the last 4 years and I know what a first class MSP NORA RADCLIFFE is and how hard she has worked for her constituents over the last 8 years. I'll certainly be going back as often as I possibly can over the next few months and doing my bit to re-elect oor Nora.

I'm really going to miss Tom Shields' Diary - it was almost worth buying the paper for his wit and wisdom alone.