Nicola Sturgeon has today saved both Ayr A&E and Monklands A&E from closure, a reversal of labour policy which will no doubt save lives - Thankyou.
On a more personal note many thanks to my local MSP Kenneth Gibson to his prompt response to an urgent personal problem concerning emergency dental treatment for my daughter today. It was very much appreciated by the entire family.
]]>I watched the results trickle in with great fascination. I live in the Cunninghame North constituency where Alan Wilson Labour Minister for Enterprise lost his seat by 48 votes, I had been speaking to people locally and was actually surprised that the result was so close as the majority I had spoken to had said they were voting SNP this time - I had therefore expected the gap between SNP and Labour to be much bigger than the 48 votes, but then we have the spoiled ballots to take into account so there is perhaps a chance that the gap was bigger.
The SNP made gains in North Ayrshire council too as did independents leaving no one party in over all control - some have welcomed this as a victory in what they have referred to as the 'smashing of the labour nepotism ring' in Irvine ( seat of the council), if such a ring existed or not can be debated however public perception is that such a ring did exist.
The Big story though is that of Alan Wilson losing his seat to Kenneth Gibson of the SNP - Labour have now suggested that Mr Wilson will challenge this result in the courts - I think if he does and it forces a bi-election here - Mr Wilson may well be in for a shock, such a case may well be interpreted locally as sour grapes at losing his job - this ofcourse means that Mr Wilsons staff in the Kilbirnie office will also be losing their jobs - If I am correct that means that at least one of Mr Wilsons relatives. If Mr Wilson takes this case to court I am wondering what he can expect to achieve - another election across Scotland? This was not the only constituency that had a large number of spoiled ballots - they all did. Some very unexpected results were obtained such as Tommy Sheridan losing his seat - could it be the case that all of Tommys votes needed for a seat were in that number of spoiled ballots and lost postal votes? Mr Wilson could well be setting up a domino effect across Scotland with this challenge - its not over yet for anyone by a long shot. What is apparent is that the SNP have won the popular vote right across the country in both parliament and the councils and we can summise that in those spoiled papers there will be a very simillar reflection of the ballots which were actually counted - if this is the case Mr Wilson will achieve nothing but a waste of tax payers money - can he not just bow out gracefully like Tommy Sheridan and say 'theres always next time'.
]]>The brief history is that when Elizabeth I of England died without having an heir apparent, she was succeeded by James Stuart, James VI of Scotland who became James I of England and the United Kingdoms. In 1707 this union of the crowns was put on a much more formal footing, when the Scottish Parliament was disbanded in favour of a United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster in which Scotland was to recieve equal representation in that she was to elect and send Members of Parliament to Westminster to represent her interests. The reasons for the Act of Union are complicated and not entirely economic although the faliure of the Darien Project was a major contributory factor to this decision being taken.
For 300 years the people of Scotland have elected MP's and sent them to Westminster - our politicians have held some very prominent posts in Government during that time and still do. We have Scottish people representing English constituencies and this illustrates the bonds of the union and the acceptance of the British Identity within Scotland and amongst the Scots.
During that time and right from the beginning of the Act of Union there have been rumblings of discontent from minorities as is apparent in the Poetry of Robert Burns, the establishment of political groups such as the United Scotsmen, the SHRA and of course the SNP. But this does not mean that their opinion is that of the majority. A recent poll showed the 56% of those polled didn't want a break from the Union but infact wanted more powers for the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood within the UNITED KINGDOM.
The new Holyrood Scottish Parliament came into being after the people of Scotland voted in a referendum for a parliament of their own with tax raising powers. This didnt mean that the people of Scotland wanted an end to the union, just that they felt that a Scottish Parliament could deal with issues effecting Scotland better than the UK government. Scotland has retained its own distinct legal and education systems and the inception of a new Parliament to deal with this on a more localised level was an idea most Scots took to. However this has left a democratic deficit in England, the UK consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, of these only England does not have a more local parliament/assembly to deal with solely English matters. The West Lothian question highlighted this matter and has remained a bone of contention although there doesn't appear to be the same focus on MP's from Wales or Northern Ireland voting on English only issues as there is concerning Scottish MP's.
Now in Scotland we are facing another election with our FPTP, Additional Members List and council votes. The battle is hotting up between the SNP who are currently ahead in the polls and Scottish Labour who are not that far behind. One pro-nationalist party and a pro-unionist party all other issues appear secondary to the issue of the United Kingdom and Scotlands place in it. For once the politicians need to get downright honest - I am sick of hearing the Wallace scenario portrayed as the current one - SCOTLAND DOESN'T NEED FREEDOM WE ARE ALREADY FREE- WE ARE NOT SLAVES, WE ARE NOT SUBJUGATED TO ENGLISH RULE - WE ARE PARTNERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM - EFFECTIVE PARTNERS and the myth that our position within the United Kingdom is anything other than one of PARTNERSHIP needs dispelled the entire 'INDEPENDENCE' Issue is a misnoma - we are not dependent!
]]>So now Iran are saying that they will release the British Female Sailor - and have put her on tv apparently 'confessing' to being in IRAQI waters - she also said that she has been treated well as have her fellow captives, the picture evidence of them all eating a meal seems to substantiate that they are well but I couldnt count 15 in the footage, where and how are the others?. There is also information that Iran intends to put the rest of the captives on TV apparently to make simillar 'Confessions'. Isnt it against some convention or other to do this to military personnel?
I am now wondering what will happen next, Bilateral relationships have been suspended with IRAN and apparently the diplomatic machine is still in action.
I wonder how much longer this manufactured crisis will continue and how much further it will escalate. We have naval manouvres in the region taking place - a thinly veiled show of strength by allied nations, perhaps a warning of what may come if Iran continues to defy the international community on certain matters. I am wondering why the UN is strangely quiet over this one, given that the Sailors were engaged in UN business - surely as I said earlier this should be construed as an act of aggression against the UN. What do you think?
Instead we have Blair who was missing in action for a couple of days and then crawled out of the EU woodwork to make a statement which went something like, 'I say you chaps, let our sailors go, its simply not cricket to behave like this, if you dont let our sailors go we will get serious about this' Tougher than a soggy fish finger in this instance Mr Blair! You weren't so polite about taking the UK into an illegal war in iraq or so weak willed when lying to the House of Commons over the weapons of mass destruction, why have you turned into a spineless jelly fish when the fate of the matelows is at stake?
I would like to remind you of a Pink Floyd song Mr Blair, perhaps it will inspire you to make the fuzzy wuzzies give back our Matelows.
Breshnev took Afghanistan,
Begin took Beruit,
Galtieri took the Union Jack
and Maggie over lunch one day
took a cruiser with all hands
apparently to make him give it back!
( Pink Floyd the final cut - get your filthy hands off of my desert)
200 years ago I wasnt born, my generation were not even a twinkle in our ancestors eyes. My ancestors possibly in common with other peoples ancestors were probably working in one of the now defunct local mills or the mines, which are now closed or perhaps as indentured servants for one of the mill or mine owners. Their living conditions would have been appalling, their means next to non-existent or perhaps if indentured their lot no better than that of those we traditionally think of as slaves. In scotland even miners were indentured to the mine owner, slaves in all but name. Perhaps one of my or your ancestors was one of those children sent in to clean the machinery in the factories, a task which often maimed or killed the child. Or perhaps one of our ancestors was a child cleaning the chimneys of the well to do. What I do know from my delving into geneaology is that not one of my ancestors was a slave trader and I am guessing that this is true for the majority of the population of the UK.
This morning I have been watching the BBC programme Heaven and Earth and was appalled to hear a gentleman expect that white children in the UK hang their heads in shame at the slave trade. Our government today was not in power in the days of the slave trade, we were not here. Our society finds Slavery an appalling part of our national History, we would not tolerate such abuses of human beings in our society or by any members of our society today. We have learned the lessons of history and drawn from them to create a better, fairer society and yet there are demands that we collectively feel shame for slavery and apologise for it.
The Slave owning famillies, those who traded in misery and made their fortunes off of the back of slavery may well have some kind of redress to make, but to whom should they make it? Non of those who were enslaved are alive today. Doubtless the life styles of some individuals today have their roots in the profits gleaned from trading in human beings, in the same vein there are also famillies today whose affluent lifestyles have their roots in the profits gleaned from the misery of the british population enslaved in all but name in factories, mills and mines. Then there are the sailors who worked on the slave ships, often press-ganged into service and forced to endure horrendous conditions of a life at sea. There are also famillies out there who made their fortune through events like the highland clearances, where land was grabbed for sheep and the former inhabitants of the land forced to the Isles to collect seaweed until there was no need of this and then they were forced onto ships and transported abroad.
This world we live in has a violent, barbaric and often heart breaking past, where one human has routinely exploited another in the name of profit. Where human treated human with such cruelty and disregard for suffering that we are often forced to ask the question ' was there an ounce of humanity in their souls'. But does this mean that generations later we should expect everyone to be shamed simply because of their nationality or their race?
The apologists representing organisations involved in attrocities like the slave trade are right to apologise on behalf of their organisation for their part. I am thinking here of the churches and the companies involved in slavery of all kinds. But I am still left questioning who the apologies should be directed at. Those to whom the apologies would have made a real difference are long dead.
If we go down the route of expecting apologies based on skin colour or nationality, will we expect the Itallians to apologise for enslaving the Britons or perhaps the Saxons to apologise for enslaving Celts. Slavery is part of a brutal past in HUMAN history, so should the population of the planet begin apologising to every race, nationality, tribe etc that they have ever been slave masters of?
I and you never participated in the slave trade, we collectively have probably never profited one iota from this trade in misery, there are famillies in our society who have and if they wish to apologise for the actions of their ancestors so be it. But I ask you this question do we expect apologies from the famillies of serial killers, do we expect apologies from the ancestors of those who commit attrocities or do we acceptt that the responsibility for the actions of an individual lie with the individual. Is it Just to blame Uganda for the actions of Amin for example or Cambodia for Polpot?
I feel sad about the transatlantic slave trade, I recognise it as an appalling abuse of human beings by human beings. I feel strongly that as the nation who led the way in abolishing slavery, we have a duty to mankind to tackle slavery wherever we find it, in the sex parlours of Glasgow, in the sweat shops of India, in the factories of China. But I will not join the apologetic throng sweeping the UK, blaming themselves for the Slave trade. Slavery was NOT YOUR FAULT, you have nothing to apologise for, you only have a duty as a human being to learn about the slave trade and to ensure that it can never be accepted that people in this world exist as slaves.
]]>Dear embarrassed prisoner,
That message is also giving a choice to the person who picks up the phone as to wether they want to recieve a telephone call from a criminal. It gives the citizen who has not broken the law a freedom, you however have broken the law and therefore your freedoms are restricted. That is your punishment for breaking the laws of the land. Being in prison is meant to be a punishment and I am pleased that you find it embarrasing to be reminded of where you are, perhaps that also makes you think about what you did and the victims of your crime. You have a debt to pay to society and if this message reminds you of why you are inside then thats good news for the rest of us, because you should be reminded every day of why you are in prison and what you did, in the vain hope that when you are released to re-enter society your shame of your crime will ensure that you do not re-offend.
Yours Sincerely
Shaz the Prole a member of society and a law abiding citizen
Definition of Domestic abuse
Patterns of behaviour characterised by the misuse of power and control by one person over another who are or have been in an intimate relationship. It can occur in mixed gender relationships and same gender relationships and has profound consequences for the lives of children, individuals, families and communities. It may be physical, sexual, emotional and/or psychological. The latter may include intimidation, harassment, damage to property, threats and financial abuse (CAFCASS, 2001)
Forms of Physical Abuse
Direct Physical Violence, ranging from UNWANTED PHYSICAL CONTACT to RAPE and MURDER.
Indirect Physical Violence, including destruction of objects, throwing objects near the victim, harm to animals.
Non-verbal threats including gestures, facial expressions and body postures.
Mental/Emotional Abuse
Verbal threats of physical violence to the victim, the self, or others including children. Ranging from explicit detailed and impending to implicit and vague as to both content and time frame.
Verbal violence, including threats, insults, put-downs and attacks, in private or in public designed to intimidate and/or humiliate the victim.
Economic/Social Abuse
Controlling victim's money and other economic resources
Preventing victim from seeing friends and relatives.
Actively sabotaging victim's social relationships.
Isolating victim from social contacts
The victim is often
Isolated from family and friends
Frightened of not knowing, when, where, what
Lacking in confidence, low self-esteem
Unable to speak out without being found out
Faces Social stigma – labelling
Financially trapped
Societal/Cultural Norms
1736 Ruling – Sir Mathew Hale declared that ‘A Husband cannot be guilty of rape by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind of unto her husband which she cannot retract’ ( quoted in R. Hall et al. 1984:20)
Police receive an estimated 570,000 calls relating to domestic violence a year in Britain, (Stanko 2000)
In the year up to 31 August 2002 National Women’s Aid 24 hr Helpline received 56,666 calls (Women’s Aid 2002)
BCS, SCS and self report studies do not illustrate the true extent of the crime of domestic abuse.
Statistics
Domestic violence claims the lives of approximately 2 women a week.
One in four women and one in six men will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime with women at greater risk of repeat victimisation and serious injury.
One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute.
89% of those suffering 4 or more incidents are women.
Domestic abuse accounts for 16% of all violent crime.
One of the major tasks is to alter public perceptions of what domestic abuse is and to enable the victims of domestic abuse to come forward to report this crime in safe environments.
To assist them in whatever course of action they wish to take. ( client centred)
Always ensuring that the physical and mental safety of the victim and their family is given priority.
I think that initially we need to look at the Sex industry itself, what drives it? Like all industries it relies on a market and every market has customers. No customers, no market, no slaves - simplistic? Perhaps not. so who are the customers in this market? They are predominately men paying for sexual gratification and not caring about the welfare of the woman they are using. The woman becomes nothing more than a commodity, a resource to be used, traded, sold to anyone with the correct money. She is dehumanised, just like the typical slave in the slave trade centuries before. I cannot help but wonder if at least some of these customers have more ethical concern for how their food is raised than how these women come to be prostitutes in the UK. We have a stereotypical image of the customer, a seedy individual unable to get sex any other way than by paying for it. But that is a false image, these men are our husbands, fathers and sons. So what drives them to a prostitute - experimentation, thrill seeking etc but more than that perhaps there is a societal fault here, some part of the socialisation which determines that as the ‘worlds oldest profession’ we can ignore and accept it as a part of our culture. It exists not in the mainstream but on the fringes of society., something we know is there but something we don’t want to discuss with our sons as they are growing up. Perhaps discussion in the classroom of the way that these women are often forced into prostitution, of the brutality they endure would stem the flow of future customers and if demand falls then profitability would also fall. If there is no money there for the slave traders then there is no point in the slave trade itself. If we can teach children about animal welfare in the food industry, about free range produce etc then surely we can teach children about the rights of women as human beings and the involvement of the slave trade in the sex industry.
]]>heres the full story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6447645.stm
Do we really have a Parliament or is it just a glorified pacifier to keep the nationalists quiet? Wee fat Jack also went head to head with Gordon Brown this week over the issue of Nurses pay. Wee fat Jack has given an undertaking to pay nurses a larger rise than their English and Welsh counterparts and Gordon isnt happy at all. Wee fat jack has of course done this as an electioneering stunt and not because he really wants nurses to be better paid.
I wait with baited breath to see the next electioneering stunt that Scottish Labour pulls out of its party political hat!
If you are unfortunate enough to have them threaten you under section 14 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 there are some wonderful organisations out there who will give you assistance and advice. Be aware that their warrant may not allow them to enter the dwelling but may allow them to search your garden, driveway etc for anything of value and contain authority to open shut and lockfast places. They will be looking for your car, lawnmower, bicycles etc. If your car is on HP they can STILL TAKE IT. Don't be fooled by thinking items on HP are safe, they are not.
if you find one of these letters landing on your doorstep this is an organisation which will help you in any way they can http://www.edinburghclaimants.org/debtworriesleaflet.html Please get in touch with them straight away as often these letters only give you a day or two to make full payment to prevent the attachment going ahead.
So in relation to our Labour Executive this is a clear example of how they have enacted popular legislation with much hype and aplomb at the behest of a man intent on changing things for the better, only to underhandedly and quietly undo all the good work of Mr Sheridan et al 2 yrs later. It wouldnt surprise me if they were already working on the bill for the attachments while they were voting on the bill to abolish the poindings.
]]>its ridiculous ofcourse - and yet we are supposed to believe that carbon offsetting is not ridiculous!
OK readers how many of you have been taken in by the political propaganda machine and its claim that humans are influencing the weather? Don't you suppose that just maybe those sceptical scientists out there who have researched it all and decided that actually it might be that huge angry star out there around which our planet circles that effects our weather patterns?
Apparently its the SUN ( yes thats the name of the angry star) which affects and effects our weather here on earth - funny that we hadn't noticed this, especially as that is precisely what the Sun has been doing since this world began and will probably continue to do until eventually it explodes. For those of you who want to see the science behind this in a simple format may I suggest you google The Great Global Warming Swindle to find out how and why this much politicised Carbon emmissions theory came about. Find out how it stems competition in the 3rd world, find out what Thatcher had to do with this. Find out why all opposition to this theory are being silenced and find out how the trusted peer review system within academia is being undermined in the political cause. It appears to be a swindle on all fronts and a mega excuse to force us all to submit to what amounts to Lies and stunted debates in the name of greater taxation. One side is funded and lauded the other penalised and riddiculed - oh dear, will the political classes stop at NOTHING to squeeze us for more money?
Where are the street parties, the parades the celebrations of BRITISHNESS, the shouts of praise of the success of this project.
Ok at its inception the union had its critics - one Robert Burns proclaimed scotland had been 'Bought and Sold for English Gold' and labelled the architects of the Union ' a parcel O' rogues in a nation'. I am sure there were also critics south of the border too, but at that moment in history there was also a feeling of rebirth as two nations until then united by the crown of James Stuart, became not one nation but neighbours working together to promote british culture and identity on a global scale.
And yes north of the border there have always been those who would separate Scotland from this Union - not me. I am british with British blood I only have to go back 2 generations to get the complete set of nationalities - English, Welsh, Scots and Irish.
I think that as the Union is 300 years old we should be celebrating , we should be addressing the democratic deficit in England which is causing much discontent and threatening to break up the Union. We should be thinking to the future as GREAT BRITAIN and not be afraid to feel proud of our collective histories and achievements - we have for too long been socialised to feel ashamed of our Imperial Past, to feel ashamed of being british. I for one will never feel shame at that Label of belonging to the UK.
]]>However, peel back the hype from this success story and talk to the residents in one of the areas where these raids took place and you find that worry of drug dealing in the immediate vicinity has been replaced with another fear, one which it seems has not been addressed by the authorities.
Residents are now faced with strung out heroin addicts unable to obtain a fix and seemingly nowhere to go. There is a worry of increased violence against residents by the addicts who are unable to obtain drugs. Residents worry that these addicts may attempt to mug and steal more than previously to enable them to travel to seek drugs. They are worried about an increased risk of break-ins as addicts attempt to find prescription drugs to replace the illegal substances they rely on. The elderly in particular fear that they may be easy targets.
Happy as the residents in this area of Renfrewshire are about the drugs raids and resulting arrests, walking the streets where the raids took place there is an uneasy quiet and a climate of distrust developing. Some people have complained that although the raids and arrests are a good thing, the authorities should have ensured that there was an immediate influx of rehabilitation services to the area to cope with the large numbers of addicts left without drugs. I agree with this train of thought. We are all pleased about the operation and its likely impact on the supply of illicit substances in an area suffering massive social problems, but was it responsible to act like this without ensuring back up services were there to cope with the aftermath and the problems, which if not managed immediately could spiral into a different kind of danger.
Other locals also worry that criminal gangs will see the lack of local supply as an opportunity to expand their supply chain into the area and could feasibly result in a gang warfare scenario as a battle for new territory ensues.
What do you think?
]]>I doubt this very much, I am continually seeing policies failing in these communities and its not because the people there dont want them to work, its simply because the NGO's and the Not-For-Profit sector are very very good at hiding the truth from their funders.
Policies such as community wardens to help tackle anti social behaviour appear wonderful on the surface - we constantly see awards going to such services for the role they play. In reality on the ground they are having little affect in combating anti social behaviour - why? Because the people who commit acts of anti social behaviour know that the community wardens have very little power, they are observers. Ask anyone who lives in a community where there are wardens if they have an impact there response is usually unanimous. The community wardens can never be found when they are needed, they are usually holed up in their vans eating a fish supper and drinking irn bru. Rather than addressing the anti social behaviour, sometimes the wardens are so intent on befreinding the miscreants that they join in laughing along. The community sees no benefit, just people in uniform doing nothing and be paid for that.
Other policies failing miserably are getting the single parents back to work policies. These policies are aimed at reducing intergenerational poverty by giving kids the idea that an adult works to earn money. The trouble is that the lone parent who tries to work faces barrier after barrier, the child care sector set up to help is often rigid and bound in bureaucracy and red tape. A single parent cant get the child care they really need or a carer they really trust, so off they go to work, often on minimum wage, reliant on strangers to raise their children and tax credits etc to top up their earnings. By the time the exhausted parent has paid to travel back and forth to work and for lunch, work clothing, full rent, council tax, school dinners, school uniforms and also for activities for their children which they didnt have to pay for while they were on benefit they are worse off. Couple this with the stress of getting the kids off to school, going out to work, collecting the children, preparing dinner, housework, laundry etc and you have a very exhausted parent unable to spend any quality time with their children. This all has an effect on the levels of anti social behaviour in the community, tired, stressed parents & attention seeking children are not a good combination. The parent is happy of the peace and rest when the child goes out to play and the child wants attention, any attention and negative attention from society at large will suffice.
The Government won't hear much about the reality of this or the quality of life endured by many lone parent households in areas of deprivation - why? Because the organisations funded to get these people back to work will only report successful aspects of the venture, the majority of failed guinea pigs will be silenced and forgotten and left to endure the stresses and social pressures.
If the Government knew the truth it could act, but if no one tells the government the truth then we cannot blame the government for being slow to recognise when social policy is failing. The organisations wont tell them because they are being funded to implement the failing policies and might not be funded to implement alternatives which may actually have more success.
So should we blame Government? Not at all, we should blame NGO's and the Not for Profit Sector for covering up faliures to secure future funding.
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