Stephen's Linlithgow Journal

Blogging Bias of the Times - Or Ignorance of @JoanMcAlpine?

2009-12-06T11:51:00.004Z

I see that Joan McAlpine has done a write up of the Scottish Blogosphere in light of recent events that have seen a bit of a decimation of the politic blogs here in recent weeks. Understandably Jeff is quite pleased about it:

Who can blame Jeff from her comment:

"Scotland is different in that our bloggers are highly individualised. They often link to each other’s sites, even when they are on opposite sides of the political fence.So you can access Scottish Tory Boy and Soapbox, by Labour’s Kezia Dugdale, from Jeff Breslin's SNP Tactical Voting, the most widely read political blog in Scotland."

Which may well be true but only in last month's Wikio rankings he was only one place ahead of me, although with technical difficulties mid month I floundered slightly. So by one measure we are pretty close as is Caron and was Subrosa. But it is far to say that there is an interconectiveness between all the blogs. I remember on my return from hiatus at the end of 2007 gently getting relinked to back on opposition blogrolls and pulling a few others along with me.

Joan went on the say comment about the colour that makes up the 'tartan blogosphere' but in all the various examples of blogs that she mentions fails to mention any of the Lib Dems who make up three of the top ten Scots in this month's Wikio rankings as I blogged yesterday.

Following the recent dropping of Jo Swinson from Question Time with just over 24 hours to broadcast. Caron set up a group on Lib Dem Act*which looks at media underepresentation of the Lib Dems. This is just another case and indeed one which cannot be justified, even the other bloggers from other parties emphasis the input that myself, Caron and Andrew in particular bring to the MacBlogsphere, not bad for a Englishman, a Scotswoman and an Irishman.

This is not a rant brought on by sour grapes, but is one that looks at the wider issue of media representation. It is also one of the reasons that Lib Dems blog in the way they do. We have to get our party message across in an accessible way and for us the controlled media that is blogging is one gateway to do so. Maybe Joan, who blogs at Go Lassie Go, merely made an omission in error, maybe it was just ignorance.

Some will say I'm getting pent up about an opinion piece. But we are within six months of a General Election and the only main Tory blogger and the two main Labour Bloggers as well as several Nats all get mentioned in a piece with deals with politics. Ignoring the not insignificant presence of Lib Dem Blogs in Scotland.

All in all she gave a balanced piece as far as the woes facing blogs has been in recent times as indeed I myself did pointing out not all anonymous bloggers or commenters are nasty following the sad demise of Subrosa. Indeed seeing as that was a major conduit of news to a large number of people it may well have been one other example of the Blogosphere looking out for and policing their own. The sad fact is that in this piece which is in a national paper seems to demise the influence of all but three parties, and a couple of non-aligned commentators.

* You don't need to be a party member to join act.

Well Done Alex

2009-12-06T07:34:00.002Z

You know I don't often agree with Alex Salmond but he has said the following about nasty and underground Internet comments that cause offence or are untrue.

"The internet is a wonderful tool. It gives us a means to engage with the public, to motivate activists and to affirm our positive case for Scottish independence.

"We must use the internet for positive campaigns, to build our case and not get engaged in the negative agenda. The SNP can only win and will only win on a positive agenda."

Of course I don't agree with his ultimate aim of his use of the Internet as a tool, but I respect his right to use it in a positive way to try and convince the other 75% of Scots of the need for Independence.

One does wonder if he also means to cover whenever any argument in comments threads in papers also ends up in name calling of the other three main parties.

Sadly he went on to make a few errors himself:

"There is a strong public majority for a referendum, and our job is to translate that public support into a parliamentary majority.

"Each of the three London-based parties – Labour, Tory and Liberal – say no, no, no to Scotland, in the same arrogant manner as Margaret Thatcher did."

For a start not all of those who want there to be a referendum on the subject want to vote SNP, nor do they want to vote yes in that referendum.

Second not all of the parties are London based. The Scottish Liberal Democrats are free to make their own policy decisions as far as Scotland is concerned, that is the nature of our party. That is why there are four occasions a year that we get to debate and vote on policy.

However, who really is saying no to Scotland?

The SNP have said no to Scotland over removing the unfair council tax.

The SNP are saying no to Scotland and Glasgow over GARL.

The SNP have said no to Scottish students for ending student debt.

So the SNP have said no, no, no to Scotland. In the same arrogant way that Thatcher did Alex is only saying on some of the above my way or no way.

The Wikio MacBlogopshere Rankings December

2009-12-05T20:43:00.005Z

It is that time of the month again Wikio have announced the the political rankings for December. With Hogmanay approaching at the end of the month everyone really wants to be a Scotsman or woman this month, but not all of the bloggers can be so what has actually happened this month.

The same 13 blogs still represent the best of Scottish blogging inside the top 100 and indeed we almost have 10, 11 or 12 within the top 75. Yes 76-78 is the new grouping of Scots.

For a change I have to report that Tom Harris has moved, sadly for all concerned it is downwards, and also rather sadly it is because Tory Bear has overtaken him. Elsewhere the Cute Greek seems to be permanently stuck in a sea of calm on 16 while all around him is volatile. Our Top Scottish Journalist blogger after his meteroric rise into the top 20 last month drops down again out of it this.

Jeff of SNP Tactical Voting continues to forge new ground this month he edges into the the top 30 for the first time. Caron overtakes me and indeed is knocking on the top of the top 40 equally her highest ever position first reached in October. My internet and laptop issues see my expected drop almost back to where I was in October.

Rantin Rab displaces the Two Doctors by reaching 70, and Andrew Reeves and Yousuf also sneak past the Green.

Of the dearly departed or resting blogs Subrosa climbed on a par with Caron and departs us just in the top 40, Malc drops slightly as well to 93.

As usual here is the complete list with last month's rankings in brackets.

1. Tom Harris MP And another Thing... 7 (6)
2. Mr Eugenides 16 (16)
3. Alex Massie's Spectator Blog 22 (19)
4. SNP Tactical Voting 30(33)
5. Subrosa 40 (43)
6. Caron's Musings 41 (44)
7. Stephen's Linlithgow Journal 45 (34)
8. Underdog Bites Upwards 61 (70)
9. Ranting Rab 70 (78)
10. Andrew Reeve's Running Blog 76 (91)
11. Yapping Yousuf 77 (83)
12. Two Doctors 78 (74)
13. Malc in the Burgh 93 (87)

With the Dundee wifey and the Burghmeister hanging up their keyboards and undoubtedly about to start dropping down and out of the top 100 we do wonder who is going to step up to join this group in the top 100 next.

The Wave That Flooded Glasgow #TheWave

2009-12-05T18:58:00.008Z

Pictures by James Harrison

I'm sitting on the bus heading back home after the Wave in Glasgow. You may be asking why so late but at Kelvingrove Park the use of my laptop was requested by LYS for use of the secretary at their exec meeting held afterwards, which is the end was not in fact used.

Anyway this was the driest Wave I have ever been in the middle of, I have have been in some big Atlantic rollers at the strands in Portrush or Portstewart when we holidayed when I was a child. The Glasgow weather was mercifully dry while we were on the march, showers however, did give us a light soaking as we headed off to find somewhere to eat.

First off no sooner had I arrived at Ibrox underground station where the Lib Dems had agreed to congregate than I was greeted by the vision of the Linlithgow Climate Challenge team arriving with their banner. It was good to see them here as well.

George Lyon MEP, Robert Brown MSP and Alison McInnes MSP along with Glasgow North PPC Katy Gordon were prominent Lib Dems who were on the march. We formed up at Bellahouston Park before winding our way towards and over the Cylde. I also for quite a bit of the march was walking alongside or close to Green MSP Patrick Harvie. It actually felt good to be part of a Scottish Lib Dem contingent at a march and actually be one of those responsible for raising the average age.

Yes Liberal Youth Scotland were out in force and indeed it was their posters that you can see all of us carrying in the picture above. They have had a busy weekend yesterday they flashmobbed the Student Loan's Company in Glasgow*, then they headed off to help Ashai Ghay the Lib Dem candidate in next Thursday's Bearsden South by election, then The Wave and an exec meeting today.

There was quite a crowd there and just across the bridge next to the SECC we formed a big loop just off Finnieston Street. Here we all grouped up and did a a couple of Mexican waves down the whole march and then headed off to Kelvingrove Park, for the rally at the end of the march.

The official even photographer asked us to come over for a group picture behind the events official sign and as he levelled us all up he did say this is "big group".

Now we must hope that the message that the people in Glasgow and elsewhere have sent to the delegates heading to Copenhagen has a real impact. Hope they have listened to and seen us and the coverage we have had across the news and know that now is the time to take action.

PS I have lost the scarf in Wave colours that you can see above. Which is wierd as I distinctly remember having it at the QMU and remembering to pick it up as we were leaving.

PPS I tweeted about the absence of certain political presence at the Glasgow Wave while on the move. The absence of any grassroots support for this issue by these two really is a worry for the future.

*This led to representation coming down to discuss with them their issues on the doorstep.

The Wave #TheWave

2009-12-05T08:30:00.000Z

As you may well be aware there are mass demonstrations in London and Glasgow ahead of next week's Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen. As I will be out and about on the streets of Glasgow here is a feel for the event from the hastags and some of the Twitter accounts that I follow of people who will be there at either location.

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;altcast_code=bffa02cac8" &amp;gt;The Wave - Copenhagen Climate Change March 5-12-09&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Tories Reject GARL

2009-12-05T08:15:00.000Z

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) are once again not best pleased with the Scottish Tories (or the SNP for that matter). They have decided to side with the SNP in not reinstating the £170m funding for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link back into the 2010-11 budget at the Finance Committee in Holyrood yesterday.

The CBI have in recent weeks been attacking the SNPs budget proposals as not being in the best interests of encouraging much needed growth in the Scottish economy and the decision of the Tories on the Committee to side with the SNP on this issue raise their hackles further. The rail link would have provided 1,300 jobs been a boost to Scotland's second cities business sector and was also an integral part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games plans.

Iain McMillan the Scottish director of the CBI said:

"We always knew the Scottish Tories would be the swing vote on the question of whether GARL should be reinstated.
"We are very, very disappointed the Conservatives did not see fit in the committee to vote with Labour.
"We are very disappointed that the Scottish Tory party does not appear to share our view that the Scottish Government should root out waste in these austere times in order to release money to allow strategic transport projects like GARL to go ahead."

So the Tories are like the SNP unable to finding achievable savings to stimulate the economy and pay for much needed projects. Instead they are content with a while range of measures in the budget that are not an effective use of the money that Holyrood has to spend, with £9m of funding estimated to see through the Referendum Bill to a vote in the Parliament, we have an SNP Government, backed implicitly by the Tories, arguing for Labour in Westminster to make cost savings so as not to cut money available to Scotland, while at the same time they are not prepared to prioritise their own funding issues.

It looks like next months budget round could again be a sticky time for the SNP.

Newest Lib Dem in North and Leith

2009-12-04T22:06:00.004Z

OK Mark Lazarowicz needn't worry too much the latest Lib Dem is Edinburgh North and Leith won't be able to vote for 18 (hopefully 16) years.

Welcome to the world the 7lbs 10oz bundle of joy that is the new daughter and first child of Lib Dem PPC for Edinburgh North and Leith Kevin Lang and his wife Jenni. Considering the last time I saw that mother was Tuesday night when she had to drive up to Jamacia Street with the other car because the expectant father had forgotten that he's transferred the deliveries for the evening to the other car, she looked marvellous seeing she was to be in Labour within 48 hours.

Tour de France 2010

2009-12-04T21:13:00.001Z

Mister Stephen managed to get the lovely Miss Caron to watch some of this year's Tour de France. It is a little cold outside to day so what better way to warm my paws up than to think of the sunny climes of France in July when the Grand Tour is almost exclusively within France itself. For Caron and others here is a preview of the route.

Last year the race was decided on the climb of Mont Ventoux and even Miss Caron was enjoying the spectacle and acheivement as the top five in the General Classifiacation of last year launched attack after attack on that famous climb. The race last year also started straight into a stage but 2010 will see the Prologue return as the peleton race mano a mano against the clock around Rotterdam.
Stage Two includes a reverse approach of the Rosier Climb from the Liege-Baston-Liege Classic, before ending up in Spa. Two Formula One locations in two years the Tour organisers are spoiling us cross-over fans. The following stage and the entry into France will see an astonishing 13.2 km over cobbles, hopefully not enough to stop Mark Cavendish looking for what may very well be his second or third stage win of the race if he keeps up his form of last season.

The Alps appear first in this years Tour with only two days of high mountains separated by a rest day so don't expect to race to be decided as we leave the alps on Bastille Day with the run from Chambéry to Gap.

So expect the race to heat up in the Pyrenees, where there are three consecutive days of racing from 18-20, then the climb to the top of the classic Col de Tourmalet after the rest day in Pau it what looks set to be the highest Pyrenees passes second Mountain top finish.

If it is still tight at the top of the Col it may well come down after the long run into Bordeaux with the only time trail apart from the prologue on next years tour at Paulliac on the penultimate day. Then after the overnight transfer into the heart of the country from the coast it will be run up to the arrival on the Champs d'Elysée on the 25th of July.

I'm a Bit Disappointed with Nick Clegg

2009-12-04T18:00:00.006Z

Bet that headline has shocked some of you.

Yeah I know I can hear the Nats saying "Nick? Don't you mean Tavish?". I can hear certain Labourites going blah about time. I can also sense certain Lib Dems are working out how to do me in. But bear with me and let me tell you why.

Nick has just sent an email to all the Lib Dem supporters asking "What are you doing tomorrow?". Well I have a very good answer, do you? He then goes on to invite me to join him and Simon Hughes. I'd love to, I haven't spoken to either of them since Bournemouth and would love to catch up. However, he also tells me this is my last chance to take action.

What I'm disappointed with is that Nick seems to think that I can only take that action in London at the Copenhagen - The Wave demo in London. Well I'm not going to fly down there to take part in a Climate Change demonstration.

What I am doing tomorrow though is getting on a bus and heading to Glasgow. No I'll not be shopping in Buchannan Gallery or at the Fort or anywhere. I'll be marching through the streets of Glasgow as part of the The Wave march north of the border, see you don't have to be in London to make your voice heard.

If you are not able to get the London though here is Simon Hughes who you won't see in Glasgow telling you how important tomorrow is.

So therefore as you can imagine I'm only a bit disappointed with Nick, thankfully many of his colleagues are giving equal billing to both marches.

It's Friday....So......(Tiger Woods Special)

2009-12-04T17:00:00.002Z

Hurrah. Yeah it is that time on a Friday to down tools and enjoy your weekend. As has become a regular feature in recent weeks I'm going to help those of you with hair to let it down, for the rest of you like me who are hirsuitely challenged at least I hope to bring a smile to you face.

First off here is that nice family picture from the front of a Christmas card from a nice family living in suburban Orlando, Florida.

Some used to think he could walk on water.

However, what really went on last weekend. I just guess it was said in better English than this, but hey it is fun (parental advisory on the language score).

Now Sinn Fein are Threatening the SNP Tactic

2009-12-04T12:15:00.000Z

Yesterday I blogged about the bankers at RBS using the SNP tactic of not just taking the ball away, but themselves out of the game if their bonuses of £1.5 bn (25% of profits) are turned down by Government. Today I see that Martin McGuinness the Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland is threatening, in coded language, that the same may happen in Northern Ireland over the timing of devolution and justice to Stormont.

I say coded message so let me decipher, McGuinness says that the institutions are unsustainable without a date for devolution of policing by Christmas. You may think so what if you are not Northern Irish, but that is code for all the institutions of devolution, not just cross-border agencies but also the Assembly and the dual mandate of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Devolution of policing has always been one of the major stumbling blocks in fully implementing the Good Friday Agreement. After all Sinn Féin and their military were never going to be likely to be on friendly terms with the force that was arrayed against them throughout the Troubles. So this has been the longest, hardest and most painstaking march towards a peaceful, settled Northern Ireland there has been.

However, it is one of those rare occasions that I agree with the DUP Jeffrey Donaldson. I quite often have found the man objectionable in the past, but he is correct when on the BBC this morning I heard him say that setting deadlines in stone was something that should never be done in Northern Ireland politics, but that the best settlement for all sides should be worked out. If that is done by Christmas then that is fine, however if it is not Sinn Féin should not arbitrarily walk away from all the progress that has been made.

There are signs that a consensus is almost settled on the first Justice Minister under this period of devolution. David Ford the Alliance party leader looks set to gain the cross-community support to take on that role. Now the politicians need to reach agreement over policing and McGuinness is right in that it has to cover equality issues. But with only three weeks to Christmas and probably less that two of those productive setting a Christmas deadline for a resolution is ludicrous so close to that date. Even Tony Blair over ran on his deadline to get the Agreement signed off initially.

Hit Me With.....My Precisous...ous...s.s.s

2009-12-04T11:00:00.001Z

Morning Quickie.

I just couldn't resist using this as the title of a post. Andy Serkis who brought Gollum to life in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is to play Ian Dury back to life in his next role in musical bo-pic Sex, And Drugs and Rock and Roll.

Does Salmond Need an Education in Revealing the Truth

2009-12-04T04:17:00.004Z

On 5 September 2007 Alex Salmond told Holyrood categorically that the SNPs key election pledge of cutting class sizes for all children in Primaries 1,2 and 3 to 18 or less by the end of this Parliament.

However, it appears he may already have been in receipt of information for one of the education department's senior civil servants that stated that this worthy goal could not have been achieved for 8 to 10 years. That meeting had occurred over two months earlier on 2 July 2007 according to the minute that Labour's Iain Gray produced in yesterday's First Minister's Questions. Mr Gray is now saying that the First Minister is breaking the ministerial code which states that ministers must give "accurate and truthful" advise. This is one pledge that has been repeated over and over. But this is one of the most high profile and early examples that it may have occurred while fresh in the face of contrary advice.

Mr Salmond's spokesman said as way of defence:

"The information (from officials] in July 2007 was to the Cabinet secretary for education, not to the First Minister."

With my former civil servant in a Departmental role I want to say that is not a valid defence in this case. There are two perfectly valid reasons that this would not have excluded Mr Salmond from the loop of such information.

The first is that such a high profile minute would undoubtedly have copied in the Private Office of the First Minister: there are times that the bureaucracy and officiousness of the civil service works for the good. Someone there would surely have highlighted this point and brought it to the First Minister's attention. If not, Fiona Hyslop herself on a subsequent memo in the margin against such a statement would have highlighted that one of the key blanks to the manifesto in her area was unachievable. Having worked in a devolved department in Northern Ireland I know just how much and at what level these things would have been copied over to the OFMDFM (Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister) this sort of meeting would have been one area that that memo was an automatic copy in, even the Administrative Assistant who delivered it would have noticed that as they were getting the document copied.

The second reason would be in cabinet itself. The cabinet meeting after receiving such advice I'm sure that Fiona Hyslop would have been briefed by her Permanent Secretary to raise that issue at the meeting. It would have been a crunch matter for her pre-cabinet minute briefing document, so when as most cabinets do, there is discussion of every member's policy areas she would have had this as probably one of her first two points, if not the top one.

The second reason is most serious. If Salmond does not run his cabinet, and it is only a small cabinet in such a way that Ministers aren't allowed to share their issues of the day with their colleagues he himself is clearly not capable or fit for the job of First Minister. As the Conservative's Murdo Fraser said:

"If true, this is an astonishing state of affairs and no way to run a country.

"Many will find it inconceivable that Alex Salmond was unaware his own senior education advisers had made it crystal clear the SNP's flagship class size pledge could not be delivered in the lifetime of this parliament."

From my knowledge of how the civil service works I would say as above that is is true. Further from my knowledge of how Ministers are briefed ahead of meetings with the First Minister it is also something that would not have been dropped for 2 months and would have been highlighted from numerous sources within their reading of the original memo with urgency to that level. Indeed I can well imagine they would have been several margin notes suggesting that the FM needs to be alerted to this (that is just the way civil servants are).

There are only three options:

Either Fiona Hyslop failed to alert others of this advice. But the memo of the meeting exists so that is not true
Or That advice failed to reach the office of the First Minister. Again there are too many civil servants who would have got hold of that information for someone not to have made sure that he did.
Or that having received the advice in writing or in cabinet Alex Salmond chose to ignore it. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes the reject the improbable of the other two and come to the final conclusion.

If Salmond really thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the other parties about the working of the civil service, especially when two of them where in Government with that same apparatus months before, he really is the Holyrood village idiot ad should sit in the corner in the Dunce's hat and not on the front bench.

However, from the picture above one effect of the demotion of Ms Hyslop is the formation of the West Lothian triangle. The two West Lothian ladies in this party Fiona and Livingston MSP Angela Constance are now seated behind the Linlithgow born First Minister.

There Have Been Too Many Goodbyes....

2009-12-03T14:24:00.003Z

....in recent weeks across the MacBlogosphere. This post from Subrosa* is sadly just another in a long chain, but the reasons that Subrosa has given raises cause for concern to all bloggers.

Unlike some of the bloggers out there I may have developed a rhinoceros hide. One of my former partners said I was far more public a person than they could ever be, but then again come election time my address get's posted in the newspaper and outside all the polling places where I am standing. Add to that I'm on the doorsteps engaging with local people a lot of the time my words can be rejected or accepted to my face as well as in the comments section. But this is not the first tale I've heard of someone being hounded out of blogging and I wish Subrosa all the best and hope that her worse fears are just that fears and don't come to any reality.

Subrosa and I have often over the less than a year that she has blogged had debates in our various comments sections. We won't always agree on things after all we hold different political views but that like a large number of the other bloggers out there doesn't make them any less of a friendly face (even virtual) in the crowd.

There seems to be a current trend in trying to out anonymous bloggers, much like the ridiculous way that certain groups try to out individuals based on their sexuality or in the US for their stance on abortion. I can respect fellow bloggers preference for Anonymity, for the most part I respect that#, and providing they write a coherent argument to support their views I can respect them for that as well. I don't respect them using their anonymity to spread lies, unfounded rumours or the like. It does bring to mind one story about myself of someone (from the MSM) digging for dirt and thinking they had found it, only to realise it was no news at all, must regular readers can guess what that may have been about.

Anyway back on track, it is disgraceful that anyone should be tracking down bloggers who colour the diversity of our blogosphere in such a way as to cause a concern to that individual for their own and their families safety. As Subrosa wrote it is people who "crave from their perverted pleasure in manipulating the distress of others" whether in this way or through chat rooms should never be tolerated. Indeed is a far greater need within the cyber community that Lord Mandelvort's three strike implications for illegal file sharing. The actions of such people can actually hurt people psychologically and mentally more than anything else and is a form of bullying that none of us should have to put up with.

In conclusion I want to wish Subrosa a fond and sad farewell. Parting under such circumstances can bring nothing but sorrow, but I with you and yours all the best for the future. The same applies to Advanced Media Watch and some of the others who have recently departed.

Update: Sadly I note that the shutters are down on Subrosa's blog before I could go over there an make a comment in her comments.

* Sadly this link is now a dead end.
# The only exception is Tory Bear because he used double standards on that matter himself.

RBS Board Adopting SNP Tactics

2009-12-03T07:35:00.001Z

The SNP tactic leading into budgets and was (until it actually happened) the same about votes of confidence in their ministers to resign en masse and cause a new election they thought. Well it appears that the Royal Bank of Scotland board are to take the same approach over their bonuses.

The bank is looking to pay £1.5bn* in bonuses to its investment arm up from £900m last year. The board says it needs to pay this money to keep its top personnel with them and to keep them incentivised. Saying they need to act in the interests of all shareholders, not just the major one, a bit much after how those same shareholders were treated in recent years. Personally many of the rest of us have taking lower pay rises, reductions, loss of overtime payments, loss of bonuses with the only incentive to keep a job during the financial crisis. However, the issue does raise the issue of what type of bank the RBS is.

The Government bailed out the bank not to protect the investment arm but to protect the banking interests of the ordinary clients of the banks and their savings and banking facilities. These had been put at risk by that investment arm and its casino banking practices. Lib Dem Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable has been one of the most vocal proponents for breaking up the banking sector so that the high street banking sector that is all that most of us every have direct concerns about is separate from the speculative nature of the investment banks.

I recall when I first started studying economics the two were discussed totally separately, but soon after banking regulation was relaxed to allow both aspects to be carried out by the same company. However, maybe it is time for the Government to go back to those earlier principle to shore up confidence in our high street banks, after all you don't find an insurance company operating in the same premises as a bookmaker.

However, the issue with the bonuses is that the banks and the bankers were bailed out at tax payers expense and the government is going to look to get the taxpayers money back at some point. To spend £1.5bn of it on bonuses to staff, especially when many of those who bank with them are still struggling to make ends meet is lording it over everyone. Indeed if any other company director in any other line of business were to get a bail out from someone taking over 70% of the business in an interim agreement the profit would generally go to paying back that investor, even their own share of the profits to get out of the control quicker.

*This equates to 25% of the £6bn profit made by the investment arm of the bank this year.

Would Iain Gray Please Define Elite

2009-12-02T13:58:00.003Z

The following is the Press Association release made about comments from the leader of the Labour MSPs Iain Gray:

Devolution may have benefited "elite" groups more than the general Scottish population, Labour leader Iain Gray has said.
His comment came as he prepared to deliver a lecture on 10 years of devolution at Edinburgh University.
Mr Gray warned that politics must shift from "identity to values" - and hit out at the SNP's "obsession" with independence as a solution.

Now that makes interesting reading for a number of scores. One just under 80% of the time spent under devolution, Scotland has benefited from a Labour First Minister and many of the ministerial roles being held by his Labour colleagues. So while I think he is trying to be disparaging about the SNP he is also being very disparaging about his Labour colleagues and indeed the Lib Dems who shared power with them.

Secondly I wonder if the elderly who gained free personal care count as elite? Or those who get their eyes tests free? What about the various students from all walks of live who do not have to pay tuition fees in Scotland? OK I can see them ending up being part of the elite but not all of them started there and without than many of them would not have started a degree.

What about the whole population who will benefit from the targets and actions taken to make Scotland a greener place, a knowledge based economy and other such actions which benefit many not just the elite. There is also the smoking ban which was brought in to help those that had no option but to work in some of the lowest paid jobs from the effects of passive smoking.

Just what does the Gray man of Holyrood mean by elite, you have to ask oneself when so many benefits have come to Scots that Labour in England have yet to deliver or trailed behind with.

How Green are Our Copenhagen Delegates?

2009-12-02T12:35:00.001Z

I see that Prince Charles is to 'attend' the Copenhagen conference on Climate Change. I say attend, he has been invited to make an address during the opening of the conference, in total he will be in the Danish capital for all of four hours.

Which asks the question how will he be getting to conference? Is this a flying visit in both the literal and figurative senses? Indeed how will anyone be getting there? Obviously some of the long haul delegates will have to fly, but with High Speed Rail links across Europe surely the Europeans should be making every effort to get there by using less CO2 and letting the train take the strain?

That is just what George Lyon Scotland's Lib Dem MEP and Simon Hughes representing the party at UK level are doing. Of the 38 UK delegates 19 of the 38 have so far confirmed that they will be flying. Why? Simon Hughes says his train ticket cost him £398, the cost so far claimed for travel with not all travel costs claimed by the delegation is £17,500 averaging £420. So no only is it costing the planet more in CO2 it is costing the taxpayer more as well.

Indeed it is estimated that the total CO2 cost of the conference will come to 41,000 tons, approximately the annual emissions of Morocco. Surely we should expect more of our own delegation. Indeed Eurostar give advise on how to get to Copenhagen by train. It is no more arduous that some trips made by Scottish MPs on a weekly basis for work. Yet somehow when we have a chance to do something practical as well as merely talking about it half our delegation at least are not looking into greener options.

As an aside I know that Prince Charles does his best to carbon offset his travel emissions, but how many of the other delegates will be doing so?

Sad, Yet IMHO, Wrong Move Charlotte

2009-12-02T10:26:00.001Z

I see that Charlotte Gore, shortlistee for this year's Lib Dem Blogger of the Year, has decided to call it a day, as a Lib Dem Blogger at least, she states her reasons here.

I think it is sad that she no longer considers herself able to consider herself a Lib Dem blogger, though I notice that her membership of the party when it is due for renewal is still a matter of debate. I'm going to rise as probably one of her least likely champions for her to stay. There have been times when I have disagreed with the direction the party has taken, sometimes from the conference platform, sometimes in smaller groups and sometimes in my blog. One thing that I do appreciate is the diversity of opinion of our party which groups together around certain key, somewhat metaphysical aims. Freedom and Liberty can equally mean two entirely different things depending on where you see freedom and Liberty being need to be applied. That is why our party can have a debate and come out of it pretty much how the average person would appreciate it at the end of the day.

Charlotte states the mansion tax as one of the straws that has broken her particular camels back. However, when you look at what was originally proposed surely she would see the revamping as a success for her side of that particular ideological tug-of-war over what might broadly be described as my end of the rope. Of course the battle is not yet won by either side as this idea has yet to face the cauldron that is the conference floor.

Much as in my dreams I'd initially like all of the party to agree with my stance on everything, I know that before I'd wake up that would soon turn into a nightmare. I need the Charlottes of this world and this party to straighten me out at times and I guess that there may even be times, even if she doesn't admit it, that sometimes she needs the Stephens of the same groups to do the same for her. Then we'll haggle, lodge amendments, state our cases, debate and vote through what is best all round, I hope (though sometimes I do wonder at the time).

I don't have a Lib Dem section to my blogroll so I won't have difficulty in placing Charlotte. However, I do hope we can have debates for a long time to come both within conference as well as at the pubs on the edge.

Salmond's New Part Time Job

2009-12-02T08:21:00.000Z

Did anybody else notice that in yesterday's reshuffle Alex Salmond made himself job-share Mike Russell's old non-cabinet level brief with Fiona Hyslop?

So Alex Salmond is now not only MP for Banff and Buchan, MSP for Gordon and First Minister of Scotland, he is also Secretary for Constitutional Affairs. The last being the only portfolio of the major manifesto big pledges that is still currently standing, even if like the others looks unachievable. Wonder if he will demote himself for failure to deliver like he has done with Ms Hyslop?

Breaking News: Five Sail Free from Iran

2009-12-02T05:54:00.004Z

The breaking news of this morning is that the five British yachtsmen who had been held in Iran for encroaching their territorial waters while heading from Bahrain to Dubai for a race have been released.

Luke Porter, 21, from Weston-super-Mare; Oliver Smith, 31, from Southampton; Oliver Young, 21, from Cornwall; Sam Usher, 26, from Scarborough, and Bahrain-based David Bloomer were on their way to take part in the Dubai-Muscat race on the 25 November when they strayed into Iranian waters by mistake. Hours after foreign secretary David Milliband spoke to his Iranian counterpart this was the accpeted tale of events according to the Iranian naval guard.

However, they have spent almost a week in Iranian custody to be able to prove their innocence.

Update 06:02: The Foreign Office are still waiting to confirm this story which has broken through Iranian news channels.

SNP Crying Wolf Again

2009-12-02T05:23:00.000Z

It appears that the SNP instead of being able to run a government are an unruly rabble. When threatened with the Lib Dem led vote of no-confidence in the Education Secretary that was Fiona Hyslop, they had threatened to resign en masse to force an election.

They have threatened to do so before, indeed it is a constant refrain come budget time, indeed you would expect to hear it again soon, only they have already shot that bolt. However, while the price of a child's education may be measured in monetary terms it appears that the keys to Bute House, home of the First Minister, well that is priceless.

The Tories were showing they were a party of principle too in light of all the goings on. They had also called for Hyslop's resignation. Indeed on Sunday Murdo Fraser their Education spokesman had said:

"There is a growing crisis in Scotland's schools. Alex Salmond's SNP is fast losing the trust of teachers and parents.

"His beleaguered Education Secretary is getting more isolated and desperate day by day.

"Conservatives have long argued our schools need greater autonomy to run their own affairs. But centralising all control to the woman in the ministry is a recipe for disaster."

However, given the chance to vote no confidence in that disaster area they said they would abstain. It was only when the SNP failed to woo their often times partners the Scottish Conservative and ~~Nationalist~~ Unionist Party that the threat of resigning became too much for the ego himself, the Thane of Banff & Buchan, Thane of Gordon who would want to be King hereafter, after all he's be thrown away out of that large Georgian Townhouse in all possibility.

However, a change at the helm of education policy isn't going to be enough, we need to move away from fantasy policy making. The only bricks that the SNP have been matching in building new schools may have been on their screens during Tetris in their think pods at Holyrood. They certainly haven't been placed on the ground, or on top of each other.

Was She Removed Before She Lost Confidence

2009-12-01T14:10:00.003Z

Just what has led to SNP Education Minister being removed from the Education brief in cabinet, after all she has been the SNP education Spokesperson/Minister for quite a number of years now.

There was obviously the shift in blame over teacher numbers. Only last week Hyslop was about to encourage Local Authorities to borrow money to pension off older teachers. This despite them being unable to meet their lower class sizes policy for primaries 1,2 and 3.

Then at the weekend the blame for the falling teacher numbers fell to the local authorities. But surely only a few days before the Education Minister was actively encouraging them to actually cut numbers further, or rather not employ extra. The fact is that there are 1,300 less teachers this year than last. The SNP promised that even with reducing class sizes they would not reduce teacher numbers, the idea was to provide better support for our children. A noble aim but one that has clearly failed.

She threatened to take control of education out of the hands of our local authorities, and control it centrally. She was threatening to nationalise the education of our children. Numerous time I have filled in a null return to my local authority when they ask about the number of children I have and the age they are. Even, indeed especially, because of my civil service background and my parents education background I cannot see how any authority looking after the children of over 5 million citizens is going to improve educational standards. Even in London this was and is devolved down to a local level.

The new Curriculum for Excellence is due to launch next August, affecting 54,000 children across Scotland in P7. Being the son of teachers, one who whom was also a examination marker I know that these things are in place at least a year in advance to allow teachers time to adjust what and how they teach and also so they can see the future marking scheme to assess such a change. Teachers currently are not aware of any of this, therefore one wonders just what level of excellence these teachers are going to be able to provide in a few short months, some of which will be taken up getting their current charges ready.

On Saturday the Lib Dems announced to the other parties in Holyrood that they were going to bring a vote of No Confidence in the Education Minister on Thursday of this week, at today's business meeting. Today before that can happen we learn that she is being removed of that responsibility.

Tavish Scott has made a statement to that effect, but also points out that a change in Education Minister, to Mike Russell, is not going to be enough, the SNP need a change in Education policy. The children of Scotland deserve no less, they do not deserve to be treated as a political football, or an after thought. They deserve the funding they had been getting, going to the local authorities to enable it to be spent as best suits the needs of their children. If the SNP continue to pull the carpet from under our local authorities feet as far as education provision are concerned four years after taking control will be four years lost out of some of our childrens' education that cannot be replaced.

Breaking News - First Cabinet Casualty of Nationalist Government

2009-12-01T12:23:00.001Z

I see via the Steamie that local Linlithgow resident Fiona Hyslop is the first of the SNP cabinet to be forced from office.

Considering that last week there were almost back to back announcements. The first that Local Authorities were to be encouraged to 'retire' elder teachers to make room (especially within budgets) to allow new teachers to take their places. The second that local were to blame for the fall in teacher numbers.

So the mantle of SNP buck-passing on education policy has been passed from Ms Hyslop to some other ~~sucker~~, err I mean Mike Russell, who you'd hope is seeking out sound advisors with more care than he monitors what his office manager gets up to.

To be honest I don't envy Mr Russell's task. On the one hand he has Local Authorities some of the them SNP led telling him they don't have enough money to implement SNP education policies. On the other his has his cabinet colleagues and the First Minister casting blame on the Local Authorities, some of them SNP led, for failing to implement SNP education policies. I'd put that down to a lose-lose situation for Mr Russell, maybe equivalent to what the old posting to Northern Ireland used to be in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.

Year of the Nearly Blog - Month Charlie

2009-12-01T12:00:00.001Z

What a month I've had, took a fortnight's holiday and had a week without broadband and then the Laptop packed up. Therefore I don't expect the stats of this month to be all that good. Although Mark Valadares did call me 'the godfather of Scottish Lib Dem blogging', and I did make the Golden Dozen in the midst of my local difficulties.

However, at the start I'd climbed into the top 40 of the Wikio Political blogs to 34, just behind Jeff not sure if that is the reason I have been removed again from his blogroll, he really doesn't play fair at times. So does that climb make be less of a nearly blog? Possibly but there are still 33 blogs ahead of me and this month hasn't helped.

Last month I had 1,271 absolute unique visitors down from 2,516 in October. They made 2,024 (3,863) visits and 2,486 (4,671) page views. So -49%which was to be expected for a fortnight of turmoils and no weekend postings. My busiest day was the 3rd November the day of I found a memo in light of Professor Nutt's removal and something unusual about Caroline Righton's Unpology.

But that's enough of the procrastinating on with what you're all waiting for my top 11s* for November.
Top referring sites were:

1. (1) Google/organic
2. (2) Direct Hits
3. (3) Lib Dem Blogs
4. (4) Twitter
5. (5) Lib Dem Voice
6. (9) Blogger
7. (10) Brtiblogs
8. (7) SNP Tactical Voting
9. (6) Malc in the Burgh (Rest in rest)
10. (-) Google/referral
11. (-) Planet Politics

I only wrote 48 new contributions to the blog down from 787 last months. The 11 stories that you've been reading most (by direct page views) are:

1. SNP Wants Scots to Waive their Rights to Determine Their Future
2. Gay Youth Faces Death in Iran
3. New Edict from Non-Scientific Home Office
4. Question of Sexuality- or Not
5. Dubai Crisis as a Spider
6. Stonewall Hero - A Humble Man of God
7. What I Find Surprising about the Caroline Righton Unpology
8. When No Doesn't Quite Mean No
9. Labour the Home Rule Guard! - Who Do You Think you are Kidding Yousuf Hamid?
10. Tam, Whose Line is it Anyway?
11. Wikio MacBlogosphere Rankings November

Where did you all come from? Here's the top countries from the 59 that visited this month, close to the 60 in October.

1. (1) United Kingdom
2. (2) USA
3. (5) Canada
4. (3) Ireland
5. (9) France
6. (4) Netherlands
7. (10=) India
8. (7) Austrailia
9. (17) Italy
10. (36) United Arab Emirates [do you think Dubai had something to do with this?]
11. (6) Germany

* Hey once I've started I'm not going to stop, you'll need to vote me into a top 10 next year when Iain Dale calls you to the ballot.

World AIDS Day 2009

2009-12-01T07:30:00.003Z

Today is World AIDS day.

The number of people in the UK living with HIV has actually trebled in the last 10 years. However, despite more people living with it less people know that someone they know has it, this is because the treatments now available allow people to look healthier with HIV than they did in the 1980s.

Last year of the 7,298 new diagnoses in the UK, 2,760 new diagnoses where amongst men who have sex with men, and 2,790 of the rest were from black or ethnic minorities.

Worldwide the figures are:

33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide
31.3 million adults
15.7 million women
2.1 million children under 15

Today the Guardian features the lives of teenagers living with HIV in Brazil, the Times follows model Erin O'Connor on a trip to Ghana to visit projects by RED, the Telegraph looks at China, where it emerged in 2001 that 30,000 to 50,000 people in Henan were infected by botched blood transfusions.

Read the stories or find out more from the web today. But be aware the number of cases both here in the UK and worldwide is still growing, so be careful.