Great Views: The Guardian Says So I Agree

The doing a series of top 10 UK walks today's is one I have done and can thoroughly recommend, and it is an excuse for you all to come over and see me. The reason being that the best walk for cliff-top views is the North Antrim coast at the Giant's Causeway.

It is a majestic walk from the top looking down on the basalt columns below, or up at those rising above or around you. It is quite a sight of a different fiery past in that part of the world when the lava flowed up to the surface and then solidified to make such majestic shapes.

Or was that just the carving out of the rocks done by Finn McCool, to create his seat, organ etc.

Afterwards you aren't too far away from my favourite Irish Whiskey distillery at Bushmills so you could take the tour and sample some of the wares.

Polly Toynbee Ain't No Rocket Scientist

I was going to let Polly Toynbee's comment yesterday about Lab-Lib being the only legitimate coalition go until I saw her quote on the front of today's paper*.

"Shimmering on the horizon was the chance for a progressive alliance, a rocket about to take off. Then it crashed to earth."

Now I'll admit I'm no rocket scientist but over 30 years of reading sci-fi and sci-fact gives me a basic understanding of many of the key principles. So lets look at that above statement piece by piece.

On the horizon

You know I'll give her that, this is accurate. The Labour negotiating team remained on the horizon. Their aim was to defend their manifesto. It was like Custer's last stand. They were entrenching trying to defend the indefensible and not give ground. Hence they were on the horizon.

Chance for a progressive alliance

Yeah was a chance for an alliance, yes it would have been widely of progressive thought, but here's the crux. How much of that progressiveness would have been allowed to progress? It was a minority at worst or rainbow mash up at best. There would have been many conflicting agendas to try and get anything done. Yeah while there may have been a possibility of a progressive alliance how much chance did it really have to manoeuvre?

Rocket about to take off

As I said before there was no give from the Labour. The first docking of American and USSR vehicles in space came across a problem, they had different shaped airlocks. There was a solution they worked together to make it compatible. If they didn't then 5 space travellers would have been killed by the vacuum created by the incorrectly linked vessels.

The problem was the same with the Labour and Lib Dem negotiations, however, there was no give from one side. Without compromise to move into brave new politics things would have been wiped out into the vacuum of political space. The Lib Dems had brought down their Scottish coalition negotiating team, it appears that Labour had not. In 1999 and 2003 Labour did know how to work together with others to come to a satisfactory settlement this time they didn't.

They were sticking to their manifesto. It was like turning up at the NASA assembly building with Galilleo's plans for flight and being scoffed at by the NASA engineers when they refused to change things. It wasn't the commander of the mission alone that was the problem, it was his engineers and indeed his crew who had started to debate how to avoid allowing AV from their own manifesto as well.

Crashed to the Earth

Sorry Polly to crash to the earth you have to first take off.

That requires the right fuel, it also requires enough fuel to break gravity and eventually the atmosphere. There wasn't the right fuel it was a volatile mix but not enough to power anything. Also there wasn't enough of it to allow lift-off. Yeah there would have been 313 MPs in Alliance with SDLP and Alliance party 317 but that still isn't enough to provide a stable flight into the future. NASA would have been worried about tiles falling off effecting re-entry with disastrous effects at every step of the journey.

As for Shimmering I think it was lukewarm at best way off getting to the simmering stage whatsoever.

If you want to play the blame game as your article says Polly, you'll have to admit that Labour spent 13 years becoming less progressive by the day and that is what cost them a chance to form a fully progressive alliance. The Lib Dems increased their share of the vote but because of the vagaries of our electoral system ended up with less representation, and Cameron won over most of those who turned up to vote. Simples!

* Yes Murdoch has truly lost my pound a day.

Skunnert as Grauniad Forget What Day It Is

The Grauniad are on day three of seven of their series of Romatic poets, appropriately they have the poems of Rabbie Burns. However, they omit the one poem that will be read over and over today. So here to make amends is Address to a Haggis (click the link if you need the English translation

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hudies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut ye up wi' ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reeking, rich!

Then horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit!' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As fecl;ess as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Tho' bluidy flood or field to dash,
O how unfit.

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whistle;
An' legs, an' arms, an' heads will sned
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware,
That jaups in luggies;
But if ye wish her gratfu' prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

I'll be having my haggis, neeps and tatties later with a wee dram. Slàinte mhath.

Today the World Speaks as One

With all eyes turning to Copenhagen this morning the world is hoping for a result that the planet can live with coming out of the Climate talks. 56 papers in 45 countries covering 20 languages (incudung Chinese, Russian and Arabic) including our own Guardian have taken the unprecedented step of carrying a common editorial, many have also moved it to their front page.

I'll let you read it for yourself, but I'll also direct you to the story of how this project came about.

When Parliamentary Reporting is Gagged in the 21st Century #Trafigura #CarterRuck #fail

People don't normally pay much attention to written questions in the House of Commons to the Secretary of State for Justice. But when one has been fielded, after 60 others, in this the first week of the new session and the Guardian is gagged from reporting that text people are likely to sit up and notice.

Bloggers from across the political blogosphere have rallied to the issue and the Twitterverse has lit up to many uses of the #Trafigura and #CarterRuck hashtags. So suddenly instead of solicitors Carter-Ruck trying to bury the fact that their client's actions are being questioned has actually highlighted the news to masses of people who would probably never have heard or read about it normally.

As many before me have pointed out the question from Paul Farrelly MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme is being gagged despite the 1688 Bill of Rights. One which provisions is "Freedom of speech and debates; or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament".

So obviously the lawyers are merely trying in vain to prevent the reporting of events in the House of Commons, thing is they cannot impeach the answer being published in Hansard. I expect that to be the most widely reported, or directed to answer in the history of the Parliamentary record being online.

Livingston FC: What the Papers are Saying

I was flicking through the sport's pages this morning to see what the papers say about the imminent liquidation of Livingston.

The Grauniad fail when they say:

'Presumably the number of people reading this column who care, or even know about, the probable demise of Livingston FC can be counted on the fingers of an oven glove.'

Personally I find such presumptions about Scots first and Livingston fans secondly a disgrace. An oven glove has one finger. Other than myself I can think of several other readers of that paper in the support. I may have to confine them to the level of the unmentionable red top.

The Daily Telegraph mention that this is the fourth Scottish Team to go out of business in 7 years, Livingston, Gretna, Clydebank and Airdrieonians. Though on a minor technicality Clydebank's position basically survived when the outfit moved to Airdrie.

The Scotsman has been matter of factly updating its story since early yesterday morning and says the fate lies in the SFL meeting this morning. But as the Daily Mail reports that would require a change in the SFLs rules over insolvency. Basically as Massone's company still technically owns the club as registered with the SFL which he is not prepared to give up voluntarily they may severe those links and offer Neil Rankine and Gordon McDougall, waiting in the wings with a joint rescue bid, the rights to the identity.

The small hope is rule 76 which says:

"Any club who goes in for an insolvency procedure are in breach of SFL rules. The committee then have full power to deal with it as it thinks fit."

The Herald reports that though the deadline for Massone to hand over his shares to McGruther acting for the Administrators to hand over his shares yesterday, is willing to wait until he walks into the meeting at Hampden this afternoon at 2pm for a change of heart. But he will need the shares in his hand and the interested parties by his side or else all looks doomed.

The unmentionable paper do publish a plea from Chris Innes* the team captain to the SFL to give a stay of execution. He of course went through this all last summer with Gretna.

All in all not a pleasant mornings reading, with only the thinnest glimmer of hope. Angelo you have seen only a small part of how upset the community is as many of us had to be at work yesterday. You appear to be the only person left who thinks you are able to save this club by holding unto your shares. Wake up! Smell the espresso and do the right thing.

*Hey after yesterday's horrible headline they gave a decent story today. But I still remember Hillsborough.