Indygal in Europe!

New job, new life, therefore new blog

2009-04-03T10:33:00.004+01:00

Finally, 50 days after my election, I have managed to get my new blog up and running. As anyone who's read any of my blogs will know, I LOVE writing. I've been blogging for 2 years now and it's cathartic, it allows me to speak my mind and it's my creative outlet. So I've no intentions of stopping.

Just as an aside but still on the "what's the point of blogs?" topic, when I was in Sri Lanka working last year, my (now) friend Thea arrived as the new volunteeer after about a month. She was delighted when she discovered I had a blog because she's not one for emails and phone calls home were very expensive BUT her family and friends still wanted to know what she was up to. So she told them that as she lived with me and we worked for the same organisation, if they just read my blog they'd know what kind of things she was up to! And they did! In fact, I'm pretty sure Thea's lot read it more than any of my lot!!

Anyway, back to the matter in hand. I do plan to continue blogging when I can but I want to start afresh with a new blog. For anyone who's reading this and doesn't know, I was sworn in as a Member of the Scottish Parliament on 12 February 2009. I want to achieve something with my new blog and that is I want to use it to keep in touch with people who are not normally interested in politics. I think EVERYONE should care about it because politics affects all of our lives and we all have a right to have our say.

I do, however, understand why some people are put off and I hope, in some small way, that I can dispel some of the myths and demonstrate that elected politicians are really no different to anyone else. I am also passionate about people empowering themselves and sometimes all they need is someone to tell them HOW they do that. So I HOPE the new blog will be useful, I hope it will still be interesting to my fellow politicos and more than anything, I hope I manage to actually make the time to write it :-)

Thanks to everyone who's read this blog and left comments (well, most of the commenters!) and generally encouraged me. I feel a wee bit sad saying goodbye to Indygal in Europe but as of today ...

INDYGAL GOES TO HOLYROOD

Taking a very short break from blogging

2009-02-15T15:23:00.002Z

Many people have asked me what my plans are for blogging now that I’ve been elected to the Scottish Parliament (I was sworn in on Thursday). I thought it might be an idea to post just to let you all know that I need to spend the next wee while settling into the role as SNP MSP for Glasgow. In the next week or two however, I’ll put up the link to my new website. And as I’m obviously someone who likes to communicate, I’ll definitely be looking at ways to keep in touch about the work that I’m doing. In the meantime, thank you for all the good wishes, they’ve been much needed and very much appreciated.

The end of a long week

2009-02-15T14:39:00.005Z

I don’t think I need to explain to anyone why last week was probably one of the longest of my life. Bashir’s death was a huge shock to all of us and something it will take time for us all to come to terms with. It’s not the way anyone would choose to come into an elected position and dealing with that has been character building to say the least.

I have been incredibly lucky to have received so much support from members of the SNP and other friends and family, all of them acknowledging the tragic circumstances, all of them sensitive enough to know that this is not something to be celebrated and all of them being supportive and encouraging.

The greatest strength however has been drawn from Bashir’s family – his wife, his 5 girls and his 2 boys. I barely know them but in the time I’ve spent with them this week, I have seen Bashir’s generosity of spirit in each and every one of them. We’ll keep in touch and I look forward to getting to know them better. And I hope, in some way, I can repay them for the kindness they’ve shown me in one of the worst week’s of all of their lives, a week when nobody would’ve minded if they’d thought of themselves. Because of them, I can move on and focus on representing the people of Glasgow to the best of my ability. I won’t forget that and I will never forget Bashir Ahmad.

Bashir's legacy

2009-02-07T22:48:00.005Z

Seeing as my stats for this blog have quadrupled and then some (what's the word for a 5 fold increase again?) I thought I'd better write something.

Sometimes in politics, something happens to remind us all that we are more than just the parties we belong to. Something that reminds us of what we are - not just nationalists, socialists, conservatives, greens, or whatever else you identify yourself with, but human beings.

Bashir Ahmad's death and the reaction to it from across the parties is one of those things. It serves as one of those reminders. I confess, from time to time, I forget. I get so caught up in the combative nature of politics and the absolute belief that my party has got it right, that I forget that lots of these other people are good people too ~ we just disagree about how to make our country a better place for our people to live.

I doubt Bashir ever forgot that. I know I can't do him justice in this - maybe one day but right now it's too raw. All I will say is that he was a lovely man. You'll read that over and over again and it's because it's true. He never once failed to make me smile because he was just such a kind, polite, funny man. I only ever heard him say good things about people whatever they believed. He even effortlessly tolerated people who didn't believe in Independence, Bashir's main raison d'etre.

I think that's why the response has been the same across the parties. Of course when a politician dies, all parties say nice things but you can see the difference here. Many different people came to the funeral and they were genuinely upset, I've seen posts on blogs eg there's one on Tartan Hero's blog from Stephen Purcell, Labour Leader in Glasgow, I've had some myself. Everyone is shocked and saddened by Bashir's passing away. Our political opponents will know how devastated we all are and they've been very kind about Bashir, and very respectful towards us - certainly in my personal experience.

As I said, it's a reminder that although I may believe in Independence and you may believe in the Union, we still hurt the same, we still love the same, and we still care the same. (I'm still right about Independence mind you.)

Bashir is pictured here during the Glasgow East by-election with John Mason, now MP and "Oscar" a Plaid Cymru Assembly Member.

The end of one of the saddest ever days

2009-02-06T23:35:00.003Z

For those who don't yet know.

Labour playground politics part 75!

2009-02-04T16:43:00.004Z

I was hearing that the Speaker of the House of Commons also my MP (so they tell me anyway!) Michael Martin, had to tick off his fellow Labour MPs in the house today for their obsessive references to the Scottish Government. They were warned that they have to stop using their Westminster positions as a political platform to attack the SNP Government. You know, if I were them, I think I might want to use my position to do something about this recession we're all suffering. Don't get me wrong, I am happy knowing that we're clearly doing something right if we're bugging them that much. But they need to remember their job is to run the countries of the UK, not to run another country down.

Missing by election registers - surely not!

2009-02-04T14:29:00.002Z

One of my branch members said to me just after the Glenrothes by-election: "I bet the marked up registers make interesting reading!".

For those who have better things to do with their lives than look at marked up registers, basically these are the originals of the electoral register that the polling agents have in the polling places. You will have seen (if you've ever voted and if you haven't, what you doing reading this blog?!) that when you give your name and address, they take a pen and ruler and score your name out on the register.

All political parties are then entitled to obtain copies of this. Actually you MAKE the copies, at least the last time I did it I had to sit in the court and physically score out each name on my duplicate of the register.

Anyway there are lots of reasons for doing this. For example, if your records show that someone who told you they intended to vote for you didn't in actual fact go out and vote at all, you might think you're better concentrating efforts next time round on those who DID vote. Or you might think you should put in more effort with this person and maybe offer them a lift next time. I'm simplifying but that's so you can see that there is a reason other than nosiness for us looking at the marked up register.

The other thing it does is tells you how many folk have voted in the constituency and that should tally up with the number of votes announced in the results on the night. If it doesn't, you'd be smelling a rat and you'd be right to.

It shouldn't have the names of dead / housebound / on holiday people scored off now should it? If it does, you'd be smelling a rat and you'd be right to.

Changed days really. Many years ago when I was young, fundie and fanatical about Independence (2 out of 3 remaining ain't so bad is it?) it was exasperating / funny / infuriating (depending on your mood) to read the registers and find (just as an example to illustrate my point - no truth whatsoever in this) that an entire homeless hostel in the middle of Glasgow had voted. 100% turnout from them which was surprising in itself given the nomadic nature of folk who are unfortunate enough to have to live in hostels. Not just surprising but really rather remarkable given that no other street / unit / area had anything like 100% turnout.

So you'd want to check the marked up register for these and other reasons. Won't be able to do that with Glenrothes now will we? Not now that they've mysteriously gone missing. Not that I'm suggesting anything underhand. I mean just because something sounds dodgy doesn't mean it IS actually dodgy. Who would have anything to hide anyway? Still, I would have preferred it if we could have checked - just to be on the safe (and legal) side. Oh listen to me going on here - Gordon Brown's Labour Party won, with a bigger majority than anyone expected and that's really an end to it. Unless of course the enquiry tells us different ...

Scottish voters awake and smelling the coffee

2009-02-01T10:20:00.004Z

I blogged quite a bit about the budget fiasco last week. I was upbeat about how the SNP would be affected by it but in the back of my mind I was aware of something it pays never to forget in politics. Being right (and on this occasion we were) is not always a guarantee that the voters will see it that way. Perception is ALL in politics these days. People are busy and often they read nothing more than the headlines accompanied by the photographs which illustrate the journalist's own prejudices.

So whilst I had no doubt that the SNP government had approached the budget with an open mind and was genuinely attempting, within the limits of a minority government, to bring forward the best possible deal for Scotland, I wasn't too sure how the Scottish public would see it.

Therefore I am extremely proud, very happy and more than a little relieved to report some poll findings to you this morning.

YOUGOV on behalf of the Sunday Times polled 1500 voters on Thursday and Friday last week. They asked for leadership approval for each of the Scottish leaders with specific reference to how they rated the budget performance.

Greens Co-Convener Patrick Harvie down 25%
Tory Leader Annabelle Goldie was down 3%
Lib Dem Leader Tavish Scott - down 19%
Labour Leader Iain Gray -17%

And finally, Alex Salmond, First Minister and Leader of the SNP was UP by 11%!

Seems to me the people of Scotland KNOW that the SNP government would never, in a million years, do anything to damage Scotland's economy (as they were accused of last week by the unionists) - if anyone's going to do the right thing by Scotland, it's the SNP. Doing the right thing does NOT include playing politics with people's lives by voting down a budget which includes additional funding of £1.8billion in the middle of a recession.

Cool Cats

2009-01-31T13:10:00.003Z

I love this story about the cat who went missing from Bearsden near Glasgow two years ago and turned up in Millport the other day!! How he got onto an island with nobody noticing is a mystery but cats are like that. I had a cat called .... well to be honest he had a few names. We called him Puss, the neighbours thought we were saying Bruce and my Granny Purdie called him Corky - simply because she preferred that name! I might scan in a pic later because he was a handsome brute of a cat! He was also as weird as most cats I've ever known.

When he was about 2 years old, we lived in the Calton in the East End of Glasgow. One day we went out to go to the shops and there was Puss, holding court atop a Vauxhall Corsa with around 8 other cats on the roadside gazing up and holding onto his every word!

We approached with words like "oh, cute little Puss, aren't you handsome up there?". Actually I can't remember what we said, I'm making it up as an excuse for his response. He looked absolutely horrified. In fact he personified the Glasgow expression of being "pure mortified"! He shrunk away and there was no recognition in his eyes. It was hilarious. We didn't think so at the time but with hindsight it was very funny - he was behaving like a teenager who can't believe his parents are embarrassing him by talking to him when he's trying to act cool with his mates! AND he went in the huffs with us all night when he finally did come home.

There is no political message here, I just really liked the other cat story and felt like reminiscing.

A Day of Drama in Parly Land

2009-01-29T23:50:00.006Z

What a day it's been in the village that is the Scottish Parliament! Everywhere you went there were folk huddled in corners, speaking out of the corners of their mouths, whispering, talking in code and even some folk who amused themselves by surreptitiously taking photographs of the day's proceedings!

Not that I wasn't taking it seriously. Of course I was although I struggled to take some of the characters seriously. Par example, the Lib Dems. Word is that they didn't think the Greens would vote against the budget so they were safe in doing so, knowing that it would get through anyway. Let that be a lesson to them that games should be kept for the playground not the parliament!

Anyway then we hear that they're willing to vote for the budget if they can force a concession or two out of the SNP government. And what was their biggest demand? That the government write to the Calman Commission and suggest the Parliament gets borrowing powers. Hmmmm, bet our side had to think long and hard about that one.

And Labour are tonight claiming they've squeezed an extra year of the apprenticeship scheme out of this. It would probably have happened anyway and surely, surely to goodness, they weren't voting down the budget on that one issue.

And that is, for me, the most important point in all of this. The Labour Party were prepared to vote down a budget with all of the inevitable chaos that would bring to the country (councils not being able to set their budgets, health boards not knowing what they're doing etc) in a time of severe economic recession for what? For the want of an extra year of apprenticeships that probably would've happened anyway?

You DO NOT vote down budgets unless you've a very good reason for doing so. It should be a LAST resort. There can only be ONE good reason and that is because you believe that the budget being proposed will be DAMAGING to your country's economy. You don't do it just because you don't like it and you'd have done it differently. How deeply irresponsible of the people who once ran this country?

What a relief that they no longer do (run the country) and from what I'm hearing, this has simply woken up the few remaining Labour voters who can now see that this is a morally bankrupt party still smarting from losing the election, determined to get their revenge on the SNP and prepared to stop at nothing to that end.

So it was an exciting week in parliament with lots of high drama and a photo diary to go with it! And although we cannot count our chickens, it looks like all of the parties are now moving in the same direction and looking to do the right thing for Scotland and get this budget through the parliament. I'm sure people will be very relieved when it's over and we can get on with the job of running the country!

Labour MSPs have just cost Scotland £1.8billion

2009-01-28T17:47:00.004Z

Today, if you live in Scotland you might be interested to know that your Labour, Lib Dem and Green MSPs voted down a Scottish budget which included accepting an additional £1.8million settlement from our share of Westminster revenues.

Today, if you live in Glasgow you might be interested to know that your Labour, Lib Dem and Green MSPs voted against giving Glasgow an equivalent £205million. (Meantime the Labour run council claim their decision to close and / merge 25 schools and nurseries could save £3.7million. I dread to think how many more they'll want to shut now!)

Today, your Labour, Lib Dem and Green MSPs voted for something that could see council tax payers in Glasgow on average band D paying an additional £274.14 next year instead of a second year running tax freeze.

Live in Aberdeen? You could be paying up to £212 more.

Falkirk? £287 extra.

Edinburghers are getting off "lightly" - they'll only be paying another £169 next year!

Shetland? You might want to know that Tavish Scott's vote might just have cost you another £379 per year.

Rates of depression are high enough on Eilean Siar (Western Isles) so I won't tell you what they've done to you.

The problem is, you see, that parliamentary rules state if the budget does not go through, expenditure can continue as in the previous year but you don't get any planned increases in the block 'grant' from Westminster - and next year that's worth £1.8billion. Without it councils lose money and hiking up council tax is just one of the things they're going to have to do.

Small businesses are also likely to fall victim to this so all those businesses employing local people, struggling to hang on in there in the belief that their business rates will be slashed or cut altogether in this financial year, may have waited in vain.

The Labour Party know this. The Lib Dems know it. They apparently care not. It's more important to them to bring down the SNP government. I don't think they will bring us down and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for us as a party - after all, the mark of a government is in the way they deal with crises and I'm 100% confident John Swinney will deal with this well.

But that's hardly the point. The point is that council tax payers are now waiting to find out if they're going to get another Labour induced financial body blow and struggling businesses don't know if the lifeline they were depending on is going to be whipped away from them. A strain few of us need in these troubled times but in the game of politics, these things don't seem to matter.

If you want to know what you can do about it, how about you email your Labour MSP on firstname.surname.msp@scottish.parliament.uk (eg paul.martin.msp@scottish.parliament.uk) and tell them what you think of their attempts today to stop Scotland getting the additional £1.8billion it so badly needs. Maybe if they think it'll affect their vote at the next election, they'll think twice about defeating the budget a second time.

If not ... watch this space. We live in interesting times.

Breaking news - Tommy and Gail Sheridan to stand trial

2009-01-27T17:27:00.003Z

It's just been announced that both Tommy and Gail Sheridan will stand trial for perjury later this year. An indictment was served on them earlier today. Few folk know if they're guilty or innocent, I certainly don't so there's no point in speculating on that. All I'll say is that if they are guilty, it's an absolute tragedy for them and their little girl because there's a high chance they'll get a jail sentence. I hope for their sake that they're not guilty, I really do but if they are, it's a lesson for anyone who believes they are above the law and can outwit us all. Am pretty sure if their trials were televised the viewing figures would be higher than even the recent Celebrity Big Brother in which Tommy starred!

Well worth homecoming for ....

2009-01-27T15:09:00.005Z

On Sunday evening I went along to George Square with my sister, her old man and my niece and nephew. We went to see Burns Illuminated and as you can see from the photo, it was spectacular - the projection artist for this was Ross Ashton. I'll start off with my one criticism (before I tell you everything that was wonderful about it. And I only make this criticism because there was something very obvious missing. It was on from just before 6 till after 8pm on a cold, dark, January night in Glasgow and nowhere could you buy even a hot drink! Christie who's now 16 was reminding me of the time I took her and her brother to Germany in winter and we drank hot gluwein (her's was not wine, it was hot apple juice). It was a freezing cold night (not exactly unexpected) and became almost painful. The result was that loads of folk went off to the chippie and I doubt they were really that hungry, probably just wanted to heat up. (Not me, saint that I was!) A hot cup of tea or coffee would have been lovely.

Anyway that aside, the events team put on a fantastic show and I loved every minute of it. It was a fitting start to Glasgow's contribution to Homecoming Scotland. As you can see the illuminations were spectacular and we had a toast to Scotland, a recitation of Tae a Moose, the story of Burns' life, Michelle McManus who was better than I expected and sang Wild Mountain Thyme, thus getting into my good books, the Skye Pipe Band and the piece de la resistance the WONDERFUL RED HOT CHILLI PIPERS - if you've not seen them, do!

It was finished off with a stunning firework display - having said that I'm a firework fanatic and a little firecracker is normally enough to get me excited but judging by the faces on Sunday night, I wasn't the only one. It was definitely a job well done and a great birthday party for the Ploughman Poet!

Sri Lankan Anniversary

2009-01-25T22:54:00.005Z

Exactly a year ago today, I left to spend three months working in Sri Lanka, the furthest I had every been, the longest I'd be away. As anyone who read my Sri Lankan blog knows it was the single most life changing experience I've ever had. Perhaps that should be "me changing" rather than life changing seeing as I appear to still be living in Dennistoun, still doing much the same as I was doing before I left.

Rather than talk about it the experience here, I thought I might kill two birds with the one stone and direct you to a writing competition I've entered and for which I'd quite like some votes! I wrote about how Sri Lanka changed me and got the piece in ON the deadline but the one thing I've not done is pitch for votes. I keep getting emails from the competition runners telling me to get it on facebook, email to all my friends, get my vote out! I suspect the fact that I haven't done that means I'm not going to win. But it would still be nice to get a vote or two. Or you could vote for the article about composting with earth worms!!

PS Pic is me with my friend Muna's little boy Aatif, one of the few babies who wasn't scared of me!

Despicable way to treat Glasgow parents

2009-01-24T17:47:00.004Z

It's been a bit of a week for parents in Glasgow. On Tuesday many of them received letters telling them their child's school or nursery is facing closure. The statutory (or it wouldn't be happening at all I'm quite sure) consultation begins in February and will last for 6 weeks but all the indications are that the Labour council have made their decision. SNP councillors tried to push through an amendment at the executive meeting but of course were outnumbered.

It may well be true that some schools have to merge or indeed close but this whole thing stinks for a number of reasons. First, they should have been working with the parents before the "consultation" rather than springing it on them once they've more or less made their decision. Secondly, can we take this as an indication that they've no intentions of reducing class sizes for p1-3 if they're pressing ahead with closures? After all we'll need more capacity in the schools once that SNP policy is implemented. And finally, when SNP Renfrewshire Council proposed to close ONE school because it was only A THIRD FULL, the Labour Party were up in arms. And yet, their argument for closing some of the 25 in Glasgow is that some of them are only HALF full. Hypocrites.

However the important thing here is that we put as much pressure on the Labour Council as possible to face facts, they can't run a full and proper consultation on 25 different schools and nurseries in 6 weeks. They should scrap this ridiculous plan and sit down with parents to talk about the options. The parents clearly care about their schools because there have been bulging public meetings across the city all week as well as the mass demo outside the City Chambers on Friday. The photo shows Bob Doris SNP MSP talking to some of those protestors. I work for Bob and he's going to do all he can to support the parents so I'll be able to keep you updated.

NiCOOLIO Sturgeon MSP

2009-01-24T13:40:00.003Z

Well congratulations to Ulrika Jonsson for winning Celebrity Big Brother even though she cost me a fiver. When it got to the final 3 I bet a fiver that Terry would win. I was happy for UJ to win though because I got fed up with the silly boys in the house going on about her being bossy. She's not bossy, she's just an organiser and if folk sit about faffing about all day, what's she supposed to do - I feel your pain Ulrika!

Anyway, the headline NiCOOLIO Sturgeon :-) ... I'm outing Nicola, the Deputy First Minister of this country, as a Coolio fan! Now to be fair I know she tried hard not to watch Celebrity Big Brother. In fact the night it started she had a party for her neighbours and couldn't watch so I texted to confirm that Tommy Sheridan was, indeed, going in! She told me she would watch one episode and that would be that!

Hmmmmm. Fast forward a couple of weeks and she likes Ulrika, quite likes Terry, still can't believe Tommy is doing it and .... loves Coolio! I even heard she was spotted in parliament the other day wearing a bandana and singing "been spending most my life living in a nationalist paradise". Not totally convinced that's true.

Motion causing a commotion

2009-01-22T22:14:00.002Z

When I saw this motion laid down in the Scottish Parliament by Jack McConnell of all people, I nearly choked on my morning coffee. See if you can see why.

S3M-03235 Jack McConnell (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Scottish Labour): Appointment of Chair of the Board of the Scottish Qualifications Authority— That the Parliament notes the announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on Monday 12 January 2009 of the appointment of Councillor Graham Houston as chair of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA); also notes that Councillor Houston also holds a high profile political position in a local authority and that in this role he will be called on to participate in national and local meetings where matters relating to national qualifications will be discussed; further notes that as chair of the SQA he will be called on to make decisions relating to individual schools and local authorities, including on charging policies and performance-related issues; expresses concern about the direct conflict of interest that occurs should one individual hold these two positions, this conflict arising regardless of the abilities, experience and party affiliation of the individual and which would be particularly inappropriate in the context of the management and delivery of examinations and qualifications, which should be independent of party politics, and calls on the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning to recognise this direct conflict of interest and to review the appointment as a matter of urgency.

When, later that day, I saw Jamie Hepburn's amendment, yet again I nearly choked to death on my coffee. Again I invite you to see if you can see why ...

S3M-03235.1 Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Appointment of Chair of the Board of the Scottish Qualifications Authority— As an amendment to motion S3M-3235 in the name of Jack McConnell (Appointment of Chair of the Board of the Scottish Qualifications Authority), leave out from “also notes” to end and insert “believes that this appointment has been conducted in accordance with the robust standards required by the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland’s code of practice; further believes that the system of public appointments in Scotland compares favourably with that of other countries, and also believes that accusations of cronyism and conflicts of interest rarely stand in the way of UK Government ministers making public appointments, for example in the appointment of political figures to traditionally neutral diplomatic overseas postings such as the British High Commission in Malawi.”

Nice one Jamie!

Stupendous first day in the office

2009-01-22T22:04:00.003Z

My mate "T" said she was looking forward to her first day in her new job last week because "all you do is sit about chatting to folk drinking cups of tea at first" apparently! Not so Barack Obama but he certainly deserved a cup of tea at the very least after he ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay, demonstrating exactly what he meant when he said at his inauguration that he would:

"reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals".

No form of racism can EVER be acceptable

2009-01-13T22:47:00.002Z

A young woman was punched in the face in Aberdeen on Saturday night by a man who'd started off making comments about her English accent. He didn't like it so he punched her in the face? What an absolute disgrace. What is the problem with people? Is it because it's no longer "socially acceptable" to be racist toward people with a different skin colour so they have to look for something they reckon is likely to be more acceptable? Well it's not. Racism is wrong whatever the motivation and we have to be on the alert and recognise that being white does not make someone immune. Whilst I expect most people will be outraged at this young woman being attacked so savagely, because most people are anti violence, I sincerely hope those same people will recognise and speak out against racism in all it's forms - verbal, physical, institutional and whoever it's directed at.

Europe needs to get its act together for Gaza

2009-01-11T20:10:00.003Z

It's been a week since I blogged but I've a good reason for that. I've been back at work and finishing the books I started reading over the holidays and .... writing this article about Europe's stance on the situation in Gaza. Rather than republish it here, I'm sending you to the website "destiNation", the brainchild of Julie Hepburn, because if you've not already bookmarked it as a favourite, then you should! So once you've finished reading my article, don't forget to read what everyone else has to say - it's all good! Blogging back to normal as of now :-)

Welcoming the Euro

2009-01-04T10:40:00.003Z

One of the SNP MSPs, Willie Coffey, has called on retailers to start accepting Euros as part of the welcome that Homecoming Scotland will extend. It reminded me of a tale I forgot to share with you last week. My mate Dave from Liverpoooooool who now lives in Berlin, was over for a visit with his partner Kordula (both pictured) and on their last night they popped over to Glasgow. We went out for dinner and at the end of the night Kordula insisted on paying. We had the usual "no, no, I can't let you pay", "yes, I insist" argument but Kordula's argument had a new twist to it ...

"I have to pay, I am going home to Germany tomorrow and I must get rid of your WORTHLESS money"!!

Equal treatment for all fraudsters!

2009-01-03T17:00:00.002Z

Today is my last day of freedom. What I mean is I'm back into the fray on Monday and tomorrow, helping my mum with her move to the new flat so everything I'd planned to do in my time off, has to be completed today! All of that preamble is simply to excuse myself for confessing that I watched a little bit of the live coverage of Big Brother today. I was racing about all day trying to get organised so I needed something mind numbing! Anyway ...

Tommy Sheridan as we all know and as I predicted (OK HEARD) is one of the housemates and today he was banging on about something that drives me mad too. And that is the difference in attitude towards rich and poor when it comes to committing crimes. I believe absolutely in obeying the law and I'm not excusing anyone but it is true that the more money you have the more likely you are to get away with it.

Worse still, the less money you have, the more likely you are to be pursued and to illustrate this point I always use this example which is exactly the one Tommy used. We've all seen the ads on TV "do you know someone who is committing benefit fraud?" ("do you know someone who can't bear not to be able to buy their kids new shoes and so is doing a bit of work on the side?") followed by "if so, shop them because they're bad bad people"! Again, I'm not condoning any crime but how come you never hear "do you know any rich businessmen committing tax fraud and lining their pockets will thousands, perhaps millions because .... well, because they're greedy?"?

Equality, that's all I'm asking for. Equality for fraudsters rich and poor. Right, back to my list, only 7 hours left to complete the tasks - I feel like I'm on Big Brother!

"Humiliation - the harder you try the dumber you look"

2009-01-03T11:00:00.000Z

I have a feeling that few will agree with what I'm about to say but I'm gonna say it anyway. This idea from Labour MSP Richard "Little Lord Fontleroy" Baker, that convicted criminals doing community service should be wearing high visibility vests so we can all see them, I find just a tad distasteful. Personally I don't think I'm soft on criminals, I just think we approach tackling the problem the wrong way. Focusing on punishment and retribution (as we do) might make us feel like we're taking control but if it doesn't work (and it doesn't) we're kidding ourselves. I appreciate that we have to have deterrents and we have to have some form of punishment and I agree with all of that.

But surely what we want from any criminal justice system is for a continual reduction in crime and greater protection for our people and our communities. And that means we either have to lock up all CONVICTED criminals forever or we have to find ways of persuading them not to commit further crimes. Rehabilitation will never be achieved if we purposely set out to humiliate people.

How do YOU feel when someone publicly humiliates you? You feel angry and unless you have constructive ways to express that anger, most people will harbour a grudge and one day it all comes out. I can hear some of you now "well if they don't want to be humiliated they shouldn't commit crimes in the first place" but where does that attitude get us? And what BENEFIT do WE gain from ridiculing people?

Slopping out dehumanised prisoners - if you can't treat people humanely, you can't expect them to behave any differently. High visibility vests is not exactly dehumanising but it IS degrading and it IS humiliating. It's a stupid idea and I sincerely hope nobody takes it seriously!

PS The quote is from an American Sociologist Larry Kersten

That was the year that was

2008-12-31T20:02:00.005Z

Most normal people at this time of year, apparently sort out their finances, springclean the house, get their hair cut etc etc. I just write and write and today I've been on a bit of a writing frenzy - not of the blogging variety. However it's now time to update the blog and review the year - it's a personal review, the political one comes later!

SRI LANKA
It's been a funny old year for me - first the 3 months (Jan to April) in Sri Lanka having never been away on my own, never been to a developing country and never been away for more than 2 weeks. As anyone who read my Indygal in Sri Lanka blog will know, it was something of an adventure for me.

EUROPEAN CANDIDATE
I then came home to find I'd been selected by the SNP as one of the European candidates for next June's elections. As we have an internal ranking system which largely determines who gets elected, I spent a fair bit of time speaking and answering questions at Euro hustings up and down the country. The "biggies" take place in February this year and the results will be known on 10 March. Almost certain to top our list is current MEP and Party President Ian Hudghton who invited me out to Brussels for a few days to shadow him in JUNE. That was a whirlwind visit, my feet barely had time to touch the ground and I know what hard work lies ahead should I be elected.

GLASGOW EAST BY-ELECTION
Hard work is one way of describing the month of July when we were faced with a 24 day campaign to win the Glasgow East by-election. I was delighted when the SNP's Chief Executive Peter Murrell asked me to be Campaign Co-ordinator and I did what I suspect most of our activists did that day - packed my bags, waved goodbye to my family and told them to expect me at the end of the month. Little did any of us know that we weren't going to just put in a good show, we were going to WIN the by election. I loved the international coverage as John Mason's victory sent shockwaves across the opposition parties. Yesterday I looked through the by-election photoblog and it brought back a lot of happy memories.

FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND
The by election was over and it was time for me to get on my travels again - this time to Northern Ireland and to the Republic. I spent time in Belfast, Donegal and Derry. It's the first time I've been to Ireland and I loved it.

WORKING AT THE PARLIAMENT
No rest for the wicked and as soon as I got home I started a new job working for two of our MSPS - Bob Doris (who I'm still working for) and Stuart McMillan - the latter gave me the chance to work closely with the residents of a Greenock alcohol rehab centre which was closing and the former, amongst other things, allowed me to help some asylum seekers which is something very close to my heart.

SNP CONFERENCE
SNP Conference in October I loved! And it was a very different conference for me this year. I found myself leaving parties early to read up on whatever I would be speaking on the next day. When did I get all serious?! My friends and former workmates at SNP HQ were not impressed when I didn't even make it to the karaoke night! This is unheard of for me and I got a bit of a telling off for it!

OFF TO CORDOBA IN SPAIN
It got to November and my feet were getting itchy again so off I went, this time to visit a friend in Cordoba in the South of Spain. It's a beautiful city, if you get the chance to visit, do it.

The end of the year has been just as busy as the rest of it with various parties, friends to meet up with, family to catch up on and more reading than I've ever done. It's becoming obsessive but that's no bad thing! And after the year I've had I think it's time to relax.

I've got my own personal goals for this year which I'll keep to myself but having read all of that I can't believe I told someone last week that "not much has happened this year"! What was I thinking? Anyway I hope you all have (had) a very good Hogmanay and an even better 2009!

Christie says no to trident!

2008-12-30T00:35:00.004Z

I've been helping my niece with her Higher English recently. Well, when I say HELPING, what I mean is TRYING to help. She didn't want to send me what she'd written so far because she didn't think it was good enough (defeats the purpose a bit but that's beside the point I guess)!

Anyway I've finally got it and I thought (being a lazy blogger and a proud auntie) that I'd share a bit of it with you. See if you can work out why she was reluctant!

"The UK government is planning on spending an estimated £25 Billion of the taxpayer’s money on renewing the Trident nuclear weapon system that has served us so well in the past 10 years by doing…erm nothing actually!"

Tee hee. (That's my comment btw, not the essay.)

And ...

"For the past 10 years the taxpayer has spent millions every year for the up keep of these very “useful” weapons of mass destruction. And now another £25 billion (£50 billion in total) is to be spent: not on schools, hospital, transport, police or anything as insignificant, but nuclear weapons as they are of course what we really need!"

Then ...

"You might as well get £25 billion and set fire to it for all the use its doing for us. Unless action is taken those nuclear weapons will be sitting gathering dust for the next 10 years (until we have to spend more billions renewing them) because if they were actually to be used – as is their purpose, it would be the start of a nuclear war and we’d all be dead or seriously mutated. Probably dead."

And, just to prove that she's incredibly intelligent and has been very well brought up ...

"Oh yes and where are they kept. 3 guesses. Scotland of course – on the river Clyde, just 20 miles from our biggest city, Glasgow. Imagine the uproar if they were kept on the river Thames or just 20 miles from say Manchester. You couldn’t have Trident so near to such important cities! Which funnily enough is what Glasgow is, well to the Scottish people anyway."

Finally, a good old McLaughlin style rant ...

"To the UK Scotland isn’t that important – unless you need somewhere to keep nuclear weapons or dump some nuclear waste. That’s how we got our nickname “the dump of Britain”. And our slogan – 'got waste? Bring it to Scotland'."

I suspect she's made that slogan up, even the UK govt wouldn't be that cheeky. So for that reason and because of the missing apostrophe (look carefully, Christie!) I'm only giving her 9/10 - good effort hen and good to know you were listening to that tape your mum used to play you in your sleep!!

Glasgow Vigil for Gaza - TODAY, Sunday, 4.30pm

2008-12-28T14:46:00.002Z

I will be blogging about the events in Gaza in more detail later but I just wanted to encourage everyone to get along to the candlelit vigil in Glasgow today. It's at 4.30pm in George Square and the vigil is for the hundreds of people who've been killed or injured in the latest onslaught. As you will no doubt be aware, there has been no let up today. Please, if you can, make your way to George Square in Glasgow today.

Woolworths in Greenock has gone - end of an era

2008-12-28T14:21:00.003Z

As regular readers will know, my first job (well, the first one I managed to retain for more than 3 hours) was as a Saturday girl in Woolies in Greenock - you'll recall I wasn't cool enough for the record counter - hmmmm! I was sad to see it was one of the first to go and yesterday was its last trading day. It's sad for so many reasons but as always, it's the human cost that matters most. I remember the girls (sophisticated grown ups as they were to me at the time) who worked there - they were all late teens, early 20s and work for them was about more than just earning a wage packet.

It's the same for most people, whether they believe it or not.

It's about having a structure to your day, being needed, have a social life. By the latter I don't necessarily mean going out partying with your workmates, you can take it in its most simplistic form - having someone remember you went home with a headache the night before and ask how you are; workplace banter, there's always someone who can make you laugh; or in the case of the full timers who worked at Woolies, even just having folk who will tell you that no, you shouldn't wear the shorter skirt on Friday night because you really suit the jeans and yes, you should go and visit your granny in Largs if you've not seen her for 2 weeks (I have a good memory)!

What I'm trying to say is that it won't matter to the folk who are being made redundant if they have a good pay off, they will miss everything else about work so much more than the money initially. We all need to relate to other human beings and we all need regular interaction - unemployment is a curse and it takes all that away. I know there are many women (there were men too - usually managers of course - but I only remember the women) who left Woolies in Greenock on Saturday, never having worked anywhere else. It will take a long time for them to come to terms with the changes in their lives and I really hope, but doubt, that there are people out there who will be able to support them through it.

Unemployment used to be my favourite topic to rant about - I suspect you'll be hearing more about it from me in the not too distant future.

What I'm doing tomorrow

2008-12-27T17:30:00.004Z

This is Toby, aged 2, member of the Clan McLaughlin, travelling from Manchester to Port Glasgow tomorrow. His Nantie (it's a family name!) can't wait to see him. This of course has nothing to do with politics but it's a time for sharing and he's so beautiful, I felt it only fair to share him with you all. (Got his mum's permission first obviously!)

Thank God the adverts will stop now - oh and Merry Christmas everyone!

2008-12-24T17:10:00.003Z

Not a great deal happening politically right now so I guess I can pack up the blog for a day or so and go and do the holiday thing! Myself and my friend Eric have decided it's best if Christmas comes but once every THREE years from now on. We are but two so it's not likely we'll win that argument. Might as well just get on and enjoy it I guess.

I do like carol singing and last night after the clan (well, 15 of us) went out for a family lunch, we went back to my mum's and sang every carol we could remember. Plus a few we couldn't but hey, you can make these things up. My cousin's wife Ann who's from Thailand pulled quite a few faces as we tried to identify how many lords a leaping, etc. Anyway it was fun.

I like having time off work and this time I've got a list of things to do when I find myself staring into space unable to cope with the boredom. I've got books to read, European campaign plans to make, writing projects, films to watch and fitness to gain!

The best thing about Christmas being over is the fact that these irritating TV ads will stop. What about that one with the guy almost whispering "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" from the start of October? Now I don't mind it the WEEK of Christmas but before then?

Top of my list of hated TV ads is the one for Somerfield. The woman who refuses help from the delightful shop assistant (has anyone ever offered you help in Somerfield - no me neither?!). Anyway she doesn't need help because "John's here"!.

She then sends John off to get the drinks. On his return he confesses he forgot the tonic water. Roll of the woman's eyes - make eye contact with the female assistant - "what are they like?" the wife says of the husband. That of course means "what are men like?" because as we all know, girls, we'd NEVER forget anything, being the superior sex. And men? Well they're ALL too stupid to remember everything on that list you made up for them. What ARE they like? What are the advert makers like?!

Anyway, off out tonight, then going down to stay at my mum's, will be tucked up before midnight in case Santa finds out. Or is it Wee Willie Winkie who grasses you up? Well, whoever it is, better not let him catch me. Have a great Christmas and if I think of anything else to moan about I'll let you know!

PS Pic is from the said clan day out!

Who wants to live in Simon Cowell Street?

2008-12-23T09:08:00.005Z

This nonsensical idea of having X Factor style votes on how to name local streets and facilities, really has to be knocked on the head now. All that will happen is the only folk who'll vote will be very young people, used to this style of voting and who will they vote for? Whoever happens to be the latest "celebrity". As one guy in this BBC report says celebrity is cheaply earned and short lived.

I remember a recent vote on Channel 4 looking for the 100 greatest songs of all time and do you know what was number 1? Actually I can't remember and that's probably the point, it was something too non descript to commit to memory. It was also something current which tells us it was very young people who think music was only invented this year. And that is precisely what will happen if we go ahead with this stupid idea.

Imagine we'd introduced this a couple of years ago, we could've had ..

Goody Gardens which when she was out of favour would have to be changed to Shilpa Shetty Street. (I had to google the Bollywood woman, proving my point I think.)

Michelle McManus Avenue; Shabhaz Drive; I could go on but I can't remember half these names - again, proving my point.

There are plenty of ordinary people who do so much for their communities. Celebrities may be lovely people, they may be very caring and I'm sure many would give up their seat to an old lady on the bus if ever they travelled on a bus, but getting rich and famous is about helping themselves not their communities and I'd say it's reward enough. If we want to recognise anyone, make it local people who do what they do for no reward. Personally I still prefer to recognise trees - there are no bad trees in the world and there's nothing nicer than a Beech Avenue or an Oak Walk :-)

Now that I think about it, I believe the greatest song of all time was "We like to Party" by the Venga Boys. Hmmmm, quite like that song actually!

New Party Announced - the ConLabatives

2008-12-21T15:12:00.005Z

I've heard everything now! I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a long time since I've seen a great deal of difference between Labour and the Tories. And from time to time you read something that demonstrates what a great impersonation they do of each other. But the latest news that the Labour Government in Britain are considering charging interest rates of up to 28% per annum for social fund loans, is nothing short of outrageous. And it is proof if ever it were needed that the Labour Party has abandoned ALL of its founding principles and switched to the dark side altogether.

The Social Fund is there to help people on the lowest incomes to get through desperate times. And yet now, they may have to pay more than they would pay using a credit card. I say "may" because although the news only came out today, already they're backtracking like mad blaming the wording on the document - how you can confuse "interest will be charged at ..." I don't know. Clearly, however, the backlash is worrying them and I cannot see it going through now. That, however, is not the point - it takes a cold, unfeeling heart to sanction that kind of policy development James Purnell, Gordon Brown et al.

As a footnote, I was a voluntary Welfare Rights Advisor in the Gorbals in Glasgow many years ago and I will never forget the guy who came in for advice one day. He'd lost his job the year before and had struggled to find another. This was the late 80s when the UK was referring to the recession in the past tense whilst everyone in Scotland was wondering when it would end up here.

Anyway this guy had heard there was work going with a company in the shipyards in Greenock but there was no phone number, only a name of the guy he should contact. He got the train down twice but didn't manage to speak to the guy. He couldn't afford to pay another trainfare so the next time he walked ALL THE WAY TO GREENOCK - that's 25 miles. Finally his luck was in and the guy offered him a job but there was a catch. He had to provide his own safety boots and hat. "No problem" he thought "I'll get a loan from the social".

The reason he came to see me was because the social said no. Loans were only for emergencies and back to work related expenses were not emergencies!!! No matter how I fought with them, "rools was rools" and they would not (could not) budge. He lost out and carried on signing on. That story was one of many, now joined by today's news, that left me in no doubt that people living on benefits are the least powerful, most vulnerable in our society. I struggle to keep my composure when I hear folk talking about "folk on benefits living the life of Riley"! They have no idea ...

20 years since Lockerbie bombing

2008-12-21T01:16:00.004Z

Today marks 20 years since Lockerbie.

It's a mark of the impact the bombing of Pan Am 103 had on us all on 21 December 1988, that we simply refer to it as "Lockerbie" and everyone knows what we mean.

I remember it well, I remember the shock waves that reverberated round the country. Nothing like that had happened here that any of us could remember. STV's Jim Delahunt who was a reporter with a local radio station at the time was one of the first on the scene. He wrote about it some years later, for a collection of true stories I published. I'll look it out and put it on here because it was a fascinating recollection of a truly horrific and shocking crime.

It must be a tough day for the families left behind as they think back to twenty years ago when they first heard the news and had to wait to find out if their loved ones had survived. Dr Jim Swire has been a leading light in the search for the truth. His 23 year old daughter Flora died that day and he has been relentless in his attempts to bring her killers to justice.

But what compassion and courage must it take to speak out as he does, and say that he believes the man convicted of the bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, is not guilty? It takes a good man to do that, most would prefer to believe it was true if only to give a focus for their anger. A friend of mine has nominated him for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award and I can see why.

Wilkommen, bienvenida, welcome!

2008-12-20T13:47:00.002Z

I must be getting featured by Google because I've just checked my "traffic" for this blog and in the last hour I've had visitors from Loudac (France), Malone (New York), Budapest, Richboro (Pennsylvania), Duderstadt (Germany), Santiago (Chile), Pune (India), Jakarta (Indonesia), Galicia (Spain), Pretoria (South Africa), Shanghai (China) and finally, and aptly (if it were not for the fact that it's the US of A one) Bethlehem! International woman of mystery that's me!

All I want to say is hello, bonjour, hey man!, hola, guten tag, etc and hiya for all the Scottish ones still reading ... :-)

Calling all bloggers

2008-12-20T13:33:00.002Z

Can someone please tell me how on earth I get rid of the glitch in the post below? Despite putting separate paragraphs into the piece, it hasn't worked. It just looks like a very untidy single paragraph. I did exactly what I always do and when it appeared like this, I edited it but it's just ignoring me and I'm not happy. If anyone can make me happy I'd be very grateful.

Support Scottish Football

2008-12-20T13:19:00.005Z

Here I am pictured with Craig Brown on the day he launched his Scottish Parliament petition against forcing Scotland's football team OUT of the Olympics and making us play as Team GB!

Craig Brown is one of my favourite people, he was manager of the Scotland team when I was a member of the Tartan Army and went to every single home game.

He also wrote a story for a book I published many years ago and came along to the launch of it. I was telling him that I still have the photos of him with Fran n Anna!! And I've promised to look them out for him. I've also promised to send him the link to this blog piece so I will just finish off by saying what a great guy he is and what a brilliant manager he was for our country :-)

Good luck with the petition Craig and if any of you would like to sign it you can do so here!

There is a light that never goes out

2008-12-20T13:07:00.003Z

Spooky sight on the way to work the other day. This is the Great Eastern Hotel, a men's hostel on Duke Street in Glasgow. As far as I knew it was derelict. It was something about the bushes growing out the top that lead me to that conclusion. But look! There are 2 single lightbulbs lit up. What can that mean??? Perhaps the councillor for the area will know .... or maybe we should call Ghostbusters!

The resurrection of my car

2008-12-17T17:43:00.007Z

I don't want to count my chickens but it looks like the saga of the car could be over. I've refrained from giving regular updates on the whole sorry tale but now it looks like the end is in sight. And it's not going to end in the scrapyard! I've refrained from giving updates at the same time as I decided to refrain from doing anything much about it at all - sometimes you just can't face these things.

In the summer, not long after I came back from Sri Lanka, I started up the car, tried to move forward and couldn't. "Silly me" I thought "forgot to put the handbrake off"! But I hadn't .... it was off alright, the car just wasn't budging. It felt like there was something underneath it. A bomb was the first thing that came to mind (I refer you back to my fertile imagination.) On closer inspection (someone else, not me!) it became clear there was nothing underneath it so my uncle (who just happened to be with me at the time and who is a member of the AA) called the AA out and they took it to a garage in Greenock.

£120 it cost me to repair the "seized brakes".

A month or so later I was driving down a hill in 3rd gear when the brakes failed altogether! This time, my cousin happened to be with me (again, how handy!) with HIS AA membership card. Car went back to same garage, 3 month guarantee couldn't be used because it was a "different" brake problem this time.

£135 to repair the "failed brakes".

FIVE DAYS later I step outside, think "ooh it's chilly, so glad I have the car", start it up, try to move back (nope), forward (nope), deja vu, thinking "silly me, handbrake" etc. But no, it was not my fault, the brakes had seized AGAIN!

Saga continued but finally, TWO MONTHS ON, the Greenock garage sent someone up to Glasgow on Tuesday to pick it up and return it to them for inspection.

I waited with baited breath for the outcome of the inspection and finally, the phone rang with the good news that yes, indeed, it WAS their responsibility and they had now repaired the car. Joy oh joy. Today, Saturday, I will pick it up.

I'm STILL not counting any chickens because last night I got a call from my cousin telling me Greenock was inaccessible by car because of floods. This, the rest of the world puts down to higher than average (for Greenock, can you believe that?) rainfall. The readers of this blog however, will know better. It's nothing to do with rain and everything to do with me wanting to get my car back! Aarrgh!

Still, the rain has subsided, the brakes are CURRENTLY working, I'll check before I drive off that they've not drained my radiator of all water again, I'll do my best not to have flashbacks of the 2 occasions when the brakes have just stopped working ... and I'm sure all will be fine.

Tommy Sheridan postpones reality for a bit longer

2008-12-15T22:20:00.003Z

Tommy Sheridan is going into the Big Brother house. Is that practice for his next wee stint in a new house? Get used to them watching you all the time Mr S! All joking aside, I don't think the comparisons with Gorgeous George Galloway stand up. I actually think that whilst BB finished GG, it will be the saving of oor Tommy. He's done some stupid things in his life (not least persisting with that ridiculous defamation case against the NOTW) but ... he's actually NOT stupid. He'll learn from others' mistakes, he knows what he needs to achieve in this (apart from making loads of dosh) and I think he's got a VERY good chance of winning it.

Tommy is a very likeable guy on a social level. He's friendly, interesting, intelligent and, I believe he is a very caring individual. (His main problem is his out of control ego but that will fade into the shade amongst the other "celebrities".) All of this will go down well amongst other housemates. The Scottish public are already fascinated with him and I reckon they'll be glued to this series. I'm addicted already and it's not even started.

I've always thought if I could place Tommy in any reality show, it'd be the X Factor. Not long after sitting in the gallery at his famous defamation case, I was listening to the following song and instead of seeing Richard Gere in his top hat and tails, it was Tommy I kept visualising breaking out into a song and dance routine. Have a shuftie at the lyrics and see if you get what I'm saying here. I've helpfully highlighted the most relevant bits!

BAILIFF(Spoken)

Mr. Flynn, his honor is here

BILLY(Spoken)

Thank you. Just a moment.You ready?

ROXIE(Spoken)

Oh Billy, I'm scared.

BILLY(Spoken)Roxie, you got nothing to worry about. It's all a circus, kid. A three ring circus. These trials- the wholeworld- all show business. But kid, you're working with a star, the biggest!

(Singing)

Give 'em the old razzle dazzle

Razzle Dazzle 'em

Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it

And the reaction will be passionate

Give 'em the old hocus pocus

Bead and feather 'em

How can they see with sequins in their eyes?

What if your hinges all are rusting?

What if, in fact, you're just disgusting?

Razzle dazzle 'em

And they;ll never catch wise!

Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle

BILLY AND COMPANY

Razzle dazzle 'em

Give 'em a show that's so splendiferous

BILLY

Row after row will crow vociferous

BILLY AND COMPANY

Give 'em the old flim flam flummox

Fool and fracture 'em

BILLY

How can they hear the truth above the roar?

BILLY AND COMPANY

Throw 'em a fake and a finagle

They'll never know you're just a bagel,

BILLY

Razzle dazzle 'em

And they'll beg you for more!

BILLY AND COMPANY

Give 'em the old double whammy

Daze and dizzy 'em

Back since the days of old Methuselah

Everyone loves the big bambooz-a-ler

Give 'em the old three ring circus

Stun and stagger 'em

When you're in trouble, go into your dance (Tommy in top hat I'm picturing here!)

Though you are stiffer than a girder

They'll let you get away with murder

Razzle dazzle 'em

And you've got a romance

COMPANY(The same time as BILLY's)

Give 'em the oldRazzle Dazzle

BILLY

Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle

Razzle dazzle 'em

Show 'em the first rate sorceror you are

Long as you keep 'em way off balance

How can they spot you've got no talent

Razzle Dazzle 'em

BILLY AND COMPANY

Razzle Dazzle 'em

And they'll make you a star!

Faking F*%$ers

2008-12-15T10:52:00.003Z

Grrrr!! I can't stand fake people. There's only one thing worse than someone who's read somewhere that it's good to look someone in the eye and use their name repeatedly. (Makes you seem more genuine don't you know?) And that is someone who looks you in the eye and uses someone else's name repeatedly. A business contact, trying to keep on my good side, telling herself if she does the "eye contact, first name, touch your arm" thing, I'll suddenly forget all those little incompetencies. "Yes Linda, that's great Linda, oh I understand Linda, I hope you are happy with that Linda" she said over and over. "No problem DONALD" I felt like saying. Instead I smiled sweetly and resolved not to let them off with a penny of the money I'm claiming back from them! Linda indeed!

Chris Hoy - BBC Sports Personality of the Year!!

2008-12-14T21:02:00.002Z

Brilliant, fantastic news. I lost my voice over the weekend, think perhaps I've just lost it again but very very happy to watch Chris Hoy getting his award. Well deserved, he's a brilliant advert for Scotland!

The SNP's gift to Labour - with love

2008-12-14T02:09:00.010Z

I must deal with the Colin Deans defection before the sad little story is consigned to the history books. Colin Deans was an SNP councillor in Glasgow who, on Friday, defected to Labour. So now he's a Labour councillor. Now normally I would focus on what a ridiculously huge leap it must take for someone to do that. I can see it happening the other way (and more frequently it does), that someone who wasn't sure about Independence, over time, becomes more comfortable with the idea and eventually is committed enough to it to join the SNP. But the other way round is decidedly odd. However, I'm not really going to bother examining this in any detail because we're not just talking about any SNP cllr here, we're talking about Colin Deans.

And let me tell you, there are few folk in the SNP sorry to see him go. Trust me, I would not say that of many of our people, it's not just fighting talk and I'm not trying to be cruel to the man (albeit a man with rhino skin). I'm simply stating it as it is. Were he simply incompetent but a nice person I'd be more sensitive. Colin Deans, however, was an electoral liability because his massive ego could not believe his election had anything to do with the SNP but everything to do with Deans: The Man! Party policy? What's that? There was only Deans policy for this one. Constituents' needs? Who cares about that? Certainly not Cllr Deans.

This all started when he was disciplined by the group for writing to an Irish Diaspora group in his ward attacking the Irish in Scotland (yep all of them!) for Scotland not being Independent yet! Seriously. I mean if he wants to take that line, he may as well attack the majority of his fellow Scots because they've not got us Independent yet either. And as for how he's going to muddle along with his new Labour colleagues (who actively and often viciously campaign AGAINST Independence) I'm really not sure. (Looking forward to finding out though.)

Back to the Irish - they were naturally deeply offended and complained about him. This was not (from what I'm now hearing) the first major complaint against him. The result was that the group decided, democratically, to remove him from his spokesperson post. His response. He went on holiday. When he came back he said he was resigning, was given time to think it over (clearly bullying behaviour!), thought it over and decided to join the Labour Party - something he'd apparently been discussing for weeks with them. He took a big strop that's all, and the reason was because for Cllr Deans, it's all about him, it's not about the constituents, it's not about policies, Independence, the Party he was elected to represent, it was all about Colin Deans: The Ego.

Last thing I want to say is the accusation that Cllr Deans was bullied. I considered not mentioning this because he's talking about my friends and I do not want to draw attention to not very nice things being said about my friends. However, the accusation has appeared in so many newspapers that I feel I must say something. And that something is .... absolute crap! Now I know that it's not just wee timid folk who can be bullied, I understand that and my argument is little to do with the fact that Colin is a BIG, LOUD (EXTREMELY LOUD), CONFIDENT guy.

Rather, my argument is that I know who he's accused of bullying him and it's not just untrue, it's incredibly unfair because the two people he's mentioned have bent over backwards to work with Cllr Deans. It's not been easy because he is so LOUD and unreasonable but they've been patient and understanding and very tolerant. However, you cannot expect other SNP cllrs to keep taking the flack when one of their group continually insults constituents, does little work and seems to spend more time line dancing in the U S of A than getting on with the job of being a councillor. And yet ... when he did his final act of resigning from the group, once again they showed patience and gave him an opportunity to rethink. Personally I'd have said "yes please, sign on the dotted line now before you change your mind"! They (these two big bullies) are clearly better people than I. So they gave him a chance and next morning, they found out from the press that he'd joined the British Unionist Labour Party. The ultimate betrayal!

Ironically, I said to one of our councillors yesterday, it may not be long before we all get to like Colin because he'll cause major problems for Labour and that's definitely one of the ways to "win friends and influence people" in the SNP! As one said to me yesterday, "Deans in the Labour Party will be like King Kong in chains, he will not be able to control himself and before long he'll break free of those chains and run riot in that party too"! For the Labour Party in Glasgow to accept him as one of theirs after the way in which he insulted the Irish community, is wrong, it's stupid and it's quite clearly just so they can get the press hit. All I'll say to them is good luck but you just wait and see ...

Is this a dagger I see before me?

2008-12-11T23:37:00.003Z

Somebody once told me I had a "cartoon mentality". He was referring to my ability to imagine the unimagineable. For example I used to organise sponsored abseil events but I refused to do it myself because I feared someone tip-toeing across the roof from which I was abseiling and cutting the rope with a giant pair of scissors. Well, it COULD happen. Just look at this guy's "lucky" escape and if you can't be bothered reading it, a stage actor in Vienna was loudly applauded by the audience for cutting his own throat so convincingly. The reason it was so convincing is because the kid on knife had been mysteriously replaced by a newly bought, sharp as a ... well, a knife really ... KNIFE!

So that's YET ANOTHER thing I have to remember - never to accept a role where I have to pretend to stab myself. Someone might tiptoe over and ... you see! It's not a cartoon mentality, it's just being realistic.

I was a Saturday girl in Woolies

2008-12-11T13:12:00.004Z

As a former Woolies Saturday girl I am really sad to see that it looks like it's curtains for them. Woolies is a great shop, you can get anything you want there. All the really obscure stuff like fabric dye, zips, spare buttons as well as the legendary pick'n'mix along with children's clothes, household goods, and more importantly for me when I was a bit younger, the "record counter".

As a 16 year old I worked every Saturday in Woolies in Greenock. The really cool people got to work on the record counter. I was not one of them! I worked on the jewellery counter but unfortunately, I was so distracted listening to the record counter that they demoted me to the sweetie counter. There my job was really just to be nice to old ladies who weren't really bothered about the sweeties, they just liked their routines, their wee chats and a friendly smile. Being nice to old ladies, chatty and smiley - I was good at that.

Getting the right guarantees for the watch or clock I'd just sold on the "jewellery" counter - wasn't quite so hot at that one. Apparently there was a regular stream of complainers each Monday morning (when I was safely back at school) with complaints ranging from "that wee lassie gave me a timex guarantee for a sekondo watch" to "instructions for cleaning silver chains are nae use to me when I want to wind up my cuckoo clock".

It was a trifle embarrassing to be demoted in a Saturday job and I knew then that I'd never reach the heady heights of the record counter but the worst thing was the full time workers who LOVED to utter the words: "all them 'O' Grades and nae common sense"! Oh how I loved hearing it!

Still, it was a great first job and I felt very grown up wearing my uniform and clocking in (just) on time each Saturday morning. I'm not sure their memories of me (if they've not blanked them out yet) are quite so sweet but I liked my time at Woolies anyway.

First class socialists

2008-12-11T12:18:00.003Z

I'll be interested to see what Labour MSPs had to say in this morning's Labour sponsored debate on the Scotrail franchise. I wonder if they'll make reference to our less than brilliant train service from Glasgow to Edinburgh. I'll be even more interested to see if Wendy Alexander, Pauline McNeill, Ken McIntosh or Patricia Ferguson commented.

And if so, I'd love to know if they talked about how awful it is to be stuck in comfy seats drinking coffee and eating buns in their first class compartment at the taxpayers' expense. I do remember reading this article a while back and laughing at the hypocrisy of the one time socialists but last night seeing three of them turn their backs on the common people and huddle together in their cosy wee 1st class carriage, didn't make me laugh, it just really just ticked me off.

I understand that, on occasion, you can't get a seat in the commoners' carriage and you can't be bothered standing all the way so you might upgrade. I also understand if you've work to do on the train, sometimes it may be easier to work in first class.

I work for an MSP who, twice to my knowledge, has needed to read through committee papers and so has upgraded to 1st class. But he's PAID FOR IT HIMSELF! These Labour MSPs buy (with our money) books of 1st class tickets, clearly planning not to mix with the great unwashed. The MSP I work for quite often comes back to the office with an issue or a constituency case that he's picked up from chatting to folk on the train.

None of these guys are likely to do that in 1st class and I guess that's what it's all about. Avoiding folk who might want you to represent their interests. Out of touch indeed!

I could've danced all night

2008-12-10T23:35:00.003Z

I've said before that I can be quite impressionable and here I am tonight. A couple of hours at the ballet and I think I know what I want to do when I grow up!

This is myself and Mary, she who is responsible for me ending up in Sri Lanka, rehearsing on Buchanan Street after we'd seen Sleeping Beauty at the Theatre Royal.

It was a lovely evening and if you can afford it please go, I think it's on till the end of the year. It's pricey but we got in for nothing. All we had to do was pretend to be someone else on the guest list. Easy. I am joking of course.

Anyway go see it if you can, it's a beautiful production. Time for me to pirouette off to bed!

Another blogger bites the dust?

2008-12-09T22:40:00.002Z

It's a big commitment to keep a blog going and I think I've managed fairly well in the last couple of years. However, I have to confess to getting a little bored with it! I'm not bored with politics or any of the issues I really care about - I am just not finding it quite as necessary as I used to, to share my thoughts with anyone who cares to read. Rather than just stop dead as so many of my blogging friends have, I'm going to see how it goes over the next couple of weeks and decide over Christmas.

I've had people tell me I have to keep doing it because I'm about to be ranked along with the 6 other Euro candidates in the SNP. But I was never doing this for votes. And the members will vote for who they believe will do the best job, regardless (I'd imagine) of blogs.

I love to write, there's no question of that, but I think perhaps it's time for something a little more creative. So if not this particular blog, definitely something that involves writing. Anyway if you're still reading, bear with me and see if my blogging enthusiasm returns!

Health Boards know best!

2008-12-07T14:46:00.000Z

So, some of Scotland's health boards are objecting to having direct elections for some of the places on the board. I wonder why that would be? Something to do with single issue candidates and politicisation of health. I can see how irritating it would be if they had to accept someone banging on about the single issue of patient's rights but I'm afraid they'll just have to accept it because that's democracy for you. And to say that elections will politicise the boards is as daft as suggesting that having a government in charge prevents proper healthcare. All it will do is democratise the boards. As Nicola Sturgeon says it's massively popular and there's a reason for that - it's the right thing to do. Yet another promise kept by the SNP government.

A festive joke

2008-11-29T22:00:00.002Z

Tonight me and Dan the Man (my nephew) went to the Salvation Army Carol Concert at the City Halls in Glasgow, which I was invited to because of some work I'd done with them at parliament. It was fantastic, I LOVE singing with loads of other people, I think maybe I should join a choir.

Anyway I just wanted to share a joke with you that Major Kennedy of the Army told us tonight. Three young boys were chatting about Christmas and what they do on Christmas morning. The kid who was a member of the Church of Scotland said he went to Church on Christmas morning and the first hymn they always sang was "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". The next boy was a Roman Catholic and said he loved going to church and singing "O little town of Bethlehem". The third boy was Jewish, his dad owned Toys R Us and he said "every Christmas morning me and my dad go to the shop, look at the empty shelves and sing 'what a friend we have in Jesus' :-)

Call me stubborn but ...

2008-11-29T12:43:00.004Z

Had a quick flick through a Christmas gift catalogue this morning and thought I'd found the perfect (and inexpensive) gift that would do most folk I know. It was a passport holder with the thistle and the words "Scotland Passport" (see photo). Was just about to order when I saw what they are called ... "Regions Passport"! Call me stubborn but I am giving NO MONEY to a company that refers to my country as a region. They've also got one for Ireland but why? Ireland has its own passport, it doesn't need a fake one so they don't even know that Ireland is not a region of Britain. Aaargh.

Wendy's at it!

2008-11-28T19:09:00.002Z

I'm back. Arrived home Wednesday evening and for some reason went to work at the parly on Thursday morning. As I'm struggling to stay awake on the road home, I'm standing at the barrier in Waverley Station waiting to show my ticket and I spot this woman shoving in front of me. She's got a phone to her ear, talking loudly, bags and papers in her other hand and a flexi pass ticket - one that you have to fill in with TODAY'S date. Anyway as soon as I heard the voice I realised it was Wendy Alexander.

I spotted that she was holding a ticket dated 10th September and wondered if the inspector would be as eagle eyed as me. He was! She got caught! "Sorry sweetheart" he said in his Saff London accent, "you can't travel wiv a 2 month old ticket". Wendy, without stopping talking for a second, emptied everything onto the ground and faffed about on the floor of the station for quite some time (talking all the while) before finding a blank ticket to fill in with TODAY's date.

I guess someone else had filled in the date for her. I guess she just didn't know that you had to have the right date on it ...

Do I ever get a straightforward journey?

2008-11-21T08:34:00.004Z

Followers of my last blog will know that I don't. Not ever. Something always happens. Today is no different. Here's how it's been so far.

4am alarm goes off and unbelievably, I get up!

4am to 4.30am I get ready because (again) unbelievably, I'm all organised and just need to brush teeth etc.

4.30am taxi turns up on time - apart from having to put up with the driver's racist crap, all is well.

4.50am Anne arrives at the airport for her 6am flight.

5.30am we're told there's going to be a short delay.

6am we're told there's going to be another delay and we'll now be leaving at 7am.

7am we're told it'll be 7.20am (I'm on my 2nd cup of horrible and expensive tea but it's something to do).

7.20am we're told it'll be 7.40am

7.40am - "final boarding call for remaining passengers to Malaga" - what a cheek, when was the initial boarding?

7.45am - we're told they've 100 folk on the flight and the screens were updated to show we were boarding but it didn't show up and when they were 80 folk short, they put the final call out.

7.45am - we all have a little chuckle at the above because after all, we're leaving now.

7.46am - we're told we can't board, there's another delay.

7.46am - we stop chuckling.

7.50am - the 100 passengers who were on the plane are taken off!!!

8am - we're told it'll be 8.15.

8.15am - they call for all smokers to meet the member of staff at gate 27a and she'll take them outside for a cigarette.

8.16am - as the branded ones queue up I consider taking up smoking just for something to do.

8.20am - the passengers tell the staff the flight will now be 10am.

8.20am - clearly pissed off staff phone their HQ to verify and yes, it's true.

Well it's true for the moment but let's not count those chickens!

Knock on effect of course is that my friend won't be able to meet me off the train now because he'll be working so after 4 hours sleep when I finally get to Cordoba, I'll need to trundle through the streets with my suitcase and find a bar to sit in till he finishes work later tonight. And, I'll have to try and stay awake. A challenge indeed.

Anyway any more delays and I'll come back on this ultra expensive internet connection and blog about something else equally mundane. Adios!

No, quiero practicar mi Espanol

2008-11-20T15:00:00.000Z

That's what I'm going to be saying constantly over the next few days - it means "no, I would like to practice my Spanish". I'm heading to Cordoba in the South of Spain for a few days tomorrow morning and I'm planning to speak Spanish as often as possible.

Our fellow Europeans however, generally expect to have to use English so I'm expecting some resistance - particularly as I understand Spaniards speak faster than Glaswegians but my Spanish is as slow as the 38 bus in the Glasgow morning rush hour.

Another handy phrase - "podria decirlo mas lento por favor?" - would you mind speaking more slowly?

And seeing as I seem to spend my whole life apologising (it's a habit, I even apologise to people who bump into me covering me in hot coffee!!), it's really helpful that there are 3 sorry words in Spanish - lo siento, perdone and disculpe - saves me repeating myself over and over again!

Anyway it's unlikely I'll be doing much (any) blogging until I'm back next Thursday so adios mi amigos, try not to freeze and I'll look forward to returning to putting the world to rights soon!

That BNP story

2008-11-19T22:07:00.002Z

Not sure how I feel about the database of the BNP being freely available. I have a copy and of course I've looked at it and within two minutes was shocked to discover an old classmate on it. Curiosity will not allow me to delete it but I'm hoping nobody else I know is on it. However, whilst I don't know how the database was leaked, I can't help but feel very uncomfortable about the whole thing.

One of the members on being interviewed by the BBC said he felt like he was "living in a fascist state". Let's ignore the irony of that - the irony, the utter ridiculousness and the fact that it's hard to feel sympathy for anyone who'd perpetrate these hateful views. Just because their views are despicable, does that mean we should have the right to know who they are, where they work and where they live? Some of them will now be sitting targets. Having said that, the BNP don't need a list of addresses for their potential targets - all they need to know is the colour of someone's skin and that's something no-one can hide.

Yes, my reasonableness is disappearing now that I've considered it properly. I don't feel comfortable with it and I don't like the idea of anyone being targetted but let's face it, there are many other people far more deserving of my concern so I guess it's just tough luck - if you're proud of your "principles" you should stick your head above the parapet anyway and if you feel you can't, you need to ask yourself why!

Union is flawed!

2008-11-19T21:59:00.002Z

This is a photo I took as the train pulled into Waverley Station this morning. It shows the various flags hoisted above the Bank of Scotland HQ, the Saltire being in a lowly subservient position of course! What I noticed, however, was that the Union Flag (it's only a Jack if it's on a ship) has got a big hole in it!! That's all I want to say. That's all I NEED to say :-)

No hope no future

2008-11-18T17:34:00.002Z

It's heartbreaking to read the findings of the Action for Children Factfile Report. Apparently 1 in 5 of our young people believe they've little chance of making a success of their lives. That's bleak! If you believe you've no chance, you're probably right because negative thinking affects your behaviour and the choices you make.

I was pleased to see that the charity was warm to the SNP Government's commitment to young people and although governments have the biggest role to play in all of this, sometimes the impact of those we meet in our daily lives is far greater and has the potential to do more good and, obviously, more damage.

I came back from Sri Lanka to discover that my 16 year old niece was going into 5th year sitting two highers. She didn't know that two highers was not enough to get into university to do a languages degree. She didn't know because nobody told her. She had enough standard grades to sit four highers but the timetable clashed. She just accepted this and told nobody until I asked her.

When I explained that she wouldn't get to do what she planned if she followed that path, she resigned herself to working in the new Tesco in Port Glasgow! Obviously I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with shop work if that's what you want to do but she has a love of languages and she wants to travel the world and absorb new cultures.

What's more, she's an intelligent girl and more than capable of doing that but she was so down about her chances that it took a lot of talking round from the 3 McLaughlin sisters to convince her not to throw in the towel - at 16 years of age!

OK I'll skip bits of the story. She's now full time at James Watt College studying for 4 highers (including Spanish, thus my learning to speak it too) and actually loving it. She's full of beans and will talk at length to me about sentence structure or future imperfect verbs (I nod, say "si" and let her carry on!). More importantly she's excited about her future. She really believes it's all out there for her and so it probably will be.

My question is where was the school in all of this? They didn't tell her she wasn't doing enough to get into uni because they didn't KNOW she wanted to go. Why didn't they know? Because they never asked. Apparently she was asked if she wanted to see a careers advisor at some point and said "I don't know" in that teenage way we all once had. And that was it. She was not asked again. I've since spoken to the school about it and they admit that she was not very communicative so they didn't push it. No wonder kids at that school don't rate their chances of success if their future job plans are so unimportant that discussing career options is not an integral part of their education!

But it wasn't all kids at that school because apparently SOME get mentors. Those who are really struggling have a mentor in 4th year. Good idea. Those who are expected to do really well also get a mentor! Why? To make sure they actually DO do well. (Had to laugh when Christie described this category as "those from Kilmacolm" - I well remember that rivalry.)

And those in between like my niece who is smart enough but just doesn't know it, get left behind. If it'd been left to the school she would have slipped through the net. She'd have sat and probably passed her two highers and then discovered that it wasn't the passport to uni she thought it was. And maybe she would have given up and resigned herself to low paid shopwork. Maybe she'd have been one of that 20% of Scotland's young people who see no future for themselves.

All of our young people should be excited about the future. Of course they can't all travel, can't all go to uni but not everyone wants to do that. Everyone however deserves the right to feel positive about their future. Our governments have the biggest influence on all of this but family, teachers, youth workers, everyone around that impressionable young person has a responsibility too. Right I have to go because Christie's testing me on verb structures tonight and if I've not read up on it I'm in serious bother!

The road well travelled

2008-11-16T23:14:00.002Z

Not long back from the Isle of Skye! I went with these two friends to the Skye SNP fundraiser which was a private showing of The Stone of Destiny preceded by a talk from Winnie Ewing, ex MP, ex MEP and ex MSP. It was a great night and one which I will blog on later in more detail. Anyway I'm telling you all this to put the next bit in perspective. Ian, who ran our B&B kept saying to us "and you came over 200 miles just to go to the pictures you say?" and then every so often he would add "it used to be that folk from Skye would take a trip to Glasgow to go to the pictures but I've never heard of anyone doing it the other way round"! It was a bit of a mad dash but I've had a fantastic weekend and loved every minute of it. Loads of material for the blog but later!

Speedy bonny boat ...

2008-11-15T11:06:00.000Z

There has been so much I've wanted to comment on this week but I've been so busy with Spanish lessons and visits to the gym that I've not had time. Had I had the time I'd wanted to talk about a variety of topical matters, Gordon Brown's interference in the HBOS situation being top of the list. Then there's the local income tax, the stupid debate over PFI, the lack of street signs in Glenrothes, the torture that is body pump (only my fingers can still move - and my eyes!) and the incredibly good decision to award Nicola Sturgeon Politician of the Year. I will be blogging on the latter soon but for now ... I'm off to Skye. As always I do ten things at once so I'm packing, getting my hair cut, blogging and making up sandwiches as we speak!

I'm off to support Skye SNP with their brilliant fundraising idea. They've got a private showing of The Stone of Destiny and it starts off with a talk by Winnie Ewing, one time MP, MEP and MSP and famously known throughout Europe as Madame Ecosse. I can't wait - on both counts!

Just a quick story then before I go. There are many "famous" couples in the SNP, the Hunters and the Pennycooks being pretty high up those rankings. Anyway, the Hunters went along to a cinema in Glasgow to watch The Stone of Destiny, the film charting the escapades of Ian Hamilton and friends, who staged a daring raid in England to bring the Stone back to Scotland.

The aforementioned couples have been around forever and know Ian very well. Anyway The Hunters are sitting in the cinema together enjoying the film and suddenly they spot Ian Hamilton himself on screen playing a cameo role. In unison they call out "there's Ian Hamilton" only to hear an echo from the other end of the cinema as the Pennycooks who were there unbeknown to the Hunters also exclaim their suprise at seeing him! Maybe you have to know them to find it funny but seeing as most of you who read this probably do know them, I'll assume you laughed!

... like a bird on the wing!

The Reverend I M Salmond

2008-11-14T23:09:00.001Z

Aaargh, I can't do the technology but click here and see one of the funniest sketches of the year!

Happy Birthday Toby!

2008-11-09T22:43:00.000Z

Toby, my nephew, 2 today. Clever, cute and about to be even noisier when my birthday present arrives.

What does the Glenrothes result mean for the SNP?

2008-11-09T11:35:00.001Z

Twenty years ago tomorrow, Jim Sillars won the Glasgow Govan By-Election for the SNP. It was my first election and the excitement of being part of it and particularly of winning, is hard to describe but it's something that will always be with me. From then on in I was sucked into the party and I've never managed to break free since! Never really wanted to and there's a reason for that which I'll come onto.

The following June saw a by-election in my own constituency of Glasgow Central. Alex Neil was the candidate and again, it was a real buzz of a campaign. But we failed to take it and Labour held on despite us going up by 20 percentage points and Labour going down by 9. We made the most progress but we lost. I was devastated.

At the 1992 general election, despite the people of Govan almost hero worshipping Jim Sillars, we lost the seat (due, not 'almost' entirely but ENTIRELY to *Labour lies). I wondered if the party would ever recover. I was certain that I would not.

These two events however, were probably the making of me as an SNP activist.

It sounds odd to say it, but failure and disappointment gave me the strength to fight what I then realised would be a long, hard fight. I couldn't have known that 20 years later we would still not be Independent but I certainly woke up to the fact that one swallow a summer did not maketh and one by-election, a free Scotland would not bringeth :-)

There are many relatively new members of the SNP who have only ever experienced success and will now, post Glenrothes, be feeling as I was feeling in 1989 and moreso in 1992. One or two of them may decide politics is not for them and who can blame them? It's a tough old life. But for others, this will be a positive. They will grow from this experience.

They will surprise themselves by turning up next week at their branch meeting and getting enthusiastic about the next campaign, they'll throw themselves into canvassing, leafletting and the usual round of SNP fundraisers. They'll join in the post by-election analysis and figure out how we do it better next time. And before they know it, the hurt will have gone and it will be onto the next opportunity to move forward towards Independence.

The reason they will do that is because they know, with unswerving certainty, that what they are doing is right. Independence may be a normal state of affairs for most countries but for Scotland, it's something we've had to fight for since the demeaning Act of Union in 1707.

It's about restoring pride and dignity among our people, about taking our place in the world and building on OUR international reputation, not being tarnished by someone else's. And it's about refusing to allow the people of Scotland (regardless of the complicity of some of them in all of this) to be treated like voting fodder any longer.

Right now, many of our newer members will be, like the rest of us, utterly exhausted. And they may be wondering why on earth they used up their annual leave, fell out with their partners, let down their families, missed visits to the gym, skipped important lectures, got into bother at work etc etc. It would all be worth it in the end, they no doubt thought. And they were right. What they got wrong was the end date. It wasn't 6 November. It was some day in the future, we know not when but it's called Independence Day.

It's like everything else in life - if you get an easy run, you become complacent, you care less about the cause you're fighting for. I wish, with all my heart that we'd won on Thursday - for the people of Glenrothes and for Peter Grant who is a really good guy and would have been a million times better than Lindsay Roy who doesn't even know what a Post Office Card Account is when it's a massive issue for folk who aren't in the headmaster class! I wish we'd won but we didn't and so we must take what we can from the result.

We went up by 13 percentage points. Good - we're getting MORE popular. We didn't win. Bad - we need to look at why. But I would say to anyone who is feeling damaged by this, please don't. The feelings I described in 1989 and 1992 were not just mine. Nicola Sturgeon was there, feeling exactly the same. Fiona Hyslop, Shona Robison and many many more of our people who could not have foretold that one day they would be, eg, Deputy First Minister of our country in a parliament we never knew we'd have. We didn't know HOW we would get our Independence, we just knew that we would. And we will. Look how far we've come since then.

Had it not been for the resilience and steely determination of the people I've just mentioned and many hundreds more, we'd not have a parliament, we'd not be in power now and we'd not have the opportunity to put Independence to the test in a referendum of the people.

If someone had told me in 1988 that I'd still be doing this in 20 years time, I'd probably have given up. I'm glad I didn't. I don't think it will take another 20 years, the tough part's over and we're on the final strait with just a few hurdles to get over. But I can honestly say if I thought it would take the rest of my life, I would do it. I might not do it to the exclusion of everything else (as many of us have been doing on and off for a while) but I'm in it for the long haul.

And in time, I think our newer members who are hurting so much right now, will gain a great deal of personal strength from learning the lessons of the unpredictability of politics. I know many members who don't enjoy being beaten but secretly love the hardy reputations they've gained from getting up after a fall, getting out and getting right back at 'em - maybe I'm one of them ... secretly!

In the scheme of things this is nothing more than a minor setback and the opportunity for the party and for the individual activists to reflect, renew and review. Better it happen now than in 2010.

*Labour lies in 1992 - I'll explain in more detail tomorrow.

Listening Labour?

2008-11-09T10:24:00.003Z

I've not read the Sunday papers yet but I'm hearing there's a story in the Scotland on Sunday that the British Labour Government will next week announce that it's ruling out ANY further powers for the Scottish Parliament. Surprised? No. Of course not.

Sir Kenneth Calman might be, mind you, seeing as the joint Unionist fop for the Scottish Government's National Conversation was the Calman Commission. And the Calman Commission was set up by the Brit government to have a "national conversation" with the people of Scotland about whether or not the Parliament should have any more powers and if so, what!

(They were not allowed, however, to discuss the option of full Independence. The reason? Well, like naughty children with tired parents who just can't be bothered explaining, we were told "because we say so"!)

Anyway this Calman Commission is not due to report back until next summer and already the decision has been made. If you're surprised at this, please, open your eyes, there was never going to be a proper debate about this. The Labour Government made the decision before setting up the Commission. Like I said, it was a fop for the SNP government's genuine discussion about the future of the country which is, after all, OURS!

As per usual the Labour Party are doing their Marie Antoinette with the people of Scotland. Give them an inch (and the good folk of Fife just gave them quite a few) and they'll be off running a marathon.

So it was and so it will always be ...

X factor - can't help myself

2008-11-09T09:52:00.003Z

Controversial decision to put Laura out of the X Factor but two things made me laugh. Apparently Holly Willoughby has appealed to the "Great British Public" to stop voting in the way that they are voting. "Something is going badly wrong, please stop it" she said! I wonder if I could go back to Glenrothes and just say "look guys, you got it wrong, please rectify next week"! They want to make their minds up these X factor producers - if they want people to stop voting for the singers they feel sorry for, STOP GIVING US SOB STORIES!!

The thing that made me laugh the most however was a comment somewhere (either I can't remember or I don't want you to know that I googled X factor result!) which said "the bottom two should have been Daniel and Mariah Carey"! Could not agree more - MC has to be the most over-rated soooperstar EVER! And I would bet my last penny that she did not get a single vote last night!

Anyway, Glenrothes by-election post to write, must stop getting distracted!

Even the monks were laughing at me!

2008-11-08T21:46:00.009Z

So, I headed along to the Annual Kathina Cermony at the Buddhist Vihara (temple) in Maryhill today and they couldn't have made us more welcome. I went along with Bob (Doris - mate, MSP and employer) and Mary who is responsible for me having gone to Sri Lanka to work earlier this year. For the two of us it was pretty special because we're both really missing Sri Lanka and the people so to be in a buddhist temple taking part in the ceremony, eating Sri Lankan food and meeting lots of new people was great. I was thrilled when they offered me a blessing and after tying the string round my wrist, the Venerable Rewatha translated what had been said. When he told me all my dreams and wishes would now come true, I got a little bit excited and found myself exclaiming "YES" and sticking my thumbs up in a John Mason fashion! It's all about getting caught up in the moment and I certainly do that! (Don't ever go to the cinema with me, I always forget it's not real!) Anyway it was a much lovelier way to spend a Saturday than getting soaked in Cardendendenden or whatever it's called :-)

More photos of the ceremony are here.

Glenrothes by election

2008-11-08T00:32:00.004Z

Oh my goodness, I just checked how many folk had come onto the blog today and the numbers have doubled! I'm now annoyed at myself for not updating sooner on the Glenrothes by election. It's really just not been possible. Hardly any sleep last night once I got back from Fife, working all day (I try not to blog-on-the-job) and straight out to a dinner at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to the annual Kathina Ceremony at the Buddhist Vihara in Maryhill but I'll do my best to blog after that. I have a lot I want to say. I think probably I'm not as worried by the result as many other people but I guess I come from a different standpoint to a lot of other people in that I think it's good not always to get what you want. I'm sorry we didn't win, I wish we had but I wasn't overly surprised and I'm not terribly concerned. I will explain why tomorrow ...

D Day

2008-11-06T09:07:00.003Z

I'm heading off to Glenrothes now and it's going to be a long day but I cannot wait! Nothing will dampen our spirits today. The day started at 7am with frantic texts and calls to find transport for people whose lift had fallen through. I feel like a juggler sometimes in this party. I did all the phoning and texting from my bed, dressed as I was like a MUMMY (no heating) and I did spare a thought for the SNP folk who're doing the early starts on polling places in Baillieston, in Forth and in Glenrothes. So now, thermals on, pieces made, hat scarf and gloves strangling me, I'm off. I won't predict, I never do. It comes of long experience of by elections and knowing that ANYTHING can happen. I am quietly confident but it ain't over till it's over. Right, blogging won't get votes. I'm off!

Obama takes Ohio, SNP win everywhere else!

2008-11-05T18:23:00.002Z

As I watched the results come through last night with a group of friends, others were texting. This was the funniest one. Patrick Grady, Westminster Candidate for Glasgow North texted me this photo with the above caption. I'd love to claim the credit but I can't. It made us all laugh anyway!

Obama, son of Jock Tamson

2008-11-05T10:33:00.001Z

I love this story about Alex Salmond claiming Obama for one of our own. Apparently he has some Scottish ancestry, as did a previous 12 US presidents. So ... he's invited Obama to "come back" to Scotland during Homecoming Scotland 2009, the fantastic campaign to get Scots visiting Scotland next year. If it works, that is ONE visit I am NOT going to miss!

Obama's the President Elect of the USA

2008-11-05T09:53:00.005Z

Just a very quick post for the moment. Am very sleepy because I stayed up half the night to watch the US Presidential Election results. I stayed over in Edinburgh and watched with some friends including Esther who is from Ohio. We managed till 2.30am and couldn't stay awake any longer. We were fairly confident by then but I can't tell you how fantastic it felt to wake up to the news that the USA had elected Barack Obama as their 44th president. The BBC questioned whether or not the world's expectations of Obama were too great. Well, of course they are. But if he does nothing else he achieved two great things yesterday.

He has changed the course of history for the better for African Americans - traditionally African Americans don't have top executive jobs and now he's gotten THE top job in the world. That HAS to have a knock on effect. And he's dramatically changed the world's perception of the United States. I am a good example of someone who is exceptionally cynical of the USA but last night, that country gave me hope that all is not lost. The time for deeper analysis is later, the days when we realise Obama is not a saint will arrive in the not too distant future but this is a GOOD result, and those of us feeling slightly emotional about it should be allowed our dewy eyed moments.

Final Saturday in Glenrothes

2008-11-01T08:15:00.003Z

Off to Glenrothes shortly for the last Saturday of campaigning and really looking forward to it. Of course I'm looking forward to getting my life back when it's all over but I've really enjoyed this by-election. And today should be fun. The SNP has around 1000 members heading to the constituency right now and apparently the Labour Party has coachloads of Labour members coming up from England. Shame there's no such thing as doorstep subtitles because I'm not sure they'll be able to figure out the Fife accent! Still, it'll make for an interesting atmosphere.

In all the times I've been in Glenrothes campaigning I've only seen / met ONE Labour activist. That was Lindsay Roy, the candidate who seemed to be wandering up and down the road looking for someone, anyone :-) To be fair he seems like a nice enough man, thrust his hand into mine and said how nice it was to see me. He's obviously one of that breed of political activist who thinks we're all pals underneath.

My view of that is that this would be fine if it were a game we were playing and after 90 minutes we could shake hands and say cheerio. But it's not. It's about people's lives, it's about our country's future. So although I was polite to him, today I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he doesn't win and the people of Glenrothes DO - by electing Peter Grant as their next MP. Better go - I've told the Glasgow members not to be late for the bus, better not be late myself!

He used to bring me roses ....

2008-10-30T22:33:00.003Z

I got the train back from work tonight with Sandra White one of the SNP's Glasgow MSPs. She was telling me about a visit of MSPs including Sandra herself, to Cornton Vale Prison on Tuesday. One of the saddest things she discovered was that many of the women said prison was the only place they felt safe. Many come from abusive backgrounds (I think 50% of women in prison have been sexually abused in the past.) and many more are in abusive relationships "on the outside". It has to be one of the saddest things I've ever heard that they are relieved to be in prison because they feel safer than they do in their own homes. And I could have wept when she told me of one woman inmate who confided that being in prison was the only time she'd ever had time for herself. I want to explore the whole issue of women in prison, it's something that interests me greatly, but it will have to be another day I'm afraid.

Will it be another STUPID WHITE MAN?

2008-10-30T20:36:00.004Z

One of the (many) books I'm currently reading (I think I have an obsessive nature) is Michael Moore's Stupid White Men. It's a fascinating insight into the American Presidential Elections and how George Bush fraudulently stole the Presidency from Al Gore. As you read the book you realise you don't know half as much as you thought you did about the whole shocking episode. One example was when the supreme court (I think) ruled that yes, okay, if the votes were counted correctly and according to the law, Al Gore would have won but seeing as George Bush had already declared himself President, it would undermine confidence in him if they changed everything now! Eh?! In the countdown to the 2008 election between now and next Tuesday night, I might share some more little snippets with you. Some call it lazy blogging. I call it caring and sharing.

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross suspended

2008-10-29T16:50:00.004Z

I am one of the few people I know who finds Russell Brand funny. Obviously he must have loads of fans out there but I don't know many of them. Except, that is, for me. The man is so silly I can't help but laugh. And he's completely outrageous - it's not that he says all the things I would love to have the courage to say but don't, more that he says all the things I wouldn't even DREAM of saying.

There is, however, a limit. And last week he reached it. Today he was suspended by the BBC along with Jonathan Ross for the messages they left (on air) on the answering machine of actor Andrew Sachs. Quite right but let's not congratulate the BBC because they should have acted sooner. Their tardy actions would suggest they're not condemning what the two presenters did, just reacting to the furore which is lasting longer than they'd expected. And why on earth did they broadcast it in the first place? That has angered me almost as much as the phone calls.

I'm not bothered about the girl (now that I see she's selling her story to the Sun) although it's not very gallant to spill the beans when you've slept with someone. My main concern is for Andrew Sachs. Forget him being a famous actor, forget that he played the much loved character of Manuel in the sitcom Fawlty Towers. This is a 78 year old grandfather who is highly unlikely to share the cruder sense of humour someone of my generation might appreciate. But worse, the crude "joke" was about his grand-daughter.

Think for a moment about a female child in your family (she may be 23 but she will always be a child to him, let's face it) and imagine someone in later years leaving that kind of information in that kind of dismissive crude language about that little girl on your answering machine. How upset would you be? Now imagine you're someone who doesn't use that kind of language and instinctively feels offended by it. And now think how you'd feel if the world knew about it because it had gone out on a radio station and then been reported in every newspaper in the country!

It's not about being funny, not about how open minded we all are, it's about causing deep hurt and embarrassment to someone for no reason other than to get a cheap laugh. I'm glad they've both written to apologise, I'm glad they both seem to be genuinely sorry and I have no desire to see either of them punished unduly for it. But I really hope both of them will have a think about the balance between being funny and outspoken, and being downright cruel.

The joys of public transport part 2

2008-10-22T23:06:00.005+01:00

Just to continue the rant about public transport from the other day, so glad I wasn't travelling by subway today. My car is currently on the operating table and I'm awaiting a diagnosis but so far it's the brakes, a wiring problem, a burnt out fuel pump, a dodgy radiator / thermostat and a slight concern about dashboard lights coming on when there's no key in the ignition! Anyway today's tale of the subway problem is doing nothing to convince me I can do without a car!

The joys of public transport

2008-10-20T22:31:00.004+01:00

Since my unfortunate coulda-been-a-near-death-experience when my brakes failed last week, the car has been in an immoveable state - except for when my bro in law took it back to my mum's house (ta D!) and that was all uphill so I don't think the brakes mattered that much. Anyway I've been thinking of getting rid of the car. No, let me correct that. I doubt I'll have much choice on that one. What I'm thinking of is NOT replacing the car and managing by public transport.

However, today, I used public transport to get to Greenock which took forever. Greenock back to the office in Paisley was fine but trying to get home at night - what a pain! Battling through the rain and wind for 15 mins on the way to the station was bad enough - my Mary Poppins style brolly nearly took off, MP style! And waiting the extra ten minutes for the late train was fairly irritating but at least I got a seat, the folk on the trains going out of Glasgow were crammed in like the proverbial sardines.

But the bus journey from Glasgow to Dennistoun? OMG! Now if I was not tired after work, if I'd all the time in the world and nothing to do but write comedy sketches I'd have loved the research possibilities that the bus journey opened up for me. But I was tired, I was desperate to get home and these folk - well, they're only funny when we're watching them from the comfort of the sofa aren't they? In real life, they're mostly extremely irritating.

The two football fans kitted out in the strips, rolling about drunk and talking rubbish. When they're on TV you can't smell the drink, they can't fall into you with their fags spilling ash all over you and they don't distract you so much with their unbelievably annoying behaviour, that you miss your own bus! Aaargh. Still, it allowed me to share a journey with a charming woman who spent the whole time on the phone. Allow me to share some extracts of her one sided conversation:

"Aye but the hing is, ye don't waaant tae have a fight just for the f***ing sake o it dae ye but fur f***'s sake, sometimes when folk wind ye up."

"Tellin ye man, if I hud a stanley knife near me, she'd a f***in goat it man!"

In between times it was lots of "na't u mean?" also translated as "do you know what I mean?".

She didn't spray her ash over me, she only blew her smoke in my face, talked loudly in it and then skipped in front of me in the queue. Decided that as I had no way of knowing if there was a stanley knife in that bag or not, I'd let her do precisely as she pleased. It's not fun and I don't think I'm keen on doing the public transport thing day in day out. So, today, environmental consequences are fading into the background and the desire to shut myself into my car (A car) is taking over.

Cleaning up in the NHS

2008-10-19T01:31:00.004+01:00

One of the highlights of conference for me was hearing Nicola Sturgeon announce in her address that she was, as of Monday, banning all health boards from any plans to further privatise hospital cleaning services. Brilliant idea. Actually, it's not brilliant it's just one of those things that anyone with a grain of common sense and a desire to drive down the instance of hospital acquired infection, would do. Thankfully Nicola has more than a grain and used the other grains to good effect too. Indeed she has announced that families on income support with a child under 5 or a disabled child under 16, will be eligible for the free central heating scheme! Told you she wasn't just a pretty face!

SNP Conference is nearly over

2008-10-19T01:20:00.003+01:00

Well that's SNP Conference nearly over for another year. I've really got a lot out of this one but, unusually for me, it's all been about the work and the debates and far less about the hectic social life on offer! Perhaps that's because I ended up speaking in so many debates. I didn't intend it to happen but so far I've spoken on asylum seekers, racism, class sizes and Europe. Tomorrow it's forced marriages and hopefully children's rights. You can't always guarantee you'll be allowed to speak - if there are too many people for a particular debate, some will have to be disappointed. Fingers crossed for these ones tomorrow and then, I'm going home and I'm not going to speak for a week :-)

It's SNP conference time again ...

2008-10-16T11:09:00.002+01:00

It's with a mixture of excitement and dread that I approach the SNP Annual Conference which starts today and ends on Sunday. Excitement because I absolutely LOVE SNP conference:

seeing folk you've not seen for a year (except not this year due to myriad by-elections);

cameras flashing (they're never fast enough to catch me though ;-));

friends texting to tell you to stop pulling that funny face (when you didn't even know the TV cameras were there - disconcerting but funny)

getting up to speak in the political debates, the multitude of fringe meetings and the social life, the endless socialising.

I did say there was an element of dread didn't I? That's because I am sitting here, due to leave in ten minutes wondering if my feet will last the pace. Will my voice hold out (!)? Will I be able to cope with partying half the night and concentrating on the politics throughout the day? Course I will, I always do. But we'll all be needing a rest when we get back!

So, look out for us. I'm hoping to speak on asylum seekers, racism, class sizes, mothers in jail, the future of Europe and one or two other things besides. Can't wait!

Famous last words

2008-10-15T09:13:00.003+01:00

I often ask myself if I have a certain kind of telepathy or a skewed psychic ability - one that means I see into the future except I see the opposite to what's about to happen. I frequently make confident assertions about something only to discover within a matter of hours that the forces of the universe have decided "au contraire"!

Allow me to give you an example. I was telling someone yesterday about how being in Sri Lanka had given me a different perspective and I felt far less of a need to keep up with friends in a materialistic sense. I gave my car as an example. I said that people kept telling me to get rid of it as it was falling apart. And yes, it's had to go car hospital a few times this year and it does have a bullet hole in its side.

"But" I (as I do) confidently asserted to the guy I was talking to "it goes and I have a feeling it will keep going for a long time yet and until it is unable to be resuscitated, I am hanging onto it".

This was 2pm yesterday. 8.30am today, driving down the hill to get to work in Paisley and I realise the brakes feel a bit soft. So I test them. And they fail. Completely. Didn't even slow it down a bit. It is the weirdest feeling driving downhill knowing that soon you'll be at a junction and getting no response whatsoever from your brakes. In the end I had to use the gears and the handbrake.

These positive thinking gurus tell you if you believe something will happen then it will. Hmmmm, perhaps I just have funny DNA. I better go and tell Tartan Hero he's not going to have my car for conference!

Happy birthday sis!

2008-10-13T23:50:00.005+01:00

These three folk are celebrating their birthdays today. One sang about Paper Roses, one wreaked havoc on Scotland and farther afield. And one is my wee sister Christine. I'll leave it to you to identify which!

Read all about it

2008-10-12T21:25:00.005+01:00

Those of you who read my blog when I was out in Sri Lanka might remember how overly excited I got when I started reading again. I vowed at the end of that post that when I got home I'd continue reading and I'd have more in my life than just politics day in day out, night after night :-)

So, I come back and there's a by election. And then there's another one. And another, and another. And how many books did I read in that time? Not one. Last week, however, I decided to get tough on myself. I had 5 minutes to wait for a train and being the patient soul that I am, I couldn't possibly just sit there willing it to arrive. Instead, I went to the nearest book shop and bought FIVE books.

I am currently reading 3 of them - Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope; The Gathering by Anne Enright and the one that's caused me to blog tonight ... ~The Reluctant Fundamentalist written by Mohsin Hamid. It's about a muslim man from Pakistan sitting in a cafe in Lahore telling an American about his years in the USA. I've got to chapter 11 and I'm at the stage where the other books are temporarily discarded and I completely resent anything that interrupts my reading. At the same time, I'm reluctant to read on.

As the story gathers pace I am torn between feelings of excitement and the kind of urges that children get when they cannot BEAR not to know the details of some secret - tell me, tell me I can hear myself think as my eyes trip over the words as fast as they can just DYING to know what's going to happen; torn between that and the feeling that I am almost certainly going to regret the knowing, the absolute inevitability that it's all going to fall apart, the acceptance that the pain will be sharp and raw and because you've been so drawn into the character and his life, you will feel it just as acutely as he does.

Oh I don't half get carried away with these books! Isn't it great to get lost in a story? Righty ho, I've put it off too long. The time has come. The truth must be told. I have a feeling that is precisely what the character is going to say in chapter 11 - well, maybe not the righty ho ... !

X Factor meanderings

2008-10-11T19:44:00.004+01:00

Watching X Factor (I know, I know!) and just laughing at the wee interviews they do with them beforehand. They all say what they are most scared of. "I'm scared I get too nervous, I'm scared I'll cry" etc so that we're all so busy praying they DON'T cry (and they KNOW they're not going to) that we don't actually notice their performance. One of the guys said "I'm scared I'll forget the words, I don't know the song that well". Guess what he sings? The Foreigner song that was played 40 million times over in his teenage years - "I wanna know where love is"!! It goes like this:

"I wanna know where love is,
I want you to show me,
I wanna know where love is,
I know you can show me."

Then it goes:

"I wanna know where love is,
I want you to show me,
I wanna know where love is,
I know you can show me."

Yep I can see why he was worried about that one. Funnily enough he managed the lyrics quite well. It hurts me to say this because he seems like a nice guy and I'm a nice person but if you ask me, he managed the lyrics better than he managed the tune. Sorry sorry!

Sorry (again), just got to quote you one of the other contestants. Alexandra. Aged 19. Lovely girl but listen to this.

"Being picked for the final 12 for the X factor is the biggest thing that's every happened to me. In my ENTIRE life." No! Really? So you've not won any gold medals at the Olympics, carried out a life-saving operation or written a best seller? Talk about underachievement! What have you been DOING for 19 years girl ...?

I have a dream

2008-10-11T12:53:00.006+01:00

Testing day today - got an eye test, a fitness test and then Scotland plays Norway!! Don't know what I'm more worried about but if I could have only one wish I think it would have to be for Scotland to win its big test today. Okay I'm cheating a bit because the eye test was this morning and I know I passed that. The fitness test - I think they test where you're at and then advise you how to get fitter, so there's no pass or fail. But this match today??? If we don't win, the chances of us getting through to the finals are almost zero. So it's definitely pass or fail for the boys today!

I thought I wouldn't have time to watch the game seeing as it's only on Sky and I've got loads to do in the house today but ... apparently I can watch it *here for free. This is "muy bien" as they say en Espagnol.

To get you in the mood why not watch this - it gets me very very excited and I almost forget it's not real, not even for the singer, he's only dreaming! But it gets you believing that getting to the finals need not be a mere fantasy for us anymore. Fingers crossed. Right I'm off for my fitness test ....

*I've since removed this link because I can't do it without downloading things and giving them my mobile number so not sure how genuine it is. Have to make do with radio :~(

Sexism Estilo Espagnol

2008-10-09T23:27:00.005+01:00

Have started taking Spanish lessons mes amigos and thought I'd pass on an interesting little snippet. As with most languages there are male and female forms of many words. Allow me to give you an example.

To say "welcome to Madrid" you would say "bienbenita a Madrid" but only if you're talking to a female. If talking to a male, you say "bienbenito a Madrid" - with an O on the end of the word for welcome, rather than an A.

If, however, you are addressing mixed company, even if there are 99 women and 1 man in the company, you use the masculine! Can you believe that? Yes of course you can, it's not surprising really.

I'm not doing it however. I have informed my tutor that I just won't recognise that particular rule and when she stopped laughing and realised that no, I wasn't joking, she got to quite like the idea.

It reminded me of a driving lesson I had when the instructor said "at the roundabout ahead ...". He got no further as I interjected with: "no, sorry, I don't do roundabouts"! (I won't tell you how he responded but I don't think he learned that technique at instructor training school!)

Of course the driving lesson was a bit different to the Spanish lesson as realistically, I had no choice but to "do" the roundabout seeing as it was less dangerous than reversing off of it. I'm not the only one however who is unhappy about having to use the masculine for a male/female group. Apparently politicians in Mexico now address males and females individually to save causing offence. Good move. Stops me being a trendsetter but I like it!

Glenrothes by-election date set!

2008-10-06T22:29:00.002+01:00

So, the date is set. Thursday 6th November will be the day for the Glenrothes by-election. Two days after the American presidential result and one day after Guy Fawkes Night. So, will it be "remember remember the sixth of November?" I have a feeling it just might you know!

There are SOME honourable members of parliament but only SOME

2008-10-05T17:00:00.009+01:00

Here I am today with John Mason, Scotland's newest MP (yes, he's one of the hon MPs). I was at Central Station this afternoon with a big group of Saltire waving SNP members, to wish him well as he got on the train to go to his official affirmation as an MP in Westminster. We are all so proud of him for his tremendous victory and we thought it would be nice to give him a good send off.

"Nice" however is not how I would describe this little performance from Labour MP and former Deputy Prime Minister! Although I am reporting on it and was right next to Mr P when it happened, I have to confess I completely missed it. I was utterly oblivious to his presence. I heard our lot getting excited and wondered why. By the time I asked, Prescott was on the train and I'd missed him! "Probably just as well" offered one of our members by way of comfort - her reckoning being that I would not have been able to resist giving him a piece of my mind. Probably true. Particularly when everyone who did see him tells me that it was not a 2 fingered salute but a 1 fingered salute that he gave to our members!

Update - I love this post from Alison Thewliss where she captures the moments I managed to miss.

Life over at 16 and a half

2008-10-05T10:40:00.005+01:00

Watching the repeat of the X Factor from last night and a wee boy waiting to hear if he's got through to the final 12, is crying. Asked why, he tells us it's the "biggest opportunity I've ever had in my life". Somebody please tell him that the majority of folk work their way up to big opportunities over a period of several years if not decades and even then it's rare to have an opportunity like he's got.

So ... enjoy it. Stop living in the future, live in the here and now and don't put all your emotional eggs in one basket! If this doesn't work out now, it might in the future and if not, something else will. I once made some comment on the blog about something similar and my sister emailed to suggest that I was describing myself and fellow members of the SNP. So before she does it again, let me just say, I would argue that the future of a nation and all of its people is a little more important than whether or not some kid gets to the final of a talent show. And therefore, a little more worth getting emotional about.

Why am I blogging about the X factor again???

MSP for Motherwell, Wishaw AND Malawi

2008-10-05T10:00:00.006+01:00

I shouldn't laugh really because it's seriously taking the p**** out of the constituents of Motherwell and Wishaw but ....

Jack McConnell is now to delay becoming the High Commissioner for Malawi, he says in this interesting (for lots of other reasons) article because his constituents have been phoning him asking him to stay. Yeah, well I'm sure if the rest of them had known that, they'd have been phoning asking him to book his flight asap.

I'm quite sure the good folk of Motherwell and Wishaw didn't realise this was one of those phone poll votes!

I think the reason I'm laughing is down to hysteria and relief that we've only got one parliamentary by-election to fight. I'm sure we've all aged ten years since June and I, for one, want a break.

Hysterical laughter aside, McConnell's now to be a special envoy to Africa. Plus he's to remain as MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw. So what I want to know is how much of his time is going to be spent NOT doing the job he's being paid to do ie representing the folk who have apparently been pleading with him not to leave them?

Of course we all know the real reason. The Labour Party cannot take the risk of losing to the SNP at yet another by-election. In particular Gordon Brown can't take the risk.

Gordon Brown, you're a CHICKEN ...!!!

East End Bus Journey

2008-10-05T00:13:00.003+01:00

I've just come home on the bus. It's midnight, city centre to the East End of Glasgow. It's always going to be entertaining and tonight I was not disappointed. Big fight between a guy who's started smoking and the guy who's telling him to put it out.

"All you had to do was politely ask" says the smoker.

"I shouldn't have to ask Mr Cancer Man" replies the bus bouncer!

"There's no need for your violent attitude" yells Mr Smoker.

"There's no need for you to give me your cancer" counters Mr Lifesaver.

It went on and on like this for a while much to my amusement. Of course the smoker shouldn't have lit up and of course the other guy didn't have to be polite about it - he was entitled to tell him to stop. I'm not really commenting on that, more on the style of the sketch than the content.

Honestly, that's what it was like, a comedy sketch. Actually it was like a not very good amateur dramatic society doing a re-enactment or a public service info film.

I stopped stifling my laughter after a while and just let it all come out. I have to say the award for funniest moment goes to the driver for his contribution. He stops the bus, slightly opens his driver door, leans out a little and says:

"Right you, you've not to smoke. And you - you've not to have a violent attitude. There you go then."

And that was it. I don't think either of them noticed as they carried on demonstrating their collective manliness. I'm telling you, I was sorry to have to get off the bus!!

Mandelson faking it

2008-10-04T00:02:00.003+01:00

I've been behaving myself recently. I used to get told off a lot for trivialising things on my blog. "They'll not take you seriously as a politican Anne" was one of the dire warnings I heard many a time. So, I've been good but tonight, well I just can't help myself. I just have to tell you that when I saw Peter Mandelson on the news earlier all I could think to myself was why on earth do people get Botox! You don't look any younger, you just look kind of plastic and a little bit fake. Can't think why that sprung to mind just as Peter Mandelson appeared!

Come to Springburn SNP Richard

2008-10-03T23:49:00.003+01:00

This is Richard Bache, one of the most organised organisers the SNP has ever had. He's pictured at the annual Race Night he organises for Govan Riverside SNP to raise funds for whatever campaign is being fought. He's done it for the last couple of years and I have to say he must be exhausted by the end of it because not only does he organise the entire evening and put in months of preparation but he makes the food. And here is where I really have to pay tribute to Richard. He is a vegan and all the meat eaters are always astonished to discover what a fantastic feast Richard puts together. It's a terrible thing but non veggies / vegans seem to believe if there's no meat, it will be tasteless. (My cousins at my sister's vegetarian wedding wanted to go for a sausage supper afterwards!) Anyway, nobody who's tasted Richard's cooking would ever describe it as tasteless, it's top knotch. And he raises more than £800 a night. I am writing this tribute in the hope that he'll realise Glasgow Springburn SNP is where he really wants to be - and then he can come and organise all of our events :-)

Glasgow to Glenrothes

2008-10-03T23:37:00.003+01:00

The Glenrothes by-election continues and Glasgow SNP's support for it grows. Bellgrove Belle took this photo last Saturday as the 17 members arrived to fill the minibus. Little did she know that this week we'd be so overwhelmed with SNP members wanting to go through and campaign in Fife, that she would have to drive the additional minibus. So that's 2 busloads heading through in the morning. We've all started looking forward to our Saturdays which will sound odd to the non politicos who read this blog. But it's a laugh, we all love campaigning, we're all passionately committed to the cause and ... our fellow nats in Fife are always so happy to see us and so welcoming. How could we not go?!

Feed the world ... well p1 to p3 for a start

2008-10-03T23:20:00.003+01:00

Free school meals for all children in primaries 1, 2 and 3. I can't describe how proud I am to be a member of the party that's introduced this policy to Scotland. It's particularly important when you consider cities like Glasgow have such a dreadful health record and such horrendously high levels of child poverty.

There are a number of reasons why this move is such an important one. For a start, it guarantees that regardless of what happens at home, these little people will have at least one healthy nutritious meal a day. Secondly, it takes away the stigma of being a "free ticket kid". And the evidence for that was clear in the findings of the pilot schemes - with an increase in the number of children who were already entitled to free meals actually taking them. If everyone else was doing it, they would not stand out from the crowd.

The policy of free school meals is anti poverty, anti obesity and pro health and I believe it will have a tremendous affect on our future generations. It's a policy the whole of Scotland should be proud of.

X Factor laughs

2008-09-30T23:38:00.002+01:00

I know I SHOULD be a fan of the MacDonald Bros "because they're Scottish" but I just can't do it. And today I laughed out loud when I read that they're going for the world record for the band that's played the most in store gigs. That's something to be proud of is it? To have played more Asdas than the Killers and more HMV stores than Travis? Hmmmm. It's like a political party claiming they've saved more deposits than anyone else.

No resting on our laurels

2008-09-26T13:45:00.002+01:00

Not been blogging much this week and now I'm off to Glenrothes for a well earned holiday - ha ha ha - sorry, I meant to say, for a weekend of campaigning! Looks like we have a date, 6 November. I have to say, if the Labour Party spin doctors thought their "oh so transparent" attempts to derail our campaign by putting out all these "poor us, we've already lost it", "oh look we're the underdogs now - it's safe to vote for us please please please" lines to the press, would succeed (you know, let us think we've won and we'll all become complacent) .... they were wrong! Bear in mind the Glaswegian contingent is nearly two hours away from the scene of the latest battle. PLUS we've been in constant by election mode since the end of June what with the Glasgow East Campaign (big smiles) and then the subsequent Glasgow Baillieston council campaign (more big smiles) and we're all absolutely exhausted. Then you factor in the fact that a bus load of us went up last Saturday just two days after collapsing in heaps when we won the Baillieston by election.

And still ... there are 10 of us heading up now to spend the whole weekend there (whose idea was this?) and ANOTHER FULL BUS LOAD on SATURDAY. I'd say there are no nationalists left who understand the meaning of the word complacency. Nope we're on a roll and we're on fire and determined to earn every single vote we can from the good folk of Fife. So, with that in mind I better go or I'll miss the bus.

Glasgow to Glenrothes

2008-09-21T22:22:00.004+01:00

Here are the intrepid Glasgow SNP team first thing on Saturday morning about to leave for Glenrothes. Having won our second by-election in Glasgow this year we are now free to travel the land we are planning to free :-) So, a day trip to Markinch was in order and that's exactly what we did. And boy did they work us hard but it was worth it and we're all looking forward to going back next week.

Another SNP win

2008-09-21T22:19:00.002+01:00

We won!!! Fantastic news, the SNP has won the Baillieston council by-election. Congratulations to Councillor David Turner!

2 down, 1 to go .... roll on Glenrothes.

Appearances can be so deceptive

2008-09-18T23:10:00.000+01:00

Had the dubious experience of meeting some folk from the BNP tonight. When I say "meeting" I didn't actually speak to them, they were in the playground of the polling place I was standing outside. What struck me about them, as they were ejected from the building for breaking the rules, was that they appeared to be almost "normal". And they said goodbye to each of us. I felt a bit rude not replying. I don't like to "shun" any human being and it makes it harder when they clearly don't think they're doing anything wrong. The fact that they politely acknowledged us as if we were all "in the same game" said to me that they think they are as legitimate as any mainstream political party.

As I said I don't like to shun anyone but everything they stand for repulses me and I cannot recognise them as anything other than a racist organisation. Acknowledging them politely in the school playground as if their views don't matter, or are somehow part-time and / or irrelevant would have made me feel like a coward. Hopefully THEIR cowardly policies will be roundly rejected by the people of Baillieston tonight.

The waiting game

2008-09-18T23:00:00.000+01:00

I'm home now. It's been a long day. A stressful day. A wet day. And now all we can do is wait. Wait to discover if we've won the Baillieston by-election that is. It will be close, it was always going to be a near thing and I have no feeling for how it will turn out. Scary. Will update later ...

This Charming Woman

2008-09-17T22:45:00.004+01:00

I was out in Baillieston tonight delivering letters up to the 11th hour - or 9pm to be precise. Anyway I was with the child who is trying to adopt me and when we came across some Tory leafletters he asked them for a copy of their leaflet. When I read what the Tory candidate had to say, I'm afraid I felt compelled to go back and question him.

Apparently this Conservative council candidate pledges, if elected, to:

"cut council tax for everyone by £150 a year".

So I asked him how he was going to do that by getting elected to Glasgow City Council. "It's our party policy" he replied. "Yes but how exactly is electing YOU going to bring about that policy?" I continued. "It's party policy" he repeats - imaginatively I thought! "It's misleading" I tell him "seeing as you'd have to be in power to do it and it's the kind of thing that stops people trusting politicians". "Well if you don't like it complain" is his helpful response.

I might just do that. I had to laugh when, as I walked away, I heard him say "usual charming SNP". It's not my job to be charming to people I believe to be disingenuous, in fact it's my (self appointed) role to give them a good telling off about it as he discovered tonight :-)

To be serious, I could have done without speaking to this guy tonight but I hate people trying to con the voters and seeing as politics is not a hobby to me but something far more important, I'm not going to be polite and tut tut quietly to myself when I can tell the main culprit what I think of him!

EVEN Joyce has had enough!

2008-09-17T17:48:00.005+01:00

No sooner had I called David Cairns Labour's biggest apologist in yesterday's blog, when a rival for that title was rumoured to be quitting the government too. Step forward Major Eric Joyce, described by one newspaper as "super loyal". Yes that's one way of putting it. Weasel is another. Watching the Labour Government is like watching a deck of cards fall down. Gordon Brown in his written response to David (LAPDOG) Cairns yesterday said it was a time to be looking at the global economy, not internal wrangling. I agree but unfortunately it doesn't look like the internal wrangling is going to go away. So if we want the British Government to concentrate on the effect the world's economic problems are having on us, he is going to have to stop all the internal stuff by resigning. My money's on him going 5 days after the end of Labour's conference.