Jim Lynch

This week we will have the Annual Oliver Brown Award, going this year to Lesley Riddoch.  As I followed the cantrips at Westminster I was reminded of one of Oliver’s quotes regarding the Westminster Parliament  “The Lord Privy Seal is neither a Lord, a Privy, nor a Seal”. We still have Black Rod, whatever that is, and ‘Strangers in the Gallery’, all outmoded and belonging to another age.  I am particularly aghast at the voting system; when a vote is called the Division Bell rings and MPs have about 15 minutes to get to the voting lobby, where their names are marked off by aRead More →

A bit of a mixture this time, as this week will be a busy one for me Some two years ago, I think, I got a new computer and decided to use a “civilian” email address. In the last two weeks BT, my supplier for this email address, said I had to change my password, specifying I could not use my current one. Since then I have not been able to access my “civilian” email! I had my eldest son attempt to fix it after fruitless tries, even using their “Helpful chat” method. ( I had to cancel that try as my tea was ready).Read More →

Thought I was nearly finished but had a sleep in the chair and decided to rip it up and start again. I cannot remember such turbulent times in all my 83 years! Maybe I am just forgetting but I am certain things have never been so uncertain.   First we have a world crisis with the US and North Korea engaged in a war of words, so far. North Korea is unpredictable and the United States with an unpredictable President does not give us succour. In this we have the nuclear threat, Trident, in Scotland , in theory in Britain’s hands but with the powerRead More →

The expression “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad” nearly always reminds me of the old joke;  “I had to take my dog to the vet to have him put down” to be asked  “Poor thing, was it mad?”  Response “Well it wisna very pleased”. It is difficult to know where to begin, as so many issues are cropping up with no answers, so a brief resume . I hear that the Daily Record this week criticised the Scottish Labour Leader for stating that Nicola Sturgeon was as divisive as Margaret Thatcher;  interesting that the Record took that line. A furoreRead More →

“The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, nor all thy piety nor wit, shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it” This quotation from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam sprang to mind as I was considering how quickly political events are moving, or even not moving! The main driver of politics this year has been Brexit. We seem to have gone from the heady hysteria of “£350 million a week for the National Health Service” to the Tory Government attempting to evade the consequences and haggling about the exit price. In allRead More →

Observing the recent scenes from Catalonia and the appalling treatment of free citizens being treated as criminals in a way that would not be tolerated under any criminal justice law, I  was disappointed at how mealy mouthed the European Union treated this disgrace. The Spanish Government made great play as to how the Catalaonians were behaving unconstitutionally; it seems that anything the Catalans want is unconstitutional. Now here’s a thought – the UK does not have a constitution, a factor the Unionists seem quite proud of, so why cannot Scotland just declare UDI?  Also in that context, they seem to like to refer to theRead More →

I started off this Flag with the purpose of covering the very first issue of the Scots Independent in November 1926, but the current political situation decreed I should do more, so here is a miscellany of recent events.   Brian Cox  was a surprise guest at Alex Salmond Unleashed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; he sees the arrival of Brexit  as making the second independence referendum inevitable. I met him briefly at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on the 2014 referendum night – good memories of Brian Cox, bad memories of the referendum.   His comment that the Yes campaign has to get its act togetherRead More →

Slight problem with items this week, Scottish Parliament in recess, Compiler struggling with Windows 10, Word, and old age😊   Sunday 2nd July SNP WARN UK GOVERNMENT AGAINST BYPASSING PARLIAMENT ON SYRIA STRIKES The SNP’s Defence spokesperson has written to Michael Fallon warning the UK government against bypassing parliament in order to “fall blindly in line to the Trump tune,” with extended military action in Syria without approval. During Business Questions, Stewart McDonald MP raised Sir Michael Fallon’s TV interview in which the Defence Secretary stated that the UK “will fully support any US action”, reminding the UK government that any attempt to bypass parliamentRead More →

DIVIDED LABOUR PLEDGES WHAT SNP ALREADY DELIVERS SNP LEADING UK POLICY DEBATE – AND LEADING OPPOSITION TO TORIES AT WESTMINSTER Commenting on Labour’s manifesto launch, SNP Depute Leader and candidate for Moray, Angus Robertson said: “Labour are pledging today what the SNP are already delivering for the people of Scotland. “Scrapping hospital parking charges, free tuition, publicly-owned water, ending the Bedroom Tax, increasing renewable energy and expanding free childcare will all seem familiar to voters in Scotland – because they are already happening under an SNP government. “And on Scotland, Labour can only mimic the Tories’ anti-independence obsession. “In Scotland we don’t need a poorRead More →