Jim Lynch (Page 4)

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 →

Dave Thompson At the Spring Conference in Aberdeen this year I was sitting beside Veronica Thompson, wife of Dave Thompson, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch until he stepped down at the 2016 Scottish Elections.  The Conference hall was packed, and I remarked to her “Very few people in this hall will know who Dave Thompson is and what he achieved” This set me thinking and this May is the 10th Anniversary of the dramatic SNP win in May 2007, with one seat more than Labour, so I dusted down the old SI file and brought up the report from John Jappy – published inRead More →

The die has been cast: on Tuesday 28th March the Scottish Parliament voted to ask Westminster for the authority to hold a Referendum. The SNP had 64 votes and the Greens cast their 5; the other parties had 59 votes.  I knew the Greens were going to support the SNP, but  there can be many a slip between cup and lip, and the Greens main plank is the environment, not independence.  Nevertheless they were  true to their word.  Ruth Davidson bleated protest in a quickfire fashion, I did not see Kezia Dugdale nor Willie Rennie. David Mundell burbled away as Theresa May’s stooge – nothingRead More →

Strange things happening today; I customarily look at Wings Over Scotland and newsnetscotland more or less every day, but have been having a few problems, no doubt due to Windows 10, Word and general auld man’s incompetence.  However today when I clicked on newsnetscotland I got a big notice  “403 –  Access to this site is forbidden.”  So I have been unable to read the thoughts of Derek Bateman;  I tried going through his website but fell at the first twitter!  Might come all right.  Wings was OK.   I returned last week from a fortnight in Lanzarote, very nice.  My eldest son and hisRead More →

I was at the SNP Conference in Glasgow on Friday and Saturday last week and met many old friends and made some new ones.  As happened before, I feel the venue is too big, too many offshoots, but then again it is a pleasure to see so many people I do not recognise – once upon a time you would know most, but now we’re getting somewhere we have thousands of members.  It’s great.   Happily, we had no major rows, but then again, we do not wish them, the days when we could have a public dispute are largely gone, our enemies, particularly thoseRead More →

The above is an amalgam of two Latin phrases I cobbled up in an idle moment.  Status Quo is “as things were before”, and Quo Vadis is “Whither goest thou?” Sums up Westminster.   Well at least we know where Scotland should be going; Nicola has challenged Party members to start canvassing support for another Independence Referendum.  The Unionists and their media pals – we don’t have many- are carping away about how the Summer Independence campaign has becoming the Autumn one.  It wasn’t a great summer, weatherwise, but we managed to convincingly win another Scottish Parliamentary Election, that’s three in a row, plus theRead More →

I went to the SECC in Glasgow for the Spring Conference;  it was my intention to go on the Saturday and Sunday, and as I do not like driving in Glasgow I took the bus.  Edinburgh to Buchanan Street, Glasgow no problem.  Hike down to Central Station – 20 minutes at least – never timed it.  Train to the SECC 5 minutes, then the walkway, no idea of how long but I was humphing a briefcase.   Coming back was worse as I bought three books to fill the briefcase.  By the time I got back to Buchanan Street I decided that I could notRead More →

I was reading in the Herald of Tuesday this week that they foresee a constitutional crisis if John Swinney does not sign up to the fiscal framework.  How perceptive of the Herald; there has been a constitutional crisis since May 2011, or more  probably since May 2007 when a sharp eyed nationalist counting agent, now the MSP for Skye,Lochaber and Badenoch, Dave Thompson, queried the Returning Officer’s declaration on the Regional Vote.  This initially showed no seats for the SNP; after checking the figures, two seats were allocated to the SNP.  This made the SNP the largest party in the Scottish Parliament, and Alex SalmondRead More →