I was privileged to be at St Andrew\u2019s House in Edinburgh this week and to see the arrival, and departure, of Prime Minister David Cameron and his entourage, all five cars of them.\u00a0 Access to the public was denied to the street outside, with somewhere between twenty and thirty police on duty.\u00a0 The most memorable moment of that event was when Michael Moore MP was going into St Andrew\u2019s House and one of the assembled press called out \u201cHow does it feel to be the last Secretary of State for Scotland?\u201d;\u00a0 Mr Moore just carried on, but as I observed at the time, he was the one who said that the office of Secretary of State for Scotland should be abolished, and this would appear to be the only manifesto promise the Liberals would keep.<\/p>\n
The First Minister held a press conference after his meeting with Mr Cameron, or as the email had put is \u201c\u2026is likely to hold a press conference\u2026\u201d; perhaps if the meeting had not gone to plan this might not have happened, but with more than an hour to wait, I decided to go and have a coffee and a bacon roll.\u00a0 This meant I left the press \u201ccorral\u201d and was unable to return to it until the Prime Minister had left;\u00a0 this stricture applied to all.<\/p>\n
I did attend the press conference, somehow managing to get in via the back door, and we had the usual suspects putting all the usual questions, about sterling, the EU, NATO, the consultation document, Catalonia;\u00a0 I managed to get in at the end stating that the Scots Independent was the only newspaper supporting Scottish independence, and congratulating the First Minister on his achievement, not a view supported by most of the attendees.<\/p>\n
So the stage is now set for 100 weeks of campaigning for the future of Scotland;\u00a0 I have been a member of the SNP for forty six years and had despaired of ever getting anywhere near that stage.<\/p>\n
I did hear today, from Andrew Kerr, our correspondent in deepest, darkest Surrey that Peter Kellner, of YouGov polling,\u00a0 said in an interview with the Daily Record that a \u201cYes\u201d vote in the Referendum was Mission Impossible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Andrew reminded me, as did Alex Salmond at the press conference, that in January and February last year, YouGov showed the SNP 10 or 15 points behind Labour, and then the SNP won the most massive landslide vote ever seen in the United Kingdom.\u00a0 The First Minister put it that if you win the arguments, you win the votes, and the same would happen in the Referendum.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to the press, Donald Trump is intending to sue the Scottish Government, and Alex Salmond in particular, because\u00a0 wind turbines in the North Sea will be visible from his swanky new golf course.\u00a0 He now claims that Jack McConnell, First Minister at the time of the first plans for the course, had promised there would be no wind turbines.\u00a0 Mr McConnell, or Lord McConnell as we perhaps should call him now, says that this is nonsense and that no such assurances would be given.\u00a0 Now Lord McConnell has not been First Minister for five and a half years, so it would seem questionable that planning would be at that stage then \u2013 even for wind turbines!<\/p>\n
I suppose we should look on it as to who is best placed to look after Scotland\u2019s interests, Aberdeenshire Council Planning Committee and First Minister Alex Salmond, or Donald Trump, who has a peripheral interest in one small bit of Scotland to help him to enrich himself further?\u00a0 While I do not believe his actions would be taken seriously, they will cost the Government (ie you and me) money in rebutting the claim.\u00a0 Public money is in short supply these days.<\/p>\n
Just an afterthought, golfers concentrating on their game would not be inclined to spend time scanning the horizon for wind turbines.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Very gratifying to see Tricia Marwick MSP, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament becoming a Member of the Privy Council.\u00a0 She will now be known as The Right Honourable Tricia Marwick, MSP.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Uill\u2026tha na toraidhean againn, tha na daoine air bruidhinn agus cha robh e na bha sinn an d\u00f9il! Rinn buidhnean neo-eisimeileachd f\u00e0idheadaireachd gun gabhadh na N\u00e0iseantaich a h-uile baile-m\u00f2r san d\u00f9thaich, Glaschu cuideachd, agus gum bitheadh Alba c\u00f2mhdaichte ann an buidhe. Agus bha e gu math soirbh sin a smaointinn. Tha na Laboraich ann am b\u00f9rach, tha am p\u00e0rtaidh dealaichte ann an Glaschu, tha an ceannard gun fheum agus chan eil l\u00e8irsinn no gl\u00f2ir-mhiann creideasach sam bith aca. A dh\u2019aindeoin sin chum iad Glaschu agus rinn iad gu math ann an D\u00f9n Eideann agus Obar Dheathain. Ciamar?<\/p>\n Bh\u00f2taidh luchd na h-Alba gu h-eadar-dhealaicte anns gach taghadh as bith c\u00e0it am bi e – Alba, An R\u00ecoghachd Aonaichte no an t-\u00f9ghdarras ionadail. A chionn gun bheil eagal air an t-sluagh ro ghearraidhean T\u00f2raidheach shaoil iad gun atharraicheadh toradh math do na Laboraich an cruadal. Bh\u00f2t daoine dhaibh ged a tha an cl\u00e0r ann an cumhachd truagh, gu h-\u00e0raidh ann an Glaschu. Mar choimeas tha cl\u00e0r an SNP moltach agus \u2018s e seo na tha air a bhith cudtromach san t-soirbheas leantaineach aige. Bhuannaich e a\u2019 chiad m\u00f2r-chuid ann\u00a0 an D\u00f9n De\u00e0gh is Aonghas agus \u2018s ann aige a tha an \u00e0ireamh as motha de chomhairlichean san d\u00f9thaich. Bha na meadhanan \u00e0icheanach mar a b\u2019 \u00e0bhaist ach tha rud beag f\u00ecrinne anns na tha iad ag r\u00e0dh. An d\u00e8idh soirbheas nan N\u00e0iseantach ann an 2011 tha neo-eisimeileachd air l\u00e0mh an uachdair a thoirt air gnothaichean poileataigeach, agus as bith ar beachd air chan eil teagamh ann nach bi a h-uile duine a bh\u00f2t SNP ga h-iarraidh. Tha obair mh\u00f2r ann fhathast.<\/p>\n Fhad \u2018s a tha luchd-bh\u00f2taidh air t\u00f2iseachadh ceangal nas dl\u00f9ithe a dh\u00e8anamh eadar bh\u00f2t don SNP agus cothrom neo-eisimeileachd, a r\u00e8ir coltais tha sinn a\u2019 faicinn \u00ecsleachadh ann an taic ged a rinn am p\u00e0rtaidh gu math. \u2018S e rabhadh a tha seo. Chan eil sinn airson p\u00e0rtaidh eile a\u2019 gabhail thairis bho na Laboraich mar ph\u00e0rtaidh ceannasach na h-Alba – tha \u00e0rdan cunnartach. \u2018S fheudar don SNP ionnsachadh bho a mhearachdan oir ann an iomadh d\u00f2igh thug e call air fh\u00e8in. Leig toradh sam bith nach robh tomadach do luchd an Aonaidh ag r\u00e0dh gun robh rudan a\u2019 tionndadh. A-nis feumaidh an t-amas a bhith air an referendum gus am faic an sluagh luchd an Aonaidh mar a tha iad \u2013 nan l\u00e0mhan marbha a\u2019 cur bacadh air Alba.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well\u2026..we have the results, the people have spoken and it wasn\u2019t what we expected! Independent think tanks were predicting that the Nationalists would take every major city in the country including Glasgow, and Scotland would be awash with yellow. And it was easy to think this. Scottish Labour are in a mess, their party is divided in Glasgow, their leader is appalling and they have no credible vision or ambition. Nevertheless they held Glasgow and performed well in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. How?<\/p>\n The Scottish electorate vote differently for each election whether it is Holyrood, Westminster or local council. As the public fear Tory cuts they felt a good result for Labour might alter the austerity measures. They voted for Labour though its record in power, especially in Glasgow, is poor. In contrast the SNP\u2019s record is commendable and this has been a major factor in the party\u2019s continued success. It won its first majority in Dundee and Angus and has the largest amount of councillors in the country. The media was pretty negative as usual but there is some truth to what it\u2019s saying. After the Nationalist success in 2011 independence has dominated the political landscape and whether we like it or not people who voted SNP didn\u2019t all support it. There is still some convincing to be done.<\/p>\n As the electorate has began to associate a vote for the SNP more closely with\u00a0 possible independence we seem to have seen a reduction in support, though the party did well. This serves as a wake up call. We do not want to supplant Labour as the overall dominant party of Scotland – arrogance is a dangerous. The SNP needs to learn from its mistakes because in many ways it set itself up for failure. Any result that wasn\u2019t a landslide would allow the unionists to claim that things were turning. The focus must now be on the referendum so that the public will see the unionists for what they are – dead hands keeping Scotland back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the day o the Local Elections, ten English ceeties votit ti decide whuther they wantit a direckly eleckit Mayor, lik Lunnon. Nine oot o ten o them turnit doun the offer. It daesnae seem that ony o the pairties in Scotland hae sic a seestem in min. Gin ony did, wad it be a guid idaia?<\/p>\n Aabodie kens that oor local cooncils dinnae seem ti coont fir as muckle as they did lang syne, an that the feck o the voters cannae be bothert ti gang ti the pows ti chuise them. An sae the cry gangs up: \u201cSomethin maun be duin!\u201d At this, politeecians whiles rax oot fir the first fair-farrand notion that cums ti haun, no thinkan that aiblins it michtna turn oot weel.<\/p>\n I this case, we soud ask why local government is in a sheuch the nou. Firstly, ilka cooncil cannae cairry on its sairvices juist as it wants: there are (richtly) national staunarts ti keep up. Sae, maist o the time, the council cannae decide fir itsel whit it wul spend its siller on. Saicontly, aboot aichty pence in ilka pund o that siller cums to it, in ae wey or anither, frae the central (Scottish) government. An nae eleckit Mayor (or better, Provost) coud chynge thir facks. Deed, the Government itsel coudnae dae it wioot a sair trauchle, as we fund whan the plan fir a Local Income Tax wes gien up.<\/p>\n Bit there is a stranger raison why direckly eleckit Provosts micht be nae blissin. In England, cooncils are aye eleckit bi the auld \u201cFirst past the post\u201d seestem. Scotland, contrair ti that, nou haes the Single Transferable Vote, that maks shair a pairty cannae get the feck o the cooncillors wioot the feck o the votes. It wes the auld seestem that keepit Lawbour in pouer, in sae mony cooncils, wi less than hauf o the voters ahint them. Nouadays we hae a ferr seestem, sae that the cooncillors in pouer hae ti hae the backin o maist o the voters. That wes a rael<\/em> reform o local government, an Scotland is the better fir it. Bit a direckly eleckit Provost wad be brocht in unner a \u201cFirst past the post\u201d vote, wi aa the ills that gang wi it. We micht be cowpit back ti whaur we war afore, i the days o the \u201cAe-pairty states\u201d. \u201cNae thenks!\u201d, A wad say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was privileged to be at St Andrew\u2019s House in Edinburgh this week and to see the arrival, and departure, of Prime Minister David Cameron and his entourage, all five cars of them.\u00a0 Access to the public was denied to the street outside, with somewhere between twenty and thirty police on duty.\u00a0 The most memorable moment of that event was when Michael Moore MP was going into St Andrew\u2019s House and one of the assembled press called out \u201cHow does it feel to be the last Secretary of State for Scotland?\u201d;\u00a0 Mr Moore just carried on, but as I observed at the time, he wasRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":770,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions\/770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Beannachd Falaichte<\/b><\/h2>\n
Calum MacEacharna<\/b><\/h3>\n
Blessing in Disguise<\/b><\/h2>\n
Calum Mackechnie<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Ae vote ower mony?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Kenneth Fraser<\/strong><\/h3>\n