SICK COLUMN FROM THE SUN

This recently appeared in 'the Sun' newspaper (English version of course). Shocking stuff.

I have some good news and bad news about the English-hating Scots

Opinion

KELVIN MACKENZIE

I HAVE some good news and bad news about the English-hating Scots. The good news is that they are dying sooner than the rest of us. The Office of National Statistics reveals that Glaswegians especially are going early.

The Government office says that thanks to a lifelong diet of misery,cynicism, fried Mars bars and tins of syrupy beer, Glaswegians areturning in their sporrans at 70 years old, compared to the UK average of 76.

Now the bad news. Five years ago Allan Robinson, 44, moved from Leeds to the ugly suburb of Coatbridge in Lanarkshire. (Last year, Coatbridge had more 999 calls than the rest of Scotland. Nice people.)

He put a single St George's Cross in his window to support England. The effect; thugs smashed three windows. He went down to the shops in his England kit with his girlfriend and the locals hurled abuse at them.

He was so frightened, he didn't leave his home all weekend and is now thinking of moving. Only thinking? The faster we accept that Scotland and England are two nations divided by a common language, the better.

My solution is simple. Build Hadrian's Wall another hundred foot higher and start air lifting in Red Cross parcels of...Mars bars.

SCOTS MUST AVOID PETITIONING WESTMINSTER AT ALL COSTS

Jamie Marr (The Earl of Marr) has recently launched a referendum bill from the House of Lords at Westminster. Unfortunately petitioning Westminster in any shape or form is doomed to failure and is a complete waste of time. We had a 2m petition for home rule in the 50's which was completely ignored.

We must learn the lessons of history and concentrate all practical efforts on the Scottish Parliament. That is where Scottish sovereignty now lies.

Marr is basically still a Brit in terms of his attitudes (when he was challenged at the Convention he responded about Westminster 'It's still our Parliament'). His new found support for independence combined with his reliance on the Queen as a peer in the House of Lords mean his ambitions are limited to taking Scottish sovereignty back to the union of crowns.

Yet the Union of Crowns was what began the British union and where Scotland's problems began. Independence campaigners are working together within the independence convention and independence first and we generally rightly believethat arguments about the EU and republicanism are largely irrelevant until we actually acheive independence.

However Marr feels forced to petition Westmister because of his loyalty to the UK queen. That may be the most logical route for him but his personal loyalty to the monarch is not shared by most Scottish independence supporters.

Sovereignty in Scotland lies with the people of Scotland and therefore logically with our new parliament. Only this parliament can legitimately decide to move forwards towards independence.

Westmister is the political enemy of Scotland and if we attempt to influence policy there we will never succeed. Scotland's representatives are hopelessly outnumbered and most of them have no interest in their own country anyway.

Our new parliament may not be perfect but at least it is a genuine reflection of our votes. All our future efforts must be primarily targetted towards this if we are to have a decent chance of success.

MCCONNELL FOOTBALL BLUSTER IS IRRELEVANT

Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell has came in for a lot of criticism in the English media for his 'refusal to back England' and his choice of Trinidad & Tobago (England's group opponents) as his supposed favourite team.

His old pal (former FM) Henry 'a muddle not a fiddle' McLeish has also attacked him recently.


The real problem is not Jack McConnell's choice of team to support in the world cup, that's up to him and no-one is particularly interested, particularly when he simply steals the words of Alex Salmond.

The problem is politicians who put England's national interests before the political needs of their own nation.

The most absurd example is of course Gordon Brown who claims that his favourite goal was Gazza's against Scotland (!) but should we really be that surprised?

Gordon has never given any thought to Scotland for years, like Tony he has chosen the larger more powerful nation over the one of his birth. In the 1970's most Labour politicians were well aware that Scotland could become one of the most prosperous contries in Europe with independence but they sold us out so they could keep a chance of gaining power in England.

What have they done with that power? Nothing at all, they have merely aped Thatcherism and continued the Tory legacy. A pointless exercise. The problem I have with McConnell is that he can't see the potential this country has an independent nation.

He prefers English rule (as does Henry who is off the same ilk) and his irrelevant comments about football are designed to cover up that obvious fact. He supports England where it matters over their continued political rule over Scotland, and his attempts to appear more Scottish by making a point of supporting their opponents is highly transparent.

Most Scots probably prefer England to lose because of their jingoistic commentators and their assumption that everyone in the UK does support them anyway. McConnell knows this and this is the reason behind his mini 'rebellion'. He is entitled to support whoever he likes but he has obviously made a point of this thinking it would help him to appear more 'Scottish' before the next elections.

However, the day Jack puts Scotland's political interests first will be the day he deserves his title as First Minister, until then he remains an ineffective stooge of the UK Government.

Ex Tory Monteith: only SNP can offer change

Monteith: only SNP can offer change
ROBBIE DINWOODIE
June 09 2006

The Tory MSP forced out of his party last year for plotting to undermine the leadership of David McLetchie has now savaged the performance of Annabel Goldie, and said that only the SNP offers prospects of a change.

Brian Monteith, who now sits as an Independent Conservative for the Lothians, is scathing about Miss Goldie's performance and claims that Tories up and down the land have reacted with "amazement and anger" to what he terms the "vote blue, get red" decision to offer a stability pact with Labour after next May.

Such a deal would be short of a formal coalition but, in exchange for support on an issue-by-issue basis, Tories would agree not to back a no-confidence vote during a term of parliament.

In a signed newspaper column, Mr Monteith said: "[Miss Goldie] and her lieutenants have let it be known that if Labour suffers a humiliating reverse at next year's Scottish parliament elections, the Tories will ride to their rescue."

He added: "If a voter wants change, the only party that now offers it is the SNP."

Top-up fees aren't the answer - Mark Ballard (Greens)

Thanks to the abolition of grants and the introduction of loans, students now leave university saddled with thousands of pounds of debts. Student finance, or to be more accurate student debt, is now the most critical issue in higher education.

http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=846792006

KEN LIVINGSTONE'S REMARKS REFLECT THE INJUSTICE OF LONDON RULE

London 'subsidising Scots lifestyle', says Livingstone
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=837422006#new

KEN Livingstone, the London mayor, has come under fire for suggesting that Londoners' money keeps Scots in a lifestyle "to which they are accustomed". The outspoken Labour mayor made the remark at a reception on Monday night as he tried to explain why the city needed a new £10 billion rail link.

He told politicians: "We need Crossrail to keep London's economy ticking over so that we can continue to pay for the Scottish to live the lifestyle to which they are accustomed."

His political opponents said the comments were insulting.

The mayor's remarks also infuriated Alex Salmond, the Scottish National Party leader, who yesterday introduced a bill calling for the repatriation of North Sea oil reserves to Scotland.
Mr Salmond said: "When you include all Scotland's resources, we subsidise the rest of the UK by £3,000 a year for the average Scottish family."

This "£200 billion raid" on Scottish resources over 30 years was "the greatest act of international larceny since the Spanish stole the Inca gold", he said.

Mr Salmond also taunted Gordon Brown's support for England in the World Cup, accusing the Chancellor of "morphing into an Englishman". He accused Mr Brown of spending "long hours" at the Treasury trying to memorise the names of the England squad.

Mr Salmond's bill stands little chance of becoming law due to a lack of parliamentary time.

A spokesman for Mr Livingstone told The Scotsman the mayor had made a light-hearted joke. "But behind it lies a serious point. If London is to be able to continue to transfer resources to the rest of the country, which it accepts it should do, it has to be able to invest."

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As Salmond points out, Ken's figures are wrong, however they are typical of a mindset amongst English politicians who have lied for so long about the finances of Scotland that they now believe it!

Figures are notoriously fickle beasts depending on who is quoting them however there can be no doubt that Scotland has substantially subsidised England through Oil. A road in Scotland which costs £1M and benefits 5,000 people. The same road is built in England for the same price but this benefits £50,000 people. Does that mean the Scots are 10 times better off?
No, it's just a road. Scotland has a small population spread over a large area and has enormous natural resources.

Ken Livingstone and probably most Londeners have no real interest in working out who owes who but there's a lot more money goes into London through Government investment than ever reaches Scotland and in a much much smaller area.

The answer to the problem of this misunderstanding of course is Scottish independence and let England spend whatever they like on London. As long as Scotland is ruled by England and by politicians based in London our interests will never be properly addressed.

The Scottish Independence Guide http://www.scottishindependence.com

The above website gives more information about independence ie normal national powers for Scotland. Who really believes Scotland is incapable if running our own affairs? Apart from power hungry politicians with an eye on England like Brown or those with limited ambitions for Scotland like Jack McConnell, most would agree it makes logical sense and according to recent polls would vote that way if they had the chance in a referendum.

Not so strange bedfellows (unionists)

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/63410-print.shtml
Strangest bedfellows

Your Letters June 06 2006

Further to your Strangest bedfellows editorial (June 5): since April this year, Dumfries and Galloway Council has been ruled by a minority Labour administration supported by Conservative councillors. As with the Labour/Conservative "stability pact", proposed by Annabel Goldie for a future Scottish Parliament, this falls short of an actual coalition. Rather, Dumfries and Galloway's Conservative councillors "informally" agreed to vote with Labour councillors against the former Independent/SNP/LibDem administration's council tax rise and budget proposals. Quite how long this "popular front" will last is difficult to gauge. The new Labour group (with Conservative support) is pushing through a series of dramatic budget cuts which may yet provoke a local backlash.If these "strange bedfellows" can continue to co-operate through into 2007, Dumfries and Galloway will give political pundits and voters a chance to see if this particular version of the future really does work.

Alistair Livingston, 4a Abercromby Road, Castle Douglas.

It has been claimed that the Scottish electoral system is highly complex, perhaps even confusing to voters. It is, therefore, pleasant to see politicians attempting to simplify the system. I refer, of course, to the decision by the Tory party to seek an alliance with New Labour, and New Labour's welcoming of the deal. This will make the next election so much simpler; independence with the SNP or the British Union under the Liberal/Labour/Tory alliance. It also rather cuts down on political slogans. I do not think we will be hearing, "Vote Labour to keep out the Tories" ever again.

Dr Bill Wilson, SNP Renfrewshire West, 14 William Street, Paisley.

Vote Labour get Tories, vote Tories get Labour, is there a difference?:

Joint Tory/Labour campaign site:
http://cameronmcconnell2007.50megs.com/

Support any team you like - as long as it's England

IndyGal wrote (on the freescot forum www.freescot.com/forum/) :

Just watched the news on GMTV read out by a Scottish newsreader. The two presenters on the couch Ben Sheppard and Penny Smith had just been asking Scottish viewers to text in and say if they were supporting England in the World Cup. At the end of the News, they asked the newsreader if she was supporting England and she said no. Penny said something like "you're not supporting the home nation?", the newsreader said "yes but it's not MY home nation" and then almost jumped out of her seat at the sharp intakes of breath she was apparently hearing in her ear from the show's producers. So now, Scots are not even allowed to state the fact, the truth, that England is NOT their nation without eliciting a negative response. THEN Penny Smith decided to "tease" the newsreader by suggesting "perhaps it's because they're jealous because England sends Scotland £50 million pounds a year" - can't remember the exact quote or figures but you get the jist and I've complained. I think we TV watchers are going to be kept busy during the World Cup.

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It would be useful if there was some kind of media monitoring unit which kept an eye on all the channels for examples of media bias against Scotland. The incident you described might seem small but they do have a cumulative effect so well done 'Indygal' for complaining about it.

The real problem is of course that there is no independent Scottish media and as long as Britain and England are considered to be interchangable and the assumption (since 83% or whatever of the viewers are English) therefore is that everyone watching is English, loves England and wants them to win the world cup.

At least during these tournaments the reality of the situation becomes more exposed. Both the Lib Dems and Labour supported broadcasting powers for devolution therefore all independence supporting MSP's in the parliament should be piling pressure on the executive to declare that they want them now or explain why not.

Also a few letters in the paper might help, since all the letters on this topic tend to be "I hate England" without any analysis of the political situation.

I'm sure we all wince when yet another politically correct independence supporting MSP declares his new found love for the 'old enemy', while I understand their reasons (well I did the first time when Andrew Wilson did it) , to promote the fact that the SNP is multicultural and doesn't have an irrational hatred of England, it is now looking ever more desperate.

'Wee Jack' of course has tried to play the Scottish card by making a meaningless announcement that he's supporting Trinidad and Tobago (after Alex Salmond named them as his preferred team ) . Naturally he was condemned by the London news media who expected him to love England as much as every other Brit politician who denies Scotland's potential. This was of course a safe move for Jack (even though his spin doctor pal in the Scotsman condemned it) because it has no political implications.

The fact is that we are different countries and there should be no assumed obligation on Scots to support England at football, cricket or anything else -unless you're a true Brit of course like auld Ming or Gordon Broon who sold their souls to England years ago. They might as well change their official nationality to 'English' like Tony has. JOE