Lazy assumptions about John Mason don't add up

"The SNP man in Glasgow this time is one John Mason, a local accountant and councillor who has been dubbed John "Whatever-his-name-is" owing to his unimpressive demeanour."

Ian MacWhirter, writing in the Guardian.

What a shame Ian MacWhirter repeats the same rubbish about John Mason that his colleagues in London have written. Unlike the bitter careerist Curran (whose TV manner is truly awful by the way) Mason has a track record of service to the area as a Councillor which is second to none. Margo MacDonald and Jim Sillars [who MacWhirters refers to as a comparison] are both tremendously talented individuals, unusually so and far more competent than any existing Labour MP, however Margo has already stated that Mason is an excellent candidate and in fact she claimed the SNP was holding him back (still as an independent you might expect her to say that).

I find it rather sad that MacWhirter would join the London hack pack dazzled by the celebrity of Alex Salmond and ignore the fact that Mason has answered all questions honestly and succinctly. Unlike Curran he has made no gaffes. His opinion on a referendum is shared with every other member of the SNP and any leader who ignored his view would not be leader for long.

Salmond is a powerful asset and the SNP are right to use him upfront in their campaign, anything else would be distinctly odd but their candidate is entirely competent and obviously honest. That will be a rarity for Glasgow East given the expenses scandal which was about to engulf their last MP. David Marshall was good at keeping his money and expenses within his immediate family but he was less successful in standing up for the interests of the people in the area. (There are obviously pockets of deprivation however when I went there on Saturday I don't think it seemed substantially different from any other area in Scotland, certainly no worse than where I live just now. I have tended to live in Labour supporting seats all my life, and from my own experience their vote is soft because it is based on a mistaken assumption, that Labour care what the working classes think, when in reality they don't).

These grim coupons say it all!

Margaret Curren lied about living in the East End all her life. She put out a letter to her proposed future constituents that she didn't even bother to read! She hypocritically says she can do two jobs after attacking Salmond for his own joint role. (I'm sure as Labour leader, which she will no doubt be rewarded with if she wins she will find it handy to get her orders from London based Labour MP's and then take them back to her MSP colleagues).

She pretended she was standing beside a 93 year old war veteran when in fact it was a Labour activist. Her only celebrity endoresement is a man who bwelieves the UK is dead and buried. Her campaign has been utterly disastrous and Labour have lied about having two thousand activists on the street when in reality they can barely muster 200.

If this is a great campaign with a competent candidate give me some of the drugs you are on Ian! If Labour win it will be because they have successfully pulled the wool over the people's eyes yet again but you can't fool al lthe people all the time. Their day of reckoning will come.

John Mason said there was no difference between Gordon Brown and David Cameron, how right he was. Both Labour and Tories want to stigmatise the unemployed and make them scrub the streets and pick up litter! Socialist values? Labour don't know the meaning of it and they haven't done for years. The best jobs they can provide are making their biometric ID cards so repressive regimes across the world can spy on their citizens. Wow!

The SNP are well to the left of Labour and they are proudly Scottish. When Labour attack Mason (by putting his face on their leaflets, which suggests despite their spin they do regard him as a serious candidate) for saying he wants to break up the UK they should realise that most people in Glasgow East are not actually as proud of the union as they are. In fact at the last census no less than 96 per cent chose to say they were Scottish rather than British, more than in any other Scottish constituency! Britishness is dead just like the 'socialist principles' of Nu Labour. Hopefully Glasgow East's voters will give Labour the kicking they deserve at the ballot box on Thursday.

If however the worst happens, Curran scrapes through and wins and is subsequently elected Labour's Scottish Leader I can't imagine a greater gift for Alex Salmond. The press can maintain she is wonderful all they like but the reality is that Wendy was at least personable on TV even if she was a poor tactician.

The abysmal attacks in this by-election on the SNP (which have all the hallmarks of being dreamt up by a delusional David Cairns MP) would be easily slapped down in the Scottish parliament. SNP are tartan Tories, oh really! SNP want independence, what a shock! SNP would keep trying after a referendum, good God I thought they would all go home!

This is political ABC and shows that Labour thinks the voters in glasgow are thick as mince. They are not and this rubbish can't sustain any serious politician and one who doesn't read her own leaflets isn't serious or committed to any genuine change. "I will phone Alastair Darling and ask him to change policy!" Gee, Maggie don't you have a phone in your MSP's office?
The reality is Curren would be lobby fodder just like David Marshall. Marshall voted against greater financial transparency at Westminster (what a shock!), he was in favour of ID cards despite saying "I remain concerned about the compulsory nature of the scheme and the cost. People living on benefits are genuinely poor and are unlikely to be able to afford the costs" yet he still voted for it. What a surprise! He also supported the Government over foundation hospitals, top up fees and 42 days detention.

Want an MP with a spine? Vote SNP!

Labour have sold out their traditional supporters

Letter to the Editor (Daily Record and others)

Sir,

Isn't it ironic that in the same week the Labour party savaged the SNP's John Mason for daring to suggest that there is little difference between their party and the Tories they themselves have provided the direct evidence?

Labour have now decided that the long term unemployed should be treated as criminals who must be sent out in work gangs to pick up litter and clean up chewing gum. This 'bright idea' was originally drawn up by David Cameron's Conservative party.

David Cameron is the same man who recently told the voters of Glasgow East that the poor and sick (and fat people, just for good measure) only had themselves to blame.

New Labour don't support the poor or the working classes or trade unionists. They are the tools of the rich and powerful, just like the Conservatives. Anyone who believes otherwise is either completely foolish or deliberately deluding themselves or both.

Wake up Scotland! We can do a lot better than this bunch of soulless hypocrites or their Tory pals but we need normal powers over our own country to do it.

Yours faithfully,

JOE MIDDLETON

The reality and the lies of Glasgow East by-election

Fantasy

East Enders will rewrite the script

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion/Kenny-Farquharson-East-Enders-will.4306214.jp

Glasgow East is not about independence (he hopes! by Brian Wilson)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/07/20/do2005.xml

Reality

They would have employed a Monkey (inside Labour's campaign - brilliant!)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4362917.ece

LABOUR HYPOCRISY DESERVES DEFEAT IN GLASGOW EAST

One begins to wonder just how stupid the Labour party think the electors of Glasgow East are. Are they really expected to swallow the enormous lie that Labour are still socialists despite the fact that Labour's every move in Government has been designed to appeal to traditional Conservative voters?

The SNP's John Mason said there was little difference between Gordon Brown and Mrs Thatcher, given the idolisation of the latter by the former this is a statement of simple fact. The Labour party try and translate this into the SNP being Conservative supporters. One can't accuse them of originality since they have been attempting to stick the SNP with a Tartan Tory Tag since the 1970's.

Their other big idea is that the SNP are extremist nationalists. Why? Because the SNP believe in full self determination for the people of Scotland. Wait a minute aren't the Labour party also nationalists? Are they not absolutely desperate to maintain the British union? British nationalists are still nationalists they just think it's OK for their countrymen to be outvoted 10-1 at Westminster, probably because their parties are all completely controlled from inside the city of London.

Mason's support for independence (which is the same as every other member of the SNP) makes him supposedly a 'hard liner' ie an extremist. No, he's not a member of the IRA or the BNP but he might decide to keep campaigning for independence after an unsuccessful referendum. What a shock!

Yes, everyone no doubt imagined the SNP would just give up if a future referendum failed didn't they, after all didn't the devolutionists do just that when Labour swindled Scotland out of devolution despite a vote in favour in 1979?

The only policies the SNP have co-operated with the Conservatives on have been those previously contained in the SNP manifesto. Labour on the other hand have destroyed the principle of free education by introducing student loans and tuition fees and voting against the latter's removal. They are in the process of creating a new internment for potential islamic terrorists and have already realised plans to snoop on every person's individual correspondence and telephone conversations.

Pointless ID cards, part privatisation of the NHS in England, new nuclear power stations and most importantly wasting billions on new nuclear weapons show exactly where Labour's loyalies lie and it is not towards their former working class supporters. Their support for the discredited Council tax over a system based on ability to pay and their removal of the 10 pence tax band proved that Labour could not care less about the poor, unless of course they are in a by-election in Glasgow and then they pretend they are redder than John MacLean.

I'm sorry but it just won't wash. Labour should expect to pay the logical price for their hypocrisy on the 24th of July. If they however survive and their gaffe prone candidate becomes their new Scottish leader then don't expect the SNP to lose any sleep. The bitter illogical rubbish which has been generated by this campaign will not sustain any serious politician and will certainly provide no serious threat to Alex Salmond.

CAMPAIGN STEPS UP A GEAR IN GLASGOW EAST

The SNP have swamped the Glasgow East by-election with activists and are asking even more people to attend and/or donate money to the campaign if they can.

Find out more at http://www.snp.org/

Unionists conduct shows a cynical lack of respect

Labour's decision to hold a crucial by-election during the traditional Glasgow holiday shows that they prefer to have elections without any candidates and even without any voters if it suits their purposes. If you don't want to be disenfranchised and live in Glasgow East, get a a postal vote.

Labour's Margaret Curran strongly attacked Alex Salmond for serving in two parliaments. No doubt they had a fair point at the time (though no doubt like Ian Paisley FM Salmond finds it handy to make the occasional visit to Westminster) but it seems a tad hypocritical that they are now rushing to do the same thing after all the genuinely local candidates ran for the hills.

Labour's own internal rules didn't allow dual roles. That is until they had an emergency meeting of their NEC and changed them. Suddenly it's quite OK to spend time in both parliaments, no doubt it will be a positive advantage by the end of the campaign.

Of course the media are taking their usual impartial stance with their coverage heavily in favour of Labour and constant pictures of Ms Curran (though given her miserable coupon that might not be the best idea!). During the proposed TV debate however I think we will see the true nature of Labour and their unionism. We got a taster with their other Glasgow MSP suddenly welcoming a 7 day festival devoted to the Orange Order. Great! Unless you are a Catholic or simply not a bigot.

Of course these issues are not crucial but they tend to suggest Labour will do anything to get re-elected. Luckily it's not up to them but to Glasgow's voters.

SNP Candidate John Mason, can he 'do a Govan' and get ripped into Labour's candidate on live TV? Let's hope so.

The only fundamental question in this by election for those voters is: 'Are you happy with what Labour have done with your area and their conversion via New Labour to a pseudo Conservative party?'

If not, then you have nothing to lose by kicking them where it hurts on the 27th July.

Why not give the Scottish party a chance? Why shouldn't Scotland run our own affairs? Labour have never explained what makes us uniquely incompetent among the peoples of the world in this area.

With independence we could revitalise Scotland, we certainly couldn't do any worse than the UK Labour Government which will soon be returning to the usual shade of Tory blue.

Of course it's that nice Mr Cameron, not the nasty Mrs Thatcher.

Er no, not any more he isn't. In this by-election Cameron decided to turn extremely nasty and had a kick at the poor, and just for good measure, fat people! Saying that they deserve all they get. Don't help, just ignore them.

The Tories have always blamed the poor and praised the rich but to pop up and spit on the locals is pretty unusual behaviour for a party which are supposedly campaigning for votes!

Then again it's not any real surprise because just like Labour the Tories only care about that bit of Britain where the most votes are, and it's not Scotland. That's why in a parliament in London where we are outvoted 10 to 1 the only sensible thing to do is to leave it but before then we need MP's who put Scotland's interests first.