Time, Gentlemen, Please!

Well, I think I'll be calling a halt to the blog.
Haven't been able to find time to update at all for a couple of months, and East Lothian's taking up all of my time at the moment.
So, at least for the foreseeable future, it's hail and farewell.
Thanks to all of you who've commented (both nice and nasty), and for all who've spent a few seconds mulling over my (at times very) random thoughts.

All the best, ladies and gents, and happy blogging.

Andy

Credit Driven Recession – No Probs, Let’s Spend More on the Never Never

According to government figures, we’re soon going to be repaying a total of £30bn on PFI payments to private industry.

This equates to around £1bn a year for the next 30 years.

By that time, many of the schools, hospitals, built under PFI will be starting to crumble, if they aren’t out of date; needing expansion, law driven alterations, etc..

And in the midst of this, we have the opposition parties (specifically Labour) demanding more expenditure.

How much more, is the question.

Following the first failed budget vote, David Whitton, in a fine fury, berated the government for not taking on board Labour’s 15 point plan for recovery.

When asked what Labour plans would cost, he replied (on Radio Scotland) “dunno, but the SNP government should do it anyway”.

Well, according to one source not so long ago, Labour demands equated to around £4.5bn per annum.

Given that the Scottish budget is wound so tight that if it farted, the sound would be audible only to dogs, you’ve got to suspect that Labour’s demands are simply untenable.

We even had Iain Gray claiming that the government had accepted and adopted Labour’s economic plan, and that they’d accepted Labour’s plans for apprenticeships. (Wrong, they’d done nothing of the sort).

What Labour quite deliberately ignores here is that, if the chancellor, whose bags Iain Gray used to carry in Whitehall, is cutting our block grant, then these demands will be impossible to countenance.

Attendances Plummet as Quality Declines

Nope, not the SPL, but the recent Labour and Liberal Conferences, in Dundee and Perth respectively.

In the Caird Hall, with a capacity of 3000 (optimism? Look under Scottish Labour), the black curtains were out in force halfway up the hall to disguise the fact that at most 400-500 souls turned up for the big speeches.

Even at that, around 20% of the seats were empty to listen to Iain’s sermon on the iniquities of the SNP.

(In case you’re interested – approximate figures during the speech were;

new policies – Zero.

Mentions of Labour – 22

Mentions of SNP - 21

Gordon Brown – 2

Salmond - 14)

And as usual the whole thing turned into an Orwellian “two days of hate” event in which successive keynote speakers vied with each other to slag off the government.

Not very different, in fact, to the LibDems, who kicked off with mad Ming the Mollickator in full Rule Britannia patrician mode, as, with serene and noble brow, he put in his plagiarised and unoriginal ha’pence worth.

But back to attendances.

Observing the clusters of activists in Perth, I was reminded of a pastiche of a ‘red nose day’ event on ‘Dropping the Dead Donkey’ where a shot of a reported surrounded by a crowd of happy party freaks, pulled back to reveal that there were only ten people in the room.

Perth Concert Hall was as empty as a Bernard Manning Concert at Edinburgh Uny Gay Soc, with only the very front stalls inhabited, and probably only a third to half full at that.

What do these attendances tell us?

Well, it looks like the MPs, MSPs, MEPs are on a three line whip to turn up at these things, as usual.

More importantly, as conference is meant to be a policy forum, why did so few Labour and LibDem members and activists simply deem it unnecessary to turn up?

Are they truly so committed to saving the environment that a collective decision to minimise transport driven carbon emissions persuaded them all to stay at home and watch Randolph Scott westerns on BBC 2?

This is unlikely.

I wonder if it’s not the case that many of them are simply so familiar with the script – namely “don’t bother about policy, let’s slag off the Nats” that they just got bored at the prospect.

I had to grin at Tavish on a couple of occasions, though.

Evidently the SNP government has accepted the LibDems economic policies in full.

Unfortunately, Iain Gray thinks the same thing about Labour policies, and neither of them appear right.

And, of course, the reference to the ‘chaotic transport policy’ of the government was worth the admission fee alone.

Can it be that he Tavish referring to the cut of 50% in Forth Bridge costs, when the Libbys wanted to pay full whack?

Chaos indeed.

Or maybe, he’s talking about the Edinburgh Trams Scheme, the brainchild of one Tavish Scott, when he was a minister, and which is now in chaos, and is gridlocking Edinburgh streets daily, and destroying businesses throughout the centre of the city.

Now, to be fair, conferences are NOT the places to go if you want to hear detailed and forensic analysis from opposition parties.

It just seems a shame that both Labour and the Libbys have made negativism such a shibboleth that they’re even starting to drive away their own supporters.

Alcohol Abuse Legislation 0, Political Posturing 1.

This is the pits.
It really is.

Comes the news in the 'NorthBriton' today that the opposition parties in the Holyrood business bureau have insisted that the plan for minimum pricing on alcohol is to be put back one year.

Evidently, the government's plan to push this through as part of the 2005 Licensing Act has miffed the oppo parties, who had relished the opportunity for a bit of showboating.

So, they are forcing that this measure go through as primary legislation, which delays the whole shebang and they get to say their piece.

In the meantime, the boozing, the drink fuelled violence, the abuse, the drunkenness in the streets - why, that goes on as before.

Mike Rumbles lets the cat well and truly out of the bag with his fatuous remarks, which show exactly where his priorities lie.
"It is ironic that it is Scottish Nationalists that are wilfully disregarding our national parliament and a key national industry".

At least Labour's Michael McMahon seems to approve of the planned measures, but still cannot bring himself to support the SNP.

The Tories have little to say, but at least the CBI, the Wine and Trade Association, Scottish Retail Consortium, and the Scottish Whisky Association have got exactly what they wanted from the unionist group at Holyrood.

Last weekend Iain Gray was prattling about his vision for a 'better Scotland'.
What's the betting that, having blocked this measure, he starts ranting about the lack of legislation on alcohol in a few weeks.

If you get the impression that I'm a bit irritated by this, you'd be right.
It really and truly defies belief that this pathetic dog in the manger posturing by the opposition parties will result in more disrupted and chaotic lives in Scotland.

Again, as many times before, these charmers are putting their political egos ahead of the security, and health, of members of the public.

Iain's Speech

Watched Iain Gray's speech today.

Ah, me.