BBC Alba to screen on Freeview

The Gaelic proverb "ruigidh each mall a' mhuileann" - a slow horse will still reach the mill - could not be more apt. Scotland's indigenous tongue continues to make slow steps towards equal status with yon Walmart of languages, English. Even more surprisingly perhaps is that it was acheived under the stewardship of MG Alba boss and lacklustre former Labour MSP, Alastair Morrison. Whatever, after centuries of repression and neglect, Scots can now enjoy the language of the Scots on old fashioned telly as well as wireless and internet. BBC Alba will screen on Freeview channel 8 from early June.

The next victory could well be a stand alone Gaelic school for Edinburgh which it is anticipated will replicate the successes seen in Glasgow, Inverness and Skye. Word in the corridors of civic power in Dùn Eideann is that Bungsoil Ghàidhlig Dhùn Eideann is set to be given the green light. Unfortunately, Lib Dem education chief, dinosaur and ignoramus Marilyne 'Butterball' MacLaren is still refusing to budge. Rumours that Butterball and right-wing Edinburgh Evil News columnist John Gibson were seen leaving a High Street hostelry in the wee small hours arm in arm and singing 'rebellious Scots to crush...' are entirely unfounded.

Those leadership canditates for the Unionist parties.

Its high time for those Unionists to live up to their ideals and unite. Having a 'Scottish' leader who takes his/ her orders from London is not enough. Why don't they actually... unite? Furthermore, surely it's time that they have a leader that embodies their right-of-centre orientation.

Here goes then...

Oswald Mosely. Surely a man to whom the words 'British' and 'Union' have become synonymous? His vision and discipline are just what is lacking in the current sad crop of Unionist duds in Scotland. There is the small matter of him being dead of course. However, we understand that Glasgow's very own Psychic Barber is willing to mediate with a ouija  board. Initially it was thought that he'd be a natural for the Tory wing of the Unionist alliance. However, his penchant for moustaches, uniforms and large numbers of marching men appears to sit uneasily with the more conservative family value types.

The Reverend Doctor Ian Paisley. If you want a man to say 'never, never, never' to an independent Scotland whilst also saving this auld nation from sodomy, then Ian's your man. However, he's also getting on a bit and is a bit close to Mosely, both in political persuasion and mortality. Like Mosely, he likes marching, often wearing a bright orange and purple 'sash' and proclaming the memory of King William of Orange - the Dutch religious tyrant and notorious homosexual whose orders saw the MacIains of Glencoe massacred in their beds. He may be too left wing for Labour though.

The Reverend Ewen Aitken. Last but not least.  This is the renowned Edinburgh Cooncillor and former leader who unsuccessfully challenged Kenny MacAskill at this year's Scottish elections. Aitken is famous for being a 'conductor on God's tramline' as well as for being an enthusiastic supporter of Edinburgh's own disastrous tram project. Aitken, with God on his side, may be a formidable leader of the Scottish Unionist alliance though others think that there's 'something of the night' about him. There may also be a few skeletons lurking in his vestry such as his 'promotion of porn' stooshie a few years back.

Auld songs for a new Scotland

Chan e seo deireadh rathaid ach toiseach linn - This is not the end of the road but the start of a new age. Runrig, 'Àrd', 1993

Labour's dinosaurs hit the ground with a thump as the meteor hit. Their food source gone. The Lib Dems thought that having two faces would give them double the chance of success but it just gave the people twice the target to kick. The Tories' talk of 'common sense' by grabbing others' pubic hair saw them scrape a new low and left poor matron Annabel inspecting the skid-marks in her Union Jack bloomers.

Meanwhile, the public voted in unprecedented numbers for the SNP to gain what they can from the greedy ConDem government in London before pursuing full independence. A mood of optimism exists despite Scotland having to face up to the consequences of a bankrupt British economy that incredibly can still find enough dough for war while throwing teachers and nurses on the dole and freezing wages.

What songs are fitting for this moment? Here's a starter: Runrig's 1993 anthem for home rule, Ard. The song mourned the dark days of Scotland suffering under a Tory government in London while expressing hope that a new generation would struggle and achieve self-determination. We did take that first step. Here's to a new generation taking the next step towards a progressive, prosperous and independent Scotland, leaving those Labour dinosaurs to fossilise.

Àrd

Madainn Di-haoine 's duthaich fo sgoth

'S mi sgith le cuid smalan, mi-mhisneachd is bron

Seo an deicheamh la dhan a'Ghiblean 'sinn fo ghruaim a rithist

An co-dhunadh a cheannaich na daoine aig pris

Tha spiorad nan daoine nas soilleir na ghealach

Nas doimhne na'n cuan

Gheibh sinn ar n-aite 'san t-saoghal

'S an ginealach ur

Ard: blar nan daoine

Ard: guth is saorsa

Ard: tha sinn gluasad

Gu h-ard theid sinn suas

'S iomadh trioblaid tha romhainn 'nis Gaidheal agus Gall

'S mi le aon suil air eachdraidh, aon suil mo chlann

Ach cum creideamh nad bheatha, sonas nad chridhe

Chan e seo deireadh rathaid ach toiseach linn

Tha spiorad nan daoine nas soilleir na ghealach

Nas doimhne na'n cuan

Gheibh sinn ar n-aite 'san t-shaoghal

'S an ginealach ur.

Translations available via Google. Gaelic education links on the left bar at the top.

Free music - Ard (High)

Vote early, vote twice, vote Scotland

And for the 3rd paper on the choice of AV or first past the post voting for the greedy and bankrupt London parliament, I intend to write 'Independence'.

The Union has failed Scotland, that much is clear. Historically, Scotland used to enjoy cordial trading relations with the main European powers. After the union of 1707, we were at war with them because England's battles were now ours as well. At the time, many Scots lived in dire poverty. That did not change even though a handful of Scottish merchants did line their pockets on the plundered spoils of the British Empire.

Today, the contrast between the haves and have-nots is still stark. On the Royal Wedding weekend, the East Neuk of Fife was replete with Union Jacks and pics of the happy privileged couple. It was like a corner of middle England tacked onto the bulk of dark once-communist Fife. A drive through the likes of Leven, Kennoway and Cowdenbeath on the way home revealed the real Fife. That saddest thing is that huge swathes of deprivation and poverty like this are to be found in most parts of Scotland - from Dumfries to Glasgow, from Midlothian to Aberdeen.

In parts of Glasgow the longevity of an average man is as low as 54.

Meanwhile, our small and independent neighbours on the North Atlantic rim are doing fine. Norway in fact is sitting on top of the world in terms of wealth, health, happiness, education and even community spirit. Even the nations in the 'arc of prosperity' - Ireland and Iceland - that lost their shine are still more prosperous than bankrupt Britain.

Despite Britain's reputed £900billion debt, the combined Unionist alliance of Labour, Tory and LibDem have wasted billions on foreign wars, Trident missiles, aircraft carriers, shoring up nuclear powers and other such nonsense. Demands to safeguard public services are met with demands from Cameron, Clegg, Brown or Blair to 'tighten our belts'. Why provide for Scotland's poor when you can kill half a million Iraqi civilians in order to remove a dictator of our own making?

Its bullshit. There is absolutely no reason for Scotland to remain part of a 'UK' that is bankrupt in all senses of the word. Some Scots still vote Labour because their grandparents did. Some don't like Alex Salmond. Some believe scaremongering that only voting Labour will keep the Tories out. That's a vote for negativity.

If Labour want to protect Scotland from a London Tory government, then they too should embrace independence and reclaim some of their auld principles.

Think for yourselves. Don't vote for Salmond, vote for Scotland's future. It could be SNP, Green or Scottish Socialist. Scottish Labour is a corpse of a fat complacent dinosaur that took its food source for granted for far too long. Leave it to the maggots.

The union dividend - Labour's war on teeth.

Good apples, bad apples and unexplained deaths

Police are only human. Unlike other humans though, they seem to have a supernatural ability to avoid the usual consequences for actions that are deemed 'unlawful'. Police routinely lie in court and yet few of them get sent down like Tommy Sheridan. Murders committed by police are 'unlawful killings'. True, some of them do get sacked when caught impersonating KKK weirdos killing Asians. But, that only happens when the deed is captured on film or on tape.

Today is not a slow news day though concerning this matter. The below piece caught my attention and in particular the words, "A force spokesman said the death was being treated as unexplained."

This comes on the same day as an inquest jury in London found that the paper-seller Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed after he was hit by a baton and pushed to the ground by PC Simon Harwood of the Great Satan's constabulary.

It also comes just days after cops broke up a 'Royal wedding' party in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park when thousands of youngsters had taken to heart David Cameron's plea to 'organise parties irrespective of local bureaucracy'. Trouble flared once the cops arrived.

Kelvingrove - here comes trouble

As a youngster in the shed at Tynecastle, I used to listen to the big boys sing 'Harry Roberts is our friend, he kills coppers'. Many of the guys singing it were striking miners from Midlothian and were more than used to police brutality. It was the kind of education they didn't teach in schools then. 

All murder is regrettable and pointless but even Harry Roberts' Wiki page has the word 'murderer' in brackets. 'Unlawful killing' aint for the plebes. Roberts is still in prison after killing three cops in 1966. I doubt if PC Harwood will even get a year. I guess some are more equal than others.

Hey, its like the days of Blair Peach and Cynthia Jarret all over again.