Jo Cox - that's where it ends

Today's murder of a pro-Euro and pro-immigration Labour MP has been brewing for years.

In the 70s, the loony National Front campaigned chiefly against black immigration. For different reasons that and a fear of general immigration subsided a bit and became the preserve of posh bigots and council-estate fuhrers. For a while.

Then it was 'illegal immigrants' though 'genuine' asylum seekers were welcomed. Now, hard-working Polish plumbers are scorned and no asylum seeker is genuine.

Now, it's mainstream and everyone from Syrian refugees to 'migrants' from other EU nations to Gaelic-speaking Australian children are objects of derision. Immigration must be 'controlled' says an England/ Britain that has long since surrendered her industries, working classes and much of her culture to multi-national big business and the banking classes.

'We want our culture back' scream toffs and neds alike as they guzzle Belgian beer, curries, nachos, pizzas, kebabs, drive German cars, use Japanese technology, watch American films, wear Bangladeshi-made clothes, write barely literate Tweets using a Roman alphabet and Arabic numerals.

For wealthy bigots like Nigel Farage and his self-appointed bodyguards in Britain First, publicity has been easy to find. Add to this the tabloid front pages - what started as a drip-fed poison has become a daily scream of fearmongering hate.

The BBC must shoulder a lot of the blame for Farage's disproportionate appearances on Question Time. The press have built him and his party up while stoking 'legitimate' fears about immigration. Britain First and other morons like the EDL - whipped up into a fury by Farage and the media - have taken their hate onto the streets in a mirror image of NF ugliness from the 70s.

Britain First and their terrorist chic.

This has culminated in the sorry spectacle that is the #Brexit referendum. Immigration has always been the main beef for most Brexit enthusiasts though unfettered access to wealth through exploitation has had its attractions too. The Leave campaign's leaflets are evidence of this - little or nothing about what Britain would do with 'complete' control - but lots on immigration. The threat of Turkey joining - and the implication that millions of their dark-skinned Muslims will come here. More insidious was the highlighting of Iraq and Syria as if they could conceivably join too at a future date.

No. The EU has its faults but fuck Brexit. We will become a fascist-lite fantasy isle as envisaged by Farage if we exit. There will be no socialist resurgence. For Scotland, we may have a second indyref  as a way-out from the madness but for England...?

Fear of foreigners shows no sign of abating.

Labour too have infamously joined in the melee with 'control immigration' mugs and even Milliband's talk of 'border guards' on the Scottish/ English border should us Scots vote for self-determination.

To their credit, some in Labour such as the late Jo Cox and leader Corbyn have stuck by their internationalist and anti-racist principles. I only wish there were more of their calibre in Labour, north or south of the border.

I'm of the view that immigration has never been an issue. People come, people go. They always have and they always will. It's nature.

Sure, some will always fear and hate the new or the unknown. There should be no excuse for that in 2016. We don't believe priests and witchdoctors anymore.

If these people, racists and fascists, cannot be educated or persuaded to keep any poisonous thoughts to themselves then they must be opposed.

The lessons of history from Spain '36 to WWII to Islamist fascists such as Daesh must be learned.

Fascism doesn't start with concentration camps - that's where it ends. No pasaran.

Numbers

No, not the book of the Old Testament much favoured by many latter-day cherry picking Christians, but the number of people who took to the streets to march for Scotland's independence.

As someone who was present on the march with another family enjoying the chance to support the 'Yes' cause in the Edinburgh sunshine, I feel more than qualified to pour cold water on the bitter reports of the occasion in 'our' press. The Scotsman has long been at odds with Scottish society - it earned the nickname of 'Daily Liar' by Highlanders in the late 1800s due the papers support for the landlords in the Highland Clearances. Even an exhibition by Edvard 'The Scream' Munch in 1932 Edinburgh was disapproved of.  These days its not uncommon for the Scotsman to reprint 'news' from the Daily Mail - this article appeared in the Mail on Sunday last week before making it into a gleeful Scotsman the following day.

Sadly, the Herald also joined in snide-fest.

The march itself was a superb occasion. Regarding the numbers, I'd estimate at least 9000. Bella Caledonia deals with issue in more depth.

I did note the predictable comments of Scottish Labour which also bizarrely mentioned that the indy march was but a dwarf in comparison to the 80000 who demonstrated against the Iraq War. That would be the demonstration against.... er, Labour who took us into that illegal war.

On the other hand, it was by far the biggest demonstration in favour of Scottish independence ever. Who would bet against the next one being bigger still?

Numbers are only part of the story though. Myself and other marchers, including some from the continent, were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming positive attitude on display. Despite people of all ages, of various nationalities and from different political backgrounds turning out, there was a convincing atmosphere of standing together for a common cause. Almost a smug satisfaction that you and your neighbour were participating in a historic act for the common good.

Some Unionists adopt an Islamist approach.

Which we were, to be frank.

This attitude needs to be maintained. The Unionists have nothing to offer but negativity and scaremongering. Their cause is bankrupt. I've yet to here one serious argument for retaining the Union. Have heard various vague mutterings about 'a family of nations' but as everyone knows, any young person flies the coop as soon as they can. I love my auld dear. She's still family. But from my late teens, I've very much enjoyed relating to her as an independent adult.

While its obvious that not all Unionists may share all their views, the only ugly faces to show up on the day came from a small group of BNP or EDL 'football boys' who hung Union Jacks on a tree. Once again the Union Jack represents insularity, ignorance and hate. Just keep taking the rope boys.

2011 - the year of ?

In Gaeldom, years were once known by epithets rather than simple numbers. Hence we had Bliadhna Theàrlaich (1745), a' Bhliadhna a Ghais am Buntàta (the year of the Highland famine) and more recently Bliadhna a' Chac which can refer to the year when either Thatcher or Blair came to power. What will this year be known as?

Here's some ideas from the preceding twelve months...

January saw Irish hackers gain access to the website of religious heid-the-baw Ian Paisley's party, the DUP and leave messages in and supporting Irish Gaelic as well as apologising for the party's many homophobic statements. One wonders who the DUP would rather god smited first, Gaels or Gays?

February. Not for the first nor the last time do we see and hear those Ordinary Blokes at Top Gear acting like a bunch of KKK hicks guffawing at the corpse of a young black kid they'd just lynched. This time they targeted Mexicans and their cuisine from the safety of their warm tax payer-funded BBC studios. Despite two thirds of the Top Gear team having had privileged private school educations they don't actually seem that well travelled. Anyway, I'm sure Clarkson didn't mean it. After all he looks like the kind of sad fuck who eats more nachos, beef and cheese than is good for him. Hey! Lets all laugh at these barmy foreigners and dark skinned pickaninnies!



March and a tsunami of world events hit the insular telly screens of Grate Brittann. The wave of water that left chaos in Japan also extolled the dangers of nuclear power and reminded us of what a dangerous and expensive white elephant it is. The British film crews meanwhile hovered over stricken Japanese gesticulating to them like English lager-louts stuck in a Spanish village and asking bemused locals for directions. The Arab Spring was also in full swing and the 'rebels' in Libya were rioting against Gaddafi. Strangely enough it seems as if the Libyan rebellion had its wheels oiled by French special agents. Cameron then miraculously found a lot of money that he'd previously claimed was unavailable to public services and promptly bombed the fck out of Libya. Cue human rights atrocities on both sides and finally the man who'd kissed, hugged and tortured for many world leaders only months previously was set upon by a mob and killed. Thus, the people of Libya are now free. More importantly, so is their oil.

April was officially declared the Month of Saxe-Coburg due to the Anglo-Germanic Prince Wilhelm having found a suitable receptacle for the royal poor-man's custard. Marriage and royalty in one horrendous package and fodder for the tabloid X-Factor generation. I understand that in the spirit of things, future winners of Britain's Got Talent will be deemed immediately eligible to marry a lesser member of the royals. Unfortunately, Prince Harry is thought to be too close for comfort.  Sickening stuff indeed but a good excuse to roll out Laibach's take on Engerland's nashanull anthem.



The month of May saw a merry Bealltain for Scotland's march towards independence. Who could forget the glorious combination of a slick and savvy SNP and a Unionist opposition whose campaign was so feeble and lacklustre that it could be perceived as anti-Scottish...

"Why bother with the Scottish parish assembly?", "Hey, mention Thatcher and the proles and Weegies will  vote for us anyway", "Dinnae bother using spellcheck on those election leaflets."

- and these were just the Labour Party quotes. In fact, Labour high-heid-yins were so cocksure on being elected by their 'safe' constituencies that some such as Andy Kerr boasted to Scots Parly workers on the day before the election, 'See you next week hen'. Ho-ho... how the mediocre fall.

Hence, the Lib Dems' ludicrous Tavish Scott, the Tories' dusty and arid Annabel Goldie and Labour's er... who?... were all sent packing. The subsequent leadership contests were just as dull. Even now, Salmond has no-one to match him as Ian Bell reflects upon here in the Herald. Roll on independence.

Flaming June and it was time to show some respect for the boys and gals 'we' send to become Taleban fodder in Afghanistan. Armed Forces Day was just another opportunity to wave a few Union Jacks and gloss over why the fck we're still involving ourselves and our kids lives in various foreign conflicts. Scotland unfortunately, including many SNP figures, is obsessed with our martial past. Get it over it lads and tell London to stuff their Eton-accented praise and wage a war on poverty.

July was a month dedicated to dirty tabloid lowlifes and a Jeremy Clarkson disciple with a gun. Indeed, this was a mad, mad month with EDL heidbangers marching and churches in Scotland getting their knickers in a twist over music in churches and gay ministers. Dontcha just love the religious right?



Things came to a heid in August when England's cities and Gloucester burned like Arab conurbations. Jeremy Clarkson was invited to protect Engerland's architectural heritage and fly a flag for lawrenorder but strangely declined. Cue a prolonged period of navel gazing, retribution and witch-hunting in the Land of Hope and Glory. The three millionaire leaders of London's political tribes condemned the rioters out of hand. Nick Clegg in particular plumbed depths so deep that he discovered hitherto unknown lifeforms living around an aperture between Cameron's buttocks. The bleating from the Eton boys sounded even more hollow when it emerged that they too had been involved in criminal damage and arson during their 'hoodie' years. The icing on the cake for Scots came when Unionists in North Britain were outraged at claims that the riots hadn't hit Scotland. Apparently, pointing out the fact that all the rioting happened in England did not make the riots an 'English' issue. Thus, the Labour Party and Lib Dems north of the border proved that they hadn't learned anything from May's humbling at the polls.

September and some rummaging around the Facebook pages of Scottish Defence League came up with Celtic's hot-heided midfielder Scott Brown apparently bonding with some small-town hicks in their campaign against...er, I'm not sure. Edinburgh's Evil News picked up on Tocasaid's fearless detective work and Scott Brown was forced to come out and act dumb, which he did very well. Whether or not the SDL are racist, sectarian, homo-erotic or just the footsoldiers in the Army of Christ's war on foreskins - as our Christian Bible demands - no-one can tell. Whatever, it doesn't wash well with Celtic FC's claims to the moral high-ground and eternal victimhood. Allah moves in strange ways however and next we'll be told that Celtic FC even employed a war-criminal and former Commander of the British Armed Forces as their chairman.

October was quiet-ish apart from the simmering stooshie over plans to allow gay marriages and the totally unconnected case of Liam Fox who had to resign his job in the Ministry of Bodybags due to his relationship with his best man. Oh, and Blair and Sarkozy's auld friend Gaddafi got butchered.

Gay marriages are still opposed by some.

November and the month of Samhain sees a coffin load of horrors released from Jesus freaks to misogynist Labour MPs to obnoxious young Tories in St Andrews. The campaign against gay marriage intensifies with bible-bashers getting themselves in a bigger froth about either the private lives of others or the rights of other religions to the word 'marriage'. The Wee Frees warn that allowing gays to marry is the start of a slippery slope towards paedophilia and bestiality. That's a guid yin! Pity they also said that about Sunday ferries to the Isle of Lewis. November was a month of anti-sectarian unity too with both the Ugly Sisters of Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic - do I detect a geographical pattern here? - uniting in attacking the Scottish Government's anti-sectarian bill. Various neo-Abrahamic sects from the Roman Catholic Church to the million and one Presbyterian splinter sects in Scotland also united to stop others from using the word 'marriage' on a piece of paper to describe a relationship between two persons of the same sex. Those two could be Liam Fox and Adam Werrity perhaps. Or maybe William Hague and his bedfellow. Or even the new Tory leader in Scotland who is, unlike the rest, open about her sexuality.

Lastly, the dark dreich month of December ushered in a flurry of black humour at the expense of others' misfortune. Clarkson again. This time wading into the public service strikers who took to the streets in numbers not seen for many a year. The fat toff would do well to remember that his girth is a product of public subsidy via the BBC. Maybe he's hoping to inspire another right-wing gun nut to act out his fantasies for him? Clarkson wasn't the only one though. English media wee-sacks Matthew Wright probably outdid Clarkson when he guffawed at the murder of a 16 year old in the Isle of Lewis. Now that Wright's show has been axed by the crusading Channel 5/ Daily Express TV, the wee nyaff has probably hit the bottle again. Like a character in Taggart.

Having been all high and mighty about others mining tragedy or poverty for laughs... I have to admit a bit of guilt in this department too. My cheap shot at the demise of the Scottish Labour Party was below the belt. Never kick a hypocritical, London-centric, bloated and corrupt auld jakie when he or she is down. Shame on me.

Porridge Wogs and other irritants

As South Britain returns to normal after unprecedented scenes of rioting by inner-city youth - black in some places and white in others - the chattering classes of Anglodom - such as David Starkey - are looking for someone to take their anger out on. Strangely enough, the mass lawbreaking and disregard for the 'rule of law' is apparently a result of 'mass immigration'. 

Did the Romans leave too many roads? Did the French leave too many of their words in the English language? Did the Norse leave too many Lewis Chessmen? Did the Italians use their network of chippies to ferment unrest? Or was it the Japs who cunningly stayed in their own country but flooded Britain with superior technology? Or did the English get drunk on too much excellent Belgian and German beer?

Or is it just a matter of skin colour? If so, how does that explain the white mobs who ran riot in Manchester or even sleepy Gloucester? And, did an army of 'asylum seekers' force Westminster MPs to fraudulently claim £millions in expenses? What about the snooping of News International journalists? I know that Murdoch is an Australian-cum-American but somehow I get the feeling that the English right-wing don't mean that kind of foreigner. Whereas Mr. Chav of Tottenham uses a brick to steal a television, the likes of Jim Devine MP or Sir Peter Viggers just used an expenses form.

But when reason prevails, kind of... they change the rules and resort to the kind of reasoning you get from Bible-bashers. The whites only rioted because they have 'become black'. What about the Scots then? Well, we're just Scottish and that itself is a good reason for hatred. Even self-hatred. When Alex Salmond correctly pointed out that these riots were not Scotland's problem, the combined forces of Unionism in Scotland could not step out of their comfort zones and defend Scotland's tourist trade and image overseas. Scotland does indeed have problems - crime and violence included - but these riots were patently not happening in the 'UK'.

Starkey is strangely reminiscent of the Top Gear crew. As Steve Cougan observed of Jeremy Clarkson and his snide comments about Mexicans, these guys are like the school bullies. Very insecure and eternally worried that they may become the school whipping boy. These are the kind of boys who would love to be on the football terraces with the lads but are scared in case they get picked on themselves for being posh or gay. Instead, they ferment hatred of others and use their shared sense of Englishness to form bonds. Rumours are spread... did you hear that...

• The immigrants are flooding in and taking our jobs?
• 'Muslamic' rape gangs are targeting our women?
• Rap music and hoodies are corrupting our youth?
• The Irish are thick?
• The Scots take English money?
• Gaelic roadsigns cause accidents and cost money?
• The guy in the curry-shop supports Al Qaeda?
• 10% of every Runrig record sold goes to the Real IRA?
• Overpaid teachers are teaching homosexuality?

Gimp masked up and good to go.

This may be especially true for Starkey. His homosexuality should not be an issue but I get the feeling that some of his new racist friends might not think so. Stop immigration? Cool. Teach school children that homosexuality is entirely natural? Hold on a minute Davy boy...

It reminds me of a commemorative rally for Franco held in Madrid a few years ago where the Castillian gentry stood shoulder to shoulder with Nazi boneheads in one solid right-handed salute. Here though, we have the likes of Starkey, Clarkson, the Tories, UKIP, the BNP leadership assuming the command while the proles of the EDL do the 'street work'.

The fact is that to the forces of conservatism in Britain - we are all wogs. If you're not black or an immigrant then... you're a trade unionist, single-mother schemie on benefits, drug taker, Gaelic speaker who has the nerve to demand some services for his/ her tax money, dangerous atheist, lawless hoodie dancing at illegal parties, dirty hippie, Gypsy traveller etc...

Koombyah my lord.

Lastly, the Christian soldiers of the EDL and their comrades in North Britain have been prevented form holding a march in Edinburgh. At first I thought that this may have been due to sex-equality legislation as the EDL, in common with their fellow extremists in Islamic groups, seem to be entirely male. Something which Starkey would no doubt enjoy. Both groups also seem to have a penchant for religion and masks. However, Edinburgh's coonsull took the uncharacteristically sensible step of telling the football thugs of the EDL to do one.

Others have commented on all these issues too. Check these out...

An open letter to those who condemn looting

Look at England's urban spaces: the riots were inevitable

Incredibly, Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph also waded in with a dose of reason.

The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom 

Damn or fear it, the truth is that it’s an insurrection

Ian Bone: Put an end to violence.

Sunshine on Leith.