So many devils to sup with...

So, the great horned one has spoken from his British lair in Wapping and apparently declared his support for a 'competitive Scotland'. That could of course mean independence or maybe he's just wishing Craig Levein luck in the national fitba team's encounter with Slovenia next week.

He has however been unequivocal in his praise for Alec Salmond as the best politician in these islands. The other bit-part politicians in the Parish of North Britain have not been pleased and have passed around enough sour grapes between them to make Jeremy Clarkson's haemorrhoids seem few and far between.

Willie 'warmer' Rennie of the Scottish ConDems revelled in the rancid vineyard more than most and said that Murdoch's eight words would not convince 'us' to move forward to a progressive independent Scotland that is not ruled by a minority government of ex-Eton Tories propped up by his party.

Rupert Murdoch is without doubt a grade-A cnut. But, let's face it, an independent Scotland is gonna attract the attention of saints and sinners alike. Scots or those who support our independence are not inherently 'good'. And neither are those who support a conservative and warmongering United Kingdom inherently a bunch of crackpots, Europhobes, Nazis and dinosaurs.

It's still worth casting an eye over Willie Rennie's bedfellows in the fight to 'Keep Brutain United' and to 'Keep Scotland Brutish'. Are they any better or worse than Rupert Murdoch. As ever, Tocasaid lets you - the reader - decide....

The BNP, seen here in former times

The Orange Order - no surrender to progress

Loudmouth bigot, Ian Paisley

Aye, that Ian Paisley

Er... a long-dead and 'metro-sexual' foreign monarch.

Thatcher and friends

Thatcher's apprentice

Oswald Mosely and his British Union of Fascists would approve .

The horny-handed sons of toil in UKIP.

And lastly, Jeremy Clarkson.

Murdoch: London Calling

What better way to get your head around the enormity of  Wappinggate, Rebekahgate, Tapgate, Filthgate etc than by kicking back with the Clash on loud and a large dram of Bunnahabhain. Coming hot on the heals of 'Duckhousegate' and the MPs' expenses scandal then it's little wonder that an increasing number of Scots are seeking independence from a London that seems to be sinking in corruption. Certainly, after watching Michael Portillo on Newsnight last week, I fail to see a 'sense of fair play' as one of the constituent parts of the 'British' identity.

This latest episode in shame stems from the megalomania of an Australian though. Not only were child murder victims, dead soldiers' families and other people, famous or not, deemed worthy of having their phones bugged but the ordinary staff on News of the World are being shat on too. Murdoch senior and Murdoch junior are at this point, standing by their hypocrite of a former editor.

Upon receiving a lengthy communique from James Murdoch last week, ordinary staff thought that is was to announce the resignation/ sacking of Rebekah Brooks. But no... somewhere down in the 18th paragraph, ordinary staff were told that it was they who were losing their jobs.

Murdoch's middle finger as seen on Twitter.

News International are bloodied but unbowed. They see the whole mess as being the fault of the Guardian or the chinless and unconvincing millionaire leader of the Labour Party. There has been no apology. Worse of all, there seems to be a determination to rub salt into the wounds by establishing a 'Sun on Sunday'.

Joe Strummer would have loved it...

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
'Cause London is drowning, and I live by the river

Seeing Rebekah Brooks hounded by packs of journos and angry protesters has brought some light relief though. After all, the Sun and News of the World has whipped up more than enough hate of others over the decades: from glorifying the deaths of hundreds of Argentinians with their 'Gotcha' headline to slandering the dead and injured at the Hillsborough tragedy to inciting mobs of morons to attack paediatricians in a campaign to 'out' paedophiles.

Those British boots go kick Bengali in the head
Police sit watchin'
The newspapers been read
Who cares to protest
After the attacker fled
Out came the batons and
The British warned themselves

Poor Rebekah, like the harassed youth in the 'Guns of Brixton'...

The money feels good
And your life you like it well
But surely your time will come
As in heaven, as in hell

Capitalism is dog eat dog, a constant cycle of boom and bust. Murdoch's support for Thatcher indirectly lead to death of much of our industry. Let's hope his empire starts to crumble as well.

If you can play on the fiddle
How's about a British jig and reel?
Speaking King's English in quotation
As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust water froze
In the generation
Clear as winter ice
This is your paradise

Moral compass meltdown

Poor Tommy Sheridan. He may or may not have fucked up. He may or may not have fucked a woman or two outside of precious wedlock. Whatever, he felt the wrath and vengeance of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World - that beacon of morality, shining its light out over a dark sea of filth where only the likes of sodomites, single-mothers and asylum seekers sail.

Its a bad news day for the guardians of morality.

First, we find out that the newspaper that was so outraged by claims that Sheridan took part in '3 in-a-bed' romps was bugging the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler while she still remained 'missing'. The News International stable is infamous for tasteless or outright offensive practises - remember the Hillsborough tragedy anyone? - but surely its sister paper, the NoTW, takes the biscuit for lowlifery. Is it any wonder that tabloid journalists usually occupy the same rung on the ladder of shame as do child molesters and Margaret Thatcher?

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14032287 
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/18/hillsborough-anniversary-sun-newspaper
• Don't Buy The Sun

Then we find out that Sheridan may have been spared prison. It seems as if some vital emails in the possession of News International went 'missing in Mumbai' prior to the trial which saw Sheridan's former socialist comrades cosy up in bed with dirty Murdoch's organ.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14027007
• http://news.scotsman.com/news/Tommy-Sheridan-39might-not-have.6795925.jp

AC Grayling thinks that tabloid journalism in the UK is a major impediment to a more informed and progressive society. Its hard to argue with him.

From the point of view of culture, and in particular from the point of view of British culture, a lot of visitors to the United Kingdom say how surprised they are by the unpleasant, rather raw nature, rather degraded and superficial nature of popular culture in the United Kingdom. The tabloid newspapers, the popular magazines, which are all about “celebrities”, which are all about a certain kind of voyeurism — they hunt in packs, the tabloid press, chasing after people, first to extol them and then to tear them down when they're up. And that there's a presumption that if a nail sticks up, it's got to be hammered down, so anybody who's a bit special in society or sticks out in a certain way is likely to get a hammering by the tabloid press. AC Grayling

If this is all rather depressing then news from the last tribal outpost in Western Europe might cheer you up. The deeply religious people of Northern Ireland are so hungry for flesh that 'houses of ill repute' are doing a roaring trade. This, despite the likes of blawhard bigot Doctor Reverend Iain Paisley preaching to his flock that if they want to be 'loyal' to God and Ulster then they first need to stop sex before marriage, oppose sodomy and spend each Sunday in church. His Roman Catholic 'counterparts in the magic arts' preach the same except they're not too bothered about the Sabbatarian bit as long as you shake your rosaries every once in a while.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14021724 

This comes not long after Peter Robinson's clean-living, family values campaigner and homo-hating wife Iris was found to be indulging in a bit of sodomy herself with a younger man that was not her husband.

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8433580.stm 
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jan/07/iris-robinson-fall-evangelical-christian 
• Have you committed an "abomination" today? 

Amen.

Cameron's Blackshirt press gets nasty

London's ugly sisters of Tory and Labour have found a new kid on block to pick on. His name is Clegg and he's upset the apple cart by upstaging Gordon of the Immoral Compass and Dave, the Eton Hoodie at the English-only inter-school debate last week. I say 'English-only' as the door was barred to the troublesome Celts of the SNP and Plaid Cymru.

So much for BBC impartiality. However, since the shine was taken off David Cameron's portly upper class coupon by Clegg, Tory Central Office has sent in the nasty squad. Hence we see a flurry of ludicrous scare stories that purport to 'unmask' the real Nick Clegg. The worst of the bunch was the rabid Daily Mail who tried to link Clegg with Nazis due to an article that was published 8 years ago calling for less parochial Brit Nat navel-gazing on the part of the Brits. The lovers of dark attire at the Daily Mail obviously saw no irony in linking Clegg with fascism. Perhaps Clegg isn't right wing enough for those lovers of Oswald Mosley?

Joining in the witch-hunt was the porn baron's moral mouthpiece, the Daily Express. Not surprisingly, MySpace Murdoch joined in by publishing other smear stories in his rags.

I reckon that this will backfire on the Tories. Surely, even Daily Mail readers are not stupid enough to swallow this shit? However, it goes to show the dangers that would come with having a London government run by the old Etonians. These would include:

• more cuts in public services
• tax cuts for the Tories millionaire friends
• Scotland, which has always enjoyed good relations with our European neighbours, being lumped together with Tory England's rabid anti-Europe agenda. Hell, even European conservatives are too left-wing for Cameron. Do we really want be represented in the EU parliament by a small bunch of lunatic fringe neo-fascists?
• more money wasted on the likes of Trident
• a cut in funding to the Scots Parliament
• more backward semi-religious support of 'British family values' and more punitive measures aimed at those who don't fit into the Daily Mail's idea of British morality such as gays and single-mothers
• more anti-immigration mania - 'immigration' has now come to mean anyone who wasn't born in Britain. This includes people who have lived here for 40 years or more. I myself know some who were born in the US of Scots or Irish parents and who were raised in Scottish council schemes from infancy. However, for the purposes of propaganda, the Tories and Daily Mail would label them as 'immigrant's who have taken 'our' jobs and homes
• the return of upper-class death-sports such as fox-hunting. Though Afghan lesbian asylum-seekers living in 'plush' Glasgow housing schemes may be next
• the very probable dismantling of the BBC and with it, its invaluable support for minority languages, including ironically, native British ones such as Gaelic and Welsh
• more private interference in our schools and hospitals

Unfortunately, Labour too share at least some of the above ideals. Therefore, if you live in England, go Lib-Dem or Green. Fortunately in Scotland and Wales, we do have a credible alternative to London's parochial little-island politics. Go for it. SNP, Green or Plaid Cymru on May 6th.

Patriot games with Dave and the tax dodgers

It's Dave 'fae the estate' Cameron's patriotic duty to maintain the system whereby MPs and their rich pals scratch each others' backs. With the expenses scandal still fresh in the memory, its incredible that the Ugly Sisters of Tory and Labour persist with their sickening but 'still within the letter of the law' practises. Today, Cameron's boss and Tory Party owner Lord Ashcroft has revealed that despite bankrolling the vile Conservatives for years, he is a tax dodger who prefers to count his many millions from the safety of Belize.



The great Lord Ashcroft's admission comes on the same day that mass murderer and fellow non-tax payer, the Yorkshire Ripper, has applied to be let loose on the public. Here's an idea, send the pair of them to Belize, together.

The Tories' only defence is that London Labour are equally corrupt. Though, one of Labour's wealthy pals in the House of Lards was actually a Tory appointee. Who gives a shit? The upshot of it all is that whoever wins the Westminster election, the Labour/Tory roundabout will continue. This will see more backscratching between the likes of party bosses and 'influential' multi-millionaires and billionaires who seek a Lordship in return for bankrolling these idiots' political campaigns. This is what passes for Great British democracy. The likes of Ashcroft who pay little if any tax here get to fund crucial political campaigns in marginal constituencies - like some kind of expensive remote control from sunny Belize.

Then we have the disgusting Rupert Murdoch - hands up those who still subscribe to Murdoch's MySpace? Not cool, unless 'I'm a Sun Reader' is a badge of pride. - who reckons that he can 'choose' the next government. And, sure enough, both Labour and Tory are now talking about 'amending' the BBC charter after the election. Dirty Murdoch doesn't like the fact that the BBC, however imperfect, is actually accountable and a damn sight more impartial than the cac that he passes of as media. He probably ain't too chuffed that the BBC operates many websites, radio stations and other media, much of it educational, for a whole range of different language communities.

Unfortunately, our nation of social-networking junkies - Sun readers of the digital age - seem happy with or at least indifferent to the status quo. 'Great' Britain is a stinking cesspit of corrupt backward politics and ideologies. Hell, even the Falklands dispute is raising its head again as Cruel Brittania gets a whiff of oil wealth at the other side of the planet and sets sail to waive the rules.

Scotland is a small nation with valuable natural wealth, an ancient and globally recognised culture and a small population that is relatively unimpressed with empire building and waging war on third world countries. We should take the chance to strengthen our revived parliament, break away from corrupt Westminster and join with other small nations for the benefit of all.

Meanwhile, one of Dave's big ideas for change, is to bring back foxhunting for his toff pals. Hey, we all know they'd hunt the poor if they could.