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.

Good Edinburgh Whisky Pubs #5 - The Auld Hoose

So, Gordon Brown has requested that the Queen of Saxe-Coburg dissolves the Westiminster parliament and centre of debauchery. Unfortunately the dissolution will not be in a huge tocasaid of acid prepared by the likes of ex-stand up comedian and political agitator, Ian Bone. Nevertheless, as Scotland hopefully takes the next step to ridding itself of the expensive, corrupt and unnecessary layer of government that is Westminster, one could always don a 'I still hate Thatcher' t-shirt' and head to the Auld Hoose in Edinburgh's St Leonard's for a cheap dram.

The Auld Hoose, like Bannermans doon the road, is another malt whisky supplier far removed from the masonic end of the business. It is in fact an 'alternative' boozer. This apparently refers to the jukebox which house sounds such as the Dead Kennedys, Slayer, Pantera, Killing Joke and even the defunct Glenrothes' punk/ska stalwarts the Newtown Grunts. Similarly, if you know what you're looking for, you can spot members of local 'alternative' acts such as the Happy Spastics, Gin Goblins, Oi Polloi or less alternative retirement-rock acts like Norman Silver and the Gold.

Therefore, you can savour a superb Laphroaig 18yo at less than £4 whilst listening to Sick of it All or the more tuneful Dinosaur Jr if you're fortunate. Also on show at reasonable prices are the likes of World Whisky of the Year 2009, Ardbeg Uigeadail at 54% as well as Caol Ila 12yo and 18yo, Laphroaig 10yo, Lagavulin, Springbank 10yo, Glenkinchie, Benromach 21yo and Cragganmore. Many ales and ciders are on offer too including nanny-state baiters BrewDog.

Food is of the usual bar variety but pretty good. One of the best veggie breakfasts in town can be had here. So, get an Uigedail, a bucket of nachos and sit down to read the latest lies in the Hootsmon.

The Auld Hoose, 23.25 St. Leonards St, Edinburgh.

Is Rod Liddle the new Woodrow Wyatt?

So, deluded political butterfly, Christian loony wifebeater and fat middle-aged windbag Rod Liddle aka MonkeymanMFC is in soapy bubble - to coin a term from the patois of the indigenous Little Engerland tribe. This man has surely outdone the late Woodrow Wyatt in political flitting having travelled from Trotskyist to full blown Nazi goosestepper complete with testicular deficit.

I don't have actual proof regarding the Nazi goosestepping bit but if prejudice without reason or evidence is good for God-Rod, then it's good enough for me, for the time being.

Rod, it would seem, is to reasoned and responsible reporting what Fred West was to hospitality. Some extensive research on his Wiki page -not always a credible source but WTF this guy believes the bible FFS! - tells us that he started his political life in student-based Trots, the Socialist Workers Party. As the son of a train driver he must have stood out like a sare thumb. The trauma of being the only prole in the SWP village drove poor Rod into the arms of a group of sincere and radical horny handed sons of toil known as New Labour. His task in the Labour collective was to write speeches and prayers. From there he went on to produce 'provocative' documentaries attacking atheists and immigration.

Interesting though that he doesn't see any dogmatic quasi-religion holding together those who don't believe in the Loch Ness monster when surely the existence of a large prehistoric creature is more credible than some kind of vague guy in the sky. Interesting too that his belief in an Abrahamic god is itself a product of immigration and multi-culturalism. If he's too thick to know that Jesus wasn't white and English and that Christianity itself is a brochan of various ancient creation theories from different cultures, then just what is it that makes him different from the Christian Militia braindoners we see above?

His programme on immigration was also interesting in that he allowed fat toff Nick Griffin of the English Nazi Party an unchallenged platform for his backward views. His claims that he was giving Griffin enough rope to hang himself never really washed. Especially now that he has descended to writing racist messages on a Millwall FC fans forum under the name of 'MonkeymanMFC'. What a dick.

Rod Piddle is now whinging about 'freedom of speech'. Bullshit. It won't wash. He propagated lies and prejudice masquerading as facts when no evidence was provided. And using the Daily Mail is not 'evidence'!! For more on this, see the excellent Daily Mail watch and Straight Statistics blogs for more info on the DM's twisting of stats to promote racism. No one is denying that some blacks in London may be violent but are people with a darker skin - darker than what i wonder? - really responsible for most violent crime in the cesspit that is London? Who then has been responsible for gangland violence in Glasgow going back decades or more? I can't imagine that there were many blacks in the razor gangs in the 1920s and 30s.

Lets add some more logic. Does a persons skin colour actually mean anything in terms of liability to commit crime? I can't see how. Especially when you consider that race doesn't actually exist in biological terms. In the eyes of science, we are all homo-sapiens. As the philosopher AC Grayling says in his book The Meaning of Things, "race is a social, cultural and political concept based on superficial appearances and historical conditions."

Hey, but Rod is a Christian. Cool, that's his freedom. But Rod, in the real world 'faith' ain't good enough - we need evidence. Evidence and reason is where we get our medicines and computers from. Otherwise, any deluded crackpot could have us killing our neighbours, lynching blacks or burning witches on the say so of some 'god' or it's appointed mortal ambassador - be it David Icke or Rodney Liddle.

Whyte & MacLie - lets drink to the death of the press

The scent of an election has our 'free' press scraping every last barrel for a story that they can spin into propaganda, chiefly for one of London's two ugly sisters. Hitherto, things have being going swimmingly for the Tories. After months of tickling the evil Rupert Murdoch's chocolate starfish with his nose, David Cameron sees the bulk of the News Corporation behind his collection of rosy cheeked and rotund old Etonians.

The Daily Mail is in schwein heaven with the thought that a bunch of Bullingdon boys could soon be in power. The DM would seriously love to throw its weight behind the heidbangers of UKIP (am i dyslexic, or do i really read 'PUKE' when i see that written?) but so far, the PUKE are pretty much unelectable, save for one or two seats at the EU level. The DM would love to support the BNP in a throwback to the 30s when it supported Mosely and the Blackshirts and the DM proudly saw some of it's text find its way into official Nazi propaganda. But, i guess that the official BritNats are still too dodgy and too liable to implode due to the volatile mix of out and out racist knuckledraggers, private school toffs, closet homosexuals and now... blecks that makes up its membership.

Whatever. The press continues to play the fear card. The DM continues to foam at the mouth about the usual targets: immigrants, the BBC, single mothers, gays, Islamists, foreigners, the EU, Gaelic telly, asylum seekers and... hell, even atheists and scientists are in their firing line now! Needless to say, statistics and evidence is in short supply. For more info on the DM and its misuse of statistics or sheer downright evilness, check out the Straight Statistics blog and the straight to the point Daily Mail Watch.

In Scotland, we have our own Daily Mail which goes under the name of the Scotsman. Joking aside, it is actually quite similar. Not least in the skeletons it has in its dowdy conservative New Town cupboard. Whereas the DM supported Fascism in the 30s, the Hootsmon supported the Highland Clearances in the 19th century. This support for loony landlordism earned it the title of 'Daily Liar' in the Gaidhealtachd. To its credit, it has printed weekly Gaelic columns for decades. However, its pro-Labour and ludicrous anti-SNP scaremongering has reached new depths in recent years. "SNP accused..." is a favourite starter. This week saw it trumpet Whyte and Mackays announcement that it would pull out of Scotland if the SNP's plans for minimum pricing on alcohol went through. The next day though saw W&M claim that its protestations had been misunderstood and that only UK-wide, and hence non-SNP inspired, legislation would force its hand.

Predicament for da Hootsmon. With no press-releases forthcoming from Labour HQ, the story disappeared quicker than a Labour MPs principles. Hootsmon 'journalists' such as David Maddox are now so hated that no comments are allowed on his articles. I hasten to use the word 'journalist' here, for this guy is certainly no John Pilger. We do have a 'Scotsman Watch' in the shape of the aforementioned Pseudepigrapha. One can understand that i was more than chuffed to see that the Hootsmon's owners are losing money quicker than Carol Vorderman can embarrass herself on Question Time. See the BBC for more info at 'Johnston Press profits fall sharply'.

The press makes much of its declining sales and makes pleas for tax payer handouts. Aye right... if i want to read partisan rants and propaganda, i need only read some blogs for free. Do the likes of Murdoch, the Daily Mail and the Scotsman think we will pay to have our intelligence insulted? I look forward to an independent Scotland, not because of a pro-SNP bias or a love for Alex Salmond but because the London government is backward, corrupt and expensive. Its a layer of government that we don't need. Time to clear the scum from our pond, starting with the tabloid press.

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.

The whisky railway at Cas Chaolas

Cas Chaolas is the original Gaelic name for the area that later became a ferryport for an Anglo queen. Apart from Gaelic toponomy which can be seen in other local placenames such as Echline, Dalmeny and Duntarvie, South Queensferry used have its own monument to the pinnacle of Scots' culture, the uisge-beatha.

This was where VAT 69 once had its blending plant. Immortalised in Iain Banks' 'The Bridge', this once local landmark and employer fell victim to the whisky cuts of the 80s. Below is a photo of the last corner standing. Today this area of The Loan is where you find a Scotmid and the local GP. The wall in the bottom left of the pic is the auld railway bridge. This was the railway which once left the plant and took the sùgh an eorna out to the wider world. Nowadays, its a cycle track which begins/ends in the glorious Scotmid carpark.



Apparently, the Glenesk distillery of Montrose supplied the major component of VAT 69, of which more information can be found on this Wiki page. More info on the background to the closures can be found at the excellent Pseudipigrapha blog here, which funnily enough seems to be banned from the Scotsman/ Northern Daily Mail comment forums! Speaking of Johnson Press - the people responsible for recycling Labour Party press releases - one of their other organs, Eastbourne Today, (??!!) informs us that in 1983, "Queensferry woman Teresa Brogan won the Miss VAT 69 title at the firm's annual dance."

The nearby St Magdalene distillery in Linlithgow also went during the same period. More info on that and other closed distilleries can be found here at Malt Maniacs.

Is it overly sentimental to mourn these icons of our culture? I don't know, but are football clubs any different? Even the likes of Airdrie who are often thought of as 'unfashionable' when folk are being polite to them, have survived. More to the point, is it wrong to be 'sentimental', if the other side of the coin is to be so obsessed with short-term profits that people, their families and livelihoods just become stepping stones?

Some cask strength therapy for Backward Britain

Some seasonal temperatures and the Land of Dope and Toley grinds to a halt. Aided and abetted by a public transport system that's been carved up and privatised to various degrees by the ugly sisters of Labour and Tory. Our rail system is unreliable at the best of times but when the weather goes traditional, it goes wrong. Why is it that European nations such as Finland and Germany who have a greater range of temperatures than we do (very low in the winter and high in the summer) can manage, but the likes of First Scotrail and Network Rail can't deal with anything outwith a range from zero to 25 degrees Celsius?

If Dumb Britain's corrupt Westminster parliament cannot re-nationalise our railways then it should be a priority for Holyrood. And it takes an independent Scotland to introduce some common sense to public services, then so be it.

As Brooker says, "Fuck Britain".

If you feel like turning to drink in order to combat the twin evils of extreme cold and backward Britishness, then you could do worse than try:
Caol Ila SWMS 53.131 'Turbuso Humo', 9yo, 67.9%
Inchgower Cadenhead's 2001 bottling, 11yo, 61%
Edradour Natural Cask Strength, Cask #468, 13yo, 57.4%

A wicked dram from Pulteney

Going through Edinburgh airport on my way to the former DDR always has it's pleasures. This time though it wasn't just the duty free but the chance to fly posh with Lufthansa and not the usual trash-class with Ryanair - pirates so brazen that they should have a base somewhere off east Africa. However, on safely negotiating the security checks, a day after another religious nutter almost bombed yon flight to Detroit, i was rewarded by a display advertising the new Old Pulteney expression WK499.

This isn't the whisky merchants of Inbhir Uige up in Caithness - home to yon bigoted cooncillors - trying to emulate Irn Bru's WKD alcopop but a version of Wick's finest export designed for duty free. Why should those who deign to take the most destructive form of travel be allowed the special privilege of duty free whisky? Answers on postcard to Friends of the Earth whose carpark i understand used to resemble Cameron Toll's at the Boxing Day sales. And that includes a certain ex-FoE chief who is now the czar/ caesar/ kaiser for freedom of information or something like that at the Scots' Parly.

On to the whisky though and this expression of Caithness' own Gaelic heritage is something to savour. It comes at cask strength of 52% but has no age statement. Younger than 10 though, i'd bet. Taste is described as 'sweet, soft and delicately complex with chewy vanilla and warm spices, with a lingering warm finish.' I'd go with most of that. There's definately some Chai Tea in there, some toffee and more spices than a shelf in Khushi's kitchen. As to the finish, it's not just warm but firey - though letting it stand for 2 or 3 minutes does tame it somewhat. OP seems to be a quality dram in all its expressions and at £32 for a cask-strength, it's well worth getting hold off. It still has a way to go though to match the SMWS's single cask 7yo OP released a year or so ago whose title i cannot remember.


Let's hope some of this uisge-beatha makes it to those Caithness cooncillors who seek to deny Gallaibh and her Gollachs her heritage and bilingual present. I would also wholeheartedly recommend having a dram of OP WKD whilst reading R.Crumb's brilliant and frightening pictorial account of the Book of Genesis. Whoever said that the bible was FCKD up?

More fodder for Britain's foreign wars

Hey, there's a recession on. Factories, companies and shops are closing and shedding jobs faster than an ascendant Nu-Labour minister can shed dodgy facial hair (think Peter Mandelson, Alastair Darling and possibly Claire Short). So, according to the laws of Fool Britannia and her history of perma-war, go and boost the numbers of squaddies. Hence, we see 1000 new members of Her Majesty's Taleban Bait take her schilling. Many of them, by their own admission, have few if any qualifications and little hope of another job in their ane wee pairt of Scotland.

So, who holds the moral high ground here? And do any of us really believe that when some of these men die that it will make Scotland a better place?


In recent days, we've seen much discussion about council and government budgets. The Hootsmon/ Scottish Daily Mail has trumpeted about 'reasonable' opposition to expenditure on Gaelic, as if Gaelic script costs more than English. Glasgow has threatened to close libraries and swimming pools. And no financial support is forthcoming for traditional and threatened distilleries such as Tamdhu or the Johnnie Walker base in Kilmarnock.

War, though, is always a good investment. So, does Gordon Brown's 'moral compass' dictate that on top of bankrupt Britain's £multi-billion deficit in financial terms, we can add a cost of blood?

Edinburgh Roc, whisky and German sweeties

Roc na Gàidhlig saw three excellent Gaelic-singing rock bands of differing genre deliver some roasting new Gaelic music to a bitterly cauld Forest Cafe in the new Gaidhealtachd of Dùn Eideann. I once saw the Forest described as a kind of 'hippie Starbucks'. Does that mean a laidback cafe with broken windows and one toilet cubicle per 100 people? Whatever, in this age of cynical capitalist greed that sees bankers getting golden handshakes while all sorts of working folk - including those at Johnnie Walker and Tamdhu - facing the dole, it's good to see some kind of cooperative venture apparently succeeding.

Hey, there may be some tosspots involved in these things but that's life. Show me one microcosm of human activity that doesn't include some conflict with those involved.

Speaking of tosspots... senile Tory Hibee and Edinburgh Evil News columnist John Gibson failed to show up for Roc na Gàidhlig. As did his fellow pro-ignorance campaigners Iain Whyte and Michael Blackley. If only they'd known that Edinburgh Gael and punk 'legend' Ruairidh Polloi was handing out whisky to all who wished a wee slug of the uisge-beatha.


High-Commissioner aint really my taste but recent weeks have seen me have plenty of the good stuff. Frau Wind and Cloud was fortunate enough to score a birthday-present bottle of Cadenhead's 2001 bottling of an 11yo bourbon hogshead Inchgower at 61%. Beautiful stuff and classic Inchgower. A fruit-salad nose gives way to honey and salt on the tongue. Superb stuff. It also goes great with 'Salzige Heringe' - a kind of salty liquorice chewy sweet from the north of Germany.

It's also the time of year that our Deutsch freunden start eating the stollen that they baked a few weeks previously. This sugary fruit-loaf type of thing goes well with our old Ileach friend Lagavullin 16. The 'Lag a' Mhuillinn' btw was picked up for a mere £30 odd from Wine Rack - another store facing the good auld capitalist axe.

With the boom and bust brothers of Tory and New Labour looking to win the right to run/ruin 'Great' Britain sometime next year - and both of them seeking to plunge the Great Satan into even deeper debt with more spending on nuclear weapons and foreign wars - then it has to be time for Scots to seriously think about going it alone.