We are Hibernian

 

Poor Hibs need the support. Calderwood just ain't doing it and attendances have fallen to around 8K. However my loyalties and long gone family lie in the west of the city with a club not short of its own problems. The empty seats at Easter Road won't see my arse for a while. Despite being an armchair supporter of Hearts, my tribalistic quotient is pretty low and I'm a firm believer that fitba fans should follow their local team. Any glory hunter in Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, Ayr, Stirling, Inverness, Fife or Perth can easily get on a train with a one-way ticket to revel in the 'glory' and imagined cultures of the Old Firm in Glasgow. It doesn't make you part of the glory though.

Hibs too are a Scottish club with Irish roots like Dundee Utd and the now defunct Dumbarton Harp. However, unlike Celtic FC, Hibernian who pre-date Celtic by a few years, are a Scottish club who celebrate and remember their roots without letting it fester into a peculiar anti-Scottish racism.

We are Hibernian looks at the experiences and memories of a wide variety of Hibs' supporters, including one or two well kent faces from the worlds of of music, art and literature. Ask Santa for it.

http://www.luath.co.uk/we-are-hibernian-the-fans-story.html

Are we no in the book?

The Colonel is dead - let the vultures descend

In the Corporation where I used to work, one guy used the word 'Colonel' as rhyming slang for a half-day. 'Halfie' rhymes with Gaddafi, see? Its funny the things that come to mind when you see endless mobile phone videos of an ageing leader of his nation being hounded by bloodthirsty liberators before being summarily executed against the conventions of warfare.

Sure, Gaddafi was an evil bastard who for much of his 42 year reign tortured and killed his own people. However, this didn't seem to matter when he shook hands with Blair, Sarkozy, Obama or Berlusconi or dined with Condoleeza. More importantly for short-term economic gain, his evil deeds were ignored when signing business deals. Even supplying him with weapons or sending the SAS to train his 'elite' forces was not beyond the pale.

It doesn't seem to bode well the 'emerging' democratic Libya that they kick it off by murdering one of their own. Though to be fair, the idea that the West sees suspects as innocent until proven guilty or that the West values liberty and democracy, does seem to be very flexible in its definition. And here, I'm thinking about Turkey's continuing Apartheid-like state and treatment of the Kurds. Or maybe China and its own massacre of freedom-seeking protesters. Or Russia and its slaughter of Chechnyans. I guess the morals of the US, UK and France do not stretch to reprimanding those nations that are bigger or richer than us.

The usual London-based right-wing tabloids gloated over the bloody death of Gaddafi. But surely they're fooled if they don't think there's a sizable percentage of 'Brits' who'd eagerly deal out the same fate to Thatcher, Blair, Cameron or Clegg. Barack Obama may still be a hero some deluded 'progressives' but for how much longer? Noam Chomsky has already observed that under Bush, troublesome international boat-rockers were merely tortured. Under Obama, they're just executed like Al Awlaki and Bin Laden. See interview here from Russia Today.

The US's arm continues to be a long one. Sometimes, it just holds a puppet as we saw with French aircraft targeting Gaddafi's convoy as it fled Sirte. How can the attack on a fleeing 'enemy' coincide with the UN resolution to protect Libyan civilians? And what of the Libyan civilians who supported Gaddafi?

If anyone seriously thought that Barack Obama would bring a change to international politics and the cessation of US aggression to protect 'US interests' then think again. Remember, Margaret Thatcher too broke a conservative taboo. Having a woman prime minster was a step forward. With Thatcher though we then took several steps back. Will having a black US president be another game of snakes-and-ladders?

Lastly, our enterprise in Libya has cost us some £300million. Will the ConDems of London spend a similar amount to protect public services and jobs during a recession? Aye right. Though, I guess that Cameron is banking on the carve-up of war-ravaged Libya giving a valuable boost to British companies eager to profit from 're-building'. Or, maybe that Libyan oil will flow just a little easier our way. Then, a 'victorious' and canny Cameron can boast of his exploits in defeating Gaddafi and 'creating' wealth for Brits in his attempt to become a UK Prime Minister that really is democratically elected.

Some interesting reading btw...

The Libya Secret: How West Cooked Up “People’s Uprising”

BEHIND LIBYA’S “SPONTANEOUS REVOLUTION”
What the media has so relentlessly characterized as the “spontaneous uprising” of February 2011 was hardly spontaneous. It began even before the Arab Spring itself commenced in Tunisia during December of last year—and it was orchestrated by the West.

In October 2010, Qaddafi’s protocol chief, Nouri Al-Mesmari, arrived in France, purportedly for medical treatment. But he had his family with him, and the declared reason for his trip was a cover story. He almost immediately plunged into talks with the French and their intelligence service. He argued that Qaddafi was weak. He pointed out breaches in Qaddafi’s national security shield that made it possible to take him down. (More on this can be found on the subscription-newsletter site “Africa Intelligence.”)

 And this from Asia Times Online: Why Gaddafi got a red card

The Sunni monarchical dictator in Bahrain stays; no "humanitarian" bombs over Manama, no price on his head. The House of Saud club of dictators stays; no "humanitarian" bombs over Riyadh, Dubai or Doha - no price on their Western-loving gilded heads. Even the Syrian dictator is getting a break - so far.

So the question, asked by many an Asia Times Online reader, is inevitable: what was the crucial red line crossed by Gaddafi that got him a red card?

'Revolution' made in France  

There are enough red lines crossed by The Big G - and enough red cards - to turn this whole computer screen blood red.

Let's start with the basics. The Frogs did it. It's always worth repeating; this is a French war. The Americans don't even call it a war; it's a "kinetic action" or something. The "rebel" Transitional National Council" (TNC) is a French invention.

Liam Fox: lest we forget

Excellent and interesting piece here by radical political sudger Ian Bone on the serial liar Liam Fox. Is there absolutely anything we should trust about this chancer?

This article is now a few years old, but it has been updated.

We know we’re on safe ground calling former Tory leadership candidate and now Snooty Cameron’s Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox – MP for Woodspring – a liar because the Courts have already decided he is one. In 2004 he was successfully sued for libel by Labour MP Martin Salter and ordered to pay £60,000 damages.

But we can now exclusively reveal that Liam has also been spectacularly “economical with the truth” in carefully constructing – in romantic soft focus – an “Indiana Jones meets Cassanova” public image for himself.

Peter Hennessy wrote in the Daily Telegraph in 2005 that “Dr Fox has been dogged by persistent rumours about his sexuality – as is often the case with Tory ‘bachelors’ in their 40s. “But,” went on Hennessy, “He has now put this to rest by announcing his engagement to Jesme Baird.”

It’s amazing how Tory leadership contests – William Hague anyone? – bring out the need in candidates to propose to their “long-term” girlfriends to squash those gay rumours and keep up the family man image for the blue rinse brigade.

Now we don’t give a flying fuck about Dr. Fox’s sexuality – that’s his business. But the politically convenient proposal to Jesme fits in a pattern of using women – from Natalie Imbruglia to Mother Teresa – to further his political career.

Famously – because it was peddled to many newspapers – Liam Fox was “once linked to the singer Natalie Imbruglia”, was “romantically linked to Natalie Imbruglia”, was “seen out with Natalie Imbruglia”, “lists among his friends Natalie Imbruglia” and on and on. How did this unlikely pairing of the former Neighbours rock chick and Liam come about?

Well, according to Liam, he was sent a pre-release copy of Natalie’s first album and sent back a few helpful thoughts on the tracks he’d heard – as you do! Natalie was so delighted to be given such unsolicited singing tuition from someone she’d never heard of that she immediately gave him credits on the album.

From these notes – carefully brought to press attention – Dr. Fox was able to construct his subsequent image as romantically linked to Imbruglia and “sexiest MP” and “ladies man”. The truth is that the whole story was contrived by a go-between with Imbruglia’s management and it’s doubtful if Dr. Fox met Imbruglia more than once. According to his latest spin “he still remains in touch with her” which must be very gratifying to her husband!

But Natalie was a mere wayside halt for Liam the Lothario! He is also friends with “Cindy from Eastenders” and – wait for it – Mother Tersesa!! Yes folks, “Liam lists among his friends Cindy from Eastenders and Mother Teresa”. There is no suggestion by Liam – even the Liar has limits – that he was “romantically linked” to Mother Teresa or that she was his “former love interest”. So how did yet another unlikely friendship develop? Did she send him a prayer and ask for his advice on it?

No. It materialises that Liam wrote her a letter – unsolicited again – and… wait for it… “she replied”!!! In Liam the Liar’s book that’s friendship!!! He never even met this imaginary friend. Never mind. Liam now has Natalie and Cindy on one arm and for added gravitas Mother (call me Teri) Teresa on the other.

But there’s more. We are told Liam goes to Stringfellows and – wait for it – “is friends with tennis players”!!! Who’s that then? A couple of old blokes knocking it about in Yatton?

Teasingly we cannot be told who these “tennis players” are – but – nudge, wink – we are led to think it might well be Maria Sharapinova or Andre Aggassi who Liam hangs out with. Certainly not little Jimmy from Easton-in-Gordano anyway. In fact the only people Liam doesn’t boast about meeting are his constituents!

But there’s more to Liam than posing in Stringfellows with supermodels. According to his admirers at The Sun – who can spot a fellow right wing nut job when they see one – “Liam enjoys daredevil pursuits”. Even more he enjoys telling us about them… Often. His PR tells us “Liam went sky-diving with Tesco check-out women” and has “been wing-walking on planes”. Blimey! Indiana Jones or Zorro or wot? Surprised he didn’t pick up the Holy Grail while he was at it!

You see, nothing undramatic ever happens to Liam. Even his medical interests are dramatic. Asked a simple question on mental illness Liam replied that he “had a friend who killed his wife during the last world cup”. Why did he feel the need to add the world cup detail? Does it add anything we need to know rather than making Dr. Fox seem even more exciting ‘cos his mates top their wives during penalty shoot-outs?

During his time as a junior hospital doctor in Glasgow Liam claims to have worked a 94 hour shift during which he performed nine caesareans with no sleep at all. Often this goes up or down a few hours but remarkable, all the same, to have performed nine non-elective caesareans in casualty in so few hours. But it was even more dramatic. He was working there at the time of the notorious Glasgow ice-cream wars and dealt with the horrific casualties. Whether this was at the same time as the caesareans is not clear – but, by golly, you wouldn’t put it past the fellow! Dr.Kildare meets Quincy!

And Dr. Fox has a remarkable record of saving people in dramatic circumstances. In the last year alone he has stumbled across four collapsed and dying strangers who he has had time to revive before getting his PR to phone the media to announce the latest miracle to an astonished world.

Good Samaritan, Indiana Jones, Quincy, Dr. Kildare, Simon Cowell, Peter Stringfellow, Zorro – Liam Fox is all of these. Of course we could also add hypocrite.

Dr. Fox’s wife-to-be works for the Roy Castle Lung Foundation and Dr.Fox has railed against the health effects of smoking. But did that stop the good doctor meeting his tennis chums at Wimbledon one year in a hospitality box sponsored by… Imperial Tobacco?

More worryingly he is also a right-wing ideologue in hoc to George Bush and his bunch of neo-cons and aims to re-create the American religious right in Britain.

Research in Dr. Fox’s private office is financed by Atlantic Bridge a UK-US think tank funded by Pfizer (the American pharmaceutical giant named as one of the ten worst companies in the world, accused of fraudulent and deceptive practices – how very appropriate!).

Atlantic Bridge – with the good doctor Fox at the helm – aims to recreate the golden age of the Thatcher-Reagan conservative axis across the pond.

During the last election Fox had seconded to him a leading Republican election strategist from George Bush’s team. Fox has been in Washington with Karl Rove, George Bush’s right hand man through whom he managed to get his George Bush photo opportunity for his leadership bid.
This is enough, presumably, to make George Bush a “close friend” to Liam’s way of thinking – but “not dating” officially just yet!

Incidently, Fox’s Thatcher admiration – she’s with him on Atlantic Bridge – knows no bounds. At her 80th birthday party the ever-pushy Dr. Fox tried to take over the lead singing of Happy Birthday to Thatcher from David Davis. Tory Blair had to step in to separate the squabbling brown nosers and lead the singing himself!

The cunning Fox is also leader of the Cornerstone Group of Tory MPs that calls for abortion time limits of 12 weeks and is against equal gay rights. After some hesitancy – caused by Fox’s pivotal role in the mendacious sacking of their euro-sceptic chum Howard Flight before the last election – the Cornerstone group rallied to Fox’s cause.

Who else might join them? Well Liam the Liar has this to say about his pal Lord Archer the perjuror, “the Tories would consider sympathetically any application by Lord Archer to rejoin the party”. It was Fox who warmly welcomed Archer at Thatcher’s birthday shindig – also finding to time to welcome the 90 year old Jack Profumo! What a nest of charlatans!

Like Archer, Fox has trouble distinguishing fact from fiction in his biography. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph he said, “Both my grandparents were miners”. Did they allow women down the pits then or do they just not count? He continued that “20 years ago it would have been impossible for someone from my background to be Chairman of the Tory Party”. The interviewer pointed out that Lord Tebbitt was Chairman 20 years ago. “Well 30 years ago no one from my background could become a Tory Prime Minister”. But Ted Heath’s dad was a builder pointed out the interviewer again. “Well 40 years ago…” countered Fox.

For Liam the Liar the truth is sure as hell inconvenient!

From: Ian Bone blog.

Gaelic Scrabble agus...

 According to John Angus MacKay of Bord na Gàidhlig, only 'the chattering classes' continue to deride Gaelic with snide comments in the media. Chattering in the Queen's English or Caithness English even, will only get you so far though. Some of those who chatter in Gaelic are now letting their actions do the talking. As the late Iain Noble would say, 'S e am beul a labhras, ach an gnìomh a dhearbhas'.

Yon language activist and ICT-whizz at Akerbeltz has been at it again. Not content with providing the world with Mozilla Firefox in Gaelic, he has now given us online 3D Scottish Scrabble. I've yet to download it and play it but I've got no doubt that this will be a cool way for the Tocasaid offspring to practise their Gaelic phonics. Check it out here, go to the bar on the left entitled program download:

http://scrabble.game-server.cc/wiki/index.php/Main_Page/gd

More installation info here on Foram na Gàidhlig:

http://www.foramnagaidhlig.net/foram/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2030

The most interesting thing is that all this is the work of one committed Gaelic speaker and activist. Unfortunately, the investigative journalism of the Daily Express or Edinburgh Evil News doesn't stretch to finding out about Gaels who don't use tax payers' money.

It was a similar community-minded initiative that gave us Google in Gaelic too:

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=gd

Gaelic has no 'word' for chili-con-carne nor for karaoke

In a slightly different language domain, I hear that Oi Polloi have finally finished work on another full length recording of several brand new raucous punk rock songs all written in the Scottish language. Again, tax payers' money doesn't seem to have played a part in the band getting together and using their Gaelic. As of yet, they have still to provide a Scottish-language update of their classic singalong anthem, 'Fuck Everybody who Voted Tory'. Perhaps Bord na Gàidhlig could help out here? 'Dùisg!' is due out next year. From Wiki:

Oi Polloi started singing in Scottish Gaelic in 1996, recording the Carson? EP, (released 2003), then recording and releasing the full length LP "Ar Ceòl Ar Cànan Ar-A-Mach" in 2006. They use the language in day-to-day communications. They see the use of Gaelic and other endangered languages as important to maintaining the biocultural diversity of life. They toured Europe with Seattle-based punk band Mill a h-Uile Rud, who sing only in Scottish Gaelic, and Les Ramoneurs de menhirs, who mostly sing in Breton. The band are currently in the process of finishing their second full-length Gaelic LP Duisg!, set to be released on Mayday 2012.

Lastly, it should be stated that I am actually in favour of more of that precious tax-payers' money being spent on our indigenous language. It is refreshing that the powers that be have finally made a commitment to increase the number of pupils entering Gaelic-medium education. There is a mountain of evidence to show that kids not only have the ability to acquire at least 2 or 3 languages from early childhood but that they benefit from it. Plus, its not rocket science to see that educating kids to be literate and conversant in 2 or 3 languages is better value for money than teaching them only one. Linguists will also tell you that there is also no such thing as a 'useless' language even though some tongues are lesser spoken than others. Using that argument, you might as well say that Dutch  is also a 'minority' tongue as it is to some extent as rare as Gaelic on the world stage. Further, if Dutch, Danish and Swedish speakers also speak excellent English why should they bother with their native tongues?

The multi-faceted value of bilingualism has finally been given some time of day in Edinburgh Council's education department who say that Edinburgh's Gaelic school will open in August 2013. There is the small matter of an increased grant from Riaghaltas na h-Alba to cover the alleged damage caused by vandals to the 'mothballed' Bonnington School. This leads me to ask, does Edinburgh Council not insure its properties like ordinary people have to? If you too would like answers to this, why not ask for them at:

PrimaryGaelic@edinburgh.gov.uk 

 or

justask@edinburgh.gov.uk

Next...the Republican National Mod opens in Stornoway...

Auld Songs for Scottish Studies: Fichead Bliadhna

Surely it is a human right for children to be educated about their own nation and culture, especially if part of their indigenous culture is a marginalised one. I have long wished for Scottish education to come up with something like 'Scottish Studies', if only to counteract the ignorance that regularly surfaces in our media regarding Scotland and her history and culture. This naked and shameless ignorance was this week displayed by two of our politicians - one a Tory and the other claiming to be a Scottish nationalist.

Gaelic was never spoken here...

Jackson Carlaw, a candidate for the leadership of the Toxic Party in Scotland and SNP MSP Paul Wheelhouse - that's him above with more hair than historical accuracy - both claimed that Gaelic was 'never' spoken in the south of Scotland. No evidence was offered for this probably because all evidence points to Gaelic being spoken throughout the Lowlands at one point or another. For example it was spoken in parts of Galloway until the 1700s with the last Gaelic speaker of Carrick reputed to be a Margaret McMurray who lived until the time of Robert Burns' birth. It survived on Lomondside, Stirlingshire, Aberdeenshire and Perthshire until recent decades. Despite this Wheelhouse oiled the wheels of the Scottish-cringe bandwagon and Carlaw gleefully hauled his rotund frame aboard with his usual baggage of ignorance and bigotry to deride Scotrail for having the nerve to put Scottish language on their station signs. And all this... in Scotland!

Can't these tax-paying rebellious Scots be crushed or something? Or else, could some lackey burn down their houses again and hoof them off to Canada? Certainly, Carlaw is regarded as something of a 'loose cannon', even amongst Tories, and has form on the racist front.

...nor here.

Whatever, its a topic that's been oft covered here. Most of the opposition to Scottish kids learning about Scotland has unsurprisingly come from Labour and Tory. Is the 'Union' so worth saving that it means that ordinary Scots will be impoverished because of tribal party loyalty? Paul Wheelhouse proves though that ignorance and stupidity is not the preserve of one party.

This auld sang is very apt. Runrig again. It lays bare the attitudes of the Anglicised education system in Scotland until at least the 1970s. The process that started in the 1600s when Inglis was renamed 'Scots' and Scottish as 'Gaelic' reached its nadir during a century of clearance aimed primarily at the Celtic or 'Erse' speaking population. The bitterness of those in power towards the 'barbarity' of the indigenous Scots language and its speakers continued after the Clearances with Gaelic speaking children variously having skulls hung around their necks, being belted or caned or just being ridiculed. As a policy, it was very effective. Even in areas of Scotland that were Gaelic speaking within the past century, some locals will confidently tell you that 'Gaelic was not spoken here'. Even some older Gaels still wonder at why people would actually want to learn Gaelic.

This was Runrig's 'Another Brick in the Wall' and it was born of first-hand experience. Even to some Scots, we are just Porridge Wogs. Fichead Bliadhna...

Ruith's a mhonadh
Ruith nam beann
'S mar sin dhan sgoil aig deireadh samhraidh
'Nar clann
Aig coig bliadhna dh'aois
'S gun facal Beurla 'nar ceann

Seo do leabhar
Sea do pheann
"Dean do leasan," thuirt iad riumsa
" 'S gunn eirich sibh suas anns an t-saoghal
'S gheibh sibh an adhart ann

Fichead bliadhna'airson firinn
B'fheudar dhomh feitheamh
'S b'fheudar dhomh lorg
Fichead bliadhn' de bhreugan
Thug iad eachdraidh air falbh bhuainn

Dh'ionnsaich sinn a leithid ann
Canan's bardachd, bardachd Bheurla
Ceol na Gearmailt
Eachdraidh na Spainnt
'S b'e sin an eachdraidh mheallt

Bhon sgoil do'n oilthigh chaidh sinn ann
A' leantail foghlum, tuilleadh foghlum
Mar amadan air deiradh streang
Seorsa de dh'fhoghlum 'nam cheann

Fichead bliadhna'airson firinn
B'fheudar dhomh feitheamh
'S b'fheudar dhomh lorg
Fichead bliadhn' de bhreugan
Thug iad eachdraidh air falbh bhuainn

Ach dh'eirich mi suas anns an t-saoghal
Fhuair mi deise, 's fhuair mi leine
Fhuair mi aite ann an suilean dhaoin
Fada bhon mhonadh mi'n drasd

Carson a chùm iad eadchraidh bhuainn
Innsidh mi dhut, tha iad gealltach
Mas èirich clann nan Gaidheal suas
Le ceistean sireach is cruaidh

Fichead bliadhna'airson firinn
B'fheudar dhomh feitheamh
'S b'fheudar dhomh lorg
Fichead bliadhn' de bhreugan
Thug iad eachdraidh air falbh bhuainn

Nuair a thoisich mi air lorg
Cha do chreid mi mo shuilean
Obair olc

Freedom of the moor
Freedom of the hill
And then to school at the end of summer
Children,
Five years of age,
Without many words of English

"Here is your book
Here is your pen”
Study hard that's what they told me
"And you will rise up in the world
You will achieve"

Twenty years for the truth
I had to wait
I had to search
Twenty years of deceit
They denied me knowledge of myself

I learned many things
The English language, the poetry of England
The music of Germany
The history of Spain
And even that was a misleading history

Then on to further education
Following education, more education
Like puppets on the end of a string
Our heads filled with a sort of learning

Twenty years for the truth
I had to wait
I had to search
Twenty years of deceit
They denied me knowledge of myself

And I did rise in the world
I found my suit, I found my shirt
I found a place in the eyes of men
Well away from the freedom of the moor

But why did they keep our history from us?
I'll tell you they are frightened
In case the children of Gaeldom awaken
With searching and penetrating questions

Twenty years for the truth
I had to wait
I had to search
Twenty years of deceit
They denied me knowledge of myself

"Many a thing I have seen in my own day and generation. I have seen the townships swept, and the holdings being made of them. The people being driven out of the countryside to the streets of Glasgow and to the wilds of Canada, such as them that did not die of hunger and plague and smallpox while going across the ocean. I have seen the women putting the children in the carts which were being sent from Benbecula and the Iochdar to Loch Boisdale, while their husbands lay bound in the pen and were weeping beside them, without power to give them a helping hand, though the women themselves were crying aloud and their little children wailing like to break their hearts. I have seen the big strong men, the champions of the countryside, the stalwarts of the world, being bound on Loch Boisdale quay and cast into the ships as would be done to a batch of horses or cattle in the boat. The bailiffs and the constable and the policemen gathered behind them in pursuit of them. The God of life and He only knows all the loathsome work of men on that day."

The weak in politics

Watching the Labour drones at their 'conference' must leave poor David Icke feeling vindicated in his 'we are ruled by reptiles' theory. Ed Miliband and his Labour Party must be the most uninspiring bunch of wet sanitary towels I've ever seen since the Lib Dems. It may be unkind to say this but Milibland comes across as one of Icke's race of lizards who is desperately trying to get his message across to those of us who don't possess forked tongues and cold blood. I'm not sure about the mental capacities of iguanas but Milibland certainly has a short memory.

Miliband's audience in 'rapt' attention.

Sitting on his sun-warmed boulder at Labour's 'gathering to be lectured', the weird reptilian talked about the need to tackle rogue businessmen who tread on morals and people in order to make a fast buck. Who does he mean, I wonder? Is it Tony Blair, who with Iraqi blood still fresh on his hands, is now coining it on speaking tours while also masquerading as a 'peace envoy' in the Middle East? Or could it be the AlphaMale Dr John Reid? The one and only Baron of Cardowan, alleged sex-pest, fellow Iraqi war-criminal and 'consultant' to Group 4 Security?

Our Kingdom/ Open Democracy sheds some light on the 'nice' and ethical nature of G4S's business:

Given the numerous accounts in these reports of policy breaches, inadequately trained staff and both physical and mental damage caused to detainees while in the care of G4S — not to mention the death of Jimmy Mubenga after ‘restraint’ by G4S last year — it is unsurprising that the company scored so poorly with regard to human rights. 

With regards to ‘political activity’, G4S pays £50,000 a year to former defence secretary John Reid MP (now Lord Reid) for 'strategic advice', an appointment made mere months before G4S were able to secure a lucrative four year MoD contract and while Reid was still a serving MP.

Danny Alexander is bad for the health of Scotland.

While Reid may be a hard-man, the same couldn't be said of the revolting Lib Dem non-entity that is Danny Alexander - he of white-pudding countenance. He's complaining that the Scottish Government spends too much money on vanity projects in the central belt. Does the suet-faced whinger think that we forget the LibDems voting to spend £millions on Edinburgh's farce of a tram project instead of dualing the A9? Perhaps the next time London-based Alexander gets his lard and oats in a fankle over the Scottish Government, he should reflect on why the Lib Dems were reduced to only 5 MSPs at this year's election.

Being reduced to a 'rump' is what could happen to the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - to give it its full name in which it revelled during the anti-Irish mania of the 20th century. The Tories have finally woken up to the fact that their social acceptability in the eyes of the Scottish public is roughly on a par with Fred West, Jimmy Hill and Jeremy Clarkson - all of whom could probably be touted as the new 'Scottish' leader with no discernible fall in ratings.

Scottish Tories unashamedly go for the populist vote.

Strangely enough, the two main 'Unionist' parties in Scotland seem desperate to gain their 'independence' from their masters in London. Surely this situation couldn't possibly work?

Under Blair and Brown's Labour government, the gap between rich and poor widened. The same greedy businessmen who Miliband now derides were often keen to deposit some of their 'fast bucks' into Labour coffers. I don't recall Labour refusing any of it. In the top picture here, we see the main players in English/ UK politics - all of them white, privately educated millionaires. As I've mentioned before, the leaders of the 'radical' far-right alternatives such as UKIP and the BNP are of the same stock. Somehow I just can't see that rich/poor divide narrowing any time soon.

The silver lining in all of this though is that these odious and uninspiring chancers may be the ones who preside over the emergence of an independent and hopefully progressive and egalitarian Scotland.

Free schools or freak schools?

"Good morning Mr Murdoch"

Further to an earlier piece on the latest Tory knee-jerk reaction to have squaddies in schools, here's more, courtesy of Open Democracy. net, on the 'free schools' idea that has taken root south of the border. The freaks involved are not the poor kids but the assortment of unsavoury characters and organisations seeking to brainwash or indoctrinate the next generation. Not surprisingly, 'faith' groups have leapt at the chance fill youngsters' heads with more mumbo-jumbo. Surely if their faith is that strong why can't they wait until the kids are 16 and can weigh up the evidence with a more adult mind? Or are they unwilling to pit reason and evidence against this/ these omnipotent god/gods?

Also worrying though is the inclusion of such bastions of morality as News International. I guess this could mean an end to 'bad behaviour' in England's schools. Once News International have garnered enough info by eavesdropping on conversations in the smokers' corner or by reading the kids' emails, permission can then be obtained from either David Cameron, Nick Clegg or Ed Milliband - whoever is 'toughest' on crime at the time - to send in the dead-eyed Iraq vets to sort them out.

To quote:

ARK Schools managing director Lucy Heller, who has just this month opened two ‘free schools’, hails from Rupert Murdoch’s empire where she was managing director of News International subsidiary TSL Education. (Murdoch, by the way, is preparing to expand his education business, and the minister who has had breakfast, lunch and dinner with Rupert Murdoch more frequently than any other is . .. Michael Gove, a former News International employee).

Read more here: 

Mammon in the classroom: the men who’ve got their teeth into England’s £35 billion schools pie

Eòrpa reveals Labour's PFI disgrace

Award-winning current affairs series Eòrpa returns to our screens tonight on BBC Alba. Desptie Eorpa being produced by Gaelic-speaking Scots, friends from outwith the 'UK' have commented that its probably the most outward looking television they've seen here. 

As well as its usual coverage of issues from the European continent, tonight it looks at the PFI disaster which New Labour bequeathed to our grandchildren. While New Labour couldn't get away with openly shunting all our health and education services into the private sector, it did at least make it the landlord for many new schools and hospitals. This means that some of our schools will be paying private business for many years to come. The final cost of these buildings to the taxpayer will be many times what the establishment in question cost to build. Eorpa though reveals that this is just part of the problem.

According to Eorpa:

Tha cùmhnantan PFI air a bhith connspaideach bho thòisich iad ann am Breatann sna '90an. Buidhnean poblach a' pàigheadh companaidhean prìobhaideach an uibhir seo de dh'airgead gach bliadhna airson goireas a thogail is a ruith airson ùine shònraichte. An dèidh sin tha an togalach aig a' bhuidheann phoblach. Mar a tha Darren Linc ag innse ged-tà, tha Eòrpa air fianais fhaighinn gu bheil an talamh fo feadhainn dhiubh fhathast gu bhith aig a' chompanaidh prìobhaideach airson mòran bhliadhnaichean an dèidh dhan chiad chùmhnant airson an togail is an ruith tighinn gu crìoch.

PFI contracts have been the subject of controversy since they began to be used by the UK government in the 1990s. Public bodies paying private consortiums yearly to build and administer a new building for a certain number of years. Afterwards, the building is owned by the public sector. As Darren Laing reports though, Eòrpa has been given information that the land under and around some new PFI buildings is set to remain in private ownership for years after the initial building and running contract ends.

Not only are we indebted to private business for the next century, but in the here and now, these PFIs are making the every day running of schools more difficult than it should be. Should teachers or staff wish to decorate the school with children's work, then permission needs to be sought from the school 'business manager' first. After all, who would want blue-tac stains and thumb tacks ruining their precious cash cow? Even the local council has to seek permission to use the school and its grounds for publicity purposes.

A timely reminder of why conservatives and other slaves to big business - be they Labour, Tory or Lib Dem - cannot be trusted with public services.

Eorpa. Today on BBC Alba at 20.30.

Celtic's midfield and the Scottish Defence League?

In the underwhelming aftermath of last week's EDL/SDL 'static' demo in Edinburgh, I found myself doing a spot of online research into those guardian angels who have taken it upon themselves to defend me - a Gaelic speaking atheist - from the 'Muslamic' hordes who apparently are massing somewhere between Berwick and Jedburgh. Anyway, during my rumaging through various forums and Facebook pages, I come across a certain Celtic FC midfielder, Scott Brown. 

In case you didn't know, around 100 football hooligans claiming to represent the Scottish and English Defence Leagues as well as 'Casuals United' chose to congregate in the centre of Edinburgh against the wishes of the democratically elected local council. This lead to a huge police operation (and tax bill) and a headache for ordinary citizens wishing to go about their business on a Saturday afternoon.

Just why do they feel threatened by Muslims? Are they gonna try and erase our Scottish culture and identity? Will they beat our Scottish language out of our kids? Wait a minute... haven't Anglicised Protestant Scots already done that? And, don't we already have various versions of Abrahamic mania - like the Wee Frees and Catholic Church - who seek to force their violent religion on us?

Whatever, it was kind of interesting to see a current member of Celtic FC rub shoulders with the violent right-wing and sectarian/ racist (no-one really knows which yet) SDL.Celtic FC are of course, the 'nice' half of the Old Firm - a progressive force for liberté et égalité whose current chairman is former Commander of the British Army in Iraq, John Reid. Nuff said there.

The interesting bit is that Scott Brown is wearing Celtic colours and is obviously representing the club. The SDL guys appear to be representing their own organisation, something that Brown doesn't seem too concerned about. According to other comments on the Facebook page, fellow Celtic player Anthony Stokes apparently chose to stay in the vehicle. Proof maybe that Scott Brown is not the sharpest tool in the box?

Then again, if Scott Brown is displaying his lack of critical faculties, he's in good company. Even the SDL aren't too sure of who they are if picture below is anything to go by. This tattoo was proudly displayed by one SDL member on said Facebook page. This comes after the well circulated 'Muslamic rape gangs/ ray guns' video on You Tube. Maybe we should welcome more Muslims to Scotland as maybe they could teach the SDL and EDL a bit about the grammar of their own English tongue?

Join the SDL: high IQ not required

This leads me back to the question of just who and what the EDL and SDL are? Racist? Fascist? Sectarian? The vast majority of them seem to be involved in football violence - organised violent crime in other words. The 'EDL' seems to be just another excuse for a scrap. After all, why would ordinary Scots want a gang of criminals who can barely master the English language as self-nominated defenders? And why do they have a bee in their bonnet about Muslims? Having said that, it was interesting to read a complaint from a Rangers' fan who complained that he was attending a wedding with his South American girlfriend on the Royal Mile when she was racially abused. Other SDLers have been photographed throwing the Nazi salute while some of them profess support for Israel. They truly are a weird bunch. Maybe their biggest beef is with ordinary people who are lucky enough to have 5 fingers on each hand?

But, if they really want to 'defend' Scotland then... why don't they 'defend' small Scottish businesses on the 'traditional high-street' against voracious big business like Tesco? Will they 'defend' native flora and fauna like the Caledonian Forest or the capercaillie? Will they 'defend' the indigenous Gaelic language of Scotland? Will they 'defend' native crofting communities against the whims of rich landowners, be they Scottish or foreign? Will they 'defend' the rights of Scottish people to good living standards such as reliable and cheap public transport, free health care and good state education that's free from the interference of private companies? Or why don't they content themselves with saving stray cats?

The EDL and SDL make much of 'supporting our troops'. However, the respect has not been returned. War veterans in Scotland expressed opposition to SDL plans to march past the cenotaph in Glasgow. Little wonder. Why would some dignified old men want drunken football hooligans 'paying respect'? What are they gonna do? Urinate on the Cenotaph?

These guys are idiots and criminals. I'm not much of a royalist nor a Daily Mail 'law and order' type but I'd be very happy for Her Majesty's Police Service to give this lot some 'British justice'.

Respecting our troops? Or saluting English architecture?

Squaddies in free schools?

There is one 'Union dividend' which us Scots should really appreciate and that is that under the Act of Union, our education system remained independent. It may have let us down at times - such as in the 1872 Education Act which effectively demanded an end to the use of any language other than English as a medium of education. This lead to more than a century of kids in Gaelic speaking communities from Stirlingshire to Sutherland having their community tongue forcibly removed. But, it was ours to keep and to improve.

Enlightenment has seen big strides in Scottish education since those dark days. The new Curriculum for Excellence promises to put research, inquiry and rational thinking into the heart of the classroom. Rather than teaching to the exam and filling kids' heads with lists of dates and facts, why not teach them to ask, to enquire and build their own skills?

England is stuck with a right-wing mentality and a top-down attitude to education. Fill their heads with 1066, 1945 and 1966. And, if they forget or object... lets get our unemployed squaddies in to 'give' them some discipline.

No wonder that Terry Deary, author of the Horrible Histories, hates schools. In a recent article in the Independent, he:

... brands the national curriculum the "biggest disaster in British history".

"W B Yeats said education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire. The national curriculum has turned children into buckets. And teachers are just bucket-fillers now. Dividing knowledge into subjects is a very archaic approach to studying."

On top of elitist 'free' schools, the latest ConDem wheeze to appeal to goose-stepping chattering classes of Middle England is to put soldiers into schools. It seems incredible that in an age where anyone teaching a child in any form of the word is vetted for any kind of criminal record that politicians would want to put brutalised, war ravaged and institutionalised basket cases into 'teach' our kids is incredible. The British Army's track record on discipline ain't that hot either. Apart from the cases of torture in Iraq there are the numerous sad incidents of bullying in British Army barracks such as Deepcut which has seen many teenagers left dead, either through murder or suicide.

Just what untrained soldiers are meant to achieve is not explained. Trained teachers can use many methods to deal with unruly pupils. Teachers in Scotland's schools regularly work wonders with some of the damaged young products of our society. Their efforts may ultimately count for nothing but that is more likely than not a result of failures to address poverty, addiction and violence in many of our communities. General permissive attitudes in society towards anti-social behaviour haven't helped - and here, I'm thinking more of MP's, bankers and journalists than hoodies.

So, will Cameron's short, sharp, shock squaddies beat up wee Jimmy if pulls a face during a Maths lesson? Perhaps insolent wee Billy will just be stripped and urinated on? 

In the meantime, I'll take my lessons from the kind of progressive and multi-lingual education systems we see in the Basque Country, Finland and Norway.