Holocaust Denier Irving to Speak in Coventry

Following onto my last entry I see that David Irving, a noted Holocaust Denier amongst other things, will be speaking to a rally of BNP thugs and bullies at the Royal Warwicks Club, Tower Street, Coventry later this evening.

Whilst I appreciate that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I think it fair that people protest about this sort of meeting. Much better this than the kind of censorship being applied by Alisher Usmanov on other bloggers at the moment.

David Irving to Speak in Coventry | Mike Rouse

Arbeit Macht Frei

As I read through this article, I thought this was an extraordinarily good idea. As time passes we tend to erase from our memories the bad things in life and replace them with the good things. As the article says

The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.

a quote from George Santayan which appears on a plaque at Auschwitz.

I will be trying to get my children to take this visit as they have little concept nowadays of what total war is about, as it is remote to them, despite Iraq, Afghanistan and the other conflicts that have taken place in recent years.

When I was young, many years ago now, we had many reminders of both World Wars both at home and in our daily life. Our parents and grandparent had fought in or survived the wars and our teachers had often fought in the wars and brought a personal view to the history we learnt. Nowadays, veterans of the wars are few and teachers have only second-hand experience.

An experience like this may help youngsters today understand what happens in war and may just let them make a difference when they become more active in decisions that affect us all. The explanation by one of Rabbi's who lead the children in the visit of why they want people to see and hear about Auschwitz is well worth reading in this age when we prefer to hide the dirty parts of life. He states that the Holocaust is not just an atrocity against Jewish people but against difference of any kind

People ask why do we have this obsession with the Holocaust? Why can't we move on and leave it in the past? How we would love to leave it in the past. That would be the easy thing to do, but we cannot," he says. He describes the horrors which took place at Auschwitz as simply the endgame of a sustained campaign which started with pointing people out as different. A world which allowed the Holocaust to happen has also witnessed genocide in Rwanda and Darfur.

What really upset me about the article were the first 4 comments from persons who would like us to believe that the Holocaust never happened. These people are unbelievable and there denial in the face of the truth marks them out as type of person who commit this sort of crime against humanity.

Perhaps some quotes from Winston Churchill might put this in context.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.

and also

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

and finally aimed at all those deniers out there

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber

The Children Who Are Determined We Will Never Forget The Horror (from The Herald )

Offensive, angry and ginger

Offensive, angry and ginger,

apparently that's us, the Scotsman, according to a poll carried out by Ipsos MORi for the Scottish Executive. We are typified by Groundskeeper Willie from the Simpsons.

The report will make depressing reading for the whole of Scotland far less the Politicians who commissioned it. The report carries the disclaimer that

The views expressed in this report are those of the researchers and do not necessarily represent the views of the directorate or Scottish ministers.”

You'd certainly hope so for all our sakes.

Of course who ever believed what an American said about places outside the good 'ol USA, typified by my telling a Texan in Houston that I came from Scotland and he replied,

"That's near Switzerland"

I retreated from the conversation to consult my Atlas of the World.

Offensive, angry and ginger - Simpsons' Willie defines US image of the Scot - Times Online

Liberal Politics -Jury told of 'corrupt councillor'

Apparently a man accused of murder in Aberdeen has alleged that an "unnamed" city councillor was corrupt. Now I wonder who that might be.

Perhaps these stories from a while ago might give a clue.

The story goes on - One of the defendants a Mr Carswell had said during the interview that he did not want to be taken to Aberdeen by police because he did not trust them. Mr Jackson, Carswell's lawyer continued:

"There was a lot of discussion - I am not sure if he is an Aberdeen councillor or not, I don't know who this man is."

Mr Jackson said Mr Carswell, in the interview, went into a lot of questions about whether he was involved in drugs.

"There is a long discussion about him (the unnamed councillor)and where he lives and who his girlfriend is and whether he is corrupt,"

said Mr Jackson and Det Insp Stewart agreed.

"There is discussion about his girlfriend, her name, the fact that he knows this man, the fact he is involved with prostitutes, involved with drugs, a whole discussion about this other man's involvement, I suppose. Quite serious allegations against this man."

Mr Jackson continued:

"He was perfectly willing to speak to you about this public figure in Aberdeen - I don't know him from Adam - but when you are talking to him about what you want to talk to him about he moves into 'No comment' mode at that stage?"

"Or stays completely silent,"

said Det Insp Stewart.

The story continues...

BBC NEWS | Scotland | North East/N Isles | Jury told of 'corrupt councillor'

Global Warming in Scotland

First Snow on Morvern
Originally uploaded by fitaloon

With all the talk about Global Warming going on, I give you the first snow of the Winter? for us in the depths of Aberdeenshire. This was on Tuesday morning. Thankfully it didn't last long.

Honour the Covenant - Take Action

Coming from a service family (My Father served in the RAF for 35 years) and having also married into a Service Family (Father-in-Law and Brother-in-Law both having served or serving in the Royal Marines), the action being taken by the British Legion is close to my heart.

My Father and Father-in-Law were also heavily involved in SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help) after they retired and understood many of the problems that service personnel faced when they left the services either voluntarily or because of injury.

Previously I had talked about this under the title "Neglected and Let Down"

A little story from My Father-in-Law, a few days ago, shows how the Covenant is strong within the Services themselves but this seldom applies to the government.

My Father-in-Law has been very ill recently and has been amazed at the amount of contact/help he has received from comrades, both those who have kept in contact and those whom he had lost contact with during the time since he retired. Contacts have been renewed around the world and many wishes for his recovery have been received. Help has been offered both from local people and those living further afield. This culminated in a recent phone call from an old comrade Sir Steuart Pringle, former Commandant General of the Royal Marines and President of the Royal Marines Association wishing him well and reminiscing about when they had served together.

Contrast this with the government's attitude that they are quite willing to ignore their responsibilities and pay lip service to honouring the Covenant that they promise to each and every serving person.

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair between them have taken us into war in Iraq and Afghanistan with little understanding of the outcome of these decisions and the long term effects it has on people in the services.

Their attitude is that they are tools to be used and then to be disposed of as cheaply as possible.

You can all help current and ex serving personnel by supporting the British Legion campaign or volunteering for SSAFA

The Royal British Legion - Honour the Covenant - Take Action

Cot Fuzz

Twa Noddies
Originally uploaded by fitaloon

Apparently my story of a few days ago may be true!

See this story


Welcome to Toy Town™: Cot Fuzz

Twa Noddies Seeking Mr. Plod

Twa Noddies
Originally uploaded by fitaloon

The police are getting younger so I have volunteered my two eldest to become PCSO's to help my big bro' in his fight against crime.

Urban Terrorism gains ASBO

Surely a punishment greater than an ASBO should have been imposed for this piece of Urban Terrorism. Apparently

A neighbour had complained that on one day alone the Tammy Wynette track D.I.V.O.R.C.E was played 20 times.

Suggestions for a suitable punishment are welcomed. My suggestion would be an Ipod glued to her head playing The Wombles or even better perhaps Barbie Girl by Aqua.

BBC NEWS | England | West Yorkshire | Music banned for Dolly Parton fan

Environmental Terrorists?

A Labour Councillor Neil Cooney from Aberdeen has been castigated as a "racist" after calling some travellers "Environmental Vandals or Terrorists" for the mess that is left behind at unauthorised camps.

After having reading the details I can only describe this as Political Correctness gone mad or at least an attempt to move the news away from the real story which is that Councils still do not provide enough sites for travellers.

Reading from the details it appears that Mr Cooney suggested that, on some occasions, travellers were environmental vandals and on one or two occasions you could call them environmental terrorists. He also added that he had been referring to a minority of travellers who left rubbish at the sites.

Now forgive me but what exactly is wrong with that.

We have all seen the mess left behind by some questionable travellers who park at unauthorised sites and then go on to leave the area in a disgusting state with no thought for their neighbours or other members of the public. This is against the Good Neighbhour Guide used by Aberdeen Council The description of the these people as Environmental Vandals or Terrorists is quite restrained compared to what the majority of people would call these elements.

Perhaps it is the use of the word "terrorists" that is the problem, as it is now thought of as describing bombers and suchlike, but in it's original meaning it was just those who brought terror onto an audience. The audience in this case being the local population who have to put up with the mess and despoiling of a local area and normally other types of activities that some of the scrotes pass off as legitimate "businesses".

Whilst I am sure that most of the travellers are law-abiding and genuine, there is an element who are nothing but freeloaders and criminals. They camp anywhere they feel is handy and then prey on weak and the old nearby before disappearing. Their only link to genuine travellers being the type of accommodation they choose to live in. These people take advantage of laws and bye-laws which are there for genuine travellers, smear their name and desecrate the area they have camped in, the title of "Environmental Vandals or Terrorists" is well deserved.

Various groups have complained as follows:
Lib Dems

Kate Dean, the Liberal Democrat council leader, told Mr Cooney she was disappointed that "racist, xenophobic and discriminatory language" was rife in the council chamber.

Not sure what she was on about here but that's about normal for Kate as she seems to have little grasp on what goes on around her.

Then we have the Gypsy Council who added the following

Alfie Kefford, the chairman of the Gypsy Council, said Mr Cooney's remarks were "highly offensive" and called for him to be removed from office.

He said: "We are extremely angry at what this man has said and want him sacked.

"He would not be allowed to use terminology like that against any other ethnic minority, but because we are gypsies he thinks he can get away with it."

Now if Mr Cooney had attacked all gypsies as being Environmental Vandals or Terrorists then maybe he might have something here but Mr Cooney was only describing those elements who have no thought for the rest of the public. If Mr Kefford wants to be taken seriously then he needs to start admitting that there are some problems in the travelling society (as there are in most societies) and working on this. If we in fact looked at those who are causing the problems, I would bet that 99% of them having nothing to do with gypsies/travelers and are just some scrotes who have been kicked out of their council provided housing and now prey upon us from a different angle.

Then we have the Commission for Racial Equality where a spokesman said

"Travellers are an integral part of our communities and have as much right to receive services as anybody else.

"There is a great tendency to draw stereotypes on the basis of the behaviour of a minority of individuals.

"It is unacceptable to stereotype any group in this way."

Nina Giles, the director of Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council, told The Scotsman: "There were problems a few years ago in Edinburgh over sites for gypsies, but I don't remember this sort of language being used.

"It is not helpful to race relations to label a particular ethnic group like that. There is also no evidence to base the statement on."

The problem is that Mr Cooney did not "stereotype" this group of people, in fact the only one guilty of stereotyping people was the spokesperson who assumed Mr Cooney was talking about gypsies rather than the so called travellers who are causing the problem.

The real problem is that for many years councils have not provided enough spaces for travellers and so "illegal" camps have been set up, as under Scottish law, gypsy/travellers are classed as an ethnic minority and they cannot be moved from an unauthorised site if the local authority has not provided an adequate number of spaces. Why are there not enough spaces, because it is difficult and expensive to set up legal sites, so it is cheaper to have illegal sites and then clear up after the people have moved on.

Because of these loopholes some groups of so-called travellers exist, who undermine the genuine travellers, and bring the whole group under public suspicion. If these groups can be whittled out and ejected from the genuine travellers then this type of vandalism or terrorism can disappear.

The Scotsman - Scotland - Aberdeen - I'm no racist, says politician under fire over gypsy tirade

Why you should read PoliticalBetting.com

If you have to use only one site to understand Politics then Political Betting should be it. Where else do you get such gems as this comparison of Blair's government to a Porno Flick:

75. Unfortunately, I kind of agree with you. Having read the Campbell diaries, the equivalent of the Redwood stunt - getting, say, Dennis Skinner to talk about the future of coalmining - would have been squashed before it was born by Campbell, Mandelson, et al.

Where I probably depart from you is my overall analysis of the Campbell book and what it means. Yes, it’s very readable - witty and brisk - and an invaluable insight into British politics and New Labour thinking.

But it is deeply, deeply unflattering about New Labour, probably much more than Campbell realised. It is inadvertently revealing.

Blair comes across as psychotically selfish. Campbell glum and punchy. Mandelson seems insecure to the point of hospitalisation. Brown is an unpalatable figure brooding on the edges.

Their entire philosophy is to screw the Tories and make good headlines. Principles are way down the list. The atmosphere is tawdry and bleak, albeit oddly watchable. Like a cheap porn flick.

Indeed, that’s what Blair etc come across as Porno stars in the sordid skinflick of politics.

Blair is Johnny ‘the wad’ Holmes, obsessed with his manhood. Campbell is ‘King Dong’. Mandelson is Tracy Lords, constantly being shafted, and Brown is the bizarre German bloke with the weird haircut who comes in at the end for the money shot. (SeanT)

A-levels and Education

Two posts from the BBC this week that seem to show different results in our Education system in Britain.

First we have this article, Fewer teens achieve maths target, from earlier in the week which seems to show slight drops in achievement by 14 year olds in England for maths and only slight increases in English and Science. Whilst the rises/drops are only small they need to be balanced against the targets set of 85% reaching Level 5 in English and in mathematics by this year.

The BBC has looked at the story as balancing one year against the next rather than looking at the underlying problem which is that the targets are being breached by large amounts. This makes the results look better than they really are.

The opposition spokesmen caught this and pointed out the problems as follows:

Shadow Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the results confirmed Ofsted's view that half of secondary schools were performing at a level that was "not good enough". The government was being complacent. Secondary schools needed to learn lessons from the best, with a rigorous focus on better behaviour and classes organised in sets in all academic subjects so children were taught in groups of similar ability.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Stephen Williams said the government had fallen "woefully short" of its own targets. "Any progress previously made has now stalled or is even going backwards," he said. "Ministers must now say when they expect to reach their targets and what measures they will put in place to help teachers and children achieve them."

Next we have the A-Level results coming out down south today which are again supposedly going to up in number of passes and the number of passes at the highest level.

Ministers defend standards but are making changes so the exams will be challenging in future, with the very best papers getting a new A* grade. Some universities have said that exam grades are no longer sufficient for them to use to select undergraduates.

One student who is taking her A-levels said

the boom in A grades was down to students taking "much easier subjects like media studies or flower arranging" not maths, economics or history.

"There is also the fact that the soft options that are available now, were not available 40 years ago - I wonder whether the pass rate differences between now and then would be so great if there had been the opportunity for some people to study the softer options?

"As a student who has studied for three tough academic subjects I find it very disheartening when my hours of study are effectively written off as my qualifications are seemingly worthless."

How does this balance against the fact that rates of passes are stagnant or falling when pupils are fourteen?

From my own observations from the type of work my kids are doing at school I see standards are much lower, both in terms of the the level of work being done and the quality of work that is acceptable.
Much of the work appears to be aimed at reaching targets rather than reaching above that to proper understanding of concepts and the application of these. Perhaps I am being unfair as I was lucky enough to attend a school that ranked very highly in England versus a standard school in Scotland.

All hail the Queen of Scottish Labour

Apparently Clunker Brown has decreed a coronation and Labour MSP's are bending over backwards to stand aside for the chosen one to be crowned.

Alex Salmond will be laughing for some time to come.

Second chance for Wendy Alexander

Neglected and Let Down

The Guardian has a couple of interesting articles today about the armed forces and the fact that that the Military Covenant, which says soldiers should always be able to expect fair treatment in return for the rights they forgo, is not being upheld.

The first one Neglected and Let Down shows some of the actions that both the British Legion and BAFF are taking in the coming months.

The second one Care of soldiers compromised by failing army pact details some of the Broken Covenants currently being experienced by relatives and members of the Armed Forces.

The existence of a group like BAFF in itself is an indictment on the current government.

The fact that the British Legion is running a campaign like Broken Covenant should worry all of us.

Please take time to visit the website and add your signature to the petition.



We've been neglected and let down say combat troops | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Articles on Afghanistan

Some light reading on the current situation in Afghanistan, whilst our so-called Defence Minister, Des Browne is caught up in some problems nearer to home.

First an article in the Independent titled "Politicians must accept the reality on the ground"
This explores the current situation and the way reality is only slowly dawning on the government in this country that it's not going very well and they may have to get a policy and perhaps some firm goals on what they want to achieve there.

The second an article in the Guardian titled "We are making a difference in Afghanistan, insists Browne", This appears to be Des Browne saying things are slightly tougher than Labour expected (no Bullets required)

Now a few articles from the Telegraph that explore some issues on Afghanistan.
First a poke at Gordon Brown and his disinterest Tories condemn Brown's 'lack of interest'

Next an article that gets a bit more to the heart of the problem titled "Blunder, confusion and a rising death toll" which also explores the fact that the Taliban are not quite the pushover they were expected to be by our Government. It finishes with the following

It is only now, after British fatalities in Afghanistan have passed the 70 mark, that public disquiet over the way the Government has handled the Afghan issue is raising questions about whether, in these challenging circumstances, the British military has any chance of achieving its original objective of helping to restore order.

British commanders predict that it will take at least three decades, not three years, to turn Afghanistan into a fully functioning state. If the casualty rate continues at its current level it is unlikely that the British public would be prepared to tolerate so many fatalities for so little gain.

And finally to the BBC who can only provide this piece Browne defends Afghanistan role which is wonderfully short on any thoughts on the situation but does provide the following substantial quote

Mr Browne, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said: "What we have to do is that very difficult balancing act of making progress militarily, which we can do.

"The British can over face the Taleban in any circumstances, we can over match them rather, we can face them down and we can drive them out of communities.

"The challenge is then to be able to build those communities, local government, their links to the provincial government and to the central government in such a way that that is sustained."

You have to feel that Mr Browne has forgotten what he is talking about and is drifting back to his Scottish role and how he might like to face up to the SNP rather than a distinctly more dangerous foe

Global Warming?

Apparently we are suffering from Global Warming. Problem is this morning as I went out to the car it had ice on the roof.

This is about the first time I can remember Ice in August. However considering the summer (what summer you ask) we are having it's probably about right.


Never mind we now have two days of weather warnings from the Met Office for Heavy Rain, thankfully I managed to cut the grass last night.

Update: For an interesting, if heretical, read on Global Warming and some other thoughts have a look here.

Brown Bounce costs you 39 Billion

Apparently the "Brown Bounce" in the polls that has some of the papers frothing at the mouth over the weekend has cost you and I 39 billion pounds. That's just over over twice as much as John Redwood thought he could save businesses in a year by reducing red tape.
The Guardian says

The huge sum suggests that, as chancellor, Mr Brown was able to hold back funds and policy initiatives until Mr Blair had stood aside. In effect, this helped fund the "Brown Bounce" that has delivered a run of significant poll leads and added to the expectation of an early general election.

The new spending includes an extra £7.7bn for defence to 2011; £15bn to improve the railways; £4bn extra spending on early years education over three years, covering Sure Start centres; £8bn on increasing the availability of affordable housing; £800m on flood defences; £400mon students grants and £1.2bn on a new electronic national border system.

Also noteworthy is that much of the spending is being targeted at issues that may affect marginal seats.

Oh and did I forget to mention that much of this "extra" spending has already been announced.

The biggest problem about all this money is that it has to, somehow, be paid for by us the Taxpayer. No mention has been made yet of where this money is going to come from, this will be saved until the fine print of the 2007 comprehensive spending review, due in October, has been pored over and the "Clunking Fists" deceit is exposed as per the 10p tax rate.


Brown spends £39bn in first seven weeks in No 10 | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Politics

Browne defends Afghanistan role

I see Des Browne has been defending our role in Afghanistan, and whilst I have no problem with what we are supposed to be doing there I do have a problem with the execution of that role.

The problem, has as usual occurred, because of the standard 4 P's, Piss Poor Planning and Preparation. The government as usual have put our armed forces in a situation where they are not properly funded, manned or supported. Just less than a month ago The Commons Defence committee report said Nato must commit more troops and aid to Afghanistan if it is to establish a stable democracy. In the report MP's were careful and measured, but there is no mistaking the central message, things are going badly, alarmingly wrong in Afghanistan.

The governments hope is that they can somehow disentangle themselves from Iraq in time to help sort out Afghanistan. All this will do, will be to desert one disaster, by putting a sticking plaster on a haemorrhaging situation. Real backing from NATO and the UN is required.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Browne defends Afghanistan role

Fine threat over T-shirt slogan

Gordon Brown will no doubt be happy with this sort of story as he leads us into a society where we are only allowed to do what he thinks is correct behaviour.

Assuming this sort of T-Shirt is banned, the police should be able to clean up most days on the streets by stopping people and fining them for wearing "offensive" clothes. I assume any with the FCUK label would be banned and obviously any with pictures of Politicians on them.

Of course the real beauty of this will be ability to ensure that those people who wear "baggy pants" that hang down to their knees are suitably punished. A quick tasering and removal of said offensive items seems appropriate.



BBC NEWS | England | Cambridgeshire | Fine threat over T-shirt slogan

Prescott signs memoirs deal worth £500,000

The news that John Prescott has the ability to write has amused me.

In most of the dealings we have seen with Mr Prescott over the past 10 years, the ability to write or even speak English has been severely in doubt. His main means of communication seems to have been grunts, thumps and some rather less salubrious methods.

The fact that this odious individual, who has taken large amounts of our cash, whilst doing little in return has been able to sell his memoirs is little short of unbelievable. Unfortunately he probably does know where much of the dirt has been buried. We can only hope, that with this amount of upfront payment, we will get some sort of return on the money and he will dig a giant hole for his Labour colleagues. We certainly won't be expecting any honesty about his own personal life which has been a tissue of lies and deceit.

Perhaps this will mean a job for one of the Iraqi translators who have been left to rot in Basra. They at least might be able to make some sense of this man.



Prescott signs memoirs deal 'worth £500,000'

'Forget Iraq, think Afghanistan'

Following on from a previous post we have the attached article.
Instead, of finishing off the work in Iraq the Brownites prefer to concentrate their energy on promoting the case for Britain's continued involvement in Afghanistan, which, they argue, has a more legitimate claim to be the front line in what was not so long ago known as the war on terror.

In one quote it maybe sums up all that is wrong with Gordon Brown and his government

This radical change of tack is best epitomised by the approach taken by David Miliband, the new Foreign Secretary, in setting out his foreign policy priorities.

As he boasts in this week's Spectator, he decided that his first visit outside Europe should be to Afghanistan and Pakistan because British interests are directly under threat from the activities of terror groups operating on both sides of the 1,500-mile border between the two countries.

By contrast, the fate of Iraq seems hardly to figure in his calculations, to the extent that senior Foreign Office officials privately complain that their new boss finds it difficult to stifle a yawn whenever the subject is raised at policy briefing sessions.

Yes the bad news is rolling in so just ignore it and it will go away. How often can Labour keep doing this to us?

'Forget Iraq, think Afghanistan' - Telegraph

Gagged by the Clunking Fist

Having allowed the sailors who were captured in Iran to sell their stories the MOD is now gagging the armed services from speaking out about conditions they are serving under. The use of forums, bulletin boards and blogs to do this has been increasing in the past months as conditions and the casualty rates have been increasing.

Let us wonder who might have prompted this "modernised" policy. The great "clunking fist" of Broon seems to be the most likely source as he attempts to control the political quagmire that is Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately for him, the stories and details of what is happening there are more and more coming into the public arena, particularly from members of the armed forces who have served in the area and have returned to the UK, who are passing on details to their friends and relatives. The true extent of casualties is coming out and the conditions and problems they are encountering are becoming well known.

This attempt to gag the Armed Forces will I predict backfire as the feelings in the Services are rising. The ability to post and blog anonymously is rather easy even from Iraq. Expect an increase in blogging from this area.

Update: Also have a look at this link in the Register which has some good comments about the effectiveness of this gagging order.

Update 2: Perhaps the new rules have been put in place because the MOD army of 1000 PR personnel is not quite getting it right and "bad" stories are appearing more frequently.

Also pop along to AARSE for some more discussion on this.

MoD issues gag order on armed forces | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Fighting for Pride

This article in the Times highlights the pressures and stresses our Armed Forces are encountering while serving in Iraq, and I doubt that Afghanistan will be any better.

The whole resolve to sort out the situation has disappeared from our Political Masters who can see the mounting body count and see only one way to come out of this whilst continuing to serve at the altar of the gravy train at Westminster. They will withdraw and leave Iraq to fend for itself.

What will we have achieved during our time in Iraq.

The truth is we will have achieved nothing and made Iraq a worse place to live. We went into Iraq saying we would bring them freedom and prosperity. All we have done is watch them disappear into anarchy. The least we can do is stay there with committed Politicians and Leaders and try to ensure peace for the majority of Iraqis.

The Americans at least are trying to do this now in the Baghdad area, whilst we are withdrawing from Basra, a city where we were initially welcomed, with our tails firmly between our legs.

The price for our armed forces and the conditions in which they operate is truly appalling, but the price being paid by Iraqi citizens is even worse. We cannot just withdraw and say get on with it.



Fighting for pride as pressure mounts on beleaguered troops - Times Online

Bottom Fetish?

First blog for along time. Stand by for resumption of Blogging as the Summer hols come to an end.



This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

* crap (3x)
* fart (2x)

New Arrival

New Arrival
Originally uploaded by fitaloon

New toy for Dad has arrived!

Conor Mckay - Wikipedia

Nice to see youngster's getting involved in Politics, particularly when you know them well. Conor is the son of one of my wife's good schoolfriends and his brother Aiden, is my wife's godson.

Conor Mckay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Imperialism lives on!

Imperialism lives on!

Group claims EU imperial victory

Crap Coverage

Friday was a bit of a bad day for personal reasons I'm not going to mention, but a bit before that all happened the event mentioned happened, and I must admit I was a bit bemused at the time and wondered if I had really heard it right.

Anyway 12 hours later I remembered about it and thought it was worth mentioning as it was definitely the funniest moment I could recall in the election coverage, even surpassing watching our Jack stumble through his acceptance speech, the Arran boat saga, wondering why Ms Sturgeon should be called "Gnasher" and the debates on what Mr Eugenides should drink (A flaming anti-freeze, margarita and toilet duck cocktails with a brolly and a twist of lemon).

I thought Iain might ignore it, I would have, but he fessed up really well. As one of the comments on his blog says

I can't imagine any politician except Iain being honest enough to say 'had to answer a call of nature'.

That honesty is the main reason I look at your blog every day, Iain - though, admittedly, hearing you fart and so on was a little too much realism :)

If only these politicians had brain enough to learn that honesty is what the electorate long for. Spin and scripted presentation - even when designed to appear unscripted - are just massive turn electoral offs.

Politicians, burn your bloody scripts, forget the over-sculpted, apparatchick hair styles and personas and please, please, please speak from the heart - if you have hearts, that is.

Thanks for the moment Iain, I just don't want to dream about it again.

Iain Dale's Diary: Great Television Moments: No 94

Labour "Soor Plums"

According to the Telegraph and other sources Labour have taken the hump, a bit like their future Leader MaCavity Brown, and are apparently looking to challenge the result of the vote in Cunninghame North constituency which was won by just 49 votes by the SNP. This is the constituency which includes Arran and had a problem getting the votes delivered by boat. According to Labour

When the ballot boxes arrived they had been opened and some of the papers inside were wet.

Which is not surprising considering what they had gone through, anybody who has seen the boxes might understand why they might have been a bit battered, even if they hadn't been attacked by a golf club waving senior citizen.

Whilst this might appear to mean they would then be back in control of the Scottish Parliament, it is more likely that they would then drop one from the regional list which would go back to the SNP, which means no change in the number of MSP's for either party. The BBC has more on the story here.

If Labour does press for a review of this, they are more than likely going to open up a huge can of worms that they may prefer to leave closed, but as the columnist in the Telegraph says

... as I learnt from reporting on the murky world of Scottish politics, it pays never to underestimate the Scottish Labour party's arrogance and stupidity (a fatal combination in the affairs of a country) when it is backed into a corner. And so it is proving in Thursday's aftermath.

Continuing in the Telegraph is a litany of how the Labour Party in Scotland is having a severe sour grapes problem (should I have said soor plums). These include

• Jack McConnell stuttering and muttering about how he still wants to form a Government.
• Others saying it was just one seat so they are still within their rights to govern.

Nobody like a bad loser and this is what they are, granted that if after 50 years it is a bit of a shock to them, their supporters and their lackeys in the Scottish Media.

Any attempt to back-door a win in this election will inevitably create a huge backlash against them so let's hope they try and then fail.


Humility and guile: a plan to save the Union

Iain Dale forgets to turn off Microphone

Funniest part of the Election Coverage must go to Iain Dale at about 11ish this morning, whilst listening to the audio feed on 18DS he announced he needed to go and left his fellow announcers rather rapidly, sounds of them carrying on but in the background sound of walking , door banging and thunk, then loud, long fart and a good groan and then silence, thank god he was cut off in his prime, anyway couple of minutes later he arrives back in the studio saying he had urgent call of nature. One of the guests says "hope you turned your Mic off"

He hadn't! Priceless.

P.S. Was enjoying the coverage on 18DS before this.

Salmond's Victory in Gordon gives him the keys to Holyrood

Alex Salmond has led his party to victory in the Scottish Elections but has still to form a government in Scotland as he will have to go into coalition with other parties. It is likely to be the trough slurping Lib Dems as the major partners. I can't see the SNP managing to get into bed with any of the other parties. Even this won't be enough to give them a clear majority so it may just be a minority Government.

Alex Salmond meanwhile has claimed a great victory for himself by getting elected in Gordon. He took on a long shot and his victory gave the SNP's the seat they needed to best Labour. Anyone disputing his right to be First Minister will have a tough job.

So onwards to the Referendum. Once we have got that out of the way and rejected it, we can really find out what the Scottish Political Landscape is like, as the SNP lose their reason for existing and scatter to the other parties. Could be interesting, especially as England will be suffering under MaCavity for the next couple of years.

Hat Tip to Blue Moon on PB for pointing out the impact of the result in Gordon.

P.S. Lost in England one grumpy dour Brown bear, answers to the name of MaCavity. Known to hibernate in strange faraway places when bad news is on the go.

Salmond achieves Holyrood victory

SNP biggest party in Holyrood. McConnell Humbled

They will have 47 Lab 46. Macavity now gone into hiding in England somewhere. Will he ever come back to Scotland.

Blair's Springboard to Oblivion

Brown showing what he would do to Blair.

Whilst MaCavity Brown has been hiding in a deep dark damp place in the bowels of No 11 in case any part of this Labour Disaster might reflect on him, across at No 10 Blair appears to be living in a fantasy world where facts are mangled and fiction becomes the truth.

Despite losing 500 seats, the Tories eating into his heartlands and the SNP the biggest party and with the most MSP's in Scotland, Tony Blair has insisted Labour has a

"good springboard"

to win the next general election.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson, assessing the picture across Britain, said:

"By any conventional measure, if we look at Labour and don't think about their opponents, this is pretty dire."

BBC NEWS | Politics | Blair defiant despite poll losses

Scottish Elections ruined by vote problems

The Scottish Elections in 2007 for the Scottish Parliament and Local Councils will go down in history as the most inept and inadequate ever. They are worse that those that dogged the 2004 American Presidential elections and to hear Labour, as usual blaming it on anyone else but the Scottish Executive is beyond belief.

At the moment it looks like over 100,000 spoilt ballot papers have been (not) counted in the Scottish Parliamentary elections, no figures for the council elections are appearing yet but they will likely be as bad.

In addition to this the count has been suspended in seven places either because of system problems or recounts because of the vast number of spoilt ballots and what must now be a complete lack of faith in the system.

None of these problems will be news to people who have been reading the Scottish Blogs during the election as they have been highlighted many times.

What happens next, there will be an inquiry and as usual no one will be held responsible, but there is a likelihood that there may be legal challenges as this size of problem has never been encountered before. I foresee a number of challenges that may go on for some time leaving the real result in doubt for many months.

Human rights lawyers will no doubt be rubbing their hands with glee this morning with the thought of how much money they can make from this.
Rumours will soon be going round that Cherie Blair has arrived in Scotland to see if she can get her snout into the trough as Tony has given up his day job.

No doubt there will also be a number of former or budding politicians who will also be looking at challenging the results.

So what does this mean to us the voter (spoilt or not).

Without a doubt it shows that our level of interest in Politics has diminished when we cannot be bothered to learn how to vote. The information has been there and the help has been there. If we can't be bothered to notice that there were new ballot papers and new forms of voting then to an extent we have only ourselves to blame.

However we have also the fact that various organisations warned the Scottish Executive about combining the two types of voting on one day. Whilst it was no doubt cheaper and should have been more efficient, it has confused voters as to whether they should mark with a cross or with numbers. Scotland managed before when the elections were not held on the same day.

Right now we have become a third world country in terms of Electoral Competence, we will be a laughing stock to many countries whom we have looked down on in the past years. This is yet another in the long line of incompetent decisions made by the Scottish Executive and will live on to embarrass them for many years.

The result of the election will not now be known until much later today, though from indications it will be very close. After watching the coverage last night I was appalled at the stumbling and mumbling Jack McConnell after his declaration, if he retains his position as First Minister it may be time to flee the country, he is nearly as much of a joke as the elections. I just hope the SNP do get most seats and we get a change, it can only be better for Scotland.

Update: This story from one of the returning officers is worth a read.

More stories of incompetence appearing all over the place. A Wifie was on BBC Radio Scotland news at lunchtime as I was driving home saying at her Polling Station the plastic boxes had failed/broken and the returning officer was stacking the papers up on the floor next to him. So much for secrecy/security/honesty etc etc etc. Apparently she complained and the officer was rude to her. She is chasing the matter up with Chief Returning Officer.

Another woman from Aberdeen detailed how she had not received her postal vote which is again appearing to be a common problem.

Counts still going on.


Elections marred by vote problems

Aberdeenshire is Labour Free again

All the results for the Aberdeenshire Local Elections are in and the best news is that there are no Labour Councillors in the whole of Aberdeenshire yet again.

State of play after all counts is
Liberal Democrats 24(-4)
SNP 22(+7)
Conservatives 14(+3)
Independent 8(-6)


Aberdeenshire Council - Local Election Results 2007

Bruce Luffman and Marcus Humphrey Retain their seats.

My local Conservative councillors have both retained their seats, Congratulations. Aberdeenshire Council - Elections - Ward -

Spoilt Ballot Party ruins Scottish Elections

As previously warned both the E-Count system and the complications of new voting methods is making a joke of the Scottish Elections. Anniesland has just declared over 7% spoilt Ballots. If this goes on the Spoilt Ballot party will come in either 4 or 5th in the Election defeating the Greens.

This is shocking, it is a travesty and makes us look like a third-rate nation. A total rethink will be necessary and I would suggest their will need to be an Official Enquiry.

Don't also forget with the rate of spoilt ballots the whole election could now be in jeopardy and open to legal challenge. The rate is now overall at about 4-5%.

Countries like Zimbabwe and Nigeria will just be laughing at us. This is just another low point for the Scottish Executive.

Live Blog 3 - Last one just won't edit

From PB

Sean T; there are no exit polls because they’re vastly expensive. I led national polls for Harris for ITN in the 1987-92 period and they cost a couple of hundred thousand pounds even then. Regional polls really wouldn’t be much cheaper, as they still need the sample size and the number of sampling points to be valid.
The audience for other than a general election will not justify the cost for the media. We’re just going to have to keep watching real results - elsewhere and here!

by Robert Waller May 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 pm

23:36 Fog stopping Ballot boxes from Barra. Will be midday before count complete.

23:38 BBC reports turnout may be up to 60%

23:44 SNP contact in Inverness East Nairn and Lochaber still taking down signs,

23:48 5 mins to Wishaw declaration!

23:57 Mr Eugenides reports: Stirling is Michael Forsyth's old [Westminster] seat, and the Tories are trying desperately to take it "back". They require a swing of just under 5% to capture it from Labour.

My man inside the Stirling Tory campaign says - and this is hard information, by the way - that the Tories were ahead on the postal vote, with the SNP pushing Labour into third. With half the ballots now counted, the SNP are in pole position - just - with the Tories second and Labour still third. The remaining votes are, they think, from more rural areas of the constituency, which tend to be more Tory. It's going to be tight.

00:26

Nick Robinson of the BBC says Our boffins behind the scenes are analysing in detail the results in a few key wards. They tell me that the the early signs suggest this may not be as bad a night for Labour in England as had been anticipated. It may instead be the Lib Dems whose support is down on last year.

00:33 Mr eugenides reports

Radio Scotland have Annabel Goldie ahead in West Renfrewshire. Our Lady of the Doilies, much maligned (and rightly so) has had a good campaign: it would be a terrific result if she can come from third to boot out the egregious Trish Godman, of Labour.

00:34 Jack Mcconnell holds Wishaw, majority cut by 3500 and he is struggling to put brave face on it. This is dire, If he is our leader again we might as well flush the toilet on any hopes in the future.

00:38 hearing reports SNP doing well in ABerdeen south (Nicol Stephen), Please god let that be true.

00:43 Nearly 1,000 spoilt ballots in Wishaw. How thick are some people? Jesus.

00:51 Nick Robinson is continuing with the BBC line as follows

Some early signs of how the Tories are doing in the north. The party says that they are on course to become the largest party in Bury and to make gains in Crewe and Nantwich. The official results are not yet in. Sounds good - at first.

These areas used to have Tory MPs and these are councils they really need to take control of. So, the verdict will be likely to be good, but not good enough

00:52 Mcconnell back on the BBC, very nervous and halting, What a Gawwp. Hopes he has won confidence of Scotland. Almost stuttering, and mumbling and now onto pathetic manifesto speak.

00:56 he's getting worse and worse, he is dying on screen, He accuses others of being arrogant but declines to name them, what a prat.

01:01
God he is awful, accusing others of being arrogant but afraid to say who. Worst interview of a winning candidate I think I have ever heard.

If he is still our First Minister we should just turn into lemmings and jump off the nearest cliff.

01:10 Dr Hfuhruhurr has information from Gordon that Salmond is neck and neck there.

01:11 Parliamentary vote in Kelvin has over 1100 votes spoilt!

01:13 Dundee West to the Nats from Labour, Meltdown starting hopefully.

01:15 Swing was 6.8% Again spoilt votes very high. This will cause a big problem for the new parliament.

01:17 Everyone remarking on spoilt votes. I spent ages educating people how to vote what is so difficult about it. Next time we will have to take names and go round with the heavy mob.

01:22 Looking really bad for Lab in Wales may it continue.

01:28 Tartan hero reports
1.10am Gordon Jackson has just been overheard saying "there is no coming back from this" ... more or less conceding defeat... Nicola Sturgeon about to be declared the new Govan MSP.
On the three results declared across Scotland, the SNP vote is up 10%, Labour down 1%.

01:39 Tories holding Galloway & Upper Nithsdale.

01:40 With 3 results in nearly 3400 spoilt ballots, last time less than 500. What a disaster!

01:48 , What a prat Bill Butler a rant about heckling made him look stupid. Yet again a huge number of spoilt votes in Anniesland.

01:58 Shock News Spoilt Ballot Party take 4th place in Scottish Elections just behind Tories

02:13 Dundee is now totally SNP, Their first ever city.

02:29 my final entry I have to be up in 4 hours. It looks like Alex Salmond has won Gordon, great result for the SNP and kick in the teeth for the Lib dems. Hopefully this will continue into West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and the Tories kick out the Lib Dems.

Have fun!

03:10 One final entry as Salmond wins Gordon and says that Postal Voting arrangements were totally inadequate, Also the fact of having the two different elections at the same time has invalidated thousands of votes. It's going to be tight, it will probably go down to the Western Isles tomorrow.

Now must go.

Live blog 2 - Live bloggers in Scotland

23:13 Picked this up from Doctor Vee ,just having a wander around.


23:15 First result from Motherwell & Wishaw expected within 30 mins. ?

23:17 Live coverage of Scottish Elections on BBC Parliament here

Live Blog Time

In rural Aberdeenshire people still voting late on met a couple just walking down at 21:30 and the Polling station was quite busy. Hopefully a good turnout, itching to see change in Scotland.
Might grab a quick wee dram but work and a drive in the morning beckons so it will only be a little one.
SNP claim they are challenging Labour closely in Glasgow Kelvin. Could be the first seat to declare.

10:48 Finally got kids to bed , wife watching Question Time on Sky (Channel 974-988 ) as its not on in Scotland.

22:51 Now got QT up on in internet hoping for Patsy to have a hard time, she would be gone by now if the elections weren't on. She is the sacrificial lamb for tonight.

22:53 just as I write that the question is should Patsy resign, apparently the most asked question!

22:57 Patsy at her patronising worst!

22:58 Caol Ila in hand, tasty

22:59 Patsy getting hard time what a shame!

23:04 newsnight saying indications turnout up in Scotland

23:05 test on PB says

LOL

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/localgovernment/story/0,,2072153,00.html

Guardian story on briefing doc for Labour ministers tonight

“The first of three “key messages” ministers were briefed to explain reads: “This was always a very tough set of midterm elections for Labour. However we fully respect the message the British people is sending us this evening.”
It offers recommended answers to questions about the party’s unpopularity and the handover of power to Mr Brown. Initially, ministers were told they should say: “Let us wait and see what the results are before engaging in speculation. We will know soon enough.” Once the results began to come in, the paper said ministers should reply: “We are midway through an unprecedented third term. All governments experience midterm setbacks at the polls. In the end what matters is we have the right policies to take the country forward and take the tough decisions for the long term.”

Voting is over, roll on the Count

Voting has stopped, now all we need are the results, here's hoping for a change in Scotland.

Live Blogging from Deepest Aberdeenshire

I'll be adding my tuppence worth on what's going on around the UK for a while tonight, but as work calls early tomorrow it may be an early bath.

Thanks to Matt Wardman for the opml file, makes it easy to keep up with all the action.

Voted

How to vote in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

Well after getting home from work, the wife and I have wondered down to the Polling Station and voted.

I surprised myself by adding an extra vote on my council election slip by giving a 3 to the SNP candidate, it might just help ensure that Labour and the Lib Dems don't get in. This is the first time in 30 years of voting I have ever given any part of my vote to anyone else but the Conservatives, which just goes to show how much this country needs a change from the current government.

Whilst the polling station wasn't very busy there were a few people wandering in whilst we were there, so if you haven't voted, get down their and get voting.

Prepare for Patsy!

Patsy (Best Year so Far) Hewitt will be patronising, deceiving and just lying on Question Time tonight at 10:35pm. Please will the rest of the Panel (William Hague, Charles Kennedy, Oona King and Tim Collins) giver her the kicking she deserves.

Some of these stories might help for some hints.

Meanwhile if you haven't voted, get out there and do your democratic duty.


Question Time | This week's panel

Blair 'will not quit yet as MP'

Brown showing what he would do to Blair.

Strange how this story came out today. Will this be the last spin of the Blair top. I'm predicting a kicking for Labour in Scotland so hopefully he will get the message and do the decent thing tomorrow.

Blair 'will not quit yet as MP'

When will the results be known

The following sites have timetables of when the results are projected to be known.

Scottish Parliament and National Assembly

English and Scottish local authorities:

I suspect that I will be in bed when they start to come in as I am working on Friday.

Meantime get out there and vote, vote for change and kick the Labour Party out of Scotland.

Hat tip to Stuart Dickson on Political Betting even if he is SNP.

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Who’ll win the polling battle of Scotland?

Go forth and Vote!

How to vote in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

The Herald has published details of a Telegraph poll by YouGov perhaps the only poll that forecast the last elections results in Scotland accurately. According to the Herald

A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph today gives the SNP a six-point lead over Labour in the constituency vote, with 37% against 31%, with Tories 13%, LibDems 14% and others 5%. The regional vote has the parties on SNP 32%, Labour 27%, Tories 13%, LibDems 10%, Greens 9% and others 9%.

The paper said those figures translated into seats would give the SNP 45 over Labour's 39.

I popped these results into my favourite calculator over at Scotland Votes and they gave the SNP one more seat.

What is even more apparent from these figures is that every vote will count for the first time in a Scottish election. The proportional outcome is expected to see a radical shift in the distribution of power across the nation's council chambers.

So remember how to vote correctly. A good example is shown below.

And finally good luck to Stewart, Bruce and Marcus for today!

How to vote in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

The Herald : News: HEADLINE NEWS

Update: Brethren Cautioned on SNP placards removal

In an update to this story it appears that the 5 people were members of the Brethren Church. Make of that what you will!


Five men have been cautioned by police after Scottish National Party placards were removed in Aberdeenshire.

I wonder who they might have been considering the constituency is Gordon!

Cautions on SNP placards removal

Stewart Whyte or Trough Feeding Lib Dem

Just received the latest version of what purports to be the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine News. It is in fact an election document from the Lib Dems full of their usual bar charts, half-truths and deceptions.

The biggest deception is of course the format and title. Have a look at the image below. The first thing to notice is that nowhere on the front does it say this is a piece of Lib Dem propaganda, no it purports to be "News" and tries to look like a free newspaper.


In fact it has nothing to do with news as can be seen from the next image which is the main headline.
Are the lib dems so dim they don't know who their opposition is. Good though to see that they are predicting a close contest here.

The title is just so typical of the Lib Dems who though purporting to be the "nice" party are in fact the most underhand, sleazy, condescending and just plain dishonest of all the major parties, which when they have Labour to compete against says something.

Perhaps if the headline had said

STEWART WHYTE or the Trough Feeding Lib Dem

it might have been more honest.

Then we could have had a couple of bar charts of number of mortgages taken out by the Lib Dem and then a profit from our money bar chart (£40000 and counting).

If you had any doubt about who to vote for before this should have made your decision just that little bit easier.

Patsy lying and dying in House off Commons

According to Dr Crippen , Patricia (Best year so far) Hewitt is lying and dying in the House of Commons this afternoon.

According to an E-Mail from a BBC producer

Patricia Hewitt is speaking in the House of commons right now - apparently the MTAS security breach was Channel 4 News' fault because they left 2 hours between finding out about it and contact the DoH press office.

She also just said 'there is no evidence that members of the public, or any other authorised people, other than ITN/Channel 4 News accessed the data',. This got enormous laughs and cries of 'yer what? Yer what? Yer what yer what yer what?' from the opposition benches.

Dr Crippen ends off as follows:

Hewitt is being both dishonest and disreputable.

* I am not a junior hospital doctor.
* I am not registered with MTAS.
* In this context I am a member of the general public. I was able to access details of applications on the MTAS site, and did so.
* Many others did so too.

The security of the MTAS site was appalling. Victoria Macdonald is a highly respected Channel 4 journalist and the attempt somehow to blame her, or Channel 4, for the MTAS problems is disgraceful.

This now goes beyond political rough and tumble. Hewitt has lied to the House of Commons.

Time she resigned.

I can only echo those sentiments and judging by the traffic I am getting to this article from the NHS so will many Junior (and other)Doctors.

NHS Blog Doctor: Hewitt on the ropes in the House of Commons

Napier's Commission

As well as being a really useful tool for one of my other interests, Family History, the documents here recently made available online for the first time are a timely reminder of why Scotland would like to be able to have a decent say in it's government and future state.

Even reading the first few pages, when one of the crofters interviewed, refuses to say anything until he has a guarantee that his Landlord will not either turf him out or burn him out, brings a sense of the hardships endured not much over a hundred years ago and which had been in place for many years.

Lochaber College Mallaig - Napier's Commission

Some Light Relief

After "Combeing" the land I have found at least there is one Mackie who knows how to use his head.

Vote early, vote often

According to David Hencke, the Guardian's Westminster correspondent, this Thursdays elections across the country

could go down in history as the point when fraud, corruption and mismanagement made a mockery of the electoral process in Britain.

The reason is because of all the new experimental voting and counting procedures which have not been properly thought out. Worse, some of the experiments have been based on laws that, ministers have just discovered, were not properly drafted in the first place.

I have already taken a look at the demise of the secret ballot here. The BBC has a report here that over 20,000 postal votes have dropped off the register in Birmingham since the last election, when massive fraud was discovered after the elections. And I posted earlier on the new E-Count system where I said

As this is the first large scale use of the system you would have thought the numpties on the Scottish Executive (Labour/Lib Dems) would have had enough sense to at least follow some of the calls of the Electoral Commission who asked for e-counting to be independently verified more than three years ago to boost voter confidence but nothing has been done.

So what confidence can we have in the election counts being correct, secret and fair. It's time to rethink this mess and get back to some semblance of fairness to both voters and candidates, before we become as suspect as countries like Zimbabwe or Nigeria.

Vote early, vote often

Hotmail's antispam measures snuff out legit emails, too | The Register

I see the ever so secure Microsoft are deleting your valid e-mails if they think they might just be spam.

Whilst everyone detests spam it would be nice if valid e-mails , which could be important. did arrive in a timely fashion.

Now whilst you can accept the fact that this might happen occasionally, you would presume there would be some simple way of determining why this might have happened and how it could be resolved, but apparently "Big Brother" Microsoft does not want this to happen.

In the end it's really quite simple, abandon the big ship Microsoft.

Micro Softs Hotmail's antispam measures snuff out legit emails, too

Last gasps from a dying Labour Party

Are these the final plaintive gasps from the dying Labour Party.

According to the Independent, Jack McConnell has launched an appeal for a cross-party alliance of Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat voters to stop the SNP winning.

Apparently

Mr McConnell said Tory and Liberal Democrat voters should back Labour as the "only way" to stop Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, taking power after a YouGov poll put the SNP on 38 per cent, eight points ahead of Labour, and on course to become the biggest party at Holyrood.

I can think of only one appropriate response to this suggestion. Turn away if easily offended!



Labour braced for dual Celtic challenge

How to Vote in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

The above picture(Click to enlarge) show you how to vote in the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency for elections to the Scottish Parliament, for Stuart Whyte and the List vote, and also for the Local Government Elections in Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Upper Donside for Bruce Luffman and Marcus Humphrey.

So if you are at all confused just follow the above instructions and all will be well.

Remember not to to fold your voting slips.

This is a follow onto to the entry here about Labour dying in Scotland.

Daily Mail website still down.

I see this Daily Mail website is still down.

You should have a quick look here as Adam Boulton riles Patricia (Best year so far) Hewitt.

MTAS is currently unavailable

Recognise NHS success, says Blair

Should be a short Speech!

Hat tip I'm Backing Blair for the Image.

BBC NEWS Politics Recognise NHS success, says Blair

Labour is Dying. STV to Blame.

No, its not a disease, The Herald has the article attached showing how a combination of events will mean that Labour will suffer during the forthcoming council elections in Scotland. Now this is not something to worry or cry about too much as it their just desserts for years of inadequate and dishonest government.

What is really worrying for all involved in Politics is the fact that only roughly a quarter of people in Scotland know about the new Single Transferable Voting (STV) system and only 4 in 10 had even heard about it. Roughly a third of the population had not even heard that STV was going to be used.

James Mitchell, a politics professor at Strathclyde University, interpreted the findings in the Herald as follows:

"People are not only willing to vote differently in list and constituency votes, but also in local council elections. Given that people are showing some sophistication in using their votes in different ways, you can see this would continue under STV.

"But many people do not understand the system, and it is pretty unlikely they will learn about it by polling day.

"This suggests it would have been better to have local government elections on a separate day, running a more successful public information exercise in tandem with what the parties were doing."

Now I would say that there has been plenty of information available, both via the mailshot, in the media and available online.

Unfortunately most of it has been ignored, as it has arrived or been seen to be part of the great "Election Bumph Delivery" that drops on your doorstep, most of which is permanently filed on arrival by a number of methods.

So be aware of the new Voting system and use your vote(s) wisely and of course correctly on the Conservative Party.

A reminder this does not apply to Postal Voters whose votes will already have been mislaid/stolen/removed or just in general tampered with.

The Herald : Politics: MAIN POLITICS

Stewart White - SexyMSP.com

After a tip from Iain Dale I find out that my prospective Conservative MSP is/was leading the voting for the sexiest male MSP candidate, this may be a shock to him!

It was definitely a shock to my kids and their friends who were quite amused by this and have maybe helped a bit in the voting! They are pupils of his at Aboyne Academy.

If the results of this vote are anything to go by, he will be a definite for West Aberdeenshire amd Kincardine MSP.

Sexy MSP