Archive
You can’t go home again
So Jose’s back at Chelsea. I seem to recall that he was fired last time because his football wasn’t attractive enough. What has changed?
Live by them
In the wake of the current ‘scandal’ stories, we are told that our weak-kneed, dysfunctional government is looking at ways of giving constituencies the power to recall their MPs, ie sack them.
No way.
I’m a firm believer in the principle that we should live with the consequences of our own mistakes . . . including those that are made in the secrecy of the polling booth.
Stung
I admit to being slightly underwhelmed by reports in recent days of Parliamentarians and their ‘availability’ to lobbyists. This is old news, and not worth the fuss that’s being made. While it’s all a bit seedy, nobody died, and nobody appears to be lying. Apart from . . .
These stories have been generated by deliberate acts of deception by a couple of broadsheet newspapers and by the BBC’s vicious, morally questionable, Panorama programme. Their reporters posed as lobbyists and lured their targets into setting themselves up. That’s entrapment, pure and simple. How could it be legitimate reporting? The story didn’t exist until they set it up.
How were these people targeted? Is it a mere coincidence that Patrick Mercer MP is one of Dave Cameron’s fiercest critics within his own party? I think we should be told.
The sooner the proposed register of lobbyists is set up the better, to protect the public interest and to protect MPs and Peers from themselves.
See you Thursday?
The Coronation isn’t the only significant event to chalk up a big anniversary this year. It’s twenty years since the publication of my very first novel, Skinner’s Rules. I’ll be celebrating that milestone at the launch of Skinner 23, Pray for the Dying, at an event in Biggar on Thursday, June 6. It’s being organised by the town’s excellent independent bookshop, Atkinson-Pryce, which celebrates its own twentieth anniversary by being named Scottish Bookseller of the year for 2013.
The gig takes place in the Elphinstone Hotel, Biggar, kick-off 7:30pm. Tickets are still available from the bookshop, telephone 01899 2212125.
60 years on
What did you do on Coronation Day? (Always assuming that you were around then.)
I watched it on a twelve -inch black and white 405-line television screen, in our house in Motherwell. My uncle and aunt were there too, as they hadn’t joined the limited ranks of telly owners at that stage. It went on for a hell of a long time, more than the attendance span of my cousins and I, for I remember playing in the rain at one point in the afternoon. A day or so later, our street had a party in a community hall. The kids all did turns. I sang a song called ‘In a Golden Coach’ for which I received a warm ovation; it was the beginning and end of my show-biz career.
The other referendum
In Scotland, the Independence debate is in full swing, and it will carry on until the day that our votes are cast.
In Catalunya, a similar referendum will be held next year, albeit without the agreement of Spain’s central government. Nine months ago there was a great outpouring of nationalist sentiment, when fifteen percent of the Catalan population demonstrated in the streets of Barcelona, demanding a total split from Spain. Today, the independence flags are still flying, but there seems to be little discussion of the subject.
A L’Escala businessman friend of mine gave me an interesting insight a couple of weeks ago. ‘It’s all right asking for it,’ he said. ‘But how do me make it work? Where will the money come from? We need to think about that.’ That’s what the argument here is really about. The Catalans believe they are being ripped off by Madrid; at its heart their grievance is financial. They might vote ‘Yes’, but only if the money is right. They won’t bet the house on sentiment.
I hope we’re above that in Scotland. My mind was made up forty years ago. Next year I’ll vote with my heart and soul, not with my wallet.
Lip service
Always keen to be accountable to the Broadcasting Taxpayer, (let’s be aware of what the so-called ‘TV licence’ really is) the BBC offers its viewers a platform to criticise its news coverage. and take its executives to task. It’s called ‘Newswatch’.
The importance of this programme to the BBC hierarchy is demonstrated very clearly by the time at which it is screened: Saturday morning, 7:45am.
Says it all, doesn’t it?
Quintin Jardine's blog 