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It’s for Rex
Attention please, for I will say this only once. (Fat chance!)
So far, every single objection to an independent Scotland has been based, when you dig down into it, on one thing alone. Money.
The principal objectors are the wealthy, individuals and big business, and all those other vested interests, who are scared to stick a single toe out of their comfort zone. They’ve all forgotten the Horlicks that Westminster made of the UK economy by the shoddy regulation that it put in place, and by its determination to persuade the electorate that everything was New Labour Rosey when actually it was disappearing up its own fundament at a rate of knots. The Better Together campaign is harnessing one thing alone, and that is the self-interest of the better off.
Nobody seriously argues that Scotland is incapable of managing a strong vibrant economy, not any more, but they’re using any means available to divert attention from the other opportunity that independence offers, the chance to create a safe, compassionate society where every citizen is valued equally, not one run by a clique that’s only interested in looking out for its own.
My new grandson, Rex Masato Jardine, was born on February 15, to my daughter-in-law Kyoko, and my son Allan. Before any of those three were a twinkle, I knew how I’d vote in any independence ballot, if I ever had the chance. Now my motivation is even stronger. When I put my cross in the ‘Yes’ box on September 18, I’ll do so first and foremost because I believe it’s best for Rex.
Chasing daylight
I note today that the Westminster government is looking once again at trialling a UK move to Central European Time. I note also that the Scottish Government remains opposed.
While I recognise the objections to such a move, particularly in the most northern communities, it seems to me that they can be overcome by simple means. If there is concern that the working day would begin in darkness, can the working day not be changed, where necessary? What’s so difficult about opening schools, public buildings, shops, etc, one hour later and adjusting closing times accordingly?
People assume that when Eileen and I go to Spain for a couple of months in the winter, we’re chasing warmer weather, but that’s only true to an extent. The worst snowfall I’ve ever experienced was in Spain, in March. Mostly we’re going to enjoy a time zone that suits the available daylight hours, which are only slightly longer, better than GMT. Britain could have it too, all of Britain, if we weren’t so damned inflexible.
Ripped
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26351457
When it takes Amazon to show the best ‘brains’ in the BBC the error of their ways, you know that something’s badly wrong.
In the pink
I have just seen the new Scotland away kit. Words fail me. The Tartan Army will stand for many things, but primrose?
BBC bias
Another fine piece by Kenneth Roy, exposing the extent to which the game is rigged against the Yes campaign.
When in Rome
First 6 Nations win in Rome for eight years. A grovelling apology from Paul Hayward in the Telegraph well in order, but will it be forthcoming? Not a chance.
Alastair Darling champions Canadian teachers
Of all the bloody stupid bluster we’ve seen over the last few days, this may rank as the bloody stupidest! Beyond doubt independence will be followed in short order by a new Scottish National Lottery; I predict that this will run on a not for profit basis, unlike Lotto, where 10p of every £2 stake (and that’s a lot of pennies) goes to the operator Camelot, which is owned, bizarrely, by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund.
Given that Scots are inveterate punters, it is entirely possible that Scottish charities will gain in net lottery disbursements.
Royal appointment
Note for the diary if you live near the Queen: on March 27, at 7:30pm, I’m appearing at the annual crime festival organised by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, venue Windsor Guildhall. Click on this link for ticket sales.
http://tickets.windsor.gov.uk/Sales/events/festival-of-crime-writing
‘No’ panic
There’s a piece on Page 6 of today’s Herald, by Iain McWhirter, that should be required reading for all those rubbing their hands in glee over the idiotic intervention in the great debate by the unelected President of the European Commission.
As with the tri-partite currency claim, Barroso’s analysis and his comparison, has been shown to be well wide of the mark.
There is no clearer indication that the Yes campaign is on course for victory than the hysterical bullying that we’ve seen in the last few days, from Westminster and its self-serving allies.
Yes for Scotland
Slimy Tory toff
A couple of days after his disgraceful and dodgy intervention in the Scottish Independence debate, the Chancer of the Exchequer has announced that international athletes competing in the Glasgow Diamond League meeting in July will be given exemption from UK income tax.
Leaving aside the very live issues of whether this is a bribe, and whether it discriminates unfairly against British athletes, George Osborne’s timing is crude to say the least.
This stuff may be delighting the London tabloids, but it’s all going to backfire in the final stages of the debate.
Yes for Scotland
Gutter press
No newspapers will be banned in the new Scotland, but a quick glance at this morning’s front pages convinces me that a few, notably the odious Daily Mail might as well close up shop. Their reporting of the Independence debate will neither be forgotten nor forgiven.
DLT OK
In another debacle by the Crown Prosecution Service, Dave Lee Travis, the venerable radio presenter, has been acquitted of twelve of fourteen counts of indecent assault, with the jury unable to reach verdicts on the other two charges against him.
As a correspondent observed recently, CPS appears to stand for ‘Couldn’t Prosecute Satan’. However the comedic side of all this is removed when one considers the financial burden of proving their innocence for William Roache, Michael Le Vell, and now DLT, and alongside that the cost to the public purse of these lengthy and abortive trials.
This is how the justice machine works in England, or rather, how it doesn’t.
Yes for Scotland
Three blind mice
I am still laughing. George Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander are agreed that an independent Scotland will not use the pound sterling. Look out three sets of crutches, someone, for each has shot himself in both feet.
Leaving aside the legality of this tripartite diktat, if that proves to be the case, it will be a small price to pay to be rid of Mr Osborne, Mr Balls and even Mr Alexander, Westminster MP for about half of Scotland. He will shortly be doing what all former Treasury ministers do when the electorate has found them out, namely collecting lucrative non-executive directorships in his new adopted homeland.
As Mel Gibson’s Wallace might have said, ‘They make take our pound, but they’ll never take our free will’.
Yes for Scotland.
Wreck
Someone just told me about the Miley Cyrus ‘Wrecking Ball’ video. If I was Billy Ray, I wouldn’t be pleased
Shameful
As a blogger, it’s self-evident that I’m all for free speech, but as a Scot I won’t stand for being the subject of xenophobic abuse by an English journalist. A responsible newspaper proprietor would fire Paul Hayward and discipline his editor.
Yes for Scotland.
Puzzling
Spotted recently in Newcastle Station. So what does it mean? If you turn up on time but the doors are closed we ain’t going to help you board?
Anything you can do
First Becks owning a football club in Miami, now . . .
Nemo me impune lacessit
Over the last few days, the people of Scotland have been told what’s best for them by Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, Bob Dudley, the boss of BP, and now by David Cameron, the Prime Minister. They’re all belittling Scottish Independence and telling us that they know best, and we should stick with the Union.
None of these people have any locus in the debate, or even an understanding of it. But why should they? For the record, Mr Carney is Canadian, Mr Dudley is an American, and Mr Cameron is an Old Etonian twat. Our referendum isn’t about currency, it isn’t about business and it isn’t about the best interests of the English. It’s about Scotland always having been a nation in its soul, and about the right of Twenty-first Century Scots to be recognised internationally as citizens of an independent state.
Cleared
I’ve just read that William Roache, AKA Ken Barlow, has been acquitted on all charges brought against him. From what I’ve been able to glean from the reports of the trial, this has not come as a surprise to me, nor, I suspect, to anyone else who has been studying it.
Coming on top of the farcical trial of Michael Le Vell, another Coronation Street actor, on similar charges, and his acquittal, this must raise very serious questions about the judgment and competence of the Crown Prosecution Service.
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