Populism or Liberalism? The former is not actually popularity despite the sound of it!

 In the 21st century, the earth is in danger of almost melting with global warming and at the same time separating into two forms of political dogma which are frankly the last thing it needs, since those two forms are diametrically opposite and frankly irreconcilable !

The term "Populist" is not a representation of popularity, despite sounding similar! Populism is on the rise - especially among Europe's right, and in the US, where it helped crown the archetypal populist in Donald Trump. The word is misrepresented especially in Western society, where it is construed as a form of representation of the people !

But there's a difference between being popular and being populist. 

There are populist sentiments on both sides of the political spectrum and if we look at Venezuela there was Chavez, while in Spain there was Podemos both of which are left wing!

Hugo Chavez President of Venezuela

who inspired;

Pablo Iglesias Turrion leader of Spain's "Podemos" Party

In Europe, the term right-wing populism is used to describe groups, politicians and political parties that are generally known for their opposition to immigration, especially from the Islamic World and for Euroscepticism !

Ring any bells in the UK??

Nigel - Britain's epitome of a "populist" politician!

The only plus is that this clown will never get a hold of the reins of power ! 

Oh wait a minute! There is one other clown whose hands are on the reins !

Do you wonder why I'm an avid supporter of "Liberalism?

Scotland is such a drain on the UK purse ! The NHS is safe in Tory hands and not up for grabs by investors with offshore accounts`

 I genuinely think that Westminster is the cradle of kindness and that we, the Scottish people should be eternally grateful for England's largesse towards us !  

I mean what have Scotland got that could possibly make our English partner in this marriage, want to keep us in this wedded bliss (?) that is the 1707 Act of Union?

Meanwhile Westminster grant themselves 10% pay-rises annually but do clap for the NHS in gratitude for the sterling work that they and the rest of the "key" workers fighting the pandemic carry out on behalf of the country.

That says it all really !  Independence is coming and is unstoppable!

Time to go ! The UK marriage is over and it was too one-sided anyway.

 Marriage is a "union" between two willing and equal partners in which they commit to each other for "better or worse, richer or poorer in sickness and health".  

However, in the 21st century the divorce rate and break up of marriages has rocketed to circa 100,000 per annum in England and Wales alone. This due in many cases, to infidelity on one or indeed both partners. Equally the case of a domineering partner to the marriage has contributed to a large percentage of those divorces!

The Scottish Parliament

The English Parliament

This marriage between England and Scotland was "arranged" with the "Act of Union" between the two Kingdoms on the 1st May 1707. Divorce then would be as rare as hens teeth.

For clarity it should be noted that the Scots signatories to the Act were "bribed"

The role played by bribery has long been debated; £20,000 was distributed by the Earl of Glasgow, of which 60% went to James Douglas the second Duke of Queensberry. Another negotiator, Argyll was given an English peerage. 

Robert Burns is commonly quoted in support of the argument of this corruption; 

"We're bought and sold for English Gold, Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation." 

Professor Sir Tom Devine a very highly respect historian, agrees that promises of 'favours, sinecures, pensions, offices and straightforward cash bribes became indispensable to secure government majorities'. 

As for representation going forwards from the Act, Scotland was, in the new united parliament only to get 45 MPs, one more than Cornwall, and only 16 (unelected) peers places in the House of Lords. 

This last statistic speaks volumes for the attitude of The English Parliament in Westminster to their marriage partner. Scotland as a country, had only one M.P. more than the remotest county in England.

For 300+ years this marriage of unequal's, has bumbled along and in truth, has shared many highs and lows! 

That was until the smaller (in population terms) partner decided that in the 21st century she'd had enough of the domination and very often, bullying from her dominating marriage partner. In a form of tokenism towards self governance Scotland was given it's own parliament Holyrood in 2004 by Tony Blair, with a modicum of devolved powers. Powers that this clown of a P.M. Boris Johnson wants to remove!

Enough of this history malarkey though, in present day terms, both parties to the marriage have gone their separate ways with diverging politics and the truth is that Scotland was always left leaning and a bit socialist, whereas the numerically larger party to the marriage, England had at its heart, Toryism!

 

A woman that was actually despised and I don't use that term flippantly.  Her crushing the traditional industries in Scotland has left a nation burning with frankly hatred of her and her ilk !

Just when the Scots thought the Tory party couldn't get more despicable, up comes the least effective leader in the history of democracy. He is the very epitome of narcissism, self absorption, he's morally defunct and an inveterate liar, cheat and a charlatan so Boris charges over the brow of the hill ! 

Taking us out of the E.U. against the democratic vote of the Scottish electorate. 

His antagonism towards the Scottish race is unsurpassed even by Thatcher.

All of this, allied to our having had 17 consecutive polls showing the growth of Scottish Nationalism gathering momentum even in traditional Unionist broadsheets, with sweeping support for the removal of Trident at Faslane and the redundant nuclear submarines at anchor here in Rosyth as opposed to the Thames.

The UK government secretly planned to dump the radioactive hulks of 22 nuclear submarines in the sea off north west Scotland, documents released by the National Archives reveal.

A survey for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 1989 identified six sites for “seabed storage” of defunct naval submarines near the islands of Skye, Mull and Barra for up to 60 years – and probably longer.

Ergo, not only is the UK Government using Scotland as a nuclear car park for submarines, but they also had plans to dump the 22 identified above !

Well we have news for the UK's £shop Trump; a.k.a. Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, not anymore Bojo !  
Take them and stick them where the sun never shines matey!  

We've never had a Tory Government in Scotland since 1955 and there is more chance of me being made Pope Tamas the first than there is of our having another !

SAOR ALBA

Brexit - Lies, Damned lies and Boris' statistics !!

 Finally the mask of the Brexiteers has been rent asunder and shown to be a fig leaf towards xenophobia and tax avoidance !  

I make no bones about having "Socialist" leanings politically and indeed always have had!  Even while serving in the RAF I was touting early membership to the AUEW for tradesmen who would want to get a job at Heathrow.  

The dilemma in the RAF was always that, the members of that service were about 95% Tory for various reasons, but primarily because the Tories in the 60's were more likely to maintain bases in the sort of exotic countries that frankly the UK with its dying "Empire" could not afford ! 

The reality is that Denis Healey was, as Labour Secretary of State for Defence, the man who introduced the Forces best wage structure in 1970. However, the lure of overseas postings appealed to the vast majority of servicemen with attendant allowances. Ergo a predilection for voting for the party who appears to put the jam on the sandwich.

This digression from the Brexit topic is merely to highlight the left of centre leanings of your truly.

Back to Brexit then; The big red bus and the shameless lie on the side!

The Prime Minister’s actions since taking office, have already resulted in his brother Jo Johnson, a former Conservative minister resigning from the party as he no longer trusted Boris Johnson was acting in the “national interest.”

Now the PM’s sister, Rachel Johnson, has spoken out, warning she believes the PM’s bizarrely aggressive behaviour may be due to pressure from “people who have invested billions in shorting the pound or shorting the country in the expectation of a no-deal Brexit.”

This week it has been revealed in the By-line Times that the Cabinet Office has been asked to investigate if Boris Johnson has breached the ministerial code by not declaring hedge fund donors, some of whom also funded the Leave campaign that Boris Johnson jumped onto in 2016. 

Hedge funds and financiers who have poured millions into Tory coffers stand to make a mint by speculating on the economic pitfalls of a no-deal Brexit.

(It may be a picture of NY above, but the principle is the same if not more so in London !)

So what is "Brexit" really about? 

The simplistic answer is that the English nation need Brexit to assume the mantle of superiority to "Johnny Foreigner" and the EU represents a sign that no nation is superior to its neighbours. This attitude is still held in England despite the fact that the "Empire" that Britain did have in past centuries, has long since gone. The E.U. is a collective group to trade with neighbours within its group and to make it relatively easy to do so!

In the face of global trade and giants in those terms such as China, the USA, Russia and India it makes sense to be in some form of collective arrangements with like-minded partners.

The E.U. does have faults of that there is no doubt, but the sensible approach would have been to work with partners in Europe to rectify those, not to spit out the "Dummy" and throw the toys out of the pram.

Boris' election to P.M. was on the back of his leading the charge for Brexit, despite the fact that he was a remainer not too many months ago!  He is, if nothing else, an opportunist and seeing Theresa May struggling with this dilemma, he pounced with help from less savoury political allies such as Farage, Redwood and Duncan-Smith!

What of the man himself?  His antipathy towards Scotland is well known and has never been hidden such as the speech in which he likened us to drunken yobs who were lucky to have England to bail us out. The rise and rise again of the S.N.P.  and attendant demand for "Independence" is unstoppable and with the best will in the world an ineffectual Eton toff at the helm of GB is more of an oar to the voyage to Independence than an anchor.

Brexit might well be the "English" version of Independence and fair play to them, they are as entitled to it as we are from them.

Boris Johnson has told friends his minister’s salary of £150,000 a year is not enough to live on, according to reports.

The Prime Minister has apparently told friends his annual earnings were insufficient because of his “extensive family responsibilities”, according to a report in a Sunday Broadsheet. (The Tory PM has four children with his second wife, Marina Wheeler. He also fathered a daughter during an affair with arts consultant Helen MacIntyre, failing to get an injunction to prevent the reporting of her existence.)

Sadly he can't even afford a "Nanny" for his recent familial addition Wilfred, with Carrie Symonds! 

Perhaps archetypal Etonian toff and outright Tory snob, Jacob Rees-Mogg could lend him his as she's probably still nurse-maiding him.

The metamorphous transformation by Boris from a remainer to the banner carrying "Brexiteer" might well be attributed in part to his financial straights if it comes to pass, that his fund manager cohorts are seen to be grossly profiting from the damage done to the population of the UK as it exists at this moment. Personally I'm more inclined to the comments of his sister Rachel earlier vis the hedge fund speculators. 

Allied to Covid we have a perfect storm economically and politically so thank God we have Nicola at our rudder !

Has "Global Wellbeing" died or is it merely in terminal decay?

 The twenty first century has seen turbulence in a variety of different scenarios, Right Wing Fascists antics, Coronavirus, Religious and Racial intolerance and the inevitable rise in temperature globally which as usual impacts on those least able to combat it !  

Flooding, Forest fires, Droughts and loss of habitat for wild animals, rising sea levels all mean there is a real danger that our system of "Greed is God" Capitalism is in danger of destroying the planet much less individual countries and low lying islands in the oceans.

Global Warming Causes Glaciers to Melt

Not including Antarctica and Greenland's large ice sheets, the world has about 150,000 glaciers that cover about 200,000 square miles of Earth's surface. In the last 40 years, the glaciers have lost what's equal to a layer of ice 70 feet thick due to global warming-related causes, according to a 2019 New York Times article. 

Should I, as a 74 year old coffin dodger worry?  In reality the answer will be no I needn't as I'll probably be so much ash before this all comes home to roost! 

Yet I do worry even more than I did as a glorified youngster during the height of the "Cold War" when serving, on the relatively speaking, "Front Line" of the RAF in Germany while we held our collective breaths in view of the potential of nuclear conflict.

At least then there was "MAD" (mutually assured destruction) to stop the irrational use of nuclear weapons by either side and not too long in the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for anyone to think their use would anything other than catastrophic!

I do worry though for my family and indeed society as a whole, as this Global Warming is out of the hands of humans by and large. It is the force of nature over which the human race has very little control but we can take steps to at least slow the process! 

As a true "carnivore" the most painful one for me is the need to cut down on meat consumption since it appears that cows farting contributes largely to the inordinate amount of Methane Gas !  Woe is me when I could murder a T Bone steak by just even thinking of it.

The obscenity of unfettered capitalism in the hands of this Tory Government

 Regular readers are well aware that both Wilma and I have left of centre leanings, as indeed have the majority of Scots. The fact that we've not had a Tory led country here since 1955 says it all really.

The Scottish Tory party led by the latest substitute Douglas Ross being about the fifth in a little over 5 years, the Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba is their name in Scots Gaelic from whence the name "Tory" comes, and in truth the Irish Gaelic Toraidheach means Outlaw/Robber !

I digress a bit there, nonetheless the principal Tory Party are the Government of the U.K. (for the time being) and are led by Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. It is this Government that has been blatantly lining the pockets of their cronies during this Global Pandemic of Covid 19;

In one case, Saiger, a Miami jewellery designer that received £250m of contracts to provide PPE to the NHS, paid £21m to a consultant to help broker a deal for the kit. The payout has attracted widespread attention after the case became the subject of a legal dispute in the US.

 In a report released on Wednesday, the NAO highlighted contracts where the supplier had a close link to Whitehall. 

They included a £550,000 consulting deal with Public First, whose two directors previously worked for Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, and a technology agreement worth about £1m with Faculty, whose shareholders until recently included Theodore Agnew, another Cabinet Office minister. £350m Value of the contract given to PestFix to supply PPE. PestFix has net assets of £18,000 The Cabinet Office “failed to document any consideration of any potential conflict of interest” and “failed to document why it chose this particular supplier” when it awarded the contracts, the NAO said. 

 In a third example, it said health department officials failed to consider a potential conflict of interest in a £252m contract to supply PPE with Ayanda Capital, a private investment firm. The deal was controversial because Ayanda’s board is advised by Andrew Mills, at the time an adviser to the Board of Trade. The watchdog also highlighted lucrative PPE contracts awarded outside of usual procurement methods, including a “high-priority lane” for companies referred by government officials, ministers’ offices, MPs and peers. Such companies were 10 times more likely to have obtained contracts than suppliers who pitched through ordinary channels, the NAO found. 

A person close to the report said there were “no rules” for using the high-priority referrals system, which meant there was “a risk of it being open to abuse or inconsistency”. 

 In one case, PestFix, a pest control supplies company in Littlehampton, Sussex, was “added to the high-priority lane in error without a referral”, the NAO said. This resulted in PestFix, which has net assets of £18,000, being awarded a contract to supply PPE worth £350m to the NHS. 

 In one case, a £3m contract with consultancy firm Deloitte to support the procurement of PPE was not signed until four months after the work had begun. “A clear trail of documents to support key procurement decisions was sometimes missing,” it added. “Financial and company due diligence checks were not always completed on suppliers before the award of contracts in the early weeks of PPE procurement.” It censured the government for failing to publish contracts in a “timely manner” after it found that just a quarter had been published within its 90-day target

More than half of the 1,664 contracts agreed with private companies between March and July have still not been published. 

 Meg Hillier, chair of the House of Commons public accounts committee, said: “Even in an emergency, public procurements need to get the basics right. Clearly, too many didn’t. The mistakes revealed by this report are likely to only be the tip of the iceberg.” She added the “high-priority lane” was “bad enough . . . but the failure to track how half the companies had ended up on it made it impossible to ensure proper safeguards were in place”. “The government needs to come clean and immediately publish all the contracts it’s awarded so far.” 

If the stench of blatant corruption hasn't driven you to put your head down the toilet bowl by now, then we also have a Minister of State accused of bullying and the same sneering, craven witch who has already been sacked from high office in the UK Government

The final slap in the face for the common herd is that Bojo has decreed via Rishi Sunak that there will be a public pay freeze for circa 3 years and a cessation to any increase in the Aid Budget but that there will be a £16.5 billion increase in "Defence Spending". 

I'm willing to bet that there will not be humongous rises in that sum for the average squaddie, sailor or airman ! There will be though, enormous expenditure to purchase the latest and most expensive equipment that America can manufacture and sell to their "close ally"

This is the true obscenity I referred to initially, the whole medical and care sector of society who've sacrificed life, limb and mental care to fight this pervasive and deadly virus have been rewarded with "Clapping" but no financial gratitude whilst Boris's MP's have yet again already awarded themselves a pay-rise and allowed the Ministry of Defence (who frankly couldn't buy sex in a brothel) unfettered spending.

The mask slips from Boris !

The "Bonhomie" displayed towards the Scots by Boris Johnson turned quicker than 3 month old milk !

Here he is having a dram of "Uisge Beatha" or Water of Life with his most recent Scottish Leader substitute (to use a footballing analogy since the other eejit in the picture is a UEFA official as well as the latest Scottish Leader).

Subsequently, the P.M. "Doris" Johnson had to take a sickie and self isolate having met with a Tory M.P. who'd been registered as having Covid via the track and trace system run by Baroness Dildo Harding. 

Ironically she too has now had to pull a sickie, ergo it would seem her system does work unlike her!

Enough of the clowns running the Westminster Circus and to return to the head joker the P.M. 

Bojo, in a Zoom meeting with North of England Tory MP's opened his mouth and let his belly rumble to announce that in his opinion, "Devolution had been a disaster for Scotland" and Tony Blair's biggest mistake !

Needless to say this "faux pas" on the clown's part has been greeted with glee amongst we supporters of Independence and incredulity from the ever diminishing band of True Blue Tories in Scotland.

His mask has well and truly slipped and in a bitter sweet irony at a time where mask wearing is almost "de rigeur" on the basis of the Pandemic !

Three cheers for Boris and keep it up !

SAOR ALBA