Thursday, January 29, 2009

Disaster Emergency Commitee Gaza Appeal

Homecoming 2009 A Waste?

Highland Games and Golf

OK so some people reading this might think well she is Labour (therefore anti Scottish) and we don't expect her to get on board, but I have spoken to friends who are of the nationalist persuasion and they agree, showing the Homecoming advert in Scotland (almost on loop round about Burns anniversary) is a complete waste of money and time.

I honestly could put my foot through the television when it comes on, Eddie Reader who has a fantastic voice (and sounds good in the advert cause the song is fab) but who seems to think that being Scottish means that you must love Burns poetry and appreciate it's beauty (sick of getting it forced down my throat) or two random rugby players (who no one I have spoken to knows), it took me while to work out who some of the others were too, but the biggest insult has to be Shir Sean and Lulu. Shir Sean who couldnt even be bothered to attempt to sing - come on do it with some gusto mate- and Lulu who has decided she has a Scottish accent after all, or at least she has it this week.

The whole campaign is an insult to normal Scottish people a lot of whom are struggling to cope in the current climate, the worlds biggest Highland games are we being serious? What about a massive rock concert twinned with the Celtic connections and leading onto a massive investment in town twinning and exchange trips for young Scottish students? What about an unprecedented investment in Scottish Schools and Scottish Home Care for the Edlerly show the world that the homecoming is not just about those overseas coming home but about social justice and caring for each other, guess that is too much to expect.

The SNP locally have slashed home care budgets, slashed the wardens service in the elderly homes and slashed the budgets for education closing educational establishments, they have let the Roads in Paisley go to the dogs and are singularly uninterested in the people of Renfrewshire, but then what more could we expect?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The BBC and Gaza

SKY and BBC Pro Israel?


I ask this question based on their almost inexplicable refusal to air the DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) appeal for humanitarian aid in Gaza. I have read a few posts lately from supporters of the appeal and have been astounded by the level of attacks that they have been subjected to, and I fully expect to be attacked myself for this post.


One such blogger I have come across is http://fromgaza.blogspot.com/ written by a Palestinian doctor living in Egypt, it is an eye opener and one which is written from an eye witness of the tragedy so to speak, this blog is written from a perspective of human suffering and uses posts from those inside Gaza.


To address any imbalance I tried to put in a pro Israel blog here but I am finding it difficult to find one who has posted on the above blog who allows their profile to be seen.


The BBC and Sky have disgraced themselves by even suggesting that the UK public are not intelligent enough to know the difference between a news report (which should be balanced anyway) and an appeal by a charity for support for humanitarian aid. I find it difficult to swallow the excuses given by both the BBC and Sky and impartiality, both of these stations have been universally condemned for this action and rightly so, if you have not already done so please make a donation.


I would also urge people to write to the BBC and Sky regarding their decision.

Scottish Budget Crisis

Dishonorable SNP

The SNP budget has been voted down and immediately Alex Salmond decided that the best idea would be to try the same tactic as last year and threaten to resign if they did not get it through next time.

To be honest I am getting sick of his idle threats, the fact that he is willing to jeopardize the stability of the Scottish system by even hinting at this gives you a measure of how dishonorable the man is. Most if not all of the news reports that I have seen so far have called this a crisis for the SNP, the Greens are furious at the idea that the SNP would think that coming up to them minutes before the vote and saying yeah we change change it if you like after knowing for months exactly what the greens want would actually work.

This episode has shown the audacity and sheer arogance of the SNP and in particular Mr Salmond who must take the blame for this fiasco.



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