The bees win, democracy loses and the SNP get the blame.

Good news for our bees with EU member states voting to suspend the use of neonicotinoid pesticides for two years.

The required majority for the suspension wasn't reached so the unelected EU Commission will have the deciding vote and is thought to be in favour of the suspension.

The UK voted against the ban despite a UK e petition with over 300,000 signatures urging Owen Paterson, the UK Environment Secretary, to bring in a ban. This highlights the lack of understanding in the UK of our subservience to the EU on most legislation. The UK has no authority to ban pesticides as it's an EU competence.

If the UK had the authority they wouldn't have banned neonicotinoids. Their policy would have been to 'wait and see' if the agents really were to blame. Wait and see until the bees are all dead maybe ?

Unsurprisingly BBC Scotland found an anti SNP angle to report on the ban and Jackie Bird said it was 'a blow' to Richard Lochhead the SNP Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment who also supported a 'wait and see' policy.

It wasn't 'a blow' for Owen Paterson or the Conservative / Liberal coalition who actually voted against the ban of course.

No, according to Jackie Bird of BBC Scotland ( pictured below) it was only 'a blow' to the SNP who had no vote on the matter.

Scotsman newspaper has fun with it's polls again.

Scotland on Sunday poll - 28 April

Monday, 29 April 2013

Is Yes Scotland running an effective campaign in the independence referendum?

Yes....747 (6%)

No.....10954 (94%)

It must be time for Professor Curtice to explain it all to us.

Former UK Ambassador calls for urgent intervention to monitor the blatant BBC bias against Scottish independence.

Former UK ambassador Craig Murray has been keeping an eye on the blatant bias at BBC Scotland against Scottish independence and has filed a new blog post about his concerns. He is calling for urgent overseas intervention from human rights groups in order to rein in the extraordinary bias from BBC Scotland.

He mentions Sally Magnusson ( pictured above) in his report and she is one of the worst offenders in my book. I remember making the mistake of watching her 'special report' on the history of Scotland ( with a selected studio audience ) and I nearly put my foot through my propaganda transmitter.

She rubbished all of the achievements of Scots and sneered at Sir William Wallace and anything that happened in Scotland before the 'Act of Union'.

Here's Craig's post....

"BBC the New Hammer of the Scots".

" I’d Hammer out Danger – I’d Hammer Out a Warning.

BBC anti-Scots propaganda is moving beyond the risible towards the truly chilling. On the 26 April the first words on Reporting Scotland, issued by Unionist poster girl Sally Magnusson (no nepotism there) in sepulchral tones, were “There is a warning tonight” – that nobody, public or private , would get their pension paid properly after independence.

This gave my friend Kirsten a feeling of deja vu, and she did a quick trawl of the BBC’s continued and repetitive use of the words “Scottish independence” and “warning” in the same sentence. This is what she came up with:

“Scottish independence: Pension shortfall warning” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22314646

“UK Treasury warning that an SNP plan for a currency union after independence” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-22246176

“Scottish independence: Warning over ‘weakened military’” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-21776602

“Scottish independence: ‘Havoc’ warning from pensions firm” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-20562203

“Scottish independence: Luxembourg warns against ‘going separate ways’” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21664450

“Scottish independence: Barroso warning on EU membership” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20666146

“Scottish independence: Michael Moore issues warning over vote question” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-21016047

“Scottish independence: ‘Border checks’ warning from home secretary” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-17505302

And I can’t omit this brilliant spoof:

“Warning for SNP over renewable energy” http://www.bbc.scotlandshire.co.uk/index.php/city-news/268-warning-for-snp-over-renewable-energy.html,/p>

Please note this amazing litany – and I use the word litany carefully, a verbal repetition to inculcate belief – includes only those where the deliberate practice of repetitive coupling of “independence” and “warning” has been captured by being written on the website; there are hundreds of other examples of broadcast, spoken use of the words “Warning” and “Scottish independence” in the same sentence by the BBC.

The presentation of every one of the above stories was in the most tendentious and anti-independence manner conceivable. They have all been countered and comprehensively rebutted.

By contrast, there are no BBC headlines that promote positive claims about Scottish Independence. You will look in vain for headlines that say “Yes campaign says independent Scotland will be eighth richest country in the world” or “Official GERS report shows Scotland’s public finances much healthier than those of the UK”. Such headlines just do not exist. Reporting Scotland or Newsnight Scotland has never, never been led by a positive story about independence. It has been led on dozens of occasions by the negative.

It astonishes me that even the use of the most obvious and blatant state propaganda techniques by the BBC do not result in any serious reaction from the political establishment. I repeat my call on Alex Salmond to request the intervention of the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE to monitor the referendum and in particular to start immediately Phase 1 media monitoring. I am writing to Alex Salmond and to Chris Patten – both of whom at different times have been guests in my home -to seek a meeting on this issue of BBC bias".

What a sad indictment on a once respected broadcaster and a once proud country. Having to consider calling in media monitors and election monitors. BBC Scotland is turning us into a banana republic.

The 'Better Together' anti Scottish independence campaign trumpet their £2m 'war chest' but this is peanuts compared to the millions in free backing from the BBC and the rest of the biased media in Scotland that they are receiving.

Mr Hush Puppies joins the anti UKIP attacks.

There's been a concerted political attack on UKIP before next weeks English council elections.

I thought I'd heard it all until I read what secretive Bilderberger 'hush puppies' Ken Clarke had to to say about UKIP today.

Speaking in The Daily Mail Ken said that UKIP was full of clowns and waifs and strays and "some of them are saying quite different things now they are in politics then their actual views".

Mr Clark also said that "they [UKIP] of course have not been able to vet their candidates".

This can't be the same Ken Clarke who is on the secretive Bilderberg steering committee and refuses to talk about what goes on at the annual meetings can it ? We have no idea who he rubs shoulders with or what he talks about at this secretive meeting that is sometimes called the 'shadow government'. Despite taxpayers paying his wages we have no idea what is said at the secret meetings or what the views of him or his colleagues are. None at all.

The 2013 Bilderberg meeting is being held at The Grove Hotel in Watford so forget about staying there from June 5th to 9th. Fully booked with the worlds movers and shakers deciding what to do with us all. Once the list of attendees is released we will see who has been picked to climb the political ladder effortlessly. Their views verified and doors opened for them. Previous attendee Rory Stewart MP has risen fast. A new favourite for the political couch and chat show. His every word savoured by the mainstream media as he gives sage advice on the middle east. (He spent a year 'wandering' in Afghanistan).

Ken's secret Bilderberg dates...

1993, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012.

One of the key policies at Bilderberg 2012 was sorting out the Eurozone and especially what to do with Greece.

From The Guardian newspaper...

"Aside from the US presidency, the big debate of Bilderberg 2012 is likely to be: what in Hades do we do about Greece? The Eurozone is Bilderberg's biggest project, but it's been looking distinctly shaky of late. What's to be done? You can feel the unwillingness of Bilderberg to countenance a 'Grexit' in the stern words of Bilderberg spokesperson, the UK member of parliament for Rushcliffe, Kenneth Clarke. To leave the Euro, says Clarke, would be "disastrous" for the Greeks. "If they get a hopeless lot of rather cranky extremists elected at the next election then they will default on their debt." Clarke took the time to brand eurosceptic British MPs "right-wing nationalists", and euroscepticism itself "irresponsible".

Clarke's most telling remark is that: "It's going to take a crisis, an absolute crisis, to make Europe's leaders act." This week's Economist magazine agrees: "For the past six decades, steps forward to greater European union have taken place at moments of incipient crisis."

Clarke's attack on UKIP reflects the Bilderberg agenda of more EU integration. Planned with no democratic scrutiny while locked away under armed guard .

It's extraordinary that our MPs' can meet with foreign powers ( including Russia ) in secret every year to discuss and arrange policies that will effect us all yet there's no accountability and it's kept hushed up for nearly 60 years by the media. Only brought into the blinding light of day by a few bloggers and investigators.

.

Government e-petitions. Soma for the post democratic age ?

Commenter Barney alerted me to a petition that wants the government to "halt the use of neonicotinoids"

The petition reads..

The petition text:

"Dear Owen Paterson, Environment Secretary

It's time to take action to protect our dying bees!

Immediately halt the use of Nerve-agent pesticides (neonicotinoids) which are being blamed around the world for the sharp decline in bee numbers.

Take measures to reduce the use of all pesticides on bee pollinated crops".

In fairness the petition text should have read....

"Dear Owen...could you ask our MEPs' to vote in favour of a ban on neonicotinoids when you go to Brussels thanks.."

That would have been more open and honest about our impotence to ban deadly chemicals in the UK as they're an EU competence.

The government has no power to ban these deadly insecticides. It will be up to the unelected Commission in Brussels to decide on such matters.

I've looked through some other e-petitions and seen similar deluded petitions that have no chance of going anywhere as they're related to EU competences.

There have been numerous one's to bring back hanging. This can't happen unless we leave the EU and all major parties are pro EU.

If an e petition gets 10,000 signatures then the govt must respond and quite often it lets the cat out of the bag with the truth.

A petition to ban the live transport of animals abroad got this in the response...

"To ban the trade, either directly or by indirect means, would be illegal and would undermine the principle of the free-movement of goods enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union"

Translated that means there's nothing we can do as it's up to the EU and the animals can legally suffer

Or how about this pointless government e petition...

>"We call upon the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, Jim Paice MP, to introduce new legislation so that all meat and dairy products, for example chicken, cheese and bacon are clearly and honestly labelled to show the farm system used to rear the animal."

You know what's coming but I'll show you part of the response anyway...

"Defining a method of production for animals incorporating standard welfare criteria is extremely difficult and would need to be agreed across the EU"

The fact that millions of citizens continue to sign these pointless petitions ( over 300,000 signed the call to the government to ban the insecticide that kills bees ) highlights the power of the media to dupe most of us about our 'democracy'

Most parliamentary work in London is just rubber stamping EU directives. That's why the place is always empty. There's nothing to do. We can go through the motions of electing tweedle dum or tweedle dee every 5 years but nothing will ever change.

I remember reading Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' and loved the idea of taking 'soma'. The benevolent government gave out free soma to it's citizens and it gave them a feeling of well being and of being in control of their hopeless situation.

Are e-petitions our soma ?

Playing games while our bees die. Part 2.

The Herald newspaper 'covered' this story a couple of days ago so it's now the turn of The Scotsman to misinform us....

"A SCOTTISH Government handout of £200,000 to help beekeepers restock hives after bad weather wiped out thousands of colonies will be a “waste of money” unless ministers ban controversial pesticides, environmentalists have warned.

Environment minister Richard Lochhead announced the investment yesterday to help apiarists replace around 4,000 colonies that were lost after late heavy snow caused widespread devastation last month.

But campaigners branded the move pointless without a moratorium on neonicotinoids, which have been blamed for the deaths of millions of bees worldwide.

"

"The Scottish Government must ban neonicotinoids, or there will be no bees.”

Scotland ( or the UK for that matter ) has no power to ban anything and must wait for the EU to decide what to do.

Yes... The Scotsman article has the truth hidden in plain view......although most folk would have just read the headline and shook their heads at another 'SNP accused' special.......

"The best thing that the Scottish Government can do is advise Owen Paterson [the UK Environment Secretary] to agree with the European Commission’s recommendation to ban the use of three types of neonicotinoids, and that’s what the SWT [Scottish Wildlife Trust]has been asking the Scottish Government to do since last autumn.”

So from an article that started with a call for the SNP to ban neonicotinoids it ends with an admission that we can ask someone in England to ask someone in Brussels to have a moratorium ? This is one for the SNP ACCUSED ! files I think.

And that's the best that we can do if we're in the EU ? Hopefully Scotland dumps the useless EU after independence and if we want to ban something then we do what other free countries do and errrrr.....BAN IT !!

And our mainstream media who should be informing us of all of this are actually misinforming us.

Whodathunkit ?

Shurely shome mishtake ?

From The Scotland on Sunday Poll...

Is Johann Lamont a credible candidate for First Minister?

Yes..... 10318 (67%)

No...... 5064 (33%)

Her performance in the Scottish Parliament has been way below what you would expect from a prospective First Minister. Constantly running down Scotland and portraying us as too wee and too stupid and too poor to stand on our own two feet in the world.

Scary anti Scottish independence story number 6666123

I see that the Unionist newspapers in Scotland have colluded with today's anti Scottish independence story.

"Pensions timebomb fear if Scots back independence"

Apparently....."Employers would be forced to plug gaping holes in exposed pension schemes immediately as underfunded "cross-border" schemes are not allowed under the EU's Pensions Directive."

Putting aside the fact that the EU makes things up as it goes along ( see Greek pensioners etc )and will happily allow member countries to dip into people's pension savings to pay off EU troika debts whenever they feel like it......what about the fact that the UK pension system is already a total basket case and we have been warned for decades to sort it out ?

The IMF recently warned of a £750Bn 'pension time bomb for the UK unless it was all sorted out. I'd put the figure at double that.

The anti independence newspaper stories are liberally dowsed with the standard 'maybe's' and 'possibly's ' and 'might's ' to cover their backs and give them deniability later on down the line.

Scary story 6666109 from these 'news' papers was that an independent Scotland would be 'kicked out' of the EU. But just in case we do get in there will be a pensions 'time bomb' will there ? I wonder if they work late into the night to write this pathetic dross ?

Most people who buy these types of 'news' papers must be staunch Unionists who will never change so why do they bother ?

Playing games while our bees die.

Despite top Scottish scientists long clamouring for a ban on pesticides called neonicotinoids that are a danger to our bees I notice that the EU has only just woken from it's slumbers and will put the idea of a ban to a vote next Monday.

This highlights the impotence of the UK in drafting any of it's legislation as most laws are now subservient to the EU.

Love for the EU means the SNP will take all the accusations thrown at it over failing to introduce any ban in Scotland despite it's top scientists warning of the dangers. The SNP will blame Westminster rather than the real culprits over in Brussels.

This love of the EU prevents the SNP from countering misleading headlines in Unionist papers like The Herald which stated last year.....

"The Scottish Government has come under fire for failing to ban pesticides blamed for poisoning bees and threatening Scotland's £100 million soft fruit industry".

The Herald knows that the SNP knows that it knows that it's nothing to do with Scotland and that we must wait for EU legislation to ban anything in Scotland.

It's silly games like these that infuriate people with a functioning brain cortex.

The bees will lose their memory and we will lose an essential insect if this stupidity goes on for much longer.

Last word to someone who knows what he's talking about but won't be listened to...

Professor Dave Goulson from the University of Stirling. "I agree that neonicotinoids should be withdrawn pending further investigations,"

That was last year sometime. And no one is listening.

I'll never be a 'trainspotter'. Phew.

Much excitement in our area yesterday with the classic steam train 'Union of South Africa' passing through on a UK tour.

A sizeable crowd assembled to watch it fly through at about 70mph to be gone in a flash. Didn't even hoot it's horn or whatever it's supposed to do.

I managed this action shot...

This was the train I should have photographed...

In mitigation the newspaper that told us when to assemble to view the rare spectacle had forgotten to mention that there were actually two steam trains going about. One was towing the engine for the 'Union of South Africa' to Aberdeen where the 'South Africa' would then return leisurely south and we would be able to wave at it and admire it.

Most folk were away having their tea or a pint by then.

Jim makes it into the Daily Mail.

I thought the story about Labour MP Jim McGovern and his £24 rail ticket claim costing taxpayers £27,000 in legal expenses had finally died down but it's just popped back up in The daily Mail.

The story erupted about 2 weeks ago so I've read the article to see if anything new has turned up.

There's a bit more about IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority ) who now 'control' MPs' expenses after the scandal of a few years ago.

From The Daily Mail article...

"How ironic that the prime focus of IPSA so far seems to have been on empire-building. Its budget for operating costs in 2010-11 was £6.36 million, whereas the cost of previous arrangements, under the aegis of the House of Commons Fees Office, was said to be £2 million."

And...

"The quango is chaired by Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, a lawyer with expertise in health and ethics, who is paid £700 a day. Last year his renumeration package was £85,000. Chief executive Andrew McDonald is paid £108,550 and board members are paid £400 a day — they were recently criticised for charging this for meetings they took part in by phone".

Jim's story remains pretty much unchanged. Nothing to see here please move along now.

The great global warming swindle gets a mention though. From the annual accounts of IPSA...

"The need to adapt to climate change is taken into account when IPSA is designing its policies. A risk assessment will be made of how climate change could affect a policy, programme or project."

IPSA should phone the UK met office. They would explain that global warming ended about 20 years ago.

Happy St George's Day Mr Osborne.

Haste Ye Back !

Draper George goes to Glasgow on St George's Day to spread mischief and fear.

London Chancellor Gideon Osborne is speaking in Glasgow today spreading doom and gloom about the effects of independence. With the usual claim that "it's up to Scotland to decide" he then went off on the usual anti independence rant.

Despite George managing to lose the UK 'AAA' rating ( after saying it was the be all and end all of economic competence) and despite the monthly deficit rising to £15.1Bn with a total debt now way over £1trillion he basically says........

Scotland is too wee and too poor and too stupid to run it's own affairs.

Luckily it's all rubbish and his speech is so dry that it will go way over the heads of most normal voters. The BBC will take the ball from George and run with it all day. But that's ok. They are so discredited and biased against independence anyway that no one listens or watches them for 'news'. Apart from diehard Unionists.

So switch off and ignore.....just like I've just done..click. Bye George.

Time to chill...

The bizarre world of Scottish football journalism.

I'd often thought that football journalists in Scotland occupied an alternative universe to the supporters that they're supposedly paid to inform.

The Herald's 'Chief Football writer' confirms this.

He manages to write 15 paragraphs about the departure of chief executive Charles Green from Rangers FC and the rushed appointment of a new chief executive yet he doesn't mention any of the key points that are happening at Rangers. It has to be deliberate.

Joe Bloggs knows what's going on....

Rangers are spending £1million a month while in the 3rd division while their team struggles to beat part time plumbers and painters.

Rangers have no bank credit facility

Rangers assets are in dispute with various claims being lodged on them and it will take at least 3 years to find out who the owners are. Three years that Rangers don't have.

Rangers are seriously looking at another administration / liquidation scenario and I doubt if Duff and Phelps will manage to drag things out for another 6 months like they did the last time.

I could go on but I love football and feel for their supporters. Let down by a useless mainstream media.

Informative coverage by bloggers here and here.

Scary story about Scottish independence number 24366

Apparently no one will want Scottish banknotes if we gain independence. Having sizeable oil reserves counts for nothing apparently.

Mind you I've never managed to get my Scottish banknotes recognised in England anyway so I doubt if we'll see any difference post independence. Even if they really are 'legal tender' as the comedian Michael McIntyre liked to joke about. I always change my Scottish notes into English notes before heading south.

Michael McIntyre..."I think you'll find pal..that's legal tender".....

From the usual sources....

"Mr Osborne said yesterday the SNP “are tying themselves in knots” over plans to retain the pound".

The tories know all about' tying themselves in knots'. Kinky beggars.

"In an article co-written with Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, Mr Osborne said a currency union could only work as part of a political and economic union".

A former 'towel folder' who has managed to lose our 'AAA' rating and a former park attendant teaching us economics...gotta larf. Although the useless EU has shown that you can't have a currency union without a political union so fair enough with that comment I suppose.

"Meanwhile, former chancellor Alistair Darling said SNP ministers were backing themselves into a corner, between handing economic control over an independent Scotland to London or creating a Scottish currency".

"Mr Darling, the leader of the Better Together campaign, said the Nationalists’ “contortions” on economic and monetary policy lacked credibility".

Mr Darling mentioning 'credibility'. I thought irony died when Kissinger got the Nobel peace prize and Bliar got the middle east peace envoy job ?

Oh well it's looking good for the wee Scottish bawbee anyway.

Back the bawbee !!!...

Brent crude to be tied to the bawbee in an independent Scotland ?

With a top professor declaring that Scotland must adopt it's own currency post independence there were rumours today that we would opt for the bawbee. A currency first introduced to Scotland by James V 'King of Scots' in 1538

James V....

I remember singing about the bawbee when I was a child growing up in Dundee. I found this video of the song we used to sing...

Mind control victim spotted in Inverness.

A man known to masquerade as 'leader of the opposition' was spotted in Inverness today. Police have asked the public to be aware of someone mumbling "these strikes are wrong" and have issued this youtube video and e-fit in order to alert the public to the danger of too much champagne socialism and mind control.....

e - fit...from 2009 when running with the 'Bonkers Brown' gang.....

Although he may look harmless enough this man is alleged to have stabbed his own brother in the back in order to gain power and to have been a key lieutenant in the 'Bonkers Brown' gang which specialised in running countries into the ground and then blaming it on someone else. Miliband's alleged role was to fleece 'hard working taxpayers' via the Climate Change Act 2008. This is alleged to be the most successful scam in history and will take £20Bn a year from UK taxpayers for the next 40 years as part of the 'great global warming swindle'. Part of an alleged international conspiracy to defraud taxpayers.

For sale...A compilation of interviews from STV's 'Scotland Tonight' with Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont .

I'm sure Ms Lamont is charming outside of politics. In fact I saw her once when I visited the Scottish Parliament and you couldn't meet a cheerier person. She actually nodded and smiled as she went past me in one of the corridors.

Unfortunately whenever she enters the politics 'zone' she seems to go totally defensive as if interviewers etc are trying to catch her out. Why does she not just get fully briefed on her subjects and then feel able to speak freely and with confidence ? Safe in the knowledge that she can't be caught out. She could take a leaf out of Nicola Sturgeon's book. She always remains unflappable as the worst of the BBC interviewers try to catch her out.

Ms Lamont's modus operandi for interviews almost always follows the same pattern....

1. Never answer the question asked.

2. Divert the question asked into an attack on the SNP or Scottish independence.

3. If out of her depth and wanting to kill some time then go on a long soliloquy about anything that enters into her mind. It doesn't have to be related to the question at hand but must attack the SNP or Scottish independence.

4. Always look glum and give the impression of being dragged before the cameras against her better judgement.

Max Keiser kills the myth that Maggie 'Saved Britain'.

Scotland must be the only country in the world that has struck oil and become poorer.

In this video Max Keiser explains how Thatcher used Scotland's sovereign oil wealth to fund low taxes and interest rates to start the housing boom and to close down industries and pay redundancy to thousands of workers. The 1980's gave the UK the best chance of saving for the future with a potential £480Bn in oil wealth. The oil was in full flow from the North Sea but was just wasted. Norway now has an £800Bn sovereign wealth fund from their oil sales. We've got zilch and the country is bankrupt. So much for 'saving' the country. The free market laissez faire new Right Thatcherite approach has seen the spivs fill their boots and then come looking for the taxpayer to bail them out later to the tune of £1trillion and rising. Doesn't sound like 'saving Britain' to me.

Max's video...

Scotland fared the worst under Thatcherism. 250,000 were thrown on the scrap heap during her reign.

The Daily Record has some of the jobs and industries lost..

Leyland lorry factory, Bathgate, closed 1986. 1800 jobs lost.

Plessey Electronics, Bathgate. Decision to close in 1982 prompted occupation by 220 workers, culminating in takeover that saved just 62 jobs.

Linwood car plant, Renfrewshire, closed 1981. 4800 jobs lost.

Ravenscraig steelworks, wounded after Thatcher's privatisation of the industry. Closed 1992. 1200 jobs lost.

Shipbuilding. Various Clyde yards wound down or closed such as Scott Lithgow in Greenock in 1988

Mining. From the 1984 strike onwards, steady closure of pits. 15 reduced to just two during Thatcher's reign.

Lee Jeans staff in Greenock forced to occupy plant to prevent closure, ultimately a management buy-out saved 140 jobs.

Most folk will know of other factory closures that are not mentioned. Timex in Dundee for instance. I can remember growing up in Dundee in the 60's and 70's and being amazed at the number of factories there were. Driving along the main dual carriageway through the city we had..Salvesen's, Veeder Root, Valentine's Greetings cards, NCR, 2 Timex factories, Keillers jam and probably more that I can't remember. There are a couple of call centres now and lots of shops although I've heard that NCR have maintained a key number of their top engineers and designers. DC Thomson are still there of course.

'Better Together' ? Aye right.

Scotland must remain vigilant. There's a new kid on the block.....

Mrs Weir presents her petition against the spread of windmills in Scotland to First Minister.

In a follow up to my previous blog, the wife of climber, writer and broadcaster, Tom Weir, presented her 4,500 strong petition to the First Minister Alex Salmond at Bute House in Edinburgh.

The Stop Highland Windfarms petition states: "We the people from all over the world who love Scotland, petition First Minister Alex Salmond and Energy Minister Fergus Ewing to stop the reckless siting of wind turbines in Scotland."

Rhona Weir was on stv news last night and made some good points about the spread of the useless windfarms across Scotland.

One question she asked was what happened to all the old windmills and concrete bases etc when the windmills are no longer of any use ?

I think that once the windmill circus moves on from Scotland in search of bigger and better subsidies elsewhere then we will see the windmills fall into disrepair. There will probably be haggling over whose responsibility it is to remove the metal bits for scrap and that the taxpayer will end up paying.

California is further down the road with the windmill building madness and they have 14,000 rusting hulks at the moment...

I dread to think what Whitelees windfarm will look like in a few years time where the Spanish company 'Scottish Power' has built 215 windmills.

Hopefully all the metal will be removed for scrap but unfortunately the concrete bases will probably just get covered over in soil and left in situ.......

Often it is ancient peatlands and woodlands that are removed to clear the way for the concrete foundations and associated metaled roads etc. They will be lost forever.

This concrete foundation obviously wasn't up to the job. Maybe we could drag the whole thing out in a oner...

Hopefully the First Minister Alex Salmond will pause to reflect after receiving this petition. But I'm not hopeful. Like with the EU, the SNP are deaf and blind to any alternative view when it comes to windmills.

Good luck Mrs Weir.

Thousands of Scots will be with Mrs Weir in spirit today as she attempts to talk some sense into First Minister Alex Salmond over his madcap windmill building scheme.

Rhona Weir is the widow of Tom Weir who entertained millions of Scots with stv's 'Weir's Way'. It brought the great outdoors to the bleak housing schemes of Scotland and got us wanting to go out and explore our beautiful countryside.

I had a look through some of Tom's old programmes on youtube and his views seem to chime with mine on the climate. In this video from Glen Affric Tom talks about how the great Caledonian forests thrived in a warmer period as can be seen by studying the peat bogs. The colder years had a great impact on the forests and stunted their growth. All of this happened long before man came along and invented the global warming myth......

I wonder how Tom would feel were he alive today if he saw his beautiful country covered in these uselss industrial turbines.

If I had a chance to speak to the First Minister then I would ask him a few basic questions...

1.Do you know that the met office has said that there's been no 'global warming' for nearly 20 years despite a massive increase in the supposed culprit CO2 ?

2.Do you know that windmills need 100% back up from fossil fuelled power stations and cause an increase in CO2 ?

3.Do you know that all the figures given by windmill companies are inaccurate and that they only provide 30% at best of the claimed output with some windfarms such as Whitelees near Eaglesham managing just 21.9 % ?

4.Do you know that the only people who gain from windmill building are the builders/operators and the people who rent land to the builders with the rest of us paying for them via increased fuel costs ?

5.Do you know that for every supposed 'green job' that 3 real jobs are lost as the money is wasted on windmills ?

I suspect that Mrs Weir will be charmed by the First Minister but that the ideology is too ingrained in the SNP to make them change tack from their madcap 'renewable revolution' rubbish.

Dundee Labour Party...those were the days.

Labour Party MP Jim McGovern had Dundonians of a certain vintage reaching for their record players and vinyl favourites with a fond tear in their eye today as they fondly remembered the glory years of Dundee Labour.

The nostalgia was re generated after watching Jim defend his decision on the stv news to claim £23.90 for a rail ticket from Dundee to Glasgow to attend a constituency meeting.

This was to be the first leg of his trip back down to that London Parliament but IPSA said NO. Stop there. You can't do that as it's against the rules.

IPSA ( Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority ) was supposed to be the solution to the expenses scandal of a few years ago where MPs' filled their boots at will. Seriously troughing at our expense. The IPSA rulings were supposed to be final. Unless someone took issue with them. Like Jim.

They originally planned to let him pay for his own flight to London as well but relented and gave him £249.45 for the flight costs.

Jim still wasn't happy so challenged IPSA.

Judge Berner ruled that the ticket had not been “incurred in the performance of Mr McGovern’s parliamentary duties”

.

Cut a long story short. The legal costs came to £27,000 and even though Jim lost the case it's us who lost because we're paying our side of the challenge. The unions will cover Jim's side of the challenge

Jim said that it would have been cheaper for him to take the Glasgow route rather than fly from Dundee. I can agree with that. Costs a fortune from Dundee airport unless you book way in advance. But Jim, once you challenge IPSA then they have to defend themselves and lawyers charge more per hour than a flight from Dundee would have cost. You could have hired a private helicopter from Dundee for £27,000.

I watched Jim on stv news tonight and noticed that he had a large poster of Frank Sinatra in his office. So without further ado here's a song for Jim....

So close.

Thrilling Scottish Cup semi final at Hampden yesterday. Dundee United came so close to playing in the final against Hibernian next month.

Willo Flood for United ( Tangerine above ) ran his heart out. As did the rest of the players. Celtic eventually got the winner when Stokes was brought on in extra time and scored in the 104th minute making it 4-3.

The other semi final was played on Saturday and was also a 4-3 thriller with Hibs eventually overcoming a 3 nil deficit to win the game. It was a fantastic game with first division Falkirk being 3 nil up after just half an hour. Many of the Hibs fans were seen walking out of Hampden thinking that their team was dead and buried. I wonder how they felt when their team clawed the game back and came out eventual winners ? Football supporters can be a fickle bunch. The Hibs manager Pat Fenlon was asked what he thought of some of his fans deserting his team after just half an hour and replied that he wished he could have walked out with them !

The people in charge of football in Scotland must be spitting tacks this morning as they warned of 'Armageddon' when Rangers had to apply to join the third division due to going into liquidation. They had wanted the football governing rules to be ignored and Rangers allowed to enter the SFL First Division or ideally to stay in the Scottish Premier League.

The two semi final games at the weekend didn't look like 'Armageddon' to me.

Dave shown the door.

Call me Dave was being grudgingly humoured by his German host Frau Merkel and then he goes and spoils it all by asking for 're negotiations' on the EU and is shown the door. Dave knows that the Lisbon Treaty doesn't allow for 're negotiations' or a 'new relationship' with Europe. He can either get us out ( via Article 50 ) or stay quiet about the EU. Luckily for him no one seems to know this in the mainstream media so he's allowed to waffle on indefinitely.

It's a real shame as the trip had been going really well before this fall out and there was even a wee sing song...

Gold being trashed to save the US dollar ?

The 'unexpected' crash in the cost of an ounce of gold has seen speculation rise that it's a final attempt to save the once mighty US dollar. ( click on graph to enlarge ).

It's years since the economy followed sound financial principles so rumours are now all that we can rely on to try and find out what's happening. In a free market economy an ounce of physical gold should be at least $6,000 dollars at the moment with the trillions in paper money being printed to 'save' the Western economy.

One rumour is that it's an alleged attempt by the privately owned US Federal Reserve to shore up their dollar as countries switch from US dollars to safer currencies. As the Fed prints more money in order to 'save' the US economy ( trillions have had no effect and the US debt levels are now rising above $16trillion.....unsustainable) the dollar loses more value. This should have the effect of increasing the value of gold as it's a limited asset. By allegedly 'encouraging' it's players to dump gold this will offset the rise in gold prices.

The mainstream media rumour is that the fall in the price of an ounce of gold is due to Cyprus being ordered by the unelected EU troika to sell off it's 14 tonnes of gold ( £400m ) in order to help pay it's debts to the troika. A debt that Cyprus picked up when buying Greek EU bonds. I wouldn't have thought that 14 tonnes would be here nor there in the bigger scheme of things.

The former Labour Party UK Chancellor Gordon Brown is famous for coining the phrase 'Brown's Bottom' after notifying the gold markets that he was about sell UK gold and then selling it for around $240 an ounce. Experts explained that by notifying the market in advance rather than selling the gold as and when there was a shortage had the effect of undermining it's sale value. Gold reached $1780 an ounce a few years later. Robbing the UK economy of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Gold has maintained it's intrinsic value for thousands of years. In Roman times an ounce of gold enabled you to buy a toga, a pair of fine leather sandals and a sword. The same as today.

I suspect that savvy gold bugs will ride out this storm. The attempt to undermine gold prices has been tried (and failed) for thousands of years. If you ever visit a country with an unstable government ( and even more unstable currency ) then watch the excited haggling in the gold souks and markets.

People in the West are now joining them.

I feel a song coming on...

Scotland showcases it's unique appeal to NATO.

Scotland will welcome an invasion by land, sea and air today as it provides excellent training facilities for it's NATO allies.

42 Commando Royal Marines will storm the beach at Barry Buddon near Carnoustie via helicopter. There will also be 40 warships, 30 helicopters and 30 fixed wing aircraft involved in one of the largest tactical military training exercises Europe has ever seen. The exercises, codenamed 'Joint Warrior', will cover both the east and west coasts of Scotland and continue for the next three weeks.

The Royal Marines have a proud history in Scotland with the Achnacarry Commando Training Centre being established in 1942 in order to train the elite troops for operations during WW2. The memorial at Spean Bridge is well worth a visit if you're in the area..

The exercise officially kicks off at 10am local time today although I'm sure I saw some non UK type aircraft flying low over Tayside yesterday.

These type of exercises highlight how important Scotland is to NATO and how we can be excellent partners under independence

The frigate in the picture at the top of the page is the auld alliance French frigate 'Jean Bart' flying le tricolor off the coast of Scotland.

UPDATE : Some good photos from the exercise in The Dundee Courier..

Anti Scottish independence, 'Better Together' team, celebrate their new £2m 'war chest' with a new single.....

Scottish independence will be a struggle but will be all the sweeter for it.

With the expected attempt to shut down pro independence blogs now in full swing it's a good time to reflect on what we will gain with independence and how important this opportunity is.

A chance to govern ourselves. Never again to suffer the shame of living under systems such as Thatcherism. An alien concept to Scotland but one which we couldn't prevent due to being a minor player in the UK electoral system. Her 'greed is good' agenda with our essential services and utilities sold to the highest bidder left our energy and banking sector in the gutter. Ripping us off at will as the spivs partied.

If you judge a person by their friends then Maggie's best friend was Pinochet. A brutal dictator who tortured and murdered thousands.

Then we had her heir, the Blair and his wicked sidekicks. War and death.

The only people who have Scotland's interests at heart are Scots in a Scottish Parliament.

We could have been a Norway with £800Bn in a sovereign wealth fund. But our wealth has been frittered away on 'bashing the miners' , closing down our industry, building up the South East of England, fighting pointless wars, Trident, putting millions into low paid jobs requiring tax credits, destroying communities. Take your pick. Add some more.

Review. BBC Reporting Scotland. ( so you don't have to)

1. Conspiracy of silence about the effects of independence on Scotland apparently.....

Michael Moore waffling as usual.

Cliche's galore...sleepwalking into independence....NATO won't want us etc blah blah

2. Margaret Thatcher....

'Many' Scottish Labour MPs' hated Thatcher and boycotted the Thatcher memorial in parliament but the SNP liked her apparently.

Hideous Rifkind soliloquy. Disgusting Ed Milliband .

Angus Robertson mentions poll tax.

3.Rangers Football Club.

BBC wakens up from it's slumbers over the Rangers saga. A year too late and long after the horse has bolted.

Ticketus claims it didn't know about Craig Whyte apparently. No 'google' facility at Ticketus ? Or £3 to do a companies house check ?

4.Metal theft effects us all and costs hundreds of millions of pounds.

Yawn. Old story.

Police foiled as the thieves strike at night and use big vans.....the stinking rotters.

Tougher laws will stop it. Not.

5.A man can't get from Scotland to England as he doesn't have a passport.

Oh hang on he can use his driving license but that's not a good story.

Could have got a free passport but they would have to investigate his lost one.

Dire story.

6. Food bugs on ferry, lottery money, gongs and pies.

7. Sport. ( pronounced spawrt).

Rangers again.

Stewart Regan from the SFA.....he not resigned yet ? Clueless man....out of his depth.

MASSIVE match between Partick Thistle and Morton !!. Must win match ? Yes it's a must win match. Is it a must win game ? Yes but one game at a time. 2 horse race..game of two halfs, tight division the 1st. Bonus..bread and butter..good show..very talented..cracker...should be.....a cracker

8. Two roadworkers get an award for being twins.

Challenges, rescues, entombed, 100yrs of service.

9. Weather

Dry, change, wet, rain, dry, shower, brightness,sunshine, fresh, lighter,high pressure, low pressure, wet, windy, dry.

Key points successfully fed to the masses......

A..Independence is DANGEROUS.

B...The SNP were pro Maggie but Scottish Labour weren't.

C...It's awkward getting to England without a passport.Imagine if we were independent !

D... The Rangers scandal is all Craig Whyte's fault and is nothing to do with spivvery, establishment cover ups and unusual handshakes.

Bilderberger amongst 'Better Together' pro Union donors ?

Some interesting donors to the pro Union 'Better Together' campaign against Scottish independence.

From The Herald newspaper story........"among the big donors was Douglas Flint CBE, the Glasgow-born chairman of global super-bank HSBC."

Douglas Flint is listed as an alleged Bilderberger attendee in 2011 here.

Bilderberg is where all key decisions on future strategy worldwide are decided so a pro UK policy must be a key objective.

George Osborne was also at Bilderberg in 2011 according to The Guardian.

HSBC were recently fined $1.9Bn

The US department of justice said HSBC had moved $881m for two drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia and accepted $15bn in unexplained "bulk cash", across the bank's counters in Mexico, Russia and other countries. In some branches the boxes of cash being deposited were so big the tellers' windows had to be enlarged.

Chairman Douglas Flint was in a top role while the money laundering activities were still going on.

Also from The Herald newspaper....,

" The largest cheque, for £500,000, came from Ian Taylor, a Scots oil trader....and... chief executive of Vitol Plc.

According to the Daily Mail Vitol got sole rights to Libyan oil business during the recent civil war and was also involved in sanctions busting during Saddam Hussein's regime.

A small symbol of freedom extinguished in Prague.

From Christopher Booker's article in The Telegraph..

"A proud boast of the EU’s only Eurosceptic head of state, the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, was that during his time in office, which ended last week, he never allowed the EU’s ring-of-stars flag to fly over Hradcany Castle, his imposing palace looking down over Prague. Symbolically, last week his successor, Milos Zeman, was accompanied by the European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, to see the EU flag being raised above Hradcany for the first time. A crowd of several hundred Czechs booed and whistled as they watched what they saw as a moment of national humiliation – although it only brought the palace into line with the government ministries in the city below, each of which has hanging outside its door the ring of stars alongside the Czech flag, in acknowledgement of how their country is now governed. If our own [UK]Government wanted to be honest, shouldn’t it do the same?"

Britain's ' Independent' nuclear deterrent...

As much use as a fart in a submarine.

Dave drops a stinky in the sub and regrets having the Glasgow favourite..a square lorne sausage roll... for his dinner.

Kim Jong Un 'the greatest ever commander' of North Korea ( since the last one) feeds his people grass while threatening us with global armageddon.

I think Dave's farts and square sausage rolls are probably more dangerous than the evil baddy from central casting but both leaders hold the common belief that having nukes will make them feel safer when in fact they only have the effect of increasing tension around the world and making us all feel less safe.

On a more sombre note here's some of the effects of unleashing our £100 billion nuclear 'deterrent' on people..

Lady on £250k a year plus exes thinks £9,000 a year is chicken feed.

Political 'scientist' and Principal of St Andrews University Louise Richardson thinks £9,000 a year is 'very little' for an education.

It's very little for some of the hooray henry's who go to St Andrews Uni I suppose but a real turn off for kids from poorer backgrounds.

In this pic a hooray henry buys champagne and pours it over himself outside of Tescos in St Andrews in order to show how wealthy he is compared to the local proles....

Hopefully we can keep our no tuition fees policy in Scotland and ignore political scientists who live in a bubble and who never leave the world of academia.

Sadly, whenever the LibLabCons get control in Scotland again then tuition fees will be introduced as surely as night follows day.

Dundee smokestack might win white elephant competition to replace Tayside House.

Competition was fierce but it looks like the proposed Dundee smokestack (above) might win the white elephant competiton to replace the old Tayside House council building that is being removed in Dundee 'brick by brick'(below)..

Air tests were carried out and the wood burner will be very green and supply 85% of Dundee's energy needs etc etc. yadda yadda yadda.

SSE which will support Forth Ports in the venture was recently fined £10m for misleading nearly 1 million customers using sharp sales practices that saw customers pay hundreds of pounds extra in their heating bills.

I noticed the main road leading to the proposed site for the smokestack was closed to traffic for months during the air testing so I wonder if that effected the NO2 quality checks.

The 3 primary schools that were found to be in the pollution fallout zone the last time this turd was proposed are still there as far as I know

It's bizarre to even consider this project while the waterfront is being re developed with plans for a new Victoria and Albert museum, railway station, Malmaison development of the famous old Tay Hotel, new swimming pool, RRS Discovery with museum etc.

Shipping old wardrobes from around the world to burn on Dundee's beautiful new waterfront is a terrible crime.

Roll on the 'SNP's Renewables Revolution'. Not.