Ireland

It seems long ago now but it's only a few months since Labour continually mocked the Scottish government for including Ireland in an 'arc of prosperity' along with Norway and Iceland. Every time Scottish Labour had a chance they mentioned the dreadful state of the Irish economy and said that was what would have occurred to Scotland if it had been independent.

Not a lot has been said about the recent announcement that Ireland economy bounced back from recession in the first quarter, with a 2.7% expansion compared with the final three months of last year. Exports led the charge, boosting hopes that cuts in public spending may not damage the economy as badly as feared.

The Irish economy has been in decline since the start of 2008 and at 14.3% of GDP, Ireland's budget deficit was the largest in the EU last year.

It's not been easy for the Irish as many have suffered by losing their jobs, but this news is excellent for the economy and if exports are taking the lead that is better still because manufacturing creates jobs. Well done the Irish while we're dragging far behind owing to bad decisions by Gordon Brown. No Scottish Labour politician will be able to ridicule a country which took hard but effective decisions.

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Voice Recognition

Devolution

The Scottish Parliament

Three Westminster committees are to audit the impact of devolution on education, health and justice to find out whether it has delivered for people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The select committees for the three Celtic nations will gather results in these devolved areas to see how they rate among the best in the world.

Many MPs consider devolution has not always delivered better outcomes in important services and the investigations could be embarrassing for MSPs and their Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts and raise questions about the point of devolving power beyond being more democratic.

One major study carried out by the Centre for Public Policy for the Regions in 2009 suggested school results in Scotland had flatlined since devolution, despite up to 20% more being spent on education compared with England and Wales.

It's understood the proposal to assess devolved public services has come from Scottish Labour MPs and is to be put to the new Scottish affairs select committee by its chairman, Glasgow South West MP Ian Davidson. Mr Davidson as been asking for comparative figures for some years in his roles on the public accounts and Scottish affairs committees and is keen to proceed with a series of inquiries and studies.

Surely the data is already in the public domain and only needs collating, rather than money spent on inquiries and studies or is there an ulterior motive?

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Please comment as it will be published although the comments may show '0 comments'.

Update: Comments are working now!

Comments

Comments

For some inexplicable reason comments aren't being published today. I've no idea why this is happening. I've checked settings, rebooted and spend quite some time searching for an answer in Google.

My apologies to all those who have commented today. I have replied. Perhaps your comments will be published when the problem is resolved.

If anyone can help I'd be grateful.

Update: Comment are there now even although it's stating '0 comments', so something is happening and it seems I'm not alone. Good to know.

Latest Update 7.00am: Everything appears back to normal. Phew!

Scotland Woos the Chinese

A previous visit to China

Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, is in China. He's leading a five-strong Scottish Government delegation promoting Scottish business and is accompanied by business and tourism representatives.

He began the visit by addressing business leaders in Shanghai where he spoke of the need to protect intellectual property rights (IPR). The First Minister said companies should have a 'know before you go' approach when looking to invest in China.

One of the companies accompanying him is Origin Pet Products Ltd. Out of interest I wondered what they had to offer the Chinese so I did a search to see what I could find. This is the result. Wouldn't you think someone in Origin Pet Products would know that the Chinese are avid users of the internet? I'm being too kind there. This company doesn't deserve to do business with anyone until they can get even a most basic website up and running. How they managed a place on this delegation beats me. Surely Scotland can produce a better business model than this one.

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Hootsmon Headlines

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Created by Conan

Afghanistan

Another British soldier was killed in Afghanistan yesterday. He was from the Royal Dragoon Guards, serving as poart of Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj (South) and was killed in an explosion while on a vehicle patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province.

He was attached to the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles Battle Group and was part of a screening force that was providing protection to enable the building of a road in the Babaji area, so that local Afghans could move more freely.

Why are we building roads when the Taliban will quickly cover them in IEDs?

Another soldier, from the 1st Battalion Mercian Regiment has died today in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, from wounds received in Afghanistan.

This brings the death toll to 312 since this war began.

Kenneth Roy Requires Urgent Help

Kenneth Roy, the editor of the excellent Scottish Review, requires urgent help on the wider implications of this case or from anyone who knows anything about the workings of the Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

This particular case is most disturbing as any one of us could end up in a similar situation. I'm not fooled by what social workers say and thankfully Mr Lapsley's family aren't either.

US to Reduce Afghan Aid

A US House of Representatives panel has voted to cut almost $4 billion (£2.68bn) in aid to the Afghanistan government after allegations of corruption. The panel's chair, Nita Lowey, said the aid could be reconsidered once the Afghanistan government's efforts to fight corruption have been reconsidered.

Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that more than $3 billionn in cash has been flown out of Kabul International airport in the past three years, while the Washington Post alleged that officials in Karzai's government have been blocking corruption investigations of political allies.

'The cash - packed into suitcases, piled onto pallets and loaded into aeroplanes - is declared and legal to move,' said the Wall Street Journal.

To put this into perspective, the United States is currently spending $7 billion a month on the Afghan war.

Meantime in the UK, we have a Defence Secretary who is determined to commit our troops for many years of fighting in that country.

"Were we to leave prematurely, without degrading the insurgency and increasing the capability of the Afghan national security forces, we could see the return of the destructive forces of transnational terror," he said.

"Not only would we risk the return of civil war in Afghanistan, creating a security vacuum, but we would also risk the destabilisation of Pakistan with potentially unthinkable regional, and possibly nuclear, consequences."

Does Liam Fox not understand that Afghanistan will never be 'secure'? Hasn't he read the report (which may have been a factor in his firing) by the recently sacked General McChrystal? After nine years McChrystal warns that: 'only 5 areas out of 116 assessed were classed as secure and under full authority, or enjoying sustainable growth. More than 40 areas are described as dangerous or unsecure'. Even NATO is playing down success.

Reducing financial aid, changing the general in charge and tinkering with the controls will not bring victory in Afghanistan. 'Victory' will only come when we face up to our own limitations - and bring our troops home. Liam Fox needs to understand that.

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The National Health Service

We all know the Westminster government has promised to ring-fence NHS expenditure without affecting front line services.

However one hospital in England has decided it's time for doctors and nurses to be put back in charge of running it and dozens of non-medical bosses are expected to lose their jobs in the far-reaching changes at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester. They hope to save in the region of £17m.

The radical plan will see 26 departments replaced with nine new ones - each run by a senior medical consultant instead of a professional manager. The doctors will spend 20% of their time running their departments and 80% on medical duties. Interviews for the nine heads of department roles are already underway. Each will be supported by a nurse and a manager.

The move is likely to be a major test of the new government's health policy to replace managers with clinicians. The University Hospital of South Manchester Trust, which runs Wythenshawe, has already agreed a contract with Manchester Business School to provide management training for medics.

The NHS across Greater Manchester has been told to find nearly £1bn in efficiency savings and hospitals all over the UK will be watching this with interest.

This fellow blogger has some unexpected positive news about Scotland's NHS. Of course it's coincidence that Health Boards have reacted in this manner and nothing to do with preserving their own positions.

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The BBC and the Green-Fingered Woman

I garden but would never call myself a gardener. A potterer would be a more apt description. Gardeners are artists and dedicated to this demanding profession or hobby. At this time of year most hope that everything in the garden is rosy and looking its best. I just hope that nothing more has died.

The BBC churn out a few gardening programmes the main one being Gardeners' World. They also provide us Scots with our own mini-version The Beechgrove Garden which makes allowances for the slightly cooler northern climate. The Beechgrove Garden has a slightly couthy feel and encourages everyone to have a go.

The past couple of years I've stopped watching Gardeners' World partly because some of the presenters irritated me with their attitudes and partly because I learned little.

The Royal Horticultural Society has, for the first time in its history, a woman president. Elizabeth Banks, a landscape architect, has accused the BBC of 'being scared of plants' and guilty of patronising Britain's gardeners. Oh dearie me, the BBC won't like that one bit! But Mrs Banks is determined to up the quality of their gardening broadcasts and plans to meet the corporation to discuss its lucrative contract to cover the Chelsea Flower Show, thought to be worth about a £1m a year until it expires in 2013. That ought to focus the minds of the heid bummers at the BBC.

The BBC's response:

“The BBC works very closely with the Royal Horticultural Society which has reiterated to us that it is delighted with our coverage of gardening and the relationship it has with the BBC.

“We absolutely refute any suggestion that the BBC's coverage of gardening is in any way 'dumbing down'. Gardeners' World's core values and passion remain the same with weekly tips and advice on what to do in your garden.

They may think they work very closely with the RHS but these days appear to have gone. Mrs Banks is in charge now - for all of one week - and she intends to ensure the gardeners of Britain get the quality programmes they deserve and hopes to enlist the support of Alan Titchmarsh.

Now that's what I call a president.

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Civil Service Compensation Scheme

Frances Maude, the Cabinet Office minister (pictured) , is responsible for drawing up plans to reduce the 'generosity' of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. All well and good I thought as I read this article in the Telegraph, because in recent years some of the golden handshakes have been excessive to say the least.

Those on a salary of £21,000 or less and forced into redundancy will be protected to a degree and receive a guaranteed minimum payment. That's fair because it's usually the lower paid who come off far worse in redundancy situations.

Then I read this:

Some ministries have “pools” of several hundred workers who do not have allocated jobs but who are not sacked because of the cost.

This is the result of 13 years of Labour - hundreds of people 'employed' by the state to do nothing. I can't find any accurate statistics but I doubt of all these civil servants are in the lower-paid bracket if it's cheaper to keep them as a state employee rather than sack them.

My only concern with Mr Maude's remit is that the majority of his cuts don't target the lower paid and compulsory redundancies will be fair across the board. In the next couple of months I can visualise many working within government departments suddenly finding themselves at risk. If I can help him a little, dare I suggest he start with a few quangos. John Redwood has more information about the coalition policy here where he states that 300,000 leave the public service every year and the reductions could be achieved without compulsory redundancies.

Would it be too much to ask Mr Maude, once he's completed the CSCS work, to do the same for councils? This has to be stopped.

Did You Know?

This weather encourages even the non-swimmer to have a go in water. Fortunately I've never experienced anyone drowning athough I've spent many hours plodding up and down swimming pools. Swimming in the sea has never held any attraction perhaps because I was always warned, as a child, it could be dangerous.

I have to admit I've always imagined someone drowning would be shouting for help, flaying around and generally showing signs of serious distress - the typical portrayal of drowning in films.

Everyone, particularly parents, should read this blog post. Discover the truth. Being aware just may help save someone who can't help themselves.

Preview of Wikio Rankings

1 Iain Dale’s Diary (=) 2 Liberal Conspiracy (=) 3 Guy Fawkes’ blog (=) 4 Liberal Democrat Voice (+1) 5 Left Foot Forward (+1) 6 ConservativeHome’s ToryDiary (-2) 7 Labourlist (+1) 8 And another thing… (-1) 9 Next Left (+1) 10 UKPolling Report (-1) 11 Paul Waugh Politics (Ent.) 12 Harry’s Place (-1) 13 Dizzy Thinks (-1) 14 Mark Reckons (+2) 15 Old Holborn (-2) 16 EU Referendum (-2) 17 Nick Robinson’s Newslog (-2) 18 Mr Eugenides (+2) 19 Charlotte Gore Blog (+2) 20 John Redwood’s Diary (-1) 21 The Devil’s Kitchen (-3) 22 Tim Worstall (+9) 23 Anna Raccoon (=) 24 Stumbling and Mumbling (+5) 25 Tory Bear (-8) 26 Benedict Brogan (-2) 27 SUBROSA (=) 28 Archbishop Cranmer (-3) 29 ConservativeHome’s Seats & Candidates blog (Ent.) 30 Craig Murray (+5) Ranking by Wikio

Rethink the Afghanistan War

The politicians are unable to do it because nobody wants to upset America, yet this website has produced a list of upcoming meetups in which any of us can take part. The only one is the UK is in Scotland at present, but the site is young. If you would wish to have your voice heard and to listen to the opinions of others rather than the political spin offered by the Westminster government, please register your interest. As the site says, if Airdie is too far for you then start a meetup of your own.

Many protested against the Iraq war only to be ignored by Tony Blair. After reading this he may not be feeling quite so self-assured this morning. Then again another £100,000 and a medal may well compensate a little.

The Repenter Returns

Steven Purcell, the man who unexpectedly resigned as leader of Glasgow City Council blaming stress, has a new job. He looks thrilled to bits.

He is to work for the Stewart and McKenna Foundation, an organisation which co-ordinates a large number of charitable causes both in Scotland and abroad. Allan Stewart and Stephen McKenna are property developers, (the Stewart and McKenna Group based in Cambuslang, Glasgow), who set up the Foundation in 2007.

Mr McKenna and Mr Stewart said they hoped to give Mr Purcell a second chance after reading he wanted to become involved in charity work.

We're not risking the foundation by taking him on - we put 90 per cent of the money into it ourselves and we're not stupid. Steven's made a mistake and he understands that.

"I think it's fantastic that he will be working with us. He's said he wanted to work on Scottish projects.

"It will be great for our foundation, for Steven, and for Scotland."

Aye well, it'll certainly be good for Steven.

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Update: Dubbieside has provided a link to the Sunday Herald website which digs a little deeper. Today's Sunday Herald wasn't online when I wrote the post.

More North Sea Oil

I was going to mention this post from BellgroveBelle in my previous post 'Take Your Pick' but decided it was too important and required a post of its own.

EnCore has found a significant amount of oil in the North Sea yet, as Belle mentions, there has been nothing about this in the media other than the snippet tucked away on the BBC website and a fleeting report on the late news.

It's impossible to disagree with Belle about an oil fund for Scotland. Surely Scotland could set one up or, at the very least, be able to hold back enough funds to balance our National Grid contributions in alignment with the average in England. Where power is concerned, what is the point of Scotland generating so much yet giving it away for nothing?

Take Your Pick

Two bloggers have hung up their keyboards recently. Both were on my regular reading list and will certainly be missed. They are Ian Hamilton QC and Yapping YouSuf who has now made his blog invitation only. I'd like to thank them for contributing to my knowledge and for providing access to quality debate.

This week's choices:

Alison Prince - The proper use of hot air

Slate - Why e-books will never replace real books

Burning Our Money - Game Changers

Taki's Magazine - Prince Charles saves Chelsea Barracks

The Cynical Tendency - Affairs of State

All Seeing Eye - A New Scottish First Minister

Tim Ambler (ASI) - The Coalition has its head firmly in the EU sand

Aangirfan - Teach Us To Sit Still

The Idle Pen Pusher - Prison Fails

Police Inspector Blog - Shine forth upon our crowded hills

Power and its Minions - 'Significant' UK Scientific Breakthrough

If anyone has written or read a post they would like mentioned in this weekly listing please email me. I do my best to read as many blogs as possible but often many good posts are missed.

A Historic Week for Crofters

Four generations ago my mother's side of our family were crofters.

Then, at the end of WW1 not enough men returned to continue caring for the land so crofting families moved to the cities to find employment. Only my grandmother's sister and her husband managed to survive on their small croft in Aberdeenshire where I spent many happy holidays.

Since these days the draw of the cities has continued to influence younger generations and crofts were sold or left unoccupied.

This week the Crofting Reform Bill was passed by the Scottish parliament by 66 votes to zero, with 59 abstentions. Scottish ministers say there are almost 2000 absentee crofters and an unknown number of neglected crofts out of the 18,000 across the Highlands and Islands. Under the Bill's provisions, all crofters, whether owner-occupiers or tenants, will have a duty to occupy and work the land.

It will see enhanced powers for the Crofting Commission, which will take over from the current organisation of the same name, to clamp down on absenteeism and neglect. The creation of a new map-based register of crofts was also approved by MSPs despite opposition efforts to have it struck from the Bill.

There can't be a crofter in the whole of Scotland not pleased the Bill has passed. The average croft (smallholding) is around five hectares these days and the crofter's living is comes from produce and livestock. Absentee crofters can destroy small communities because there is a strong emphasis on collective working, kinship and the preservation of culture and heritage. I can but hope this will see the end of crofts being sold then used as holiday homes - a common occurrence in recent years.

Afghanistan

The Ministry of Defence has announced the death of another Royal Marine in Afghanistan yesterday.

There is no further information at present.

The death toll in this war now stands at 310.

Common Sense

The shortest smoking ban in Europe has taken place in Bulgaria. All of three days! They come on a par with Spain which has a sensible approach to those who use nicotine.

Why can't the UK use such common sense or are they angling towards an alcohol ban soon? I doubt that myself but we never can tell as it's proven alcohol causes more serious problems than nicotine within our society.

Scottish Labour Exposed

The BBC have investigated the planning department of one of Scotland's largest councils and revealed evidence of a close personal relationship between an influential councillor and a millionaire property developer.

Labour councillor Jim Docherty (pictured above) failed to declare a long standing friendship with Labour donor James Kean, who owns large areas of land in South Lanarkshire.

Last week the Standards Commision, the body which regulates local government, found that Mr Docherty had not broken any rules after the SNP complained to them that any relationship between Mr Docherty and Mr Kean would be a conflict of interest. It said: 'No evidnece has been provided of a relationship between Councillor Docherty to the applicant [Mr Kean] or his companies in regard to the ... applications'.

The BBC has now estaablished that Mr Docherty and Mr Kean are in fact old friends. Not only old friends but close, old friends. Mr Kean is godfather to Mr Docherty's daughter. Mr Docherty is a regular visitor to Mr Kean's properties in Strachur, Loch Fyne. They are regularly seen together eating and drinking in the village pubs.

Councillor Docherty has been involved in numerous successful planning applications involving Mr Kean, but it is understood he never declared an interest when Mr Kean's applications were considered.

There are two serious issues here not just one. Why didn't the Standards Commission investigate this thoroughly? If the BBC can uncovered such details then surely a quango, which costs every taxpayer, should be efficient enough.

Secondly, why is Docherty getting away referring those with any questions to the Standards Committee report?

South Lanarkshire is a Labour controlled council. For years many have suspected Labour of 'inside working' and this is a good example. The Scottish government must act on this immediately as the Standards Commission have failed to do their work effectively.

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Don't Mention Fruit (Or Veg)

Shirley Brown (pictured) and Jay Jethwa are two Bristol councillors. During a City Council meeting Ms Brown called Mrs Jethwa a coconut. Mrs Jethwa said she did not hear the term used during the meeting but was alerted by a fellow councillor and she later watched it on the council's website.

The alleged victim, who moved to England from India 24 years ago, wept in the witness box as she recalled the 'deeply upsetting' moment she saw the footage. She said: "I heard her say there was a word in her community for people like me and that word is coconut. I was completely shocked and numb. I was very, very upset and distressed. The word is doubly insulting as it insults both me and the white population".

The jibe is used to accuse someone of betraying their heritage by pandering to 'white' opinion, as a coconut is white in the inside but brown on the outside, Bristol magistrates heard. Ms Brown was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment. She is Bristol City Council's first black Liberal Democrat councillor and is responsible for the ethnically diverse ward of Ashley.

Political correctness has reached such impossible levels that even a humorous comment can now be classed as an offence. You can see from this article the action taken was a political move and little to do with the insult itself. The Scots will have to be careful. Often I hear the term 'yer a real turnip'. Not in this house of course!

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FMQs 1 July 2010

End of term FMQs, with Labour questions all over the place, the Tories again concentrating on the loan the Scottish government gave to the company running the Gathering and the Libdems going on NHS expenditure.

The Parliament goes into summer recess tomorrow therefore there will be no FMQs for some weeks.

Credit Where Credit's Due

Many bloggers, including myself on occasion, have ridiculed the Daily Mail for their journalism but even the most cynical blogger must give the paper some credit for its tenacity regarding the death of Dr David Kelly. The journalists involved have fought long and hard for the investigation into his death to be reopened.

Last week they reported that Dr Kelly's death certificate was officially registered before the Hutton inquiry ended and it was not properly completed. It was not signed by a doctor or coroner and does not state a place of death, as all death certificates should if this information can be established.

Today the Mail reports new testimony. You can read it here.

Penal Reform

While Ken Clark was pledging to break with the tradition 'prison works' philosophy and bring in more community sentences in England yesterday, the Scottish Parliament was also debating reform to our justice system.

Labour and the tories have long aggravated for the a mandatory six month sentence for those convicted of carrying a knife but the majority of MSPs disagreed and in the final vote on the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, MSPs rejected the plan by 64 votes to 61.

Also short prison sentences of three months or less have been scrapped, (unless in special cases), in a bid to cut down on reoffending as part of the most wide-ranging justice reforms ever passed in the Scottish Parliament.

The age at which children can be prosecuted in an adult court was raised from 8 to 12, however eight-year-olds can still receive a criminal record through the Children's Hearing System.

The Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill originally proposed scrapping sentences of six months or less but this was reduced to 3 months in order to get the LibDems and Greens onside although I can't understand why they refused to support the 6 month proposal. The Scottish government want a presumption to impose Community Payback Orders such as clearing rubbish, cleaning graffiti, gardening for the elderly instead of short sentences. It believes prison can be a college of crime for minor criminals who then graduate to more serious offending under the tuition of fellow prisoners.

All very plausible and I agree with the premise that very short sentences can do an offender more harm than good but, if we are to use community service as a punishment, there needs to be a new approach to it. Community service in this country has always been regarded as the 'soft option' and run badly. What is now needed is a community service organisation operated by ex-military or ex-police officers - people who understand the meaning of the word discipline and self satisfaction because the majority of offenders receiving short sentences are young. Our educators need to be in on the act too because many petty offenders are poorly educated in the basics skills of reading, writing and maths. Having three months or less to introduce an offender to the work ethic and the understanding that education is the way to paid employment will not be easy, but we need to try. We have a responsibility to young people who have lost their way or have yet to find it.