Middle East Envoy 'Perks'

Tony Blair is responsible, along with Gordon Brown, for the mess Britain is in today. Since he left Downing Street he's become a ruthless self-promoter.

If this is true then he ought to be stripped of any job he does for the UK and also have his expensive security arrangements withdrawn.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Colonel Gaddafi, claims Tony Blair has secured a consultancy role, as an advisor to Colonel Gaddafi, with a state fund which manages the country's £85 billion of oil wealth.

Saif described Blair as a 'personal family friend' of the Libyan leader and said he had visited the country 'many, many times' since leaving Downing Street three years ago.

The man continues to make a fool of each and every one of us and we can do nothing about it.

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World Cup Madness

A school in England has angered parents by planning to close early to allow pupils to watch a World Cup game. The headmaster has agreed to shorten lessons and bring forward a GCSE exam to enable his 1200 pupils to get home in time for England's game against Slovenia on 23 June. He told parents in an email that the game is 'very important'. The school will close at 2pm instead of the normal 3.30pm.

The controversial decision was taken after a request from pupils who are given a say in the running of their school through its Student Voice. Teachers have previously warned of abuse of this nationwide initiative which gives pupils greater power in their schools, allowing them to rate members of staff and even sit on interview panels.

What will Michael Gove say about this? Time he stopped this 'inclusive' attitude to schooling and ensured pupils were pupils and the adults, such as the head and teachers, were those in charge.

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Afghanistan

Two more of our soldiers were killed in Afghanistan yesterday afternoon. They belonged to the 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment serving as part of Combined Force Nahr-e-Saraj (South).

The 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment is part of the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurka Rifles Battle Group and the soldiers were killed by small arms fire during engagement with insurgent forces.

The death toll now stands at 292 of our young.

More families will suffer the grief of loss for a lifetime and politicians will issue their platitudes at PMQs. There was a meeting at Chequers this week with the great and the good to discuss the Afghanistan war yet there has been little reported about it. I wonder why. Can't they make up their minds what to do?

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NIMBY

This week my local paper, the Courier, reported an 'initiative' which uses civilian volunteers to help catch speeding motorists. The idea may soon be used in Cupar, a small county town in Fife.

A Community Speedwatch Initiative, which allows residents to use handheld radar guns and pass information to police in a move which has been welcomed in other parts of the UK, has led to concern about vigilante activity.

In other places where the scheme has been tried, apparently mainly in England, volunteers are trained by police and they work in pairs in speed limit areas.

If the scheme is adopted it will run during the simmer months of July, August and September.

Why just during summer? Will the poor Righteous get cold and wet during the other months of the year? I was discussing this with friends last night and even the most Righteous of them was against the idea of civilians doing work which taxpayers expect to be done by professionals. The main objection was that some volunteers could work to their own agendas.

Who's to say that traffic police don't work to their own agendas? Nevertheless, if this initiative was adopted in this area, it would get short shrift by all accounts.

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Alors! C'est le Rab C Nesbitt Show

The television company which makes comedy classic Rab C Nesbitt has been sold to a Paris-based media giant in a £150 million deal. RDF, also the creators of Wife Swap and Location, Location, Location, has been bought by Zodiak, an entertainment conglomerate backed by French and Italian money.

The deal swallows up Glasgow-based production company The Comedy Unit, which was bought for £10 million by RDF four years ago. Boss David Frank has already ordered a 30-day internal review of the new group and some job losses are anticipated.

Does this mean Rab will get a make-over? Will the string vest no longer be his basic apparel? Somehow I can't see him strutting through the streets of Glasgow in a beret, tailored jeans and designer t-shirt.

It has to be hoped that the Glasgow side of the business will continue to thrive. We can only wait and see.

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The UN, Meat and Tipper

As an occasional meat eater I'm confused. A few months ago a representative from friends of the earth said we ought to stop eating meat and eat vegetables because that's what we're designed to eat. Of course his 'real' message was that cows and their colleagues were polluting the atmosphere more than most other processes, such as industry and vehicles and they were a real danger to global warming.

At the time I laughed, only to be struck down on the odd occasion with someone who agreed with him. Everyone's entitled to their view so I decided not to argue the point, except to say that Scottish farmers would be bankrupt within a few years if they couldn't sell their high quality meat. The issue disappeared from the front pages.

But, like all propaganda, it has returned. Strangely the Telegraph has published two articles which contradict each other, so where do we go from here?

The first article is 'Eat less meat to save the planet - UN' and the second 'UN admits flaw in report on meat and climate change'.

Are you confused too or do you think, as I do, that the UN's right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing?

This isn't anything to do with meat, it's to do with ensuring the coffers of the 'soon to be divorced' Al Gore and his mates continue to benefit. Do you think the soon to be ex-Mrs Tipper Gore became weary after 40 years of listening to his hot air? It's a good a reason as any to live alone I suppose. In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy my odd chunk of Aberdeen Angus.

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Eddie Stobart Haulier

Eddie Stobart and an Aberdeen hoax caller. Enjoy!


Courtesy of Dark Lochnagar

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An Annual 'Sickener' for Someone

Do you know a Fifer, or maybe just someone living in Fife, who is feeling scunnered this week? Perhaps not, but if I was in this person's shoes I'd be feeling not just a little sick myself.

Among a pile of donated items at the St Andrews Cancer Research UK shop, a sharp-eyed volunteer spotted a rare comic. It was at the bottom of a big bag of donation and turned out to be the first Beano annual from 1939.

After taking advice from publisher D C Thomson, the charity had the book sold by a specialist comics auction house.

A final rush of bids saw it sell for an eye-watering £4264 - one of the highest prices ever paid for a copy of the book.

The manager of the shop said: "We're so grateful to the person who handed it in and to Matthew (the volunteer) for discovering how much it was worth."

I would like to think that the charity made a big effort to try to trace the person who donated the items, including the annual, but I hae ma doots. They possibly didn't have a clue they were putting an item of such value into a plastic bag and giving it to a charity shop.

Let that be a lesson to us all. The more people who rake through your charity donations before they leave your possession the better.

Note: For those with a keen interest in children's annuals, there was no Dennis the Menace in 1939. He didn't appear until 1951.

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FMQs 3 June 2010

This week's questions included the allegation that Scottish newly qualified teachers could not find a job, a rural area's complaint that they do not receive 24-hour NHS care and the Scottish Investment Bank.

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Schools

Morgan Academy, Dundee today

Why is it that in the past few years the Labour party has suddenly decided every child in Scotland should be educated in a brand new school?

Yesterday the SNP published a timetable for the building of 35 schools across Scotland, with construction on the first schools due to begin later this year.

As is the norm in Scottish politics, up pops Des McNulty, Labour education spokesman: "Scotland was promised a raft of new schools by the SNP - today's announcement shows the bankruptcy of their ambition. None of the schools announced today will be completed in the lifetime of this parliament."

Of course Labour did nothing for many years about any Scottish school. They were left to decay even during the 'boom' years. A few years ago, when they were in government with the libdems, they suddenly realised many schools were uninhabitable. Leeking roofs, ancient heating systems beyond repair, unsafe playgrounds and many other major defects pushed Labour into providing new schools. It was a major fire which caused the rebuilding of my old school (pictured above) which I attended for 10 years, but that was an exceptional case because due to its history, the facia was restored although the inside of the building was mainly rebuilt.

Before the fire in 2001 it was an old building with its problems, but that did not hinder the provision of a quality education to its pupils. New buildings do not educate, teachers educate.

Once again Labour are complaining the SNP haven't built umpteen schools in the last 3 years, although they have built quite a few and refurbished even more. According to the SNP's timetable the 35 will be completed and occupied by 2015. Is that too long to wait for a brand new building when the ones they replace have been neglected for 40 years or more? I think not.

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The Labour Culture of the West

As many regular readers know I live in the east of Scotland where the politics, these days, are very different from the West.

It can be very difficult for me to understand why the west of Scotland, particularly Glasgow and the surrounding areas, continue to vote labour when they are the party which have kept so many in poverty. Yet the people vote for them.

Outlander has written his personal account of trying hard to understand why his father votes labour. Do have a read of it here. It doesn't answer many questions but where I firmly agree is in the SNP's tactics. They really must improve their skills in countering labour lies. I've suggested this for some time now yet there seems to be no progress.

It's time the SNP started practicing some tricks - dirty tricks.

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Afghanistan

This morning another soldier was been killed in Afghanistan. He too belonged to 40 Commando Royal Marines, serving as part of Combined Force Sangin.

He was undertaking a joint foot patrol with soldiers from the Afghan National Army in order to reassure the local population when he was killed in an explosion in the Sangin district of Helmand province.

His family and friends will be distraught with grief as will his colleagues who have lost others in the past few days.

I despair and have no hope of our armed services coming home in the near future.

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Take Your Pick

Calum Cashley - Holier than who?

Charlotte Bowyer - Time to rethink prostitution

ConservativeHome - Andrew Lansley rejects minimum unit pricing of alcohol

Pseudepigrapha - Hootsmon Headlines

Go Lassie Go - Economic powers or full independence?

Lallands Peat Worrier - Scottish Independence "Tomorrow & tomorrow & tomorrow..."

J Arthur MacNumpty - New appointments

Welcome to my world - Screens please nurse

A Rabbit's Eye View of the Hyperborean North - Pearl Mussel Theft in Scottish Rivers

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How Many Will Tell the Truth?

The National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are advising GPs to routinely quiz new patients about their drinking when they join a surgery.

Doctors are also being told to ask patients about how much alcohol they consume when medicines are being reviewed and when they are being treated for minor injuries.

The latest scaremongering information is that one in four people - a total of 10 million - is estimated to be putting their health at risk by drinking more alcohol than the recommended limits. These are the limits which a department of health interdepartmental group of officials had to admit that the limitations of the knowledge on which advice was offered to the public should be recognised.

The co-founder of campaign group Patient Concern said: "GPs seem to have to ask so many things that there is none (no time) left for what you went in about."

This is further step towards an increase in the tax on alcohol. Will a price increase make a difference to the health of those who drink in excess? No. But it will make a difference to the manufacturers' profits and of course the Treasury's coffers.

Hence the guidelines from NICE.

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A Patriarchal Culture (Don't watch the video on a weak stomach)

We read about 'child brides' then, for the majority of us in western countries, the thought is too hard to handle, so we try to ignore it.

Our troops have been in Afghanistan for nearly a decade in the belief, from government, that they are protecting our streets.

In Afghanistan, as in some other countries, young girls are forced into marriages with men much older than themselves.

In this video (which I'm grateful I can't embed on the blog), one young girl of 13, tried to escape a forced marriage yet was arrested by police, who knew she would be severely punished, and returned to her isolated village where men imposed the punishment of 40 lashes on each. There was another girl who underwent the same punishment. The video shows the brutality and power of men within that culture and the attempt at dignity of a young girl who would still be at school here.

Our troops can do nothing to stop this abuse. We have no influence over the corrupt Afghani government. Flogging is illegal and fortunately, in this instance, someone was able to copy the video the abusers made and send it to the New York Times.

What can our troops do when they know of such torture to young females? Nothing sadly. The Afghan government is corrupt and totally male dominated. This abuse of females will continue until women have the strength to speak out. There are few women in power in Afghanistan and like most, they speak out initially then keep quiet as they begin to enjoy the trappings of power. It is a cruel society.

Is it the responsibility of our armed forces to stop these atrocities? I think not. It's up to our politicians to say money stops right now unless the law breakers are given a lengthly jail sentence. It won't happen. Jails in Afghanistan are as corrupt as the government.

Thank you to Radio Free Britain who explains the event leading up to this hellish result.

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Edward Leigh, former chair of the Public Accounts Committee

Tory MP Edward Leigh, former chair of the Public Accounts Committee, writes in today's Express of 'The Idiots Who Waste Our Cash'. Mr Leigh is standing down as the post must be held by a member of the opposition.

He takes great pride in detailing patterns of waste within government.

I felt frustrated that for all the money pumped into administration our services appeared to be in the hands of people you wouldn’t trust to organise a village cake sale.

Military logistics spring to mind here. While our brave men were dying in ­Afghanistan eight SAS Chinooks were kept in a hangar at public expense because a bunch of second-rate bureaucrats were too incompetent to supply the techno­logical back-up they needed to fly on a cloudy day. The decrepitude of our military campaigns, social security system, NHS and education system defies belief.

Why didn't he make these details so public previously? He was in a position of power and could have had the support of the public.

I read about what good works Westminster committees undertake. From an academic view that may be quite correct, but if there findings do not result in immediate change, what good are they? Every one of us could sit down and analyse situations but if the information we produce is not used to benefit the end-user, then it is purely a paper exercise.

If this committee passed their findings onto the highest echelons of power who refused to enact any improvements, then government ministers are responsible.

For Mr Leigh to say ' Management in Britain must be improved' is fine. Most of us know that. What did he do about it during his 8 years in his post?

He concludes 'The greater the diligence of the PAC, the greater value you receive'. I don't think so. For us to receive greater value, the PAC needs to have some clout to take immediate action upon government departments who fail to use our money carefully. Otherwise this committee, along with others no doubt, is just a talking shop and a nice financial perk for a group of MPs.

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Another Extravagant Quango

Fancy attending an 'embed a culture of respect' course or a course to inspire public sector managers? No? What about a little life-coaching? We can all do with a few lessons in how to cope with life - if that's what it means - particularly if it's in some pleasant surroundings.

If any of the above appeals to you join the staff of the Audit Commission. In case anyone is unaware the Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone (taken from their website).

This quango wasted more than £3 million in one year on life coaches, hotels and driving lessons for its staff.

Officials at the Audit Commission spent tens of thousands with training firms that use techniques such as firewalking and weekend retreats.

In the year 2008-09 alone, it arranged events for staff and fellow public-sector workers in 30 four-star hotels. The most expensive event was a two-day conference at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole which cost nearly £250,000.

Isn't it time such quangos were dissolved? The AC is presented as an independent watchdog but how can it be independent when it's funded by taxpayers' money? It's a government department which tells other government organisations where they spent money unwisely.

Let's trust Danny Alexander will get his teeth into this one. Of course the unions will rant about redundancies. They don't concern me. After all, with so many staff having had life-coaching training, those who lose their jobs will surely have the motivation to set up in business for themselves.

That leads me to wonder how many of them would have skills for which anyone, other than the public sector, would be willing to pay.

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Is New Legislation Required?

What's a politician's best friend? Their Blackberry? Their laptop? Their shredder? Aye, that's it!

All too often, when a scandal hits the government, we hear about shredders being busy. They were especially 'busy' in Downing Street before the police investigated the Cash for Peerages incident.

Once again the troubled quango, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, is in the news. It's alleged that receipts from business trips worth more than £32,000 were shredded.

Is it time legislation was passed to stop this blatant abuse in public offices? Businesses are required to keep all records for a period of at least 6 years. Documents relating to government grants must generally be kept for 4 years and where grant aid is being received, no document should be destroyed without consulting the relevant government department.

Shouldn't the same rules apply to government departments and any organisation which receives taxpayers' money? I certainly think so.

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Another Tragic Loss

A Royal Marine has been killed in Afghanistan in an explosion the MoD has confirmed.

The marine from 40 Commando was killed in an explosion in Helmand Province yesterday. This is the second fatality the Marines have suffered within a few days. Cpl Stephen Curley, 26, who was killed last Wednesday also belonged to 40 Commando.

The total fatalities in this pointless war now stands at 289. Every loss in this was is a tragedy because we should not be there. Back in the early 2000s there may have been a case for us to there for a short time but we should have pulled out years ago. Our presence does nothing for the security of Britain - on the contrary.

David Cameron is convening a secret summit of military experts on the war in Afghanistan. The great and the good are said to be attending. It's all very well talking but it's long past time something was done about the withdrawal of our troops. I read that we cannot withdraw because the Taliban would just return to their usual behaviour. Of course they will but surely we're not going to be present for decades. If the Afghans want change in their country then let them bring it about themselves. Take those wishing to learn military skills to a neutral country and teach them there.

The time for talking is over. It's time to make our own decisions rather than wait for President Obama to give us our instructions. It's time to plan our withdrawal and whether its dignified, as some commentators say must be, or whether it's a scramble I don't care. We have little dignity left as a country being willing to rush into wars these days. Politicians started this. They must finish it. Now.

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Oh Danny Boy

Nick Clegg really needs to take some urgent action to sort out his MPs. The new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has been found to have done a 'Hazel Blears' - avoiding paying capital gains tax when he sold his taxpayer-funded second home at a profit.

There is no suggestion that Mr Alexander has broken any tax laws but he has used a loophole in the tax system for personal financial gain.

In the first televised leaders' debate Mr Clegg said: "There are MPs who flipped one property to the next, buying property, paid by you the taxpayer, and then they would do the properties up, paid for by you and pocket the difference in personal profit."

I don't expect he was aware one of his bright young things had done exactly that.

Time for the libdems to get their own house in order before they start legislating for a reduction in our standards of living.

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Made It!

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Blair to Cash In on the Climate Change Scam

Tony Blair has recently told friends he needs £5 million a year to fund his lifestyle.

He's nothing to worry about though, not yet anyway. He's recently agreed to be paid £700,000 a year to act as a 'strategic advisor' to Khosia Ventures, a venture capitalist firm founded by Indian billionaire Vinod Khosia.

His role? To advise the company on how to make money from the climate change scam.

In a recent statement Mr Blair said: "Solving the climate crisis is more than just a political agenda item; it's an urgent priority that requires innovation, creativity and ambition."

It is urgent Mr Blair. The climate change sceptics are now being acknowledged in high places.

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'Golf Buggies' to Afghanistan and a Secret Meeting

A senior Army officer called the £7 million procurement of 75 unarmoured vehicles 'a belated April Fool joke'.

The MoD have issued a contract to supply the £93,000-a-time Springers which are built around a similar frame to a golf buggy.

They are being used in Afghanistan to move combat supplies from helicopter landing sites to patrol bases. Quad bikes, costing just £20,000, had been doing the job. The Springer is designed to be used in any terrain. But they're not armoured and therefore cannot be used in areas where there may be bombs. Andrew Tyler, chief operating officer for MoD Defence Equipment and Support, claimed the contract 'demonstrates that we're continuing to invest in vehicles for the frontline'.

How anyone can substantiate tarting up a golf buggy frame and selling the result for £93,000 defeats me. The Springer was produced by Derbyshire-based Enhanced Protection Systems (EPS) and is designed specifically for rugged, desert conditions.

David Cameron has convened a secret meeting of military experts, ministers and Tory MPs at Chequers to review strategy on Afghanistan amid growing signs of division over the mission's objectives.

The meeting will be on Tuesday and also be attended by members of the new National Security Council.

Government officials stressed last night that they were not anticipating any dramatic change of policy although it is reported that there is increasing scepticism in both political and military circles over whether some of the original objectives in Afghanistan are achievable.

Denis McShane, writing in today's Observer, says it is time to end the 'blood sacrifice' of British soldiers and calls for them to be brought home.

"The White House is clearly looking for an exit strategy," the Labour MP says.

The Tory MP and former infantry officer Patrick Mercer said: "There are huge questions that need to be asked on foreign and development policy and difficult questions that need to be made in the current economic climate."

It's pleasing to see more than lip-service being paid to the war in Afghanistan by the new Westminster government.

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Dennis Hopper 1936 - 2010

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