The 'Our Scotland' Blog

The World We Live In

2009-06-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last night I heard the news as did everyone of the sad passing of Michael Jackson. To be honest it didn't affect me nearly as much as the death of Kurt Cobain did back in 1994, but no-one wants to see someone go well before they reach old age.

Anyway, I had to go to Glasgow Fort today for a few things, so thought I would pop into HMV just to see if there was anything worth buying.

On the way up to the door, I heard they were playing Jackson's music. I thought that was nice. A kind of tribute.

I can't believe how naive I was!

On entering the store, immediately as you went in, there was a stand with loads of Jackson merchandise on it for sale.

The guy had barely been dead 12 hours, yet they were ready to capitalise on it. I know I shouldn't really be surprised, after all we live in a capitalist society, but it just seemed wrong, wrong, wrong.

Bleating Blears

2009-06-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

How gullible do politicians think we are? I mean come on!

Firstly they try to pull the wool over our eyes with their dodgy expenses. Then after they are found out, they try to weasel their way out of it saying it was a “mistake” and they then patronise us by paying the money back.

Now Perma-Grin, aka Hazel Blears, is at it.

She did something even the shadiest of underhand politician wouldn’t even contemplate. She resigned on the eve of a nation-wide election. Not only that, she made a great song and dance about it. As people were actually going to the polls she was swanning about trying to cause maximum damage for her party.

Fast forward a week. With her desired outcome, the downfall of Gordon Brown, unfulfilled, she is coming to us cap in hand saying she is “sorry” and regrets what she did. Yeah, right!

The only thing these politicians are sorry about is not getting their own way.

I hope her constituency party passes the vote of no confidence in her and she gets what she deserves. That may be enough to wipe that smile off her face.

SNP and Plaid Cymru to Seek Dissolution of Parliament

2009-06-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

It looks like Westminster will have a chance to vote next week on whether there should be an election or not. The Scottish and Welsh nationalists are to table a motion calling for the dissolution of Parliament.

With the Tories and Lib Dems saying that they will back the motion, it may just have half a chance of getting through. However, it will need a number of Labour MPs to support it also. With over 50 of them saying that they will step down at the next election, then it is unlikely they will vote for their own unemployment. Unless that is, they need the severance money in order to pay back the thousands of pounds of expenses they cheated the taxpayer out of!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I find the actions of MPs lining up to pay back expenses and mumbling, “sorry, it was a genuine mistake,” equally as insulting as them thieving the money in the first place.

If that wasn’t bad enough, if they survive until the next election, they will receive a pay of in the tens of thousands, of which the first £30,000 is tax free.

We should sack them now.

It would happen in any other walk of life. If you were found with your fingers in the till, you would be out the door quicker than you could say “duck house”. Then it wouldn’t be long until the coppers were hunting you down. MPs should be no different.

So, let’s hope next week MPs make at least one good decision in this term and vote for the dissolution of parliament.

European Elections

2009-06-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

There is nothing quite like an election to get the pulses raising, even if it is “only” the European one. However, depending on the outcome of this election, there may be a lot more at stake electing MEPs.

All the polls in the lead up to the Thursday’s vote are showing that the Labour Party is in for a right kicking (pardon the pun!). One poll even suggests their support is as low as 18%. If this follows through to the results on Sunday, then Gordon Brown could find himself in a very precarious position.

Senior members within the Labour Party will no doubt be telling him to call it a day, but auld Broon won’t be displaced that easily. He hasn’t waited ten years for the top job to hand it over that easily.

What will Labour do then? Will they sleep walk into a general election massacre, or will one of them have the bottle to challenge Brown? With the inevitable post Euro election re-shuffle, there is certain to be a few disgruntled senior figures without a portfolio to keep them occupied. Blears, Darling? Personally, I can’t imagine anyone calling Hazel Blears darling, but that is a different story.

With other Labour backbenchers fearing for their job security and more importantly their expenses security, then Brown is going to be getting it from all angles.

But what if he does fall on his sword? Surely the electorate will not stomach another change of Prime Minister without a General Election?

So Brown could do us all a favour and call an election as soon as possible.

Keep up to date with all the discussions at Our Scotland.

Inclement Times

2009-02-06T15:31:00.000-08:00

So does the “One Eyed Scottish Idiot” have any idea of how to drag the UK out of this economic mess? Clearly Jeremy Clarkson does not seem to think so. The day I look towards Clarkson for political inspiration though will be the day I am led away by the men in white coats. However having said that, there is an element of truth in what Clarkson says.

Brown keeps claiming that he is the man to get not just us, but the whole world onto a safe footing, yet let us not forget, he also claimed to have ended boom and bust! At the moment it looks like both he and the Bank of England are intent on storing up problems for the future for very little gain just now.

Brown also has very little to gain from telling wildcat strikers that their actions were, “not the right thing to do.” I am pretty sure they are not going to take too kindly to being lectured like that. If something is blatantly unfair, then standing up for yourself and your fellow workers is definitely the right thing to do.

He should be saving his lectures for all those greedy bankers who despite having to be bailed out by the public to the tune of billions of pounds, still think it is okay to award themselves massive bonuses. Some people really need to get a grip on reality.

Grip is something people have been really struggling with lately as uncharacteristic weather sweeps across the country. I think some people down south have blown it out of all proportion though. Firstly the amount of coverage it has received in the media is just astounding. How many ways can you find to say, “It’s snowing!”?

Secondly some people are wondering why certain areas came to a standstill with inadequate levels of salt etc. Well here is a clue. You haven’t seen snow like it for 18 years, so it would have been unrealistic for you to be equipped for it.

Coming from the Highlands, I can appreciate sometimes the elements just beat you and there is nothing you can do. When I have been travelling north you know there is always a possibility in the winter that you can get stuck on the Slochd or Drumochter summits. You just accept that is the case. I think a lot of people down south would do well to just chill out a bit. (Pardon the pun!)

Taxing Question!

2009-01-30T14:49:00.000-08:00

In September 1998, we voted Yes, Yes.

Yes to a Scottish Parliament and Yes to it having tax raising (or lowering) powers.

To date, no-one had ever seriously considered tampering with the taxation. This would be understandable in the infancy of a newly established parliament.

However, it has now been about for approaching 10 years and if ever there is a time when the electorate needed tax cuts, during a recession would be one of them.

That is presumably why the Lib Dems are arguing for a 2p income tax reduction as part of their budget negotiations. Now we all know how that went.

But what about this “tax raising powers”?

The SNP know all full well that it would be practically impossible for them to reduce income tax in Scotland.

Firstly, imagine the outcry from the rest of the UK. It is almost worth doing it for that!!

Secondly, it would just mean that the amount of money they would have for the following year’s budget would be reduced by about 10%. With no means of raising our own income we would be totally stuffed

Now, from what I heard on Newsnight Scotland, the Lib Dems have restricted their bargaining over the budget to the SNP making a strong submission to the Calman Commission for the Scottish Parliament to have greater tax raising powers.

Will the SNP even entertain the Calman Commission? Will the Lib Dems consider voting down the Scottish budget a second time?

Either way, until the issue of greater financial independence is addressed, no responsible Scottish Government can entertain reducing the income tax in Scotland.

Recession, Recession, Recession

2009-01-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

Well my friends, it has been a little while!

But I am back, refreshed and slightly more impoverished, thanks to the credit crisis.

And didn’t that sneak up and bite everyone on the ar$e? PM Brown and his Labour colleagues claimed that they had re-written the laws of economics and ended boom and bust cycles.

“Great,” everyone rejoiced and went out and celebrated, stopping by to get a massive loan from the bank and 10 credit cards, to help keep the party going. After all, these are leaders of great importance not just in the UK, but on the world-wide stage. So, who are we to question their proclamations?

OK, OK, so I’ve learnt I can’t trust politicians, but surely I can trust banks? Some of them have been going since 1695. They will know what they are talking about. If they say I can afford a £200,000 mortgage on a £15,000 salary, who am I to argue? Just show me that mansion!

What?

It’s a bedsit? For £200k?

You better make it £200,010 so I can furnish it as well! I’ll get my stuff from Woolies.

Woolies is bust? And you want your £200k back? Wait a minute. Does the taxpayer not own you now anyway? So we have just ploughed £500bn pounds into you for you to pull the carpet out from under my feet?

Looks like I can’t trust banks now either!

Where on earth is it all heading? At this point in time, contrary to what some Labour Business Minister’s think, this recession is just starting and will have a long way to go.

Hold on folks. We are in for a rough ride.

Oooohhhh The Irony!

2008-10-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Now, I am an accountant. Yeah, yeah, not a boring one! The first rule of accountancy is prudence.

Now auditors are even more boring than accountants if that is believable. And they are even more prudent, checking to see that every last penny is accounted for.

So it is incredibly ironic to see how the Audit (yeah, that's right AUDIT) Commission has just lost £10,000,000 because it was invested in an Icelandic Bank.

Oh, how I laughed.

Glenrothes By-Election

2008-10-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

It was once famously said that a week is a long time in politics. Well if a week is a long time, then a couple of months must be a lifetime.

Just think back to the height of summer, or as we call it in Scotland – the mild part of winter. Back then in July, just after John Mason won Glasgow East, Gordon Brown was teetering on the brink. Nobody knew if he would make it through one week to the next as PM. Some were questioning if Glasgow East was the final straw.

Fast forward to the Glenrothes by-election. Where are all the Labour MPs who were calling for the PM’s head? If Labour lose this seat, will there be the same clamour for GB to resign.

NO.

Why? Because people see GB as the best person to get us out of this economic mess that HE precipitated over. Oooohhh the irony.

He may yet be saved because of his own incompetence.

But that probably won’t save them from the wrath of the Glenrothes electorate.

The Three Muskateers

2008-08-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

The nominations have closed on the Scottish Labour Leadership with three names being thrown into the ring.

Andy Kerr
Cathy Jamieson
Iain Gray

Nominations have also closed for the deputy leader as well with Bill Butler and Johann Lamont being put forward.

Something just isn't adding up for me though with Cathy Jamieson.

Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston (also my MSP), is a prominent member of the Campaign for Socialism organisation within the Scottish Labour Party.

Now she gives her nomination to Bill Butler for the deputy leadership which would make sense as he is seen to be on the left of the party.

However, Smith does not give her nomination to any of the candidates standing for leader. Why is that? Does she not believe all the hype there has been recently about Jamieson returning to left wing policies?

There's been a murder!!

2008-07-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

WOW!!!

That was all I could say last night as the unbelievable news came through that the SNP had taken Glasgow East.

Personally, I thought that they would have got within a couple of thousand of Labour, but ultimately come up short.

How wrong was I ?!!

Granted, Labour's campaign didn't get off to the best of starts, but even so, it has been an awesome effort by the SNP to take this seat.

If the SNP continue on the form they are on, who would bet against them achieving a "YES" outcome in an independence referendum? First Salmond takes the Gordon seat with a swing of 21%. Then he turns the political landscape upside down by his party becoming the biggest party in Scotland by gaining an incredible 20 seats at Holyrood. Now his party have taken a Westminster seat that has been Labour for generations.

Next stop independence?

What next for poor Frances Curran, oops, I mean Margaret Curran. She must have thought she was a certainty for the job as she was the MSP for part of the constituency and the fact that the area had traditionally voted Labour.

WRONG!!!!

She must have also considered herself to be one of the favourites to become Scottish Labour Leader, but surely she cannot stand for it now. She will struggle to be selected for the Bailieston seat at the next election in 2011, so I think she is heading the same way as New Labour - Out the door!

Glasgow East Countdown

2008-07-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

It is just as well for Labour that they have a million percent majority in Glasgow East, because they are trying their best to lose this by-election.

First there was the fiasco over selecting a candidate. Then when one was picked, she couldn’t remember which part of Glasgow she lived in. Now, even at 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning, when I am staggering from one side of Sauchiehall Street to the other, I still know where I live!

If that wasn’t enough, she tried to pull the wool over our eyes, by getting the endorsement of a “93 year old war hero”. The war hero turned out to be 67 and only 4 at the time of the said war.

Tony Blair ripped up by-election protocol when he used to visit by-election constituencies to lend “support” to the Labour candidate, but where is Gordon Brown on this occasion? Either he is extremely complacent, expecting a Labour landslide, or he is running scared.

Or maybe there is a third option. Maybe he is sitting in Drowning Street, sorry Downing Street, concocting bribes to ensure that the electorate vote in his favour and effectively keep him in a job. Like the freeze on the fuel tax announced this week.

The latest opinion poll showed that Labour had a 47 – 33 percent lead over the SNP. However both Political Betting and ASWAS seriously question the detail behind this poll. Maybe that is why Labour is canvassing the SNP candidate for his support for next Thursday!

I seriously doubt that the SNP will be able to pull off the 20 odd % swing needed to take this seat. But then again it wasn’t that long ago that the SNP came from nowhere to wrestle the reigns of power away from Labour at Holyrood.

So anything is possible!

Dummies Guide Of How Not To Run A By-election

2008-07-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

By the time Thursday the 24th of July comes along, Labour will be thinking they have fought an election campaign already. And that is just to get a candidate in place to fight the Glasgow East by-election!

Firstly, Councillor George Ryan pulled out of the selection meeting at the last minute, citing the catch all "family reasons" for his decision. The other two candidates were then told the meeting would be cancelled, effectively saying to them that they will not be chosen to be the Labour candidate.

How Labour can afford to turn away two people who are actually WILLING to stand for the party is beyond me, but that is another story.

So, after the dead cert for the candidate withdrew, Labour apparently were scurrying about looking for someone to stand. The leader of Glasgow City Council, councillor Steven Purcell was apparently asked but he ran a mile.

According to the Sunday Herald, eventually Margaret Curran MSP is going to be asked. And she was fourth choice.

But this is just incredible short-sightedness in my opinion. It is just solving one problem by creating several more.

For one, it would probably mean a further by-election in this area if Curran was to resign her Baillieston MSP seat. How would the electorate take to that?

Secondly, she is one of the likely contenders to replace Wendy Alexander as leader in Scotland. They haven't got many to choose from as it is, so if another one were to go, you'd be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Of course, Labour may have a masterplan up their sleave just waiting to be delivered in the shape of John Reid.

M.P.s Expenses

2008-07-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

After the debacle yesterday in the commons when M.P.s showed just how greedy they were by voting to retain their generous expenses, I thought what a life! The amount they are allowed to claim for their second homes, £24,006, is more than a lot of the people in Scotland get paid each year, particularly in Glasgow East. And that is just for their second homes.

If Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting had been about politics, I guess Renton's opening mantra would have been:

Choose a M.P.s life.

Choose a cushy job.

Choose a lucrative career.

Choose not to see your family.

Choose a f______g big John Lewis television.

Choose John Lewis washing machines, ministerial cars, John Lewis compact disc players, and John Lewis electrical tin openers.

Choose crappy health, high cholesterol and life insurance.

Choose the public to pay your fixed-interest mortgage repayments.

Choose a second home.

Choose to back-stab your friends.

Choose a John Lewis three piece suite on taxpayers money in a range of f_____g fabrics.

Choose for the taxpayer to pay for your DIY and wonder which home to read the papers in on a Sunday morning.

Choose sitting on that John Lewis couch watching mind-numbing sprit-crushing reality TV shows, stuffing f_______g junk food into your mouth at the tax payers expense.

Choose rotting away at the end of it all, when the electorate find you out and crawl back into the undergrowth with a seat in the Lords or some other unearned reward.

Choose a future on the Board of a FTSE 100 company.

Choose a M.P.s life.

But why would I want to do a thing like that? Because I have f______g morals!

Who's Next?

2008-07-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

Wendy Alexander last week!

Nicol Stephen this week!

Annabel Goldie next week?

Charlie Gordon - aka Cathcart Comedian

2008-07-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

Newsnight was quality last night.

Charlie Gordon, less than 7 months after playing the fall guy role, said that he was considering standing for Scottish Labour leadership.

But that wasn't the most funny part. At the start of the interview asked if Labour were going to win the Glasgow East by-election, he stated that we shouldn't take the electorate for granted. However, asked later about the independence referendum, he said that Salmond would lose the referendum!

Make up your mind. You either take us for granted or you don't!!

Glasgow East By-election

2008-06-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like the prospect of a by-election to get the pulses racing in anyone interested in politics.

The Glasgow East by-election likely to be held on the 24th July, has potentially more riding on it than simply returning an MP to Westminster.

Firstly could this be an oportunity for the Solidarity Party to get a foothold at Westminster? The Herald today hinted that Tommy Sheridan may be about to stand.

A more likely, but equally challenging result, is an SNP victory. The SNP have apparently been trying to get people like Elaine C Smith to stand in a bid to secure the 22% swing needed to win the seat.

If the unthinkable does happen, what will happen to Gordon Brown. There are already reports that he will be advised to leave if results don't go Labour's way.

But aren't Labour missing the point (again!).

Sometimes there is just a mood for change. Labour should know it better than anyone after their 1997 result. They are going to lose the next election no matter who is in charge.

Why don't they just see the current term out with Brown in charge and then make the change after the election?

Oh yeah!! Because that would be like common sense!!

Bye Bye Wendy!

2008-06-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

Well, Wendy has come to her senses…..at last!

She has finally accepted what most of us have known for some time, that her position was untenable.

However, instead of doing the honourable thing, way back in November, she limped on and allowed the drama to be conducted in the media for a further 7 months, doing the Labour Party irreparable damage.

Salmond and co probably couldn’t believe their luck as each new revelation came along about the expenses for a contest that never was.

Now that she has gone, will the SNP be trembling in their shoes about her successor?

I hardly think so!!

Let’s see who the contenders are likely to be. Andy Kerr? Cathy Jamieson? Margaret Curran? Hardly in the same league as Alex Salmond.

One thing the Labour Party does want this time around though, is an actual contest. This way, at least any dodgy donations will actually be going towards something.

But what will an actual contest do to a Party that already seems to be in decline? Will it launch a civil war that will end in its demise?

As Labour are so out of touch with the voters, perhaps they should be reminded that kind of back-stabbing does not go down too well and with several by-elections coming up, they better watch they don’t suffer a similar kicking to the one they got in Henley.

Get Up, Stand Up

2008-06-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

I work in the NHS. I am also a member of Unison.

Now it is the time of year when the annual pay award is being negotiated. The offer we got this year was 2.75%. Unison balloted us to see if we wanted to accept it.

I duly looked to see what the inflation rate was. 3% the Bank of England told me. (oh dear they are way off their 2% target!!). 3% may be the official rate but when you consider the increase in mortgage payments, the 10% increase in petrol prices, food prices have gone up 15% and gas and electricity prices have gone up about 20%, you have to think their 3% is a little light.

Therefore, I had no hesitation in putting my cross in the DO NOT ACCEPT box of the ballot. Who in their right mind would vote for effectively a pay decrease? It would be like turkey’s voting for Christmas.

Other Unions had already voted on the NHS pay proposal. The GMB Union rejected the pay award by a massive 96%.

So I was extremely optimistic that my colleagues in Unison would vote against this ludicrous offer.

However, unbelievably 65% of them voted in favour of the offer!! WTF?

Karen Jennings, Unison head of health, said they would not hesitate to renegotiate if inflation continues to rise. How far does it have to rise? Forgive me for being naive, but I would have thought if inflation rose above the amount of the pay award, it is time to renegotiate?

Forgive me, if anyone actually reads this, but I am getting extremely pissed off at people in government making a mockery of hard working people. I am also getting pissed off at people allowing it to happen.

When are we going to wake up and realise what is happening?

What Goes Around Comes Around

2008-06-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

You know when you are on your way down and out when the stuff that used to work in your favour is now working against you. Take Jim Sheridan MP. On Radio Scotland this morning he was bleating about the press’ treatment of Gordon Brown, whilst grossly insulting the intelligence of the electorate at the same time.

He said that because voters vote for whoever the press tell them to, it is extremely unfair how Gordon Brown and his Labour government is being treated.

Oh, my heart bleeds for them!!

Firstly, I can recall, barely a year ago, how one newspaper had Scotland’s head in a noose, indicating if you voted SNP, then you were effectively killing Scotland.

I can’t recall Jim Sheridan or any of his colleagues north or south of the border complaining about that.

Secondly, virtually every single major press outlet was still telling us to vote Labour at the last election, or at the very least not to vote SNP and look how that worked out.

So, Jim Sheridan and your Labour colleagues, unless stop patronising the voting public you will find yourself out of power for a long, long time.

Tories Torment

2008-05-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

What are the Tories all about? A couple of decent results and they think they are destined for Downing Street! Nothing like counting your chickens!

At the Tory get together this week in Ayr, Annabel Goldie claimed that the Scottish Tories were on the up. That may be stretching it a bit. But here is a question I want to ask Goldie and Cameron. How many MPs do you expect to return at the next Westminster election?

Let’s assume they hold on to all the seats they have. Wait until I get my calculator. Yep, I’ve got the answer ~ 1. Now let’s look at the seats they could win. Perth? Doubt it. Angus? You joking?! Dumfries and Galloway is a possibility. Stirling is another, but then you are getting into the realms of massive swings needed.

But I can see an answer to the problem that is so bloody obvious. There are two words that would bring about a Tory government in Westminster for at least the next 30 years and a substantial increase in the number of Tory MSPs.

Being the nice guy I am, I will tell the Tories how to achieve this.

Scottish Independence.

It goes without saying that not having to worry about Scotland, the Tories down south would be in a lot stronger position. Up here, disassociating themselves with the bad people that brought about the poll tax, the Tory Party might once again reach levels akin to the 50% they reached back in 1955.

Who knows, after independence, the SNP might disband and lots of them might join a revamped Tory Party. Some of the policies the SNP are pursuing at the moment are not a million miles away from the ones the Tories would be proud of. More police on the streets, cut in business rates etc.

But today in an interview with Brian Taylor, Annabel Goldie admitted that she would vote against a referendum on Scottish independence. She would not give the electorate the chance to have their say.

It may have been 11 years since the Tories have been in power, but it looks as if they are still hanging on to their old habits.

They love keeping Scotland down.

Be Prudent!!

2008-05-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

One of accountant’s favourite words is prudence. I should know, because I am an accountant.

Prudence means estimating on the side of caution although Wikepedia’s, equally appropriate definition is, “Conventionally, prudence is the exercise of sound judgement in practical affairs.”

Now, Grant Thornton is an international accounting firm and one of the biggest in the UK.

So when Grant Thornton claims that Scotland would be a rich nation if it were to become independent, then people should sit up and listen.

Based on a prudent estimate of 82.5% of North Sea revenues, Grant Thornton say that we could afford to cut corporation tax from 28% to 12.5% and cut income tax by 5p in the pound and still have £2bn of a surplus.

I say prudent estimates of North Sea revenues because the SNP are demanding a 95% share of the revenues, compared to the 85% estimated in the study. If 95% was taken, the surplus would rise to £6.2bn.

Now, Labour has repeated stated in the past that businesses would leave in their droves if Scotland were to become independent. Is it just me, or would the opposite happen with businesses flocking INTO Scotland when tax rates are so low?

Independence?

BRING IT ON!!

Going Round In Circles?

2008-05-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Labour are doing that many U-turns at the moment, they are at risk of going round in circles.

Can you believe anything they say anymore?

Remember at election time they were saying that if we voted SNP then extremely bad things would happen to Scotland! Well we are still waiting.

Remember barley a couple of months ago, Wendy Alexander claimed that a referendum was a distraction and would only feed the SNP's obsession.

Remember Alexander then got her Unionist mates together and set up a commission to look at the role of the devolved Scottish Parliament, EXCLUDING independence.

Now, she has completely bypassed her own commission and is saying what is Salmond waiting for. She wants a referendum on independence right now with a simple yes or no to the question.

Labour are an absolute joke and I sincerely hope that this political gamble comes back to bite Alexander on the arse when Scotland votes yes to the independence question.

Black Day For Brown

2008-05-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

Two years is an astonomical amount of time in politics. There are governments that have not even lasted two years. However that may be that amount of time that Gordon Brown has left before he is ousted.

This week saw Labour get an absolute kicking in the local elections in England and Wales. If this trend continues through to the election, expected in 2010, then Brown will be out the door faster than you can say, "Ten years of economic stability."

If the local elections results weren't bad enough, Labour then went and lost the London Mayor elections to a Tory candidate that may have been more at home in the Monster Raving Loony Party.

So where can we look to in history to see when the last time such a local election whitewash happened. Well not too far. John Major suffered a similar fate in 1995, before being punted out of office in 1997.

The Labour Party are scheming behind the scenes to try and replace Brown. But at the end of the day, sometimes you just have to accept that you can't influence anything. People want change. They are sick and tired of Labour spin and they want an alternative. For the majority of people in the UK, that alternative is seen to be the Tory Party.

So fast forward to 2010. I would imagine the Tory Party would be the last party most Scots would vote for in order to give Labour a kicking. This leaves the Lib Dems and the SNP. Maybe this will give Salmond the votes he needs to achieve his ambitious target of 20 MPs.

If the Tories are elected in 2010, what will this mean for Scotland?

One thing that is pretty certain to happen is the introduction of English votes for English laws in Westminster. Is this just another step to the separation of the Union?

Let's hope so!!

Fuel Shortage

2008-04-21T03:15:00.000-07:00

What is the last thing you should say if you want people to avoid panic buying? “Don’t Panic Buy.”

As soon as those words are uttered, people are racing off to the nearest petrol forecourt faster than you can say “Oil Refinery.”

Remember those big long queues back in 2000, the year of the fuel protests, well expect to see similar queues in the coming days as the prospect of a strike at Grangemouth looms ever closer.

The proposed strike is about the changing of the company pension. And it seems that both sides have really dug their heels in and are playing out a war of words in the media. 97% of the Union members voted for strike action, which gives an indication of the feeling. Therefore I wouldn’t expect either side to back down any time soon.

But the people who shout, “Don’t panic buy,” really p!ss me off. We have got enough fuel until Friday they claim. Aye, very good. What happens when Friday comes though? It is perfectly understandable why people go and fill their cars up.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days and if Scotland does run out of fuel, what the political fall out of this will be.

Anyway, better go. I’ve got a car that needs filling up!!