RANDOM PHOTOGRAPHS... AND THE HOUSE OF LORDS MAY BE IN TROUBLE

Ah, that's why...we were wondering.

Certainly, he didn't quite get that one right, did he? H

Actually, that didn't quite work out either, did it?

Still they have faithful friends of the highest moral character who share British values.

I'm not sure that the Saudis or Chinese go THIS far with the shared values, but they more or less are with us.

That didn't exactly work out, did it?

Probably should have listened to this guy

Back to Dave again...

I've been somewhat amused today by the threats of the Tories to do something about the House of Lords. Normally the only thing the Tories want to do with lords is create more. But this is different.

You see, it seems that, to their credit, the Liberals intend to join the SNP and the Labour Party in voting against Osborne's cuts to working tax credits. Now that won't make much of a difference in the House of Commons as they have very few MPs, but it WILL make a difference in the Lords where they have a ridiculously high number of seats for a minor party. 

Given that the Tories don't have a majority in the upper house this means that it is possible that Osborne's bill will be defeated in the Lords. The proposed legislation is not a part of the finance bill (which the Lords cannot alter), nor was it in the Conservative manifesto (which would have meant that Lords' objections could simply have been overturned in the Commons).

Indeed if I remember rightly  it was another of these things that Cameron had promised that they would NO do, until they did them.

So, this means that quite legitimately (if the lords has any legitimacy at all...and the Tories think it does) the upper house can delay the implementation of Gideon's wicked plans to starve strivers out of their house and home and drum up business for Trussell Trust (Every Town Should Have One).

Or at least that is the theory. But never underestimate a Bullingdon Boy backed into a corner.

Not wishing to be thwarted by their estwhile partners in crime, the Libdems, the Conservatives appear to be threatening to suspend the House of Lords if they vote the legislation down.

So far, so weird.

Some things struck me as particularly interesting about this. 

First of all, not that it's important, but the rash of new Tory Lords, will have hardly managed to claim a few thousand pounds in expenses and settle down to their new blood colour, before they will find themselves wageless...  and heaved out of their posh dining rooms.

So just as Mrs Moan, Grand Duchess of Mayfair was getting her feet under the table, there she will be out of a job and IDS will have her down the dole tout de suite!

Secondly, the unionist parties and their faithful journos have been accusing Scotland of being a one party state... and when challenged about the complete ridiculousness of that accusation (given the facts of the case) they have complained that, despite all these stats, the single chamber system, set up in Edinburgh, designed to ensure that Labour would always be in coalition with the Liberals...and the "corrupted" committee system (so they seem to think), means that there is no proper scrutiny of policy.

Unlike, they say, the London parliament which has a second chamber.

Or at least they do till the Tories take the huff and suspend them.

People say that you REALLY couldn't make this up... but in the case of the the British Constitution that's exactly what they do!

IF YOU CAN'T SHOW RESPECT FOR SCOTLAND, DON'T EXPECT ANY FROM SCOTLAND

Before I say anything else let me make it clear that, if it is proved beyond doubt that there was collusion between the Scottish government or Kenny MacAskill, and the foul Libyan regime of the slimy chancer Qaddafi, the odious London Labour regime of Gordon Brown and his seedy lord chancellor Straw man, or the greedy, grasping, money-grabbing, BP management, then I shall tear up my SNP membership card and vote for another nationalist party.

That said, I find it hard to believe that Kenny or Alex wouldn’t be wily enough to realize that the release of the supposed Lockerbie bomber was likely to cause so much of a stir in places where it mattered, ie Washington DC, that they would have to be mentally deranged to have got involved with anything even vaguely dodgy in its respect.

Embarking on this exercise I would imagine that, had I been Kenny, I would have been aware that my every move would be scrutinized, first in Scotland by the opposition parties, then by the London politicians, not to mention by every new programme, broadsheet newspaper, and finally by the government of the USA. This, if nothing else would have encouraged me to go, not just by the book, but by every single letter of the book.

At this moment I am so angry with David Cameron that I doubt if I shall sleep tonight.

I have watched and listened with growing incredulity at the news reports of Senators wanting to summon (yes, summon, if you please) Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to appear before them, of the criticisms and demands of the USA for inquiries into how the Scottish government conducts its lawful business, of criticism from Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama, and finally of the banal utterances of David Cameron preparing for his first official visit to the Whitehouse, but whilst in England.

But what drove me over the edge was Cameron criticizing the workings of the Scottish government whilst he was in the United States. Doubtless this was done in an effort to worm his way closer into the affections of Mr Obama (and thereby sticking it to Gordon Brown, whom the president clearly disliked passionately).

Speaking at the White House, Cameron said: “It was a bad decision, it shouldn’t have been made. This was the biggest mass murderer in British history.”

There used to be a rule in politics, based on decency.

You do not criticise things at home when you are abroad. The reason for the rule was, of course, that those whom you were criticising, being thousands of miles away, would not be given an opportunity to tell their side of the story. Clearly Dave, in his desire for a pat on the head from his boss saw fit to ignore that old fashioned courtesy.

Cameron has clearly shown so shortly after announcing a respect agenda for Scotland, that he has none. We didn’t vote for him... and we are unlikely to do so in the future, so he doesn’t give a stuff about us.

So... don’t be too surprised Mr Cameron, if we don’t have much in the way of respect for you.

And just a wee word about the American senators who face re-election in a few months, and the president, who wants desperately not to lose too many seats in the Senate... You guys think of yourself as the most Christian country in the world. So, you will doubtless be aware that the Christian part of the Bible instructs individuals, in the Lord’s Prayer, to “forgive those who trespass against us” and Christians are warned in Romans 12:19 to “... avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

More or less what Kenny said actually? Just something to think about.

Please also have a look at:

http://darklochnagar.blogspot.com/2010/07/message-from-scotland-to-usa-fuck-off.html (strong language warning, but a brilliant post.)

and


http://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/2010/07/david-milibands-severe-case-of-false.html (The best Scottish politics blog ever...)

and


http://nomoradiaspora.blogspot.com/2010/07/bile-is-rising.html