'As you know, I spoke at last night's meeting of the Strathkelvin branch of the Labour party.
'The numbers (look away now Johann) were 2 for the union, 4 (FOUR!!!) for independence and the rest open to indy but need a few things sorted out first.
'There was strong support for a return to real Labour values, heavy criticism of "weak" leadership at both Holyrood and Westminster, anger at how the membership had not been consulted over Better Together (or anything else), opposition to the slide to the right and an understanding of Scottish Labour's own need for independence to remove the "Milliball 'n chain of new labour" and its obsession with home counties focus groups.
'This was our first go at engaging within the party itself. If Strathkelvin is anything to go by, we made the right decision by staying and taking them on for independence and the party's soul from the inside.
'It looks like we're speaking for a lot more party members than Curran, Lamont and Murphy care to admit. And maybe even more than we first hoped.'
Alex Bell.
Quite apart from the independence part of this, which is clearly good news for Scotland, there is the fact that Alex is highlighting the dissatisfaction, already mentioned by our own Niko, in one of his saner moments, which frustrates Labour voters all over Scotland, and I'm willing to bet in Northern England.
Of course there is not much the Northern Englanders can do about it except, it seems, from last weeks' by-elections, vote UKIP, which probably won't solve their problems. But at least they are not the Tories (of whichever colour).
Alex Bell is a brave man. Not everyone has the nerve to take on the vested interests of Labour in Scotland. He has. More power to his elbow. If he helps to deliver victory to a free Scotland in 2014, he will have rightly earned his place in our history.
