Thursday 3 September 2015

SCOTLAND WANTS TO PLAY ITS PART. WILL BRITAIN LET US?

Munguin echoing the call for more action from Scotland
This blog supports the First Minister's pledge to hold a summit meeting tomorrow with representatives of local councils, charities, politicians, religious bodies, and leaders of opposition parties.

We recognise too that Kezia Dugdale proposed the same idea, and that Willie Rennie has said he will be attending. We've seen tweets from Ruth Davidson praising what the UK government does, but suggesting that we need to do more. We very much hope that she will attend tomorrow's meeting, and that Patrick Harvie will also agree to be there. We need a unified approach on this.

This isn't about party political point scoring. It's seems fairly clear that the parties in Scotland will work together, putting their differences aside.

We are pleased, and proud of that.

We are aware that the UK sends money to countries in the Middle East to help them with the crisis that they have been coping with for some years.  This information may aid understanding of the problems that these countries are suffering. Remember that one in five people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee!

Craig Murray has interesting blog here proposing that there might be a bit more financial aid coming from Saudi Arabia, which bears a not inconsiderable responsibility for the situation. 

Our First Minister has written to the British PM to tell him that Scotland wants to do its fair share, like most other European countries, large and small. However, unlike most of them, we need the permission of the London government before we can offer help.

Let's hope he reads it and reacts favourably. 

24 comments:

  1. "Let's hope he reads it and reacts favourably. "

    Indeed.

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    1. Well, I have the feeling that people like him probably don't read these things. Some flunky will be given the task of dealing with the Jock pains. Anyone who has read Mark's "Great Foodbank Siege" will understand!!

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  2. I've just watched FM's questions and the issue came up a lot. Nicola and Patricia Ferguson of Labour were rather emotional at times. It was noticeable that all but one of the parties applauded comments from Nicola and indeed those in Labour that UK government needs to do more. I'll leave you to guess what party didn't.

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    1. It is emotional PP. I'm not in the least ashamed to admit that there have been tears here.

      I'm appalled that the Tories couldn't bring themselves to agree with Nicola a bit more wholeheartedly.

      When 3 year olds are lying drowned on beaches, who in the hell gives a damn about party politics? but if that's the game they are playing, once again they have, I fear, misjudged the mood of the Scots.

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    2. Are you sure it is a game with them?
      They represent a party which is only interested in money...their money and how to hold onto it.

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    3. Well, maybe it is not a game, but they have still misjudged the mood. The super rich of the South East may be more concerned about their bank balances than about little boys drowning, but we bloody aren't.

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  3. Aye, very low clap rate on the Tory benches, which is a statement I never thought I would ever be able to make with a straight face.

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    1. LOL. Well, there you go, HV. I needed a wee laugh.

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  4. According to the Tories.
    It is the EU fault,it's global warming,it's greedy parents putting their children at risk,it's nothing to do with them in other words.
    All they are doing is protecting middle England from all these Johnny foreigners trying to come in and take advantage of our food banks.
    Can't shake the picture of that poor wee soul from my mind....there will be consequences.

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    1. You missed out windfarms the scourge of the planet next to the SNP Baad of course.

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    2. I've read some of the tweets from the hard right that simply don;t seem to care because, judging these refugees by their own standards, they have decided that the only thing that motivates their moving across the word is that they can make more dosh.

      I've tried tweeting pictures of the devastation; I've tried asking them how they would feel if it were their kids... pffff, nothing.

      I can't get it out of my mind either, specially after I saw another one of him alive with his arm around his little brother.

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    3. Don't remind them about wind farms CH.

      They will bring about the end of the world with their intrusiveness... unlike coal or oil fired power generation, which just melts in to the background!

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  5. I,along with about 20% of Scots share Maternal DNA which originated in this part of the world,probably in the not too distant past (Haplogroup J).
    I wonder what circumstances drove our female (and male) ancestors from their homes in Syria and surrounding area to end up in Scotland?
    The Tories probably think they have been ruling over England forever and it sure feels like it but the reality is that every single person living in the UK is a descendant of an immigrant at some point in our past.


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    1. That reminds of the story I posted here a few months ago.

      In the USA a woman was in a checkout queue, talking on her cell phone. The man behind her, a redneck, stopped her conversation and said... If you want to to speak Spanish you should go back to Mexico. She replied, that was Sioux; if you want to speak English, go back to England.

      (I can't remember what the exact American language was, but because I know Sioux, I used it as an example.)

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  6. (I'll stick a name on the bottom so as not to confuse with the other anons! And it ain't my real one, unfortunately).

    Firstly, let's have a clear distinction between refugees and migrants. Refugees do not want to leave their home country, but are driven by desperation. Why not take those with children as a priority, with the promise of help to repatriate them once things have been sorted, if they so desire.

    Neighbours of mine are refugees from Iran (several years ago). They have fully integrated within society, they all work and they are friendly and helpful. They did not come to Scotland for better benefits or the like - they were fleeing terror.

    If every country agreed to take a small number of refugees, it would greatly ease the suffering. True, there has to be limits. There simply is not the infrastructure to take unlimited people. But if we don't do something now, the problems will get even worse.

    Zog

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    1. That's fair enough.

      I completely agree that we can't take everyone form poorer countries that want to make a better life for themselves. I don't have a problem with incomers, but it's true that we could empty Africa, parts of Asia and South America if we said we would do that.

      But we have seen what these people are fleeing. They aren't coming here to be killed by Iain Duncan Smith. They are coming because if they don;t then maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, a bomb will fall on them and they will all be dead.

      If some disaster struck Scotland, I'd hope that people in Denmark, Norway, Iceland , Ireland and others would offer us sanctuary.

      Most of them would be happy to go home when it is possible to. People, by and large don't want to live away from home, and people form warm countries don't really relish the cold and damp of Northern Europe.

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    2. The continuing policies of the London elite with respect to Scotland have resulted in huge numbers of Scots historically having to leave their native country and find a sustainable life elsewhere on the planet.
      Their most recent attempts to strangle Scottish enterprise is just a continuation of the same policy.
      Nasty,nasty people who are driven by violence and blackmail to achieve their ends.
      If we were talking about these sort of actions by a smaller group of people they would be called gangsters,mobsters or thugs.

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    3. Maybe thats what makes us more compassionate in these matters. We all have relatives who had to leave. To be fair it was usually economic necessity. Go to America or starve. A bit like the Irish who have also shown great compassion.

      Unlike is they can take that action.

      Cameron is taking some stick on Twitter tonight. . I agree with your adjectives.

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  7. apart from writing to your mp and msp we can do something practical by donating to charities like edinburgh direct aid (www.edinburghdirectaid.org) who are helping those refugees from Syria who have made it over the mountains to Lebanon.

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    1. Hear hear.

      I'll gladly hist any links you care to post for charities

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  8. I think Ruth might have a prior engagement and send the standard blah blah platitudes or misses the bus connection. Why did those bastards vote no last September?

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    1. It might be awkward for her to be there to hold the Tory line of...well whatever it is...probably something about standard of living dropping for the upper middle classes.

      Or that they would be better off in Germany.

      Cameron should remember that he wants all manner of help form the EU in general, and most particularly Frau Merkel. He'd better not be pissing them off too much, otherwise he'll get a pig in a poke!

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  9. https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/2343/refugeecrisis-what-people-in-scotland-can-do-to-help

    Some places and projects you may be interested in.

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