WE SHOULD TRY TO STOP THEM FRACKING SCOTLAND

It's only part of Scotland, at the moment.

I just had an email from Greenpeace.

It seems that David Cameron’s plan to allow fracking firms to drill under our homes has been rubber-stamped by the House of Lords.

But there's something worse: At the very last moment, the draft of the law was updated to allow fracking firms to pump "any substance" under people's homes and property -- and leave it there! 

This makes a total mockery of Cameron’s claim that UK fracking regulations are some of the most stringent in the world. And it clears fracking firms of any responsibility for clearing up the mess they create. 

We all know that neither the government nor the fracking firms give a stuff if your pets are poisoned or your kids start being sick.

The only thing that matters to them is the bottom line, and making a massive profit.

Lord Smith of Kelvin (where have I heard his name before)
wants to bring fracking to Scotland

The fracking industry has already been mired in accidents and mistakes. In April 2009, cattle were discovered dead near a drill site in Louisiana. An investigation later found fracking fluid had leaked from the well pad and run into an adjacent pasture. And in July 2013, US fracking firm XTO Energy was forced to shell out $100,000 in compensation after a spill of contaminated wastewater in Pennsylvania. 

Despite claiming that the UK has tough regulations to prevent disasters like this, the government is now rushing to remove obstacles by pushing through laws that will put the interests of shale drillers before the safety of our environment, our climate and most important, our people.

Mr Ordinary doesn't want to bring fracking to Scotland

Greenpeace has a petition which you may be interested in signing.

Remember the people who are set to gain from this are mates with the likes of Osborne and Cameron. They are not the kind of people who care what happens to your house, your family, your possessions or you if you are anywhere near being an ordinary person.

Sensible countries that give a damn about the environment, or the people who live in it, have put fracking on hold. The Uk of course wants to press ahead as it seems to think there is a massive amount of money to be made, and money is their god. 

Fergus Ewing our energy minister, thinks that the power to issue or not issue licences should be held in Edinburgh, closer to the people, not London where they simply don't care about Scotland, but it's too late for that now. We blew the chance to rule our own country It's a done deal and London has the power.

We didn't vote for this bunch of SPIVs. We mustn't let them frack Scotland.

PAT ON THE BACK FOR SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT... FROM THE DAILY RECORD!

It's not that often that I feel the need to share an editorial column from the Labour supporting and Britnat "Daily Record", but I feel this is one our government can be proud of.

When the opposition press is praising you, you have indeed done well.

Fergus Ewing

THE true test of any civilised society is how it treats its most vulnerable members and by that yardstick yesterday was a very good day for Scotland.

Two announcements by the SNP Government showed an enlightened and caring attitude to people that need it most.

First, Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing revealed disabled workers thrown on the scrapheap by the closure of Remploy factories would be given a new lease of life with another company.

Hours later, Veterans Minister Keith Brown outlined plans to create a veterans commissioner to fight the corner of ex-servicemen and women as they adjust to civilian life.

Keith Brown

Both moves should be warmly welcomed by anyone with a shred of decency.

The public were rightly outraged when the UK Government cruelly condemned hundreds of disabled Scots to the dole queue when they axed Remploy factories.

Now Scottish Government support means 26 workers who were made redundant have been given new jobs with a textile factory who will supply nurses’ uniforms for the NHS.

This is exactly how public contracts should be used – in the way that best benefits society as a whole.

The setting up of a veterans’ commission is also a far-sighted move that ensures those who have risked their lives for their country overseas are not abandoned when they return home.

Brown, a former Royal Marine, gained inspiration for the move on a recent trip to Canada, where a similar post has been successfully operating for some time.

It is an important step in improving the support provided to ex-servicemen and women who often face serious challenges getting jobs, houses and medical support.

It will take more than one appointment to stop discrimination on civvy street against our former troops. But it is a good start.

Together these announcements send a powerful message that Scotland is still a place that looks after its own.

I feel particularly strongly about the closing of Remploy factories by a government which insisted that their reason for persecuting sick and disabled people was that it was good for them to be forced into work (or rather, given the economic realities, lose benefits). 

It was, they said, nothing to do with saving money. It was everything to do with making the lives of people with disabilities better.

They seemed unable to come up with an explanation then for saving money by closing these factories which they said were running at a loss, thereby throwing people, who have even greater difficulties than the majority of us getting work, on the dole. 

The utter hypocrisy of their morally repugnant actions was deplorable, particularly as much of the work done in these factories was relocated abroad! What happened to British jobs for British workers?

Esther McVile (especially posed for John Brownlie)

Still, with IDS and Esther Mcvey in charge, what would you expect other than moral repugnance?

There is a limit to the amount of money the Scottish government has at present to spend on these matters. They have already spent a very considerable amount trying to alleviate the worst excesses of other DWP policies. 

Let's hope soon that the likes of these two will have no more say in the looking after of our most vulnerable people.

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Thanks to Cynical Highlander for pointing me in the direction of this video, also from the "Daily Record". I've not always been a fan of Jim Sillars, but he's talking a lot of sense here.