RANDOM PHOTOGRAPHS

Busy like crazy at the moment, so I hope you will enjoy some pics I found over the last week or so. As always click on the illustrations to make them bigger.

Desperate? not at all! Come back Tony.

How desperate are Labour and Cyclops Brown? So desperate that they have trotted out Tony Blair in an attempt to shore up Gordon Brown’s disaster area of an election campaign. Today Blair warned that a vote for Nick Clegg is “not a serious thing”. That’s a laugh Tony just one bigot to another eh?

With only five days to go, the former Prime Minister makes his first serious intervention in the campaign in a vain effort to halt Labour’s slump in the polls. He told The Times (doubtless for a fee) that the Liberal Democrats would be flaky partners in government and that a hung Parliament is a “thoroughly bad idea”. Thanks for that stunning insight there Tone not heard that before.....not!

To voters considering backing Mr Clegg, he says: “The fact that it might seem an interesting thing to do is not the right reason to put the keys of the country in their hands.” Lets leave them with the Cyclops then? Why not after all he knows what he is doing and we are not to judge him on his appalling performance so far as Chancellor, Prime Minister and just general human being.

Amid warnings from senior Labour figures that a poor showing next week will threaten the future of the party, Mr Blair pitched himself into battle for the minds of voters seduced by Mr Clegg.

He conceded that the Liberal Democrat leader had been clever in projecting his promise of a new kind of politics. But he accused Mr Clegg of peddling “the oldest politics in the book” in seeking to blame his rivals for all the country’s ills. Of course Tony never did that did he.

Mr Blair urges voters to remember they are electing a government on May 6, not expressing a feeling. He insists that Gordon Brown deserves another five years because of the “political character”, strength and resilience he has shown during the financial crisis.

Mr Clegg dismissed Mr Blair’s arrival on the campaign trail as a sign of desperation, accusing Labour of “wheeling out the golden oldies to try to help out Gordon Brown in his hour of need”. He said the Lib Dems were in a two-horse race with the Tories. Bet they wish they had never mentioned that two horse race now that they are not one of them. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Labour are clearly at the bottom of the box if they think that wheeling out old Tone will have any effect at this late stage of the day.

A Manifesto For Scotland: More Nats, Less Cuts

This morning, before the launch in Glasgow of the SNP manifesto, Alex did a great interview with the “Today” journalist Justin Webb and set out his stall. He has not given his support to any of the parties in England, but he has indicated that his preference was for a big rise in the size and influence of the smaller parties everywhere.

He believes that a ‘balanced’ parliament (which is a better name for it than a ‘hung’ parliament and more appropriate too) would give the SNP a chance to influence policy and push for Scotland’s rights for a change. He’s repeated that he has no wish to tell the English how to run their country. He simply wants Scots to have the right to run theirs.

Alex repeated that he would not go into coalition with anyone. Well, he can’t, can he? He only has the moral authority to vote on matters that affect Scotland. Nothing else! He has the greatest knowledge of any of the politicians of working with a balanced parliament, and he would look for the SNP to approach the post-election landscape on a “vote by vote” basis, securing concessions in return for supporting key pieces of government legislation.

One example would be the money from the fossil fuel levy, £200 million sitting in a London bank. It can only be used for renewable in Scotland if there is a corresponding £200 million cut in the Scottish grant. How ridiculous is that?

He wants to see the UK ditch Trident, with a saving of £2b+ a year and more when the replacement for Trident is axed. Also on the scrap heap would go the House of Lords, Scotland Office and the daft ID cards.

Alex did a Gordon and “agreed with Nick” when he indicated that he wanted an end to the old two party system. He said that a “balanced parliament will be the people’s parliament”.

The rest of the manifesto concerns itself with details of fighting cuts imposed by Westminster and creating green jobs in Scotland.

It’s a manifesto for Scotland. It gets my vote.