Debates, Futures & Women

W1 Minority Ethnic Women Scotland  
Scottish Parliament   
Wednesday 4th December
The Launch

For those of you not aware of this, or interested in more information, background, history and future potential, please consider contacting: http://www.engender.org.uk/ and Rosaria Votta:  info@engender.org.uk 

It goes without saying that I must congratulate everyone concerned at getting this latest venture to this launch-stage. Equally, I look forward to the next stages: hopefully productive in engaging with b m e women in the first instance.
I have heard it quoted in the past by many that ..'we are standing on the shoulders of giants'...and to this may I add...those who have contributed in whatever way in the past.

I truly believe that by building on the experiences, successes, and struggles of earlier generations here in Scotland who have made their contributions, acknowledged or other wise, we can continue to work for the advancement of b m e women within society and Scotland as a whole.
 

And what better time than now: with such an exciting ten months or so with the Referendum looming?  So now, here's welcoming another platform for b m e women to help secure their place on both the social and political landscape in Scotland. 

Too long absent I say; too long over-looked, too long dis engaged! 

Sadly, I won't be able to join in at the launch next week...away, out of Scotland, but I've made (one)  New Year Resolution...
I must get so some time to go and see some real time politics @ the Parliament here in Edinburgh  (other than quick visits to the creche for the grand kids! ) 

This week has seen some real ding dongs post the launch of the White Paper or prospectus or manifesto (depending on whom you talk to, listen to or get shouted at in the pub!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/scotland-25124927

Could there be overload? Afterall, it could become a long time til' September next year, especially if you believe the maxim that a week in politics is a long time.

Apart from the Yes and No Campaigns trying to outdo each other, are the tv channels trying to do the same now? 

Wed 28th Nov.  saw two debates, two channels, virtually the same time(BBC and STV). 

And would I be admitting to being either a geek or an anorak (or both...can you be a geekie anorak?) by admitting I tried to flick between the two, then gave up?

Which one did I stick with? STV: Nicola Sturgeon &Alistair Carmichael.....

But whichever, it's not a long time 'til September,  since it's the future I've got to think about..mine, my family's, those grand kids, Scotland's. 
But there's more in the mix, too. 

I was born into a Labour party voting-believing-in family, here in Scotland, my father having come from what was then British India to study medicine at Edinburgh Uni, 
and now, after all is time and solidarity with the party,  I have to ask...

What future for Labour in the UK?
What future for Labour in Scotland?

Going back to the debates, Wednesday 27th Nov, I have to admit it was that which was missing in the BBC debate that night, with Johann Lamont (Labour leader, Scotland) and John Swinney,  Finance Secretary, SNP that made me switch over. 

And what was missing for me as a labour voter? Precision, detail, passion...a lack of ability to convince waverers, the confidence to take a party member with her I found lacking and therefore disturbing. disturbing.

Now that we know what the SNP visions as a future for an independent Scotland, albeit if they govern post independence:

What will the Scottish Labour party offer in an independent Scotland? 
Do they need to offer us a Plan B? 
Surely, the morning after, if it's yes, labour won't pack up and depart?
Would they? Ofcourse not!

Even more than that, what would the 3 main parties offer Scotland once we say no and stay in the Union?
More of the same?
The Barnet Formulae up for grabs, and either demolished or lessened without sign of inward investment, job creation?
And we know what Alistair Carmichael's views are (on the record)  on the future of the Scottish Parliament.

Would an independent Scotland provide the opportunity for Labour Scotland to re-engage with leadership, government and socially acceptable policies?


So that was this week.
Next week, the launch of W1.
Next year...who knows....
But you can be sure the debates will continue, 
and women will be there, 
making contributions, , 
turning out 
and voting......

Our Scotland,  our future,

We have no excuse




http://www.johannlamontmsp.co.uk/

http://www.johnswinneymsp.com/


And just to confirm how a week, a month a year or two is a long time in politics......

In Feb 2012, and Speaking in London after the international conference on Somalia on Friday, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo confirmed that Spain would accept Scottish independence and would not attempt to block an independent Scotland's membership of the EU.

http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

What it is to be famous? A question I really want to ask of Andrew Marr....

What it is to be famous!

And what keeps your name and fame alive …..a question from one who isn’t famous! 

But one I really want to ask of Andrew Marr……

But as I say, since I’m not famous, so I wouldn’t know what keeps your name alive, but when a really famous person (no, not  reality tv, and not tv soap) I’m referring to  Prof Higgs, who does not own a mobile phone, said a former neighbour had pulled up in her car as he was returning from lunch in Edinburgh to tell him he was co-winner of the Nobel Prize…..now, that’s being famous. 

Stopped in the street!

Prof Higgs is quoted as saying…: "She congratulated me on the news and I said 'oh, what news?'" …. And after all these years, and knowing that the awards were coming round again…that’s also modesty! Oh, and he's just beginning to think of retiring.

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/

On Thursday last week, Malala was awarded the EU's Sakharov human rights prize. Tho’ she had been tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize, that went instead to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the body overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal.

By now, most of us will have heard of her, would recognise her name and probably her picture, too. A native of Pakistan's mountainous Swat Valley, Malala rose to prominence in 2009 after writing an anonymous blog for the BBC Urdu service about her life under Taliban rule and the lack of education for girls, which made her moderately famous. 

But for the wrong reasons, she’s now known as the girl that the Taliban failed to kill, and more recently, more positively, as the girl campaigning for girls’ education. All of which is combining to make her famous. And today we learn she's to be made an honorary Canadian citizen.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

But what makes you famous, and even more so, keeps your name and fame alive? 

And let’s be honest, how many famous women from across the world, across the centuries can we all name beyond a few from yesterday's papers?

One of my personal heroes is Rigoberta Menchu Tum born in north western Guatemala. Now, she did win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, 

For me it was seeing her here in Edinburgh, courtesy of SEAD,  listening to her speak, unaided, no prompts, no notes, but speaking calmly and confidently, re-telling her story:  her siblings and friends dying because of unsafe labour conditions and extreme poverty. 

Her own family’s extreme poverty prevented her from receiving any formal education, but in her teens, she began to protest against human-rights abuses by the military. Her mother, father, and brother were murdered, forcing her to flee. 

In Mexico, she spoke of the cruel treatment of the indigenous people in Guatemala, hoping she could make a difference.  

Eventually, her book, yes, she had a book published, two infact, but the first was translated as: I, Rigoberta Menchu, bringing her world fame and her role as a symbol of the brutality endured by native and marginalized people.

But will her name stay alive after she is not? It’s not unusual to be lost in history, and the mists of time.

http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofcentralamerica/p/menchu.htm 

So am I alone in finding the irony in the fact that it is alleged that the first ‘English’ person, i.e non native to be born in the USA is recorded as a female: Virginia Dare in 1587, and less than 300 years later, we have female activists such Harriet Tubman, born 1820, born into slavery, who once she escaped, became a conductor on the 

 Underground Railroad. http://www.biography.com

Then there was Ida Wells-Barnet (born 1862 to enslaved parents) founding a newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech, publishing articles denouncing the outbreak of lynchings in the Southern USA, and that she, a woman worked almost to the end of her days promoting  civil rights and women's suffrage. Wells became one of the original founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. 

 http://www.factmonster.com 

And the irony of it all?After all, Virginia’s parents went there for a new life, a better life (does that sound familiar…were they migrants, escaping…something?), and then, the native ‘Americans’ suffered, followed by the enslavement and forced migration of Africans. Woman to woman, three hundred years…….those seeking freedom not found in their own home country set the scene for the decimation of  the original inhabitants and enslaved others.

All I’m saying is, famous people often get wiped from history. So should we try to keep fame famous? After all, it’s not their fault they get wiped from history…his story?

How could we try to keep some famous names alive and kicking either once the owners have become dearly departed, or better still when they’re still here? And where does Andrew Marr fit into all of this?

 Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent, and was political editor of BBC News......

 He's soooooooo famous, I don't need to add more here, surely!

Well, there was info circulated very recently that announced AM  is to present a programme that encapsulates the history of Scottish literature. So far, so good. But it’s called: The Men who Invented Scotland’. But hang on, is that fame? Being recognised by your initials? Or maybe  AM shares something with Prince Charles..the ears?

No one  denies that our literature here has in all probability been dominated by men. Domination though is not the same as a lack of female contributors. 

Men in the past, men in the present?My own favourites include Scott, Burns, Stevenson : you can see what I read as a child!!.

And then later, where would I have been without the likes of McILvanney, Kelman and the wonderful Gray? 

Is that fame…when just your surname is enough? 

For them? No, their fame if that is what it is, is built on quality, the ability to challenge, stimulate, provoke, enrage, enthral. 

Of course there were female writers, contributors. Margaret Elphinstone. And even earlier, Mary Brunton, who had a follower no less that Jane Austen. 

The lack of female writers ‘making it’ into the public domain is not a reflection on either women not writing, nor does it evidence women not being able to write. 

It is more a reflection of society’s view of women, and what they should and should not be doing.

And yes, those who did make it are easily & subsequently air brushed.  Remember Aphra Benn? Sorry perhaps that should be…who remembers Aphra Benn?

So what will the AM’s programme do if not perpetuate the myth of a lack of able, participating women in various arena, this time highlighting literature? If he is considering the past tense....invented Scotland....I just might have to acknowledge that yes, womens' contributions were more prolific and more to the fore, more tripping off the tongue and book shelves in the last century:  

Miss Jean Brodie. Jessie Kesson. OK, don’t all shout out at once..one’s a title, one’s an author…I know. But Liz Lochhead: she kept her head!, Janice Galloway, Ali Smith, A L Kennedy …see, initials only!

We’ve got a referendum coming up, we’re reinventing ourselves, our Scotland, all the time, 

So if it the men who invented Scotland, I hope we can find time to remember the women who’ve been ignored, passed over, forgotten, airbrushed out of .......our story…….

And just in case you’d like to consider some earlier writers, try….

Nobody's Story: The Vanishing Acts of Women Writers in the Marketplace, 1670 ...1820 ..By Catherine Gallagher.

Don’t be surprised if it’s not on a book shop bookshelf ..probably out of print!

2nd october and normal service is being resumed......

2^nd October…and normal service is being resumed……

A bit of a tussle with NHS 24 http://www.nhs24.com/ and our local surgery, but the staff at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh were superb. http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/ , so thank you staff for wonderful treatment, pre & post op.

I’d like to say…well, it’s been quiet then and I haven’t missed much…but it’s been a roaring time.

The referendum debate is far from stagnating, dull and boring, well at least my way it isn’t. http://www.scotreferendum.com/  

OK my hands are up and I admit it. That’s the Scottish Govt website, so let me find one from the Better Together Campaign, or the No Vote as it is more commonly called. http://bettertogether.net/

There, I feel better now. Balanced and even, just like the BBC  which is of course taking flack as ever. http://drderekbateman.wordpress.com/  

But where are we with this debate? This referendum, this…the future of Scotland? 

I think the good news is…all over the place, literally, or rather, geographically. September 18^th, last month, kick off unofficially, with one year to go saw local debates being held all over Scotland, BBC coverage coming from up north, arts in a future Scotland, young first time voter..all coming forward, all voicing and listening. 

So even if pundits are heard saying it’s a non event, that’s definitely not the case.

What seems to a non-event though is a debate between the UK Prime Minister (do I really need to put an e link here?) and Scotland’s First Minister. (copy that last question…oh, ok.. ….do I really need to put an e link here? )

Cameron has announced he will not be debating with Salmond. 

Instead, he put forward Alistair Darling. ( I think he might need an e link http://bettertogether.net ).

I can accept some form of argument that this is for Scots to decide about Scotland’s future, but as the PM of my country, I would like to hear what Cameron as PM, believes my future is within the UK. Surely something as important as that should not be left to the head of a campaign, albeit a good MP such as Darling.

And if people mistakenly say that the Yes Campaign is purely a SNP campaign , then equally the No Campaign is not a Labour campaign. 

But why is Labour standing there fronting with the Scottish Tory party and the Lib Dems?

There’s  Labour for Independence, there are pro independence rallies and marches, but where’s that street savvy, public, in your face, on the corner involvement coming from the Better Together Campaign? 

Is it true that will be avoided, especially marches & rallies since those might attract EDL & SDL,  very pro unionist? 

Presumably UKip  won’t be rushing up here again in the near future, and before you ask…I don’t clean behind the fridge. 

Equally, I won’t be providing an e link to those three!

But the stooshie and on-going storm surely has to be the run -away slurs coming from the Daily Mail regarding the late Miliband, Ralph, father of the Miliband brothers.  

Ed Miliband has accused the Daily Mail of lying about his father after the newspaper headlined an article about him as "The man who hated Britain".    http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Labour has demanded an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper said…. 

 using a picture of the grave of Ed Miliband's father was an "error of judgement"…..according to Sky at approx. 11.00am today 2^nd October. http://news.sky.com/

 

The Mail is headed up by Mr Steafel, (will he succeed the previous, Mr Dacre? Possibly this will re-enforce his credentials) and is quoted as saying  that the late Ralph Milliband was:

"very antipathetic" to the views and values of many British people.

"His views on British institutions from our schools to our royal family to our military to our universities to the church to our great newspapers ... those things were bad aspects, were unfortunate aspects of British life".

And the antecedents of the Mail? 

Well, The Daily Mail was devised by Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) and his brother Harold (later Lord Rothermere), and was first published on 4 May 1896.

The Daily Mail published (25 October 1924) the forged Zinoviev letter, which indicated that British Communists were planning violent revolution. 

It is claimed by some that this was a significant factor in the defeat of Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party in the 1924 general election, which by co-incidence was held just four days later. Historians and political analysts tend to disagree however.

From 1923, Lord Rothermere and the Daily Mail formed an alliance with the other great press baron, Lord Beaverbrook.

But if we focus on Rothermere himself, he had some interesting correspondence with Hitler in 1938, post Sudetenland and the annexation of Czechoslovakia.

And the antecedents of Ralph Miliband?

He wasn’t on writing terms with Hitler, more fighting terms. During WW2 Ralph Miliband, a Jewish refugee who had fled to Britain to escape the Nazis served in the Royal Navy.

As an academic yes, he voiced opinions, made comments. But that doesn't mean he 'hated Britain'. 

I failed Tebbit's cricket test, which doesn't make me anti cricket, nor anti English.

I would assume that E Miliband has his own values and visions which have been influenced by many factors: social economic, political and personal, thus including his father.

Well, I know which paper I haven’t bought for many, many years and won’t consider buying  in the future. 

I have no hesitation then in sharing an article, not from the Mail.....

• • Jonathan Freedland
  • theguardian.com,  
  •  
  • Tuesday 1 October 2013 11.32 BST

Today's that date....18th September....

18^th September …yes, today’s that date……

And I thought we’d be into some serious stuff, you know, meaningful politics.

I thought the silly season was officially over. Wrong! 

We have the Lib Dem Conference gracing us here in Scotland http://www.politics.co.uk/    

Was that a deliberate tactic on their part to detract from ‘the -one -year -to -go -before -the -referendum –debate- and –try- and -grab –some- headlines?’

Or was it a deliberate tactic to be in Scotland and in the limelight generated today, 18^th September: the limelight that might just have otherwise over - looked them?

Who knows with the flip-flopping Lib Dems. 

But here I was, thinking a party conference would be previewing headliner policies. 

But no.  I heard about plastic bags and the cost of skool uniforms, before they got to …what else?

Mixed messages from Cable & Alexander?

Or that  it would have been worse if they hadn’t been holding the Tories back and in check!   

Surely that isn’t going to be their main manifesto message over the next two years.  Might not be the message, but it will be the mantra!

But, back to Glasgow.

Now we all know that Glasgow’s a great place: yes, I’m from Edinburgh and you can quote me on that. I’ll be there this week and next week. Apart from all the really good things in Glasgow, they’ve got great UK transport links. Why else do you think it was chosen by the Lib Dems? Excluding some additional pr due this being THAT DATE!

Was it to rally their troops? What troops? 

Have you seen the tv coverage with empty seats, rather like the ghost of Olympics just passed?

Was it to tell us we’re better together? Well, in their estimation we are, shackled to the Tory’s ideological policies that are being pushed through with Lib Dem support.

No one would deny that welfare reform is required since every system, every process requires to be monitored and changed positively when change is positively required, but delivered as a political party piece is another matter altogether.

But within this particular party conference and yes, their bed fellow’s future event, where will we hear direct reference to, and acknowledgement of the rise and rise in people across the UK accessing food banks?

Quote…. The Trussell Trust, which runs the UK’s biggest network of food banks, however, told TFN it has seen a sharp increase in people coming to food banks since April this year, including a large number referred by the Scottish Welfare Fundhttp://www.thirdforcenews.org.uk

The same article did include a message from the Scottish Government…quote…. 

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said “Local authorities may award food vouchers or food if that is the right option for the applicant. The cost of in kind support in the form of food or food vouchers should be deducted from the Scottish Welfare Fund budget in order not to place pressure on third sector food banks.”

No one would be foolish enough to claim that food banks are new, springing up just yesterday. http://www.trusselltrust.org/ . 

But their expansion, use and need for has to be a cause for concern. 

In turn, that depends on your party’s ethical and moral stance. 

Remember Gove? OK, it’s true, I’d prefer to forget him, but since I can’t, let me share the agony of remembering….

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ 10^th September 2013

Quote: Criticism: Education Secretary Michael Gove said some families make the wrong decisions and get into financial trouble

Families become so poor they are forced to turn to food banks because of their own ‘decisions’, Michael Gove has claimed.

Now it has to be bad when the Daily Mail is on your case!

But is this UK and Scotland we want or deserve? 

Harsher penalties/jail sentences announced this week for welfare cheats along side tax breaks for some: the big some, the multi nationals, with bug sums to save, or hide, or remove from the UK altogether.

And what about those of us actually living here in Scotland, working here, paying our taxes here? Are we playing our part or letting it wash all over us? let's hope not!

Which means then today’s date is really significant…18^th September 2013…with one year to go for our referendum.

Will we have heard enough to make up our minds? Something tells me that we might even have overload before the year is up!

How big a role will social media play this time round? Let’s find out by being engaged.

What of the role of the younger voters this time for the first time? Talk to them, not at them, and listen to them!

And will the run up to the 2015 elections mean we hear from the 3 main parties about how they plan to devolve more powers to Scotland if we stay within the Union?  If they want us to vote for them, let’s hear from them!

And if the Yes Campaign truly believe in what they say they believe in, it’s up to them to convince us!

So whatever our views and thoughts, surely it’s our future here in Scotland to be decided by us as we vote in Scotland.

We really have to be involved between now and then…..a year from today…

THAT DATE!!