Sunday 28 July 2013

Duke-Duchess- Duke-ling and my vote.

I am sufficiently unconnected to Dukes and Duchesses to assume that a Duchess would produce a Duke-ling. Wrong!  It's a Prince. #Prince George http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

But I am so glad.....so glad that that the mass media -  mass hysteria is over. 
And really, ott doesn't cut it!
All those pronouncements by the world press before, during and after.
You could almost tell when a media-bod had a screech go off in their ear to s...l....o............w down since nothing was happening or h'r'i'up since something was, and then it was...switch to the door! 

It was almost as if that hospital door was being interviewed, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
I wonder if it has its own f/b page?
Or Blogspot even?
Am I that door?

No. seriously, being born into a life of privilege, is like being born into a family with a particular, religious persuasion...it's an accident that occurs at birth. Equally, most of us have a certain amount of privilege in our lives....all depending how you define privilege. 

One definition for me is the privilege of having a vote. 
2013 marks 100 years since the death of suffragette Emily Davison, who died under the hooves of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/suffragettes.htm.
A century on from the Epsom Derby, I have the right to vote, Emily didn't.

But what has that and other sacrifices, hard and bitterly won seen, in actual voting and voting by women?
A scoping of statistics (boring, but productive) shows that prior to 1979 fewer women than men voted in most UK elections.

Subsequently, the voting gap at general, regional and local elections has lessened and may actually be reversing. In 1997 an estimated 80.1% of women voted compared with around 76.9%
of men. However, the gap between men and women’s turnout at the 2001 general election
was not statistically significant. In regional and local elections the traditional
voting gap may also have lessened and possibly reversed. 2003 & Scottish Parliament contest saw 57% of women reported voting compared to 56% of men.

Despite this reduction in the overall voting gap between men and women, reported turnout at the 2001 general election suggests that women from ethnic minorities were significantly less likely to vote than their male counterparts.

Updates and closer to home indicate:
'Turnout varies considerably with election type. In the last general election around two thirds of the electorate voted, and just over half of those eligible took part in the Scottish general election of 2011.'
So where does that leave us now, and very importantly for the referendum next year?

A 49%-51% outcome, whichever way, will in all probability leave a festering sore.

What will it say if we have a low turn out? If 32%, 38%  or 49% of the voting population actually vote.....won't that be far worse than a festering sore?

Will it say we couldn't be bothered? We weren't interested? We don't care?

Surely not? Don't we care sufficiently for our families, our children, and grandchildren in the first instance to vote?  But let's be honest, &  no false hand wringing..don't we care enough about ourselves to go out and vote?
So the turn out and getting that turn out can't be left to chance, and again, searching for groups, for and against,  they are out there. Just two being:




and



So are they for me, either group or another? 
I honestly don't know, I haven't joined. 

But I do know that I specifically met up with other women last week, to explore views and opinions: non-party specific, and most definitely, not seeking to convert any of us to one way or the other.
And these were not 'the usual suspects' since names had to be exchanged! You know, that old - fashioned tag line...bring a friend.

And maybe that is one way forward....the ripple effect of informal groups, talking to one another, de-mystifying the stats, moving on from the brave heart chest beating, & the belief of some that the historical wrongs of the past need to be righted.
But it was the re-affirmation that my vote will count just as much next year as it did in the past years. 

And that I will use it....and I want to make sure in whatever small way I can that as many other women as possible use their vote, too.

So I don't waste the privilege I was born into....and that Emily Davison and others didn't have. 

Sunday 21 July 2013

Hot week, busy week..politicians leaving; politicians moving on...

Finally, parts of Scotland have a worthy summer, worthy of talking about! How do I know? Well, it's a long time since there's been so much uncovered flesh in such abundance. In the parks? On the beaches? Not a bit of it1 In the streets, in the shops, on the buses, on the trains!
I didn't venture on the clockwork orange in Glasgow this week, but if I had, I'm sure I would have seen I'd seen it all, already & elsewhere. http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/glasgow-underground-glasgow,

And then there's that sizzle, as the oiled, raw meat, hits the hot racks, and comes off minutes later beautifully seared on the outside and raw on the innards. Ah, waft of the bar-b-qs mingling with the sweet aroma of...tropical tanning lotions. 
It brings out the worst in us, and yes, the best of us.
Lovely, lovely (very mature) lady tottering into a shopping centre yesterday, not a white hair out of place, even her walking stick had been polished. 
 So elegant in this year's white & black colours. But then, what goes round comes round since I think they were originals..1950's & 'labels' to boot. I just nodded at her, smiled & a tilt of my head in appreciation. 
I swear, her ram rod back raised itself all of half an inch, and her stick managed a bit of a swagger as we studiously ignored the wobbling pinky-red parts pushing past us in a rush for another bag of charcoal.

So hot and busy here, as the rumour mill ground to a halt with the confirmation that Mohammad Sarwar our first Scottish MP is moving on or if you prefer, back to Pakistan to work for and with the newly elected Pakistani government, headed up by the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/first-muslim-mp-mohammad-sarwar-2068574

Original gossip had it that he would become High Commissioner to the UK, but it now seems more likely that he will take up a Ministerial post, or even become Governor of the province of the Punjab. Not a surprise really since Md Sarwar had stepped down in time for the last UK election and has always throughout his political career maintained close, working links with Pakistan. 
He's played a visible part in at least 2 high profile cases involving Scotland-Pakistan, Pakistan-Scotland, and thank goodness for that.

But what could this mean for Scotland? A knowledge base close to the heart of the Pakistani elite & power base with spin offs in improvement in trade, exchanges in 'culture',  academia, the criminal justice sector? It has to be time to recognise that such cross country connections at such levels can produce benefits.
And for Pakistan? Perhaps more than trade, cultural, academic and criminal justice exchanges....perhaps someone else who'll bring up the subject of  ....drone attacks, the narcotics trade, both internal & external, terrorism, corruption, irrespective of the actual portfolio he will have in the future.

We see examples of succession politics now in many countries, and it's not exclusive to Asia, nor the Sarwars. Afterall, it's rumoured (that damned mill again) that Chelsea's doing it,  
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/harry-reid-hints-chelsea-clinton-president-article-1.1399070t,

and the Benns did it, #bennh@parliament.uk.

So why not  Bangladesh?

http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/biography/mujib.html

Actually they've been doing it for a while, too. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Banga Bandhu, Friend of Bengal, massacred along with most of his family in '75, with only two daughter remaining, one of whom Sheikh Hasina now leads the country and a niece of hers;  no,  not in Bangladesh and up and coming. But up and coming and  born here.
The newly selected candidate for the Hampstead and Highgate seat, hoping to succeed Glenda Jackson is none other than Tulip.
Tulip Siddiq, Banga Bandhu's grand daughter, Sheikh Hasina's, niece.
(Tulip Rizwana Siddiq is a British Labour Party politician, councillor in Regent's Park and cabinet member for culture in Camden Council. In May 2010, she became the first Bengali woman in Camden Council....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_Siddiq)
And again, the benefits should be obvious: not least the furthering and consolidation of links  between country & country, in this instance, UK & Bangladesh.
But perhaps someone else who'll bring up & pursue the subject of the quality of working conditions in the garment industry in Bangladesh, and the co-relation between the markets here.

Now then, can we move on  from the notion of succession politics - politico families and think of it as something in the environment, or the family, or the blood?

And you've got to admit, all in all, that's a pretty good body swerve in three areas;
maybe I could follow up on women in politics, strong women,
or maybe male only golf clubs...when is a private club not a private club?
or maybe the proposition to privatise the blood transfusion.....

or perhaps I'll just slap on the lotion , head for the secluded garden and maybe even join in that lunch time bar b q beginning to waft my way........

.

Sunday 14 July 2013

So, when is devolution not devolution?

......when it's sneaked in the back door perhaps?

......when it's devolution affecting England?  ...now that could be good for England and the English. Afterall, the majority of us know that devolution has brought (some) good to Scotland. So why not devolution and progress for England?

.......but if the proposed changes have a detrimental effect on future labour governments?..now that could be very bad for democracy in the UK.

You see, I'm kind of fond of democracy. I tried martial law, and it didn't work; honestly.
And coups, and counter coups are bloody. Trust me, they are.
So the counter balance of going out to vote, and getting that indelible ink on my hand really did mean something then for me in Pakistan, East Pakistan - prior to the revolution - <not devolution>  and  Bangladesh.

For me, democracy is special, especially the form I was born into: expecting to be able to vote.
Not having to fight for it, or get inked in the process.
Just turning up and voting, as my parents and grandparents did in Edinburgh. Something I took for granted and expected to do when I 'grew up'.
Sure, I'm not forgetting my granny: that sweet old woman sitting, knitting in the corner in Dewar Place. And how her knitting needles would gain speed when politicians of a certain ilk spoke on the 'wireless' and how she then taught me 'history'.

Her history...and not having the vote in her early years.
Hers and my family's history of voting labour, proudly, and unquestionably, all their voting lives.
'How quaint', 'how old-fashioned' I thought.
My patronising has to be put down to the fact I was very small at the time, and my reading material did not include manifestos, and snap shots of parliamentary papers.
It was mainly confined to the Dandy, Beano and the Sunday Post. Though occasionally, my granny did succumb to The Peoples Friend,  and I would turn the pages with with great expectations http://www.dcthomson.co.uk/‎ 

But back to democracy and the bringing in of changes to democracy should surely be something up front, debated, questioned, thrashed about, and voted on.
No, I'm not banging on about the referendum in Scotland!
I'm talking about the the distortion of the Mackay Commission published March 2013, and a lack of debate about potential forthcoming changes in Parliament, London,  that  isn't at all democratic.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130403030652/http://tmc.independent.gov.uk/

We know the myth that the West Lothian question was all down to Tam Dalyell MP

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/features/interview-tam-dalyell-former-mp-and-author-of-the-importance-of-being-awkward-1-2467770

that great father of the House. Actually, he just fine focussed it after Gladstone raised the question (in 1886) posed by the potential of Irish Home Rule.
Gladstone's questioning, obviously never answered in his life time, was posed with the view of establishing that Irish Home Rule would lead to  Irish MPs not voting in the Westinster Parliament on Scottish and English issues.

So the Mackay Commission looked at the question all over again. 
And acknowledged the evidence presented: namely that people in England are unhappy, resentful even, with the current process whereby MPs with constituencies in Scotland with its separate Parliament, can vote on English-Welsh issues that do not affect their constituents in Scotland.

But Mackay said:
"Under the Commission’s recommendations, no MPs would be prevented from voting on any bill, and the right of the House as a whole to make final decisions would be preserved. However, there would also be scope for additional roles for MPs from England (or England-and-Wales)."
Sir William McKay said:[8]
"Our proposals retain the right of a UK-wide majority to make the final decisions where they believe UK interests or those of a part of the UK other than England should prevail. We expect that governments will prefer compromise to conflict."

But the UK government is rejecting this and in effect, appears to be planning to  bring in legislation allowing for a fourth reading of Bills affecting only England & Wales whereby only MPs with an English - Welsh constituency could vote on that relevant legislation.

Now, on the face of it, this might appear a v.g tick box for England-Wales.
But if you consider that Labour has a very large proportion (if not a down right majority) of its MPs from outwith England, the ramifications are pretty obvious.

Any future Labour government could not expect to deliver its political-legislative agenda with a narrow majority, if voting patterns remain the same, i.e. a high proportion of Labour MPs having non- English constituencies.
A Labour government would always have its Bills voted down by a majority of  opposition MPs, combining from across the remainder of the UK.

Are the toom-tabard  Lib Dems going along with this hoping to ensure they will always form either the rump of a coalition government, or at least play a Bill-supporting-passing role?

The Tory party are not doing it exclusively  to appeal to English voters or to appease UKIP in the short term, i.e at the next general election.

It's a direct assault on the Labour party and its ability to challenge and win UK power in the future.
It's a direct route in increasing Tory control in the UK parliament by something other that first past the post voting.

But if this does come about, what would happen to Scotland & the Labour MPs we vote in to represent us in the UK parliament?
How effective would they be for the UK as a whole, and for us in Scotland as part of the UK?

Would they actually be 'full time' politicians-MPs?
Some MPs voting (i.e with an English-Welsh constituency)
Some not voting(i.e with a Scottish constituency)
Excuse me...isn't this some form of two tier system?

Would the Labour party ever put a  MP with a Scottish constituency in as a Minister?
He/she could not ultimately vote on his/her Bill, so why put that person in that role to begin with?

Would the Labour party ever elect a Scottish MP/ a MP with a Scottish constituency in as leader, a future PM?
A PM that can't vote?

Now that is sneaky!

Saturday 6 July 2013

Summer Holiday...not



We’re all going on a summer holiday….not, but hey who cares! Certainly not http://www.cliffrichard.org/        (I can’t believe I just typed that !)

But in Scotland, July is the start of the  traditional holiday period: Trade’s Fortnight, the first two weeks in July for Edinburgh and the following two for Glasgow / Fair Fortnight.
The Glasgow Fair in Victorian times was the major yearly summer holiday event for Glaswegians, particularly those from the working classes. Glasgow Fair is celebrated during the last two weeks of July in the west of Scotland in the city of Glasgow. Most of the locals take their vacation during this period and you will see them relaxing in Glasgow Green where the fair is held. If the weather is good you will also see people relaxing and sunbathing on the grass. 
Who writes this condescending codswallop? Not me, so try……http://www.kgbanswers.co.uk/wot-dates-r-glasgow-and-edinburghs-trades-holidays-this-year-glasgow-fair/3312631#ixzz2YJ6jxisu     for more of the same!

So being July, you might be tempted to think of it as a quiet time, or the silly season when nothing much happens, and the lttle things get blown out of all proportion. Well, not a bit of it. It’s been quite a week, and quite a start ot the month.

That wealthy Conservative minister …oh sorry, exactly which wealthy Tory minister ……Lord Freud.. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/04/lord-freud-food-banks     a Work and Pensions minister,    provoked outrage & indignation this week  when he queried the connection, or lack of, between the increase in the use of food banks and the Government’s cuts(in progress & forthcoming) in benefits in a speech in the House of Lords.

The same Lord attempted to dispute the increase in food banks being accessed and any direct link to  benefit sanctions/welfare cuts/delays/confusion.  He inferred that the food banks were being used just because they were there. A form of …’if its’ free’, they want it’ scenario, even stooping so low as to say “It is difficult to know which came first – supply or demand.”

Now I ask you, who would you believe? Lord Freud or UK charities & campaigners. After all, he is a former investment banker, first supporting & inputting into Tony Blair’s government before jumping ship, and resurfacing supporting the Tories Or Chris Mould, the executive chairman of the Trussell Trust http://www.trusselltrust.org/  currently running in excess of 300 food banks who reminded us that  “The only people who seem unable to accept there is a social crisis driven by the cost of living is the Government.”

Is this a clear indication of the return of the ‘nasty party’ and further evidence that the con-dem government is far, far removed from the people in whose name it governs?

Is it a clear indication that the seat of power, powerful decision making, is far, far removed from Scotland?

Surely though no one would be so foolish as to believe that a ‘yes vote’ would produce a utopia the next day, week, month or year, would they? No one believes that we would suddenly live in a world politically pure, and socially sound,  sans corrupt politicians, police, and the trains running on time, would we?

But in turn, that’s not the point either. The point must be more about the maturity of a people and a nation to consider its past and present, with a view to determining its future. There are very few examples past, or present, whereby a people and a nation  have that opportunity, so shouldn’t we use it? Will we ever get another ?

I’m not of the ilk that says we must have definitive answers at this moment in time to all those questions that get thrown up. Those are questions to debate, consider, & explore. It is unproductive to become corralled into dead ends…’they can’t answer’; ‘they don’t know’. But it is interesting to note that we always get a rebuff to the 'scare stories' that emerge...I really don't believe I would have to pay higher roaming charges when I visit the grandson in London.   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland/  

The very nature of life and living is its changing nature, and since I know that there is no guaranteeing the future, all I have is the past to look back to, take note of and project that into a future scenario.

So is Lord Freud yet another clear indication of the return of the ‘nasty party’ and further evidence that the con-dem government is far, too far removed from the people in whose name it governs?

So is Lord Freud yet another clear indication that the seat of power and  powerful decision making, is far, far  too far from Scotland?
I'm beginning to think it is.