2nd 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 18th, 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 2nd 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.....
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