Smirky and the SNP

I don't often agree with Terry (TKMax) Kelly, and I think I'm going to have to get therapy for it, but I also think it a bit strange that the Scottish Nationalist Party are not standing any candidates in the elections and instead supporting this strange 'Alex Salmond for first minister' splinter group because let's face it, he was not the unanimous choice of his party for leader.

It's insulting to his party because it doesn't mention Scottish, Nationalist, or any other post barring first minister.

It's insulting to the voters to ask them to vote for a slogan rather than a party with a worked out approach to taxation, spending and independence. 100 days, 1 year, 1 term, all have been proposed and sacrificed on the altar of expediency and Smirky's ambition to be a dictator in absence. They have no joined up approach to public policy because they never expected to get this close. Smirky must be crapping himself at the thought that he might have to return from exile , although he will probably offer some excuse about staying on in Westminster until the General Election, at which time he will hand over to the wee lassie to run the show, and stay on in London saying that his job is done because he delivered independence and it is time for others etc. You know , the usual crap. They thought that they only needed one policy, independence, and they are now scrabbling around for a raison d'etre because they are terrified that they might have to put their money where their mouth is.

Terry Kelly and Hugh Henry Campaign against themselves ?

Terry (TKMax) Kelly and Hugh (Shuggie the Hammer) Henry are on the front page of the Paisley Daily Express today campaigning against the building of a new prison in Paisley.

This is a bit surprising since

1. Labour are in power at every level in this country so it is their proposal
2. Hugh (Shuggie etc) Henry is the justice minister and in charge of policing
3. Renfrewshire Labour councillors sit on the Strathclyde police board so they are responsible for the proposal
4. The Labour majority council can deny the planning application if they wish, so clearly they don't
5. It is Labour policy on crime that has filled the jails with usually the wrong people
6. They don't say where the jail should be built if it is needed
7. If they had been tough on the causes of crime as they promised at election after election then the jail wouldn't be needed

The result of this policy failure is Labour out sucking up to voters by pretending that they are not responsible for their own decisions and policies.

In terms of sheer two faced hypocrisy and opportunism this one has got to take the biscuit.

I have to ask the question (again). How stupid do these numpties think the voters are. Labour should stop acting like low life con men and accept responsibility for their cock-ups.

Wendy (for it is she) the second trumpet in the Alexanders' rag time band is very quick to get her face in the papers when they think (not very often) that they have done something right, even if it is years too late. Still, it brightens up the paper when you see someone smiling but you just know that the smile is so insincere that they will never have laughter lines. That's why Wendy (for it is she) looks so young.

Labour's Plans for Paisley Town Centre

Labour's new 'cunning plan' for the centre of Paisley defies belief. They propose to open up the High Street to traffic and stop charging for parking and provide more spaces. This goes against all recent thinking on reducing carbon emissions which they are so keen on, but I seem to remember that their last 'cunning plan' was to close off the High Street and reduce spaces and charge for parking.

How stupid do these numpties think the voters of Paisley are. It is as well that we are rid of some of them even at the cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Roll on May 3rd and we can get rid of the rest of the useless articles.

There is not a word of apology for the businesses which closed or the people who lost their jobs when the High Street was closed off to traffic. No sorry for the frail and elderly who couldn't walk up to their shops and couldn't be dropped off by car. They couldn't have cared less as long as they were catered for in the manner which they thought befitted their status.

These are the same Council who I'm told, when asked under freedom of information legislation about the amount of champagne they bought in the six months before the housing stock transfer ballot, were unable to tell because it was bought 'on consignment'. Quite how much champagne is in a 'consignment' I'm not sure, but I'd imagine it might be considerable and that someone would have to order it, check it in, authorise the payment and draw the cheque, so it was clearly out of control if the means to be exact don't exist. Still, they didn't need it then so it must still be lying in stock, and it will be a long time before they will find anything to celebrate with this lot running the show..

PFI / PPP Schools and Hospitals : BBC Poll and Brown's Lies

Looking at the results of the BBC poll here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6526715.stm#table
it seems that the Scots don't have a very high regard for PFI / PPP as a means of providing public services.

They seem to recognise a pig in a poke when they see one, but to explain the reasoning I offer this.

1. The stated aim of the Government in PFI / PPP is to bring private finance into public projects
2. Contractors are so stupid that they will make a net input to the project
3.The treasury will have a net benefit

No, that doesn't make sense so let's try again

1. The stated aim of Government in PFI /PPP is to bring private finance into public projects
2. Contractors are so cunning that they will manipulate the contracts to make a profit thereby taking money out of public projects
3. The treasury will have a large net loss which taxpayers up to 25 years down the line will have to pick up

Yes, that seems a lot more likely, but the present lot will be long gone by that time, so they don't care about anything but the next election down the line.

But voters (as the poll shows) are not so stupid as politicians think they are. They know that contractors , far from having their money levered into these projects are tripping over themselves to get involved because of the large amounts of money that they can take out. To believe otherwise is just plain silly.

If you want to get this money from big companies into public services, why is company tax about as low as it has ever been in modern times? I await an explanation from Gordon 'the big clunking fist' Brown or even someone more local if Scottish Labour still have any say in the matter.