Tuesday 13 July 2004

What an idiot

A local councillor in Fife has been barred by a pub:
A councillor barred from a pub for taunting English people at a wake has said he simply does not like them because of the Battle of Culloden.
It's bad enough insulting visitors - especially at a wake - but I always thought that more Scots fought on the government side at Culloden than those who were fighting for Bonnie Prince Charlie.

3 comments:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

WASPrightwingnut (81.86.173.243)
Stuart! 
 
"For example see "The State's Attack on Property Rights", below, Comment by WASP, a self described "right-wing nut". 
 
Hooray! 
 
I should add that I am not, nor have I ever been, and nor do I intend becoming........a member of any political party.

4 August 2004, 11:46:23 GMT+01:00
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Not a Tory (morning glory) (81.135.120.116)
I Can't really be arsed to email the Fife Tories, no doubt I would get an inane answer in bland offical speak so there is not really much point.  
 
I must confess I have only ever met one independent candidate (the save Stobhill lady), though I shall keep an eye out for them in future. 
 
As it turns out, the site gets 130 hits per day, so thats that question answered, cheers Dave!

22 July 2004, 20:23:14 GMT+01:00
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Stuart Dickson (217.211.160.56)
Dear Not a Tory 
As is my bad habit, I am occassionally a tad confrontational. 
 
As part of that confrontation I sometimes "accuse" correspondents of being Tories. With the exception of Neil (Craig) (LibDem), yourself (none) and Joe King (none) they have all gone silent on the matter. I take such silence as an admission of guilt. 
 
For example see "The State's Attack on Property Rights", below, Comment by WASP, a self described "right-wing nut". 
 
If you are that keen, then email the Fife Tory Party yourself. I am sure that the reply, if you get one, will be inane. They are not going to admit that they thought Mr Leggatt had a better chance of beating Labour than they did, are they? 
 
If you think that the SSP are fruity, you ain't met many "Independent" councillors!

20 July 2004, 19:59:38 GMT+01:00
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Not a Tory (morning glory) (213.122.88.93)
Oh yes I see, very good, thank you David. I didn't realise so much info was available.

20 July 2004, 18:59:13 GMT+01:00
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David Farrer (62.49.21.253)
Not a Tory: 
 
"I am not aware of how many people read this weblog, or what their allegiances are. If anyone could say how many hits the site gets I would be interested to know. But I am led to believe that the site is libertarian in its outlook and not necessarily Conservative." 
 
There are around 130 hits a day during the week and about 70 on Saturdays and Sundays. If you click on the Sitemeter you can see an amazing amount of information about the readers. I find the "Referrals" especially interesting as well as the "Time Zone" section. 
 
"A libertarian returns to Scotland" is the description at the top of the left column. The wording was chosen carefully!

20 July 2004, 17:41:51 GMT+01:00
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David Farrer said...

Not a Tory (morning glory) (81.131.192.197)
My dear Stuart 
 
re para #1 - I am not aware of how many people read this weblog, or what their allegiances are. If anyone could say how many hits the site gets I would be interested to know. But I am led to believe that the site is libertarian in its outlook and not necessarily Conservative. I have never read anyone before giving an explanation regarding the Conservative Party. Most people – like myself frinstance – are not members of political parties, so I would not find it likely that too many readers of the site would be either. 
 
re para #2 rather depends how you define 'fruitcake' I suppose, its a rather nebulous term. 
I would assume that someone like Leggatt would be vetted out of any official candidacy, though is it always possible to tell? However I do know from personal experience (yes I know, not really the best type of evidence) of some SNP members whom I would describe as 'fruitcakes', and I don’t think its always going to be possible for the SNP to avoid such people.  
I think actually a few of them have defected to the SSP in recent years, where being a fruitcake is pretty much a prerequisite for joining. 
 
re para #3 I still don't think they – the Tories - can be held responsible for whom a particular electorate votes for. 
 
re para #4 It wouldn't surprise me if many independents were like that, politics attracts them. 
 
Regards

20 July 2004, 16:38:31 GMT+01:00
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Stuart Dickson (217.211.160.56)
Dear Not a Tory 
 
There is no need to email them. You will find that many of the contributors to this blog are fully paid up members of the Conservative Party. If they had a decent answer to the question they would already have provided it. 
 
What evidence do you have of any member, let alone candidate, of the SNP holding the opinions and behaving like Cllr Leggatt (Ind)? I am not aware that the SNP have any, let alone "many", fruitcakes like Mr Leggatt. As you say, the SNP are not racists. Indeed theĆ½ now command the majority of votes from Asian Scots, and they have so many English Scots members and supporters, as represented by New Scots for Independence, that there is zero risk they would allow a numpty like Leggatt through their vetting interviews for council candidates. 
 
The Conservative Party may be funded and controlled by London, but that does not prevent them from grasping at any staw, however distasteful, in a desperate effort to stop Labour and SNP candidates. 
 
I did not call official Conservative, Labour, SNP or SSP candidates "fruitcakes". They all run quality control checks. I did claim that many "Independent" candidates are fruitcakes.

19 July 2004, 22:04:34 GMT+01:00
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Not a Tory (213.122.0.165)
Dear Mr Dickson 
 
As I am Not A Tory I have absolutely no idea why they (the Consevative Party) did not field a candidate, perhaps someone could email them to ask? 
 
I didn't say that SNP/Labour/SSP had any rascists in their congregation, merely fruitcakes.  
 
Indeed I did at first wonder if Mr Leggatt was an SNP memeber as they - the SNP - do have many such fruitcakes in their ranks. Thankfully he is not. 
 
But Leggatt's anti English stance is hardly in keeping with the ethos of the Tory party, is it? 
 
Re the 24,000 figure, I read it in the papers, and have not heard anybody claim it is false.

19 July 2004, 18:55:05 GMT+01:00
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David Farrer said...



Stuart Dickson (217.211.160.56)
Dear Not a Tory, 
 
You must be very young, or very new in your interest in politics, if you are not aware of the time-honoured tradition of Tories standing as "Independents" in local governent. 
 
Voting "Independent" is a highly dangerous activity, and as advised earlier should only be done if you have a great deal of information about the candidate personally. Mr Leggatt has made the good citizens of Auchtertool look like right numpties. And indeed they were, in May 2003 at the time of the last council election. 
 
Anyway, if you are so confident that the Conservative Party have 24,000 members then why didn't you inform us as to why they failed to put up a candidate in Auchtertool and Burntisland East? 
 
Every political party has eccentrics, Labour, SNP and SSP included. But I defy you to identify any racists. 
 
For Not being a Tory you are remarkably loose with your "insinuations" and "smears".

19 July 2004, 14:10:07 GMT+01:00
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Andrew Duffin (213.206.148.225)
For some reason I always find myself smirking when the name "Auchtertool" appears in the news. 
 
Something to do with the Mermaids I think. Fellow St.Andrews graduates of a certain vintage may possibly know what I mean.

19 July 2004, 13:07:05 GMT+01:00
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Not a Tory (81.135.130.197)
Not a very good explanation Stuart, you merely use insinuation to smear with no facts. 
 
You ought to look at some of the fruitcakes in the SNP, Labour and the entire memebership of the SSP.

19 July 2004, 12:03:18 GMT+01:00
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Stuart Dickson (217.211.160.56)
Lets not be too soft on the "poor Tory party". They are big boys and girls now, and can safely be held responsible for their own inactions. 
 
If, as certain unionist broadsheets claim, the Tories have three times as many members as the SNP, why did they not put up one of them against Mr Leggatt? Even the Lib Dems managed it, and they are next to non-existent on the ground. 
 
The truth is very well known. The Tory Party stand aside when they think that an "Independent" candidate can beat one of the more popular parties. Or worse, they put up their members as candidates but without disclosing the party affiliation, as it would cost them votes if their Tory membership was publicised. This happens throughout the UK, not just in Scotland. 
 
Unfortunately, by default, the Conservative Party is often backing cranks, fruitcakes, ... and in this case racists. 
 
They are an incorrigibly dishonest bunch. Scots recognise this, and duly give them an electoral thrashing at every possible opportunity.

18 July 2004, 11:53:29 GMT+01:00
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Not a Tory by the way (81.135.3.122)
Slight error in the above post, the SNP should be shown as having 8,000 memebers with no decimal point after it!

17 July 2004, 22:40:38 GMT+01:00
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Not a Tory by the way (81.135.3.122)
Stuart Dickson, why are you blaming the Tories? 
 
I can't find anything to indicate that he is a Tory. You can hardly blame the poor Tory party because they didn't field a candidate of their own! 
 
Btw Neil, I don't think the Tories are short of members. I read in the (broadsheet) newspapers that they have 24,000 members, more than Labours 20,000 and the SNP's 8,000.00. 
 
Not a member myself you understand.

17 July 2004, 22:38:42 GMT+01:00
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Squander Two (81.178.221.224)
Leggatt's attitude to the English is all too common in Scotland. Yet another reason why I'm glad to have left.

14 July 2004, 22:30:19 GMT+01:00