No comment

The "Haloscan" comment system has gone down again. According to their website:

We're doing some work on the server and will have the site restored soon. Thanks for your patience. Update We've run into a couple problems and are trying to get this sorted out as fast as possible. (12:25AM 2/16/2003)

Let's hope that it's working again shortly.

Sad news ...

... about the death of Dolly the sheep.

Sheep "can live to 11 or 12" say the scientists. But how old was Dolly?

Dolly was born in July 1996 after being cloned from the udder cell of a six-year-old adult ewe, and named after the singer Dolly Parton.

Some have said that this means that Dolly was really twelve years old. Whatever her age, she certainly warrants her coming display in the National Museum.

A Prime Minister in difficulties

Over on Samizdata, Brian Micklethwait asks, "Is Blair now in real trouble?" I certainly think so. The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has just addressed the UN Security Council and I have rarely heard a cabinet minister sound so nervous. Tomorrow, Blair will give a speech to Labour's spring conference, which is taking place in Glasgow. Some 25,000 demonstrators are expected to be outside the conference hall when Blair is speaking. Many will be Labour activists:

the issue has split the party and along with many Labour backbench MPs, activists remain unconvinced by the data delivered to the UN by the weapons inspectors. It is understood a majority of delegates at the conference will have more sympathy for the massive anti-war protests planned for Glasgow and London than for Mr Blair’s point of view.

The march due to take place in Glasgow will be the biggest public protest ever to be staged in the city.

And the elections for the Scottish parliament are now only eleven weeks away:

John Swinney, the Scottish National Party leader, is set to address the anti-war march in Glasgow at a venue near the Labour conference. The SNP yesterday leapt on the results of an opinion poll which showed that half of all Scots are against a war in the Gulf.

Alex Salmond, the SNP leader at Westminster, said: "The results of this poll show clearly that over half of all voters in Scotland are less likely to vote for the Labour Party in May if the UK goes to war against Iraq without a new UN mandate.

"Of more concern to Jack McConnell is the fact that 45 per cent of Labour voters would be less likely to vote for him if we went to war on this basis.

Labour support is already dropping in the Scottish opinion polls. If there isn't a satisfactory result in Iraq by mid-April, we may see a change of regime in the Scottish parliament.

Pull the other one

So Gordon Brown is to produce a budget for business:

He will say: "The next stage of our programme, one of the themes of the budget, is to work with business, to strengthen competition, enterprise, investment and markets in our economy. To cut the cost of starting investing, hiring and training, to encourage entrepreneurship, to work to improve our work permit system, and continue our reforms of the business tax regime for entrepreneurs, to open up whole sectors of the economy so that more jobs and lower prices can result."

Brown remains an unreconstructed leftist who has piled regulation after regulation on business, especially on the small company sector that is the main hope for new job creation. Is he really going to withdraw all of the red tape introduced by his government? Nobody should fall for his spin.

The Liberty Dragon

A warm welcome to a new blog from Wales.

Some Euro-realism

Now that Margo MacDonald has parted company with the SNP, she is free to speak her mind about the EU:

I'm appalled at the dictatorial, centralist, undemocratic and anti-internationalist tone of the draft European Constitution produced by former right-wing French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing. No more EU, say I.

Margo still seems to believe in much of the old-time leftist nonsense, but she asks some pertinent questions:

So does this draft EU constitution have anything to recommend it? Probably not, excepting its usefulness in spelling out what the EU should not be doing.

As she points out, the SNP is totally confused about the EU.

Blundell Mail PLC?

John Blundell thinks that it is time to privatise the Royal Mail. Why not?

In 1680, a merchant, William Dockwra, offered to deliver all letters and parcels under 1lb for a penny. It was a huge success. He was suppressed and punished as the Duke of York, the Kings’s brother, had an income from the Post Office revenue. His Majesty’s security could not be challenged by impertinent entrepreneurs offering cheaper or faster deliveries.

The state is not your friend.

A second opinion

I wasn't the only one to spot that Carol Craig's book contains some fundamental errors. In today's Scotsman, George Kerevan makes similar points to mine:

Could Carol have traversed the long road to political sanity and the realisation that Scotland is indeed in the grip of a collectivist zeitgeist that strangles our economy with excess regulation and taxes and that turns our schools into under-performing human battery farms? Could she? No, she couldn’t. For Carol Craig’s individualist terminology means quite the opposite of what the words ordinarily imply.

Read the introduction to her book and she is at great pains to point out that she rejects the free market. She adds: " I’m no fan of American individualism, believing it not only results in a high crime rate but also in the type of dangerous selfishness apparent in Americans’ response to the Kyoto agreement on climate control." In other words, she rejects drawing any political, constitutional, economic or fiscal consequences from her analysis that Scots suffer from a lack of individualism, creativity or risk taking.

On Saturday, the book wasn't available at Ottakars, Waterstones or Borders. When I manage to find a copy, I shall report further.

Mark this

It is surely extraordinary that the market value of Edinburgh based banks is now double that of the entire German banking industry.

The advantage of home schooling

Jack McEwen is to start studying for a degree at the age of eight. How is he able to do this:

With no TV reception to their remote farmhouse in Moray, there is plenty of time to read and learn.

Melissa McEwen, Jack's 37-year-old mother, has taught both boys at home since they were first able to talk.

Congratulations to Jack and Melissa.

Weasel alert

I have registered a new blog by the name of axisofweasels. I am open to offers from any parties wishing to acquire this site. Payment will be accepted in the form of a lifetime supply of Château Haut-Bages-Libéral. Chateau "Liberal" (in its correct sense). I like the sound of that. And besides:

These wines, whose superiority was confirmed and officially recognized in 1855, are much appreciated by Anglo-Saxon consumers.

I look forward to hearing from M. Chirac.

.....but political correctness marches on

The lunatics are still running the asylum:

Amazing Grace has been banned from civil wedding ceremonies in Scotland because of its religious content.

If certain asylum seekers wanted to get married using their religious music, would they face a ban?

Political correctness under attack .....

A lawyer tells the truth:

In an article for the political magazine Holyrood out this week, Duff (a senior defence lawyer) says the Crown Office is "running scared of ever refraining from prosecution in alleged rape cases, leading to the present situation where hopeless prosecutions are mounted, resulting in inevitable acquittals and the skewing of statistics, adding yet more fuel to the fire of controversy".

On racist offences, he suggests the reforms are likely to fail the country’s black population.

"So rigid is the instruction given to formerly independent lawyers that they can never, without Crown Office permission, drop the most trivial of so-called racist offences in a plea bargain process," he says.

It's no surprise that the Crown Office "condemned Duff’s outburst as 'reactionary' ".

No sooner blogged than done

So, the Lord Chancellor has listened to the people, or at least to Tony Blair:

Gibson (a Labour MP) said last night it was obvious Lord Irvine had come under pressure from the prime minister to reject the huge pay hike

Of course, the rise has been "put on hold", not cancelled. I trust that Irvine doesn't think that the rise can be sneaked back in later without all hell breaking loose.

The champagne lifestyle

I am seriously reconsidering my plan to consume my bottle of champagne when Tony Blair is removed from Downing Street. It might be more satisfying to celebrate the ousting of Derry Irvine:

TONY Blair’s mentor and friend, Lord "Derry" Irvine of Lairg, was awarded a 12.6 per cent pay rise yesterday - almost four times as much as troops heading for potential war in the Gulf.

The inflation-busting award - denounced as "incredible" - will make the Lord Chancellor the highest-paid politician in Britain, with an annual salary of £202,736.

To think that my wife and I were once enjoying a drink in a Westminster pub when this champion tax-consumer came in, sat at the next table and royally indulged himself at our expense. I am pleased to note that many Labour MPs are outraged at Irvine's new "package".

Anyway, Blair's about to join the Tories!

Labour threatened

The latest opinion poll in the Glasgow Herald (no links on Saturdays) shows:

Labour support on 32% for the constituency vote, down from 40% the previous month

The Herald attributes this fall to anti-war sentiment, although a conversation I had with a local Labour activist leads me to believe that Blair is less isolated in his party than we may think.

A Tory vote-winner?

The Scottish election is now less than three months away. Labour is surely vulnerable on crime. At last, the Conservatives are campaigning on what should be a vote-winning topic for them. If they wanted to be really radical, the Tories should oppose the ludicrous war on drugs and demand that police resources are used against crimes that actually have victims.

A change of mind

I have previously criticised Gavin Esler for an unthinking anti-Americanism. He seems to have changed his mind:

It is a mark of British arrogance, especially in some of our newspapers, that there remains an assumption here that our dim cousins across the Atlantic are capable only of a very simplistic approach to foreign affairs. It is true that throughout the Nineties Americans switched off from abroad, and pulled back from a real world role.

But British rage against the Americans for being stupid is merely a British Caliban seeing its own face in the mirror. The reflection, and the anti-Americanism, are both ugly.

Well said.

Mind your own business!

Boots plan to close their factory in the constituency of Helen Liddell, the Secretary of State for Scotland. She says that she:

will demand a "full explanation" from Boots

Liddell has been underemployed since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and serves no useful purpose. Instead of demanding "full explanations" from private-sector companies, Stalin's Granny (as she is known) should start her own business and aspire to live as a self-made millionaire.

Part two

Here is the second instalment of Dr Carol Craig's article about Scotland's "crisis of confidence". More good stuff, although I didn't like this:

I'm also no fan of American individualism, believing it not only results in a high crime rate but also in the type of dangerous selfishness apparent in the Americans' response to the Kyoto agreement on climate control.

I hope to be able to listen to her:

Carol Craig will be speaking about her book at Waterstone's, Glasgow, on Monday, March 3, at 7pm, and at West End Waterstone's, Edinburgh, on Tuesday, March 4, at 6pm.

If possible, I'll give her a few facts about Kyoto!

The millionaires next door

Thomas Stanley and William Danko's The Millionaire Next Door tells us that "wealthy individuals do not all belong to an elite group of highly educated and exceedingly lucky people who often inherit their money and spend it on lavish purchases and pampered lifestyles" but rather "that a significant number of America's wealthy are far more likely to work hard, save diligently, and live well below their means".

Now we know that it's true here too.

A new survey tells us where Britain's millionaires live. The number one spot is held by Hampstead in London, well-known as the home of media folk and represented at Westminster by Glenda Jackson. The second and third most popular areas for millionaires are both in Edinburgh:

THEY epitomise leafy suburbia with their rows of neat bungalows and terraced mansions but beneath the douce facades of Edinburgh's Blackhall and Morningside there appear to be hearts of gold. The unassuming streets a few miles west of the centre of the capital in Blackhall are home to more millionaires than anywhere else in the UK, with the exception of the north London suburb of Hampstead.

I was discussing this news with a group of people in the city centre who didn't even know that there was an area of Edinburgh called Blackhall! No "pampered lifestyles" there. Nevertheless:

266 Blackhall residents fall into the six-figure bracket, eclipsing affluent areas of London such as Kensington, Chelsea and St John's Wood.

I find it reassuring that the reputation that Scots have for being "careful with money" is borne out by this survey which shows that five of the fifteen wealthiest areas in Britain are north of the border. Sadly, my part of Edinburgh is a mere number 58 on the list.

A question of confidence

There is a fascinating article in today's Glasgow Herald. Dr Carol Craig has written a book about Scotland's "damaging crisis of confidence":

There is a paradox at the heart of what it means to be Scottish. Our lives are shaped by two contradictory pressures pulling us in opposite directions. Together, they account for much of what I believe to be a national crisis of confidence. The first is the pressure to achieve; to make something of yourself and prove your worth. It's an impetus which has fuelled many fine Scottish achievements and led to the Scots' reputation as one of the most ambitious, hard-working, and innovative people in the world.

The second pressure is to know your place and not get above yourself ...... Strangers to Scotland soon learn that one of the biggest gaffes is to indulge in self-praise.

I have no doubt that Dr Craig is spot-on and also that her book will create a great deal of controversy:

It is not difficult to see where this levelling impulse springs from. The Kirk, Robert Burns, and the Labour movement have all nourished the notion that it's wrong for people to think they're better than others

The consequences of Scotland's egalitarianism are dire:

No wonder a recent health report, based on focus groups, concludes that many of Scotland's burgeoning health and social problems are due to a widespread lack of ambition throughout Scottish life and a dependency culture.

The problem is much wider than politics, but to break the dependency culture I believe that it is necessary for the Scottish parliament to have total responsibility for raising all of its own expenditure, sending an agreed amount to London for common UK services.

Dr Craig writes about the "national question":

I believe Scotland's relationship with England has undoubtedly injured Scottish self-esteem. But I do not believe it is the most important factor. Nor do I accept that constitutional change, on its own, would dramatically boost Scottish self-confidence.

We must start being honest with ourselves. We must accept that many of our own attitudes are self-defeating. Then, and only then, will it be possible to lift the dead hand of the past and unblock all that dammed - or should that be damned? - Scottish potential.

I couldn't agree more. There is more of this in tomorrow's paper. I look forward to that and to reading the book.

French lessons

I like this scheme in which six-year-old Scottish pupils are being taught in French:

Their French lessons are not formal French lessons, taught in a mixture of English and French. Instead, the children are taught part of the curriculum - art, drama, music and PE - entirely in French.

If only I had started learning another language at six! But why does it cost so much:

It has cost about £100,000 a year to run the project to date - probably unaffordable for the executive to introduce it into every primary school.

The Walker Road School has employed two native French-speaking teachers, but they must free up other staff during their lessons. Even if they didn't, we're talking of £50,000 each. Why do I find the economics of government education to be somewhat crazy?

The land issue

Of course I have great sympathy with Mark Ford whose father was murdered in Zimbabwe. Mr Ford has criticised Tory MSP, Bill Aitken, for stating about the new Scottish land law that:

"This type of legislation has no place in modern Scotland. It will have a dreadful effect not only on those living in rural areas, but on city dwellers whose hard-earned tax will be used to pay for this Mugabe-style land grab."

Mr Ford says:

"In Zimbabwe, farmers aren't being compensated . . . farms are basically being stolen," he said. "I don't see that happening in Scotland. It's a democracy and things will be done fairly and monitored by independent people."

Well, yes, it is true that the Scottish law has been brought in by a democratically elected parliament and that displaced property owners will be compensated, but the law is still wrong.

Back to Africa:

However, John Worswick, vice-chairman of Justice for Agriculture, an organisation set up to defend the rights of farmers in Zimbabwe, said the government was using Scotland's land bill to legitimise its own land reform programme.

The Zimbabwe government is using the Scottish law to defend its own land grabs. We should be ashamed to be in this position.