Jack sees the light

I have always been a fan of Glasgow Herald columnist, Jack McLean. Described as the Urban Voltaire, Jack writes a very readable diary about his life as a man-about-town. Recently, he has been relentlessly pursued by the tax authorities and has been in fear of losing his beloved home.

But, what's this? On Saturday, Jack writes:

It took a capitalist organisation, dedicated to making profit, to save me from eviction and homelessness. When a young woman called Mia Dussin rang me last Friday to suggest that the Clydesdale Bank, for whom she works, might be able to help me, little did I realise that today I would be sitting with her and her manager, another young woman, this one called Paula Flannigan, while I hear, at first with incredulity, that I will still have a roof over my head. The two girls were charming and nice, the way bankers are supposed not to act. But, then, in the various crises over the past while, Scottish Power, Scottish Gas, British Telecom, and assorted other greedy capitalistic firms have been sending me letters saying things like: “We can defer payment just now. But can we help?” In a wee touch of contrast, the non-profit-making authorities who allege they are here to make all our lives absolutely stoating have been pursuing me like something out of the Sicilian Mafia. I don't know why this is, but am somehow reminded of the fact that Donald Dewar (our late, very socialist, first minister) had about a squillion quid in his will and Tom Winning (the late Scottish cardinal) left two grand.

Jack was once a teacher and when he recalls those days his comments on the state education system are worthy of a life-long libertarian. Otherwise, Jack has always appeared to be a standard leftist member of the chattering classes, uttering the usual anti-capitalist cliches. Now, Jack has discovered that profit-seeking companies survive by helping their customers and that his experiences with the Glasgow Education Department are echoed elsewhere in the public sector. Welcome to the real world, Jack.

The voters decide

I was pleased by the news that Sir Clement Freud has beaten Germaine Greer in the contest to become rector of St Andrews University. In her campaign, Ms Greer:

also faced opposition from a group stemming from the Liberty Club, a right-wing student organisation, calling itself the "Anyone but Greer" campaign. These, however, were dismissed by Miss Greer as a ‘glorified boys’ drinking club’."

The Liberty Club is a libertarian group, not "right-wing", and I suspect that Ms Greer made the same mistake as the Scotsman journalists. As for a "glorified boys’ drinking club", I have attended a Liberty Club event and can confirm that members do indeed enjoy the odd bevvy, but they are not all males. In other words, they fit the profile of 99% of Scottish students. No wonder they sent Ms Greer homeward to think again.

No blogging....

...on Friday because Blogger.com was "down for repairs".

A smart President

I was pleased to read that President Bush has become a customer of Reid & Taylor, the Scottish weaving company which was also patronised by my grandfather. As a child, I was always told that the cloth from Langholm was the best in the world. The President's tailor is:

tailoring the suits from the Scots fabric for next summer, and the president has already expressed an interest in a very expensive cloth for which Reid & Taylor has just won exclusive world rights. Escorial 12 Micron, at £800 per metre, is so rare that only one or two flocks in every Escorial breed have the ability to produce it. The miniature sheep can be traced back to the 16th century when Moorish invaders introduced them to Spain from north Africa to make ultra-soft garments for King Phillip II.

I'm not too sure what to make of the fact that the President may soon be wearing suits made from the wool of miniature Islamic sheep...

We are the masters now

It looks as though EU plans could result in the Scottish fishing industry being wiped out at a cost of 20,000 jobs. In an earlier report in Tuesday's Daily Mail, I read that EU proposals for deep-sea fishing off our North-West coast would give France 80% of the quota, another 18% split between Ireland and Spain leaving 2% for Scottish fishermen. And Scottish taxpayers would have to fund the policing of this arrangement which covers areas that are entirely within UK territorial waters. Will our politicians do anything about this? Of course not.

Mark my words. It's only a matter of time before the EU lays claim to North Sea oil.

The pensions rip off

There is an excellent article in today's Daily Mail (no link) by city editor Alex Brummer. Much has appeared in the newspapers recently about the problems facing those of us with private sector pensions. Final salary schemes are being withdrawn and annuity rates are falling continuously. One of Gordon Brown's first acts was to hit private pension funds with a £5 billion tax increase. Now, there is talk of taxation of lump sum withdrawals from pension funds which are currently tax free and a reduction of tax relief on contributions. Brummer says that the real pension scandal is the vast amount being paid to state pensioners. I agree.

He gives the example of a not-too-high-up NHS consultant retiring on £45,000 per year. The cost to the taxpayer (excluding prospective inflation) would be £1,400,000. A teacher can expect to receive some £800,000.

Elsewhere in the Mail, I read that firefighters benefit from an employer pension contribution of 22% on top of their salary. That means that a firefighter with five year's service gets a package actually worth £26,268 pa and not the £21,531 pa which is bandied about. The claimed increase would take the total package up to £36,600. To retire on £20,000 pa (2/3 of the claimed basic salary) would require a pension fund of about £560,000 for a 50 year old firefighter. How many private sector workers in jobs requiring no academic or professional qualifications can save over half a million pounds by the age of fifty?

I hope that Brummer and the Daily Mail continue this campaign for pension justice. We certainly can't expect anything from Conservative MPs. They've got their own snouts in the pension trough.

They know who won Big Brother but they don't know who is Big Brother!

So more people know who was the winner of the TV programme Big Brother than that Gordon Brown is in the cabinet. Roll on the happy day when the winners of TV shows are more significant to the economy than spendthrift politicians.

They belong to us

Evening News reader, W. Wilson, is quite right to point out that the fire engines belong to the taxpayers. Why, then, is the army not going to be allowed to use them in the event of a strike? As I always thought, Blair is just another statist in hock to the trade unions.

The Auld Alliance updated

The French are now distilling their own malt whisky! What's more, they spell whisky correctly: without an "e".

The continuing crisis

Labour may well face real trouble in next May's elections if the mess doesn't get sorted soon

We're the tops!

Am I becoming an old fogey when I find it rather odd to learn that John Lennon and Princess Diana are among the top ten Britons of all time? The Scotsman has published its own list of top ten Scots as picked by "a specially-selected panel". I have no problem with most of the list but can the top ten really include Billy Connelly but not Adam Smith or Andrew Carnegie? It turns out that the "specially-selected panel" is made up of four politicians, four artists, two sportsmen, two media commentators and one academic. Where are the business managers and entrepreneurs on the panel? At least seven and probably ten of the panel of thirteen work for the state. Fortunately, Scotland has produced more than its share of inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs. It's a pity that more of them don't make it on to the "specially-selected panels" of our major newspapers.

Lies, damned lies and statistics

I am glad that Tory education spokesman, Brian Monteith, has criticised the recent report that claimed that private education was a waste of money. The Scotsman editorial rightly states:

Professor Lindsay prefers his brand of failed social engineering to recognising the need for a fresh approach.

The "fresh approach" required is the abolition of state education. When that happens, the price in the private sector will fall dramatically as the market expands bringing economies of scale and more competition. Whether there would be a need for Professors of Education is another question....

Labour's accounting problems

The story continues to run and run:

after it emerged that dozens of other constituency parties had almost certainly failed to declare cash donations from trade unions.

Tony Blair is telling Scottish Labour to sort out the slack accounting in its local parties but what's to say that the same sloppiness isn't occurring elsewhere in the UK?

Our threatened rights

There is a new website dealing with the European Arrest Warrant. Thanks to both Airstrip One and Edge of England's Sword for this. Has your MP/MSP ever mentioned it?

Failed counterfeiters

I am not too surprised to read that the government can't even make a profit from making money!

CrozierVision

Welcome back to CrozierVision which is again on-line if not exactly on-air.

Policing the community

In Florida's Daytona Beach, taxpayers' money is being used in imaginative ways.:

The city fathers are tired of holding the title of the country’s premier fleshpot resort and, embarrassed by their beach’s reputation for swimwear skimpy enough to make an episode of Baywatch look tame, have ordered an official cover-up

However:

The Libertarian party went door to door gathering signatures for a petition and distributing a memo stating: "This ordinance is the antithesis of the values for which we stand."

Here in Edinburgh, the sex police face more interesting challenges........

To lose one First Minister may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two would look like carelessness

The McConnell row is hotting up:

LABOUR today admitted union cash donated to First Minister Jack McConnell’s constituency party had illegally not been declared.

The Tories in the Scottish Parliament brought about the demise of our previous First Minister (something which seems rather unlikely at the Westminster level!) but it couldn't be about to happen again. Or could it?

More trouble for Labour in Fife

Following Labour's recent local election loss in Fife one of their councillors has given up his Labour credentials and has become an independent. This time Labour can't deny the connection with former First Minister, Henry McLeish:

Mr Taylor, a former vice-chairman of the Central Fife Labour Party, was a strong critic of the position of Mr McLeish before the former first minister announced recently that he would not be standing as the Scottish Parliament candidate for Central Fife next May. He was also critical of the handling of the funding controversy over the Third Age group, the charity which rented accommodation at Mr McLeish’s constituency office.

Labour's troubles

The row over the finances of the First Minister's local party continues. I think that McConnell needs to bring in a firm of outside auditors otherwise he may go the way of his predecessor. Perhaps best not to hire Arthur Andersen!

To me, a fascinating aspect of this saga is the existence of the North Lanarkshire Municipal Bank. Why anyone would trust their money to a bank operated by one of our most notorious local authorities is quite beyond me. It seems as if most customers are also employees of the local council:

North Lanarkshire Municipal Bank has approximately 11,000 active accounts and operates out of 11 local council offices. As the largest Municipal Bank in Scotland, anecdotal evidence of its customer base suggests that approximately 50% are council employees and the remainder are traditional working-class employees, over 45 years of age.

Do these employees know what risks they are running?

Value for money?

In his letter, Dennis Gratton says that the new Scottish Parliament building (£300 million) will serve a useful purpose unlike London's Millennium Dome (£800 million). Is that so? We only need two laws: keep your agreements (contract) and don't interfere with others (tort/criminal). All the rest is so much hot air. I fear that there will be plenty of that in our new parliament building.

Normal service resumes - at Freedom and Whisky and in Scottish politics

Now that I have returned from two weeks abroad, blogging will start again on a regular basis.

I am not surprised to find that yet another Labour financial scandal has erupted during my absence. Our previous First Minister, Henry McLeish, was forced from office over party financial irregularities and now Jack McConnell is in deep doodoo. As a former First Minister, McLeish gets a very nice pension despite being forced out. Is McConnell next to go? Perhaps the plan is to allow all Labour MSPs to get a chance at being First Minister between now and the next election so as every one of them can retire in the manner to which they have become accustomed.

Further announcement

Blogging will continue to be limited until the end of this week.

Pull the other one!

So, Labour has lost control of Fife Council. Nevertheless:

The leader of Fife Council has denied that the Henry McLeish controversy was the reason behind Labour losing overall control of the authority.

Well, I'm not too sure about that. After all:

The by-election defeat was the third for Labour in Fife this year

and Fife just happens to be the personal fiefdom of our late unlamented First Minister. I have little doubt that the huge publicity about McLeish's expenses has much to do with Labour's electoral problems in Fife. Eventually, the Scottish people will see through the wholly unsavoury nature of the Labour party, and not just in Fife. An ideologically sound opposition would be able to destroy Labour in Scotland and in the rest of the UK. Why are we waiting?