Rolled-up Trousers

Craig Levein, Scotland manager

Congratulations to Craig Levein on getting the Scotland job. Here's to a successful qualifying campaign for Euro 2012.

I was at Scotland's matches in France 98, the last time we qualified for a major tournament. Being with the tartan Army at the global festival of football that is the World Cup was unforgettable. It used to be that the big question was whether we could get past the group stage at one of the big tournaments, now it's just negotiating the qualifiers that would be an achievement. We'd all love to get to the big stage again.

I'm glad SFA chief exec Gordon Smith said that they were viewing the candidates for the job as widely as possible i.e. that the manager didn't have to be Scottish. I found the view of sections of the press that the person had to be Scottish as potentially xenophobic (not a new problem), and real baby-and-bath water stuff because it always harped back to the Berti Vogts era. Newsflash - just becase Vogts was rubbish, it doesn't mean every manager outside of Scotland is.

This is the mistake England made after Sven Goran Eriksson. They ended up with the dismal reign of Steve McClaren, just because he was English. They now seem to be enjoying the management of the decorated Fabio Capello. Another example not a million miles away is how Giovanni Trappatoni got Ireland within a Thierry Henry handball of qualifying for the World Cup next year. Partly no doubt these managers bring something additional to the party, but at some level, I'm sure the players must rise to their presence.

Apparently we don't have the money for someone of that kind of stature, and the SFA said they were open for the same kind of sponsorship agreement that Ireland have with Trapp. Maybe it is the case anyway that we need to have a manager that can do more with less. That is what we said about George Burley though. However, our players are not as bad as some would have us believe (I don't think Ireland for one are man for man that much superior) and he ran into problems with some of his better players precisely because they held him in less regard than their club managers.

I hope that Levein is given the respect which his post is due. My concern is that his lack of big match experience will count against him. I hope that fear is entirely misplaced. He was my pick for the job before Burley was appointed in 2008. Surveying the likely candidates for the job in Scotland, he is the one who shows the most potential. Let's get behind him and the boys.

Cringing Scots

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Alex Salmond for his Christmas card this year. It's terrific.

It has though come in for criticism from opposition parties because it has the Scottish flag on it.

I have never understood why unionist parties accuse the SNP of manipulating the saltire for party political ends. Every party uses their country's flag. Politicians in most states do so too, it's natural. In the US, they wear it on their lapel. It just so happens for Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems, that flag is the Union Jack (see pictures below).

The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that it is Scotland's flag itself that is being objected to.

The artist that did this year's Christmas card is Gerard M Burns. One of his paintings also has pride of place in the First Minister's office. The painting was actually commissioned at the time the Scottish Parliament opened in 1999 but was quickly banished till the SNP won in 2007 because the saltire on it was considered too big.

For the other parties, it seems the only useful purpose the saltire should serve is to provide the blue for the Union Jack.

In fairness to Labour though, Jim Murphy has been trying to convince his party to adopt the saltire. By trying to foist it like this on his troops though, it is as close as you can get to politicising the flag. The forced photoshoot with Iain Gray at this year's Labour conference is case in point.

It won't make any difference for Labour to be seen more comfortable with the saltire. They actually have to be able to come up with policies which are relevant to Scotland, and which will very likely have to be in the face of their counterparts in London. Are Scottish Labour capable of independent thought?

 

 

 

Mohammad Sarwar - extremist?

Anne McLaughlin MSP raises the issue of doublestandards when it comes to accusations of extremism between me and my Glasgow Central opponent.

Mohammad Sarwar MP serves alongside members of the Muslim Brotherhood on the board of Finsbury Park Mosque. They were put there deliberately by the authorities after Abu Hamza was booted out. They were seen as Islamists that could be worked with. Sarwar has also defended one of the board for his links to Hamas.

I've been dragged over the coals for much less, and for things in the dim and distant past. This is current. If I was in Sarwar's position, there would long ago have been demands for me to resign as a trustee and there would have been calls for my party to take action on me. Strangely, no thinktank has saw fit to send out a press release or alert about this, and it therefore has not been picked up by the press.

They've probably not even looked into Mr Sarwar, but devote copious energies on me. One recently said on this scrutiny that I "had better get used it" if I want to be an MP, but the reality is most MPs live in relative anonymity. Many people in politics have remarked to me that they find extraordinary the number of sad cases on the internet hanging off my every word for the slightest slipup that can be contorted.

The comparison with Sarwar is not of course a game I like, but the doublestandard is fascinating. I've said before that the smears and links by association can be played on any Muslim. It's what people actually do and believe themselves that matters and on that count, having heard Mr Sarwar speak many times, there is no difference between us when it comes to issues of democracy, pluralism and secularism. We're on the same spectrum as any mainstream politician you'll find in the House of Commons.

There is a lot though that divides Mr Sarwar and myself when it comes to the future of our country. What the Finsbury Park Mosque case firmly establishes is that the silly witchhunts on me till now have been party political. As far as the neocon thinktanks and media are concerned I am double trouble. Someone strongly opposed to their agendas in Iraq and in Palestine, while also a member of the SNP who are set to pull Scotland out of the United Kingdom.

A recent article by a Rob Brown in the Jerusalem Post is instructive on this count. He posits that Israelis should fight the SNP because Scotland leaving the Union would be bad for Israel. He finds space for a gratuitous namecheck for me in it. Leaving aside the accuracy or inaccuracy of his core argument (and the rights and wrongs), if I was to go around the world advocating a particular constitutional arrangement for Scotland purely on the basis of how it tenuously affected another people halfway around the world, I'd be labelled a traitor. But it's amazing the things you'll get away with if you're on side with the powerful.

Cybernattering

I should not be amazed at what can constitute news, but was still surprised to see an innocuous get-together that I partook in with fellow SNP bloggers in April being presented as some sort of conspiracy.

This high powered meeting featuring a "close confidante of First Minister Alex Salmond", was so much part of the SNP grand plan that one of the people at the blogger's breakfast was Labour's Yapping Yousuf! More on the meeting with the organiser SNP Tactical Voting

The internet is a nasty place. I know this possibly better than most. You need a thick skin in public life so am sure Jim Murphy didn't take too much umbrage to being called a c*** by the blogger formerly known as Wardog and didn't need the matter escalated to national attention.

It seems from this affair though, and the fate that has befallen Mark MacLachlan, that if you go after senior enough politicians and journalists, there will be comeback. 

As I've indicated above, this isn't just an SNP issue. I think the level of interest on this is because the 'cybernats' are so at odds with the SNP hierarchy (a phenomenon I think indicated in Annabel Goldie's comment in this article). My experience in seeing how the SNP press operation work is that they don't get anywhere near as personal and nasty as I've experienced from the sharp end of Labour HQ briefings. I'm not saying the SNP are perfect, just much better.

The unionist commentators taking so much exception to cybernat activity find them odd since they don't see nationalist views expressed commonly elsewhere. The SNP won in 2007 not just with no support from a single newspaper, but against the open hostility of a number. This has continued, and has led to the phenomenon you see at the bottom of online newspaper articles.

That said, unacceptable comments are unacceptable comments. I'm not a fan of anonymous blogging, and certainly you shouldn't say anything you don't want attributed to you later if you get exposed. Frankly, I don't really see any value in newspaper comments sections. Rarely is there ever a nugget in there, and the facility exists I suspect to keep online hit rates up. More on this with Joan McAlpine.

Overall, I'm not sure what to make of the Wardog and Montague Burton development given the kinds of things people say about me under the cover of anonymity on the internet. I suppose since they can be found out, they better watch out. Given the level of lunacy, obsession and incitement apparent in some of them, if they are in employment somewhere, they should probably be careful too.

And to the chap or chaps moving off the net to phoning people and organisations that know me warning them about my dangers - hello.

More on Awlaki

Since my last post on the Anwar Al-Awlaki issue, there were a couple of attempts to keep the story going.

Tom Harris, MP for Glasgow South, posted up a number of comments that Awlaki made in the last year or so, and tried to make something of the fact I’ve only spoken up now against him.

Simple answer to this – unlike Harris, I’m not an Anwar Awlaki anorak. I blogged briefly back in 2006 that his detention in Yemen seemed wrong. It was in the context of a time when there was regular news of Muslims being incarcerated in 'black sites' without trial. Al-Awlaki was actually then subsequently released after around a year I believe. The US has not sought his extradition on this 9/11 link either.

Just because I posted something years ago doesn’t make me part of his fan club, and I admit to not keeping an index of my old blog posts with anyone I’ve ever mentioned crossreferenced with their future utterings across all media, blogs and YouTube to keep track of who I should be making a point of condemning.

It’s all pretty cheap stuff, but what we’ve come to expect from Labour in terms of attempted smears (see attacks on David Kerr for being in Opus Dei for example). My record on terrorism is that I’ve always condemned it. No one can say otherwise. I’ve organised demonstrations against it. Harris doesn’t really make any point countering this except hoping mud sticks through innuendo.

Maybe Harris feels the need to do this given his constituency party has received funds from the Muslim Friends of Labour, run by my opponent Mohammad Sarwar in Glasgow Central. Rather than blogging about me though and worrying about the position in the next constituency, I’d suggest Harris concentrate on my fellow SNP candidate Malcolm Fleming who is similarly in a good position to beat him in Glasgow South. The SNP gave Labour a good pasting in his constituency at the Euros in June.

Times run with Centre for Social Cohesion briefing

I'm the subject of an article in the Times today about Anwar Al-Awlaki who has praised the Fort Hood shooter.

Al-Awlaki's opinions have swung dramatically since I blogged about him following his incarceration in Yemen back in 2006. Before that he was middle of the road and had a significant following. Some still harbour hopes his internet postings are by an impostor. I think this is unlikely. I heard him on Radio Ramadhan Glasgow articulating his view that Muslims should not live in the West and should instead migrate to 'Muslim lands'. He has changed.

Compare this interview with Awlaki in the National Geographic after 9/11 with his current positions. It's one of the sad hazards of being Muslim that agreeing with someone at one point in time will come back and bite you years later, and even after it is clear that the subject in question has changed his views.  I've spoken previously about the propensity of rightwing newspapers and thinktanks to do this kind of thing here as well as outlining where I stand on the issue of Islamism overall.

So I got a call from Sean O'Neill at The Times yesterday. I feel it's important to point out that he followed a briefing by the Centre for Social Cohesion, because he tried to claim to me that he had stumbled across my 2006 blog post through googling. So he is embarrassed about his actual source. The Scottish edition of the newspaper tartanised the story, but put additional things in quotation marks which were not said.

The CSC are an increasingly desperate outfit. Their briefing by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens asked people to note that I called Awlaki 'imam'. Well here's his ex-extremist colleague from Policy Exchange Shiraz Maher calling him 'sheikh' just yesterday. This term confers serious religious knowledge and standing on him.

Policy Exchange you will remember are the outfit that faked evidence of extremist literature at British mosques. The CSC meanwhile of course have serious problems of extremism themselves, with its head Douglas Murray who has written a book on why we need neconservatism. One of their directors, Baroness Cox is a founder of One Jerusalem, which campaigns for the city as the eternal and undivided capital of Israel and was formed to counter peace talks. She recently hosted Islamophobe Geert Wilders in the House of Lords together with UKIP peer Lord Pearson. The Dutch politician reckons the Quran should be banned.

These people are extreme right wingers and this is why they attack me. I tend to get it more than any other Muslim in Scotland, despite there being plenty of other people and organisations to similarly go after, because I have a good chance of being elected to Parliament next year and they know I vocally and consistently oppose their odious politics. Rather than engage on the issues, they bring up this religious nonsense.

In a couple of days the far-right Scottish Defence League plan to protest in Glasgow against Muslims. It is trash fearmongering like this from the CSC and Times that fuels them and has led to their rise. We're now seeing people openly sieg heiling on our streets and who knows where this irresponsibility is going to lead in the months and years to come.

BNP - taking us back to the ice age

Nick Griffin has provided us all a villain to unite against. On Question Time his racism was exposed, but this will find resonance in parts of the country, aided by weak opposition from other political parties.

Griffin compared ‘indigenous Brits’ to Aborigines. A people under threat from ‘genocide’ caused by the immigration policies of successive governments. London, he says, is no longer a British city. Seems to be doing all right all the same.

You would think then in mentioning the Native Australians and Native Americans that he would have sympathy with their cause. It was truly bizarre to watch Griffin talk seriously about true British people being the ones who were here when the “ice melted” – from the ice age, not last winter. But let’s follow Griffin’s logic all the way through on the face of what he actually said yesterday. The Native Americans should then be able to send all the Europeans back. We would also welcome 'back' millions of Australians.

This country would be jam-packed. If there is an overcrowding issue now, it would be exacerbated as a much smaller number of people would be forced to Africa, Asia or just to be driven into the sea (or London if Griffin chooses to write it off). But this is more than a matter of immigration as Griffin would now have us believe. In the footage of that meeting in the US with David Duke, he is addressing a loony white supremecist audience, not a Native American one.

SNP conference dispatch - the economy

The economy naturally was discussed at SNP conference through a number of motions. One speaker criticised Jim Murphy’s ‘Arc of Insolvency’ line, pointing to an 'Arc of Recovery' where Iceland is now faring better arguably than the UK is on growth and unemployment. Norway has hardly been touched at all.

Gordon Wilson, SNP leader from 1979 to 1990, delivered the Donaldson lecture this year, and suggested the SNP should adopt negative campaigning, pointing out that it has worked for Labour over the years. His concrete suggestion was to highlight ‘Bankrupt Britain’, and in the context of the massive public spending cuts ahead, the idea of London as Scotland’s economic comfort blanket is in serious jeopardy. He has a book out.

One of the conference highlights for me was the Saturday lunchtime fringe launching Gerry Hassan’s new book on the Modern SNP. It was hosted by Joan McAlpine of the Sunday Times and had a thought provoking panel who have contributed to the book. Hassan himself said that the SNP has been a “breath of fresh air” on the Scottish political landscape and reflected on what state we’d be in if it was just Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Parliament.

Colin Mackay, political editor for independent radio said he felt there was less of a buzz amongst delegates this year compared to the previous two. This hadn’t yet slipped into complacency, but was certainly what he described as a comfort zone. With the aim being to deliver independence through a referendum in the short term, the current trajectory wasn’t going to deliver that. A number of people took exception to this I should add.

The economists Jim and Margaret Cuthbert meanwhile accused the SNP of having joined the Washington Consuses with their economic policy, and adopted neoliberalism (albeit with a heart) just as the whole system collapsed. They advocated strategies that the party could now adopt in moving forward with a different model, allowing Scotland to chart a new and innovative course.

I reflect that it does seem to be very much business as usual as far as the causes of the current crisis are concerned. Regulation and policy remain unchanged across the board internationally and politically there doesn’t seem to be much determination to change this. Could Scotland lead the way on this, just as we have with climate change? Obviously the powers do not reside in the Scottish Parliament on this matter, but a robust articulation of the country’s views and a concrete set of proposals are possible.

SNP Conference 2009 twittering

 "When Labour fight poverty, poverty usually wins" - David Kerr, SNP's Glasgow NE candidate. Line of the conference for me #snpconf

"Gordon Brown: What a sorry excuse for a Scotsman" barnstorming fraternal address from Plaid Cymru #snpconf

Salmond - taking Scotland's voice and Scotland's values to the heart of Westminster #snpconf

Salmond - on Brown's signalling of reduction of nuke subs from 4 to 3. "Correct number on the Clyde is zero" #snpconf

Compassion signified by Megrahi's release could be that #snpconf

Salmond - Gandhi's nonviolence was active, not passive. Need something to break cycle of violence - #snpconf

Salmond - Scotland has leading climate change legislation and Gordon Brown should let us be represented in Copenhagen #snpconf

Salmond - social democratic contract based on "wealth created and wealth shared" #snpconf

Novo Scotia

The nationality debate started last year by the possibility of Spanish-born Nacho Novo playing football for Scotland reared its head again this week with discussion this time centred on English-born but Scottish-educated Andrew Driver.

I’ve been alarmed and uncomfortable at the tenor of the discussion in football circles on this issue, and has once again demonstrated how the sport sometimes thinks itself above normal life. Some of the talk has ruled these men out of because of their “bloodline”, and radio phone-ins even questioned whether the players would be “loyal” to Scotland.

Reality check. People born outside this country, but who have citizenship, can run for political office and even become Prime Minister or First Minister. They can join the army, fight – and die – for this country. It is absurd to argue that someone saying they are Scottish should be ruled out of playing football for the country just because they were born elsewhere.

All that is required to be Scottish is to feel Scottish. It is quite some situation given how difficult it is to get a passport that the Home Office tests for nationality should be harder than that of the Scottish Football Association.

Let’s also face it, over the years there are have been examples of Scottish born players like Kris Boyd who have given up playing for their country after some setbacks. Studies have shown ‘New Scots’ to be more patriotic than ‘Old Scots’. Given the state of the game, we should be welcoming people declaring their desire to play for Scotland.

But are Nacho Novo or Andrew Driver actually any good? That’s the real question surely.

PS Novo means 'new' in Portuguese and not Spanish, which was disappointing for the purposes of the headline above, but I decided to use it anyway!

UPDATE: I'm reliably informed that: "Novo is from Galicia and in Galician 'Novo' does indeed mean 'New' so your headline stands"

Prosecuting genocide and war crimes in the UK

More attempts have been made in recent weeks to arrest and prosecute Israelis for war crimes due to their roles in the military. First it was Ehud Barak who came for the Labour Party conference in Brighton and now it is Moshe Yaalon. Both attempts were unsuccessful.

It's reignited an issue that had seemingly gone off the radar. In 2005 there was a warrant issued for the arrest of General Doron Almog, only for him to be somehow warned by the Israeli embassy that police were waiting before he disembarked his flight at Heathrow. He flew directly back to Israel as a consequence. It was later leaked that the tip-off was probably resulted from police fears of a 'gunfight' with Almog's security at the airport.

Following the incident, the UK government promised to look into ways that citizen-inspired warrants like this could not be issued. It has for years now continued to be a source of irritation in Israel.

The perfect opportunity surely presented itself to Jack Straw, the minister who apologised to Israel on behalf of the judiciary over the Almog affair, when he announced his proposals to tighten up genocide prosecutions in the UK. Ostensibly the main provisions are that crimes covered can date back to 1991 rather than the current 2001. The accused have to be resident in the UK, and not merely visiting.

This is currently the case with the International Criminal Court Act 2001 so is nothing new. The new plans have been criticised on this basis though and for not dating back far enough and for prosecutions still needing the Attorney General's consent. The further concern would have been on any small print restricting actions under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act, which was the relevant legislation affecting the Almog and Barak moves. The Bill will still have to be scrutinised, but the Jewish Chronicle recently reported that things have changed after the Gaza bombing earlier this year:

"... six months ago, the Foreign Office discreetly notified the Israeli government that, given public reaction to Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, the changes would not possible be in the near future."

ID card scheme has not been scrapped

Sometimes I feel a bit sorry for Gordon Brown. The prime minister is said to have got quite tetchy with some reporters yesterday. Understandably so given how bold the press corps seem to be with him now. We're not used to this kind of lack of deference to a prime minister. I'm not sure it was even like this with John Major.

Brown was named World Statesman of the Year last week. Instead, the press focused on the lack of a one-to-one meeting between him and Barack Obama. On Sunday, Andrew Marr asked him about his health and taking pills. This is a sure sign of lack of authority. Tony Blair actually had to be admitted to hospital with heart problems in 2003 and no one made a big deal out of it.

Listening to Brown's speech at the Labour conference though, the feelings of sympathy quickly pass. The spin on his ID cards announcement particularly leaped out for me. He said "And so, conference, I can say to you today: in the next parliament, there will be no compulsory ID cards for British citizens." This wasn't a new announcement. And it isn't the whole truth either.

The Sun are gloryhunters

Much has been made of the decision of the Sun to switch sides from Labour to the Conservatives in England.

Labour have made defiant noises about this. Rightly so, but it's twelve years too late to be showing some cajones when it comes to the Murdoch empire.

The truth is they would have won in 1997, 2001 and 2005 without them. And now that the Sun are seeing a different mood in England, they've switched to David Cameron.

In Scotland, the Sun have campaigned hard against the SNP. On polling day in 2007 they tried the tartan version of the 1992 light bulb front page with a noose in the shape of the SNP logo. I don't need to tell you that the SNP still won.

Maybe newspapers aren't as powerful as they once were. Circulations are down, and the internet means people consume news from different sources.

And even more powerful news mediums have been proven not to be all-powerful. Barack Obama had to contend not just with Murdoch's newspapers but his rightwing TV station too. And we know how that ended up.

BNP on Question Time

Good times for the BNP just now. Vote is up around the country, a couple of MEPs and now appearing on BBC's Question Time without even appearing to lobby for it.

The argument for the BBC's defence is that now there will be an opportunity for the BNP to be exposed. But the Question Time format does not lend itself to this kind of cross examination (more on this here). The programme consists of politicians essentially making prerehearsed speeches on the issues of the day.

There was an opportunity for the BBC to be badly exposed on this issue but it appears as if a cross party consensus has emerged for them all to eschew the long standing policy of not sharing platforms with the far-right. It appears the lure of TV cameras makes everything different to your normal town hall meetings. One thing that should further make us doubt the likelihood of the BNP being "exposed" on Question Time is the pandering that the mainstream parties have done on matters of immigration, race and faith in recent years.

We may not have heard the last of this. But my other hope is that if the BNP are invited onto the programme in Scotland, that the Scottish parties do at least unite and refuse to take part.

The preposterousness and absurdity of the BNP

It's been warned throughout this time of economic crisis, that rising unemployment could lead to a rise in racist tendencies.

But these last few weeks, rather than the country turning in on itself, it has been our MPs that have borne the brunt of anger from a united public. A persecuted and vilified minority they have become!

However, once this has died down a bit, it has also been predicted that the disaffection brought about by MP expenses could lead to a surge in support for the BNP.

I find this logic somewhat warped. Understandably, trust in Parliamentarians is at an all-time low. Everyone is talking about politics, so much so that Question Time was brought forward to a 9pm prime time slot this week.

But what would make anyone think that voting for thugs now wearing lipstick would make things better? The BNP hadn't even got into second gear before they were caught out lying on their election leaflets. Pictures of happy families, OAPs and British workers were found to be actors, and not even British ones at that.

MPs aren't getting it

More revelations on MP expenses today. It keeps on coming.

It is horrific, but I also can't understand why weeks into this affair, MPs are still being undone by this.

Today, it's not like David Cameron's Etonian pal Bill Wiggin, or Geoff Hoon, have been caught unawares. They've had more than ample time to review their records and come clean before this was dragged out by the Daily Telegraph.

Surely any spin doctor would have told them that it's better to release news on your own terms rather than have someone else expose it.

But clearly they and many other MPs who we've still to learn about, haven't learned the lesson. What the public are looking for is honesty and transparency.

Today's lot, and tomorrow's, have sat around hoping that the Daily Telegraph wouldn't notice them. 

Sarwar expenses response criticised

Media Release - 20 May 2009

Glasgow Central MP Mohammad Sarwar has come under fire for his response to the expenses controversy engulfing Westminster.

The Labour MP, who was fifth most expensive in the House of Commons last year, broke his silence on the matter by reacting to a statement from SNP Westminster candidate Osama Saeed (below), replying that he would publish his expense claims on his website at a later date.

However, questions have arisen on why there should be a delay on this when the House of Commons authorities gave MPs a copy of all claims in April, with some MPs already having placed the documents on their websites. Sarwar also did not comment on the legitimacy or otherwise of his expenses.

On Monday, he said on his website: "The current controversy over MP's expenses has, quite rightly, raised both concern and anger. I can confirm that once all details are made available by the Fee's [sic] Office, I will be publishing them in full on this website".

Commenting, Osama Saeed, the SNP's Glasgow Central candidate said:

"I welcome Mr Sarwar's prompt response to my request and his undertaking to publish all his receipts. However, he really needs to explain why there should be any time lag before publication.

"The House of Commons authorities have made copies of the documents available for well over a month now, with MPs taking the opportunity to redact information. If there has been no wrongdoing on his part at all, he should say so. At the same time, if mistakes have been made, it is better to be upfront and honest rather than dragging this out.

"Given the level of concern, anger and disgust there is amongst the public right now, constituents deserve to know the exact state of play with their MP."

[ENDS]

Dividing the colonies to extract the oil

The new revelations contained in the Times contain more than a whiff of the 'divide and rule' mentality. It's absolutely extraordinary that a proposal could seriously be floated in Whitehall to stoke up independence movements in Orkey and Shetland in order to redraw maritime boundaries all the better for London to take in North Sea oil revenues.

The tone of the proposals and the fact they could even be aired displays once again the utter contempt in which Scotland has been held by successive London governments. Scotland is seen as nothing short of a cash cow, only for us to be further mocked by being told that we’re too poor to be independent. In reality, they knew back then that had we been independent, we’d be running ‘chronic surpluses to a quite embarrassing degree’.

This is no small matter. These deceits have meant that where we could have invested in our national public infrastructure with substantial oil revenues for thirty years, we’ve instead got some of the poorest areas in Western Europe. We could be infinitely better off right now, and it is making Scots angry. 

Bashir Ahmad: Judged by the content of his character

Four days after Bashir Ahmad’s death, I’m still finding it difficult to think of much else.

Glasgow Central Mosque was jam packed for his funeral which took place only half a day later. It’s customary in the event of someone’s death to pay tribute to them, so it’s difficult to convey exactly what made him so special. There is a reason why literally everyone’s comments about him are to do what his manners and gentlemanliness though.

He came from a culture which puts great stock on hospitality, but from this background, no one excelled him. He had an old school quality. Speaking to people, I’m amazed at how many folk have been dined and plied with food at his house. Mangoes had been delivered to farflung places of the country, where Pakistan’s king of fruit had never been before. Even his family appear to be taken aback by the sheer volume of people telling them how some of his kind words had made them feel special.

Martin Luther King said that he dreamed of a day when people would be judged, not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character. And this is exactly the basis upon which Uncle Bashir was loved.

Bashir Ahmad MSP RIP

The news has come through this evening that Bashir Ahmad MSP has died of a heart attack.

He was at home with his family. The suddenness has left us all stunned. People with him at work only an hour or two earlier say all seemed fine. From God we come and to Him is the return.

Uncle Bashir, as we called him, was a great man. The best. People admired him because he had those characteristics we all need - exemplary manners, a great nature, warmth and hospitality.

He was a history maker - Scotland's first ethnic minority MSP, its first Muslim MSP.