Another Country / Tog Orm Mo Phìob

It never entered our little Scottish heads that prayers should be said in every Anglican parish the following Sunday, nor English clergy or lay-people be paraded on TV to say it wasn't in their name. There weren't 3 days of rolling news coverage and there wasn't a week of wall-to-wall press coverage.

We didn't go fire-bombing English village halls or Anglican churches, nor did every Scotsman with an IQ  under 90 change his Facebook profile picture to a Saltire and take to the streets.  There were no calls for either the First Minister or Prime Minister to return from their holidays nor for yet other folk to be sent 'home'. 

 No Morris Dancers or their wives were assaulted in the street in reprisal, no supermarkets were boycotted nor charities' names hijacked. 

No merchandise was marketed, nor did any tone-deaf, wannabe pop stars try to cash in. No War Memorials were plastered with tacky tributes nor YouTube tribute videos made.  Only one Facebook memorial page was created. At the time of writing, one has 114 results on Google News Search and the other 70,600.  Another similar murder on 29th April returns 504 results.

But then, we are another country. Rest in Peace Piper Craig Hepburn,  Drummer Lee Rigby and Mr Mohammed Saleem.

Lift To Me My Pipes and Take Me Home.

Tog orm mo phìob is thèid mi dhachaigh
Is truagh leam fhìn mo lèir mar thachair;
Tog orm mo phìob 's mi air mo chràdh,
Mu Ruairidh Mòr, mu Ruairidh Mòr.

Tog orm mo phìob, tha mi sgìth
'S mar faigh mi i thèid mi dhachaigh;
Tog orm mo phìob, tha mi sgìth
'S mi air mo chràdh mu Ruairidh Mòr.

Tog orm mo phìob is thèid mi dhachaigh
Is truagh leam fhìn mo lèir mar thachair;
Clàrsach no pìob cha tog mo chridhe,
Cha bheò fear mo ghràidh-sa, Ruairidh Mòr.

Cybernat Abuse Terror Scare Panic Again

The news, plastered over various outlets today, that His Most Britannic Knight of the Realm Sir Chris Hoy has been subjected to vile abuse by those Evil Cybernats is only worthy of comment because a false allegation of cybernat abuse is what got me started on this blogging lark.  

Why anyone should give a tuppenny toot what someone whose only claim to fame is the ability to ride a bike round an oval very fast thinks about Scotland's future governance escapes me. However, we have the Daily Mail to thank for actually producing some evidence this time, unlike the utterly contrived Susan Calman abuse and death threats tosh.

 

I'm sure Sir Chris was horrified and felt abused, and irony is just a ferric adjective. While we redefine what may be characterised as "FOUL ABUSE" (I imagine a single mum might have some thoughts on what constitutes Daily Mail foul abuse), it's worth noting how one-sided this Cybernat Abuse Terror Panic Scare is. The fact that pro-indy comic Frankie Boyle, whose purported address had previously been published with an invitation for Cyberbrits to go round and give him a kicking, was again having to call the police was barely reported. 

See also: Wings Over Scotland - The Triple Standard.

Fortunately we have historical precedent to fall back on.  I was minded of this when the Calman tosh first reared its head and it can be awkward to find all the episodes on YouTube.  As a public service, I give you, all in the one place and necessarily in the right order, the chronicle of the terror that gripped Victorian Britain that was:

The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town

By Spike Milligan and a Gentleman.

 Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

 

  Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Short link to this post: http://goo.gl/fGGrs

The Tory Case for Scottish Independence

Tories believe in small government, do they not? Let’s see: 

 

129 MSPs legislate on agriculture, fisheries and forestry, economic development, education and training, the environment, food standards, health, home affairs, Scots law, courts, police and prisons, fire services, local government, sport and the arts, transport, tourism, research and social work.

1,500 MPs and Lords legislate for us on broadcasting, the constitution, defence, drugs policy, the economy, energy policy, foreign affairs, the national lottery, social security and transport safety regulation. Scotland also returns 6 MEPs.

So how are the 1500 in Wasteminster doing? Constitutional affairs which aren’t governed by our EU membership are nigh-on negligible, UK defence policy has been decided in Washington since 1956, they’ve failed to keep abreast of energy demand largely due to nimbyism, foreign policy is decided in Brussels and Washington and most economic and social security policy is decided in Brussels. No one in Wasteminster has the cahones to adopt anything approaching a workable drugs policy, even if Washington would let them.

So effectively we have 1,500 MPs and Lords, all on fat salaries and obscene expenses, governing broadcasting, the national lottery, and transport safety and bits of the economy and social security. Oh, and they want to spend £3Bn (which means £6Bn) refurbishing their building. 

 All while folk like this trougher who deigns to turn up for work once in a blue moon have been off 'earning' £1.37M doing other things.

Can anyone else see where the cuts should fall?


Short link to this post: http://goo.gl/nDbc0