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mediawatchBella Busts Her BraHow vomitorial is this contemporary rhetoric about the partnership of the 'nations' of the UK? Historically and recently it was never like that.We think not only of Nelson's infamous signal, nor even the favourite song broadcast over the wireless during WW2 and that was Gracie Fields singing there 'will always be an England' while the press continually inspired the people about how 'England stands Alone'.This, when Scottish ,Welsh and Irish soldiers were giving their lives on the battlefield and the 51st Highland Division was holding on to France almost alone.Give us a break from this crap and be honest. Annabel Goldie tells Tory conference of SNP ‘threat’ The Scottish Conservative leader has spoken at the party's annual gathering in Manchester. 05 October 2009 16:22 PM Comment 128091 A Conservative victory at the next election would help save Scotland from the nationalist "threat", Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said on Monday. She vowed to fight "tooth and nail" against what she claimed was Alex Salmond's "creeping nationalism". She challenged Mr Salmond, the SNP leader, to debate with her "any time you want", telling the First Minister: "It's time to put up or shut up." Ms Goldie’s challenge came in a speech to the Conservative conference in Manchester where she also announced three policy initiatives for Scotland. Her party is calling for a £10million a year Scottish Government-funded "business dividend fund" to give local councils incentives to help new business start-ups. She said the Tories will also bring forward measures to strengthen protection for NHS whistleblowers. "Our doctors, our nurses, our health workers, must not be afraid to speak up about anything which compromises patient safety or patient care," she said. She also said the Tories would establish a fast-track community court in Glasgow, based on a New York model, which would see offenders brought to court quickly, dealt with swiftly and made to start their sentences "immediately". Ms Goldie said those who claimed a Tory election victory would be bad for Scotland were scaremongering. She said: "David Cameron has pledged a relationship of mutual respect between our British and Scottish Government. If he is elected Prime Minister he would host an annual council of nations with all the devolved First Ministers - governing for Britain, replacing the politics of grudge and grievance with the politics of hope and optimism. "Far from damaging Scotland, David Cameron as Prime Minister would help to secure Scotland from the SNP threat." Rounding on Alex Salmond, she said: "Your vision of Scotland and Britain's future is extreme. It is an obsession and it is damaging. We are in the midst of a major recession, people are losing their jobs, the public finances are in a terrible state and you want to make it worse by wrenching Scotland out of a successful and strong relationship with the rest of Britain." She went on: "Put aside your extreme views and your narrow separatist agenda and join with the Conservatives in sorting out Labour's mess. Clown Cameron Contributes Crap The Tories have learned little.It was not all that long ago that Neil Kinnock snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by holding Conference victory parades before the battle had even commnenced.If you want to respect Scotland Davie Boy then start by forcing the English tourist authorities to take the addie below off the Web. Cameron promises Scots 'respect' Conservative leader David Cameron has said he would govern Scotland with "respect" if he won the election. Mr Cameron spoke to BBC Scotland ahead of his party conference in Manchester. He promised that if elected, one of his first duties as prime minister would be to meet Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond. But Mr Cameron also opposed calls for Mr Salmond to be included in any pre-election leader debates, saying he did not believe it would work. In an interview for the Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Cameron insisted his party had changed and tried to outline what effect a Conservative government at Westminster might have on Scotland. “ I want it to deal with the devolved administrations with respect and in co-operation and that's exactly what you would get ” David Cameron He said: "We need a respect agenda of government between the United Kingdom and Scotland. "I would govern with respect because I know that even if we do well, we are unlikely to get a majority of Scottish seats and so we have to govern and work with the Scottish administration. "If we win the election one of the first things I would do is go to Scotland, have a meeting with the first minister and talk about how we are going to govern Scotland with respect, how we are going to keep the United Kingdom together. "I think if Alex Salmond expects me to behave in a way which just says: 'Well, we've got our majority and that's that - we can do what we like and ignore Scotland' he completely misunderstands me, the Conservative Party and what I'm about." Mr Cameron said he wanted the UK to stay together and for the British government to work for all of the UK. "I want it to deal with the devolved administrations with respect and in co-operation and that's exactly what you would get," he said. However, he said he did not believe the SNP leader should be invited to take part in any proposed leader debates in the run-up to the next election. He said: "Alex Salmond is not running for the UK Parliament. "There's not going to be an SNP government after the next election. So I don't think that does make sense. "I am always very happy to debate with him or anyone else but I think that a debate about the future of the Scottish Parliament is a debate he needs to have with Annabel Goldie and other leaders in Scotland." NHS whistleblowers Meanwhile, Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie will warn the UK party's annual conference that it must increase the number of MPs in Scotland. She will set out the Scottish party's determination to play its part in delivering a Tory win at Westminster. There is currently just one Conservative MP north of the border. Miss Goldie will set out new policies on protecting NHS whistleblowers and business start-ups when she addresses delegates in Manchester. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/8290114.stm Published: 2009/10/05 08:06:15 GMT © BBC MMIX Another Clown Why Not Sing It (only kidding) Hotels, Guest Houses, Bed & Breakfast Accommodation in England THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND There'll always be an England, While there's a country lane, Wherever there's a cottage small Beside a field of grain. There'll always be an England, While there's a busy street, Wherever there's a turning wheel A million marching feet. Red, white and blue, What does it mean to you? Surely you're proud Shout it aloud. Britons awake! The Empire too, We can depend on you, Freedom remains These are the chains Nothing can break. There'll always be an England, And England shall be free, If England means as much to you As England means to me. "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in a silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house Against the envy of less happier lands This blessed plot, this earth, this realm This England" Appalling Tragedy This latest human tragedy on the Erskine Bridge must be the most appalling yet.The Erskine Bridge has about 25 suicide leaps per year ,an average of about one every fortnight. Why not put high fencing across it to prevent this? The answer apparently is that this cannot be done on a bridge like this without threatening the entire structure during high winds. Even as it is the bridge often closes during very high winds. There is tragedy also in the fact that this suicide was to do with boy friends. Those who encourage sexual activity among children should perhaps think again also. The Good Shepherd facility should ideally be closed down,but where else to put girls in difficulty? Once it was run by nuns with a deep sense of commitment and Christian values on the dignity of life. However the vocations crisis within the Catholic Church long since put an end to that. It is not possible to put high fencing on the bridge,but it is possible to look deeply again at the at the structures and systems at the Good Shepherd School for Girls. It is also possible to stop dishing out condoms to children at school. The Herald 06 Oct 2009 The Herald 06 Oct 2009 There were a lot of people who loved her and who always will’ Tributes to girls who jumped to deaths from Erskine Bridge ‘Counselling is being offered to the residents who have been traumatised’ NEVE Lafferty’s family will always remember her smiling, laughing and joking, despite her dark final moments plunging hand-in-hand with her friend Georgia Rowe to their deaths in the River Clyde from the Erskine Bridge. LOSS: Neve Lafferty and her friend Georgia Rowe, who made the short journey from the residential unit, the Good Shepherd Centre, to the Erskine Bridge. A close relative of the 15year-old girl, who took her own life alongside friend Georgia Rowe, 14, on Sunday night, said yesterday that if they could only get a chance to talk to her again they would tell her how much she was missed, and how her death had affected those she left behind. “I’d tell her that there were a lot of people who loved her, who always will love her, and that she lived together in our hearts,” said a relation of her mother, who spoke yesterday for the family in her home town of Helensburgh. The two girls who died after jumping from the Erskine Bridge on Sunday received hundreds of online tributes from friends and well-wishers, many of them total strangers who had been moved by the tragedy. Shock spread through Helensburgh and residents stopped in the street to share their grief. Both girls had appeared outwardly happy after being on “productive” weekend outings with relatives, said a spokesman for the Good Shepherd Centre in Bishopton, a residential unit for troubled teenage girls, where the two had been staying for the past two months. They had last been seen by staff heading to their rooms in their pyjamas on Sunday evening. Believing that they were watching TV together, staff only noticed that they had disappeared during a routine check of residents later that night. Residents are not locked in, the spokesman said, though the girls had not been given authorisation to leave that evening. An immediate search of the campus and vicinity was ordered, but soon afterwards police contacted the centre to alert them to a full-scale rescue operation on the Erskine Bridge, a suicide black spot three-and-a-half miles away. A search was carried out with police, fire and rescue services, the Ministry of Defence, and a Coastguard helicopter. Both girls were pulled from the water and taken by military aircraft to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, but were pronounced dead on arrival. Confirmation was later received that Neve and Georgia had been dead when they were taken from the river, one at around 9.40pm and the other at 10.15pm. Since the bridge opened in 1971, only a handful of people have survived plunging from the car deck, around 125 feet above the River Clyde. In 1998 the Scottish Office funded emergency phones on the bridge in an effort to discourage people from taking their own lives and security cameras were installed to monitor the area. A spokesman for the Good Shepherd Centre said: “The thoughts and prayers of all at the Good Shepherd Centre are with the families and friends of the girls who have died. “Counselling is being offered to the other residents at the unit, who have been shocked and traumatised by what has happened.” Distraught residents were seen crying on the premises as news of the deaths spread. Neve’s family were last night struggling to take in their loss, and a relative said their thoughts went out to family and friends of the other girl, Georgia, who was from Hull. The Scots teenager’s family was described as “close-knit”, though her parents have separated and settled with new partners since her birth. A relative on her mother’s side, who did not wish to be named, said Neve had recently been her “bubbly, happy self”. On a family outing two weeks ago, she had laughed and joked before departing with the words: “Cheerio, see you soon,” her relative said. It was the last time she was to hear her speak. “She liked to go out and about with pals,” said the relative, who was grieving at home with her partner and has a photograph of her own son taken with Neve two weeks ago. “She was gorgeous, really lovely looking. She had long, dark hair, big dark eyes. I still can’t take it in,” she added. Cowards Way Out The Dalai Lama is a political and spiritual giant whom Obama ignores at his political peril. That the oppressed people of Tibet should be abandoned in this way is disgraceful. The Daily Telegraph 06 Oct 2009 Barack Obama cancels meeting with Dalai Lama 'to keep China happy' President Barack Obama has refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this week in a move to curry favour with the Chinese. By Alex Spillius in Washington Published: 6:20PM BST 05 Oct 2009 President Barack Obama has delayed a meeting with the Dalai Lama Photo: REUTERS The decision came after China stepped up a campaign urging nations to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader. It means Mr Obama will become the first president not to welcome the Nobel peace prize winner to the White House since the Dalai Lama began visiting Washington in 1991. Related Articles Barack Obama disses... the Dalai Lama! The fog of war The Buddhist monk arrived in Washington on Monday for a week of meetings with Congressional leaders, celebrity supporters and interest groups, but the president will not see him until after he has made his first visit to China next month. Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, has accused the United States and other Western nations of "appeasement" toward China as its economic weight grows. "Today, economic interests are much greater than other interests," he said. Mr Obama's decision dismayed human rights and Tibetan support groups, who said he had made an unnecessary concession to the Chinese, who regard the Dalai Lama as a "splittist", despite his calls for autonomy rather than independence for Tibet. The Chinese invaded in 1950, forcing the young leader to flee. Sophie Richardson, Asia advocate for Human Rights Watch, said: "Presidents always meets the Dalai Lama and what happens? Absolutely nothing. "This idea that if you are nice to the Chinese Communist Party up front you can cash in later is just wrong. If you lower the bar on human rights they will just move it lower and lower." Over several months of discussions the Tibetans resisted entreaties to delay the meeting, arguing that a refusal would make smaller countries more vulnerable to pressure from China not to meet the Dalai Lama. But they were told by US officials they wanted to work with China on critical issues, including nuclear weapons proliferation in North Korea and Iran, according to The Washington Post. Mr Obama then sent a delegation to the Dalai Lama's home in exile in India last month that confirmed the meeting would be deferred. Mr Obama has changed his position on Tibet since his election campaign. In April 2008, he was joined by Hillary Clinton, then his rival for the Democratic nomination and now his Secretary of State, in calling on George W Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in protest at the bloody repression of a popular uprising in Tibet. "If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security, and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the President should boycott the opening ceremonies," they said. Mrs Clinton has been at the forefront of a new approach, called "strategic reassurance", which seeks a more amicable partnership with the emerging power. On her first trip to China in February she said public pressure on China over human rights was ill-advised as she "knew what the Chinese were going to say". Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, the Washington-based special envoy to the Dalai Lama, issued a brief statement, saying: "We came to this arrangement because we believe that it is in our long-term interests." A White House official said the administration and the Tibetans had "agreed the timing would be best after the visit". "Both sides attach importance to a strong US-China relationship," the official said. "There are benefits in that to our goals for Tibet, as we have been working to resume discussions between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s representatives.” The Tibetan leader's ten meetings with US presidents have played an important role in maintaining his international profile, even though they have never been filmed or followed by a press conference. The exception was 2007, when George W Bush conferred the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress's highest civilian award, on the Dalai Lama in front of the cameras. Frank Wolf, a Republican congressman and outspoken critic of China's human rights record, said: "What would a Buddhist monk or Buddhist nun in Drapchi prison think when he heard that President Obama, the president of the United States, is not going to meet with the Dalai Lama? "It's against the law to even have a picture of the Dalai Lama. I can almost hear the words of the Chinese guards saying to them that nobody cares about you in the United States." Ms Richardson said treating human rights as separate from other issues guaranteed failure "across the board". "If there is no explicit agreement to stop locking up environmental activists and whistle blowers then any environmental agreement will be weakened. "If the press in China is muzzled it won't investigate industrial safety and you will have more toxic toys coming to the United States," she said. Comment and Feedback From David McCann Make sure you vote against the nomination of war monger Blair for the Presidency of the European Council. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stopblair/sign.html#se David From Eileen Cameron Dear Mediawatch 2009 Probably too late to do anything about it, but his October 4th Sunday Times article ( The Making of the Modern SNP: What is it and where is it going?) is available on his own website at: http://www.gerryhassan.com/?p=599#more-599 Excellent work on your part, as ever. Best wishes Eileen Blogs and Websites Scottish Review http://www.scottishreview.net/KRoy133.html Politics Blog http://scottishpolitics.blogspot.com/ Ian Hamilton QC www.ianhamiltonqc.com Bye Election Bulletin http://www.snpforglasgownortheast.blogspot.com/ DestiNATION http://www.destination.sco.eu/ind...;task=view&id=10&Itemid=2 Craig Murray http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/ Keep an eye on Oor Wullie at; www.williebain.com Anne McLaughlin MSP http://indygalgoestoholyrood.blogspot.com/ (Scottish Independence Convention http://scottishindependenceconvention.org Scots Independent http://www.scotsindependent.org/ BellgroveBelle: http://www.bellgrovebelle.blogspot.com (new super -glam foti) Joe Middleton http://www.politicalnewsfromscotland.blogspot.com/ Moridura http://moridura.blogspot.com/ Michael Settle http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/politicalblogs Julie Hepburn http://bidforfreedom.blogspot.com/ Labour Blog http://keziadugdale.blogspot.com/ Kezia is Head, office of Lord George Foulkes MSP Tory Blog . Ruth Davidson's Glasgow NE by-election blog http://www.ruthdavidson.org.uk/home Calum Cashley http://calumcashley.blogspot.com Dave Fallows http://www.davefallows.blogspot.com/ Bill Wilson MSP http://www.billwilsonmsp.org/ Bella Caledonia http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com Gus Abraham http://1820.org.uk Additional of Interest http://scotgoespop.blogspot.com http://www.christianjones.net/ http://the-universality-of-cheese.blogspot.com/ http://ayewecan.blogspot.com Mediawatch is prepared by SNP activists in the west of Scotland.It has no official connection whatsoever with the Scottish National Party. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Party. It is circulated to a substantial number of contacts in politics and in journalism both in Scotland and internationally. Please feel free to forward it to your own contacts. It is sent blind copied to everyone to protect individual E Mail addresses. If you wish it sent to you post send an E mail to this address with 'subscribe ' in the subject bar. Similarly, write 'unsubscribe ' in the subject bar if you no longer wish to receive it. Posting Number 291 Tuesday 6/10/09 |