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mediawatchHas Tammy Gone Bammy?Tom Gallagher's new book will be a 'broadside' that will hit the SNP hard. In fact it will be one that will bounce back on Gallagher. Mediawatch can reveal that a well kennt member of the SNP, who is a personal friend of Gallagher, has declined to review the book as he felt that he would 'have to put the boot in'. Gallagher is of the view that Salmond,Sturgeon and Osama Saeed, SNP PPC for Glasgow Central Constituency, are 'plotting to establish an Islamic Republic in Scotland' . In addition to this the First Minister intends to establish a on Party state in Scotland,with himself of course a Fuhrer. Tammy has indeed gone bammy. New book tackles SNP SCOTTISH independence will come under the spotlight at a city book launch. Author Tom Gallagher will argue that a demolition of the Union will contribute to heavy emigration from Scotland. His hard-hitting analysis of the SNP, The Illusion of Freedom: Scotland under Nationalism, will be launched on Thursday in Blackwells at 6:30pm. The Two Stooges Start Again Mediawatch has expressed surprised on several occasions that the Glasgow North East by election has not so far produced several polls showing 'a substantial Labour lead', as was the case in Glasgow East, which had Labour 'well ahead' in several polls ,especially one just before polling day.The conclusion must be that there have been polls ,but which are not producing the required result, even after adjustment and doctoring. However,never to be outdone, the two Unionista stooges of the Sunday Herald ,with some help from the ubiquitous Professor Curtice,have scraped yet another phoney poll together.Good for a laugh New poll: Labour win most seats at Holyrood Labour would be the largest party by four to six seats, according to a new poll Tom Gordon and Paul Hutcheon Published on 1 Nov 2009 The SNP would lose power if a Scottish election was held tomorrow, according to a new YouGov poll. The survey suggests Labour would be the largest party by four to six seats, even though the SNP would win the most votes. The findings are a blow to Alex Salmond, who has only 18 months until the next Holyrood vote. And according to Weber Shandwick’s website Scotlandvotes.com, the voting intention figures would give Labour 45 Holyrood seats to the SNP’s 41. The Conservatives would get 20 seats (up three), the Liberal Democrats 18 (up two) and the Greens five (up three). A separate calculation by Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University’s politics department gave Labour an even bigger lead, at 45 seats to the SNP’s 39. He said overall support for the SNP was roughly where it was in 2007, but support was up for the Greens, Tories and Liberal Democrats on the regional vote, hurting the Nationalists. The regional vote gave the SNP most of its seats in 2007. The poll found support for the SNP has slipped in recent weeks, putting them level with Labour on 29% for voting intention in the regional vote. In September, an SNP-commissioned YouGov poll put the SNP on 30% and Labour on 26%. On the constituency vote, the gap between the parties has narrowed from eight points to three. The SNP are now on 34% to Labour’s 31%. Labour sources welcomed the YouGov poll which forecast the party would win the most seats at Holyrood if the Scottish general election was held tomorrow. Iain Gray, the Scottish Labour leader, said: “This has been a bad week for Alex Salmond. The message is starting to get through that Scottish Labour is the party of jobs and the economy, housing and tough action on crime.” The poll was commissioned by the Scottish Greens to coincide with their autumn conference this weekend in Dumfries. Patrick Harvie, co-convener of the Scottish Greens, said: “This poll would make the SNP the biggest losers in a Holyrood vote. “Results like this show that we can hope to make progress at the next election, but that parliament will again be likely to have no overall majority. Green votes are more powerful than ever.” Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University’s politics department said it showed the SNP had to do extremely well to overcome a system which was biased against it winning a second term. “The polls shows a mild degree of encouragement for the Labour Party,” he said. “It’s a reminder to the SNP of how narrow their victory was in 2007, and how they have to keep on doing particularly well to come ahead in seats.” Curtice said although there will be some boundary changes before 2011, Labour would still be the biggest party if the same figures were repeated. In the 2007 elections, the SNP were the largest party by the slenderest of margins, winning 47 seats to Labour’s 46. But 26 of the SNP seats came from regional lists, compared to just nine of Labour’s. Any squeeze in the list therefore has a much more dramatic effect on SNP seats. A spokesman for the First Minister said: “It is extremely encouraging that the SNP are maintaining a poll lead, with our support in the constituency vote up from the 2007 election, while Labour fall further, which is remarkable. “When it comes to an election, and the list vote effectively determines who becomes First Minister, there is no contest between Alex Salmond and the invisible Iain Gray.” Aye--Yi Wish Nick Griffin’s shock claim during visit to Scotland You’ll have a BNP MSP at next election By Gordon Blackstock THE controversial leader of the BNP claims the party will have at least one MSP at the next Scottish elections. Nick Griffin believes his party is increasingly “electable” north of the Border. And he revealed he plans to use forces veterans to help bolster the BNP vote, promising one Scottish group a donation of £100,000. Brief visit Mr Griffin made a brief visit to Scotland last week as part of an attempt to galvanise support for Charlie Baillie, the BNP’s candidate in the Glasgow North East by-election. Although Mr Griffin concedes the party has little chance of winning the seat, he says its base of support in Scotland means they could easily return an MSP via the list system. “The sort of turnaround we are looking for is as little as a two per cent rise in support,” he said. “That is highly achievable. We did it last year at the European elections and in Scotland our support is gathering momentum. “Realistically we have little chance of winning the Glasgow North East election. We have a good candidate but Labour is too strong in the area. “The SNP have a huge support too and it will be contested by those two parties. “Traditionally we got very little support in Scotland. However, in recent months this has changed. Positive “Where once we got perhaps one positive response per 1000 leaflets, we’re now getting 15 to 16. Although anecdotal, this is usually a decent indicator of levels of support.” During his visit Mr Griffin was accused of “bottling out” of a by-election campaign visit to Springburn, after an interview at a local radio station in Hamilton resulted in an egg-throwing demonstration. Instead, while the press made their way to Springburn, he visited FEBA, a Hamilton-based charity run for and by veterans. The Sunday Post understands this had always been part of his itinerary. Charity The charity, the brainchild of former soldier Tommy Moffat, has courted the far-right organisation for funding after alleging several prominent members of the Labour government promised to help fund them, only to change their tune. On arrival, Mr Griffin was flanked by burly minders who guarded the doors of the charity together with a number of police officers. However, the steady stream of elderly women who were visiting the centre’s cafe all failed to recognise the Euro MP. He spoke to veterans and had a go on the punchbags in the gym — Mr Griffin claims to have been a member of the university boxing team at Cambridge. Donation But Tommy Moffat was keen to pin him down on a specific donation. Party leaders had told the press they would give the charity £50,000, but Tommy says they’ve only had some equipment and a boiler. Tommy also criticised Mr Griffin for “hijacking the Union Jack” which he said belonged to soldiers who had fought and died for the country, not any political organisation. But Nick Griffin continued his charm offensive, promising to fund a trip for FEBA veterans to the battlefields of World War 1 in France next year. In a private meeting he also offered Tommy £100,000 in funding, with party officials travelling to Hamilton this week to hammer out details. Eventually his minders let the press know where he was. Earlier he’d been overheard telling veterans that “the press are all scum”. Independence But speaking to this member of the press, he gave his backing to an independence referendum, while warning that any break up of the UK would be “phoney independence”. He said, “If Salmond wanted real independence he would split from Europe, where power really lies. “Democracy is a decentralisation of power and Scotland has this with devolution, as does Wales and Northern Ireland. We believe Scotland is stronger as part of the UK.” He also claimed he had received widespread support after his controversial appearance on Question Time two weeks ago. He said, “When I landed at Glasgow Airport a member of the public came over and said the way I had been treated was horrible and that it was tantamount to bullying. “He told me he had counted how many words I had managed to get out before I was attacked by someone else. “That number was eight. It was a shocking personal attack.” Blogs and Websites Joan McAlpine http://joanmcalpine.typepad.com/joan_mcalpine/ Mike Russell MSP http://mrussellindia.wordpress.com/ Ian Hamilton QC www.ianhamiltonqc.com Bella Caledonia http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com Bye Election Bulletin http://www.snpforglasgownortheast.blogspot.com/ Craig Murray http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/ Keep an eye on Oor Wullie at; www.williebain.com Scottish Independence Convention http://scottishindependenceconvention.org Scots Independent http://www.scotsindependent.org/ BellgroveBelle: http://www.bellgrovebelle.blogspot.com Joe Middleton http://www.politicalnewsfromscotland.blogspot.com/ Moridura http://moridura.blogspot.com/ Julie Hepburn http://bidforfreedom.blogspot.com/ Labour Blog http://www.keziadugdale.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/ Gus Abraham http://1820.org.uk Scottish Review http://www.scottishreview.net/KRoy133.html Politics Blog http://scottishpolitics.blogspot.com/ DestiNATION http://www.destination.sco.eu/ind...;task=view&id=10&Itemid=2 Anne McLaughlin MSP http://indygalgoestoholyrood.blogspot.com/ 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. 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