Not a bad idea this.

Click here and click I agree. You know you want to.

Revolving.

I was at the National Archives in Kew yesterday where upon I found that the main revolving door was shut and no apparent way of getting in. I knocked on the side door to which one of the guards eventually let me in. I asked him why the revolving door was shut and he answered "It's been too windy." TOO WINDY?! It was designed to withstand storms and wind for crying out loud! The beauty in the revolving door is that it is silent, keeps the noise and wind and rain out of the building and offers an elegant solution to stormy weather invading indoors. The only thing I can think of is that the revolving door they have at the NA is electronic and therefore was suffering some sort of malfunction in the stormy weather. Which in itself is ridiculous. You take a foolproof way of ensuring a steady flow of people are able to get in and out of the building at will and add the 'need' for electricity to it for no real reason - it reminds me of the time in Perth when Stagecoach (who are based in the Fair City and run by the fragrant Ann Gloag and Brian Souter*), it is rumoured, 'persuaded' the council to replace many of its roundabouts with traffic lights and designated bus lanes to ensure a steady flow of traffic and access (for the buses). I'm all for public transport, but the roundabout is probably the most simple and sophisticated form of traffic management there is and it was co-opted for no good reason causing all sorts of unnecessary difficulties in trying to get through Perth. Much like trying to get into the National Archives! Honestly, why take a perfectly good working existing system and change it about for no good reason? Change for change's sake it would appear.

* Yes I know Brian Souter is a donor to the SNP. No I still don't like him.

Well well well.

It turns out, according to a Herald report, that Scotland isn't the 'subsidy junky' filled nation Red Ken and that clown Kelvin MacKenzie (how it pains me to share a surname with this moron) have been claiming it is. More details here. Hmm, I guess that means that the SNP's claims may have been a little more accurate than the London-loving Scottish Labour Party gave them credit for. Now why does that not surprise me? Oh wait, is it because the Scottish Labour Party has consistently sold out to the South? Aye, in one. Quelle surprise!

Dear Ken and Kelvin,

Please read the above link with care and apologise for your inaccurate pronouncements and general ignorance of anything North of Watford. Oh and GIRUY you pair of muppets.

Best,

Niall

New favourite quote #7.

Work as if you lived in the early days of a better nation.

-Alasdair Gray.

I keep seeing this quote when catching up on the news about the upcoming Scottish election and it cheers me. Alasdair Gray is a well kent SNP supporter and this quote goes some way to summing up my feelings about Scottish independence. Blair and Brown leant heavily on the aspirations of millions of people in 1996-1997, fooling them into thinking that we were getting a real alternative to what had gone before. Instead we got the same, and in some cases worse. The major difference this time around is that the SNP are offering the opportunity for the people to take their destiny in their own hands- to change the system and bring political accountability back to Holyrood. Blair and Brown sold us a white elephant and have subsequently gorged on power to the extent that Blair is loathed around much of the world as well as on his own doorstep for his role in Iraq and Brown has been characterised as a control freak intent only on becoming the PM.

I want Scottish independence for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I don't believe the problems in Scotland are given sufficient attention as part of the Union. Westminster and Whitehall have plenty of other things to do you see- foreign adventures, sorry I mean illegal wars of aggression, nice wee holidays at the expense of the tax payer or at the behest of American businessmen looking to locate in Britain (no strings attached, honest), the Olympics in London (how many billion at the last count?), fending off the pesky David Cameron and his laughably 'resurgent' Tories (capital punishment support and all), sleeping with various characters they perhaps shouldn't be (hello David Blunkett! hello Ron Davies!), finding a "good day to bury bad news"- the same day that thousands of innocent people perished in the appalling attack on the WTC, funding extravagant property purchases (hello Geoffrey Robinson and Mandelson!), taking gifts from pornographers (Richard Desmond) and speaking of gifts- the one thing that may yet topple this shower of crooks, liars and self-aggrandisers- selling peerages for the House of Lords, where laws are passed that govern every single one of us! I could go on, but I don't think I have to. New Labour sold us a big fat lie and it's time for change. If you vote Labour then you're voting for more of the above. Feel free, it is your choice. Lies, sleaze, fraud, it is all there for you to change.

EDIT: I've just read the Sunday Herald (06/05/07) and discovered that Alasdair Gray isn't the author of the above quote. Dennis Leigh wrote it and Gray put it in one of his books.

History Repeating?

"We meant to do better, but it came out as always."

Viktor Chernomyrdin, former Prime Minister of Russia, talking about an unsuccessful monetary exchange performed by the Russian Central Bank in July 1993.

Why can't I shake the feeling that the above quote will have some resonance after next week's election? Scotland has a real opportunity to stand up for itself and take responsibility by forcing the issue and voting SNP. More political accountability, more power to Holyrood and the chance to make the MSPs there start actually earning their not inconsiderable pay (including expenses obviously). Devolution is a step towards independence, it's just that political events have conspired to present Scotland and its people with a wonderful opportunity to effect real change in the country for the better sooner that anyone expected. If Labour retains its position it'll be the same old same old. Westminster is not accountable to Scotland and doesn't really care- that was proved in the Conservative administration and indeed the current incumbent's administration. Or perhaps maladministration would be more apt. Either way, I really hope that the voters take this chance to make a change for the future of Scotland. And that the quote above is rendered irrelevant to the conversation.