Rolled-up Trousers

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.