Music to end the condem chaos coalition...

On this weeks podcast, Colin Fox on the launch of the SSP manifesto this week, Don Mackeen on the upcoming American presidential election, podcaster Michael Greenwell in the first of a series of interviews he is doing for the SSP, Katie Bonnar on the dreadful kidnapping of young women by Boko Haram in Nigeria, Stephanie Rolls on the Scottish service tax and  Calum Martin on the rebellion of 1820.

Music from:

The Hurriers

The Just Joans

Roy Moller

Thee Faction

Steve White and the Protest family

Thee Concerned Citizens

David Rovics

Get in touch with us via the website www.scottishsocialistparty.org or email me directneilwscott@hotmail.com we want to know your views on our policies, the podcast and I am wanting to hear from unsigned and independent bands who would like to have their music played on Scotlands most popular socialist podcast.  

Cowabunga! Willie Telfer exposes @joswinson's tax free slice...

It seems that its not only the teenage mutant ninja turtles that developed an affinity for pizza, but also our very own MP the bold Jo Swindon who salivates at the prospect of a delivery from the Dominos man. However in her case its not a wee margarita or four seasons but a bundle of fivers still piping hot delivered all the way from the treasure island of Jersey.

In the last year oor Jo has received ,in two installments,  £8 500 from Brompton Capital, yes you guessed, it's the company that made its fortune bringing the Dominos pizza franchise to the UK.

The company's owner Rumi Verjee who has an estimated worth of £125m has been throwing his dough, so to speak, at parliamentarians for some time now. The main beneficiaries being the lib dems £770k in all. 

Curiously he has also gifted plebgate minister Andrew Mitchell a cheeky wee £11k. The surprise outcome of this was of course. A lib dem peerage. Not bad for a guy whose company apparently employs no one and fails to turn over a profit in the UK.

Although his dealings have been cleared by the Electoral Commission the question our Jo has to answer is. Is she comfortable professing a purge on tax avoiders whilst filling her election kitty with this man's dubious donations.

Watch out for the next course, will Jo come clean and display the corporate roof sign of the pizza giant on her election vehicles or can the electorate be enticed to the ballot box by a free portion of cheesey garlic bread.

GARLIC BREAD. THE DIRTY BASTARDS.

Make PEACE a #ge2015 election issue! - opinion by Ron Mackay

Since 6th.Aug. 1945 I've opposed nuclear weapons. I've protested at Aldermaston, Dunoon and Faslane many times. I'm very worried at international developments. Russia has nuclear weapons – they're all in Russia. China has nuclear weapons they're all in China. The U.S. Has nuclear weapons but they're in Germany, Poland , and bases arround Russia and in Turkey and elsewhere

NATO is an aggressive, nuclear armed military alliance under U.S. Control.

I read Professor Tyler Cowan an economist at a U.S. University said a big war is needed to settle the economy. Amazon recently displayed a book -”Winter Kill – war with China has already begun “ There have already been 2 Wws essentially caused by economic problems. Are we to have a 3rd.

The winners in the first 2 WW s were the U.S. Bankers and arms manufactures. We are 20 mls. From a nuclear arms dump. 

The position is serious.

I'm a long standing member of CND (google Ron Mackay and his peace activism and you'll find me on U tube). I've been against nuclear weapons since the first one was dropped on the 6th.of August 1945. The planet is in its most dangerous situation ever. The present generation has the power to change life on the planet or to destroy all life on the planet. Many eminent individuals are warning that the situation is extremely serious. Naom Chomsky, John Pilger, Michel Chossudovsky and many others have voiced their concern.

We've had 2 world wars caused essentially by economic problems. The big capitalist powers have serious economic problems. Has there to be a third world war ? The signs are ominous.

The Westminster warmongers are spending £ billions, not just on trident and other nuclear weapons but on huge military projects. The US policy of perpetual war which our defence “experts” slavishly follow throws a heavy burden on the welfare state. Warfare and welfare are incompatible. The media plays a significant part in promoting war propaganda . It is a powerful opponent of the peace forces. We badly need a strong active socialist peace movement which can accommodate the socialists in the LP, in the SNP, in the Greens, in the SSP , in the CP and all the other socialists some of whom are in no political party. We have much in common not just peace but anti-trident, anti-austerity, green issues etc. This need is urgent and vital. This matter should be raised at every meeting held as we approach the elections.

The Arbrothians Smokie Radical Party…

In today’s podcast:  land reform from Russia, Colin Fox on UKIP and the SSP’s new pamphlet on the right wing party, Lewis Akers on pay discrimination, The SNP’s Debra Torrance on an Arbrothians Smokie Radical Party…   Jenni Gunn on Mental Health And Calum Martin continues his series on lefty history with a piece on the French Revolution.  Remember, if you have anything you would like to say about the contributions this week, or would like to record something OR have a band you would like to have played on the podcast, email me at neilwscott@hotmail.com

Music from Colour Me Wednesday

The Tuts

Steve white and the Protest Family

Blossoms

The Wakes

We also have news about a brilliant cd launched this week for the Orgreave Truth & Justice campaign 

Last weeks Yes Scotland stall

Members of the SSP Campsie branch joined with comrades from the SNP and Green party on the streets of Milngavie, Kirkintilloch, Bishopbriggs and a number of the villages along the Campsies, to deliver a resounding YES WE CAN message to the public.

Neil Scott is pictured with a teeshirt that gives the message "Education, not Trident."  

A YES in 2014 will ensure the billions we pay in the upkeep of these war machines of mass destruction will instead pay for thousands of new teachers, nurses, doctors and in fact  - jobs we need.  

Campsie Socialists at Westerton Yes Public Meeting

Two SSP Campsie members spoke at Yes Westerton today. Dr Sonya Scott spoke on the disasterous Westminster/Tory/Liberal Democrat led welfare cuts and Bill Newman, a retired banker, spoke on the future economy and also his want, as a "sassanach" for a fair-socialist-independent Scotland. Other speakers were the Economist Gordon Macintyre-Kemp and local SNP organiser Ian Macdonald.

Contributions and questions from the floor were lively and those at the top table were properly grilled.

The people of Westerton were concerned with the future of the economy and how fair an independent Scotland will be for their children and grandchildren.

People from across the political spectrum and indeed, age-groups were represented. We had an international audience with Spanish, Australian and other nationalities represented in the meeting. And trades unionists from across the world of labour came along with genuine questions about pensions, wages and working conditions in a future Scotland.

Contributions from the floor and the speakers managed to debunk and smash the national media's biased No campaign claims of Scotland as "too wee and too stupid," - the audience left with no illusions of how resource rich Scotland really is.

Neil Scott, SSP Campsie branch organiser posted this during the meeting-

"One thing all of us here have in common is we want a better world for ourselves, our families and our children.

The campaign is choc full of ideas and there are three main political parties involved as well as non and cross party organisations.

The parties involved are the SSP of which I am a member, the SNP and the Greens.

The vision we have for the route to a better Scotland doesnt really differ that much- but check our websites or speak to us about what our visions are. We all want a fair Scotland- the SSP believe that socialism is the step towards fairness.  All of us agree that a Yes next year will create the ground on which the seeds of equality will be sown..."

The rest of this article is on his blog, HERE

My View on Scottish independence:

How to Confuse an Electorate

Bill Newman, retired Banker

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Bitter Together campaign, far from engaging in an honest debate, is deliberately raising a multitude of specious questions to throw confusion in the minds of the electorate.  By posing an endless series of questions, to many of which they know there are no definitive answers, they hope to sow confusion and doubts on matters where no real issues arise,or, at least,where no decisions are needed prior to independence. 

The question of EU membership is a typical case.  There are many interpretations,legal and otherwise, as to whether Scotland (and, incidentally,the rest of the UK - RUK) would automatically become a member of the EU on independence.  There are no definitive answers to this question.  Nor does it matter whether automatic membership would apply or not.  If not, then does anyone seriously think that neither Scotland nor the RUK would be granted accession on application?  This, of course, begs the question whether membership would be desirable; Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man seem to get on perfectly well without membership, not counting our northern neighbours, Norway.

To cite just one of many other red herrings.  The position of an independent Scotland's currency need not depend on negotiations to become a subservient client of the Bank of England and English interest rate policy.  Indeed, Alec Salmond has been most unwise to imply that Scotland should continue the current ties.  Scotland could very ably establish its own monetary authority, and its own currency (the old Scottish Merk?) could shadow sterling, at least on a temporary basis, without being beholden to Westminster and the Bank of England.

There are many other examples of Bitter Together's attempts to muddy the water (Trident comes to mind), and the Yes campaign must not be drawn into pointless debates which present a defensive posture.  Let's get back to the core reason why independence is necessary.  We do not wish to continue at the beck and call of a Government antipathetic to our needs and desires.  We are distinctive and we need to be in charge of our destiny.

Bill Newman

YES for a confident, fair, Independent Scotland!

Click HERE to sign the declaration

Coalition in crisis: kick them out!

By Richie Venton, SSP national workplace organiser

photo:  John Lanigan

 
As the council election caravan moves on, working class people continue to face appalling cuts to their living standards; they are left with no option but to 'struggle or starve'.

The chief architects of the cuts to pensions, wages, benefits and community facilities were hammered in the council elections. The Tories lost over 400 councillors, in a tidal wave of revulsion at their cuts and their sleaze.
Their junior partners in crime fared even worse at the hands of a furious population, many of whom feel cheated and betrayed by the LibDems. The carnage included the loss of 80 out of 151 LibDem councillors in Scotland.

Despite the SSP vote suffering from the crushing squeeze between the two tribes of Labour and SNP going to war, enhanced by the brutal, self-fulfilling media lie that this was a two-horse race, we beat the LibDem party of government in many of the seats we contested! Mind you, so did an Edinburgh 'penguin'!

No mandate to rule and ruin
The millionaires' Coalition has even less of a mandate for their eye-watering butchery to jobs, services and incomes than they had before May 3rd. That applies with special force in Scotland, where they have plummeted to the status of fringe parties, mostly isolated to a few rural pockets in the Borders and South Ayrshire in the case of the Tories. 

The Westminster butchers are in deep disarray, drowning in a sea of sleaze around the Murdoch scandal and the descent of the economy into a 'double-dip' recession for the first time since 1975 - and the longest economic depression in decades.

With that background, Cameron, Clegg & Co are all the more ruthless in their desire to make working class people pay for the crisis, whilst those who perpetrated some of the worst cuts are wallowing in wealth. 
But they are weak, vulnerable and divided, with right-wing Tories decrying the presence of the LibDems, and even a Tory MP publicly sneering at Cameron and Clegg as "two posh boys who don't know the price of milk" - an assessment that finds massive resonance amongst those at the receiving end of their upper-class callousness.

Slasher Hutton on £100,000 a day!
Millions of public sector workers have had their first taste of increased chunks of their wages being deducted as pension contributions last month - with a lot worse to come next year and the year after unless the government is defeated by united action.

Meantime, Labour Lord John Hutton - 'Slasher' Hutton to those suffering the assault on six million public sector workers' pensions that he was chief author of under the previous Labour government - has landed a £100,000 a day job as chair of the part-privatised civil service outfit, MyCSP.

68 is too late!
Opinion polls confirm massive opposition to the later retirement age being pushed through, which means every female worker under 36 faces an extra 8 years in work before she can get a state pension, and every male worker in that age-group an extra 3 years. 

Whilst over one third (36 per cent) of families currently rely on grandparents for child-minding, and councils jack up the cost of council nursery places as part of the cuts agenda, the government wants to force millions to work longer, denying them a healthy retirement and robbing them of time with their grandchildren. 

A child born today will have to work well into their late 70s if Coalition plans are not derailed by strikes, protests and civil disobedience.

Even Tory voters are rebelling against this abomination of a plan! A recent YouGov poll found 53 per cent of Tory voters against raising the retirement age, with 35 per cent of them criticising the fact it will lead to even fewer job opportunities for young people. 

Across the board, 62 per cent of people oppose making workers work longer for less on retirement - despite an incredible 38 per cent of those polled not even being aware of the planned delay in retirement!

This country is poised to have the latest state retirement age in Europe, as well as some of the lowest wages, longest working week and poorest holiday entitlements.

The moneyed class and their governments try to drag us out of recession by preaching the gospel "shop 'til you drop" - whilst slashing workers' spending power! 

Now they want us to literally "work 'til you drop" - to ensure the CEOs of big private businesses can continue to wallow in their current average pensions of £175,000 a year.

M10 strike rekindles the fires of resistance
The strike of up to half a million public sector workers on 10 May - including PCS, UNITE, UCU and RMT members in the civil service, health, MoD and education - should be the flame to re-ignite the fires of resistance that too many trade union leaders have tried to dampen since the magnificent strike of two million on 30 November. 

These unions plan further coordinated action in late June. PCS is also taking industrial action in specific departments and sectors, alongside a generalised overtime ban from now until late June. And they have raised the call for a united demo against the cuts this side of the summer.

Demand an immediate mass demo
One of the trade union 'leaders' who did most to stall the momentum after N30 is UNISON's Dave Prentis. Now, in an attempt to save face amongst members increasingly angry at being 'sold a pup' by Prentis, he has called for a mass trade union-led demo in the autumn. 

Why wait that long? Active members of every union should argue for a huge Saturday demo over the next couple of months, demanding that either the STUC call it in Scotland or a 'coalition of the willing trade unions' do so. 

Not instead of a broader, bigger strike in June, but in addition to it, as a means of reaching out to workers in local government, education and the private sector who are not part of the M10 strike. Not just on pensions, but on other cuts and attacks on rights, jobs and benefits.

Coalition can be beaten
The recent council elections saw hundreds of thousands voting either SNP or Labour as a means of punishing the Westminster cuts Coalition. They won votes primarily because they are not the Coalition! 

The electoral decimation of the chief architects of cuts should be the green light for the trade unions to unite with community groups and socialists in decisive, early action to drive the crisis-ridden Coalition back further. They can be beaten. They can be driven out of office.

The response on the streets to the SSP's central message 'no cuts, tax the rich' was infinitely larger than the votes cast for our uncompromising socialist case, partly because people were browbeaten with the media message of a 'two-horse race', partly because Labour and the SNP lied through their teeth with talk of creating jobs, and people often gave one of the 'big two' their first two votes, giving the SSP third or fourth preference. 

Pound new councils with demands to reverse the cuts
In several councils, the biggest party has changed from one to the other, so the trade union movement and community organisations should join with socialists in pounding these councillors with demands to reverse the cuts of their predecessors - or stand exposed as fakers gaining votes under false pretences, engaged in a cynical exercise of shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic. Now is the time to besiege them with such demands, fresh on the heels of them taking office.

Capitalism doesn't work
The battle against cuts, both at local council level and nationally on the pensions issue, is critical in the broader resistance to the systematic dismantling of workers' rights, benefits and frontline services gained by past generations through struggle. 

Plans to usher in regional pay; slash the right to challenge unfair dismissal from work; curtail the right to have functioning union shop stewards to stand up for members; and the core aim of rampant privatisation of what remains of public property - all these and more are the inevitable product of a capitalist system that is based on exploitation for profit, that simply doesn't work, that condemns a whole generation to permanent mass unemployment, and that seeks to slaughter working class conditions in defence of profit margins and privileges for the obscenely rich minority.

Capitalism means cuts, mass unemployment and mounting poverty from the cradle to the grave. 
Socialism - based on taxation of the rich, wealth redistribution and democratic public ownership - is the only means of escaping 'eternal austerity'. 

Those who strike back in May have an important part to play in building a future worthy of the name - a socialist future based on people, not profit.

From Coalition of Resistance:

Vote tomorrow

Reject coalition austerity policies (for East Dunbartonshire Socialist Candidates, see post below)

Bullingdon Boys: They are all in it together 

People will go to the polls across Britain today. It is vital that these elections show the strongest possible rejection of the coalition government's brutal and unfair austerity policies.

The savage cuts that are being inflicted on us are neither necessary nor effective to meet the economic crisis facing Britain, Europe and much of the world.

They are cuts inflicted in the interests of the ruling class - the tiny minority whose interests are represented by the government. Their policies mean the rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer: jobs are lost, people lose their homes and livelihoods.

Use your vote today to show your rejection of these criminal policies - and the racist and far-right attitudes that they breed - whether in local or mayoral elections. Let's have the biggest swing possible against candidates representing government policies.

Elect a socialist in East Dunbartonshire...

place a number 1 beside the socialist candidate!

(click on leaflet for larger version)

Kirkintilloch East and Twechar  Willie Telfer:

The “mainstream” political parties are draining Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and the UK in general of taxes that should be going towards helping people.  In England, the Tories and Liberal Democrats have overseen the selloff of the NHS to the likes of SERCO, a company who are involved in military and nuclear weapons contracts, detention centres and prisons. This hardly fits with the Doctor mantra, "Do no harm..."  Our local council – ran by an unholy alliance of Tories and New Labour, (and still suffering from the neglect of the previous Liberal Democrat led administration) have overseen the paying off of vital council staff from classroom assistants through to librarians, yet pour millions of our Council Tax into paying interest to corporations who are profiteering from schools and hospital builds.  The council is the first line of defence from the profiteers who are trying to turn our services into “for profit organisations,” rather than “care, education and fairness.”  An SSP councillor will fight to ensure your taxes are spent on vital services rather than servicing profits.

Scottish Socialist Party councillors will always put first the interests of local people and; communities; Scottish Socialist Party councillors will demand and will present balanced ‘No Cuts’ budgets and unlike other parties, SSP councillors are prepared to do whatever it takes to deliver a better deal for local people through protected and enhanced services and public sector jobs.

Bishopbriggs South   Mark Callaghan:

I am 46, involved in both the Healthy Living Program and my local Town Hall

As a socialist, I believe in a system that help people not one that is about a minority of people making extortionate profits by keeping people poor.  If elected, I will always put first the interests of local people and communities and will present a balanced ‘No Cuts’ budget – budgets for the people, not the bankers.

Unlike other parties, all SSP councillors are prepared to campaign to deliver a better deal for local people through protected and enhanced services and public sector jobs.

SSP Councillors will stand beside communities being attacked and will defend them in a practical way both inside the council Chamber and outside.

Neil Scott, Bearsden North.

A local teacher, Neil Scott, is standing in the May elections against what he sees as the mismanagement of Council money and unnecessary cuts.  He said in a statement, “East Dunbartonshire has, in recent years, had the misfortune of having had a Liberal Democrat Council followed by a coalition of Labour and Tories.  The mishandling of the council by these three versions of the same thing has seen an attempt to close schools in the past two years; terrible deals with corporations that have meant millions of pounds of our Council Tax money being given over to massive PPP/PFI “Guaranteed returns on investment” for minimum outlay; a decimation of our local services from Libraries through to schools, and more.  If any of these parties gain the council in May, there will be more of the same, and in fact the deferred closure of East Dunbartonshire Schools will go ahead.

As a father and a teacher I have a different vision for East Dunbartonshire services.  Our area is a well off council area, one in which money could be invested in our services rather than further job-losses and cuts.  I see a clear need to renegotiate PPP/PFI deals.  Some of these venture capitalists are making millions of pounds of our tax money with investments of a few hundred pounds.  I see East Dunbartonshire being a place of opportunity for all; a place where our money is invested in real jobs and services which will help stimulate the Scottish economy.  The real drivers of any economy are people.  The profits creamed off by corporations from our Council tax should be reclaimed and invested in real jobs and in our people.”

SSP Election Leaflet - Bearsden North

Moral Sickness

by Ron Mackay

87 year old retired teacher Ron Mackay has been a Socialist all of his adult life. He is a member of CND and the Scottish Socialist Party, Campsie Branch

"I want to say a bit about neo-liberalism, the creed that life is all about making money. They privatise water. They'd privatise the air we breathe if it were possible. It's a sickness and so many people have it, they're known as Tories. There's not so many in Scotland, but, alas, we are afflicted by carriers of this disease, they're called New Labour. In the vast majority of cases when you vote Labour you get New Labour. My own Labour M.P., Gregg McClymont, MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch is a typical example- all smiles and hand shakes- charming. I wrote to him about Trident and weapons of mass destruction and what did he reply? A full page of verbal diarrhoea quoting Brown and giving the excuse that others have it so we must have it. Now if ever there was a moral issue this is it. W M D s are for the mass slaughter of innocent men, women and children. Don't equivocate we're talking of mass murder. This is only one aspect of this malignant disease but New Labour is a carrier of this illness. Beware, for all their smiles, friendliness and concern, they are sick or at least carriers of the infection.

What about the Scottish Nationalists. The leaders of that party also carry the infection but they do oppose Trident and W.M.D.s and occasionally some of them sip the medicine – the only real cure for this disease. It's called Socialist policy."

The ConDemNation

So there you have it. We have a Government none of us voted for. Most of those who voted Lib Dem in Scotland did so to keep the Tories out. 85% of people in Scotland voted anti-Tory, - 68% UK wide. Two Eton boys then sat down and carved out a Government made up of old Etonians, bosses, Lords and Ladies. Not one person who negotiated this ‘coalition of thieves’ had a working class accent – nor did they stand a chance of being hit by the austerity measures the so called “left of labour” Lib Dems and the Tories are about to mete out on the working and middle classes.

All of the negotiators were white, well shaven men. No women, single mothers, Union representatives – no-one with a modicum of empathy for working class people and our struggles were there. The public sector is – East Dunbartonshire is - about to be hit with a barrage of cuts that will see working families and the poor bleed to feed the markets and to pay off the rich man’s debt.

This is not what we voted for in the UK, neither in Scotland nor in East Dunbartonshire. Jo Swinson was buoyed up by a tactical vote both from SNP and Conservative supporters who gave her a 4000 vote margin between her and Labours John Lyons in 2005. This time, the tactical vote, for the most part, was seen to be unnecessary. The SNP vote gained, as did Labours. Swinson halved her majority.

Sally Magnusson hit the nail on the head in her recent TV programme, "Why didn't the Scots vote Tory?" She concluded that the electorate here do not vote out of the self interest promoted by the Tories - we think of others. Self interest sums up this squalid deal. Swinson and the Lib Dems delivered Tory majority rule – and the swingeing cuts and misery the Tories and Liberal Tories will mete out on us.

Let her know your thoughts and ensure the non-alternative – the lie of a “left of Labour” Liberal Democrat party is put to rest. Do not vote Tory/ Lib Dem again – they are unnecessary in East Dunbartonshire. The Tories can only win in this constituency with a leg up and the “looking in both directions” of the Lib Dems. This has been proved both here and country wide.

This is a coalition of cuts.

It has been strapped together in order to allow the worst cuts meted out on the working and middle class in history. Brought together by the ruling class and their media. The markets are not happy, we are told, and this means you should lose your job or take pay cuts.

Let’s unite against the rubbish they spin – the racism and the financial fairy tales that are forced down our TV sets that set working class against working class. The true enemy is not the immigrant, the true friend is not the “markets” and marketeers who are making you pay for their gambling.

We need a coalition of the electorate. - We need a vote for real – Scottish Left– alternatives.

The Scottish Socialist Party believe the rich bankers and corporations who got us into this economic mess should pay – not the health workers and bin men , education workers, small businesses, posties, rail workers or street cleaners in East Dunbartonshire. Ordinary people and their jobs should be protected from this greed induced crisis, not made to suffer to allow the rich to keep their millions/billions.

East Dunbartonshire Candidates

In East Dunbartonshire, we donot have an SSP candidate. Some of us have to make a choice between parties we would not normally vote for. The SSP do not have a “line” on who to ask you to vote, but would say that you should consider your vote very carefully. With this in mind, I asked all of the candidates the same question, “Why should Scottish Socialist Party members give their vote to you?”

Three parties responded. These responses are below.

One SSP Campsie member has written an article saying how he will vote. This can be found on his blog HERE.

2005 results HERE

Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are fighting for fairness. Wealth inequality has risen under Labour. Lib Dems would raise the income tax threshold to £10,000, helping those on low and ordinary incomes with £700 a year. This would be paid for by a mansion tax on properties above £2million, taxing capital gains in the same way as income, and clamping down on tax avoidance. We would invest an additional £2.5billion in early years education, targeted at the poorest children. We will clean up our rotten political system, and introduce fair votes. We will break up the banks to separate the high-risk casino banking from tightly-regulated high-street banking, with a cap on bankers’ bonuses of £2500. Locally, I have been an approachable and active MP. If you think I have done a good job, and you like the Lib Dems’ message of fairness, please vote for me on Thursday.

Mary Galbraith, Labour
Thanks for giving me the chance to respond in this way to your members, some of whom I met in Kirkintilloch on Saturday.

Your web-site highlights three aspects of your credo: “Socialism”, “Independence” and “Internationalism”, displayed prominently on the home page. I believe that the Labour party is more – much more – interested these issues than any of the other parties standing in East Dunbartonshire. Let me give you a couple of examples for each:

Socialism
• We have an excellent record in taking families, particularly those with children, out of poverty.
• Our manifesto commitment is to protect assistance for families, such as Working Families Tax Credits, and help our elder citizens by re-establishing the link between earnings and pensions.
• Following the introduction of the mimimum wage some years ago - resisted by all the other parties standing in the seat - we seek to strenghten its operation, and increase its value.
• We plan to cut less, and tax more, than other parties.

Independence
• After many years and failed attempts to deliver devolution, the Labour Party put in place the Scottish Parliament.
• The next Labour Government would give the Scottish Parliament increased tax raising powers.

Internationalism
• The Labour Party has displayed leadership on the international stage in fighting climate change and world poverty
• We will spend 0.7% of national income on aid by 2014

I cannot speak for any of the other parties, but I do not think that any of them can come close to matching the Labour Party’s achievements and ambitions on your three priorities. I would therefore encourage members of the Scottish Socialist Party to vote for the Labour Party in this constituency, and in those other seats where the SSP does not have a candidate of its own.

Iain R White, SNP
The reasons why your members, and indeed anyone, should vote for the SNP, is that we are the only party to stand up for Scotland. If you read the literature of the other parties, none even mention Scotland as they are all written in London and the candidates name added locally.

The SNP (myself included) believe in supporting those less well off in society. We believe in supporting business, particularly small businesses, which generate the money to pay for these benefits. I believe that pensions are far too low and welcome the SNP commitment to indexing to earnings.

I will be happy to discuss any other issues in as much detail as you want (or I can manage), but hope that his will suffice for now.

SSP Conference

This weekend was the Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Socialist Party. Over 100 delegates from all over Scotland met in the Victoria Halls in Dunblane.

The Party re-iterated it's conviction to fighting the Parties of war and capitalism, and we were unanimous in supporting a fightback against cuts and the mainstream parties who are making the poor and working class pay for an economic crisis caused by the rich.


Willie Telfer, Campsie Branch, speaks to conference about why we need to fight the cuts and the neo-liberal Labour, Tory, SNP and Liberal Democrat Partys.


Allan Armstrong introduces the new "John Maclean Society" - a new society set up for non-domiciled supporters of the Scottish Socialist Party.

Comment...

by Ron Mackay

Ron is a tireless campaigner for socialism and against war and the weapons of war.


"All politicians want to be seen as fighting for peoples jobs but the mainstream parties, including the S.N.P., have accepted the primacy of market capitalism with its drive for profit. The market capitalists, or as Iain MacWhirter (Glasgow Herald) called them kleptocracy, plan to turn the public sector over to private enterprise, the very people responsible for the recession. The situation may be bad but its going to get worse. It won’t be helped by cuts, cuts and more cuts, as called for by the mainstream politicians. There are some cuts that would be entirely beneficial – cut the arms budget and the spending on wars; cut the spending on Trident; cut the bonuses and financial perks being paid to financiers and bankers.

However we must defend public spending on things that matter to most people – health, education, housing, social services, pensions, benefits and transport in order to protect living standards. Frank Dobson MP recently made the point that the policy of cuts with its attendant increase in unemployment, actually costs us more than it saves, with every jobless person costing the state £12,000 per year. Maintaining spending in essential public services not only saves jobs but boosts the entire economy.

Basic services are traditionally paid for by taxation. Many problems could be solved by a progressive tax policy – the rich being made to make a much greater contribution with the numerous loopholes closed."

Salmond’s cowardly manifesto u-turn

The Scottish Socialist Party today accused the SNP government of a cowardly manifesto u-turn, abandoning pensioners and low paid workers in favour of the rich and business interests who bankroll their party after Finance Secretary John Swinney told MSPs that legislation to introduce a local income tax would not be introduced in the current parliament.

This is not the first time the SNP has abandoned opposition to the Council tax and watched hundreds of thousands of pensioners and low paid workers who stood to benefit most from abolition of the Council tax lose out.

SSP national co-spokesperson Colin Fox said today;

“The SNP’ cowardly manifesto u-turn means that the super rich businessmen like Brian Souter who bankroll the SNP with their bonuses will continue to benefit while pensioners, low paid workers and millions of those worst affected by the current economic recession, like the thousands of sacked Woolworths workers who would have at least enjoyed some financial relief with the reduction in their Council tax bills, will continue to be hammered by this unfair Tory tax”

“The SNP has again failed to capitalise on the majority support across Scotland for abolishing the Council tax. They have now given up the idea without a fight or even a vote in Parliament.”

“How different their approach to that of the Scottish Socialist Party on this issue.”

“The SSP, with just 6 MSP's, were able to make far greater headway. Our Bill to abolish the Council tax, a bill which incidentally the SNP voted down [on Feb 1st 2006] attracted considerable support across civic Scotland.”

“The SNP's subsequent local income tax plan with its regressive 3p across the board charge attracted much less enthusiasm. Our local income tax replacement by contrast was graduated to ensure the better off paid more as their income went up and the poorer were exempt.”

Creative Scotland?

Bill Newman on the strange story of the new Scottish Arts funding body...

In January 2006, the Culture Minister at that time, Patricia Ferguson, announced the intention to merge the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen into a new arms-length body to fund and represent the arts in Scotland, with the exception of Scotland's national companies which would continue to receive direct funding from the Executive. Thus was the concept of Creative Scotland born. Not too complicated an idea, though it seems odd that Scotland's national companies should not be part of this new body.

Yet, despite the apparent simplicity of this concept, here we are, more than three years later, with millions of pounds spent or committed, with an incredibly complex structure and no guarantee that Creative Scotland will see the light of day. Untangling the events of the last three years is no easy matter, not least as developments have been shrouded in mystery. The facts are that a Culture Bill was published in December 2006 and in January 2007 a joint board was set up for the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) and Scottish Screen under the impressive chair of Richard Holloway. With the advent of an SNP Government, the proposed legislation underwent changes, though none seemed to be fundamental, and in November 2007, the joint board appointed Anne Bonnar to lead a transition team towards the formal creation of Creative Scotland. Then, in March 2008, the Creative Scotland Bill was presented to Parliament and, unexpectedly, the Bill was defeated in June 2008. This defeat was seen at the time as primarily a tactical opposition ambush, though subsequent developments have shown it to have been considerably more significant. Despite this defeat, the SNP Government ploughed on, envisaging Creative Scotland becoming a non-departmental public body established as part of a Public Services Reform Bill to be submitted to Parliament early this year. Moreover, once Anne Bonnar's well remunerated job came to an end at the conclusion of 2008, a new body, Creative Scotland Ltd, was created for the final phase of the transition to Creative Scotland in its final form. And the new chair of this body is the former chair of Lloyds TSB Scotland, Ewan Brown. Now, Mr Brown has some experience in arts management, but he doesn't inspire much confidence at a time when bankers are regarded as just as toxic as their institutions' assets.

Certainly the experience of Anne Bonnar's short-lived transition body does not inspire confidence. This body's activities have been largely secretive, but Phil Millar of The Herald managed to lift the lid on some of this body's extraordinary activities. Thus, a six-figure sum was spent on a plethora of consultants (eg Liddell Thompson for communications advice, Mike Kidd Associates and John Knell for research, Lettoch Associates for planning support, Miles Harrison for staff workshops, David Teasdale for financial modelling and Deloitte Touche for organisational structure modelling). In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that a final figure of £7million has been banded about for the final cost for the creation of what seemed initially to be a fairly straightforward merger. As a modest example of the confusion that has rained so far, initial plans to merge the SAC and Scottish Screen in the same building have unravelled. The SAC will remain in Edinburgh and Scottish Screen in Glasgow!

Meantime, mumblings from the artistic community have become louder. Indeed, the Scottish Artists Union has urged opposition MSPs to reject current proposals to enact legislation to formalise Creative Scotland, presumably through an amendment to the Public Services Reform Bill. Admittedly, the Scottish Artists Union is not the power which its name implies, but it would seem that more influential names are reluctant to go public with their misgivings, not least as biting the hand which potentially feeds them could be risky.

In brief, the whole proposal is an expensive mess, made much worse by the lack of clarity in Creative Scotland's artistic aims and the secrecy which has been a feature of activities for the last three years. Uncertainty, coupled with the current three-year freeze on Government grants to the arts, has made Scotland's vibrant cultural community highly nervous about the future. This is not to say that all has been bright and breezy under the SAC and Scottish Screen where bureaucratic and procedural considerations have too often seemed more important than artistic merit. The travails of touring theatres, not least 7:84, are well documented, but decisions which ignore historic achievements and fail to look at external contexts also plague the other arts. In jazz, for example, Tommy Smith's Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (and its youth off-shoot) have rightly been granted £122,500 in the SAC's current two-year flexible funding programme, yet Assembly Direct which promotes jazz concerts and festivals through the year and the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival received nothing. Both bodies have a fine track record in supporting young Scottish talent, but this seems to have been ignored for avowedly organisational short comings. Tommy Smith does a brilliant job in developing local talent, but young jazz musicians have to have places to play commercially beyond Tommy Smith's bands, and to threaten those who provide venues does not seem very sensible.

Given the chaos which has accompanied its protracted genesis, it must be doubted whether the arts in Scotland will see a more generous and enlightened future should we eventually see the emergence of Creative Scotland in its final form. So much time and money has been wasted, while those who believe the arts do not deserve public funding have been provided with more ammunition. If only the amazingly successful organisation and sponsorship of the arts in Scandinavia had been taken as a model, this farago could have been avoided. Whatever happens now, it must be hoped that clarity will soon emerge and future actions will be preceded by enquiries to those who matter in our culture, namely, our artists and not politicians and bankers.

Glasgow East By-Election

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR MORE IMAGES FROM THE SSP GLASGOW EAST CAMPAIGN

Ritchie Venton on the outcome:

"Thousands of Labour voters simply stayed at home in disgust with their record on food and fuel prices; failure to tackle poverty and inequality; assaults on the sick and disabled, and their wholesale neglect of the working class. Others did a straight swap to the SNP, as punishment for New Labour in an area they have treated with decades of contempt, stepping on people’s heads en route to grossly overpaid political careers."

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