Swinson- increasingly divorced from realities of living in East Dunbartonshire

I have been finding our local LibDem/ConDem/Tory MP, Jo Swinson's "e-consultations" and online presence are becoming less and less about her constituency, and more and more about her want to make an impact with the "federal party" she is part of, and building a CV for the inevitable crash of the Lib Dems.


  Lately, Swinson has replied to me via email to pronounce her support of Nuclear Weapons and "an alternative" to Trident being the imperative - 


"A non-nuclear defence is not currently a viable option and the EDM does not recognise that we continue to live in an uncertain, unpredictable world where proliferation of nuclear weapons is still a priority for some countries. We also cannot assume that current nuclear states will remain stable and pose no threat to our country and its interests. The risk may be low, but so long as a risk exists, we cannot leave ourselves vulnerable and so some minimal deterrent is needed."


I would like to know what this threat she is hinting at is - and why reacting to this threat with a nuclear deterrent is a necessary and positive response.  Would we really attack another country - killing many innocent families, children and workers - if some deranged terrorist or dictator launched an attack on us?  


If you would like a copy of her response to my request for her to sign EDM 1924 regarding the Trident Review, please email me at eastdunbartonshiressp@hotmail.co.uk 


Anyway, her latest e-consultation asks the question, 


"Do you agree that the government should invest in high speed rail between London and the north of England?"

I felt this question was not only far removed from her "localism" campaign to be elected in the past two General Elections, but also shows her as a career politician, making sure of her place in the decimated LibDem Party after the next General Election (which, the way this coalition are going, could be sooner rather than later).  Positioning herself as Vince Cables PPS will, perhaps after the election give her some sort of political position or at least a great entry in her CV.  

Remember - between her and her MP husband, their family income is over £120,000 a year - not bad for two career politicians who have never had to struggle.  The least she could do is fight for working families and poorly paid people in her own constituency.  East Dunbartonshire is a place where we are reliant on public sector jobs - teachers, nurses, doctors and other "civil servants" commute daily to Glasgow and other cities and large towns for a diminishing return thanks to the VAT increases, increase in transport costs, increase in food prices and increases in fuel prices to name a few - alongside frozen wages.  The median wage is £21,000 - far removed from her wage of over £64,700 plus allowances, including travel.  How many East Dunbartonshire working people get transport allowances into Glasgow or Edinburgh or elsewhere?  How many East Dunbartonshire people get their subscription the the Bearsden Milngavie Herald as a work expense?  Or their mobile phone bill paid?  As a teacher, I am in contact with my Head Teacher and other colleagues about work quite a lot - perhaps Jo should fight for ALL workers to have their mobile phone, travel to work and subscription to a local paper paid for through company expenses?

Swinson is increasingly being seen as the well off young person who has never had to work or struggle for her income she is.  And increasingly as someone divorced from the present day hard realities of living in East Dunbartonshire. 

This is my reply to her current anglo-centric consultation:

A fully integrated, updated public transport system is vital to our country - and indeed to East Dunbartonshire, which this question, and more and more of your "consultations" seem to forget about.

As the economy slumps and as more and more of your constituents have less and less money to help the economy grow due to the Lib Dem policy of support for the Tory plans to make the poor and working pay for the crisis of capital created by millionaires and billionaires, a free public transport system for the huge amount of commuters from East Dunbartonshire would be a policy that would not only help poor and working families financially; it would be a boost to the local economy as people would be left with more of a disposable income.  It would also help clear our streets from  the curse of the car (and ensure the predicted one hour travel time from Milngavie to Canniesburn DOES NOT happen post-Kilmardinny development).

Our policy of Free Public Transport - a policy that has been successful in other parts of the world in boosting economies and in creating a cleaner environment, can be found here along with links to articles in the Herald praising this "audacious" plan.  

http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/transport/index.html

Neil Scott

Organiser, Campsie Socialists.


Open Letter to Swinson HERE
Criticism of her so called feminism HERE

To the Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition...

...The Diary of a "Benefits Scrounger."

HERE

Doleman's Downfall

Article by Campsie SSP member Neil Scott on James Doleman and Philip Stott's strange view on the events leading up to Tommy Sheridan's incarceration HERE

Update on threats to SSP Councillor Jim Bollan

(see HERE for original post)
Jim has sent this statement to us -

"The death threats and vile hate messages from right wing Zionists will have no effect on the Council's boycott of Israeli goods.  These threats expose the paucity of the arguments these Zionists try to put forward to justify the slaughter of innocent Palestinians by the IDF.  The boycott was unanimously approved by WDC and remains in place.  The Council Leader only last week confirmed and re-enforced our policy which was taken on humanitarian grounds after the IDF killed 1,300 innocent Palestinians in Gaza in 2008/2009.  The Scottish Socialist Party stands 100% behind the Palestinians. Unless we speak out...nothing will change."

Remember - Swinson, the Tory collaborator, will get a bigger pension than you!

...and after only being an MP for 9 years!  Click on image below to see just HOW much bigger!

DVLA PCS Glasgow Branch Secretary Willie Telfer interview for Daily Record

With thanks to http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/

Glasgow June 30th Public Sector Unions Strike!

Thee Faction - 366

Music to kick Condem ass to.

CiF Watch Threaten Scottish Councillor

Threat to SSP Councillor from Pro-Zionist Website

Creepy pro-zionist web page, “CiF Watch” (Website HERE and twitter account @CiFWatch) has issued a threat to Councillor Jim Bollan after he endorsed West Dunbartonshire Council’s boycott of Israeli goods.

The West Dunbartonshire boycott reads, This Council condemns the massacre of 9 peace activists by the Government of Israel, and the continuing blockade of Gaza. Council notes these brave people were trying to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza which has been blockaded since 2007 by the IDF. This Council therefore re-affirms its current boycott of all Israeli goods. Council also agrees to write to all Scottish Local Authorities, Westminster and Holyrood Governments calling on them to implement an immediate boycott of all Israeli goods.
Motion by Councillor Jim Bollan – Boycott of Israeli Goods

US based CiF Watch have posted an article by contributor, Aussie Dave, who has said “Jim Bollan: you are going down.” (see HERE )

The site, was purportedly set up to counter Guardian articles about Israeli Human Rights infringements in the occupied territories and Gaza (see Amnesty International concerns about Israel HERE  and HERE ), but seems to have been set up to threaten anyone with a contrary view to Zionist propaganda.

CiF Watch have refused, contrary to their own site rules that state, “Comments which are ad hominem, racist, contain threats of violence or other inappropriate material will be deleted,” to withdraw the article. In a Twitter conversation with a SSP Campsie member, CiF first denied there was a threat and then said the threat came from Jim. The person behind the Twitter account does not seem to have control, or understanding, of the posts on the CiF site.

The Twitter conversation can be found on the @sspcampsie twitter feed.

(Screen grabs of original article below)

SSP statement after the Israeli storming of the Peace Flotilla HERE

Podcast and video of Jim Bollan HERE and HERE

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT TOMMY

Thousands of words have been written about the fall from grace of the shamed MSP Tommy Sheridan but a new book, Downfall, claims to be the definitive account of the sex, lies and smears that dragged Sheridan through the courts and into jail.

Here, ALAN McCOMBES - the author and Sheridan's former comrade in the Scottish Socialist Party - explains why, as the jailed MSP continues to proclaim his innocence, the extent of Sheridan's lies had to be laid bare once and for all.

It is a book never wanted to write and one that I wish I never had to write.

The story of Downfall is just too raw, too sordid, too dispiriting.

Much of Scotland was fascinated by the dramatic twists and turns of the Tommy Sheridan saga, from its first stirrings in a small office in the back streets of Glasgow to its sensational finale six years later in the High Court of Judiciary.

But for those involved - personally and emotionally - it was a sickening and destructive spectacle. Lifelong friendships were torn asunder. Some people suffered emotional and psychological trauma. Good people were vilified and demonised.

They included the likes of former Sunday Mail columnist, Rosie Kane, one of the warmest and most compassionate people I've ever known.

For years on end, she and her female colleagues were portrayed in the media as a cruel gaggle of stony-hearted witches who had destroyed one of Scotland's favourite sons.

Or people like Keith Baldassara, denounced by Tommy "a scab and a rat" for refusing to lie in court.

Keith had spent years up to his neck in human misery dealing with the MSPs casework on the ground, from dampness and debt to crime and anti-social behaviour

When Tommy received the plaudits and the 'Thank You' cards when the problems were solved, Keith never complained.

His loyalty was as deep as the Clyde, but he was not prepared to stand by while Tommy leapt over the edge, with the rest of his party chained to him.

Worst of all, the most successful left wing socialist party in Europe was reduced almost to smoking ruins.

At its height 150,000 had voted for the SSP. Thousands had sacrificed their time, money and energy to build a movement that, for a time, gave a voice to the people that the mainstream parties had long abandoned – the poor, the sick, the elderly, lone parents, the low paid, unemployed, council tenants.

So Downfall was no pleasure to write but a story that had to be told as a warning and an explanation of that betrayal in all its gory and complex detail.

This book might not have been necessary if Tommy Sheridan had been brave enough, even at the eleventh hour, to put up his hands and take responsibility for his own actions.

Instead, aided and abetted by a noisy little band of supporters, he continues to claim he is the victim of a monstrous frame-up.

That does a grave disservice to those who have suffered from real miscarriages of justice.

And it leaves a chill cloud still lingering over those who have been falsely accused of perjury, forgery and perverting the course of justice as part of a fanatical anti-Tommy plot.

If this book can do anything, I hope it can deconstruct the Sheridan fantasy by offering a blow-by-blow, insider's account of exactly what happened behind the scenes over these sad, sorry years.

This is the truth.The rest is a lie.

Some people have accused me of cashing in. They are wrong. This book wasn't written for money - authors are paid just eight per cent of a book's cover price.

Even if Downfall were to be a best-seller in Scotland, I could have spent the last two years more lucratively pouring pints in a bar.

Nor was I motivated by revenge. If anything, Downfall challenges the idea that Tommy Sheridan alone can be held responsible for the pain and destruction of the past six years.

Many people in politics, the legal system and the celebrity showbiz circuit cheered him along every step on his road to destruction.

In many cases, their complicity was based on ignorance of the facts. But without encouragement Tommy would have been isolated and incapable of inflicting damage on such a scale.

I know many people will be uncomfortable with this book because it challenges their own role in these events but I make no apologies for
naming names.

I have always believed in redemption. But before there can be reconciliation, there must first come truth.

Downfall will, I hope, set the record staright once and forall.

Perhaps then, we can move on.

Sunday Mail 12 June 2011