Siol nan Gaidheal forum

Traquair on the Glasgow East by-election:
I guess Brown meant it when he said we do anything and everything to preserve the Union. We have already had overt manipulation of the basic democratic process :
"Polling day has been deliberately placed during the summer holidays - Scottish schools have already broken up. It is also midway through the Glasgow fair holiday, when the city traditionally empties and the more politically volatile C2 demographic - backbone of many a byelection swing - are safely away on vacation."
"Today, humiliatingly, Labour's view is that the fewer people who vote, the better. Glasgow East - like Brown's premiership - is now entirely about survival."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/04/scotland.scotland

Now he is using important moral issues like a cheap political football. The Telegraph has already outlined in relation to Catholic values "Why Gordon Brown will lose Glasgow East" - "we have to assume that there is no place any more for Catholics in New Labour."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/07/08/do0804.xml

Scotland does not deserve this low-life political party and Glasgow East will do us all a favour by booting them out.
Apparently there are no areas where Labour will maintain any standard of ethics. Ms Curran has already been caught lying about where she even lives, wonder what other lies she has been telling. Here is yet another one on a topic of critical importance to Glasgow East - namely drugs -
"I have to tell Mr Sheridan that he is not listening to the ordinary people of Glasgow if he thinks that cannabis is not a problem. I will take Mr Sheridan to my constituency and show him the serious consequences of young people taking cannabis and then mixing it with other illegal drugs. Mothers Against Drugs will tell Mr Sheridan categorically, as they have told me, that the way that cannabis is used on the streets in Glasgow leads to extremely risky behaviour, to very serious problems"

http://www.scottish-parliament.eu/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-01/or110802.htm

"At one point, acting as executive spokesperson, she delivered an emotive speech against the legalisation of cannabis during a debate on this issue, which surprised some people who knew that she had smoked the substance herself when she was a student."

http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/margaret-curran/

Daily Record, October 21, 1999
"LABOUR'S dope-smoking nightmare worsened last night over claims that more of their MSPs want to legalise cannabis."
"And MSPs Cathie Peattie, Cathy Jamieson and Margaret Curran were also said to have backed the move in a survey for the Big Issue magazine."
"Jamieson and Curran also hit out at the survey and claimed their names were not supposed to have been revealed."

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-60363395.html

New Labour are an embarrassment to Scotland and need to be wiped off the political landscape.

Edited to add these figures:

If Ms Curran is returned, she will earn the amounts detailed below. Please note these figures do not include travel allowances or overnight expenses allowances.

MP's salary: £61,820
MSPs salary: £18,030 (entitled to one third of an MSPs salary as a dual member)
Maximum claimable MPs expenses: £160,000
MSPs member support allowance: £60,700
Edinburgh Support Allowance: £11,400

This will leave her with a total unchecked income of £311,950.
Average income in the east end is £15,700.

She lives in a £750,000 house in leafy Newlands, and she will earn almost twenty times her average waged constituent.

Come on East End, vote Labour; you know it makes sense.

For some.

From needing a 22% swing to needing a 7% swing is quite an achievement in itself. Ian Dale has a decent take on the situation :

"Sometimes you just have to shake your head in disbelief. The Telegraph reports an ICM poll in Glasgow East, which puts Labour on 47% and the SNP on 33%, a massive 15 points behind. Why on earth do people in that constituency even consider continuing to vote Labour? To misquote the Life of Brian, what has Labour ever done for them? The constituency has a male life expectancy of around 64, many of the council estates are the poorest in the country. Need I go on? When Iain Duncan Smith first visited the Easterhouse estate there in 2002 someone yelled out to him: "What are you doing here, we're all Labour?" He shouted back: "Yes, and look around you. Look where it's got you!"

The Telegraph and PoliticalBetting.com both report this poll as great news for Labour. I beg to differ. It is actually rather better for the SNP than it might seem at first sight. It shows there has been a 15% swing to the SNP since 2005. They only need another 7% to win and there are still ten days to go. Since 2005 Labour's vote has gone down by a quarter and the SNP's has doubled. There's also 16% of LibDem and Tory voters for the SNP to squeeze. I suspect there will be many Tory voters in that constituency who would happily give Gordon Brown a black eye. I am not for one minute suggesting they should do anything other than vote Tory (natch), but the SNP won't be so squeamish.

Those who are as long in the tooth as me will remember the last time (and indeed the only time) the SNP won a by election in Glasgow - back in 1988 when Jim Sillars won Glasgow Govan. A poll was taken the Monday before polling showing Labour on 51% and the SNP on 33%. For that reason, the SNP won't be downhearted by the ISM poll tonight, and nor should they be. By election campaigns are all about momentum, and there's no doubt that it is the SNP which has the Big Mo at the moment."

http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2008/07/snp-closing-on-labour-in-glasgow-east.html

The SNP won the Govan by-election with a 12% lead.
3 Days before the poll was :
System 3/Herald-STV
Reported 7th/8th November 1988
Labour - 52.9%
SNP - 33.4%

Assuming a 50% turnout there will about 32000 voters and 7% of this ~2100. The SNP have at least 300 active and passionate canvassers working for us which comes to about 7 conversions per canvasser - which is more than achievable.

As the people of Glasgow East chew on the following information I am sure more will abandon the Labour party that have so let them down.

David Marshall "used almost £500,000 of taxpayers' money over six years to help run an office from his home which was staffed by his wife.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1032385/Labour-MP-spent-500-000-taxpayers-money-running-office-home-staffed-wife.html

Margaret Curran - On the day of her selection immediately lied and tried to callously pretend she had worked and lived in Glasgow East for all of her live - neither of these statements are true, and on top of that she lives in an opulent one million £ house, likely even more of a mansion that the greedy David Marshall. Very interesting how all the Labour comrades seem to do so well for themselves while their electors are treated like canon fodder to fill their troughs.

"Labour candidate Margaret Curran brushed off criticism that she had lied about living in the East End when in fact she lives in a detached house worth around £1m in Newlands on the South Side."

I wonder just how Maggie and Rabs an ex-social worker and an ex-council worker ended up a with a one million £ house? Born into wealth or successful CEOs I can imagine, but I just don't see this pair being either the Entrepreneurial type nor likely inherited the wealth.

http://express.lineone.net/posts/view/52148/Polls-show-SNP-lead-over-Labour

An ultimate betrayal and final dishonour to the socialist tradition to which the people in Glasgow East adhere was Gordon Brown’s nauseating embrace of Margaret Thatcher who caused so much damage to Scotland and to this date is hated by swathes of the Scottish people.

"I'm a conviction politician like Maggie" - Gordon Brown

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-479780/Im-conviction-politician-like-Maggie-Brown-taunts-Cameron.html

Brown invites his admiration Margaret Thatcher for tea.

http://politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2008/07/01/will-the-snp-be-using-this-picture-in-glasgow-east/

If this is not already a leaflet in Glasgow East it should be printed up soon just to show how low these Labour sycophants have gotten and just how much they have trashed any sense of socialist tradition.

The SNP is in to win this and with the passion and dedication being put in here I believe we will win this.

Saor Alba

Scottish Catholic church accuses Labour of violating moral law
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4322950.ece

NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH

"Labour 14% lead" should have read
"Labour 2.31% lead" !!
So from the Telegraph poll the swing need for the SNP to take Glasgow East is 1.16% :)

The full ICM poll of Labour on 47% and SNP on 33% is now available :

http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/pdfs/2008_july_telegraph_mirror_glasgoweast_poll.pdf

Very interesting to see the actual voting and the actual sample size. The sample size is 516. The number actual mentioning who they want to vote for was 303 see page 3 first row. The actual votes were :
Labour - 131, SNP - 124, Conservative 29, Liberal 10, Other 10.
Which translates to 43.23% Labour and 40.92% SNP.
No wonder the unionists are in a blind panic.

It is also interesting to see how various media sources covered the same story - I wonder if they will restate their opinion if they bother to read the full results.

The Telegraph:

"Labour set for victory in Glasgow East"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/2298732/Labour-set-for-victory-in-Glasgow-East-by-election,-poll-shows.html

The Herald:

"Poll predicts Labour will cling on to Glasgow East"
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2392804.0.poll_says_labour_will_cling_on_to_glasgow_east.php

The Scotsman:
"Poll points to Labour by-election victory"
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Poll-points-to-Labour-byelection.4283538.jp

The Sunday Post:

"Labour poll lead crumbles"
"A SHOCK poll in Glasgow East has seen a 15 per cent swing from Labour to the SNP in the first week of the by-election campaign."
http://www.dcthomson.co.uk/MAGS/POST/news1.htm

Ian Dale
"SNP Closing on Labour in Glasgow East"
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2008/07/snp-closing-on-labour-in-glasgow-east.html

Saor Alba

From the Sunday Herald comments today, courtesy of Wardog, Buckie:

VOTE SNP

• Prescription Charges - The SNP Government has cut the cost of prescription charges by a QUARTER – the first step to making them FREE by 2010. And people who suffer from chronic or long-term conditions and cancer will benefit from an immediate cut of 50% in the cost of prescription pre-payment certificates (PPCs)

• Council Tax Frozen: Under Labour, between 1996-97 and 2007-08 Council Tax in Glasgow rose by 51% and the city now has the second highest Council Tax in Scotland. The SNP Government secured a deal with Local Authorities, including Glasgow, to freeze Council Tax for 2008/09 and is moving to scrap the Council tax – benefiting 72% of Glasgow residents.

• Businesses Helped Local Business is at the heart of regeneration in the East End. To help improve the local economy, the SNP Government is reducing or abolishing business rates for almost 16,000 businesses in Glasgow through the Small Business Bonus.

• Commonwealth Games Legacy: The SNP Government is funding 80% of the costs of the Commonwealth Games and is ensuring a lasting legacy for the games with investment in youth sports facilities and following pressure from the SNP Government, the Big Lottery Fund have announced a '2014 Communities' fund to ensure a lasting legacy from the Commonwealth Games – starting with half a million in 2008/09.

• Regeneration: The Fairer Scotland Fund will invest over £150m in Glasgow alone over the next 3 years. Also, the Clyde Gateway regeneration scheme, which spans Glasgow and South Lanarkshire, has been awarded £62 million by the SNP Government.

• Central Heating Programme - The SNP Government has increased installations of central heating systems from 13,500 a year under the previous administration to nearly 15,000 a year – the highest number ever.

• Increase in police numbers: Thanks to the SNP's commitment to delivering 1000 extra police, Strathclyde Police has the funds to increase their number of officers by 750 over the next three years. The first 150 of the SNP's 1000 extra police have just graduated from the Police Training College at Tulliallan.

• Crime Cut in East Glasgow under the SNP: The Enhanced Policing Plan (EPP), a Strathclyde Police led initiative funded by the SNP Government's Community Regeneration Fund, has seen crime drop significantly since its launch in October 2007. Within six months crime levels have dropped significantly in Sprinboig, Barlanark and Greenfield (24%); Parkhead (22%); Shettleston/Tollcros
s (10%) and Wellhouse (10%).

• Tackling Gangs: In Government the SNP has invested an additional £200,000 to tackle gang violence and territorialism with over £16,000 going into support Strathclyde police's anti-gang work in Easterhouse.

• Cash back for Communities: This SNP Government scheme uses money taken from organised criminals and reinvests it in youth projects in deprived areas. Projects in and around Glasgow East are already benefiting from the scheme: Cranhill Arts Project has received £4,730 in funding; The Sound Lab has received £11,827; and Reidvale Adventure Play Association has been awarded £4,812.

• Hospitals: The SNP Government has provided £842 million of public money to replace the Southern General Hospital, which previous Labour Government's had neglected. Also, one of the very first actions of the SNP upon becoming the Government was to save the Accident and Emergency department at nearby Monklands.

• Free Personal Care: The SNP initiated the first increase in Free Personal Care Payments in line with inflation, and invested an extra £40m to meet shortfalls in the service. In contrast Labour in Westminster refused to return attendance allowance to Scotland.

• Bus Travel Concessionary Fares: The SNP Government has increased support for bus travel with extra funding of £12m over the next three years. Funding for bus transport is 31% higher per capita in Scotland under the SNP than in England and Wales under Labour and the SNP Government has announced plans to extend the scheme for injured veterans in recognition of their service.

• Free Education: The SNP has reintroduced grants for part – time students, helping those in areas like Glasgow East who are working hard for a better future.

• John Wheatley College: The SNP Government acted to ensure the long term viability of John Wheatley College in Glasgow, which has campuses in Shettleston and Easterhouse, by protecting its charitable status.

• Housing: Since the SNP came to power 16 local housing associations have been given approval by GHA to proceed to Second Stage Transfer, with another 17 in discussions to do the same. In Glasgow East, Parkhead Housing Association is aiming to ballot tenants on SST on the 17th of November.

• Nursery Education: Free nursery education has been increased to 475 hours per year for 3-4 year olds.