Nick Clegg Grows Up

On the news that the Liberal Democrats have lost Oldham East and Saddleworth I would like to congratulate Nick Clegg and his party for entering the big, bad political world. Over the New Year period they have shown that they can be just as ‘old politics’ as the rest of the Westminster village. That this by-election was held so close to Christmas (at the request of the Lib Dems) is evidence enough of that-any latter and Clegg would have risked the return of hundreds of student voters from their break wrecking havoc with the results. It also meant that the campaign for the by-election was hidden behind Santa Claus and so any focus of disgruntlement by voters could be mitigated by some mulled wine. Of course politicking failed to hand a victory to the Liberal’s, but with a defeat of only 12 points it may have prevented complete annihilation. Indeed Elwyn Watkins (the Liberal candidate) actually increased his share of the vote by 0.3%. Perhaps that will be enough to stop Nick Clegg’s nightmare about complete electoral oblivion. The next big test will be the regional and local elections in May: if the Lib Dems manage to remain about level or even gain a small increase in their share of the votes then I think party activists will become less nervous and the Coalition will become a little more stable as a result. If however, Liberals begin to disappear of the political map then Nick Clegg’s leadership and his party’s position within the government may be in doubt. Let us wait and see...

Wikileaks and the Arrest of Julian Assange

First let me declare this: rape is bad. All cases of rape deserve investigation. If you do not believe these two statements then you are reading the wrong blog. Now that we have accepted this let us turn to the strange case of Julian Assange. Now I do not know if he is guilty, but nor does anyone else bar Mr Assange and his two accusers. There has yet to be a trial and so I suspend judgement until after this date. However, I object to the reaction of the supporters of Wikileaks (let us call them the ‘Assangists’) toward the arrest of Mr Assange. As I have already stated rape is bad and all cases of rape deserve investigation. Julian Assange is accused of rape by two people, and so I think that Mr Assange should be investigated-after all it is only his word against the two accusers’ at this stage and so it is a very real possibility that Mr Assange could have raped his ex-companion’s. However, the founder of Wikileaks has refused to return to Sweden voluntarily and so that government has issued an arrest warrant. At this the Assangists have declared that Sweden is an American stool, and it is all a great conspiracy orchestrated by the CIA in order to get the Messiah...opps, sorry-Julian Assange into an American prison.

At this point we really need to make some things clear. First Sweden is not and never has been known as an ‘American stool’. There is more chance of Mr Assange being extradited from the UK than Sweden. In other words he is safer from the CIA in Stockholm than London. Second the man is accused of rape. He may be innocent, but while there is a chance that he could be guilty of that horrible crime then he should be tried. However, it is bloody difficult to put a man on trial who refuses to remain in the same country in which the crime he is accused of is committed-hence the arrest warrant. Of course this is where the Assangists point out that St Assange...opps, sorry-Mr Assange will be heading toward a kangaroo court. The problem with this theory is that Sweden has quite a good reputation for education, high living standards etc, but has never really been able to develop a really good corruption problem-I mean to really experience kangaroo courts it is usually customary to head to Burma, or Zimbabwe. This possibility is highly unlikely since it is Sweden that he shall find himself.

This brings me to my third point. Like them or loath them what the documents from Wikileaks have shown over the last couple of years is that there is no conspiracy. What governments say in public tend to be what they do in private plus or minus a fact or two. In other words Mr Assange’s own organisation has shown that a grand conspiracy orchestrated by the American government to slander his name by pressuring two women and the Swedish government in order to get him convicted of rape is not a bet you should make. This kind of thing only happens in cheap airport novels. The far more likely scenario is that the two women genuinely believe that they have been assaulted in some manner and that the Swedish government is doing its duty by investigating a case of possible rape. In other words the Assangists are attempting to prevent the proper investigation of a possible incident of rape. This is utterly wrong even if Mr Assange is found to be innocent.

An Ignorant Lover

In a pre-television age when people where stuck in the house together by adverse weather they would tell stories and poems to each other. In that tradition I have composed this poem. I call it 'An Ignorant Lover':


The Past is a tale which is cold,
Where wrong triumphed over right,
But the future has yet to be told:
A land where everything is still bright.
And even though I am unloved,
And I feel the creeping arm of despair,
Still, let me minister my love,
To that creature with looks so fair.
Even when at the end of days,
In what will be my darkest hour,
I shall be warmed by tender rays,
For unreturned love shall not turn sour.
The Mind is weighed down by the Heart’s chains,
For in life it is the heart which reigns.


I would be interested in anyone's thoughts on the sonnet.

Oh Dear...

Oh dear. I seem to have neglected my duties as a blogger this past little while. I shall endeavour to post more regularly from now on.

Anyway the circumstances which brought this blog to prominence in my mind once more was the snow-I am trapped in the home of my parents unable to return to my flat. While this is not necessarily a bad thing (indeed it is rather like a holiday) all my nice stuff is in my flat. As such cabin fever has set in rather more quickly than it otherwise should have and so, dear reader, I turn to the online community for solace and entertainment.

A rant: why is the comic book genre so under-rated by everyone? I mean we need only go as far as ‘The Watchmen’ (that is the graphic novel NOT that damnable movie adaptation) to encounter quite deep philosophical musing. Indeed ‘The Dark Knight’ is based on the comic book genre (it could not exist without it) and the sociological and philosophical references are everywhere-the Joker’s line near the start of the film ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger’ is lifted from Nietzsche and marks the tip of the ice berg where that particular film is concerned. My point is that while a graphic novel may look entirely different from a novel or a painting this does not mean that it cannot be as deep or as important to the study of art. Of course there is crap out there, but this is the same with every art form and should not detract from the sublime genius of some of the people involved with the genre.

Our New Shadow Chancellor

There are a few people who lived at the heart of New Labour for years, and yet remain unaffected by the proverbial shit which clings to Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Ed Balls et al. Let us take Jack Straw: this man is one of only a few who can claim to have been at the Cabinet table for the entire 13 years of New Labour rule. He was a central figure in every major Labour disaster (including Iraq), has been implicated in electoral fraud (some of his campaign officers are serving prison sentences for tampering with voting papers), and has spent over a decade slowly corroding Britain’s civil liberties. Despite all this he has now retired from front line politics smelling of roses. Where is the justice?

Now Alan Johnson may not be quite as bad as Mr Straw, but let us be fair-Mr Johnson has not had the same ministerial opportunities as the old Justice Minister. However, when given his moment to shine Mr Johnson has behaved with all the vindictive, careerist and short-sighted paranoia which defined the New Labour years-does anyone else remember poor Professor Nutt losing his job because he dared to present evidence which challenged Alan Johnson’s view of drugs? But fear not for there may yet be time for Mr Straw to be eclipsed. Alan Johnson MP has been declared Shadow Chancellor. Woe betide you if you happen to disagree with this new power-broker in the Labour regime-you may end up like poor Professor Nutt!

Vote Cashley On Lothian List!

I would like to take a minute to urge all SNP members in the Lothian region to give Calum Cashley their Ist preference vote on the List. He is a dedicated nationalist, and his recent article (follow the link to his blog at the side of the screen) proves that he will make an excellent MSP. Vote Cashley!

Blair and Iran

I never really liked Blair. There was always something a little too smug about him. As if he knew he was right. Of course he did know he was right, and there lies the problem. Too sure of himself by far. Well his autobiography is out now and, with the limelight cast upon him once more, Blair has told an assembled audience that it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear capacity. He knows for a fact that Iran cannot be trusted with a nuclear arsenal.

Now I am no fan of the Iranian regime (their human rights record is appalling), but does anyone else think that this ‘Tehran Threat To World Peace’ thing is getting a bit old? At the very least Blair and the rest of the neo-cons are letting some kind of prejudice cloud their judgement on this issue. Say a prejudice to see all issues from a balcony in Tel Aviv. North Korea now has nuclear capacity (which Iran does not) and has threatened to use that arsenal (Iran has signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty). From a strategic point of view North Korea has a much greater destabilising effect on its geo-political region that Iran. From a human rights perspective the regime in Pyongyang is the last Stalinist state; despite the executions Tehran isn’t nearly as bad. In other words if we were playing ‘Top Trumps-Axis of Evil Edition’ North Korea would be the winning card. And yet...

And yet Blair and every other high ranking Western diplomat views Iran as a greater threat to the status quo. Why? Principally, I more than suspect, because Israel holds greater influence in Western capitals that its economic clout, military prowess or its population density would naturally allow. When faced with the threat of a nation in its geo-political orbit which could challenge its monopoly on nuclear warheads, Israel’s highly effective lobbying machine spurts into action. Iran is the focus of Western scorn for the principle reason that Japan/South Korea cannot match the Israeli PR machine. I think it is high time that diplomatic circles began to consider situations in their global, not purely Israeli, context.