George Galloway

We've had a glorious text from a member of the Maryhill Mob. It involved a pisstake they made at George Galloway's expense... This is most cool. I've got a bit of audio I need to enhance, which I've emailed about here and there... If you're helpful in this dept email me. (kenny.sheerin@gmail.com)

Basically: George admitted to being a cunt and anti-Scottish. Kind of.

And, in response to the dude who suggested that I over mentioned a certain female name now and then: that is a scurrilous piece of factual accuracy which we'll discuss later. Hello to Karen, Claire and Sheila: work colleagues who claim to read this blog! (I fucking doubt it, but they can anonymously admit if they so wish...)

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Serendipity

The previous post has, at it's end, a stone. The photograph was by Jacobiker and Mrs Jacobiker. I put it in for the hell of it (as is my thing).

Last night, after a frenetic day, I was in the heb bar with various types (including J & Mrs J). Helen of the Maryhill mob had asked what the stone was, and I asked.

It's the stone which marks the spot where Robert the Bruce's heart is buried in Melrose Abbey.

I'd chosen it almost entirely by accident (because I went to the folder on my computer which has some of Jaco's pictures and thought it looked good...) Strange coincidence...

Bannockburn Reloaded

I've been reliably informed that the Bannockburn Rally date has changed... again.

Jesus, it's had more dates than me this year (emails to... erm... )

Anyway, to the point in question. According a "source" the date of the March and Rally is now the 16th because:

"NTS refused to allow access to the field on the 23rd, so the YSI's original choice was the 30th, however it seems that will be the official opening of the Scottish Parliament for this session and so MSP's would be unable to attend. "

Still, at least on or all of those weekends someone will be up to something on Bannockburn Field. As far as I'm aware though, the major shindig in the Tartan Arms is still ON for the 23rd, and so your humble narrator will definitely be at that one.

I've just noticed that this blog is in danger of becoming a useful source of information. Therefore, here is a random picture from Jacobiker:

Bannockburn

Thanks to the Maryhill Mob for this wee Bannockburn Update...

Hi Kenny,

Want me to make your day!!

An English person named A Corley went into work on Monday and was confronted with a barrage of phone calls and e-mails objecting to turning a commemoration into a money making operation.

So she checked with her boss and was told to apply to the council, under the Scottish land reform act section 11, for an exclusion order.

I contacted the acces officer for stirling Alison Perry and got a reply back saying NTS had applied for an axclusion order YESTERDAY AND IT’S NO BEEN GRANTED YET!!! Daft English cow. So we’re no too late.

Please get on your blog and punt this info for all it’s worth. Get everyone to contact Alison perry and voice an objection.

Bet you’ve got a big cheesy grin on your face. Don’t you just love living in Scotland!

American views on Independence

Figured I should, at least, pass on this slice of Americana regarding the recent Scottish Elections. I'm sure you'll probably understand that I was wanting to move back to the weird and slightly artsy shinto that floats my boat in between important Scottish political events (like elections and referendums...)

Also, can anyone tell me about the poster I placed to the left of this post? Picked it up in Glasgow and dunno what it's about?

Answers to: kenny.sheerin@gmail.com

Thanks.

Fanning the Flames of Freedom

May 12, 2007—Last weekend the Scottish people did something many said they never would do. For many years the flames of independence have spread, but Scots have been discouraged from continuing such a pursuit. They have been told that independence is impractical, ridiculous and even impossible. However, last weekend, many showed via the ballot box that they have had enough of the so-called United Kingdom.

Despite that Scots have shown they wish to be an independent nation once more, by taking a first step in that direction. The enemies of Scottish freedom are still attempting to hijack last weekend’s election. The European media outlets, political organizations and others are trying to claim that such an election was a fraud. That the Scottish people would never think about independence. Such claims are proverbial slaps in the faces of the Scottish people.

We, the members of the Jefferson Republican Party of the United States of America, congratulate the Scottish people and the Scottish Nationalist Party for their recent victory, and this important step towards independence, which they have achieved. After 300 years of London-based dominance, is very significant, and is a sign of greater things to come for the Scottish people.

Jefferson Republican Party of the United States of America
William Potter
Noah Cooke
Ray Perdue

Sic Transit Independence

(BBC Website: Check Link) A grandfather whose decision to challenge a Holyrood result clinched election victory for the SNP has been hailed as hero by his party.

Former council official David Thompson was the last MSP to be elected, giving the SNP its one-seat lead over Labour.

But the result came after he demanded a recount of the Highlands and Islands list ballot, which had given Labour four MSPs and the SNP none.

The final result saw Labour get three, the Tories two and the SNP two.

Mr Thompson had lost out in the Ross Skye and Inverness West constituency vote earlier in the day.

With the SNP two seats ahead, the results of the Scottish Parliamentary election hung on which final seven MSPs would be elected from the Highlands and Islands.

Nationalists' hero

Amid huge tension inside the hall of the cavernous Inverness Sports Centre, returning officer Arthur McCourt was about to announce that Labour had won four list seats - which would have given them election victory.

But in dramatic scenes, Mr Thompson stepped in to challenge the figures.

Officials conducted a hasty recount and returned with a new set of results which saw the SNP become the parliament's largest party with a total of 47 seats to Labour's 46.

The last seat to be read out went to the Nationalists' hero of the hour, 57-year-old grandfather Mr Thompson, who will sit at Holyrood for the first time.


We were told that we didn't have any seats in the Highlands and Islands on the list which I knew had to be incorrect
David Thompson MSP

He told the BBC that it felt fantastic to be the 47th SNP MSP.

"It was on a bit of a knife edge for quite a while," Mr Thompson said.

"We didn't get our result until five o'clock. We were the last result in in the country and there was a bit of confusion at the count as well.

"We had to call for a recount of the figures because initially we were told that we didn't have any seats in the Highlands and Islands on the list which I knew had to be incorrect.

"When the returning officer redid the calculations we ended up with two including myself."

Mr Thompson joined the SNP at the age of 16 and said he now hoped to play his part in moving Scotland towards independence.

Zen and the Art of Postering

Letter from Cornwall

A Kenny Sheerin ker,

I am a Penryn born Cornishman from the United Kingdom and a growing Cornish and Breton speaker. I have been raised by a family and community that has endowed me with what can be best described as a Cornish national identity, another way to look at it would be of Cornish ethnicity.

The Cornish are a Celtic ethnic group and nation of the southwest of Great Britain. We have our own lesser used Celtic language (Cornish), sports, festivals, cuisine, music, dance, history and identity. Cornwall also has a distinct constitutional history as a Duchy with an autonomous stannary parliament. This Celtic Cornish identity was recognised and described in the April 2006 edition of National Geographic.

The results from the 2001 UK population census show over thirty seven thousand people hold a Cornish identity instead of English or British. On this census, to claim to be Cornish, you had to deny being British, by crossing out the British option and then write Cornish in the others box. Additionally the decision to collect information on Cornish identity was extremely badly publicised.

How many more would have described themselves as Cornish if they did not have to deny being British or if there had been a Cornish tick box? How many people knew that it was an option? How many ticked British but feel themselves to be Cornish British?

Cornwall Council’s Feb 2003 MORI Poll showed 55% in favour of a democratically-elected, fully-devolved regional assembly for Cornwall, (this was an increase from 46% in favour in a 2002 poll). Many English and other nationalities who have settled in Cornwall wish to see an assembly as some of these people identify closely with Cornwall and actually feel ‘Cornish’. London, Wales and Scotland have devolved assemblies and are still part of the United Kingdom as well as the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey - why not Cornwall ? The Cornish Assembly petition was signed by 50,000 people, which is the largest expression of popular support for devolved power in the whole of the United Kingdom and possibly Europe.

In July 2000 Mebyon Kernow launched the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly campaign which some three months later led to the creation of The Cornish Constitutional Convention with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly for Cornwall. In less than two years, it had won the support of over 50,000 people, which equates to more than 10% of the Cornish electorate. A delegation led by the West Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George and representatives of the Cornish Constitutional Convention (Bert Biscoe, Richard Ford, Dick Cole, David Fieldsend and Andrew Climo Thompson) presented 50,000 declarations to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 12th December 2001 calling for a Cornish Assembly. This was an opportunity to give the people of Cornwall the chance to demand greater control over their own future.

A recommendation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the ‘concept of nation’ has been backed by the European Parliament regional and minority language Intergroup.

The PACE recommendation stated that, “Everyone should be free to define themselves as a member of a cultural “nation”, irrespective of their citizenship”. In response, the Intergroup commented that ‘Council of Europe member states should avoid defining themselves in exclusively ethnic terms, and should do their utmost to help their minorities, a source of enrichment, to flourish’. Today, both the French and the British Governments still deny people from some of the Celtic countries to legally describe themselves in terms of their Celtic national identities in all areas of life. Intergroup leader Mr Csaba Tabajdi, Member of the European Parliament, said that, this recommendation is of utter importance, representing a paradigm change in the protection of minorities in Europe. It contains a new, elaborate concept of nation.

The recommendation states that: The term “nation” is deeply rooted in peoples, culture and history and incorporates fundamental elements of their identity. “It is also closely linked to political ideologies, which have exploited it and adulterated its original meaning. Furthermore, in view of the diversity of languages spoken in European countries, a concept such as nation is quite simply not translatable in many countries where, at best, only rough translations are to be found in certain national languages.

The UK government has so far failed to recognise the Cornish people under the Council of Europe’s framework convention for the protection of national minorities.

The UK government has failed to give the people of Cornwall the democratic referendum on greater autonomy and a devolved assembly that they have shown a demand for.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and local government minister Ruth Kelly have been less than forthcoming to Mebyon Kernow under the Freedom of Information Act.

In 2005 Mebyon Kernow the party for Cornwall wrote to the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister requesting copies of government documents prepared in the wake of the 50,000 signature “Cornish Declaration” which was passed to the Prime Minister on 12 December 2001.

Cllr Phil Rendle, MK’s Deputy Leader (Campaigns) explained:

“We have long wondered what Tony Blair’s government made of this magnificent expression of Cornish support for devolution. In 2005 we decided to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out. The result was disgraceful.”

Even though, the ODPM is obliged under the Act to respond to requests promptly and in any event no later than 20 days, Mebyon Kernow’s original request remains unacknowledged and unanswered. Last year, as part of their celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Declaration, MK resumed its demand – this time to Ruth Kelly’s new Department for Communities and Local Government. So far, two letters have been received – although no information has yet been released and no explanation or apology given for failing to respond to the 2005 request.

“Crucially” says Cllr Rendle, “the DCLG have admitted that ‘The Department holds the information you are seeking’ - but getting it into the public domain is proving difficult to say the least!”

The two letters are peppered with phrases such as “qualified exemptions”, “public interest tests” and the most tortuous reasons are given not to yield this information without delay:

“Your request, however, raises complex public interest considerations which must be analysed before we can come to a decision on releasing the information… consideration must be given as to whether or not the public interest in withholding the information requested outweighs the public interest in disclosing it…[the] balance needs to be struck between disclosing sufficient information to allow informed debate and protecting the space within which ministers are advised and formulate policy.”

The second letter from Ruth Kelly’s department pontificates:

“The application of the public interest balance in relation to this exemption is particularly complex. The public interest both in disclosure of some information and in the withholding of other information lies in what might broadly described as good government”!

Phil Rendle asks:

“We are just trying to find out what Government made of Cornwall’s 50,000-signature petition. Why all this prevarication? Why all this legalistic mumbo-jumbo? If government “holds the information [we] are seeking” why not release it to the people of Cornwall. We have received two stalling letters, but we will continue to press until all the information is released.”

1) I would like to know your position on national and linguistic minorities and in particular the Cornish question in the United Kingdom.

2) I would also like to know your thoughts on a devolved Cornish assembly.

I look forward to your response.

Lowena dhys

Phil Hosking

Letter from Cornwall - My Reply

Kenny Sheerin

************
***********
Republic of Scotland

Philip a charaid,

Firstly, thanks for getting in touch.

1) I would like to know your position on national and linguistic minorities and in particular the Cornish question in the United Kingdom.

I give unqualified support to Celtic Nations, peoples and linguistic minorities who seek any level of self-determination and advance of their cause. I do this as I recognise the position that Scotland is in, and the situation that minorities have throughout the Islands on which we live have inherited from history. I personally, recognise Kernow as a distinct and frankly beautiful culture in the Celtic pantheon. I can’t ask for Scotland something I would deny for Kernow. That would be hypocritical.

To me, the reason for Westminster’s intransigence on Kernow is simple. To Westminster, everything is an asset and not a living breathing human being with beliefs and culture. The treasury assigns our area a value and they’ll use any power in the playbook to make sure it doesn’t delete itself from their records.

For a people who once had such a vast empire it must be gloriously ironic that it splintered on them so quickly. The Brits will cling onto the UK that is left as long as it can in terms of money, power and the vain conceit of empire that still lingers. Maybe they get money out of it, maybe they’re just scared of change, maybe they are interested in the power that the name “UK” allegedly has. Either way it’s time for a new set of rules both for Kernow and for Scotland.

2) I would also like to know your thoughts on a devolved Cornish assembly.

If you asked me this question prior to the referendums on Scottish and Welsh Devolution I would have been sceptical about it. I have believed in Scottish Independence since I was a child in the 70s and saw little reason to change my mind. I saw the assembly option as being a bribe from Westminster to stop Independence happening. With the situation now in both Scotland and Wales, I am glad I was wrong – at least to an extent.

Decent steps forward have taken place both legally and culturally in terms of Scotland. The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 was a step forward I do not believe would have happened without devolution, and despite the shortcomings of the Act I would say a small step is better than no step at all. Therefore, I can’t see an Assembly for Kernow as being anything other than a benefit.

I do not believe, in the long term, that an assembly is any replacement for full independence. Recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are proof of this for both our peoples. The replacement for Trident to be based in Scotland will be Britain’s nicest and shiniest new nuclear deterrent is another reason to sever ties completely – because if you cannot control what does and doesn’t poison your country then your situation merits change. Only with full Independence do we get to say NO to the worst excesses of British Imperialism and only with full Independence do we get full responsibility in the eyes of the people be that responsibility cultural, fiscal or political. Only with full responsibility can any people rebuild self-respect lost while being occupied by another people. Naturally my beliefs here are tainted by Scotland’s own struggles in our own three hundred years (this year being the anniversary of our own entry).

I believe that an Assembly for Kernow would be a good initial solution to your own position within the UK; I am however sceptical about remaining within the UK as being a viable position. Unless an assembly is a staging post to full independence, I am sceptical in that I believe that it merely involves switching occupations from being Poacher to being Gamekeeper. Despite my cynicism on the role of an assembly, let me again give unqualified support to those who see it as the best solution to the issues you have raised. Only the Cornish can know best what is the best solution for them, and as I have previously stated my own beliefs will be tainted by the Independence Struggle here in Scotland.

You have also outlined to me, issues relating the UK Freedom of Information Act. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Westminster would use the most banal weapon in it’s arsenal to insult the people of Kernow with: petty bureaucracy. It beggars belief how deep an insult it must be. It suggests that they can’t even be bothered to think up a decent response or excuse to the issues raised.

This lack of respect is common here as well. While the SNP and other Pro-Independence parties have been making inroads into the upcoming Holyrood Elections on May 3, the response from the Unionist Parties has been predictably disrespectful: for every positive policy by a pro-independence party there is remote control drone from London (or who at least wants to work there at some point) wheeled in front of some hack to be ever more hysterical and scaremongering about Independence. I’m sure comrades in Wales could give similar stories. I suspect that at some point after the election, if we don’t get independence, anyone who doesn’t wear an “I heart UK” badge will have to collect a bell and a little sign which says “unclean” on it.

Le Meas agus Slainte Mhath,

Kenny Sheerin