Wings Over Scotland

Trouble is, the “Great British Public”, always forget how Labour screwed them in office and get fed up with the official Tories after a while.

It is up to all of us to make sure they never forget.

Tammany Hall 2

We need a US style Prosecution Service designed to trawl through cases like this, totally separate from Local Gov and political interference with the ability to offer immunity to key people. Just like is happening in the USA today with the FIFA investigation and prosecutions.

Interestingly the Skye bridge was the UKs first ever PFI project.

Ended up costing the tax payer a fortune. Government had to buy the contracts back from American bank at double the original price (after locals rebelled over the cost of tolls they were being charged).

The Bridge Rising (2013) is a great short film.
link to imdb.com

This is clearly an appalling coverup. They ALL must be made to reveal what they know. How the hell can Nawrot of Mayfair just disappear completely?

whats the chances of the bbc in jockland giving this an airing ?.

well fairs fair now they gave Rory the Tory a full hour, 45 min isnt to much to ask now is it .

Maybe RT will show a wee clip ha ha just to get up the loons .

Off Topic – But important regarding Brexit and the fate of devolution for both our countries. The debate is today, Tuesday, in the House of Commons.

_________

Dear Friend,

Brexit: We need your help
#GiveWalesASay

Tomorrow, the British Government will bring the EU (Withdrawal) Bill back to the House of Commons and try to force it through to the next stage.

The Bill is a threat to Wales’s nationhood and, if passed, will enable the British Government to meddle in devolved fields such as agriculture, the environment and transport – areas that are devolved thanks to the two devolution referendums of 1997 and 2011.

Not only is the British Government attempting to enable the UK Parliament to snatch back control over domestic Welsh affairs, it is attempting to give British Government Ministers the power to amend or repeal Welsh legislation as they please, without the need of even a vote in Westminster or Cardiff.
Plaid Cymru has warned from the beginning that this Bill is being used as a vehicle for Westminster to grab power back from Wales and reinstate Westminster-rule over our country.

On Tuesday, MPs will consider the first batch of amendments. These will include Plaid Cymru’s amendment number 79 – to make this Bill contingent on gaining the consent of the national parliaments, including our Parliament – the National Assembly.
Our Brexit spokesperson, Hywel Williams, will lead the debate for us in Westminster and we fully intend on forcing the House of Commons to vote on it.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US

Show your support for Plaid Cymru’s #GiveWalesASay amendment 79 to the EU Withdrawal Bill, and pressure your MP to support it too.

Contact your MP, Tweet them, Facebook them and spread the message as far as you can on social media using the hashtag #GiveWalesASay.

Example Tweet

“Dear [INSERT LOCAL MP’s NAME HERE] please support @Plaid_Cymru’s #GiveWalesASay amendment to the #Withdrawal Bill”
You can also find an auto-generated Tweet here.

To find out who your MP is, click here.

Please also read and share our article on 11 things Westminster doesn’t want you to know about Brexit
The more public pressure we can put on Labour and Tory MPs, the more likely it is that they will support us.

The British Government is weak and this is a major opportunity to make Wales matter in Westminster.

Thank you for your continued support.

For Wales – Dros Gymru,

Liz Saville Roberts
Leader, Plaid Cymru Westminster Group

What’s the betting that this story is the same for every single local authority throughout the UK.

I was involved in bidding for Local Authority contracts from 2005-16 in London & was aware that some weren’t kosher, bids got chucked out or councils were sued for breach of EU procurement regulations & the competitions had to be rerun at enormous cost to the council & potential bidders.

As an ex-police officer, I find this film shocking in it’s blatant disregard for transparency, the very clear fraud that has been perpetrated on the people of North Ayrshire & the sheer dismissal of an investigation by police. I didn’t think anything shocked me anymore but I was wrong.

An independent unit needs to be set up reporting directly to the First Minister because right now if this story is replicated throughout every town & city:

1. Some people have serious questions to answer in a court of law if necessary.

2. Proof of fraudulent bidding & awarding of contracts could be used as a means to break those contracts.

3. Fraudulent contracts cannot be considered a binding contract in law as all contracts bear a section stating that they comply with the legal requirements of EU & UK legislation. This North Ayrshire contract clearly doesn’t in any way , shape or form.

If I was a former council leader, councillor, union rep, police officer, member of council’s legal unit, fiscal etc from those years I would be expecting a knock on my door.

This can’t be allowed to be swept under the carpet.Cue shredders working overtime at NAC.

Kudos to the producers of the film. Nail head firmly hit.

Labour should never be allowed in power again until every penny of this debt is repaid and we should never tire of telling everyone who complains about cut backs in services how much this debt is costing local authorities.

Has anyone ever heard a labour person sincerely apologise for this terrible legacy of debt or try to make amends. All they seem to do is blame snp for any cut backs. The pish taking JB should never be allowed to forget the debt left in North Ayrshire. We will be lucky too if any of these buildings last for 30 years and more of them don’t fall down.

Every single demand from unionist parties for money for this or that should be met with the same response , Nicola simply hold up an invoice that shows how much interest we are paying on something we will never Own .
Then name the culprits and the party involved , do this every time and make sure the pubic realise what a bloody shambles the SNP are having to deal with on their behalf .

All of these type of contracts should be investigated thoroughly and brought into the light!

There is a lot of UKOK hackdom work going on the uncover etc, its just that they’re clearly looking to smear the SNP, damage Scottish democracy, get the SLab crew back in to Holyrood… well we know the rest.

link to wingsoverscotland.com

Illustrates the corporate coup that has taken over the political system in the UK. Every local authority will have these skeletons hidden in the cupboard. But there is little chance of thi bing prosecuted. there’s just too much money at stake.

Well done the film makers for exposing this. The MSM will turn a blind eye. But maybe RT will take it up. Afshin Rattansi’s “Going Underground” would be the ideal outlet.

Theresa May’s “Lord Mayor’s Banquet” ! speech blames Russia for destabilising the West. I think she means destabilising the corruption of The City.

link to rt.com

It’s high time the corruption was destabilised. Films like this provide the ammo.

thanks for showing this Rev. If a formal investigation was carried out and it was shown that the EU procurement process was not followed, surely that would be grounds for terminating the PPI contract?

No way will BBC or any other MSM will show this and as someone else said if fraud was involved the contract scrapped and how many more contracts could be involved in schemes like this one.

@Brian Powell says: 14 November, 2017 at 11:09 am:

“Real information, I’m sure the people’s paper, the Daily Record, will be so shocked by this they will rush to inform the people of Scotland”.

I’ve news for you Brian. The Daily Wrecker is NOT published for the people of the country, (or the kingdom), of Scotland.

It is aimed squarely at the people of a totally fictitious country called the UK a.k.a. The United KINGDOM.

Which UK is factually not a country but is a bipartite KINGDOM, as its name plainly describes it.

It is factually a bipartite Kingdom that has only two equally sovereign kingdom partners but does thus contain four distinct countries. Three of which comprise the Kingdom of England that also is not a country but is, as its name describes it, a kingdom that contains three distinct countries.

A good book that also looks into PFI/PPP’s is Down the Tube. Although mainly about the London Underground it does highlight general points about PFI/PPP’s.

One point that stuck out for me was how PFI/PPP’s were such a financial windfall for the consultants, bankers and lawyers that were necessary within the PFI/PPP deals to manage the complexity of the financial side of the contracts. It appears that even just the final signing of a PFI/PPP contract, which may have involved around 100 documents and almost as many financial consultants and lawyers, was estimated to have cost around £20,000 per hour in financial and legal services fees.

Contracts obtained through lies and falsehoods cannot be valid, and no obligations follow from no contract. Stop all payments and let them sue…

Click on this YouTube link and it leads to a general explanation of the PFI/PPP finance schemes. If you watch it through it should then lead on to other PPP/PFI video links:-

link to youtube.com

Well,I always figured PPI was a scam, and a very big one.
This video is excellent in showing how Slab and it’s UK masters have sucked the blood out of our councils and our social and health services to name but two.

In my opinion it is too big to ignore and the Scottish Government should instigate a serious investigation in to this debacle, for which there is abundant evidence of fraud. Subsequently extended to all of Scotland’s PPI schemes. People should be charged and held responsible for these actions against Scottish interests.

Contracts involved that have any discrepancy should be annulled if they are anything like this one.

We need to open this can, no matter how full of worms it may be, the rats will be running for cover. I would not be surprised if
if some evidence pointed to the Labour chiefs in place at the time. In both Scotland and England it was a policy to suit their purposes whatever that was.Scotland screwed again.

England will have similar issues, but they can look after themselves.

The company being investigated was of course never intended to win the contract. It was a paper bid from a shell company which had no expectation of gaining the contract. I wonder if the subtext could have been a bit clearer.

As the programme says, more than one bid was needed for the contract to be awarded. If that second bid hadn’t existed, the contract could not have been awarded without going through the tendering process again and soliciting further bids.

The beneficiary here was the company who was awarded the contract with no actual competition. No matter how big a rip-off it proposed, it was going to get that contract. So in addition to the questions posed at the end of the film (which are important), I want to know two more things.

I want to know about who was behind the winning bid, the bid which was protected from competition by this fraud. Who were the people who benefited from having an absolutely unobstructed run at a £300 million contract? And how were other credible bidders kept out of the race? Where there really and truly no other companies interested in this contract, so a shell company with a straw bid had to be invented to allow the project to go ahead? Or was there a deeper conspiracy at work to freeze out all but the preferred bidder and the shell company so that the preferred bidder could charge what it liked?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Corruption at every level of PPI/PFI contracts , the initiators of PPI/PFI TONY BLAIR/GORDON BROWN/JACK MC CONNELL should be hauled into the Scottish High Court as with all those Chief Executives of Scottish Councils/ Health Boards . NO more TaxPayers money should be payed towards PPI/PFI contracts until there has been a thorougher examination in Law .

I well remember questioning the siting of Wishaw General Hosp & the traffic chaos , every road is a bottle neck for Emergency Vehicles & the attempted closure of Monklands Dist Hosp to service Wishaw with more patients .

Re. neo-liberal governmentality.

Neoliberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy

….One of the more incisive accounts of neoliberal political rationality comes from a surprising quarter: Michel Foucault is not generally heralded as a theorist of liberalism or of political economy. Yet Foucault’s 1978 and 1979 Collège de France lectures, long unpublished,2 consisted of his critical analysis of two groups of neoliberal economists: the Ordo-liberal school in postwar Germany (so named because its members, originally members of the Freiburg School, published mainly in the journal Ordo) and the Chicago School that arose midcentury in the United States. Thanks to the German sociologist Thomas Lemke, we have an excellent summary and interpretation of Foucault’s lectures on neoliberalism; in what follows I will draw extensively from Lemke’s work.

link to lchc.ucsd.edu

Foucault, Weber and Neoliberal Governmentality

Foucault’s own complex, nuanced reading of what he would term neoliberalism has long been at risk of being subsumed into a more generic neo-Marxist critique of capitalism. In such accounts, neoliberalism becomes the pejorative term used to describe the latest iteration of the dominant ideology through which the ruling class keeps the masses in subordinate power relations. In contrast to Foucault’s own conception of power as strategy and something that is ‘exercised only over free subjects, and only insofar as they are free’, and that ‘a society without power relations can only be an abstraction’, power is reduced to relations of domination, or the ideological manipulation of subjects by powerful interests (Foucault, 1982: 790-791).

link to theoryculturesociety.org

Reframing Political Freedom: An Analysis of Governmentality

The Ambiguous constitutio libertatis of Government

….The emergence of neoliberal governmentality, and its evolution into advanced liberal governmentality, has enabled a multiplicity of forms of life, not all contained in the rational plan established, albeit in a flexible manner and the widest possible, by the government at a distance. It is the very subjects of the government, on the basis of the freedom that it grants them, who formulate hypotheses that are not always commeasurable with governmental rationality. It is however in the nature of government at a distance to predict the existence of conduct that does not perfectly fit in the plan of normalisation and prefixed rationalisation, even that which is most flexible and open to every type of determination.

If in fact the “will to govern” cuts across all the possible governmental assemblages, these assemblages are never the mere product of a unilateral will to govern. For its imperfect nature, the activity of transfer realised by the government at a distance is a fragile relais, constantly subjected to contestations and to a constant transformation which fuels the production of risk, rather than reducing it. The high rate of uncertainty contained in governmental technologies elaborated in “advanced liberalism” is due to the assemblage of different, and often antagonistic, knowledge, powers, capacities, competences and judgments.

The uncertainty in question is not however the mere result of a lack of rationality on the part of the government, or of the unpredictability of the market, but derives directly from the freedoms enjoyed by individuals. The point at which the circularity of the production of freedom (on the part of the government for the benefit of the subjects and of the subjects in favour of the government) is interrupted is the uncertain, random and regular nature of such production. The “construction” of freedom remains the imperative of liberal life, but has as its downside the totalising control of all the spheres of individual life: movement in space, material existence, nourishment, treatment practiced upon individuals.

A number of exponents of Governmentality studies seem to ignore its constitutive paradox: liberal life is subject to an incessant, solicitous prescriptive activity that is always aimed at the benevolent goal of preventing risks thus running the risk of suppressing it – liberal life – in a system of totalising prevention[7].

link to ejls.eu

@ Morag missed you on Sat night I had thought you would be at the Wings do .

The ongoing Trams fiasco is another example of these companies writing their own contracts & charging what they want .

Those charged in negotiations of those PFI/PPI were negligent in their duties to the Public & if found guilty should be surcharged , as said in the video there was a Fraud committed & that Fraud was on a massive scale Nth & Sth .

Where there really and truly no other companies interested in this contract, so a shell company with a straw bid had to be invented to allow the project to go ahead? Or was there a deeper conspiracy at work to freeze out all but the preferred bidder and the shell company so that the preferred bidder could charge what it liked?

Inquiring minds want to know.”

One of the underlying drivers behind PFI, was, they say, that they could not get anyone to build big public sector projects, too much risk, prohibitive maintenance costs, which are massive, unfair risk sharing itself, were all too much for private construction firms, so they came up with PFI.

Ideally PFI was meant to be sharing construction cost risk between contractor, us, and builders, improved build quality, with the PFI contractor responsible for minimum 30 year maintenance costs and above all, value of money.

Clearly its become a cash cow under SLabour, who have royally fcuked it all up. But risk sharing modified PFI is being used by SNP Scots gov, for projects that fit the actual contracts?

Did the BBC in Scotland not do a documentary about pfi or ppp without implicating or even mentioning the labour party in it?

Brilliant deconstruction of the myth that Labour are on the side of working people.

A must share as widely as possible.

“Or was there a deeper conspiracy at work to freeze out all but the preferred bidder and the shell company so that the preferred bidder could charge what it liked?”

And all kickbacks from the company with the ‘winning’ bid fell into the right SLabour hands, of course? The tip of the SLab-berg?

Yes indeed–inquiring minds would like a thorough and properly conducted investigation into this.

Much kudos to the film-makers.

ronnie anderson 😉

That is just the tip of the iceberg. The illegal wars, financial fraud, tax evasion are costing £Trns.

Westminster are wasting £Billions. Costing Scotland £20Billion a year.

The Tories are borrowing and spending £100Billion on Hinkley Point. It will cost double and be years late. A disaster waiting to happen. The last nuclear station built in Finland was 7 years late and cost double. Two tidal barrages (Humber) would have cost £20Million and produced more renewable, safe, cheaper energy. HS2 will cost another £50Billion plus. Trident £100Billion. Another disaster. Heathrow. All a complete waste of money with more credible, cheaper safer alternatives. Wasting £Billions. The Tories and their associates embezzling public money. On consultancies, remuneration, charges, banking , fees etc. Cameron, Carrington etc making £Millions out of it. A British- Chinese consortium. All a total waste of tax payers money. It is an absolute scandal.

The illegal wars have cost £Trns caused the worst migration crisis since the 11WW. Costing other countries £Billions/Trillion and destroying the world economy. The Banking fraud. The tax evasion. Killing and starving their own citizens and people the world over.

The Tories have cut Education £6Billion a year. The NHS £4Billion a year and welfare benefits £3Billion a year. Total £13Billion. Cutting essential services. They are spending over £30Billion a year on grotesque projects of no value. There are cheaper, safer alternative. Costing less and less dangerous.

The sooner the Tories are gone the better. The sooner Scotland is Independent the better. Now Brexit another total waste of money. Causing hardship. The Tories will negotiate less for more. Higher contributions for less rights and decision making. Do they can continue to tax evade. That is why they want out of the EU. Just a disgrace.

Proud Cybernat says:
14 November, 2017 at 2:50 pm
“Or was there a deeper conspiracy at work to freeze out all but the preferred bidder and the shell company so that the preferred bidder could charge what it liked?”
And all kickbacks from the company with the ‘winning’ bid fell into the right SLabour hands, of course? The tip of the SLab-berg?

Yes indeed–inquiring minds would like a thorough and properly conducted investigation into this.

Yes, and criminally implicated “Factors” in Glasgow do it all the time also, penny shaving and illegal charges but we are rebuffed by the authorities who are paid to protect us!

From 12.05 – “The decision to embark on a multi million pound schools construction project was taken following a procurement exercise governed by strict European procurement regulations”. No mention that I saw in the report of following this up by an appeal to a higher court such as the EU. Clearly little point in following through with this within the UK. Could add another aspect to brexit?

link to europeanlawmonitor.org

Labour were raising £600Billion in taxes. Borrowing £120Billion – £720Billion

The Tories are raising £533Billion. Borrowing £100Billion? Seven years later.

Scotland raises £54Billion+ ncreased £4Billion a year. (£10Billion more pro rata than the rest of the UK). The Scottish budget has been cut 10% a year since 2010. Now cut £3Billion a year.

Unionist councils are still at it. ACC have constructed a grotesque project. Hotels and shops. Leased back over 30 years. £200Million, £300Million for a non mandated Conference Centre. With no business case. The present one is used on average once a month, subsidised £26Million. Cutting and not funding essential services.

The City was illegally sold off on the stock exchange. £1.2Billion in debt. The UTG Project, supported by the majority, would have cost £20Million with a £80Million donation. Claimed to be too expensive. It would have predestrianised the City Centre.

The Art Gallery will be shut for years. A total waste of money. A two job Tory councillor/MSP is keeping this unionist cabel in power. The PJ/EE unionist owner from Dundee backs this regime. Spending the profits on a bankrupt football club. Dundee is being renovated successfully by a SNP council.

PPI estate has to be returned after 30 years in pristine condition. If that happens. There would be yearly maintenance charge for public premises etc.

@Morag says: 14 November, 2017 at 1:44 pm:

“The company being investigated was of course never intended to win the contract … Inquiring minds want to know.”

Indeed we do, Morag, but there are two more wee question you missed out. How many brown envelopes changed hands and who were the Councillors with bulging hip pockets or very wide handbags?

Who were the councillors that had family members buying shares at that time.

Having a check on RT, still see nothing for the “Alex Salmond Show” on listings?

I don’t know where the Sunday Herald journo on this absolutely stunning video (soon to be shown on a TV set near you =cough=) was coming from, because I happened to be on the board of a local school when its enlargement (and merger) was being done by PFI, and it was transparently clear to us back then that this was an utterly false economy. Snake-oil economics. So no hindsight needed, thanks very much!

It was also transparently clear to us then that PFI was going to happen whether we (as representatives of the parents) agreed to it or not. Forced through by a Labour-run local authority who were told to make it happen by a Labour “Scottish Executive” who were told to make it happen by the Labour finance machine in London run by El Gordo.

Young idealistic people now may have no notion of wht we went through, but 20 years back we really thought with the Labour win that we were entering a hopeful new era, and instead we just got an amplification of what had gone before, not least over PFI. A lot of people were trampled over to make that happen, so enormous credit to Campbell Martin & Co for sticking with this vile business so tenaciously and for so long.

Not least because, besides the obvious one of the “cost cuckoo” in the public finance “nest”, one of the lesser-known but more-pernicious aspects of PFI is the almost total lack of transparency involved. “Commercial confidentiality”, y’know. Private business, private matter. Read the contract fine print, nothing else you need to know.

Whereas actually not a penny of public finance – let alone billions of pounds – should be spent without full public knowledge of where its going and what it’s for.

But that’s not all, it seems, bad enough as PFI was (and remains). Even worse is the real likelihood here of a politically-motivated cover-up of criminal practice. This must be investigated now. To do nothing would be to collude in what appears to be a flagrant abuse of public office.

This issue has also starkly revealed to me just why NorthBritLab (and maybe the LieDems too) are so vehemently opposed to Scottish independence. Not because of some pathetic adherence to a threadbare failing Union, but because of a visceral fear of just what skeletons will tumble out of what cupboards afterwards…

The most damning thing I can say is, it is as expected.

Times it by 500 or 1000 and we’ll get the total extent UK wide.

Unfortunately the majority of Scottish voters prefer it to any alternatives.

Indeed vlad! Gordo Broon was very keen on PFI. There must be a few theses on psycoanalysing why. What sick perverted intellect would want to lumber future citizens with that sort of debt? I don’t think it’s just about the money and looking good politically in the short term. There must be a deeper cause.

Any thoughts Wingers?

A debate-‘This House Believes That Government Has Failed Britain’s Youth’ (and Scotland will be leaving this god-awful United Kingdom)

‘What happens to you when you leave and going to go out and have to pay rent? So that somebody like me can buy a buy-to-let home and guarantee that my pension will be even better in my old age so that I can have five cruises a year, because that is who your landlords are. And what is going to happen when you have to pay back the Private Finance Initiative deals that we have taken out? All of the loans that we have taken out when we mortgaged your future because, to be honest, people of my age want a nice retirement for our generation?

We haven’t just failed you. We completely took the Micky. And the interesting thing, the thing that gives me hope, is that we have taken the Micky so much that it isn’t just poor children, and it isn’t just average children, its children who go on to became young adults at Oxford and Cambridge who are going to enter a world in which their own life chances have been so altered by our belief that only a few great people should rise to the top and the rest can just struggle that we think it is fine if you are going to have to pay these high rents, if you pay £100,000 back for your student loans. On the incomes that you are going to get in your jobs, you’ll be paying back £100,000 pounds for having borrowed £27,000.

Other countries don’t do this. Other countries: Germany, Denmark, … {Interruption from the audience – “Question Do more people go to university in this country or in Germany and Denmark?”} Answer – more people go in the USA and there will be huge numbers going in this country in future – £9000 a time – we will let them in! And of course they are going to come, but the US have even more and their graduates are often in deeper poverty and vote Trump.

You can get as many people to university as you like if you have for-profit universities. In the US for-profit universities spend more on advertising about how ‘good’ their courses are than they spend on their on teaching. It is no achievement getting the number of people into university up. That is dead easy. All you have got to do is allow universities to charge people £9000 a year and give those students the right to borrow money. It’s dead easy. And that is why enrolment in Scotland is lower because Scotland doesn’t do that. Which is why Scotland does it better. Which is why – in the poorest parts of Scotland children are better educated than in the poorest parts of England. Scottish society has a degree of solidarity and people care about each other, which is why Scotland is talking about leaving this god-awful United Kingdom’

link to dannydorling.org

PFI- corruption on multiple levels- perhaps the services of forensic accountants would be helpful in unpicking the financial dealings/racketeering.

‘the United Kingdom’s private finance initiative (PFI) – a species of ‘public private partnership’ (PPP) whose operations and effects we explore in what follows – can be treated as an example of ‘corruption’. Through an examination of associations between practice, process and context in the implementation of PFI, we focus on the role of the state and new forms of governmental arrangement in establishing contexts in which corruption, understood in different ways, can flourish’

Mair, Michael & Jones, Paul. (2015). Politics, Government and Corruption: The Case of the Private Finance Initiative. 124-134. 10.2307/j.ctt183p7g4.14.

Shocking, vile, corrupt, fraudulent, crooked money making scheme to pretend that Labour was the answer to all our prayers.

Having all the evidence in full view like this brings it home how rotten politicians make rotten choices.

Now we need this to get out to the public before any more local council elections.

PFI was a scam from the outset. It was a deliberate attempt to have money spent without it having to appear on th books.

The base line was deliberately skewed away from traditional forms of procurement in favour of PFI so it was the only game in town. PPP was no different.

Finance Officers at the time knew very well the true cost but were railroaded into accepting it by the Labour run Scottish Executive. It was this or nothing.

Well done to the makers of this documentary, it should shame Labour, but it won’t.

Ian at 12:43 mentions a book “Down the Tube” about another PFI/PPP scandal that cost the taxpayer billions.

This all came about because the clunking fist Brown insisted that the London Underground after years of neglect could only be upgraded under a PFI deal, there was to be no public money.

Gordon Brown’s ill-fated determination to impose a public-private partnership agreement on the London Underground will cost the taxpayer £2bn.

link to archive.is

This was in 2003, however only 5 years later the company Metronet went belly up, a second company Tube Lines also involved was to fail just 2 years later in 2010 with once again the taxpayer footing the bill. From the Torygraph of all places.

The underachievement is easily explained. Under the PPP, leaks have shown, taxpayers paid £144,000 a year for the lowest grade of manual labourer. Routine meetings were held on chartered riverboats, with us paying the bar tab. Golf days were organised – with a DVD player, bought by the taxpayer, handed out at each hole for the staff member who landed closest.

Ah, but that (the PPP’s defenders might say) was all Metronet, the evil twin of the two-contractor scheme, which collapsed in 2007. Yet Tube Lines is following Metronet along the path of excess – it has, we learn, charged £240 million in “secondment fees” for as few as 50 secondees – and into the pit of meltdown.

link to archive.is

A fool and their money are easily parted. We, the public are the politicians fools.

WANTED: Scottish politicians elected by Scots to make decisions on behalf of Scots. We accept their decisions or we sack them.

No longer should we allow Westminster to make decisions for Scots. These people are not interested in the affairs of Scotland, only interested in themselves.

Rid Scotland of corrupt politicians and their equally corrupt media. Enough is enough and I am heartily sick of the stench.

This was a twitter link back when PFI was examined here – with some startling revelations – last year.

link to wingsoverscotland.com

link to twitter.com

Oh, and read and weep.

link to archive.is

Excellent video. I came across Campbell Martin’s blog before indyref, but haven’t checked him out much since. (to my shame)

A wee glance at the shenanigans of the British Establishment at the G8 (Gleneagles)
link to campbellmartin.blogspot.co.uk

There were ex services personnel in kilts all over London at remembrance services. At the Scottish Church etc. 80% of the military were from Scotland, because of higher unemployment. Yet Ian Blackford is criticised for wearing a kilt.

Alex Salmond on RT will be broadcast all over the world. Putting Scotland further on the map. They watch it all over the States. Preferring it to Fox News, SKy, CNN and the BBC.

Re PFI and legal action.

While the efficacy of PFI re the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary was being questioned as far back as 2003 much to the chagrin of McConnell

link to archive.is

in 2010 the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary contract itself was causing deep concern.

link to archive.is

Five years later there was serious talk of legal action.

link to archive.is

Anybody know what happened re the idea of annulling a PFI contract because it fails to deliver.

Who should hold an enquiry ?

who is not tainted ?

the Iraq (Chilcot) inquiry took 7 years and cost £13,000,000
and Tony & Gordon are still swanning around after 400,000 avoidable deaths, “The case for war was deficient” it said.

don`t know what you do but there will NEVER be justice done.

Those with satellite receivers can watch RT, along with other news channels. Owners may have noticed, or maybe not, that Fox News disappeared a couple of months ago. No loss TBH.

link to archive.is

However, those who say that RT is biased, clearly have never seen Fox. Astonishing right wing agenda. And anyone who thinks that Jackie Bird can be a bit sneery in her reporting of anything Indy/SNP, hasn’t watched the horrendous sneering and scarcasm displayed by Fox presenters!

The YoonVision we have to put up with is bad, Fox is/was ten times worse within its own interest sphere. News reporting, it was not.

RT may have an agenda, but as far as I can see, it’s presenters display basic manners.

It astounds me that Unison or the GMB can still support Labour, who effectively handcuffed local councils to these punitive contracts.

Christmas shopping tips:

If you have to shop online and they send you back the *any questions* or *comments* click on the reply and rewrite your address replacing the words United Kingdom with Scotland pointing out politely it may help the postal service to be more accurate given that the United Kingdom is four countries within Britain and even more accurately Scotland is the one they’re sending the item to

Ever yours
The customer

Joanna Cherry speaking now on the parliament channel on the EU withdrawal Bill.

Re: Catalonia

I have received a reply from the EU Commission, which I print in full:

Dear Mr Alexander,

Thank you for your message of 1 October 2017, which expresses personal views, to President Juncker which he has passed on to me for a response.

Let me start by saying that as the Commission has publicly stated on 2 October 2017, beyond the purely legal aspects of this matter, we believe that these are times for unity and stability, not divisiveness and fragmentation.

In the same statement the Commission called on all relevant players to now move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue. Violence can never be an instrument in politics. We expressed our trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to manage this difficult process in full respect of the Spanish Constitution and of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined therein.

The position of the Commission on this issue was echoed by First Vice-President Timmermans in his intervention in the Plenary Session of the European Parliament on 4 October 2017.

Last 11 October, the Commission again reiterated its earlier call for the full respect of the Spanish Constitutional order and its trust in the Spanish Institutions and all political forces who are working towards a solution within the framework of the Spanish Constitution.

Pursuant to the law of the European Union, it is exclusively up to the Member States to ensure that they comply with their obligations regarding fundamental rights which result from international agreements and from their national Constitution. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union only applies in the context of the implementation of EU law.

Yours sincerely,

Henning KLAUS

Head of Unit

European Commission

Secretariat-General

Unit B.2 “Institutional Affairs”

BERL 5/332

B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

O/t . . . Scotland U21’s are playing at St. Mirren’s stadium Tonight. . . Only heard this on BBC Radio Shortbread’s footy show at 7.40,pm . .(too late to go to the match, good way to keep the crowd numbers down) .the reporter told listeners that Flower of Scotland was being played Then talked right through the Anthem.

Richard Gordon talked over Flower of Scotland during Scotlands last (or 2nd last) game under Gordon Strachan. Then they aired the competitions Anthem uninterrupted.

Whether you like FoS or not, Are you happy with these Yoons dissing our Anthem .

O/T If like me you missed the C4 interview with Alex Salmond by Jon Snow because you don’t watch live telly then here it is in full.

link to channel4.com

Craig P @ 21:53,

There was one who did, Craig: Prof. Allyson Pollock, an expert on hospital resourcing who called out this scam right from the very start. She bravely stood up to one scurrilous verbal attack by some NorthBritLab “Scottish Executive” thug on BBC Scotland one evening, presided over by Gordon Brewer, I seem to recall.

You could say that it’s a pity that we didn’t have more people with the calibre of Prof Pollock, whom I admire greatly for what she did, since lots more people knew exactly what was going on. Some kept their heads down to protect their careers, but BBC Scotland weren’t exactly busting a gut (shall we say) to put PFI critics on the TV anyway. Even Prof Pollock hardly got a look in.

BBC and the Scottish press were (and probably still are) filled with NorthBritLab supporters and placemen, so no great wonder that they kept schtum.

Jon Snow with Alec Salmond, what an arse. The underlying message is that your show is not being pick up by the UK media and how dare you go elsewhere. He almost dropped into Lord Foulkes mode at one point

The UK has decided that the SNP is to be denied the oxygen of publicity (they would refer to it as censorship elsewhere), unless it’s of course to be invited on to be ridiculed (circa This Week).

The bad news for the media is that the population of Scotland can see the results of the SNP being in power, and it doesn’t gel with what is reported. They can’t fool all the people all of the time.

re;Alex Clark@10.02

Interview? I would call it interrogation. Jon Snow did his utmost to paint a picture of collusion, wrongdoing and control by a TV station which as Alex Salmond pointed out, is legitimately broadcasting to the world.

This is big. I was told that Scotland is ‘small and of no interest on the world stage’ by some, prior to 2014 referendum. Now we have an ex FM of Scotland, being taken to task for exercising his civil right to make a tv programme. Did Channel4 offer Alex Salmond a one hour, or even one minute slot per week?

What next, will the UKGov attempt to cull the programme and even accuse Salmond of colluding with an enemy, not like our dodgy friends eh. I think we all know who the enemies of Scotland are, and they are not the ex SNP First Minister of Scotland. Looking at the film today, about the dodgy dealings of the Labour/Libdem lot when in power at Holyrood, it’s clear we have a whole lot more to be investigating. Serious fraud, serious breach of the law, yet, Ch4 are arguing with A.Salmond about a tv show!

Come on Jon Snow, why not show the film that we have all watched in disgust, today, about obvious dodgy dealings, and a huge injustice reigned on Scotland as a result. As a result huge debt for the people of Scotland, for a very long time to come. Great, is that really going to be brushed under the huge, dirty minging UKok carpet. Yep, it will not be an issue nor see the light of day in the daily rags or UKok state run media. Akin to any tin pot regime in reality, truly sickening.

The Skye Bridge ripoff was the early awakening for many people of what PFI was really about…. a brass plate on a lawyer’s office, millions of pounds siphoned out of the country and many ordinary Scots criminalised.

Gordon Brown and his glove puppet ‘lord’ McConnel slab mate saw a quick way of buying votes by smoke and mirrors via shoddy schools and hospitals with 30 year leases and places of work where workers couldn’t even put pictures up without incurring charges for damaging the fabric of the walls.

Corrupt and weak Scottish legal sysytem hand in hand with even more corrupt, stupid and venal slab, created the mess we see today with a billion in interest charges to speculators and buidings not fit for purpose. Yet..the complicit Britpack media point the finger of blame at SNPBAD.

However, while the SNP remain in supine mode in face of the attacks, vainly trying to demonstrate to the ‘world’ ( as if it gives a fuck) how damned decent it is in face of the scurvy Brit State ( how many brave speeches in the HOC matter a shit?)..we are faced with an avalanche of distraction by said corrupt media.

0/T re. the kilt and our losses in ww1. There are 147,000 named Scots in the war dead ledgers housed in Edinburgh Castle, who died in that complete charnel house….bad enough, but I have since discovered that 53,000 Scots also died in ww2.

Again twice our ratio of population to RUK and 1/5 of the ‘British’million combined war dead of world wars 1&2 ..maybe the whining unionist scum like Murdo McLeod so blinded by their selfloathing should ponder for a moment on all those bloodstained kilts and the young Scots lives shrouded therein that were thrown away by ‘Mother England’.

Dispatches from Walmington-on-Sea….

link to imgur.com

Lochside, with respect, I read contrary stats to yours re ratio of war dead. Sure there were pockets of male clearances in many rural areas but the difference overall was slim.

I’ll check it out though.

The SNP are doing a highly competent job in government, DESPITE;-

Financial crisis/excuses for UK austerity.

PFI hobbling the public sector.

Inability to borrow/offset/invest freely.

Hatred from the mainstream media.

The Snowflake of ch4 is no match for Alex Salmond I thought he was going to have a heart attack .

Things get more surreal by the day. McCarthyism is alive and well and I can see it being used during indyref2. Just think Mr Leask has given Ruth Davidson her next campaign slogan for a general election. Instead of ‘No Indy ref’, it will be ‘Denounce RT!’.

@ronnie anderson

Yes, pure panic written all over Snows face. I remember writing my name in the Snow as a wee boy. That’s what Salmond did tonight.

I’m disappointed that Alex Salmond didn’t make it to Jolly’s on Saturday night as he was in Dundee and is definitely a Winger.

Never mind, I still hope he’ll turn up at the Wingers party on Independence day 🙂

The irony of #scotnight on Monday, there’s auld Erchie blabbing about nae money for Scottish football on the very channel that shows England games & his former employer at EBC spends literally hunners of millions on English football and 30bob on our own game.
Thing is, folk like him genuinely believe they have our country’s interests at heart. He’s retired, he has no reason to be dishonest, he really must believe it.

Sorry to be so off topic, but BBC4 are still punting Rory Stewart, Tory MP’s show based on a Tolkein or Jakey Rowling view of ‘history’ – Swallows and Amazons BC. I might do a show on the history of chocolate buttons as part of the construction of the Hoover Dam. Mental? Yep!

That was not an interview with Alex Salmond it was a verbal assault. Snow should be reprimanded for that ‘interview’ What is the point of asking a question and then shouting over the guest as they attempt to answer and talking them down???

It might have been better if Alex had just said … ok , off you go, say everything you want and then it’ll be my turn to speak – uninterrupted.

Look on the bright side – hardly anyone left in Britain who hasn’t heard that Alex Salmond has a new show starting on RT… streuth, even my sister had heard about it and she has never heard of RT.

Sad state of affairs that AS – frequent winner of Politician of the Year, is shown such disrespect.

On an even sadder note, why did Labour fail to vote tonight on any of the amendments resulting from the Great Withdrawal Bill debate in WM tonight???

Big Phil

Various posters have provided the link. This is the Channel 4 Alex Salmond interview for those who don’t have a tv.

link to channel4.com

Robert Kerr
I wouldn’t want to guess at the cause of El Gordo’s disposition Robert, but I’d suggest the outcome is an overly confident, reductionist world view.

MYTHS OF THE POLITICAL-ECONOMIC WORLD VIEW

MYTHS OF ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
The Myth of Rational Behavior

It is widely believed that some form of the “rational behavior” observed of particles in classical physics must also be present in human behavior. The idea of rationality in human behavior was in the eighteenth century, however, and still is, only an analogy with classical physics. Since the nineteenth century, the idea has been shown to be a very weak one. It is more a political theory, a code of human behavior, than a reflection of natural laws. Nevertheless, rational behavior is at the core of neoclassical economics and its modem offshoots. The approach is reductionist, looking at the individual in order to try to understand the economy. It relies on the assumption that a whole is the sum of its parts.

link to jayhanson.org

BBC Reporting a discussion in USA today between Senators as to whether the US is safe if Trump alone can give the order to fire a nuclear weapon.
Jitters all round.

The final sentence says that a decision has been taken to modify the nuclear arsenal just in case…

link to bbc.co.uk

Alex Salmond went fishing for fools and they all took the bait. 🙂

Scotland needs her own status.

Let’s be aye!

Diggity.

Morning excellent buddy CameronB.. we good.

Cameron, I believe ‘previous no voters’ do not have an emotional love of or for Scotland.

Could you help to explain the emotional love..?

In bold is the key word.

Yet to watch the video.

Believe in goodness.

What’s ur number?

They’re whining like air raid sirens because the Scots are speaking without them having the power to stop us
Maybe they’ll ask president Rajoy to arrest us all, they seem to like that in good old morally bankrupt England,
How loudly they squeal when they’re shown up for what they are

No UK government controlled media would buy Alex Salmonds show because they’re too afraid of government retribution, plus they demand editorial control which Alex Salmond wasn’t going to give them

RT simply bought the former FMs show in it’s complete and unedited form and they never asked for editorial control nor did they insist on control of content for the show

So the shouty English hypocrites are only angry because they couldn’t stop him speaking his mind, oh and as Alex says

Thanks for the publicity, and it’s a YES from me and good luck with the show boss and thanks to the new boss Nicola Sturgeon for her and Alex’s crafty wind up of the British Nationalist lying media who were too stupid to see they were set up by better minds than theirs

Lurking British Nationalists, do your homework and maybe you’ll learn something instead of what the BBC and the Daily Mail tell you to dribble out of your mouths

All we need is each other, that’s the ONLY game in town.

Scotland.

Hey to you Dr Jim! 🙂

“Come along Scotland’s next referendum of our own choice…”

Ye beginnin’ tae see what we’re saying.

Hello 21st Century iScotland!

How do?

Ahm going for it, cheers for the truth on off-topic William Wallace.

Scotland X.

Mon then…

Mon pardon.

The “Alex Salmond Show”, goes and shows and starts tomorrow.

Not wiki-wiki wednesday one five..

See ye there.

Thoisday.

R’morra.

9pm.

Ride on ye Wingers yeah!

Excellent for an encore.

Caledonia be SO cool.

No less no more.

Scotland X.

This is Def Leppard and ahm always Excitable:
link to youtube.com

Just like you.

Emotional love of and for Scotland.

Cheers.

Alec Rowley has stood down as Deputy Leader, looks like more fun from the abstention party

@Old Pete

Mr Snow appeared pretty uninformed on a number of issues, not least the fact that there is no Scottish broadcaster or broadcasting service. As for Mr Salmond being held in some respect past tense?

Over several decades I haven’t noticed any respect given to Mr Salmond as an individual, a party leader or First Minister by any of his political opponents and most certainly not the mainstream media. Basically, they kept that quiet. His opponents and said media spent most of that time attempting to destroy the man’s career, his reputation and smear his name.

As I’ve said previously, they got their wish at the last GE and now he’s a private individual. (shrugs)

He owes his opponents from his old profession nothing and most certainly a media which has been nigh-on universally antagonistic toward him zero explanation. No broadcaster across the planet is exactly my cuppa char. You couldn’t put a fag paper between them so far as I’m concerned. Politics or corporate interest. Or politics AND corporate interests. The basis for most media motivation. That aside, as a private individual with his skill set, he’s perfectly entitled to make the best of that skill set however he chooses. (shrugs again)