Standard Life’s Far Right Board needs exposing:
Keith Skeoch, Executive Director of Standard Life, is on the Board of Reform Scotland, the neo-conservative lobby group which wants to abolish the minimum wage, privatize the NHS and pensions, and still further restrict trade unions.
It is difficult for Tories openly to campaign against Scottish Independence as everyone in Scotland hates them, so they do it with their corporate hats on. This is most of the board of Standard Life:
Garry Grimstone, Chairman, “lead non-executive” at the Ministry of Defence, London
Keith Skeoch, Executive Director, right wing political lobbyist
Crawford Gillies, Non Executive Director, Chairman of Control Risk Group, of London, the “security consultancy” of choice for ex MI5 and MI6 officers
Noel Harwerth, non-executive Director, Director of “London First” – [Honestly, I am not making this up]
David Nish – Chief Executive, Member of the “UK Strategy Committee” of “TheCity UK”. “TheCity UK” being a body of the City of London.
John Paynter, non-executive Director, was vice chairman of JP Morgan Cazenove until the 2008 crash
Amazing that lot oppose independence, huh?
Standard Life also threatened to leave at the time of the devolution referendum and gave out No campaign materials to staff. “Leave” of course is a relative concept – the above bunch just pop up from London from time to time to check on how the serfs are doing.
I published this information on 27 February when they last tried to influence the independence debate. Standard Life is again trying today to influence the referendum campaign by a press release claiming it will move key departments to London in the event of independence, enthusiastically amplified by the BBC, Guardian and all the other reactionary media.
Well, here is an opposing press release, from me. If anybody thinks that an Independent Scotland will be a place where major strategic companies can still be controlled by swivel-eyed right wing ideologues, they may get a very nasty shock from the people of Scotland.
Oh, and Blair will be in the US from the 18th, so no chance of our hero turning up to swing the vote decisively towards ‘we’d best be going, then’ on the day.
Fair play, it seems a bit unjust that he’s getting flak for keeping just about the only promise he ever fulfilled honestly, delivering devolution. But OTOH, it wasn’t his promise, and he did it solely to head off the independence movement.
“Blair will be in the US from the 18th, so no chance of our hero turning up to swing the vote decisively towards ‘we’d best be going, then’ on the day”
The 18th is the day of the vote so too late anyway. Where is he on the 16th or 17th?
@Ba’al Zevul “there’s a continuum .. between total subservience and total independence.I would have personally favoured Crown Dependency status for Scotland.. This would have given Scotland the administrative and legislative freedom it needs..”
That’s a good point. Given what we know about the proposed additional powers to be devolved by the main parties in the case of a ‘No’ majority, would that make Scotland very different from the sort of autonomy that Jersey has? Or what additional powers would you want to see?
@node: We are, for one day anyway!
Yes Yes by God Yes.
Where is he on the 16th or 17th?
Hard to say. But I bet you an e-beer it won’t be Edinburgh.
Or what additional powers would you want to see?
I think as close to the current Jersey model as possible would be good. But lose the name “Crown Dependency”, ffs. Jersey calls itself the State – Crown States, perhaps, with some harmonisation to bring them under a single legislative framework as far as the UK’s strongly limited input is concerned, but losing none of their existing powers and attributes.
Don’t think the Quartet Representative, Philanthropist of the Year and Special Advisor to Nursultan Nazarbayev will be here on the 16th, either….
http://stopwar.org.uk/events/london-a-night-for-gaza-16-september-with-jeremy-hardy-and-robb-johnson
Any of them.
So if Scotland turns walks out on union does that advocate rUK can invade Scotland if ISIS terror slays David Haines and the multi-headed serpent visits Ayr or Perth or Dundee.
Admiral Lord West seems to suggest rUK special forces have a valid mandate to intervene considering the US, mindless for international law, can undertake such acts without the approval of the legitimate government of a state.
Orkneylad: A nice riff. If you want to analyse the music of the 9/18 concert, why not go to your own local composer, Peter Maxwell Davies. Will the key melody be “Orkney Wedding [reaffirmation] With Sunrise”, the somnolent No campaign being roused at the last minute by the strident blast from Alex Salmond’s bagpipes? Or will it be the elegiac “Farewell to Stromness” sung by defeated Orcadian No voters as they sadly sail south to South Britain?
Max told Guardian readers in August that he’s voting “Yes” – but with rather guarded optimism:
“[Scotland] is very capable of going its own way, and one would get away from these dreadful right-wing politicians from all three parties here in London.” He pauses. “Well, perhaps one might, perhaps one might not.”
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/19/peter-maxwell-davies-at-80-interview
Am I right in assuming that the results will be tallied by constituency so that the local Yes and No votes will be known? – Which tune do you think Orkney and Shetland will be singing?
I hope post-referendum polls will be conducted to secure some evidence about the differing importance of postal votes, including how many would have changed their vote if they had not needed to post them before 9/18. Lastminute.com sticks and carrots may have their part to play in which nag crosses the line first.
Yes Mark. Just this year Obama was trying to take out AUMF. Now he’s on board. R2P is the cover for this and other global foolishness.
We need protection from our protectors.
Mine @ 1.35: correction. Tony Blair is not in Malaysia right now. He is, or was very recently, in Indonesia, apparently ‘strengthening ties between the Islamic world and the West’.
Can’t beat his record on that. Those plastic cable-tie handcuffs are particularly effective, I’m told.
Banking on corporate blackmail – resist the fear and safely deposit your Yes
As that parcel o’ rogues, Cameron, Clegg and Miliband, head back to their Westminster bunker, the last, desperate love-bombing has given way to a last, desperate wave of corporate intimidation.
And make no mistake, despite the blind panic, this is still all concerted establishment action, a political, corporate and media network throwing everything and that kitchen sink at our momentous Yes movement.
Scottish actor Martin Compston provided a suitable summary on Cameron’s union-saving visit: ‘Gone are the days when the Bullingdon Club can come up here and tell us what to do’.
That applies just as much to carpetbagger Clegg and Tory clone Miliband.
/..
http://johnhilley.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/banking-on-corporate-blackmail-resist.html
Would Scotland join the NATO expansion? If they round peg Ukraine into that square hole (disputed border) and create another Afghanistan?
http://www.dw.de/us-europe-at-odds-over-nato-expansion/a-17911204
“Cry Havoc………..”
http://english.cri.cn/12394/2014/09/11/2281s843839.htm
“Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is calling for a referendum on NATO membership.
Tymoshenko has submitted documents to the Central Electoral Commission in Kiev, asking for a nationwide vote on whether or not to join the organization.
“The only one guarantee that could work after we destroyed our nuclear weapons is to join NATO. We have to improve on our failures in the past urgently if we want peace for our country, if we want unity for our country. Today we bring documents calling for a referendum on joining NATO. All documents were made according to the law.”
Tymoshenko is calling for the referendum on whether to join NATO to be held at the same time as Ukraine’s upcoming parliamentary elections in October.
Ukrainian officials have suggested they may be willing to consider applying for NATO membership.
This would break a previous Ukranian pledge to remain non-aligned.”
Komodo-Afrend-Baal (for Gaza AND Scotland*)
“I never read.. reply to anything the trolls write”
Very convenient for you, I’m sure. 🙂
Anyway, glad you’ve dropped the “Afrend” nonsense and that you’re not sock-puppeting anymore….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s never wise for the Gods to descend from Mount Olympus and rub shoulders with the vulgar masses, though. When they do, they tend to make themselves look silly with things like
“Habbabreak Making the unspeakable speechless.”
Actually, Habbabreak doesn’t make me speechless, it merely enables certain people to be unaware that I’ve spoken.
Clot!
So the Westminster treasury, allegedly released market sensitive information,surrounding the Bank of Scotland what do you expect from a popinjay government.Like Jim Carey in a “Series of unfortunate events” the Westminster government just can’t seem to bump off Alex Salmond’s independence dream.
It was wonderful to see the BBC’s unionist mouth piece Nick Robinson put in his place today by Monsieur Salmond, with regard to the jiggery pokey,from the UK treasury, of course the treasury, will strongly deny any wrong doing.
* ONLY Gaza and Scotland? Haven’t you forgotten eastern Ukraine?
““Scotland’s what?” said the Department of Defense switchboard operator in apparent confusion. Scotland is voting on independence, the Guardian told her. “Oh.” A brief silence. “Wow.””
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/09/scotland-independence-vote-us-headache
Hangover !V—-
Scotland: Bank Jobs And Higher Prices Warning
RBS and Lloyds threaten to move to London while John Lewis warns of higher prices for Scottish shoppers if they leave the Union.
http://news.sky.com/story/1333891/scotland-bank-jobs-and-higher-prices-warning
What did Mayfield get his knighthood for? Services to grocery shopping, to shopping, to the Duchy of Cornwall or to the Tory partei?
Oh of course. It was for ‘services for business’. Not funny business.
In other words; “Don’t tell us. We don’t want to know”
http://scotreferendum.com/questions/will-nato-members-with-nuclear-armed-vessels-be-allowed-to-enter-scottish-waters-or-dock-at-scottish-ports/
” It is our firm position that an independent Scotland should not host nuclear weapons and we would only join NATO on that basis.
While the presence of nuclear weapons on a particular vessel is never confirmed by any country, we would expect any visiting vessel to respect the rules that are laid down by the government of an independent Scotland.
While they are both strong advocates for nuclear disarmament, both Norway and Denmark allow NATO vessels to visit their ports without confirming or denying whether they carry nuclear weapons. We intend that Scotland will adopt a similar approach as Denmark and Norway in this respect.
@Iain Orr @2:49, thanks for confirming the latest continually-changing propaganda line: “they’re all crooks.” The idea being that independence is, if not scary, then futile. Each new canard seems to get road-tested in social media before it’s rolled out in the press. This latest oneis interesting because it ignores a crucial difference between old and new states. Of course the British state is corrupt and repressive: it has ossified institutions and entrenched domination by a degenerate ruling class.
By contrast, any new state is only sovereign to the extent that it accepts defined responsibilities, explicit duties of the state. For Britain these duties of the state are an alien imposition, since it existed for centuries before they were codified. New states must accept them. Most write them into their constitution.
At a minimum these state responsibilities include the UN Charter, the International Bill of Human Rights, and the Rome Statute. Britain acceded to these, but the ruling class has contrary traditions and decades of experience in subverting them. By contrast, the first formal act of an independent Scotland must be to affirm them. Of particular importance is the ICESCR, a component of the International Bill of Human Rights. It’s all there, every social and economic aspiration of the Scottish people, with independent international review to hold the Scottish state to its commitments.
The test of a new Scottish state is that it makes an explicit commitment to its responsibilities, writing them into its constitution, institutionalizes them in structures and functions, and protects them with the Paris Principles.
It seems there’s no end to the stream nonentities making their way to Scotland, with Harriet Harman, and the Royal arse licker Nicholas Witchell, in Scotland today via the train. Unfortunately according to Sky news two coach loads of Westminster sycophants, have arrived and are preaching their mantra.
Meanwhile Ed Miliband is balling out his double speak, right next to the statue of Donald Dewar, several times Miliband has quoted Dewar’s name, its akin to Kelvin Mackenzie saying, I love all things Scottish,yes Kelvin we believe you.
2002 redux…http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/10/american-fear-mongering-war-again-isis
“Facts or consequences have never gotten in the way of Congress’ lust for war before – this political body was, after all, George W Bush’s chief enabler in Iraq the last time around – and this time it’s no different. Sen James Inhofe (R-OK) recently said Isis militants are “rapidly developing a method of blowing up a major US city and people just can’t believe that’s happening.” (Maybe because there’s no proof that they are?) Sen Bill Nelson (D-FL) said, “It ought to be pretty clear when they … say they’re going to fly the black flag of ISIS over the White House that Isis is a clear and present danger.” (Again, who cares if they’re not?)
As Herbert said “FEAR is a mind-killer.
Retweeted by Charles Crawford
Human Rights at FCO @FCOHumanRights · Sep 9
The #FCO Strategy for the Prevention of #Torture sets out #FCO policy on preventing #torture overseas. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/35449/fcostrategy-tortureprevention.pdf …
It has come rather too late for Craig in Uzbekistan one would assume.
Elsewhere on the Crawford twitter, some support for the No vote, commentary on the Pistoriuas trial, a little backchat and some boasting about giving a cup to his daughter’s school for ‘fine writing’ being the great expert himself. What a pompous git.
https://twitter.com/CharlesCrawford
Good piece on historical aspect of Obama…
http://blackagendareport.com/content/running-right-barack-obama-and-dlc-strategy
“To preserve his support among whites which Obama won without challenging any of their fundamental beliefs about America, empire, Obama was forced to denounce his pastor’s words as “akin to hate speech” and disavow his church, and with it the prophetic tradition of Christianity and the Black Church in particular. But this, and joining a prosperity-Gospel mega-church will not be enough. From this point on, all Republicans have to do is prove to their base that Obama is not as conservative as he once appeared, which they will do by pointing to his pastor and the prophetic tradition of the Black Church in general. They can, in fact, point to any stirrings of black or grassroots outrage or militancy anywhere, which Obama will want to ignore anyway, and demand a ringing denunciation from Barack Obama. When Obama gets his way, he will be silent, sticking to content-free appeals to “unity”. And when Republicans prevail they will force him to denounce at every turn the grassroots activists he should be supporting.
By contrast, the 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns of Rev. Jesse Jackson won white support too, but embraced the burden of challenging white American assumptions about the essential goodness of America, about empire, and race and class. If you were organizing against police brutality or farm foreclosures, organizing a union or protesting the illegal war in Central America, the campaign in many cases came to you and augmented your local efforts. The Obama must campaign avoid this kind of activism like Dracula avoids crosses, because its candidate’s appeal is based on challenging none of the fake history, none of the racism, injustice and unearned privilege at the heart of American life.
The Jackson campaign, at least, was honest about the obstacles to a real politics of transformation in America.
For the 21st century’s first black presidential candidate, “change” is to be accomplished through a content-free sort of “unity”. Again, Dr. Reed helps us understand what is happening.
”…the contention that the candidate can bring us all together despite our partisan differences is the same thing that the Democrats have been claiming consistently since at least, you know, Dukakis, to be post-partisan, to be post-political. And frankly, I think it appeals—it’s an appeal that gets greatest traction among people who want to take politics out of politics…”
Man’s inhumanity to man….
11-year-old boy dies from Gaza war injuries
Posted by The Editors on September 11, 2014, 12:38 pm
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — An 11-year-old boy died on Thursday after being critically injured during Israel’s military offensive on the besieged coastal enclave.
Yousif Muhammad Jmeiat al-Shalafa was pronounced dead at the European Hospital in Khan Younis after suffering from severe head wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike on his family home in Rafah.
Both his parents were killed in the attack and five other family members were injured.
Earlier, Abd al-Fattah Abu Salmiya, 63, died in an Egyptian hospital after being injured during an Israeli attack on Gaza.
Since the end of hostilities in late August, nearly two dozen Palestinians have died from their injuries, with six in the past week alone.
~~~
RIP Yousif poor child. I hope he did not suffer pain.
So Boris Johnson has been writing in Latin in a message aimed at people living in Scotland, when I think of Johnson, I always think(Anguis in Herba)and when I think of Scottish independence this springs to mind (A posse ad esse). Of course Johnson comes across as bumbling fool don’t let that persona fool you, he a shrewd character, but he’s no (Vox populi) that’s for sure.
Boris Johnson, a Bullingdon Boys club member, has as much in common with the people of Scotland as the residents of Beverly Hill California, have with the starving kids of Ethiopia.
So we’re constantly bombarded with promises from Labour and the Tories, none more so than in the run up to the referendum vote, on Scottish independence, Ed Miliband’s speech yesterday had me reaching for the razor blades, whilst David Cameron’s star crossed speech, made me want to slap him on the face and say “Grow a backbone man.”
But lets be clear just incase anyone fell for those sob stories, this sis what happens when you fall for them.
========================
1997, Labour: “We have no plans to introduce tuition fees”.
(introduced tuition fees)
1997, Labour: “We will reform the electoral system”
(electoral system was not reformed)
2001, Labour: “We will not introduce top-up fees”
(introduced top-up fees)
2005, Labour: “We will not raise basic or higher rates of income tax”
(raised higher rate of income tax)
2005, Labour: “We will hold a referendum on the EU constitution”
(did not hold a referendum on the EU constitution)
2010, Conservatives: “We have absolutely no plans to increase VAT”
(increased VAT to 20%)
2010, Conservatives: “There will be no top-down reorganisation of the NHS”
(instigated massive top-down reorganisation and privatisation of the NHS)
2010, Conservatives: “No cuts to front-line services”
(the biggest cuts to front-line services in British peacetime history)
2010, Conservatives: “No plans to abolish Education Maintenance Allowance”
(abolished Education Maintenance Allowance)
2010, Liberal Democrats: “We will vote against any increase in tuition fees”
(voted to triple tuition fees)
—————–
http://wingsoverscotland.com/spelling-it-out/
Indeed. More voices please….http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-09-10/news/53770712_1_un-charter-r2p-united-nations
“UNITED NATIONS: Amid unprecedented crisis across global hotspots, India has stressed that outside intervention in national conflicts will aggravate the crisis, underlining that the principle of the nations’ responsibility to protect its citizens should not be misused to bring about regime change.
“The world is witnessing a plethora of unprecedented crisis. In most of these conflicts, outside intervention will aggravate the conflict rather than resolve it. There has to be push for a political engagement and solution. The international community must stress political dialogue and peaceful resolution and not forceful intervention,” First Secretary in the Indian Mission here Abhishek Singh said.
How about this? Earlier it was reported that Hammond said the UK would not be joining the US in bombing Syria.
YCNMIU
Syria Airstrikes ‘Not Ruled Out’, Says No 10
As Barack Obama authorises missile strikes on IS fighters in Syria, Downing Street says it has still not ruled doing the same.
http://news.sky.com/story/1334073/syria-airstrikes-not-ruled-out-says-no-10