I am considering standing for Berwick upon Tweed on the platform of the constituency joining Scotland. This boundary adjustment would give the people access to free personal care, free prescriptions, no university tuition fees and the many other advantages of Scotland’s more society friendly government. It would give Scotland some thriving new communities and a more favourable future North Sea boundary.
I realise no Independent has been elected in modern times unless they were a sitting MP, or major parties stood down in their favour. In fact the 5% I obtained in Blackburn was the best showing since 1945 by an Independent where those conditions were absent. I realise this is a rather Quixotic reaction to my rejection by the SNP hierarchy, and would result in loss of time, energy and money. On the other hand, I understand quite a lot of people in Berwick wish the constituency to be in Scotland and it would be good to give them the chance to express that. As the seat is a Tory/Liberal marginal the alternatives are hopeless.
I think my friends really ought to talk me out of this.
Moving from one feudal county in the North of England to central Northumberland I was shock horrified to discover that there was another part of the North of England that was even MORE feudal. Ultimately the sycophantic cap doffing drove me out of the dukedom altogether.
http://www.thejournal.co.uk/north-east-analysis/analysis-news/duke-northumberland-says-scottish-independence-7710417
Nothing like chasing a good windmill Craig !!
It will give people a chance to have their say.
And it would also give you a platform to discuss those maritime border changes that were rushed thru on the eve of devolution by the War Criminal.
It’s not so many years ago that you were near deaths door.I think being a thorn in their side is good for your health.
Quixotic is good, but “I understand quite a lot of people in Berwick wish the constituency to be in Scotland” lacks a certain level of passion.
Northumberland’s a canny bastard. Managed to get 200 new houses in Alnwick through in the teeth of local and central objection by bribing the council with some old folks’ homes in the development. And Mrs, who is by no means unworthy of a second glance, hosts Harley-Davidson events:
http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/bikers-duchess-northumberland-turn-out-6213914
I’d forgive her anything if it was (British) Triumph. but Hardly Ableson? Pfft.
Why not just give the £500 to a deserving charity.
Mark,
Check this one out. It might all be real for all I know. I’ve never shot more than an air rifle. Or he might have just missed this one, and the rest are dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rls5wFCgHLw
Tony
“Why not just give the £500 to a deserving charity.”
Yes, Save The Children, perhaps.
What will be your immigration policy, Craig?
– – – – – –
At least 12 people, including four cartoonists and two policemen, killed by three gunmen at Charlie Hebdo magazine.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2015/01/french-newspaper-attacked-paris-gunmen-201517111836139681.html
All enabled by Islam collaborators, apologists, and those who censor free speech about the nascent civil war with muslim communities.
Craig.
Tilting at windmills is all well and good.
You need to win! A safe seat is difficult for you because you do not have a political party to support you with a policy that people can resonate with.
That tv guy managed to get elected by standing on a platform that the locals resonated with.
What is the Big Issue there? Do you agree with the locals? Do the locals agree with you? Do you really, really want this, can you taste it?
I have an “occupational therapist” as my MSP,SNP.
Where is the people with business accumen?
Where is the people that have reached the pinnacle of their profession, as you have?
It is getting to the stage of the “Store Horse” is good enough, if the Party is in vogue.
“Same shit different day”.
A reunification manifesto based on …….
1. Better health care
2. Free education and free school meals.
3. Better social care and benefits
4. Fairer justice
5. Better policing
6. Increased political representation.
…. will tick a lot of boxes in Berwick.
FYI There is this thread on Medialens about the Paris shootings. The third comment is of note.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1420631840.html
Yes the predictable reactions.
“Ah but Israel/US/Our own leaders are the REAl villains”
“It was a false flag”
Hallo! Planet Earth calling!! Anybody there??
Hardly Ableson, seconded, a friend bought a new one and it ran like a tractor, so he took it to pieces and re engined every bit of it with a precision engineering lathe, that was in the late seventies, Ba’al, has that not changed yet?
Whats wrong with promoting Triumph or even the new Matchless, if she must, but she would have to ride that on her own, just as the new Kraut bike, the nineT from BMW which I heard is a real good handling bike.
_________________________________________________________________________
“The last tweet on Charlie Hebdo’s account mocked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, which has taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria. (Reporting By Brian Love, Nicholas Vinocur and Sophie Louet; Editing by Mark John, Andrew Callus and John Irish and Ralph Boulton)”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/07/france-shooting-idUSL6N0UM1PS20150107
What would have to happen for us to go to highest alert status? and would that make loud electoral thinking/this thread superfluous?
The Northumberland lot own many acres in Surrey. The estate is based in Albury.
Very pally with the royal crowd. See how the serfs are treated.
Alnwick Castle staff to lose a week’s pay for society wedding attended by Kate Middleton, Prince William and Harry
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/alnwick-castle-staff-lose-weeks-1973452
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2346423/A-whirlwind-romance-Chelsy-battles-brides-billowing-dress-William-Harry-lead-Royal-party-society-wedding-year.html
Silly hats. Holly Branson. The princesses. The usual lot. The bridegroom is a ‘city broker’. Fits.
” What would have to happen for us to go to highest alert status? ”
Well it’s already at SEVERE which is one notch below the highest status on the five point scale which is CRITICAL. I’ve no idea what difference it would make, to the ordinary citizen probably not a lot.
Go for it Craig, why not.
Berwick has changed hands no less than 13 times, between Scotland and England.
I’m pretty sure the folk of Berwick, are quite familiar with change by now.
What harm could it do.
“At least 12 people, including four cartoonists and two policemen, killed by three gunmen at Charlie Hebdo magazine.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2015/01/french-newspaper-attacked-paris-gunmen-201517111836139681.html
All enabled by Islam collaborators, apologists, and those who censor free speech about the nascent civil war with muslim communities.”
_________________
For what it’s worth, I feel it is misplaced – and certainly ugly – to make political capital out of this in the above way.
It is mischievous nonsense to refer to “Islam collaborators” and “apologists”, as it would be to claim that the perpetrators enjoy the support of most of the Muslim community in France, or to talk about the Muslimisation of West Europe. Etc.
BUT – what these slayings DO show is that those who deny that there is any threat from Muslim terrorism in West Europe (you know who you are!) are FOOLS.
Kempe
“Yes the predictable reactions.
“Ah but Israel/US/Our own leaders are the REAl villains”
“It was a false flag”
Hallo! Planet Earth calling!! Anybody there??”
____________________
Yes, trust one of the Original Trolls to immediately link to comments claiming that this is a false flag!
The post at 16h04 refers.
“For what it’s worth, I feel it is misplaced – and certainly ugly.”
—————
Habb
Re your above remark, please at least have the decency to comment on the subject matter first as a mark of respect to Craig, before launching into on of your philosophical dross filled drones, about other posters comments.
If you spent even half the time posting informative comments about subjects, rather than condescending remarks about other comments, you wouldn’t seem, as your remark at the top says, “Ugly and misplaced.”
http://www.charliehebdo.fr/20150107171028368.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo
None of us know whether or not Charlie Hebdo is a false flag, but anyone who ridicules that possibility is ignorant, duplicitous, or a FOOL.
MP’s from Berwick have included such Liberals as Lord Grey, William Beveridge, and the current MP, Alan Beith, who will not be running in the next election. (I was disappointed to see that Beith was one of the few MPs who voted against the recent pro-Palestinian resolution. The only Liberal Democrat to do so, I believe.)
Hundreds of British troops will no longer be sent to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq this month, amid fears of further casualties on the battlefield in an election year.
Downing Street were last night said to be worried that significantly stepping up the UK’s military campaign in the Middle East could influence the general election campaign.
Senior officials apparently fear there would be a public backlash if serving UK soldiers were killed while training Iraqi security forces against jihadists.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2899834/No-UK-troops-Iraq-Government-drops-plans-send-soldiers-fight-Islamic-State-amid-fears-casualties-election-year.html
……………………………
No soldiers to be sent to Iraq, not because they value their lives, no it because they value votes more.
A cynical ploy from a corrupt and debauched government.
It’s audacious! I suspect there aren’t many that get you to change your mind, friend or foe.
I think if you are serious about it, you will weigh up pros, cons, support etc., and do it if you really want.
I follow your writing with huge interest, as always, and even more so now!
Best of luck, whatever you decide.
” None of us know whether or not Charlie Hebdo is a false flag, but anyone who ridicules that possibility is ignorant, duplicitous, or a FOOL. ”
Not one millionth of a fool as those who default to false flag without a shred of supporting evidence; which is usually the case.
What is wrong with standing for the Greens?
Check out how you align here:
https://uk.isidewith.com/
” I’m pretty sure the folk of Berwick, are quite familiar with change by now. ”
The last time the town changed hands was 1482 which i think is a little beyond living memory.
Kempe.
” None of us know whether or not Charlie Hebdo is a false flag, but anyone who ridicules that possibility is ignorant, duplicitous, or a FOOL. ”
Not one millionth of a fool as those who default to false flag without a shred of supporting evidence; which is usually the case.
You ridiculed the possibility that it could be a false flag. Which are you : ignorant, duplicitous, or a FOOL?
Compare and contrast the numerous pocket pols’ reaction to the twelve deaths in Paris to their reaction to these statistics, ie nil.
2014 Was a Good Year For Drones, 2015 Might be Even Better
The Year in Drones
by CHARLES PIERSON
2014 was a good year for US killer drones. In October, the US celebrated (if that is the word) its 400th drone strike on Pakistan. Unable to attend the festivities were the 2,379 Pakistanis killed by US drones since 2004. Of these, only 12% of the victims who have been identified have been linked to militant organizations, this according to an October report from the independent British-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Drone victims have been largely invisible to Americans. An exception is the family of Rafiq ur Rehman, a Pakistani schoolteacher. On October 24, 2012, a US drone killed Rafiq’s 67-year old mother while she was gathering okra behind the Rehmans’ home in Waziristan in Pakistan’s tribal areas. A year later, on October 29, 2013, Rafiq and his two young children testified before Congress. The Rehmans were brought to Capitol Hill by Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Robert Greenwald, director of Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars. This was the first—and, so far, the only—time drone victims had testified before Congress. The Rehmans might just as well have saved themselves the trip. Only five members of Congress showed up to listen to the Rehmans’ testimony.
[.]The first US drone strike on Yemen which killed four members of al-Qaeda occurred in 2002. After that, there were no further strikes in Yemen until 2010. Making up for lost time, the United States has gone on to attack Yemen with gusto. There have been 116 total strikes in Yemen which according to the New America Foundation have caused 811-1073 deaths, 81-87 of them civilians. Except for the single strike in 2002, all of the drone attacks in Yemen have taken place at the order of Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama.
/..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/07/the-year-in-drones/
Tony Blair could face war crimes charges as a result of the Iraq war inquiry report, the House of Lords has been told.
Lord Dykes of Harrow Weald, a Liberal Democrat peer, claimed that the publication of the inquiry by Sir John Chilcot was being delayed “to prolong the agony” of the former Labour Prime Minister.
Lord Hurd – who as Douglas Hurd was Conservative foreign secretary from 1989 to 1995 – said the delay was now “becoming a scandal”.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire, a Government minister, disclosed for the first time that talks over the publication of the gist of conversations between Mr Blair and George W Bush, the former US president, were now completed.
These talks have held up the publication of the report. But he said that if the report is not published by the end of February, it will be delayed until after the general election.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11328177/Tony-Blair-could-face-war-crimes-charges-over-Iraq-War.html
………………………
Don’t hold your breath waiting for the Chilcot Report, coming out soon.
After all its only been fives years, I’m sure the they’ll string it out a lot longer, to prevent war criminals such as Blair and Bush, from receiving a tough time of it.