My successor as Rector of the University of Dundee, Brian Cox, has left Labour and joined the SNP. Almost no mainstream media coverage – if it was the other way round, we would have Murphy and Cox wall to wall for weeks. I am delighted about Brian’s move as it is more evidence of genuinely radical voices coming in to the party. I was similarly happy yesterday to find that Tommy Sheppard, for whom I voted, has been selected to fight Edinburgh East, where I live. I think the SNP with its new membership is going to be a great deal more radical than it was before.
Long term readers may recall that in 2010 I stood down as Rector of Dundee University after only one term, as I did not feel I had been able to give it as much time as I would wish to do a really excellent job. Now I have moved back to Edinburgh, those problems no longer apply, and I shall be standing for election to take the post again next year, as Brian Cox completes his second (and final) term.
I cannot help but recall that on the polling day of my election as Rector in 2007, the Daily Record came out in Dundee with a full front page photo of my opponent, Andy Nicol (unionist rugby player), and a single front page headline “I was born to lead Dundee students”. The lengths to which the Establishment will go to try to ensure that whistleblowers stay down and stomped upon sometimes surprise even me.
There is a pro-Independence rally outside parliament from 11 am on Saturday. I shall be speaking. I am not sure how widely it has been publicised, but I do hope that it will show that the extraordinary spirit that has been awakened in Scotland is still alive and kicking.
“Is that an incredibly subtle reference to the once briefly envisaged deportation of the European Jews to Madagascar?”
_______________________________
Guido aka Habb.
Your training to spot Anti-Semitism, has left you so hard wired, that you sometimes see things that aren’t there.
Guido, you’d better have a word with your handler.
Guten Nachmitttag, DonnyDarkside!
“So good to see you caring about the poor Greeks Habbacare.”
_______________
Well, I do care about the Greeks in a general sense, but that does not prevent me from pointing out various hard truths and from avoiding the rather facile trap of putting all the blame for the Greek crisis on various foreign agents (Troika, Goldman Sachs, British and then US imperialism, the Greek forced loan of the war years and so on and so on.
You see, I do happen to know quite a lot about the Greek reality over, let’s say, the last 30 years whereas most of the commenters on here obviously do not.~Now, that may not please you, but tough!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Or did I get that wrong?” (preceded by a
“Or did I get that wrong?” (preceded by a screed)
_________________
Almost certainly.
Do you know anything about DEH (the Greek Public Power Corporation)?
RoS
Actually, it was more in the nature of a joke but I suspect you didn’t understand the underlying reference and connection. Never mind.
Well, I would agree that Jack Straw is a rather unpleasanr bit of work (politically speaking, I mean – he’s pleasant on a personal level) but give the man his due. He was, apparently, the only member of the Blair Cabinet (as was at the time of the Irak war) to attend the Commons debate the other day.
Up to readers to make up their own minds whether his presence was an example of courage or effrontery.
Mary
“What we always knew. The 1% are richer. The rest are getting poorer.
The Guardian
British workers are taking home less in real terms than in 2001, according to new research.”
__________________
Poorer in relative terms, certainly.
As for people taking home less in real terms, is there any law of economics which states that real wages and salaries must inevitably – and uninterruptedly – increase? It may been desirable (especially from the point of view of the people concerned) but is it a fixed law of nature?
And now, having given various people something to chew on (or scroll past!), I must away for a while because real life calls. Thank Heaven.
Habbabkuk,
You talk about relative terms…well,you have no knowledge of some posters experience of the British state-past or present-so,until you’ve walked a mile in someone else’s shoes do give over with the simplistic judgemental guff eh?
Eejit troll.
He’ll be spending all his hard earned cash on lawyers now, trying to keep this that and the other out of the papers.
Gonna knock a hole in those charidee activities, I reckon, as the ever-observant Mail is delighted to point out-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2932377/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-Tony-Blair-s-sport-charity-sees-funds-plunge.html
The chief executive is Blair’s loyal former constituency manager Jeanette Pickard, whose salary is not revealed. Trustees include his glamorous ex-head of government relations Ruth Turner and Labour peer Hilary Armstrong.
The charity was given more than £42,000 of taxpayers’ money by the government quango Sport England in 2012.
Think that says it all about the setup. Leverage taxpayers’ money, jobs for the boys/girls, and hang your halo on the deprived. Ugh.
The troll’s conclusions on my mindset are, like everything he writes, fallacious. What a nerve he possesses. It’s called chutzpah.
Chutzpah (/ˈhʊtspə/ or /ˈxʊtspə/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The Yiddish word derives from the Hebrew word ḥutspâ (חֻצְפָּה), meaning “insolence”, “cheek” or “audacity”.
Perhaps he would like to hear mine about him.
Jivesy
“Habbabkuk,
You talk about relative terms…well,you have no knowledge of some posters experience of the British state-past or present-so,until you’ve walked a mile in someone else’s shoes do give over with the simplistic judgemental guff eh?
Eejit troll.”
____________________
Was I being judgemental (15h52)? I think you got the wrong word there.
Of course you’re right when you say that I have no knowledge of the personal circumstances of all those who post on here but I’m not convinced that that disqualifies me from expressing various opinions, eg on Mary’s post. I mean, I might as well say that you have no knowledge of the personal experiences of the majority of the UK population in the sense I think you mean.
I think one is entitled to comment on the basis of what one reads (both in the MSM and alternative news sources), one’s personal knowledge of the circumstances of the people one does know personally and on what one observes around one.
After all, you and others comment on many issues – foreign and domestic on the basis of sources no different to the ones I’ve just mentioned, don’t you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you’re on night shift again…..chillax and no wee hours rants, please (but you have got better in that regard, I must admit. Perhaps the boss is keeping a better eye on you?)
9 posts, almost in a row, within the space of 40 mins.
Off his trolley as I said before.
HabbaZoxades
I lived there for 10 years during the 80’s when Pasok came to power on the change mandate.
Went to ta skilia.
At that time a normal family ate out a couple of times a week.It was easily affordable.
The EU put the prices up and the Euro put them all in debt.
With 30 years of experience there you know who are to blame and it is not your state worker.
Mary
“The troll’s conclusions on my mindset are, like everything he writes, fallacious.”
_______________
Fallacious? I think not.
The evidence – your screeds and whines – speaks for itself.
With the exception of Saint Doctor Mads Gilbert , I don’t think I’ve ever read a good word from you about anyone.
Kyrie Darko
“With 30 years of experience there you know who are to blame and it is not your state worker.”
________________
So tell me who are to blame.
Or have you given identified the guilty already (all the fault of the EU and the euro)?
Habba, can’t we all hold hands and dance around this thread singing Kumbaya?
Where’s the fun in that?
“Actually, it was more in the nature of a joke but I suspect you didn’t understand the underlying reference and connection. Never mind.”
____________________________
Guido.
It was no joke you mean’t it in earnest, like Roberto Benigni, you have a fertile imagination.
By e-mail to a friend
Je Suis “Low-Life Scum”
January 30, 2015
Dear ….
Did you hear? CODEPINK took the Senate by storm yesterday by attempting a citizens’ arrest of Henry Kissinger while he was testifying in the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing! Chairman of the hearing, Senator John McCain, responded by referring to us as “despicable,” “disgraceful,” and “low life scum” –– and we couldn’t be prouder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85114404&x-yt-ts=1422579428&v=yP9In2fNs84
Alli McCracken dangles plastic handcuffs at Kissinger photo
Alli and Anna Kaminski read the arrest warrant! photo
For over a decade, CODEPINK has been holding war criminals accountable for their actions. We’ve exposed the lies in the halls of power in Washington DC and across the country, starting with the Bush administration and continuing into the Obama years, but never forgetting the grave offenses committed by people before them, like Henry Kissinger. Check out more pictures from the arrest on our Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/codepinkalert
But our work isn’t possible without you. Please consider supporting our work by making a donation today.
For justice and accountability,
Alli, Anna, Janet, Jodie, Katie, Kristin, Medea, Nalini, Nancy, Nathan, Sergei, Sophia and Tighe
The troll continues to spread lies about me. He should be stopped.
@Gaia Hepburn: For goodness sake install Habbabreak and save your sanity:
https://greasyfork.org/scripts/246
I did months ago; and life’s now a troll-free (well, relatively) breath of fresh air . . .
Mary
“The troll continues to spread lies about me. He should be stopped.”
___________________
Not lies, Mary. The truth.
You don’t have a good word to say about any public figure except (revised list) Saint Doctor Mads Gilbert and Nicolas Maduro Moros.
You were even bitching about some small-scale bicycle race in Surrey last year!
“For goodness sake install Habbabreak and save your sanity:
https://greasyfork.org/scripts/246
I did months ago; and life’s now a troll-free (well, relatively) breath of fresh air . . .”
________________
You wouldn’t have a hope in an argument with me so you’ve done the right thing by doing a runner, Runner.
RoS
“It was no joke you mean’t it in earnest,”
_________________
Your comma illness must be contagious, it’s got to your apostrophes now! 🙂
@Tim @Runner77
To me, Habba comes across as a somewhat weary character. Most trolls grow tired of their work, sustained only by a pay cheque; but maybe I’m getting Habba wrong.
Perhaps… also known as Habba Daviski, KGB double agent, who was the brains behind the ‘Blue Route’ into East Berlin. Habba Daviski was awarded the Soviet Medal of Honour for stealing atom secrets from the Americans and was given freedom of the City of Magnitogorsk. Habba’s flamboyant lifestyle includes a long time passionate love affair with a famous Hollywood actress, with whom he toured Outer Mongolia in a Rolls Royce. They enjoyed champagne and caviar, until CIA operatives ran the car off the road in an attempt to kill Habba for his treachery. Habba escaped from the wreckage by knawing his own leg off before the car burst into flames. Habba Daviski is now believed to be working for the Chinese and is living quietly in West Bromsgrove…
Or perhaps… Habbabkuk (la vita è bella), also known as Thurg 9 from the planet Scirros, in the Epsilon Quadrant. Habba/Thurg 9 is the advance party of the Scirrosean invasion of Earth. For years he has been living amongst humanity, disguised as a meek and mild mannered troll, watching, studying, waiting, waiting for the right moment, the moment when at his signal scores of Scirrosean Interstellar Cruisers will appear above the Earth, raining megatons of death from the skies. Habba/Thurg 9 bides his time patiently…
But I still think he works in Cheltenham…
@Habbabkuk: “You were even bitching about some small-scale bicycle race in Surrey last year!”
Actually that was well over two years ago – doesn’t time fly! I only remember because it was around the same time we (the misses and I) did the London 1/2 marathon. Perhaps I should get out more… but the last time I did (which was to see Swan Lake, incidentally, performed by the ENO a fortnight back) I picked up a bug which put me out of commission for nearly a fortnight. It was probably contracted on the London Underground – shifting around disease is about the only thing it’s good for.
Troll – motes in eyes etc. Do leave off. Boring.
~~~~
There are multiple large acale bike races in Surrey. One is Boris’s Prudential thing concocted in a secret deal with the Con leader of Surrey CC. I am not affected but the residents and businesses that are ‘kettled’ for the day are angry. We have had the Limp Ics, men’s and women’s, Tour de this and Tour de that and we tax payers are told it is good for Surrey’s economy but they never quantify the so called benefit. I imagine it benefits the various organisers.
RideLondon-Surrey row after council and mayor’s ‘agreement’ http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/ridelondon-surrey-row-after-council-mayors-6260731
Recently, we are being asked for an extra £52pa to prop up the police budget in addition to the ever increasing council tax. This request comes from Mr Hurley PCC ex Met ex TA, ex Iraq etc. He presides over his own empire now. We used to have a police authority consisting of councillors and lay members on allowances and expenses costing a fraction of the present set up, another one of Theresa’s wheezes.
‘The budget for the OPCC for 2014/15 has been set at £2,455,485.’ Could not make it up!
http://www.surrey-pcc.gov.uk/about-the-office-of-the-pcc/
He did not find the killers of the al Hilli family even with this CV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Hurley
I did not know that there was a registered political party with the title of ‘Zero Tolerance Policing’. Nice.
A good exchange here between GG and Ottaway ref Chilcot. Ottaway is the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee who are hearing Chilcot himself next Wednesday. Note Ottaway’s comments on Dr Kelly and the squelching of Norman Baker who attempted to speak.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2015-01-29a.1035.0#g1045.3
29 January 2015
LOL Ottaway’s register of interests.
CFoI and Atlantic Bridge (Fox/Werritty) in one entry.
18 January 2013 – View full entry
6. Overseas visits
9-11 July 2007, visit to the USA to attend seminars and meetings with elected US officials and policy forums. My return flight and accommodation were financed by Atlantic Bridge. Entry to which the rectification procedure has been applied. See paragraph 108 of the Guide to the Rules.
(Registered 20 October 2011)
Entry to which the rectification procedure has been applied. See paragraph 108 of the Guide to the Rules.
Name of donor: Conservative Friends of Israel
Address of donor: 45B Westbourne Terrace, London W2 3UR
Amount of donation (or estimate of the probable value): £1,600
Destination of visit: Israel
Date of visit: 24-28 November 2011
Purpose of visit: my wife and I went on a fact-finding political delegation to Israel and the West Bank.
(Registered 16 December 2011)
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=10468
The Kiev Nazis want to keep talking about a ceasefire. So do Kerry and Obama. This is so they can keep up the pretence of actually wanting one.
They don’t.
When the war in the east goes against them they want a breather to regroup. That’s all.
The NAF should press home their advantage and clear the fuckers out.