John McNally has been selected by the membership to fight Falkirk for the SNP. I was able to congratulate him yesterday and offer any assistance I can give in the campaign. I spent a total of ten hours locked in various small rooms with John as we waited to take our turn at each of the four hustings meetings in the constituency, and he is a genuinely decent man who will make an excellent MP. He was not just courteous, but markedly kind and helpful to me as a newcomer to the constituency. It was evident he was not only a Councillor, but a man deeply rooted in his community. There was nobody we met during the process of whom John could not tell me not just who they were, but about their family for several generations.
I will not pretend that I am not still stunned by the strength of hostility of the SNP highheidyins towards me, and my removal from the ballot. But to put that in context, here is the email I sent to the leader of the SNP group on Falkirk Council on 12 November:
Dear Cecil,
[Name deleted] …gave me your email address. I believe she mentioned to you that I am looking to stand as an SNP candidate at the forthcoming Westminster election, and very interested indeed in the prospect of campaigning in Falkirk, which I strongly believe we can win.
But I would like to make absolutely clear that if there is a hardworking and qualified local person who wishes to be the candidate and who would have a good chance to win, I would not want to come in from outside and spoil somebody else’s hopes. Does that make sense?
As you may know, I am a former British Ambassador and former Rector of the University of Dundee, and campaigned very hard during the referendum campaign both speaking at meetings and online. I have been an SNP member since 2011. Before that I was a Lib Dem but resigned in disgust! My application to be approved as a candidate is lodged with SNP HQ. I realise they are swamped at the moment and hope we will be able to find a way to get that dealt with in good time. I contacted [name deleted – a MSP] who suggested that if I could get definite interest from a constituency, that may help prioritise processing the application. That seems a bit chicken and egg as to which comes first (not a Jim Murphy reference)
Craig
The reply of the same date was:
Dear Craig,
Thanks for your e mail, it is good to know that there is interest in Falkirk, as it will in deed be a key seat.
We are in a very different position this time round for the Westminster Elections, and would not discourage giving members a choice of potential candidates…
Cecil
I therefore went forward despite my strong reservation, on the express understanding that the members wanted to have a wide choice. But from the first time I met John McNally, I was having qualms of conscience about standing against someone who is the kind of local citizen, not a career politician, who ought to be an MP. That is why I can say, that irrespective of my continuing concerns about the values of some of the central SNP establishment, the local outcome is the right one for the people of Falkirk. I shall certainly be back there occasionally to campaign for John McNally.
PS By coincidence today is the anniversary of the victory of the great Lord George Murray against the Hanoverians in the Battle of Falkirk, 1746. I don’t think the family had been back since, until this campaign. 🙂 There is an old stained glass window installed in the shopping mall in the centre of Falkirk, one level down. It includes a large portrait of George Murray. The interesting thing is that this portrait, from the 1830’s – which is a fantastic piece of glasswork – shows in great detail his kilt, which is identical in absolutely every respect to the Murray of Atholl tartan in my own kilt. One of the anti-national myths perpetuated in Scotland is that kilts are a recent romantic invention. They are not, they date back at least seven hundred years and the modern “small kilt” at least 240 years. Part of the myth is that the clan tartans were invented by weaving mills in the 1890’s. This window is incontrovertible proof that is not true either.
Still think you were treated disgracefully by the SNP and several online “activists” I just want you to know Craig that there are many, many people who admire and respect your efforts for Scotland.
They don’t want you Craig. You’re too radical and they could never be sure that your conscience might get in the way of leadership dicta. They would never risk it. Clare Short has spoken about how cabinet meetings under Tony Blair were just diktats from the PM. If it works like that at top level you can see how it would filter down to Party level.
Craig.
We Johnny the barber as Our MP. aye right!
He certainly knows the locals in Denny, he cuts their hair. However, run the country???.
Falkirk has never had a good MP. Teachers, and a soldier, at present. Where is the people with the business background?.
I think more imagination is needed in the selection of prospective MPs.
I am seriously considering “not voting” in future, rather than voting for the “store horse”.
I want someone with ability, and lots of it. Not someone to make up the numbers.
Fuck that!!!.
If he cuts their hair, Robert, he probably listens to what they have to say. And does what he is requested to do. I can’t think of better training for an MP in a vibrant democracy.
But maybe it’s a fuhrer you’re looking for.
Probably far far more than just seven hundred years. Being originally not much more than a long thick wool blanket wrapped round the waist and the excess throw over the shoulder, intricate weaves and colours may date to around 700 hundred years, but even then for dyeing of wool, not much more than peat and other plant products might have been available, so colours would have been rather drab and uniform. The skills of hand weavers were astonishing, but remarkable feats of mere ornament were not the rule.
I’m not at all a fan of kilts, more so on fat balding men, they’re not attractive in the least. I’m all for a far more draconian ban in those cases than ever existed in the past.
Commiserations to the other runners in the ballot at Falkirk, Ms.Sheikh-Ahmed is surely a welcome factor in the party and I look forward to hearing more from her during the campaign, even if her politics in some policy areas might not match mine.
“It was not merely the duty, but the pride and delight, of a true knight, to perform such exploits, as no one but a madman would have undertaken.” SWS
Humbleness is a strong attribute and is quite separate from humility. I too am also stunned by the strength of hostility of the SNP and I am quite certain the good SNP members will applaud Craig’s efforts and underpin his induction with respect and good wishes.
Failure to do so will deny the strong sense of community and association with family qualities the body politic aims to achieve.
Ah,interestingly there is a blue plaque on the old Tesco’s in Falkirk that explains that during the construction of the building archeologists found a clay pot filled with coins covered up with a piece of Tartan that dates to when the Romans came.Its in the Scottish museum in Edinburgh and is known as the Falkirk Tartan.
http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-036-743-C
Bevan.
WE certainly do need a leader. However, not the kind you seem to be implying.
As far as doing what his customers want and doing it when cutting their hair is a long way removed from being able to run the country. Successfully!
And, only one shop. Not exactly a budding entrepreneur.
‘Still think you were treated disgracefully by the SNP and several online “activists” I just want you to know Craig that there are many, many people who admire and respect your efforts for Scotland.’
.
.
I can only agree 100% with Calgacus.
Craig.
The SNP don’t have a snowballs chance in hell of sendind an MP to Westminster from Falkirk.
Dyed in the wool Labour, it is.
Just look at the Referendum results. A sitting SNP MSP and we were gubbed by Labour/Co-op types, as well as the tories.
If wee Johnny pulls this off, then I would be wondering if the Referendum was rigged.
Reminders of historic Falkirk battle all around us
It took years for the local community to raise a monument to the Battle of Falkirk Muir
18 January 2014
http://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/nostalgia/reminders-of-historic-falkirk-battle-all-around-us-1-3270724
The Howgate Windows – image
http://www.falkirklocalhistorysociety.co.uk/home/index.php?id=105
Re kilts
There is no doubt that kilts were worn for many hundreds of years before their popularity was revived by a widespread fascination for Scotland created by Walter Scott’s novels and Victoria’s purchase of Balmoral.
I must admit this is off the top of my head but was there not an ban on the wearing of highland dress after Culloden?As well as a considerable period of ‘ethnic cleansing’.
And the revival of kilts only proceeded after the threat of Scottish Nationalism had been extinguished. (slight tongue in cheek here).
However one aspect of technology that is often overlooked is that of creation of fabric- and associated trades such as weaving and dyeing. This is not a process that stands still and it is highly likely that the exact quality of modern highland dress, the detailed styles, and the colours were defined by a lot of technical discoveries and innovations in the late nineteenth century. It is a process of evolution. It is also a matter of cost. Technology often makes scarce items more accessible so , although there may well have been fine clothing available, such as that Charles Stuart is shown wearing in portraits, this would only have been available at great cost, and confined to the upper level of society.
I suppose the point is that these styles were aped by those people who moved into the market for highland dress when it became popular. It was only widely available due to the technical (and other) innovations, such as(say) the availability of fine quality wool from colonies such as Australia. It seems unlikely that the kilt as worn by ordinary people would have been appealing to a prancing 19th century peacock, dabbling and fantasising in all things (Walter) Scottish.
Re Falkirk and the SNP. Of course the idea of FPTP is apealling in the respect that representation is invested in a trustworthy person drawn from the community. The problem is that that is rarely the case. I remember some years ago, attending a ‘ceilidh’ which was set up by the local Labour party, to introduce the candidate to the local colour and culture. she was a pleasant worthy enough young woman from London but was mainly ‘imposed’ by Labour party Central. I remember having misgivings at the time but this pre-dated Iraq and even the ’97 election, and a more critical appreciation of the process that we have seen unfold in politics over the last thirty years or so.
Martin Kettle had an interesting article reflecting on the union yesterday and mentioned the attitude of some key figures in the politics of an earlier era, to the death of Winston Churchill. i though t was interesting because some key labour characters such as Roy Jenkins (labour at the time) and Tony Benn seem to have understood exactly what their position was-as people with some prior privilege in respect of the governance of this country.I couldn’t help but reflect that the underlying attitudes and influences that shape our politics have not really changed much. At best there are changes in some of the peripheral issues. I know this will not be popular-(I mean gender and sexual politics)-which are of course very welcome, but the overwhelmingly significant matters which relate to wealth and its distribution, and the use and availability of resources, to free many people from everyday burdens, and thus free them up to use time to think and develop credible skills in those factors that define their choices-such as the nature of their education and lifestyle, show no little or no material change over the last 50 years. The focus by Labour on gender politics is something of a sham. It diverts many from the reality that the Labour party is not a radical party but an establishment party with a few renegades on the fringes-who are neutralised and extinguished effectively by their association with Labour.
Craig -you are stuck somewhat in looking for a role in Scottish politics that is not seen as gratuitously mischievous and provocative. A shame, because you are potentially an intelligent voice representing views that are sometimes difficult to project without seeming obstructive and negative.
My personal inclination is towards the Green party. It is the only group which is developing a wider, international perspective and is not steeped in a corrosive and jaded corrupt history that defines their policies.
Mary.
You have reminded me of a local Falkirk councillor who is trying to raise more money for that pile of Scottish rubble called the Roman Wall. Instead of boosting our own.
Why would anyone want to honour foreign invaders, murders, and rapists and not want money to honour our dead fighting English invaders?
Oh, I forgot, it boosts tourism, aye right.
I have never been asked for directions to the Roman Wall. I have been asked for directions to Falkirk Bridge.
An American stopped and asked, in that American drawl, where is the site of the battle. I asked if he had any TARTAN blood in him.
He replied,” my name is McIntyre”. I shook his hand told him my name and directed him to your Post.(if you know what I mean).
Well done.
Mary.
That is the Murray Tartan in that stained glass window, I think.
‘He replied,” my name is McIntyre”.’
He’d wear the Dunlop tartan then.
Robert
OK I am pretty much anti party politics but why is someone with a business background or entrepreneur (terrible pretentious french word..not very happy with the French right now) necessarily better than a teacher, a soldier or a barber?
Usually I agree with most of what you have to say but I don’t get what particular skills you think an entrepreneur has to offer that a soldier or a barber or a teacher doesn’t.
Just asking
There’s an account of the bedraggled Jacobite army’s travails and re-supply in Glasgow prior to the battle at Falkirk, given in George MacGregor’s 1881 “History of Glasgow”. Municipal and merchant Glasgow were very much loyalists and unionists, filled with sycophantic and religious zealotry, and largely fled the city with their loot, for Edinburgh, along with their ‘loyal’ Militia of 1200 men. Glasgow’s people remaining flocked to see and succour the Highland men who were in poor condition after an arduous winter march north.
The Glasgow (and Paisley) militia fought against the Jacobites at Falkirk, with which the Jacobites were not pleased:
“On Redcoats they some pity had,
But ‘gainst Militia were raging mad”
but the Militia were obviously not greatly depleted or committed in battle and were spared by the Jacobites afterwards nonetheless, they were still around in Glasgow crowing after the defeat at Culloden:
“The volunteers paraded the streets in companies, and around bonfires they drank all the the royal healths, following each with a volley of small arms.
Maybe you should write a short introduction to tartans and kilts. It could be of inrerest not only to Scotttish nationalists but also to historians, vexillologists and aficionados of Scottish culture more generally.
You might even present your “incontrovertible evidence” in an independently-produced TV program or film, since it is of a visual nature!
Fred.
Yes another Scottish Invention.
__________________________
Johnstone.
Did you have a lot of good teachers who could control the class and educate you well?
How often have you changed your barber?
What are soldiers good at?
It is someone with a progressive outlook, a strong desire to do what is right for all to be better off, well educated, well housed, well fed and happy I hope. And the ability to produce all that without being influenced by Church, buiness and others with a personal bias.
I was lying in bed the other night when the storm hit, when it crossed my mind that people out there were homeless in this suppossedly rich country. If it is as rich as they say it is, why can’t they build enough houses for all?
The answer is, it is not the politicians priority.
Your well being and mine is not in their thoughts, it is world power.
They of course, say it is. They say it is whatever we say is not. Have you not noticed?
The country is dilapidated unless, an area has the patronage of politicians.
My street and pavement is a disgrace, and I have two schools at the end of it, with Grand Prix twice a day with the school run. My Tory councillor lives about three hundred yards from me and his wee street which is only an in, and out, for those who live there, is perfectly maintained. My street is a working street with a lot a traffic to the schools and the shops in the next street. It runs from east to west and gets the brunt of the bad weather and is skating rink in the recent weather. Does it see a gritter. Very, very rarely.
Self interest is not acceptabe to me, if one area requires attention in bad weather, then the others close by also need attention.
I have met and asked these teachers MPs for help and got nowhere with them and had ot fight my own battles for years to eventually get success. I am doing the same at the moment.
So much time and energy wasted, before they will do the right thing.
That is why I wanted Craig as my MP. He might have been radical enough to do the right thing from the outset.
I am going to repeat what I said before, I have an “Ocupational Therapist” as my SNP MSP, and if you live in Scotland he is also your “Justice Minister”.
I think Craig with his knowledge and experience as an ambassador woul be better qualified than an Ocupationan Therapist.
” Part of the myth is that the clan tartans were invented by weaving mills in the 1890’s. This window is incontrovertible proof that is not true either. ”
Well, it’s possible that the Murray clan adopted the tartan because George was depicted wearing it in the window.
Not all businesspeople make good MPs or government ministers. Some of them assume that you run public finances and public services exactly the same way you run a businesses, which is wildly wrong – the economic fallacy of composition that the tories always push. Public finances can go in the red so long as the economy is improved in the long run by investments, and needs to go in the red during recessions to boost demand enough to pull the private sector out of a negative spiral of falling demand, falling employment, and falling wages. Public services like the NHS are not aimed at making a profit, but at saving lives and quality of life.
If you want to make a profit in the public sector you have to nationalise sectors that can make a profit – like energy , transport etc.
There are businesspeople who are knowledgeable enough to know the big difference between how you run government and how you run a business, and how government can help business, but there are far too many that assume you run government like you run a business.
And, only one shop. Not exactly a budding entrepreneur.
Hmmm. Just a tad antidemocratic, wouldn’t you say? This is someone who meets the public every day, and talks to them, not as a distant visitor from Planet Government, but (if he is a safe hand with the razor) on equal terms. And let’s look at what ‘entrepreneur’ really means, too. An entrepreneur is someone who can extract a profit for himself from goods or services manufactured or administered by employees. Only very rarely is he manufacturing the goods personally, or the sole original provider of a service. Both parliaments are full of entrepreneurial types, many of them accepting political funding from other entrepreneurial types. We have more than enough of them. (Also lawyers and connected yesmen whose contacts got them rapid promotion in their parties shortly after they left their university or their token first jobs).
These do not represent the majority of their constituents. Give us a barber – or even a taxi driver – no, several, to at least leaven the stodgy mix of politicians afflicting us.
So John-McNally is a big wheel in Falkirk, eh? Not the biggest, though.
Check out the Falkirk Wheel for massive engineering combined with elegant design. The wheel is balanced when both gondolas are full of water. Boats entering either or both gondolas displace their own weight of water – eureka, the wheel is still balanced! I love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n61KUGDWz2A
Not all businesspeople make good MPs or government ministers.
How true. Indeed the evidence suggests that it is the crap businesspeople who go into politics, are equally crap at government, and afterwards trade their privileged knowledge and contacts for a comfortable retirement. That’s not entrepreneurship. It’s damn close to corruption, though.
Oh, and sign this, please, if you haven’t already done so.
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/nicola-sturgeon-stand-up-to-ttip#petition
I will not pretend that I am not still stunned by the strength of hostility of the SNP highheidyins towards me’
What’s to be surprised at? The SNP are for NATO, which means being a vassal of the US Empire, whereas you claim to be against membership in NATO, notwithstanding your support for NATO’s ongoing 4th/5th generation war on Russia. No government could tolerate such incoherence.
Rules and Regulations.
If you give buiness people free reign to do as they please they will fill their own pockets and take risks especially, when they know the government will bail them out, with our money.
I don’t see Craig as that type of person.
Profit has to be made or there is no progress.
Progress can be made by taxing the public, how much is the balancing act.
Health is not for profit! It is a fundamental Right for all at some point in our lifes.
When politicians make the monumental mistakes that have been evident recently, why are they honoured and sent to the House of Lords? Why are they not jailed, and why do we always have to pay for their mistakes? Let them and all other public employees forfiet the money they have accrued while in office. Leave them penniless instead of the public. Sell their fancy house and give then a council house. It would help to fill in some of the gaps in their understanding.
I have never seen as much FAILURE REWARDED as in the past 15 years.
“Oh, and sign this, please”
So the new found scottish democracy is already reduced to petitioning leadership online.
Why not try writing a letter to the queen as well? She could have a word with The Rt Hon. Nicola Sturgeon at the next privy council get together.
“So the new found scottish democracy is already reduced to petitioning leadership online.”
Why not. It’s basically about jobs for the boys, so obviously who you know is what counts.
As a political movement, the SNP is a fraud. It offers an independence that it cannot deliver. With fewer people than Yorkshire, Scotland cannot stand alone. In fact, insofar as the SNP has an intelligible policy it is defection from the UK and merger with the EU superstate. And that means subordination to the US Empire (Germany is still occupied and without a peace treaty. Britain and all the rest of the EU are also occupied by American military and intelligence assets) and thus incorporation of military assets into NATO.
The only independence for Scotland would be as part of a United Kingdom outside the EU and NATO. Britain has the resources to make it not worth anyone’s while invading, and in any case, with nothing to steal, Britain s not likely to be targeted for hostile takeover.
An independent UK could offer a free trade deal to all the world, and a model of civilized society and democratic rule. But not without dumping the dupes and tools of the EU and the US.