The Wave in Glasgow and Copenhagen

This coming Saturday in Glasgow there will be thousands of people marching to support the fight against climate change including many Scottish Liberal Democrats with Alison McInnes MSP, Robert Brown MSP and George Lyon MEP.

The Wave is going to be sending a message to our government that they have to take climate change seriously and stop setting silly targets and just talking about it.

I am very conscious that I play a very small part in this fight against climate change, but every little bit really does help.

I recycle, in fact we only throw out two carrier bags worth of rubbish per week, and most of that is cat litter, but as we have no garden there is nowhere else to dispose of that.

I either walk or travel by bus, to be fair I cannot drive (yet) but Edinburgh City Council run an excellent city car hire scheme so I will only drive when absolutely needed.

On visits to my work around Scotland I travel by bus or train, yes flying would be easier and sometimes even cheaper, but that's the price you pay.

We are using low energy light bulbs and often just have a lamp on, we do not leave anything on standby, as I say all small things, that add up.

George Lyon MEP, will be fighting Scotland's corner in Copenhagen and has set up a great campaign page on his website here.

So far 19 of the 38 people on the UK Government's official delegation have committed to flying to get there, that really does defeat the object a little. Both Simon Hughes MP and George Lyon MEP are travelling to the summit by train. With the Copenhagen Conference itself expected to generate 41,000 tons of CO2 (roughly the same amount emitted by Morocco in one year), it would be nice if the UK's delegation could set an example!

If Europe is to play its part in combating climate change, then Scotland must be at the forefront of those efforts.

Sadly the SNP and Labour have spent most of the run-up to the summit bickering about who gets to sit at the top table. This is an all too familiar problem. While they engage in a political arm wrestle others are concentrating on the job in hand - creating the jobs and investment in renewable energy that will see Scotland out of recession.

The constant playground arguments between Labour and the SNP do a disservice to Scotland. It is not good enough both for our economy and for our environment.

Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon is going to the Summit to make sure that Scotland's voice is heard and we get the investment we need to deliver our renewable energy future.

Scotland has the potential to be Europe's renewable energy powerhouse. It is estimated that 25% of Europe's renewable energy capacity could be generated in Scotland through our wind and tidal reserves.

Send Gordon Brown a message today that he cannot ignore.

World AIDS Day - remembering absent friends

Today is a day of remembrance for me, as every World AIDS day is. I came out twenty five years ago when AIDS wasn't even talked about so many of my gay friends that I grew up with or people on the Nottingham gay scene that I knew like I were oblivious to this awful disease.

Over the years I have lost friends and colleagues to AIDS and it is always a constant reminder to me how important sex education is, which is why I get angry when people in influential positions such as the Pope who said "don't use condoms - even to prevent the spread of Aids".

Not only is he ill informed when he went on to say "the traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids".

It is such a load of crap, condoms can and do help to prevent the spread of AIDS and HIV.

So, please take a moment today and remember those no longer with us because of this awful disease.

My thoughts today are especially with the family and friends of Trevor and Jason, two very good and close friends who I shared time with in Torquay.

Trevor gave me a job at The Double Two Night Club and Summerlands Hotel nearly twenty years ago now and it really was the best year of my life topped only by meeting Roger one night, at the very same nightclub.

Jason was a really good friend who many people rejected and warned me against getting close to, his HIV+ status meant nothing, it was his friendship I valued.

I miss you both.

Detention for Fiona Hyslop as Tavish Scott goes top of the class

So, Alex Salmond has today sacked Fiona Hyslop as Education Secretary and moved her to a non cabinet position covering the external affairs and culture portfolio and to add insult to injury the responsibility for the constitution has been removed from the post.

Mike Russell (previously Environment minister sacked for proposing to sell off 25% of Scotland's forests) has now been moved from Culture minister to Education Secretary. Let's hope his first idea isn't selling off 25% of the schools!

This reshuffle has come about partly because of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

On Saturday, Tavish Scott informed all four main parties in the Scottish Parliament that he was intending to propose a motion of no confidence in Fiona Hyslop as Education Secretary in the allocated Liberal Democrats opposition day in Parliament on Thursday.

Alex Salmond obviously didn't want to go through the pain of a debate where the Liberal Democrats launched a full frontal assault on Education, so he has pushed Fiona Hyslop rather than be publicly humiliated in Parliament.

Although as Tavish Scott rightly points out, this isn't about Alex Salmond, Fiona Hyslop or even Mike Russell it is about the children, it is about all of those children going through school.

There are 54,000 children across Scotland in P7 classes who face the start of the new Curriculum For Excellence next August. Yet, here we are only eight months away and teachers still have not had the details of the assessments and the exams that they need to do their job properly and ensure our children have the best start.

Without a fresh approach and some new thinking, the new curriculum will be under-planned and under-resourced and I am sure the SNP will blame the local councils and teachers alike if this happens.

As I blogged on Saturday there is a crisis not only in teacher numbers but also the relationship between the government and the councils. The latest figures show there are 1,300 fewer teachers than this time last year and class sizes continue to rise.

Fiona Hyslop threatened to nationalise every school in Scotland and remove any role for local government. No-one believes that the Minister in Edinburgh can possibly run every single school and nor should they, that is why we elect local councillors and employ good staff who implement the education strategies.

The other bizarre part of this re-shuffle is that the First Minister has now personally taken responsibility for the forthcoming bill on an independence referendum.

Why?

The First Minister should be way too busy to take a bill through Parliament. So, is this decision because no-one else is with him? Not enough talent in the SNP benches? Or just that Alex Salmond isn't busy enough and this will help fill his day?

Seriously though, I do not think the First Minister is sending out the right message if he has to personally oversee a Bill through Parliament at the time we are going through a major recession.

Chris Rennard joins two front bench teams in the House of Lords

There’s been a small reshuffle of the Liberal Democrat team in the House of Lords. The main change is that Chris Rennard has joined the front bench teams for both Constitutional Affairs and for Communities & Local Government.

This change will add some serious experience to these two teams.

Other changes included Sue Miller stepping down from Home Affairs, who has been replaced by Sally Hamwee and Graham Tope takes over at Communities & Local Government.

Andrew Reeves monthly stat porn

Once again to Stephen Glenn, I am going to continue the monthly summary of my visitor stats according to google analytics for November 2009.

I have done this for the last two months here and here and it was quite interesting for me just to see, other sites do this as well.

The busiest day on my blog last month was Sunday 29th November when the Mark MacLachlan smear story broke and Zac Goldsmith admitted being a non-dom.

Last month I had 2,091 absolute unique visitors, down from 2,549 in October but up from 1,311 in September. They made 3,066 visits and 4,207 page views.

So, my top 10 referring sites for the last month were;

1. Google (1)
2. Lib Dem Blogs (3)
3. Twitter (1)
4. Facebook (2)
5. Lib Dem Voice (4)
6. Blogger (5)
7. SNP Tactical Voting (7)
8. Norfolk Blogger (6)
9. Scottish Round Up (8)
10. Christopher Lovell (30)

Last month I wrote 58 blog posts, the second highest amount.

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read most were;

1. SNP Minister Mike Rusell's Aide Mark MacLachlan in smear campaign
2. Labour candidate Peter White calls the Queen "vermin" and a "parasite"
3. Hypocritical Tories - Zac Goldsmith admits to being a 'non-dom' and avoiding paying tax in UK
4. David Cameron's Conservatives Jedward Poster
5. STV Debate for the 4 main parties in the Glasgow North East by-election
6. Racism alive and well in David Cameron's Conservative Party
7. Scottish Lib Dem Conference aftermath
7. St Austell says no to Caroline Righton's Conservatives
9. The Caroline Righton smear campaign moves onto Wikipedia
10. Caroline Righton - the silence is broken
10. John Lamont is the most expensive MSP and the Conservatives stick their fingers up to Kelly Report

So this month's mixed bag is about the Glasgow North East by-election, many many problems within David Cameron's Conservative party, Caroline Righton & the Tory smear campaign in Cornwall (again) and John "Bubbles" Lamont MSP.

The visitors to my little blog came from 52 countries this month, down from 54 last month, the top ten were as follows;

1. United Kingdom (1)
2. United States (2)
3. Canada (3)
4. Belgium (6)
5. Ireland (5)
6. France (7)
7. Australia (10)
8. India (15)
9. Germany (8)
10. Philippines (29)
10. Netherlands (12)

SNP Minister Mike Rusell's Aide Mark MacLachlan in smear campaign

Alex Salmond and Mike Russell will not be happy chaps this morning as the often talked about cybernat bullying is finally exposed as the News of the World uncover (now former) senior aide Mark MacLachlans disgraceful online bullying/hate campaign.

Mike Russell's office manager Mark MacLachlan has now resigned (or been sacked) not only from his job but also membership of the SNP.

Mark MacLachlan hid behind the pseudonym Montague Burton on his blog, “The Universality of Cheese”, this blog has now been taken down, although we have had a bit of a period of blogs closing in Scotland, this is one we are all happy to see the back of.

Jeff over at SNP Tactical Voting does offer a small bit of defence of Mark himself, after having met him twice. Although on this occasion I do feel Jeff is wrong about this not being the SNPs "Damian McBride" affair. The SNP will suffer more than blog damage from this.

On the eve of the SNP's attempt to waste time and money by introducing the Referendum bill this is not only bad timing for Alex Salmond but this smear gate will no doubt take column inches away from his beloved independence campaign.











Tavish Scott says in today's Scotland on Sunday this is Alex Salmond's "Damian McBride" moment - spot on Tavish.

"This is Alex Salmond's Damian McBride moment," said Tavish Scott, the Lib Dem leader.

"We need an apology from him and for him to disassociate himself from this blogger immediately.

"This poisonous SNP bile attacking anyone who dares criticise Alex Salmond's nationalists was paid for by the Scottish taxpayer. I want a full investigation by the Permanent Secretary into what other SNP special advisers, researchers and hired hands are involved in this kind of odious politics.

"Scott added: "If Mark MacLachlan posted any of his defamation's and smears in office hours, while being paid by the taxpayer and while using facilities provided at the taxpayers' expense, Mike Russell's position is untenable and Alex Salmond should sack him."

In The Sunday Herald they report "He also alleged a married Labour MSP visited gay cruising spots, badmouthed the daughter of Lord David Steel, the former presiding officer at Holyrood, and described several opponents as “c***s”. Mr MacLachlan had been employed at public expense since 2007."

The News of the World who exposed Mark MacLachlan's trail of hate, smears and lies seems to have gone on for some time. I do however wonder if Mike Russell knew what his office manager was up to? Given how close knit the SNP operation is and everyone is told what to do and say and when to do it I don't see how others including Mike Russell didn't know about it.

That is one thing I am sure we will never really know the answer to.

The one thing that has been very obvious to me is that the SNP may have got rid of Mark MacLachlan quickly, but this won't go away as many of those that he has attacked and spread rumours about may now well take legal action against him.

David Maddox called last Wednesday "black Wednesday" for the SNP, this is a much blacker Sunday and the SNP should be ashamed of the actions of this former senior member of staff and congratulations to the News of the World for uncovering the actions of this person and bringing to a halt this trail of hatred and bullying type of political action from within the top levels of the SNP minority government.