John Lamont MSP - should he quit now?

We should really ask the same question of Alex Johnstone MSP and Margaret Curran MSP as well as John Lamont.

All three of these MSPs now aspire to the House of Commons, one of them has a better chance than the other two and it would be great to see Margaret Curran beat the SNPs John Mason.

The question I suspect you are asking yourself is why should John Lamont quit as an MSP, my answer is he shouldn't. However he should quit if he is still aspiring to be an MP because as the Kelly report clearly states you shouldn't sit in to legislatures as he is trying to do.

In fact the Kelly report is saying that this practice of sitting in two legislatures should end before the 2011 elections so in fact John Lamont should decide to either (a) quit as an MSP now and fight the general election or (b) quit as a candidate now and focus on what he was elected to do which was a be a full time MSP.

John Lamont is clearly an embarrassment to both of his leaders, Annabel Goldie and David Cameron as they are both on the record now accepting the Kelly report in full - will either of them be telling John Lamont to drop one or other, or have they changed their minds?

Annabel Goldie has constantly hassled Alex Salmond about this dual mandate issue for a while but is now on the back foot and looking rather stupid because of both Alex Johnstone and John Lamont. However, now she will have to seriously think about what they are to do in light of the Kelly report.

The only people that lose out with these "Tory two job types" are the voters who deserve a full time MP and a full time MSP - not one

The East Coast Main Line to be run by the Government

According to the RMT Union the Government will take control of the East Coast Main Line rail services on the 12th December. Should we be worried?

Yes, probably we should, it wasn't run particularly badly from the perspective of my journeys on it since moving to Scotland in May last year, however there are some horror stories to be heard from many other passengers up and down the UK.

The Government via the Department of Transport and National Express who currently run the service both claim no date for the handover has yet been set. Obviously the RMT disagree and they are also demanding that the new public company East Coast keeps the franchise and is keen that a new private company doesn't then get an opportunity just months down the line to run the company and that it remains now in public hands.

My concern is that under public ownership the services to Scotland must not change at all, unless to be improved. There are concerns being raised by Borders MP Michael Moore and Berwick MP Sir Alan Beith that services to and through Berwick could be drastically reduced when the company goes public.

It is not only important but vital that this does not happen. Michael Moore MP has been campaigning for many years to get rail services re-introduced in to the Scottish Borders and Berwick is the only rail station currently in the Borders and it would be disastrous if the Government reduced the rail services there.

Let us hope the Labour Government listen to this common sense.

SNP Crash and Burn

Not a good day for the SNP.


As the Liberal Democrats launch their brand new federal party website, the SNP have gone offline.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats website is also fine and accepting visitors todays. Feel free to visit.

SNP in Glasgow North East by-election gaffe

We have had the trio of Glasgow North East by-election gaffes from Labour, then Karen Whitefield MSP in her email gaffe and now after the SNPs first choice second choice third choice candidate has been selected and got going it is his turn today.

Unfortunately for David Kerr - because I suspect he may not have had a choice in this - because the SNP have a central diktat on everything from personal opinion to what you can and cannot cannot say - someone has reproduced a leaflet from his Falkirk campaign in 2000 when he said the words;

"..born and educated in Cumbernauld." and now in 2009 he is "Dennistoun born David explains."

Now, don't get me wrong, there is always the chance his mother was in labour driving round looking for a hospital back then in the days of Tory government - but seriously this is a gaffe!

Caroline Righton - the silence is broken

Finally, Steve Gilbert and the Cornwall Liberal Democrats hear from Caroline Righton, after she finally breaks her silence, the Conservative candidate caught up in the middle of a Twitter/email smear campaign against Steve Gilbert.

Well, not entirely. As reported over on Matt Davies blog (do you know how much it hurts to link to a Spurs fan?) Caroline Righton has finally broken her silence, now the local Lib Dems have written to David Cameron, but only to a journalist over at This is Cornwall.

Steve Gilbert's response to the journalist was; Mr Gilbert said: "I would like to think this was a careless mistake rather than a deliberate smear, but it's sad that the Conservatives don't have the courtesy to set the record straight with local residents, or the manners to apologise."

However, Steve being a mild mannered and polite politician I think is being way too soft.

Caroline Righton not only has failed to apologise, to Steve Gilbert but also the people of St Austell & Newquay, she has also showed a real lack of judgement on this.

It means Caroline Righton does not understand Twitter nor the concept of running a positive and honest campaign as she had pledged to do.

The minor point is that Caroline Righton was in fact not in a meeting with the Crown Prosecutor etc, Caroline was in fact in the audience of the event to be fair, as I said, minor but if Caroline is wanting to run a positive and honest campaign then she needs to be honest!

I do feel Caroline Righton has to;

1. Apologise to Steve Gilbert for this personal smear on his good name
2. Apologise to the people of St. Austell & Newquay
3. Learn how to use Twitter properly
4. Learn to check emails and facts
5. Say the word sorry

If you are new to this story, check this Caroline Righton reader out at Lib Dem Voice to catch up on what different bloggers have been saying about this story from the very beginning.

Royal Mail - A service or an obstacle?

My personal experience's dealing with Royal Mail recently leave me wondering why we bother with them and how they actually function.

Forget the postmen and women and their issues with the whole modernisation programme that Adam Crozier and his cronies have thought up.

I am talking about trying to actually get items of mail delivered through letterboxes.

The main answer I got yesterday was the computer says no in the tone of Carol from Little Britain.

I want to spend £5,000 with you - computer says no. Apparently because 24 hours passed the Royal Mail changes how it views life and it's invoicing.

I will take this further because I need to and should because how on earth can the management of Royal Mail stand on TV every night and say the strikers are making it difficult for us to modernise and move with the times.

Sod off, it is all to do with staff and management attitude and a can do attitude would achieve so much more than your modernisation plans, because it takes your staff to come with you.

However, the management team need to lead the way and then perhaps the staff will follow.

Adam Crozier is quite obviously not cut out for taking his staff with him and I cannot see how he is justified in being paid nearly one million pounds for this year given the strife and trouble the company is in, although it seems this year even if the company you run is in trouble you still retain your bonus - especially if you are running a bank!

I don't see how Royal Mail keeps afloat given how ridiculous some of their operating and accounting systems actually are.

So, Adam Crozier, perhaps it's time for you to go and let a sensible real person try to sort out the mess that is Royal Mail.