HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME!
THIS IS A DEMOCRATIC OUTRAGE We are in a general election campaign in Scotland. You can’t switch on the TV or radio or pick up a newspaper without hearing about it. Party debates have already been held. STV plan another on Tuesday night but it won’t be a all Party debate. No,one Party will beContinue reading "HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME!"
THIS IS A DEMOCRATIC OUTRAGE
We are in a general election campaign in Scotland. You can’t switch on the TV or radio or pick up a newspaper without hearing about it.
Party debates have already been held. STV plan another on Tuesday night but it won’t be a all Party debate. No,one Party will be excluded. Barred from stating their case. Silenced by the TV Stations. The ALBA PARTY.
This is happening in your country. A supposedly free and democratic country. Ah I hear but they are new, they are irrelevant.
Well yes they are new, just over two weeks old BUT they already have more members than the Liberal Democrats, more elected Councillors than the Green Party, twice the Parliamentary representation at Westminster of the Scottish Labour Party. They are led by Alex Salmond, the Former First Minister of Scotland. They have already ensured that Independence is the number one issue in the election. They are far from irrelevant. The Tories describe them as “the biggest danger the Union has ever faced” . Yet they have no voice!
The latest excuse to debar Alba is that they are not represented in Holyrood. Quite difficult to do, this is the first election to contest the seats for Holyrood since they were formed. Nobody could overcome such a outrageous qualification. No new Party formed in the last five years could overcome that one. It’s contrived, it’s pathetic.
Now I find this excuse ludicrous. You see I remember a certain Nigel Farage who was never off the television. He appeared regularly on every TV station, indeed it was a standard joke he had his own permanent seat on the BBC Question Time programme despite his Party having zero representation in Westminster. Indeed at one point he set up a private company rather than a political party, and was still afforded free access to our screens. He was not advocating Independence for Scotland. Nothing as dangerous to the Union as that. No he was only responsible for the disaster that is Brexit. Barring Alba is a democratic outrage and shame on the other political parties that are prepared to go ahead with this flawed programme, thereby giving their approval to this selective censorship. This is not democracy, this is what might be expected in a third world dictatorship or a banana republic.
So why are they doing it? Well they are anxious to stop Alba making their case, outlining why using your list vote for the SNP is the equivalent of throwing it in a furnace. Very few, if any will ever be counted as the electoral system will divide and devalue them until they are worthless.
It’s not just that though. It’s issues like the Hate Crime Bill and GRA. Disgusting and dangerous legislation that endangers the health and well-being of our youngsters, Scottish Government funding for organisations that support reducing the age of consent in adolescents That supports self ID for children as young as eight.
The Scottish Government have just provided £1.1 million of public funds to Stonewall Scotland and LBGTY Scotland, both of whom are signed up as members of the ILGA World – the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association whose policies include removing any legislation or laws that criminalize sex involving adolescents. Many women are outraged. As a man and a grandparent I am outraged.
It’s all being done in secret. This is an excerpt from a recent freedom of information reply “We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing Ministers and officials a private space within which to communicate with appropriate external stakeholders as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s position on LGBTI equality in general, and the ILGA Rainbow Index. This private space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, so that good decisions can be taken based on fully informed advice and evidence, such as that provided by the Equality Network. Disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between the Scottish Government and these stakeholders, which in turn will undermine the quality of the policy making process, which would not be in the public interest.”.
Translated into the truth that should read “ we need to keep this secret because if people found out what we are up to there would be riots”.
Now I suggest Scottish viewers have a right to know about this, they need to know where their taxes are going and on whom and what our Scottish Government are funding.
So the absence of ALBA means these issues will probably not be discussed and kids in Scotland will face increasing dangers from the Woo Woo brigade in the SNP who get stronger every day thanks to the public money that is being showered on them while many Scots live in poverty and face homelessness.
The SNP have the wrong priorities while the TV stations don’t recognise the importance of free and open debate in an important democratic election.
On Wednesday this week Alex Salmond is hosting an International Press Conference. At the time of writing there are 120 international journalists booked in to attend. Is it not completely ridiculous that while there is worldwide interest in Alba, the Party struggles to be heard here in our own country? It is both shocking and an international embarrassment to Scotland. The TV companies make Scotland look like Belarus or worse. What a message to send internationally about the lack of freedoms in our country?
Any election narrative that excludes the Alba Party does Scotland a major disservice and the TV companies need to reflect on this and reverse these bans immediately. Scotland demands fairness and openness in our elections, not censorship and bans!
I am, as always
Yours for Scotland
FIGHT BACK.
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