Saturday, 6 June 2020

A Street Named George Floyd?

Buchanan street in Glasgow is named after Andrew Buchanan who died in 1759, his money paid for a lot of the buildings in Glasgow and lifted a lot of people from poverty... but of course like a lot of rich people during this time he had (what we would consider now in out enlightenment) his “dark side” too as he was a Tobacco lord and as such he would have slaves working at his plantations.
Now it looks like the “Black Lives Matter”  Pixes we’re out last night sticking up a signage to now call the street “George Floyd Street” which is a renaming endorsed by Ivan McKee, Glasgow Provan MSP. 



George Floyd was a criminal, let’s not overlook this fact, he was in jail 5 or 6 times one of which was for holding a gun to a pregnant woman’s belly as his friends ransacked her house robbing her, and he was not a reformed character as was high on drugs and (allegedly) attempted to pass off forged money at the time of his arrest, he did not deserve to die, I agree upon that, a lot of people, in fact most, don’t deserve to die but tragically he did and the cop who kneed on his neck deserves to be punished without any doubt but..... George Floyd was not a nice person under any definition and should not be held as a martyr as this cheapens real martyrs (if you want to look up at a real brave black woman just check out Rosa Parks)

There is something very sinister about wanting to rename streets because we are ashamed of the past, it’s like rewriting history and that’s never a good thing, the past is what has made the person we are, we evolve from the past, learn from it, take the good and shed the bad but never ignore it.  We know keeping slaves was terrible (ironically it was the much demonised Republicans who ended slavery in America) 

Does George Floyd deserve a street named after him?...NO
Should Buchanan street remain named after Andrew Buchanan from the 18th century considering how much more enlightened we are now to the evils of slavery? In my opinion YES, it’s part of our history ... nothing to be proud of but yet we can be proud of how far we have came and how our morals have evolved for the better. We can’t rewrite history on hindsight but we can control the present with knowledge we currently have.

Thursday, 4 June 2020

Why I won’t be “Taking a Knee”




The “Stand Up to Racism” organisation has organised a campaign called “Take the Knee” so show support for those protesting in the aftermath of the George Floyd death across in America. “Show support for those protesting” ...rioting, smashing windows, spray paining building and attacking people...is that who we should be showing support to? Because if such people deserve support them it reminds me of a previous “Take the Knee” campaign in Northern Ireland during the 70s and 80s .... it too was not a very peaceful protest at the time.... can you remember that... where the IRA blew the knee caps off informers and others? (and theProtestant UDF use to set about captured Catholics with claw hammers in so called “rumpus rooms”, thought I’d better mention that fact too for the sake of equality... both sides were / are as evil) 

I do find it remarkable that they choose “take a knee” as their gesture of solidarity considering Floyd was kneed on the neck by the (since arrested) police officer, but then I suppose it’s like Christians wearing crucifixes (good job for fashion that Jesus was not beheaded by a Guillotine)... but anyway ....it seems as tasteful as 'taking a water gargle for Whitney Houston or wearing a necktie for Michael Hutchence or perhaps getting a shave with an open razor for ISIS beheading victims..sounds like a sick humour? Believe me... I really don’t see any humour in this!

As for Black lives Matter, black lives do matter, this should never be disputed. So do every other kind of life no matter what ethnicity...try Asian lives matter when they are getting stomped on by the police in Hong Kong ... but I never saw any protests about that. 
But to deference to a cause asserting racial distinction really does feels very racist!
Deference implies intrinsic belief of a superior, and by asserting it, it perpetuates prejudiced generalisation and is racist ...ironically the very thing it claims to be the champion of! 

....and this “taking the knee" is fatuous vain humility.

I mean i don’t see it as a gesture of solidarity at all, it’s like taking a quoter of responsibility... the blame...punishing the group for the crimes of the individual. 
I am not racist or have committed any crime, only the guilty are guilty but this has a biblical feeling about it like revisiting sins of the father on the children is to not treat people equally on their character or merit but on their family history they have no control over or some of the darker aspects of the race they were born into .... now it’s starts be sound a wee bitty racist to me. You don’t fight racism by acting like one so why distinguish a race when all lives DO matter. 

Tuesday, 2 June 2020

Shameful Cult & not so Canny Scots




Us in Scotland, we are termed as “The canny Scots” meaning we are supposed to be frugal, prudent (esp. with money) [a canny Scot – one who has an aversion to separating money from his pocket] (as in “He's that canny he aye pays for his round wi' empty lemonade bottles“) but how do some of my fellow “canny Scots” justify their support for Nicola Sturgeon, a one trick pony of a party which puts a desire for Scottish Independence above all else, and if said Independence was to be got the the economical downturn of this great nation would be devastating. 
Thus especially applies to my fellow “canny Scots” who once in 2013/14 perched to me about the “white paper” which can since been proved about as reliable as a chocolate teapot with the facts it contained. 
Basically the SNP can’t be trusted and this has been proved on and on and on yet their supporters, like a whipped dog return for more... very uncanny Scots if you were to ask me.
Let’s look at the current Beloved Leader .... Nicola ( wee Nippy) Sturgeon, especially let’s look at her in this current plague climate ....

Firstly, as she claims, Nicola has had not written briefings about the outbreak of the Corona virus in Scotland ðŸ¤” Ehhh....but only for the months that the Freedom of Information requests were made obviously.... 

So who believes it is possible for someone with responsibility for the health of 5.4 million people not to have had its Health Ministry provide written briefings? ... but hey, if you do then allow me to let you into a little secret... Scotland has discovered the largest gold reserves in the world under the bones of an ancient Unicorn burial ground. Please send me your bank sort code and account number so I can forward them onto Bute house so you can share in this incredible wealth... free magic Tartan beans to the first 5 who respond. 

Now last week I actually thought something impossible had happened, no, not that rock that Alex Salmond stuck up in some university garden saying will only melt in the sun with tuition fees return to Scotland, be prepared for that heatwave folks ... it’s on its way.. no, what I would to me the Scottish equivalent of the burning Bush was when Sturgeon actually looked like she was taking done responsibility 
by appearing to accept that transferring hundreds of untested patients out of hospitals into care homes contributed to Scotland's huge coronavirus death toll in the institutions.
Despite the fact that she was confuses hindsight with negligence my jaw actually dropped ....was this going to be a Dickensian Scrooge-like moment? Perhaps she was visited by the Ghost of Christmas feature were Road Warriors fought over scraps of MacDonalds in an apocalyptical Independent Scotland. But my illusion was soon shattered a couple days later whist she was interviewed by Sophia Ridge of SkyNews and when asked why Scotland’s care home deaths were almost doubled that of England she said, whilst rapidly blinking which is body language of a liar, “England is not recording its care homes deaths correctly”! 

I shake my head with despair at times with what comes out this woman’s month, but then I think with misplaced optimism ..never fear ... there is a regulatory body that can take action against politicians who fail us, it’s called “the electorate”  but then a remember how her family base has just increased during this pandemic (“clap for Sturgeon day”.... really ? .... are people just so dumb?) .... it’s really just a damn shame too many of them put rhetoric before facts

But when will be be held to account? When? I mean come I. Scottish journalists, now would be an excellent time to ask Sturgeon about NikeGate the scandal of sending untested patients from hospital to care homes, funds not being passed on to Scottish Business, test tracking debacle. I mean you've got to start sometime. Right? But no they are all too scared of the cult backlash. Intimidating culture within the SNP. 

But if a Tory coughs without covering his mouth then it’s release the dogs of war!
Can we remember it was just last year the SNP key point during campaigning against the Conservatives was that the Tories would sell off the NHS? Do you remember these scare stories and stirring speeches in Scotland (ignoring the fact the the NHS is devolved is Scotland but that would spoil the narrative).... but guess what ......This year the Conservative government ran up one of the biggest bills in history to save the NHS from collapse 

And then there is all this continuous tiresome shit about Westminster and England ...the  pernicious narrative peddled by Scottish nationalists that England colonised Scotland, and then the rest of the world — and so England must even now be resisted in Scotland — sounds suspiciously like an act of whitewashing Scottish culpability, at least to the ears of this descendant of a former colony... pish .... the SNP ...Civic Nationalist... bullshit it’s ethnic, we in Scotland have plenty blood on our hands, The “tobacco lords” of Glasgow were enriched by slavery in the Americas and Africa, if you do just a wee but research beyond watching Braveheart there is plenty facts available to prove wrong the naysayers suffering under such a false sense of righteousness... but I don’t think they will be getting teaches under the CfE during history classes in the dwindling devolved Scottish Education.