Splitting the Union?

This Thursday, Scottish voters will be going to the polls to elect a new administration for the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. And for the first time in their history, the Scottish National Party(SNP) look set to win the largest share of the vote, and control the levers of power in Scotland.

I think it is fascinating how this has come about, when one considers there is no great enthusiasm in Scotland for independence, the SNP's raison detre.

According to a poll cited in today's Independent on Sunday, only about 22% of Scots favour splitting from the Union, though it seems twice that number are prepared to vote SNP anyway.
I believe the vote in Scotland is more about the murderous disgrace that is the Labour Party, than about the convincing arguments of the SNP.

Not that long ago, it was often said that a monkey could get elected in Scotland if it wore a red rosette. The Labour party would have to do something really bad to lose that level of support.
And by god, it has.

I have never been a supporter of independence, but I wish the SNP every success in this election.

For me, this election is about Iraq, and Trident.
Scotland, as part of the UK plc, plays a big part in the genocidal policies emanating from Westminster, it is home to the barbaric and obscene Trident nuclear arsenal, and it has many soldiers fulfilling dubious service in British uniform abroad. We could do the whole world a favour by putting a spanner in this works.

Anything that can halt or derail the murderous path that Great Britain is embarked upon is fine by me. If it can be done through ballot and referendum, so much the better!

One Million Blogs For Peace.

While looking for blogs for peace today, I stumbled upon an initiative called "One Million Blogs For Peace".
The rather obvious idea, is to get one million bloggers to agree with their pledge, which states -

"I believe in the immediate withdrawal of all foreign combat troops from the nation of Iraq. I believe in using my blog, in whole or in part, as a tool toward this end."

Hell yeah, count me in.

Feel free to join up too - http://bluepyramid.org/peace/

US School Shootings.

As an outsider looking in, the mass killings that have just taken place at a college in Virginia, USA, are just stunning, unbelievable. That this could happen again is just incomprehensible to me.
Why can this happen?
Certainly, the gun control laws in America need to be reformed in some way. It just should not be possible for a known 'disturbed' person to purchase a weapon and ammunition in twenty minutes flat. End of.
But there is more. As Michael Moore's documentary 'Bowling for Columbine' shows, there is the same availability of guns in Canada as in the US, but vastly different gun crime statistics. Canadians, apparently, can get hold of a gun just as easily as Americans, yet they don't seem to have the habit of blasting holes in one another as their neighbours do. Why is this so?

There could be several reasons.
As Michael Moore, amongst others has suggested, it could have something to do with the American national posture as defined by it's last several governments. Since the second world war, America has bestrode the globe like a bully, using it's overwhelming firepower in a long sequence of military actions against weaker and smaller states. The American people have been on the recieving end of a barrage of propoganda by governments and the military/industrial complex, for decades, justifying this overwhelming use of force abroad.
Is it totally surprising that an over-assertive and violent state breeds the odd over-assertive and violent individual?
In a great many Hollywood movies, the violent and aggressive male is often the central character - knee deep in blood, saving the day with his heart of gold....
Non-violence, compassion, understanding, accomodation, these are the ways of the effiminate, or the cissy to our errant cousins. Complex disagreements are reduced, to simple 'good vs evil' nonsense, or shouted down altogether.
The national character is of win-at-all-costs, for to lose is to fail. And failure sucks, because that means poverty.

And to be poor in America is to be desperate indeed. Despite it being the richest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen, it has frightful levels of poverty. At least 36 million people live in poverty in America, according to this - http://www.peacetakescourage.com/American_Poverty.html

But what I really wanted to talk about was drugs.
According to http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5686225 , the lad who killed 32 people in Virginia this week was on anti-depressents. Many American children, and increasingly UK and European children, are on prescribed medication for one reason or another. I recall reading of one such drug, for attention disorders, which gave a kid a "laser-like" attention in class!
Michael Moore was interviewed recently and has said that prescription medication is one area he did not explore in Bowling for Columbine. http://www.drugawareness.org/home.html Apparently, both the Columbine killers were on a drug called LUVOX....

A further sad aspect to this, is that no-one seems that surprised by it. Is the American model now seen as so debauched and far gone, that these sort of things are almost inevitable?

Instead of medicating their citizens, the American establishment should think about the reasons why people are in need of medication in the first place!

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death this week of Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favourite writers.
As well as being the author of many a wonderful novel, he was also an activist in the Humanist movement, I believe being it's President at one point. His stories were often inspired by his puzzlement over the behaviour, or misbehaviour, of the human beings he shared the planet with. These stories have in turn made me laugh out loud on trains, and weep on buses.
So it goes.
He once wrote a note to Trident Ploughshares to decline an invitation to join us on an action.

"You of Trident Ploughshares 2000 are the shock troops of the sane in the war against insanity. I am honored by your invitation to be on the front lines with you at faslane on Saint Valentines' day, and especially in a year so full of zeros . . a blank slate. Yours will be among the very first messages to end its blankness, and with this oldie but goodie: Thou shalt not kill."
Sorry I can't be there. Pax Vobiscum Kurt Vonnegut"

Pax Vobiscum to you, Mr Vonnegut. Peace be with you.

"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist."

Trident Ploughshares Blockade at Aldermaston.

Earlier this week I was at the Atomic Weapons Establishment(A.W.E.) at Aldermaston in leafy Berkshire, in order to take part in a non-violent blockade organised by Trident Ploughshares.

About 10 of us set out on the Monday for Reading, where we would be staying the night. We arrived late in the evening, thanks to the Easter holiday traffic, to find some 50-60 odd activists all hard at work plotting, scheming and rehearsing for the following days actions. After a hastily devoured meal, we got ourselves organised, and assumed roles for the blockade. After planning to get myself arrested, I found that it would be impractical as I was the only designated driver for the minibus we had hired! I had to contend myself with the role of getaway driver!



The Police were outside when we awoke, and they followed us closely as soon as we left. Sure enough, within about 15 minutes we got the flashing-blue-light treatment and were pulled over. This was not good news, as I had in my bus the arrestables for the boilerhouse gate, who were sitting in the back nursing an arsenal of lock-on tubes! A Policeman beckoned me out of the bus. He informed me that under section 163 of the Road Traffic Act, he was entitled to pull over "any car, at any time, for any reason". I do not recall him explaining his particular reason. Fortunately they did not search the bus, and the Police allowed me on my way after taking my details and checking my documents. He asked where I was going, as if he did not know, and when I told him I was going to Aldermaston to take part in a peaceful demonstration against illegal nuclear weapons, he said 'so long as it isn't violent'. And thus began this Officer's education in the non-violent principles inherent in Trident Ploughshares actions.



Anyway, we got to Aldermaston with the Police still on our tail like a smell you can't shake. With the Police so close, the original plan of stopping at the gates to allow those blocking to hop out and lock-on was likely to be thwarted as soon as attempted. Plan B was hastily conceived on an Esso forecourt under the watchful eye of the Thames Valley Constabulary. We pulled out and headed for the Boilerhouse Gate. As we approached, we noticed that some of our colleagues were already there making a vivid, and colourful presence with banners and music. Traffic was slowing, and the Police were still behind us. Thirty yards or so from the gate, I stopped, and out jumped the brave S, to stand in the road in front of the Police car, arms out-stretched like Jesus, allowing me to nip on nearer the gates to dump my other passengers and cargo unimpeded. And as you can see from the photo above, it worked a treat. It took me an hour to walk back after I had found somewhere to park the bus! Still, it gave me a chance to check out the scenery, and see the traffic chaos that the actions at our gate, and elsewhere at other gates, was causing. A lot of people work at Aldermaston it seems, certainly a great deal of construction work is going on. And was going on long before the parliamentary vote on Trident replacement took place.


I believe 14 people were arrested during the actions on Tuesday. All of whom will take to court the argument that they are acting to prevent crime, not cause it. This blog salutes them.

Apart from delays, little actual harm came to the dastardly activities beyond the electric fences of Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory. But we made some ripples, we publicised the issue, and raised awareness, and that will have to do for now, until we have enough numbers to shut these places for good.
They are preparing for horrific crimes at Aldermaston, and we the people have a right, if not a duty, to try and stop them. They are after all our government, representing us. And if we do nothing, they will drag us with them into barbarity and genocide.


This action was one of a hundred ways you can protest against possession of nuclear weapons, but by god, it has to be the most fun! And the most inspiring and invigourating. Almost without fail, the most interesting and jolly-well-decent people I meet, are anti-nuclear activists. It is always a pleasure to spend time with such sincere and honest souls, to compare notes, to exchange tips, tales and jokes, to create music, share food, and make contacts.
Sure beats sitting at home writing letters, or indignant emails and blogs!

Iran and the UK Marines and Sailors.

I have not posted for a wee while, though I am sure no-one has missed me!

Anyway, I have just found out that the UK marines and sailors that were captured by Iran, and released unharmed, have been allowed by the MOD to sell their stories to the press!
One has to wonder why?
Well, no doubt one big reason is control. The stories of these military personnel would have come out sooner or later. As far as the MOD is concerned, these stories are better controlled while these people are still in the military. In fact, they near as damn it say so themselves in the linked article to the Plymouth Evening Herald.

A statement from the MoD said: "It was clear that the stories they had to tell were likely to have emerged via family and friends regardless of any decision the Navy took.
"It was therefore decided to grant permission to speak to the media to those personnel that sought it, in order to ensure that the Navy and the MoD had sight of what they were going to say as well as providing proper media support to the sailors and Marines...