It's not worth the paper it isn't written on

Calton is just not convinced that registrars (and other marriage celebrants) will not be forced to conduct gay marriages against their religion or principles if it becomes legal in Scotland, no matter what Alex Neil says, because some militant homosexuals will not be happy until they have forced everyone to agree with their viewpoint. The ink will hardly be dry on the legislation before a legal challenge is mounted, especially since the Scottish Government have made it clear that there will be no discriminatory opt-outs for public servants, including registrars, written into the legislation. The lack of such opt-outs also means that teachers who do not want to teach about same-sex marriage will not be protected. It seems that David Cameron has now realised that it was a mistake to force through gay marriage legislation in England, not least because of the slump in membership of local Conservative Associations. If only Alex Salmond would learn from others' mistakes. Deputy Presiding Officer Elaine Smith's suggestion that Scotland put same-sex marriage legislation on hold, until the impact of the change south of the border can be assessed, is eminently sensible in that context. Her fears that redefining marriage on the basis of 'love' will lead in future to the legalisation of polygamous relationships are entirely reasonable - after all, why not? - and it is to her credit that she is willing to speak out, given the vilification she has been subjected to. How many other MSPs have effectively been silenced by the virulence of pro-gay marriage campaigners?

Tyrannosaurus - alive and well in South Lanarkshire

Oh for goodness sake. When Calton first heard on the radio about an 'extremist Christian sect' trying to influence schoolchildren he thought they must have been indoctrinating them into being suicide bombers at a gay pride march or mosque. What else would justify the removal of two head teachers and the exclusion of the religious group from the school? It turns out that, actually, a local church had handed out booklets on creationism to primary school children. Some people (and South Lanarkshire council) have no sense of proportion. Calton tends to agree with the EIS when it says that "schools should not be a place for any interest group to push its activities", provided, of course, that it also applies to Stonewall pushing books such as King and King in primary schools. And if primary age children are "too young to assess the contents" of the creationist books, as asserted by the Secular Society, they are also too young to assess the contents of King and King and other books promoting homosexuality. It sounds to Calton like this whole thing is a storm in a teacup whipped up by a few vocal parents, backed by a politically correct council and stirred up by the Daily Record. Have they not got more important things to worry about than whether or not man co-existed with dinosaurs?

SNP - listening for once

Calton is pleased to see that automatic early release is to be scrapped for violent/sexual offenders in Scotland. About time too. Nice to see the SNP actually listening to the concerns of the electorate for once. It would be even better if they scrapped the same-sex marriage bill, now that over 50,000 people have signed Scotland for Marriage's petition against it. That's more than the combined membership of all political parties in Scotland. Who said single-issue politics was dead?

As to the rest of the rather uninspiring raft of legislation introduced today: Calton is in favour of scrapping the right to buy for council tenants. It should never have been introduced in the first place. He also hopes that changes to licensing of scrap metal merchants will bring them into line with England and Wales, thus making Scotland less of a safe haven for metal thieves. And he dearly wishes that Alex Salmond would stop blaming Westminster at every opportunity. It's getting boring. And we still have more than a year to go!

Polyamory is not for the birds

As the Scottish Parliament considers legalising same-sex marriages, it is worth remembering that, no sooner was the ink dry on the legislation allowing them in England and Wales than a legal challenge was launched to force the Church of England to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies, making a nonsense of Maria Miller's 'quadruple lock'. Not only that, but all those scare-mongerers who warned that widening the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples would open the door to demands for other types of relationship to be recognised don't seem quite so laughable now, as the BBC turns its attention to promoting polyamorous relationships.

Now, Calton may be old-fashioned, or maybe just old, but sea eagles mate for life with a bird of the opposite sex, because even a rudimentary understanding of biology shows us that two (and only two) birds, one of either sex, are required to produce a chick and both are needed to successfully rear it to maturity. (And, while he remembers, Calton would like to congratulate the East Coast couple on their first son. Hopefully they will think of a better name than 13white1 soon!) Why humans should want to deviate from this family set-up is, quite frankly, beyond him and his real concern is what effect it will have on the children? If consenting adults want to make life hard for themselves by having multiple relationships, that's up to them (one is hard enough work Calton would have thought) but children don't have the choice. Some would say that it doesn't matter what sort of family children grow up in as long as it is loving, but do we really know that? What about stability? We do know that heterosexual marriages are more likely to last than heterosexual unmarried couples. We don't have any reliable data yet on homosexual or polyamorous relationships. That doesn't seem to stop social work departments embarking on what may turn out to be the biggest social experiment of all time in placing children with homosexual couples, sometimes in preference to heterosexual couples.

Marriage, between one man and one woman for life, has been the foundation of our society for centuries. We might like to think that we are more enlightened in the 21st century but that assertion hardly stands up to scrutiny when you look at our society. We are not progressing - we are regressing. So, what gives us or our politicians the right to redefine marriage, and by inference, the family? Nothing, in this eagle's opinion.

Another step towards the Scottish Autumn

It's not surprising that the Scottish Government are bringing forward a bill on same-sex marriage before the results of their consultation on it have been published. These government consultations are looking increasingly like irrelevant nods to public opinion by a party which has no intention of listening to the electorate. All Alex Salmond's promises about protecting the rights and freedoms of those who disagree with gay marriage are only so much hot air - the only ones who will be protected, it seems, are ministers or denominations who do not want to conduct the ceremonies. There does not seem to be any protection for teachers, registrars, foster carers and would-be adopters, social workers, marriage guidance counsellors and so on and so on. If the bill is passed, it will be a huge step backwards for freedom of conscience in Scotland and a big step towards the Scottish Autumn. The fact that the SNP are trying to introduce it before the independence referendum shows some desperation on their part - they have presumably come under intense pressure from the gay lobby to do so. Not content with sowing division in Scotland with their nationalist policies, the SNP are now set to tear the nation apart over gay marriage. Their legacy is already apparent; their fate will not be long in coming.

Help our farmers

Calton does like people who are not afraid to speak their mind. Like Sheriff Richard Davidson, who likened the recent sectarianism at football matches legislation to "mince". Like Nigel Farage, who has just described the leaders of the three main political parties in England as an "out of touch bunch of college kids" who have "never done a day's work in their lives". Nadine Dorries clearly has some competition. As do local councillors from the main parties in next year's local government elections in England. UKIP are gaining support because they identify with the concerns of ordinary people, like immigration from Eastern Europe and windfarms, not gay marriage and trying to reform the EU (a hopeless task if ever there was one). Meanwhile, here in Scotland, our Government seems to be spending most of its time bandying about statistics to try and prove that we could go it alone. Out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people? Hmmm. At least Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead has recognised the plight of Scottish farmers and has promised help. Let's just hope he delivers.

Toleration or totalitarianism - that is the choice

Calton is extremely disappointed to learn that Highland Council is opposed to allowing opt-outs for registrars who do not agree with same-sex marriage. You can't force someone to believe something, whether it is the Bible, the Koran, the Great Pumpkin or gay marriage. In stating their opposition to opt-outs the council are saying to some registrars that their beliefs don't matter, are of no value and can be trampled on. In effect, "toe the line or face the boot". Who exactly at the council has decided this? Is it the democratically elected councillors or is it some politically correct civil servants? Whoever it is, they are trying to justify their decision by quoting a 2011 survey which purports to show a majority in the Highlands in favour of same-sex marriage. Calton finds that very hard to believe. Even if true, does that mean that the rights and beliefs of the minority can be disregarded? Is that the sort of society we want to live in? Gay marriage is an incredibly divisive issue, with strong feelings on both sides. If we cannot learn to tolerate each other's views on this and allow opt-outs, we will end up with a totalitarian society. That is the choice we face.

PC gone mad at Strathclyde HQ

Interesting that in all the hand-wringing, analyses and excuses no-one is mentioning the fact that over half the voters in Eastleigh chose candidates who are opposed to same-sex marriage. Ditto the EU. Perhaps if Conservative candidate Maria Hutchings had been able to be more vocal about her Euro-scepticism and support for traditional marriage she might not have been pushed into third place by UKIP. Unfortunately it is all too easy for Cameron to dismiss this as a 'protest vote' and a typical mid-term by-election result. Calton is wondering what his excuse will be in 2015.

In another, related, vein, it has come to Calton's attention that the Crazy Rev has been sacked as Chaplain to Strathclyde Police for expressing support for traditional marriage on his personal blog. What on earth did the Force expect? He's a Minister of the Gospel for God's sake! This is political correctness gone mad with a vengeance. Are they also going to sack all the Roman Catholic chaplains? And the Moslem ones, if they have any? Does the spiritual health and comfort of Roman Catholic or Evangelical Christian or Moslem coppers not matter any more? And whatever happened to freedom of speech? This is a very worrying development, especially for bloggers. Where will it end?

A double-edged sword

Given that Pope Benedict XVI is an enthusiastic promoter of the 'new evangelism', by which the Roman Catholic Church aims to bring straying sheep back into its fold, and, given that one of the fattest of those sheep is the Church of England, the fact that David Cameron recently gave the Pope a copy of the Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible is particularly apposite, as Archbishop Cranmer has already noted. Calton agrees with His Grace that Cameron probably didn't realise the significance of the gift but someone, somewhere obviously wanted to send a 'hands off our church' message to His Holiness (who seems to be described as 'that man of sin' if Calton reads the introduction to his copy of the AV aright). What is clear, is that the translators of the AV considered it of first importance that the people of Great Britain should have a translation of God's Holy Truth in their own language and they looked to King James VI & I to support and protect them in this endeavour. Now, Cameron is hell-bent on introducing legislation which will cause those who believe in all of God's Holy Truth, as expressed in the Bible, to be discriminated against and criminalised. He seems to have forgotten one of the other descriptions of God's Word - 'sharper than any double-edged sword'.

Orwell - a prophet for our time

Calton is wondering if it was purely coincidental that Radio 4 should choose to do a season on George Orwell precisely when Westminster was voting on redefining marriage. It has certainly been extremely apt. Hearing the new adaptation of 1984 on the radio this afternoon was chilling, all the more so because so many of Orwell's predictions have come true. We may not quite have the thought police but expressing an opinion on social media could well cost you your career or your freedom. If you dare to go against the current political consensus and vote against gay marriage in the Commons you get death threats. Anyone who disagrees with lesbian feminist Julie Bindel (and others like her) gets labelled a bigot. There is an atmosphere of fear and hate surrounding the current debate on marriage which prevents many people from speaking their mind. Some people in this country want to dictate what we think, by force if necessary. That's called totalitarianism and it's what Orwell fought against. It's high time those of us who value freedom of speech and thought followed his example.

Dave in Wonderland

How on earth can an incredibly divisive bill possibly make our society stronger? David Cameron is definitely in Alice in Wonderland territory with this one, as the Honourable Member for Thanet North so aptly put it. Calton is wondering just what bottle the Prime Minister has been drinking from to give him such a distorted view of reality. He has been likened to a 'disco dad' in his attempts to appear liberal and has failed to convince many homosexuals that he really has their best interests at heart. He has also completely failed to take the majority of his party with him on the issue of gay marriage and so his hopes of rebranding his party are now in tatters. Just in time for the Eastleigh by-election. Nice one Dave.

Warning - marriage can be bad for your career

If, as Culture Secretary Maria Miller says, the Conservatives think marriage is a good thing, they should be getting on with their manifesto promise to introduce tax breaks for married couples, not trying to destroy the very concept of marriage by stretching the definition to include relationships it was never meant to cover. Marriage is, by its very nature, not inclusive - it is the exclusive life-long relationship between a man and a woman who have promised to have and to hold until death parts them. That is not to say that other sorts of loving or committed relationships are not possible - they are just not marriages. Rumour has it that David Cameron's wife is pushing her husband to bring in same-sex marriage legislation. If so, she may well be seeing a lot more of him after 2015 and he might have the distinction of being one of the few politicians whose career was ended by his marriage, rather than the other way about.

It wis the SNP

If St Margaret's adoption agency was the only one in Scotland, there might be a case for removing its charitable status unless it was willing to provide a service for all types of potential adopters. As it is, the Roman Catholic organisation does valuable work in placing needy children with families and should not have its charitable status withdrawn, in Calton's opinion. Couples or individuals turned down by the agency can always go elsewhere to adopt. They have choice. The charity exists primarily to help vulnerable children, not gay or unmarried couples, and if they decide that heterosexual married couples are likely to provide the best home for the children they seek to place, that should be respected. Other adoption agencies may take a different view. That's called diversity. Unfortunately, what we have at present is more like equality fascism and there's no point in the likes of Mike Russell wringing his hands over St Margaret's when his party are busy promoting same-sex marriage which, if passed at Holyrood, will usher in even greater intolerance towards the Roman Catholic Church than we have at present. The SNP crossed the road to pick a fight with the Roman Catholics. They can't now say "ah didnae mean it, it wisnae me".

It's a bit rich Dave

It's a bit rich for David Cameron to say that people "shouldn't suffer discrimination due to religious beliefs" after Nadia Eweida won her case at the European Court of Human Rights. This is the man whose government did not support Eweida and three other Christians when they claimed that the government failed to protect their human rights. This is the man whose decision to go ahead with same-sex marriage legislation will cause many Christians, and those of other faiths, to be discriminated against in the workplace, when they try to adopt or foster children, when they object to their children being taught that homosexual marriage is equal to heterosexual marriage. This is the man on whose watch Christians have been demoted or sacked because they do not agree with same-sex marriage and street preachers have been arrested for simply quoting from the Bible. Cameron plays the 'Christian' card when it suits him but Calton, for one, isn't buying it. Handsome is as handsome does Dave.

A false idea of equality

Calton found it quite chilling the way that three of the panel in last night's Any Questions? were either totally complacent that the introduction of same-sex marriage would have no effect on those who disagreed with it or were quite happy to see anyone who did disagree with it given the sack. Bronwen Maddox thinks that people should be free to do as they like, except refuse to marry a gay couple, Oliver Letwin has no idea of the impact the legislation which he supports is going to have on teachers and Ben Bradshaw seems to think that, as long as churches are not forced to conduct gay marriages, everything's fine. In Calton's opinion, only UKIP's Steve Crowther correctly analysed the situation we now have when he said that it was all about David Cameron, who has deliberately crossed the road to pick a fight with religious groups. No wonder voters are switching to UKIP. Same-sex marriage legislation will only make this country a fairer society if there is reasonable accommodation of those who disagree with it. What the Westminster and Scottish Governments need to remember is that people like Lillian Ladele and Gary McFarlane have not changed their beliefs - the Government has changed the rules. Both those people have been sacked when reasonable accommodation could have been made for them. They have been sacrificed to the god of a false idea of equality and to Cameron's ambition. They won't be the last.

Oh - and Jonathan - don't look now but your anti-UKIP prejudice is showing.

Attack Fox

David Cameron must be wishing that he had enough of a majority to overturn the ban on hunting foxes with dogs after Liam Fox's recent intervention on same-sex marriage. With phrases like "ill thought through" and "made on the hoof", the former Defence Secretary has gone on the attack and given the Government a mauling over its proposed legislation. Quite right too - it's a dog's breakfast of a bill, particularly with regard to the Church of England exemption. It seems to Calton, and others, that the reason Cameron (and Salmond north of the border) are so keen to press ahead with this particular legislation has more to do with their legacies than anything else. They may not be able to sort the welfare state or bring down the deficit (or achieve Scottish independence) but they can always say that they were the ones who introduced gay marriage. And, by the time society wakes up to the fact that marriage and the family have been fatally undermined by lax divorce laws, removal of tax benefits for married couples and the redefinition of the very nature of marriage, both Cameron and Salmond will be history. That day can't come too soon for Calton.

Optimism triumphs over experience

Calton thoroughly agrees with David Watt of the Institute of Directors in Scotland, who has said in his New Year Message that Scottish politicians are spending too much time on unnecessary legislation and debating independence instead of focusing on economic growth. Calton would include legislation on gay marriage in the category of 'unneccessary' given that civil partnerships already give homosexual couples all the legal rights of married couples. Instead, the Scottish Government have embarked on a second public consultation on the implementation of gay marriage, at a cost of goodness knows how much, when it wasn't in the SNP's manifesto and, quite frankly, the state of our economy is far more important at this moment in time. Businesses are struggling with the uncertainty produced by the prospect of independence and yet the SNP's response is to tell them to wait until November 2013 for answers to their many questions. CBI Scotland have produced an excellent paper listing all the issues which need to be considered if Scotland is to become independent, including the cost of setting up our own regulators for things like pensions, telecoms and energy and the cost in jobs of closing down Faslane, and they are hopeful that the Scottish Government's white paper will "address these questions in full and provide the necessary supporting evidence". Sounds like a triumph of optimism over experience to Calton.

A year in posts

Today is the 1st anniversary of this blog. It has been quite an eventful year, with issues such as independence, the state of the EU and same-sex marriage dominating the political headlines. All of these issues and more have been covered by Calton over the course of the last 12 months and it is interesting to see which posts have attracted the most attention. By far and away the most popular in terms of hits has been It's raining, for reasons which remain inexplicable to Calton. Aye right Willie! has also been popular, which is more than can be said for the Libdems generally. Posts on the Biased Broadcasting Corporation got a lot of hits with the latest post being picked up by other BBC-monitoring websites, showing that Calton is not alone in his concerns about Auntie.

One of Calton's favourite blogs is Archbishop Cranmer and Calton's post in support of His Grace proved popular, dealing, as it did, with issues of free speech and the threats thereto. As a blogger, free speech is something very dear to Calton's heart because, without it, this blog would cease to exist. Doubtless some SNP supporters would think that a good thing. Calton did not set out to write an anti-SNP blog, however the heads of Scotland's current ruling party have got so inflated recently that it is hard to resist the temptation to stick a talon in and pop them. It is also impossible to let their deluded assertions go unchallenged because the stakes are too high.

Last, but not least, on the year's roundup, posts on the Farepak scandal received a fair number of hits, showing that it is still a live issue 6 years later, more's the pity. If you have a burning issue you'd like to see covered, feel free to email Calton (his address can be found under 'profile') and he will give it his consideration. Comments on posts are always welcome, provided they are civil. (Cybernats take note.)

Why bother?

Calton really doesn't know why the Scottish Government are bothering to have another consultation on same-sex marriage when they didn't listen to the last one. They clearly are not interested in what the ordinary man or woman on the street thinks. What is particularly worrying about all this is that we now have a ruling class of politicians who all agree, by and large, on what is 'right' and who think that they know better than the electorate who put them there. It's not just autumn here in Scotland - we are now in the iron grip of winter, both literally and figuratively, and all those who do not agree with same-sex marriage are going to be left to freeze out in the cold. Does Alex Salmond really expect us to believe that all the reassurances he is currently talking about will make it into the final bill, or remain part of the legislation over time, when we were assured not so long ago that Civil Partnerships would not lead to homosexual marriage? Calton, for one, is anything but reassured. How long before he is hounded for holding the traditional view of marriage, namely, one man and one woman for life, as His Grace has been?

The real threat to free speech

Calton finds it very hard to take David Cameron seriously when he talks about being "wary of legislation that has potential to infringe free speech and a free press" in the wake of the publication of the Leveson Report. The reason? Because, at the same time as the Prime Minister is refusing to legislate the press, he is going full steam ahead with legislation on same-sex marriage which will undoubtedly be a far bigger threat to free speech, if enacted, than anything recommended by Leveson. No wonder Conservatives are deserting to UKIP in their droves. Meanwhile, the party which most espouses same-sex marriage and EU membership was soundly thrashed in the recent by-elections and replaced by a party which supports keeping marriage heterosexual and leaving the EU. In other words, the politically-correct Libdems were cuffed by the straight-talking, gloriously politically-incorrect UKIP because, basically, the electorate do not like being told what to think. In that sense, Cameron has judged the public mood better than Clegg when it comes to responding to Leveson. We all deplore the excesses of the press but do we want it controlled by politicians? Calton thinks not.