Vote Yes for total dependence

The European Commission, an unelected body euphemistically called the 'executive arm' of the EU, has been coming the heavy on Spain and Italy over their budgets. And this is the EU which self-styled supporter of independence Alex Salmond wants us to remain part of (if they'll have us)? Nein danke is all Calton can say. How anyone who believes in self-determination can, at the same time, think that EU membership is a good thing is a mystery. The same applies to a currency union with England. We already have that as part of the UK - if it's such a good thing, why vote for independence? We have the best of both worlds with devolution. Why risk it for a very uncertain future as a supposedly independent country which will, in reality, be totally dependent on either the EU or the rUK? If the SNP really believed in self-determination they would ditch the idea of being in the EU and would be making plans for us to have our own currency as the preferred choice, not a plan B or C. Sadly, they don't have the bottle. If they did, Calton would consider voting Yes. As it is, it's No all the way.

Would someone please kill this bill?

Calton has to give Margo MacDonald 10/10 for perseverance and 10/10 for bad temper. The former is for introducing another assisted suicide bill and the latter is for her performance on Call Kaye this morning when called upon to defend her bill. The fact that Margo lost the rag with someone who opposes her bill clearly demonstrates what an emotive issue this is, and legislating on the basis of emotions is never a good idea, nor is legislating on the basis of a few tragic but unusual cases. Dr Stephen Hutchison of the Highland Hospice is quite right when he highlights the inconsistency of our government trying its hardest to dissuade people from taking their own life on the one hand and yet, now, discussing a bill which would facilitate suicide. Calton is also worried about the fact that, if the new bill becomes law, there will be lethal doses of drugs floating about the community for up to 14 days if not used by the person who has requested them! What sort of training and assessment is going to be given to the "facilitators" who would collect these drugs from the chemist and, presumably, administer them to the patient since this bill is concerned with those who are unable to commit suicide unaided? Whatever the training, the thought that a certain class of people would be able to administer lethal drugs with legal impunity is chilling. Calton does not want to see Scotland go down this route - hopefully our MSPs will agree and boot out this bill, again.

Hobson's Choice - the army or unemployment?

While Calton can understand calls for the army recruiting age to be raised to 18, he does not agree with them. No-one is forcing 16 year olds to enlist and they cannot do so without the consent of their parents. They also do not see active service until they are 18. Yes, joining the army may result in significant mental, emotional and physical injury or death. So does becoming one of the many unemployed youth with no hope of finding a job. A recent review by the World Health Organisation has highlighted joblessness as a major health risk to young people, with suicide an immediate risk and chronic diseases such as cancer and stroke a risk in the long term. In an ideal world there would be no wars and there would be plenty of jobs for school-leavers. This is not an ideal world and closing the door to one viable career option for 16 year olds will not make it any better. Staying on at school until 18 is not appropriate for all young people - for some, the alternative of going into the forces provides them with the discipline they need and training which will stand them in good stead. On this day, as we remember the fallen, we also demonstrate our support for our armed forces. We need to take better care of them when they come out of the army, whether by choice, by redundancy or through injury and we need to take care of the youngsters who stay at home and struggle to find a job. Our young people deserve better than Hobson's choice.

It's not the immigrants who are the problem

Calton has never disputed the fact that most immigrants to this country are hard-working and make a positive contribution to our economy. It is no surprise to find that, in recent years, they are less likely to be in receipt of benefits than Brits. The problem is, the ready supply of skilled people with a good work ethic has allowed us to ignore the fact that many of our young people are unemployable and many of our unemployed do not want to work. If we did not have uncontrolled immigration from the EU, genuine jobseekers would find it a lot easier to find a job and the work-shy would find it a lot harder to hide. We would not have such a huge problem with youth unemployment and business owners would be putting a lot more pressure on the government to sort out our education system so that it turns out employable youngsters. As it is, the influx of Eastern Europeans is masking a growing problem within our society. It is also fuelling resentment because, now, they are not just doing the jobs Brits don't want to do - they are doing jobs that some Brits do want to do. Recession has made us less fussy when it comes to a job, which would be no bad thing if the jobs were available. Given the announcement today of up to 1000 job cuts at BAE Systems yards north and south of the border, it is time for both the Scottish and Westminster governments to take a serious look at whether we can afford a further influx of Eastern Europeans at the end of the year, especially when we have no idea how many will come. We should let in the immigrants we need and the ones who need asylum but call a halt to unrestricted immigration from the EU.

Can Unite live up to its name?

If all employers treated their workers fairly and legally, unions would not be necessary. Unfortunately that is not the case and unions play a vital role in protecting workers' rights, particularly now that it costs £400 to take an employer to an industrial tribunal - a sum far beyond many low-paid workers' means. That doesn't mean that it is OK for unions to intimidate or bully managers or their families in the course of an industrial dispute. If the recent allegations about Unite's "leveraging" tactics prove to be true, they have crossed a line which should not be crossed. The fact that, at the moment, Unite's leadership is entirely unrepentant is even more worrying. Calton is old enough to remember the bitter industrial disputes of the 70's and 80's and does not want to see those days return. Unions need to accept that businesses are there, first and foremost, to make a profit, not provide jobs for the boys. Global changes can sometimes mean the end of the gravy train for a particular industry and businesses need to constantly adapt to survive. Sadly, it seems that the entrenched union mindset in some industries will always militate against helping firms to weather the inevitable downturns. Conflict instead of cooperation seems to be the order of the day. Now if Unite could work with the management and owners of Grangemouth to turn the business around, then it really would be worthy of its name.

The Cheviot, the Stag and Scottish Gas

It is ironic that consumers in the North of Scotland are facing higher energy price rises than those in the South, while, at the same time, large swathes of the Highlands are being turned into an industrial landscape with the construction of the Beauly-Denny power line and a large number of windfarms. It is also ironic when several rural areas on the Scottish mainland are now being considered for fuel discounts, including some in the Highlands. Someone, somewhere is not joining up the dots. Petrol is currently 10p per litre higher in Wester Ross than it is in the central belt and the proposed extension of the discount scheme is too late to save petrol stations such as Achnasheen from closure. Rural communities are being disproportionately hard-hit in these times of austerity - they need a helping hand with fuel bills both for transport and heating if we are not to see another Highland clearance, this time with wind turbines replacing people. If the European Commission does not agree with the extension of the fuel discount, we should tell them where to go. The same goes for Scottish Gas.

SNP energy policy - getting warmer

Well! They say a week is a long time in politics. It's less than a week since Calton said don't hold your breath for the SNP to remove unfair subsidies from consumer fuel bills. Now Nicola Sturgeon has announced just that, at the SNP's conference in Perth. Perhaps they've been reading this blog. Whatever the reason for today's announcement, it is very welcome in Calton's opinion. It is manifestly unfair that poor people should be paying more on their fuel bills in order to help even poorer people, especially now that we know that children of working parents are more likely to suffer poverty than those of unemployed parents. Some of the people struggling the most to pay their bills are now people who earn just enough to stop them receiving benefits but not enough to cover the rising cost of living. Calton is not against helping those in fuel poverty but the help should come out of general taxation, not through our fuel bills. Subsidies for home insulation should also be means-tested. In this respect, Nicola is thinking what Calton is thinking. Now all we need is for Westminster to take a lead from the SNP and the SNP to remove subsidies for windfarm builders. Calton is still not holding his breath.

SNP energy policy - turning folk blue?

So, let's just see if Calton has got this right - not only are hard-pressed consumers paying 9% of their energy bills to subsidise green energy, the taxpayer is paying £725,000 to councils up and down Scotland to help them cope with the avalanche of wind farm planning applications which is threatening to bury them alive. More than 2500 in the last 18 months. If building windfarms is so popular, why are we subsidising it? You only subsidise things which need encouragement. It's time this scam scheme was stopped, before it pushes even more families and pensioners into fuel poverty. If removing the subsidies results in fewer planning applications, so much the better because then councils will be able to cope with them. Councils should also be left to make the decisions on individual planning applications without Scottish Government interference - Calton does not believe that the Scottish Government is able to strike the right balance between providing green energy and the need to satisfactorily address the impacts on communities and the environment, due to its over-ambitious green energy targets. If the SNP/Greens have their way, you won't be able to see Scotland for a forest of turbines and we can wave bye-bye to our tourism industry. Forcing price freezes is not the way to go - governments can't rig the market - but removing unfair subsidies is within the control of the Westminster Government and would be within the control of an independent Scottish Government. Don't hold your breath if it's SNP. Your face will turn as blue as your frozen extremities.

The cost of keeping nothing secret

 The voters in South Dunfermline could be forgiven for wondering which are the parliamentary candidates and which are the council candidates, going by the election leaflets Calton's contact in Dunfermline has sent him. The would-be MSPs all seem to be more exercised by issues such as the proposed closure of a local school, local bus services and the state of the town centre, none of which they would have much control over if elected, than issues of national importance, such as the economy. The Green candidate is even concerned about the ability of Pars fans to buy their club! The Libdems are relying heavily on Willie Rennie's track record as MP for the area, conveniently forgetting that he was comprehensively booted out by Labour's Thomas Docherty in 2010. Calton suspects that Labour will do the same to the SNP this time round, especially with the latter's choice of a recycled Lothians list MSP as candidate to replace the disgraced Bill Walker.

Meanwhile the SNP seem to be increasingly sensitive to accusations that they have been in any way "economical with the truth", leading to journos and other bloggers/tweeters inventing new euphemisms for telling porkies. Calton's current favourite is "saying one thing in public and another behind closed doors". Whether or not the SNP are being honest with the people of Scotland is a matter of debate. What is clear is that a good number of people, including Johann Lamont and Calton, think that they are not being honest, which means that the SNP have a massive credibility problem. The onus is now on them to prove that they are being honest and are not hiding facts which are inconvenient to their arguments for independence. Otherwise they are going to struggle to convince people to vote yes next year. And spending £20k on legal action to keep the fact that they didn't have any EU advice secret doesn't help their cause.

Put your clothes back on girls

Calton is 100% in agreement with Annie Lennox over the classification of pop videos. It's not about restricting freedom of expression. It's about protecting young children from viewing material which is not suitable for them. Calton has seen primary age girls copying dance routines which they have seen on the TV and, frankly, he did not know where to look. Some of the moves they were making, in all innocence due to their age, were highly sexual and Calton can't help wondering if, in their twisted minds, paedophiles are using such behaviour as justification for their perverted desires. Children are innocent but they do not inhabit an innocent world and exposing them to sexual imagery which they then, very naturally, copy, could be exposing them to even greater danger. Calton also finds it very sad that, instead of getting an education and a job and being valued as a person, which is what girls fifty years ago were encouraged to do, young girls today are being given the message that the way to get ahead is to flaunt your body - having talent is not enough it seems. It is significant that Lennox is in her late 50's and another supporter of her call for pop videos to be rated is Margo MacDonald, who is 70. They grew up in an era when women were starting to be told, and believe, that they were equal to men and both have significant achievements to their credit. What happened that, now, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus are the role models? The farmer who told Rihanna to put her top on had the right idea and so has Sinead O'Connor.