Better never than late

It's good to see that Barclays and Coutts have decided to withdraw sponsorship from the Stonewall awards next year unless the 'Bigot' award is dropped however it beggars belief that they did not know what they were sponsoring this year given that Nationwide, one of last year's sponsors, withdrew after getting serious flak over their involvement. Their move today smacks of damage limitation in the face of a media storm. Stonewall do good work in preventing bullying of homosexuals, however, when they use the term 'bigot' to try and censure the speech of those who don't agree with them, they become the bully. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong target in Cardinal O'Brien. Nobody, Calton least of all, would have objected if they'd picked whoever said that gay people should be shot dead but the Cardinal's comments on gay marriage are not in the same category. His comments may be offensive to homosexuals but many people are deeply unhappy with the idea of marriage being redefined and feel that the Cardinal speaks for them. In labelling him a bigot, Stonewall also labels them bigots. Such name-calling only widens the gulf between the two sides of the debate and the fact that Ruth Davidson got booed for objecting to the 'Bigot' award at the Stonewall event reveals the petty nature of some of Stonewall's supporters. Stonewall would do well to dissociate itself from such people.

No Guarantees

It is becoming more and more obvious that we are going to go into the independence referendum without a clear idea of what Scotland's position will be in the EU if we vote yes. The UK Government won't ask the European Commission for its view before the referendum happens and the Scottish Government can't ask the EC before the referendum happens because Scotland is not a member state at the moment. So we are going to have to make the most important decision in the history of modern Scotland without all the relevant information available to us. Wonderful. What is clear is that the SNP cannot guarantee to deliver on their vision of an independent Scotland, in the EU, using Sterling even if they do get a yes vote because their vision depends on securing the agreement of both the EU and the remainder of the UK post-independence. What is Alex Salmond going to do if they don't agree? Nuke them? (Oops, sorry, Calton was forgetting that an independent Scotland would be a nuclear-free zone.)

Better late than never

So the party of 'spend, spend, spend' has finally woken up to the fact that we are giving far too much to the EU in these times of austerity. Either that or Labour just wanted a stick to beat David Cameron with because they are not known for being either prudent (and Calton is using the word in its true, pre-Brown sense) or anti-EU. Whatever the reason for their vote today it's better late than never. The EU budget is out of control and the British taxpayer is the loser. What Calton can't quite get his head round is a Conservative Government being defeated by Labour and its own backbenchers for not being tough enough on Europe. Extraordinary. Times are certainly changing.

Totally depressing

It's bad enough to have to come back to the city after a wonderful week in the West Highlands without being depressed further by Alex Salmond's announcement today of yet another stupid renewables target. Murdo Fraser is quite right when he points out that the SNP's target is "completely underpinned by wind power. Not only is that an unreliable and intermittent source, but it's led to turbines blighting communities across the whole country." As yet, you can still get wonderful views from the mountains on the west coast without turbines blotting the landscape but for how long? The amount of truly wild land in Scotland is rapidly shrinking and, with it, the attraction for tourists. We are cutting off our nose to spite our face.

The EU - an obituary

MP Douglas Carswell has likened the UK's membership of the EU to being 'shackled to a corpse'. Calton couldn't have said it better himself. The EU is a deadweight which both the UK and Scotland could well do without. It stinks. No amount of tinkering with it will sort its problems. It is fundamentally flawed. It's pushing up the daisies. It wouldn't live if you put 5000 volts through it. It is an ex-union. Hopefully the legal advice which the Scottish Government is now finally getting around to asking for vis-a-vis the EU will tell them that we won't automatically be a member if we become independent. Then the people of Scotland can really have a choice about who governs us.

Keep up the pressure Jackie!

Calton likes to think of himself as a fair-minded person and he came away from watching Alex Salmond's interview with Andrew Neil with the distinct impression that the First Minister was deliberately trying to obfuscate the question of legal advice. The phrase used by Salmond -  "in terms of the debate" - is, at best, open to differing interpretation and, at worst, totally meaningless. Of course it's no surprise that Nicola Sturgeon has leapt to her leader's defence (although Calton wonders when she is finally going to realise that Eck is a liability rather than an asset) however, thankfully, Jackie Baillie is not letting the dear Leader off the hook. More power to yer elbow Jackie!

Praying for a minority government

It's not often that Calton gets his prayers answered in 3 days however, with today's damaging admission by the SNP that they have not in fact sought legal advice from the Lord Advocate over Scotland's membership of the EU post-independence, it is clear that there is a God in heaven who listens, unlike the Scottish Government. What is truly scandalous is the fact that the SNP were prepared to spend public money on a useless court battle against a FOI request by Labour MEP Catherine Stihler (which they have now dropped). Their credibility is going down the toilet. All it needs is for a few more SNP MSPs to resign from the party over NATO and we might well be back to a minority government. Calton is off to say his prayers.

Wanted - a longer spoon

It's no surprise to Calton that the SNP are prepared to ignore the advice of the Electoral Commission, given that they don't listen to anyone else. And for Nicola Sturgeon to say that Scotland won't be "bought and sold for anyone's gold" is a nonsense when the SNP are bribing voters with free personal care, frozen council taxes, free prescriptions and free bus travel for the elderly and the average man or woman in the street would vote yes or no to independence depending on whether or not it made them £500 richer. How can the SNP Government possibly make an impartial decision on spending limits for the referendum campaign? That's the role of the Electoral Commission. Unfortunately Michael Moore seems to have been duped by the Deputy First Minister into thinking that the SNP would abide by the Commission's advice. More fool him. You need a longer spoon than he has got to sup with the SNP.

A bit on the tough side

Calton apologises for the brevity of his posts at the moment but he is on holiday in the Highlands, where the scenery is to die for and you could die waiting for a web page to update! The only super-fast download happening hereabouts is the emptying of Calton's bird feeder by the local population of Coal Tits. And just in case you are concerned about the thought of a Sea Eagle feeding small birds, it's OK - Calton only eats politicians. He might have been tempted to have a bite of the recently departed Tory Chief Whip however the Labour vultures got there first and Calton suspects Mitchell would have been a bit on the tough side, despite hanging (on) for so long.

Does money Trump class?

That's right Eck - play the class card, like we've all forgotten your own attempts to cosy up to the likes of Murdoch and Trump. Or is it OK if they've got money as long as they didn't go to Eton? Who are you trying to kid? This isn't so much about Lord Snooty as shades of Desperate Dan. Salmond has also pledged to 'tell the truth about Scotland'. Hopefully that will include a response to the FOI request about what legal advice, if any, the Scottish Government has obtained regarding our position in the EU if we become independent.