Or perhaps not. We haven’t talked about Grangemouth, yet, though the dust is beginning to settle. If you missed it, then perhaps a good summary is from our friends over at Bella Caledonia. And there’s some excellent after-coverage at the Sunday Herald today.
The whole situation has taken us back to days gone by. We had trade unions muscling up, though some very large doses of humble pie are on the Sunday dinner table. And of course it was the union that kicked it all off, with threats after disciplinary proceedings on their full time official allegedly doing some Party work in company time. This was the same official up to his oxters in that stooshie at nearby Falkirk, the one that eventually saw Unite slash their funding to The Party by 90%. Remember in all of this that it is the unions who put the Labour leadership in place, against the wishes of the members, north and south of the border.
And we were minded of a mill owner, in the dark days of several hundred years ago, trampling all over the fodder that spun his yarn and laid his table. Bluff, double bluff and counter bluff. The plant’s closing, liquidators next week, off you go now, all 800 of you. And the other 800 might not be far behind. Full time official no more.
If you tuned into PMQs last week, or Question Time, you’d be forgiven for not knowing anything about it, for 800 jobs in a wee outpost didn’t register. It was only Scotland’s oil industry, the pipeline, the terminal, the refinery at stake. It finally registered with the BBC when a rescue package was agreed. For the intent of the state broadcaster then was to try and put words into Salmond’s mouth – words along the lines of Westminster’s importance to Scotland. Listen for yourself how that one went. For thankfully Rev Stu gives it a wider different audience.
And if there’s one man comes out of the Grangemouth events with any credit, it’s Alex Salmond. Even the Sunday Herald says so. Yes it’s Gardham’s day off. And as is usually the case, Iain McWhirter tells it as it is.
And there’s much more detail on the whole sorry episode over at Newsnet.
There’s more coming up from Stuart Campbell at Wings Over Scotland, for you might have heard Ken MacDonald on Radio Scotland’s Headlines programme this very morning, discussing the importance that Wings and Bella, and Newsnet too, are having. And talking at some length of the latest of Wings crowd-funded Panelbase polls, the results of which are being released today, and examined in depth over the next few days. It’ll be hard for the big boys to ignore it, especially with Ken and Derek Bateman not afraid to speak their minds these days. Wonder what it’s going to tell us?
Crowd-funding. It’s getting more important. The Common Weal are going places. Bella have big plans. Wings are polling. We could have more from Rough Justice, the boys behind The Fear Factor, for they’re planning a little movie next year, if we all dip into our pockets. All it takes is a few people with an interest, a few pounds each. The world is changing, And it’s for the better.
PS Over at Wings Stu has been delving into his poll results. Much food for thought in his analyses.
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