Poll – We’re Back on Track August 27, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Other Lib Dem Stuff.Tags: megrahi, pollwatch
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A new Yougov poll of Scotland puts the Lib Dems on 16% in Holyrood constituency voting. I’m sure we can do better than that, but it’s a good start. There’ve been some fairly dire polls this year (that 9% one was very unpleasant indeed) but clearly our message about the SNP’s failures on Megrahi is speaking to people.
There are some other interesting things in that poll as well. The obvious is that the majority of Scots think the release was wrong (as I do), but a majority of Lib Dem voters supported his release – more than any other major party.
EDIT – Now with crappy Excel graph depiction!
Katy Gordon – a face to watch (says Total Politics!) August 24, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Other Lib Dem Stuff.Tags: glasgow north, katy gordon, total politics
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Katy Gordon, our candidate in Glasgow North, has just been recognised in Total Politics as a “face to watch” in their feature on the GE in Scotland. While a magazine for political obsessives probably won’t swing the vote in Maryhill, it’s encouraging that Katy’s being recognised for all the great work she’s doing here.
Hat tip – Andrew Reeves
The Tuition Fees Debate – The Director’s Cut Redux July 23, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Other Lib Dem Stuff.Tags: liberal youth, tuition fees
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Is it just me, or have we had this debate more times than Blade Runner’s been released on DVD? At conference this year, we pointedly didn’t have it, and yet people filed on stage supporting the policy anyway. The party supports it, the public supports it, and we can find the money for it – why are we still talking about this?
I agree that we’ve got to make the hard calls right now, about what we can and can’t afford. Trident was a good one, and (as Costigan Quist so rightly said) there are other options if we’re genuinely willing to do what’s needed to balance the budget. Broadly, I support the leadership, but why is it that whenever they have a problem, their answer is “drop the tuition fees policy”?
Supporting tuition fees would be, in a word, cowardly. It’s an easy cut, almost an expected one. But that doesn’t make it right. Let’s carry on as the only party bold enough to say that education should be free.
The Tories and the Constitution – La La La, I Can’t Hear You July 17, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Opposition.Tags: conservatives, constitution
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News has come out today of a poll conducted by ConservativeHome, indicating that almost half of Tory candidates would be “not uncomfortable” with Scottish separation from the Union. Take a little moment to digest that.
Yes, the Conservative and Unionist party’s next generation aren’t too hung up on the whole “union” thing. Of course, the other half of candidates are vehement in their support of the United Kingdom – an interesting divide. But it got me thinking about the reasoning behind it.
The Tories, in general, have no idea what to do with the Constitution. As small-c conservatives, their natural instinct is to keep everything the same as it’s always been, and resist even the slightest alteration (so much for Cameron’s “Now for Change” slogan). Hence their indecision on Lords reform. It’s incredible that, even ten years ago, the Conservatives wanted to keep hereditary peers in the House, with full voting rights and law-making powers. Even now, the majority of their MPs want a largely appointed House, with little democratic accountability. Change? Hardly.
But even that delightful throwback to feudalism pales in comparison to their position on Europe. Knowing full well that his base are rabidly opposed to anything involving Johnny Foreigner, Cameron’s had to tread a fine line of playing the Eurosceptic without actually doing anything. So he’s made a new group in the European Parliament, talked tough on Brussels bureacracy (and other alliterative phrases) and generally made himself out as a Maastricht rebel, while failing to spell out any actual action he’d take beyond a referendum on Lisbon. Will we stay in Europe? Cameron says “Yes, but we’ll pretend to leave to force them to give us stuff.” He can’t be more specific, because if he is, he’ll have a war on his hands.
Their position on devolution is similarly vague and self-contradictory. The Scottish Tories made submissions to Calman, and many of their MSPs support more powers for the parliament (when they aren’t running for Westminster). But Cameron’s ruled out any reform for years. It’s almost as if the English Tories want the SNP to have ammunition against the Union.
Oh yeah. About half of them do.
Cameron says he wants to be Prime Minister of the whole UK. But he doesn’t even know how he thinks the country should be governed. At every level, from council to Europe, the Tories just pretend there isn’t an issue. It might not stop their rise in the polls now, but in government the Conservatives will have to deal with these questions. I don’t know if they can.
Being in Argyll… July 16, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Uncategorized.5 comments
…tends to leave you with a lot of time on your hands. As such, I was playing around with pageplus and decided to rip off the Obama campaign. I like blue. *
Anyway, aside from the shiny new header I thought I’d try a facebook image. Could be nice to have something like this for Freshers’ or for the general. Virtual postering, and all that. So have a look!
Just 3338 votes for a Lib Dem in Glasgow North!
* Not a Tory.
Honestly, Irfan. June 21, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Other Lib Dem Stuff.Tags: irfan ahmed, lys, tobias ellwood
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Irfan Ahmed. He’s a love him or hate him kind of guy. I rather enjoy reading his blog, usually. I’m aware of his failings re LGBT rights and Israel, but I’ve been willing to overlook them for a bit.
But come on!
Irfan recently posted an article defending the thugs (who so happened to be young) who beat up Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood. These people decided to attack him after he asked them to stop throwing a football around, in an area where such activity was forbidden. One can argue the rights and wrongs of the prohibition, but not their response to it – they chucked the ball at him repeatedly. He took some photos on his phone as evidence for the police, and for that act was subjected to a rather brutal beating.
This is in marked contrast to Irfan’s description: that the attackers were being “harassed” by the MP taking photos of them. Clearly, that’s not the case.
As President of Liberal Youth Scotland, I think young people have an incredibly valuable contribution to make to politics. But some people need jail sentences, not political support. I believe that Irfan’s making a mistake; defending them because they’re young rather than on the facts of the case.
Young people are, for the most part, invaluable members of society. However, as in any other group there are some bad apples. In this case, they happen to be dangerously violent apples without consciences who need rehabilitation.
PS – Irfan, please don’t take offence to this post, not that you would (*cough*Mark*cough*). I would’ve posted a critique on your blog, only you’ve disabled comments on that post after some critical ones. I think you should let a debate go on, even if the majority opinion is against your own. It isn’t that bad.
LYS’s Grand Day Out to Edinburgh June 21, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Liberal Youth Scotland.Tags: homophobia is gay, lys, scott rennie
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Last month, as I’m sure everyone remembers, there was a bit of a carry-on regarding Revd. Scott Rennie and his future in the Church of Scotland. Some conservative elements of the Kirk (and a whole lot more conservative churches outside it) decided that because he was gay, Revd. Rennie was unable to continue in the job he’d been doing so well. This despite the fact that his congregation in the Queen’s Cross parish of Aberdeen supported him; the very basis of presbytarianism.
So far, so unpleasant. But then Kieran found out that the Westboro Baptist Church (of “God Hates Fags” fame) had promised to picket the General Assembly as the Reverend’s fate was decided. That, we decided, just wouldn’t do. We made up our minds to counter-protest in favour of Scott Rennie.
Bearing in mind that we only had 6 days notice, I think the next part is quite impressive. We set up a facebook event, which the exec and our friends all posted on our feeds. This was quickly picked up by LGBT groups across the country, who passed it around even more. The numbers attending just kept growing.
On the morning before the protest (scheduled for 5:30) Kieran and I went to Homebase and bought everything which could conceivably be used to make placards. How we managed to fit all that bamboo into the car I don’t know, but if you ever need placards made he has the best blueprints. Seriously, these were some kick-ass placards. When made, we bundled them into the car once again and headed off for the general assembly. After meeting a few early birds and having a surprisingly friendly chat with the police, we settled down to wait for the rest of the 40 people who might be coming.
About an hour later there were over 100 of us standing on the mound, across from 13 dreary looking homophobic protestors from the Zion Baptist Church. It was just fantastic. We talk a lot about young people being intrinsically liberal – well, here was proof.
In the finish up, the Kirk allowed Revd. Rennie to keep his job, and although they imposed a 2-year moratorium on new LGBT reverends I’m inclined to see it as a good first step. And the Westboro Baptist Church? They didn’t even manage to get there.
That’s a fairly self-indulgent trip through our protest. Thanks to everyone who came, but in particular Kieran for all the work he did in organising it and Callum for taking the placards away at the end! Kudos as well to Stephen for the wonderful write-up and the wonderful Siobhan Mathers for getting the media to take an interest.
Pictures are in order, I think. Thanks to James Harrison for taking these:
Tom Maidwell, Hon. President of LYS
Us from the back. This still doesn't give a full picture of the scale of the protest...
Ok, I’ve got no more excuses… June 21, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Exams are over, the Euros have come and gone (congrats, George!) and I’m now at home in sunny Argyll. I have no more excuses for not blogging, particularly as my friend Stephen has been convincing/badgering me to do so. 
And now, as is always the way, I’ve got all keyed up and I can’t go. I will return later today to actually write something of note. Promise.
Aporkalypse Now May 1, 2009
Posted by ruaraidhdobson in Me Having a Life.Tags: biology, swine flu
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EVERYONE REMAIN CALM. THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC ABOUT THIS DISEASE WHICH IS GOING TO KILL US ALL. THE GOVERNMENT IS FULLY IN CONTROL OF THE SITUATION… WAIT, DID THAT MAKE IT WORSE?
Seriously, swine flu is getting really annoying. Apparently, there’s going to be a pandemic and, as anyone who’s ever had the misfortune to read a Michael Crichton novel knows, that’s BAD with a capital Fucked.
Only, it entirely misses the point. A pandemic, according to the WHO, satisfies the following three conditions:
- A new disease (to a population) emerges.
- It infects people easily, and causes disease.
- It spreads easily among people.
And yes, this strain of ‘flu does that. It’s infected 8 people in the UK, one of whom may not even have been to Mexico. A whole 8 people, with one possible case of transmission. Not quite 28 Days Later, is it?
Let’s remember exactly what this is – a strain of flu. And not even a particularly terrifying one. The reason Spanish flu and the recent H5N1 avian flu were so deadly was that they produced what’s known as a “cytokine storm” in an infected patient. Essentially, the immune system goes into a loop – it overreacts to a new pathogen, sending more and more immune system cells to the site of infection. This can cause severe damage to any organs which happen to be in the firing line. Since it’s the immune system which does the actual damage, the young and healthy are at a disproportionately greater risk than those with weaker immune systems.
But there’s no evidence that this strain of H1N1 flu does that. In all the various cases reported outside of Mexico, it’s acted like, well, the flu. The infected person has to sit in bed for a week and possibly take some tamiflu (which works really well, and of which we’ve got a ton). Oh, and incidentally, facemasks do nothing. Do not wear them. Don’t buy one, either, even if it’s “just in case”. All that happens is everyone panics and the facemask people grow even richer. I swear, one day we’ll find out that every new disease since SARS has been bioterrorism designed to sell facemasks.
But I digress. My point is, a new reassortment or a mutation of H1N1 could, potentially, be bad. But right now it’s just the flu, and we shouldn’t be unduly concerned.
It is worth pointing out, however, that ordinary, regular flu is a leading cause of death among the elderly even in the UK. So before we get worked up about a new disease for which we’re remarkably well prepared, perhaps we should make sure that older people get their flu vaccinations before the winter. That might not sell many newspapers (or facemasks) but it’d do a hell of a lot more good.
PS – Interesting fact: I had an exam yesterday which included a section on influenza, which on doing some fact checking for this post I now realise I completely buggered up. Make of that what you will.
