Have your say Jims Blog

I'll never complain about traffic again....

When I’m caught in rush hour coming out of Glasgow city centre or caught in a tail back at Clarkston or Eastwood Toll I can feel pretty sorry for myself. After having seen this news story I don’t think I ever will again.

I just don’t know how you could stay sane in a nine day traffic jam, yup, N-I-N-E days!

And even worse the poor guys who are stuck in the jam complain they are being overcharged for basic food and drink by the crafty locals who are looking to make a bomb out of the drivers’ misfortune.

I certainly won’t be complaining about needing to spend an extra 10 minutes listening to Radio Clyde on Eastwoodmains Road again.

What is your favourite quote?

The 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain has been commemorated by a reading of one of Winston Churchill's most famous speeches.

Actor Robert Hardy read extracts from Churchill's "so much owed by so many to so few" speech, precisely 70 years after the address in Parliament.

My favourite speeches are below. Let me know what is your all time favourite speech in any field.

Nelson Mandela- An ideal for which I am prepared to die Mandela made this statement from the dock at the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage, Supreme court of South Africa, Pretoria, April 20 1964. Click here to read

Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy, Washington, D.C. January 20, 196. Click here to read 

Winston Churchill's Battle of Britain speech. Click here to read.

How Scottish school holidays saved David Cameron from Nick Clegg

It's Wednesday lunchtime and instead of the usual Prime Ministers Questions the House of Commons is in recess today.

David Cameron will be the most pleased man on the planet not just because he avoids what must be one of the toughest half hours of any Prime Ministers week.

And why some people are asking? Its supposedly because of Scottish school holidays.

You see the PM is away for the second week running and it would have been left to Nick Clegg to do his thing at the dispatch box as deputy PM in his own peculiar way. Remember last week? It was a widely reported 30 minutes strewn with errors and the repeated mouthing Tory Party slogans.

And his excuse for flying by the seat of his pants is that he was speaking in a personal capacity. What a weird claim.

I and hundreds of other MPs didn't take our seats in the Chamber last week for 'an audience with Nick Clegg'. If he wanted to make another sanctimonious justification for getting together with the Tories then he should have booked a room and made a speech. On top of the worries about another Cleggathon of Clangers the site of Clegg acting as PM two weeks in a row at the Dispatch Box would have been too much for many increasingly anxious Tory MPs to bare. So how was this avoided today?

Believe it or not Scottish school holidays came to Cameron's rescue. Most MPs don't know that schools in Scotland started their holidays a month ago and last just a few more weeks but now they do and they're happy they do. The Tory leadership decided that it would only be fair on Scottish MPs if Parliament shut a day earlier than planned. I have been in Parliament for 13 years and the school break has always clashed with Parliament sitting. But now a Party with only one MP North of the Border has found another constitutional innovation.

Of course that day makes a big difference not to Scottish MPs with kids, of which I'm one but more importantly for the government. Cameron can go to India, Clegg can stay out of harms way and I can spend a day with the family.  
Everyone is happy but Cameron is happiest of all.

Is it right to cry at Toy Story?

I went along with the family to watch Toy Story 3 at Braehead in 3D last weekend. Children's movies are often a chance for me to catch up on some sleep, but not this time.
 
I've always enjoyed the Toy Story movies because they work at both a children's and adults level. This one was no different and arguably better than its predecessors.

But my point of blogging is simply to ask 'When is it acceptable to cry at a movie?' I only ask because as the movie came towards an end I noticed Claire wiping away a tear or two from behind her 3D glasses. And she wasn't the only one in the Odeon(no, not me) who appeared to bubbling. But it got me thinking about when it was acceptable to cry in public at a movie?

Matthew Parris the Times journalist previously argued that only cruel men cry about a film. He was, I'm told, inundated with complaints from sensitive male movie goers.

So when is it OK to have a wee weep? For me anything that involves cruelty to children always unsettles me and I turn it off if its on telly and shut my eyes if its at the pictures. When I was younger the ending of Spartacus got me. But I guess the fact that its repeated every year somewhere on some television channel has dulled the impact. Does this mean I'm a cruel man or just too embarrassed to admit to a more sensitive side?

Will the Naysayers say Sorry now - Doubt It.

So all the doomsayers will be apologising? Will they? No they will be in hiding, moving onto their next criticism. But perhaps some of them should apologise for saying South Africa couldn't hack it. Sure it wasn't the most enthralling or romantic footballing event but that's not South Africa's fault. Some of them were still at it last night after the Final, Alan Green on Radio 5 live  spent too much of his programme attacking the South African's oganisation of the event. Remember this is the same guy that our license fee pays to go to these events. Anyway I was so annoyed last night that I parked the car to Tweet him and others about their pathetic criticisms. It's not South Africa's fault that England were rubbish throughout the tournament. There are a myriad of reasons including pampered millionaires not performing, individual failures and the ball(a FIFA decision not South Africa's)
anyway amongst the certainties predicted were:

Crime and murder would dominate the month and South Africa wasn't safe to go to. Not true as I think recent stats show and while there is too much crime it isn't as dreadful as the sceptics predicted.

The stadia will never be finished on time. Not true, really brilliant modern stadia which are all unique in their own way were built. The issue now is what to do with them.

The South Africans don't know how to organise things. Rubbish, this was meticulously planned and went well.

The tickets won't sell. Not true, depending on what source you believe this was either the 2nd or 3rd best attended world cup ever. Locals had access to cheap tickets.

Having an event in an African winter is crazy, they said. Well it seemed better than our Summers!

The country isn't ready, it's all down to sentiment they claimed. South Africa put in a huge effort and it paid off.

On the actual downside in my view are the fact that South Africa was the first host nation not to get to the second round, the vuvuzela(although that wasn't a secret when the tournament was awarded), the cheating footballers who repeatedly fell over feigning injury, the poor refereeing decisions after a good start.

On the positive: Nelson Mandela seemed like Man of the Match at the Final, a new footballing style from Germany, Ghana generally, Spanish passing, a realisation that South Africa is a wonderful country with her problems but that can put on one of the biggest events in the world and do it brilliantly. Oh, and did I mention Nelson Mandela!

North Korea and the world cup

As the whole world watches the world cup there's one country where it hardly registers - North Korea. It’s the one country in the planet that will probably never hear about the countries 7-0 defeat to Portugal. Just what the players tell their families when they get back about how they did is anyone’s guess. But for all the humour in Scotland (a country not in the tournament but fixed on it) about a country in the tournament whose TV coverage is fixed to avoid it, there is a much more sinister side to North Korea. It is run by a secretive and vile regime who know nothing of their responsibility to their citizens.
 
Click here for an insight into North Korea and the country that their now defeated footballers will be returning to

Why I'm backing England

The World Cup has arrived. Fantastic. The greatest sporting event in the world carries the hopes of all football fans and an entire Continent.

I spent my teenage years in South Africa and I know how excited so many people there are.

As football stars jet in South Africa's quota of millionaires has gone through the roof. I have thought for a while that football has lost its way particularly regarding money. Some large football clubs in England have lost their compass. The fantastic success of Blackpool's promotion is one of the brilliant exceptions. I watch them a couple of times a year when visiting family there. A few years ago I thought I would only see Blackpool play Premiership teams if they drew them in the FA Cup - now it’s going to be a weekly event. Anyway enough about Blackpool Football Club.

The football gluttony has stolen much of the romance of our occasionally beautiful game but the World Cup still has its spellbinding attraction. The phenomena that is Brazil, the poignancy of South Africa 20 years after Nelson Mandela's release, the Americans as the underdogs ; the search for the new Cruyff trickery, the next Roger Milla and his unexpected fortnight of fame or the next villain ala Zidane's headbut in 2006.

As for the tournament I have mixed feelings. I always want Brazil to do well - for me they are the one sporting favourite that still holds romance, the poignancy of post apartheid South Africa is seductive.

And then there's England. I grew up in a house where the expectation was ABE(Anyone but England). I was never told to cheer against our nearest neighbour . It was just something I knew I was expected to do. It was just the done thing. But I won't be doing it in this World Cup.

Both Scotland and England have changed. Scotland is more confident. The nationalism that defines Scotland for what its not is in retreat. Last months general election result proved that once and for all.

England is changing as well. Sure some English fans will wave the Union Flag at the matches but these will be massively outnumbered by England's St Georges Flag. This is a change from a couple of World Cups ago. And it’s not just at the games that the sense of self has changed for the better. There is now a near zero tolerance of the Flag being the property of a racist fringe. In Blackpool last weekend I saw dozens of newly bought English flags tied to the aerials of family cars. I think that this is a more confident patriotism which is better because it’s comfortably public and much softer and more subtle. Sure there are still racist fools but at a tournament in South Africa of all places surely even they must be struck by the stupidity of their ways.

The old strident racism masquerading as football fervour has almost gone and the unease of many people from outside England felt cheering a team who attracted such a poisonous following is also past.

So to the football, like every Scot I wish we were there but we are not and there is a real feel bad feeling about Scottish football which I hope Craig Levein can remedy. But England are there and I am a happy that they are. With only 2 notable exceptions (1966 and 1990) England has underachieved. To win this World Cup England will probably have to over achieve. But I for one will be happy if England wins. Just don't tell my dad.

Let me know what you think and who you will be backing.

Michael Foot - A Gent from Head to Toe

It is sad news that Michael Foot has passed away. He was one of the giants of the Labour Party. He was a gentleman, a socialist, a journalist and a football fanatic. He was a link to the idealism and radicalism of the post war era, and an honest and decent man from head to toe.
He was vilified by many in the media and was caricitured for wearing a scruffy coat at the Cenotaph but he was a much more substantial person than his detractors. He was Leader of the Labour Party when it didn't really want to be led.

I spoke to him last year when he was last in Parliament and he was so proud of Labour's introduction of the National Minimum Wage and the rebuilding of his hero Nye Bevan's greatest achievement the NHS.
One of the things that is less known about him was that he used to share a flat with the late Donald Dewar - I'm not sure who if anyone did the cleaning up!

Referendum proposal - unnecessary and unwanted

The Scottish Government's latest referendum proposal is as unnecessary as it is unwanted. They should be working harder to get Scots back into work and the economy back on its feet instead of throwing yet more time and money at their constitutional fixation.

There has never been any majority support for breaking up Britain and we are already committed to strengthening the powers of the Scottish Parliament through Calman. They should get off this hobby horse as soon as possible and get into the saddle of governing Scotland properly with the considerable powers they already have.

"The bill also wrongly makes the claim those who support further devolution do not hold a consensus. They do: that consensus is that breaking up Britain is the wrong thing to do.

A snow filled day

Despite the heavy snow lying all over East Renfrewshire today has been another busy day locally, starting with a meeting with local Police Chief Ciorstan Shearer for a special Question and Answer session. Local residents had submitted a variety of questions on local policing and it was great of Superintendent Shearer to take time out her busy day to answer them. Then it was off to a “Tea with your MP” event I had organised at the Fairweather hall in Newton Mearns. It was good opportunity to catch up with local residents in an informal way.

Lunch was stop off at a local Heath shop in Clarkston, The Granary which is soon celebrating its 25th anniversary in business. It’s a wonderful achievement and is a part of the local community.

Next was a catch up on my casework before another “Tea with you MP” event at the Bourock Parish Church in Barrhead. I had a quick visit to a local pensioner who is having problems with Virgin Media and I plan to take this up with Virgin. Then it was my weekly surgeries.

Another busy, snow filled but very worthwhile day. You will find more info on the above at the news section. As always leave comment and let me know your views.