Come on all you politics buffs. We have a Glasgow North East special coming up this Sunday; the party campaigns are in their final days as we approach polling day on November 12th.
We have an interview with Tommy Sheridan the co-leader of Solidarity and candidate in Glasgow North East. As well as short interviews with Willie Bain where we ask him after Labour being in power in Glasgow North East how do they defend their record in the city and the constituency? Ruth Davidson, what should happen to MP's such as Derek Conway, Should they be prosecuted? And Eileen Baxendale, what happened at the Lib Dem conference this weekend and will they support an independence referendum in the future?
We will have the SNP's David Kerr, the Green's David Doherty, and the SSP's Kevin McVey on next week.
So tune in to hear us live tomorrow (Sunday) morning from 0945-1030 only on http://www.subcity.org/listen.
You can interact with the show while its on air by Studio: 0141 341 6222 / debate@subcity.org Studio SMS: "subcity" followed by message to 07766 40 41 42
Or contact us anytime by posting on the blog or emailing debate@subcity.org.
Saturday 31 October 2009
Thursday 29 October 2009
Debate is Free interviews Tommy Sheridan
This week we will be interviewing Tommy Sheridan co-leader of Solidarity as part of Debate is Free's series on the party leaders in Scotland. Sheridan has had a controversial and colourful past especially in the past couple of years. The former MSP has been jailed three times in the past once for his opposition against the Poll tax and twice for his protests against Trident at Faslane Naval Base.
Tommy is one of the most recognisable politicians in Scotland and the UK and makes numerous appearances across the country. Tommy Sheridan has been a councillor for the city of Glasgow, MSP and recently stood to be an MEP in the European elections this year.
He has also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and at the Edinburgh Fringe
We will be talking to Tommy Sheridan as he is on the campaign trail in Glasgow North East so get your questions in quickly before 4pm today (29th October) either to the blog page or via email on debate@subcity.org.
Check us out here http://www.subcity.org/shows/debateisfree/
Spread the word about Debate is Free and join in.Got a point to make then email debate@subcity.org or while the show is on air or contact us on the following Studio: 0141 341 6222 Studio SMS: "subcity" followed by message to 07766 40 41 42
Tommy is one of the most recognisable politicians in Scotland and the UK and makes numerous appearances across the country. Tommy Sheridan has been a councillor for the city of Glasgow, MSP and recently stood to be an MEP in the European elections this year.
He has also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and at the Edinburgh Fringe
We will be talking to Tommy Sheridan as he is on the campaign trail in Glasgow North East so get your questions in quickly before 4pm today (29th October) either to the blog page or via email on debate@subcity.org.
Check us out here http://www.subcity.org/shows/debateisfree/
Spread the word about Debate is Free and join in.Got a point to make then email debate@subcity.org or while the show is on air or contact us on the following Studio: 0141 341 6222 Studio SMS: "subcity" followed by message to 07766 40 41 42
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Labour's Cabinet Reshuffle
It’s been a bit of a muted day on the politics front on this rather dreich day. But there has been one thing of interest. There was a shadow cabinet reshuffle of Scottish Labour. With the now former education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin being booted out perhaps it is the curse of an education brief biting and Brankin not being seen as effective in tackling the SNP’s Education Minister Fiona Hyslop.
Iain Gray issued the following statement regarding her departure.
"Rhona has taken Fiona Hyslop to task as the worst education minister since devolution began, with broken promises on class sizes, school buildings and teacher numbers."
Though considering that out of the six education ministers there has been since devolution began back in 1999 and that Fiona Hyslop is the first to be non Labour perhaps it pays to be cynical as to why Gray would be calling her the worst out of the lot.
The new shadow cabinet is as follows;
Iain Gray- Leader
Johann Lamont- Deputy Leader
Cathy Jamieson- Housing and Regeneration
Jackie Baillie- Health Spokeswoman
Andy Kerr- Finance and economy
Michael McMahon- Local government spokesman
John Park- Elections and campaigns
Des McNulty- Education
Paul Martin- Parliament Business Manager
Richard Baker- Justice
Sarah Boyack- Environment & Rural Affairs
Pauline McNeill- Culture and Constitution
David Stewart- Chief Whip
Both Jackie Baillie’s and Cathy Jamieson’s new appointments are both very interesting.
Jackie Baillie has been very prominent on attacking the SNP on the C diff outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital. However there are still a lot of unhappy constituents in Dumbarton who remember who axed A&E services at the Vale and Baillie is sure to come under fire once more now she is charge of health for the shadow cabinet.
Cathy Jamieson taking over the housing brief may indicate that Labour see Alex Neil, the SNP’s Housing and Communities Minister as more as a threat than they let on if Jamieson is to take him on in future.
Iain Gray issued the following statement regarding her departure.
"Rhona has taken Fiona Hyslop to task as the worst education minister since devolution began, with broken promises on class sizes, school buildings and teacher numbers."
Though considering that out of the six education ministers there has been since devolution began back in 1999 and that Fiona Hyslop is the first to be non Labour perhaps it pays to be cynical as to why Gray would be calling her the worst out of the lot.
The new shadow cabinet is as follows;
Iain Gray- Leader
Johann Lamont- Deputy Leader
Cathy Jamieson- Housing and Regeneration
Jackie Baillie- Health Spokeswoman
Andy Kerr- Finance and economy
Michael McMahon- Local government spokesman
John Park- Elections and campaigns
Des McNulty- Education
Paul Martin- Parliament Business Manager
Richard Baker- Justice
Sarah Boyack- Environment & Rural Affairs
Pauline McNeill- Culture and Constitution
David Stewart- Chief Whip
Both Jackie Baillie’s and Cathy Jamieson’s new appointments are both very interesting.
Jackie Baillie has been very prominent on attacking the SNP on the C diff outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital. However there are still a lot of unhappy constituents in Dumbarton who remember who axed A&E services at the Vale and Baillie is sure to come under fire once more now she is charge of health for the shadow cabinet.
Cathy Jamieson taking over the housing brief may indicate that Labour see Alex Neil, the SNP’s Housing and Communities Minister as more as a threat than they let on if Jamieson is to take him on in future.
Thursday 22 October 2009
The BNP and Question Time
As you know there is nothing Debate is Free likes more than a good passionate discussion on the things that matter and what has people getting fired up. So as you can imagine I have been watching the furore over the BNP being invited to Question Time with a great deal of interest over the past few weeks.
The BNP is full of the worst of our society, it can boast of rapists, murderers, paedophiles and a range of thugs in its membership. All suited and polished in order to adhere to the party’s recent family friendly make-over.
But no amount of polish can hide what the BNP really stand for and what they seek to do to this country if they ever got the chance.
One of the BNP’s beliefs is that the holocaust was a hoax and that Hitler in words of Nick Griffin the BNP’s leader, "went a bit too far".
Well its nice to know that the murders of Jews, Communists, trade unionists, the disabled, gays and lesbians, gypsies and a variety of people who proved to be inconvenient to the Third Reich totalling 17 million massacred in death camps and the deaths of over 50 million people worldwide was just going a bit too far.
Then there is also the delightful misogyny of a Mr Nick Eriksen; a former BNP London Assembly candidate and party organiser for London, who in his blog wrote the following regarding rape.
"I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.
"To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched."
Charming. But this is what you can expect from Mr Eriksen and others like him in the BNP, despite the fact that he was removed from the BNP’s London Assembly list for his comments, many senior figures rallied around him saying his comments were “taken out of context”. So as long as that man at the bar you say no to in the first place adds some rohypnol to your drink while your back is turned before dragging you off to a quiet spot to get his way rape is a-ok. As long as you are not beaten black and blue that makes rape condonable in the eyes of Eriksen and his ilk.
But these are not the worst of the BNP, for that you have to look to David Copeland, now also known as the London Nail Bomber. In 1999 Copeland was responsible for the deaths of three people including a woman expecting her first child and the injuries of nearly 130 people, four of whom lost limbs. A toddler also had a nail embedded in the brain which required extensive surgery to remove.
In the end the BNP were not tough enough for Copeland so he joined the Neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Movement. A group known for their extreme violence and desire to terrorise the UK’s Asian, Black, Gay and Jewish communities.
I could go on, but to be honest I could be here for days listing the convictions and faults of BNP members both past and present.
Whether you like the BNP or not they should be allowed on Question Time tonight. To refuse them sets a dangerous precedent that could be abused against other smaller parties when they say or do things that the three big parties don’t like. Are we now going to stop the Green party who also hold two seats in the European Parliament speaking out on controversial issues?
Hysterical screaming will not make the BNP go away, they must be taken on face to face with both rational debate and serious action. To try and hide them makes them appear like martyrs for their cause and underdogs in the political process.
The BNP are capitalising on the failures of successive governments and their failure to address the fears of a large proportion of the population be they unfounded or not. Fear is the most corrosive emotion; it makes normally rational people lash out against the things they don’t understand. And what people are scared of now is the unknown, do they have jobs tomorrow, will their children have jobs in the future. There are many people out there who are scared that now the world is going too fast for them to keep up with.
But there are also those who understand what the BNP really are and support it. I have the suspicion that the UK is not nearly as enlightened as it likes to think it is. With more hate crimes reported than ever before are we now fooling ourselves into thinking that the BNP’s support are simply frightened of the future rather than people who support the BNP’s racist policies?
But as for would Debate is Free ever interview Nick Griffin? Yes, we would. Its time for someone to ask questions of the BNP’s leader. Questions like; does the BNP still believe that ethnic minorities should be sterilised? What happens to the voluntary removal of immigrants and anyone with the wrong colour of skin when they refuse to move? Will they be forced out the country? What will happen to the children of mixed-race couples? Will the marriages of mixed race couples be nullified?
These questions need asked, and chances are it’s not going to happen on this night’s edition of Question Time, but its time to see what Griffin is saying and start fighting against him.
The BNP is full of the worst of our society, it can boast of rapists, murderers, paedophiles and a range of thugs in its membership. All suited and polished in order to adhere to the party’s recent family friendly make-over.
But no amount of polish can hide what the BNP really stand for and what they seek to do to this country if they ever got the chance.
One of the BNP’s beliefs is that the holocaust was a hoax and that Hitler in words of Nick Griffin the BNP’s leader, "went a bit too far".
Well its nice to know that the murders of Jews, Communists, trade unionists, the disabled, gays and lesbians, gypsies and a variety of people who proved to be inconvenient to the Third Reich totalling 17 million massacred in death camps and the deaths of over 50 million people worldwide was just going a bit too far.
Then there is also the delightful misogyny of a Mr Nick Eriksen; a former BNP London Assembly candidate and party organiser for London, who in his blog wrote the following regarding rape.
"I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.
"To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched."
Charming. But this is what you can expect from Mr Eriksen and others like him in the BNP, despite the fact that he was removed from the BNP’s London Assembly list for his comments, many senior figures rallied around him saying his comments were “taken out of context”. So as long as that man at the bar you say no to in the first place adds some rohypnol to your drink while your back is turned before dragging you off to a quiet spot to get his way rape is a-ok. As long as you are not beaten black and blue that makes rape condonable in the eyes of Eriksen and his ilk.
But these are not the worst of the BNP, for that you have to look to David Copeland, now also known as the London Nail Bomber. In 1999 Copeland was responsible for the deaths of three people including a woman expecting her first child and the injuries of nearly 130 people, four of whom lost limbs. A toddler also had a nail embedded in the brain which required extensive surgery to remove.
In the end the BNP were not tough enough for Copeland so he joined the Neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Movement. A group known for their extreme violence and desire to terrorise the UK’s Asian, Black, Gay and Jewish communities.
I could go on, but to be honest I could be here for days listing the convictions and faults of BNP members both past and present.
Whether you like the BNP or not they should be allowed on Question Time tonight. To refuse them sets a dangerous precedent that could be abused against other smaller parties when they say or do things that the three big parties don’t like. Are we now going to stop the Green party who also hold two seats in the European Parliament speaking out on controversial issues?
Hysterical screaming will not make the BNP go away, they must be taken on face to face with both rational debate and serious action. To try and hide them makes them appear like martyrs for their cause and underdogs in the political process.
The BNP are capitalising on the failures of successive governments and their failure to address the fears of a large proportion of the population be they unfounded or not. Fear is the most corrosive emotion; it makes normally rational people lash out against the things they don’t understand. And what people are scared of now is the unknown, do they have jobs tomorrow, will their children have jobs in the future. There are many people out there who are scared that now the world is going too fast for them to keep up with.
But there are also those who understand what the BNP really are and support it. I have the suspicion that the UK is not nearly as enlightened as it likes to think it is. With more hate crimes reported than ever before are we now fooling ourselves into thinking that the BNP’s support are simply frightened of the future rather than people who support the BNP’s racist policies?
But as for would Debate is Free ever interview Nick Griffin? Yes, we would. Its time for someone to ask questions of the BNP’s leader. Questions like; does the BNP still believe that ethnic minorities should be sterilised? What happens to the voluntary removal of immigrants and anyone with the wrong colour of skin when they refuse to move? Will they be forced out the country? What will happen to the children of mixed-race couples? Will the marriages of mixed race couples be nullified?
These questions need asked, and chances are it’s not going to happen on this night’s edition of Question Time, but its time to see what Griffin is saying and start fighting against him.
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