Hillsborough: Last Chapter or Opening Lines?

While unionists heave a sigh of relief that devolution is finally over, ’settled will’, concluded, the bigger picture suggests a different process at work. A guest piece by Our Kingdom writer Tom Griffin.

Following the agreement concluded at Hillsborough this week, Northern Ireland finally has a date for the devolution of policing and justice. Although the Irish peace process is a very particular case, it’s worth considering how this development relates to devolution in Scotland and Wales. A useful pointer in this respect is provided by Jenny Muir’s analysis in the Irish Left Review:

For unionists, and for the British Government, this is the end of the devolution process. At the press conference this morning, Gordon Brown referred to ‘closing the last chapter’ and Peter Robinson to ‘the completion of devolution’. Although further autonomy is possible within the UK, for example federalism, this is not on the unionist agenda. Of course nationalists think differently and for them today is another step along the road to a united Ireland.

The debate illustrates the way that the progress of devolution in one nation can affect arguments elsewhere. Slugger O’Toole’s Brian Walker highlighted Scotland’s long-established judicial system last month, in response to Jim Allister’s charge that devolving justice would be a derogation from British sovereignty. Likewise Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones highlighted developments in Northern Ireland, when making the case for further devolution last week. Addressing charges that new powers for the Welsh Assembly would bring Wales closer to independence, he said:

We would have significantly less powers than Northern Ireland so that would be like describing Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson as rabid separatists. Unless somebody’s prepared to argue the DUP have an agenda to see an independent Northern Ireland then I don’t think that argument holds much water. 

This dynamic is likely to be crucial in the next phase of devolution. For Irish nationalists, the next obvious goal is to secure greater economic powers for the Northern Ireland Assembly. Those powers will be necessary to wean the northern economy of its dependency on the British Treasury and to convince the public on both sides of the border that a united Ireland can prosper. Given the North’s starting position, it will not be an easy or a short-term process. Much could depend on Scotland’s success in moving towards fiscal autonomy or independence. In a Northern Ireland flanked by two dynamic self-governing economies, the case for further powers could become unanswerable.

Vice Captain for Englands Golden Age

You’ve heard the jokes. Not since ‘No clean sheet for Seaman’  had the jokes of the terracing been so widely and quickly passed around. The realisation that much more was about to tumble out of WAGland and across Ingerlund undoubtedly nudged Capello to ditch Terry (‘Three Lies on his Shirt’).

SNP Tactical Voting writes: ‘ I think it is an excellent decision from Capello, and not just because Rio will make a brilliant captain in his own right, but also due to the following: As the whole country knows by now I’m sure, John Terry slept with a country (and former club) teammate’s ex-girlfriend. It’s not known whether this was while Wayne Bridge was together with the woman but either way a pressing question remains.  Should John Terry stay on as England captain? For me, the answer is a resounding no. ‘

For me the answer is a resounding: who cares? The main insight this depressing story has is how much the media across all forms has sunk into a pit of inanity. SKYs live helicopter a la OJ tracking Terry’s car from Chelsea to Wembley must rate as the most expensive and irrelevant broadcast in eons. The story of a man earning millions but still flogging his private box at Wembley tells us far more about the yawning chasm between England’s vainglorious sense of its own importance and the calibre of the people they venerate. The role of Captain of the England football team is utterly meaningless. It serves no function other than to win the toss.

The English media that bleeds into the ‘national’ effortlessly, seamlessly and constantly, is living in age of the Charlton brothers and Pickles the dog, when the men running the game were called ’Geoff’ and ‘Alf’. The English tabloid media can’t really face up to the reality of contemporary English society where grossly overpaid young men behave appalingly and frequently operating above the law. It’s more spit-roast than roast-beef these days.

If Cappello has decided that Terry’s behaviour is unfit for the posts why dont they examine the other contenders, his vice-captain, vice-captain and proposed replacement? Rio Ferdinand, Terry’s replacement was banned for eight months for failing to take a routine drugs test despite being the countrys highest paid player.   Steven Gerrard was last year charged with assault, whilst Rooney the other contender may have been ignored because of his admitted penchant for visiting ageing prostitutes.

The descent of the mainstream media is now complete. We shouldn’t be suprised that the English press obsess about this nonsense in supreme prurient hypocrisy. Having completed the saturation coverage of the wedding between Katie Price and Alex the ‘Cagefighter’ Reid – the story of the England captain bonking around seems like the work of Woodward & Bernstein. Scotland is no better. We just have the inverse problem. While English culture has no concept other than its own grand importance, we value our national game as little less than a joke. How else could you explain the Scottish youth team being sponsred by MacDonalds? 

Our own media have helped resurrect the careers of McGregor, Boyd and Ferguson three individuals who should never have been allowed to (dis)grace a Scotland strip ever again. Now we are faced with the unedifying spectacle of Craig Levein virtually pleading Barry Ferguson to rejoin the Scotland team. What next? Bazza for captain? Now there’s a role model.

Elite Rule Has Failed

On a sad day when the political charades of Chilcot will be gone through with rigorous predictability and we mourn the loss of Jerome David Salinger, a great writer from an era where you could distinguish great literary work and great PR, this from Joan McAlpine at Go Lassie Go!:

“In any other country in the world there would be a passionate discussion about how best to move ahead and put our own best interests first. The centre ground would be occupied by gradualist nationalists v more fundamentalism nationalists, as it is in Catalonia. No other national press would campaign against a government offering its people a choice in a referendum. That’s not even in the interests of the press itself, which sees sales rise when the public is engaged politically. Even the new online paper, The Caledonian Mercury, which I recently welcomed, sticks with the sam old paradigm. It’s too preoccupied with process. The passion and diversity of Scottish opinion is reflected better on the blogosphere. On Facebook this week I posted a link to The Caledonian Mercury. On the same day I also posted a link to  Power and its Minions which has a splendidly uncompromising and detailed polemic on why Scotland continues to display all the traits of a colonised country.  Guess which link got more clicks and generated the most lively debate? Not everybody agreed with Powers Minions. It was startling to see such views expressed, without apology, in writing and with considerable lucidity. Yet the Powers Minions analysis of our constitutional position is not an extremist view.  You will hear it with regularity in pubs, at dinner parties, in school debating halls and of course online forums. The vast majority of Scots want the Edinburgh parliament to have more power in order to progress our country.

Burke and Hare

Burke and Hare
Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering (2009)
Insomnia Publications

The Anatomy Murders
Lisa Rosner (2009)
University Pennsylvania Press

Since Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen (1986 ) everyone’s been waiting about for ‘the graphic novel’ to grow up. Thankfully this isn’t likely to happen but in the past decade it’s spawned a whole series of insightful writers and artists. It’s gone political with stories like St Swithins Day (Trident 1989) & The New Adventures of Hitler (Cut, 1989) by Grant Morrison,  Palestine by Joe Sacco (Fantagraphics Books, 1993 with an introduction by Edward Said ), Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2003), Maus by Art Spiegelman (first in RAW from 1981) literary with work like Nevermore a graphic adaptation of Edgar Alan Poe’s short stories, contemporary with Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine and more famously Ghostworld (1997) and Eightball (1989) before it. Now historical fiction has emerged as a new genre with Insomnia’s Burke and Hare by Scottish based duo, Martin Congahan and Will Pickering.

Conaghan and Pickering come in the footsteps of Mark Millar, Frank Quitely, Alan Grant, Cam Kennedy and Grant Morrison and others who have developed an itinerant Scottish presence amongst the top echelons of global comic publishing.

Mercury

A brand new news venture launched today: Caledonian Mercury revives an old Scottish title with Scotland’s first ‘truly online newspaper’.

Good luck to them. I did think it might be abit more interesting than it is. It seems technology-driven and unthreatening to almost anyone. It loads on the page very quickly and has a good category cloud but I’m not sure it’s going to publish anything I actually want to read.

Judgement Day

It’s Burns Day and the news is that the British Government have tried to bury the facts about David Kelly’s death. Evidence relating to the death of David Kelly is reportedly to be kept secret for 70 years. This is shocking and disturbing news.  See This is London here – the BBC seem to have nothing on this. It was discovered this weekend that Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly’s death, ruled that medical records including the post-mortem report would remain classified for 70 years. A 30-year secrecy order has also been placed on written records provided to Lord Hutton’s inquiry which were not produced in evidence.

The waggons are circling. The British State is defending its own. This is highly unusual and must have some impact on the mundane Chilcot Inquiry.

An inquest into the death was suspended by then lord chancellor Lord Falconer, who ruled that Lord Hutton’s inquiry could take its place.

Doctors have accused the government of subverting the course of justice after it was revealed that evidence relating to the death of government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly is subject to a 70-year secrecy order. Dr Kelly’s body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after it emerged that he had been the source of a BBC report casting doubt on the government’s claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

The Hutton report concluded that Dr Kelly had killed himself by cutting an artery in his wrist. But the finding has been challenged by doctors who claim that the weapons inspector’s stated injuries were not serious enough to have killed him. Former assistant coroner Michael Powers stated that he had seen a letter from the legal team of Oxfordshire County Council explaining the unusual restrictions placed by Lord Hutton on material relating to his inquiry.Former assistant coroner Michael Powers stated that he had seen a letter from the legal team of Oxfordshire County Council explaining the unusual restrictions placed by Lord Hutton on material relating to his inquiry.

He said: “Supposedly all evidence relevant to the cause of death has been heard in public at the time of Lord Hutton’s inquiry. If these secret reports support the suicide finding, what could they contain that could be so sensitive?”

Iain MacWhirter at the Sunday Herald is unambiguous: “Tony Blair has crossed the line; he is part of a discredited global financial elite who have made greed a virtue and turned social irresponsibility into philosophy of life. He was essentially a clever salesman who seized control of Labour in its darkest hour, all those years ago, and turned it into a vehicle for his own social self-advancement. He led Britain to economic disaster at home and military disaster abroad. He has learned nothing and understood nothing.” Read the full piece ‘The Man Who Killed Labour’ here.

In this spirit we’re glad to publicise news of STOP THE WARS COALITION’s protest: THE PEOPLE’S VOICE ON BLAIR’S JUDGEMENT DAY.

On the day of Blair’s arrival at Chilcot novelist A.L Kennedy, former UK ambassador Craig Murray, Iraqi author Haifa Zangana, comedian and author Alexei Sayle and many more activists, artists and relatives of the bereaved will engage in a Naming the Dead ceremony. Labour and the British establishment must be held to account for this travesty of international justice.

Precious Cargo

Anne McLaughlin was unexpectedly elected to the Scottish Parliament in February 2009 after the death of fellow SNP MSP Bashir Ahmad. She has campaigned for Scotland’s Independence for more than 20 years. Her approach as a parliamentarian is a practical one and saw her experiencing a full night shift with a Glasgow ambulance crew to find out how alcohol abuse was affecting their already tough job.

Anne met Florence Mhango at an event in the Scottish Parliament last June – and has represented her and Precious since their first detention last August. Here is her account of the campaign she has been waging to protect the Mhangos from explusion by the UK Immigration authorities. We publish this piece now to coincide with a Politics Show on BBC Scotland at 12 noon this Sunday (Scotland only) where there’s a feature on the detention of children. Please also see Close Dungavel Now.

People often say why is independence important? What are the practical changes that would result? One is outlined here, we wouldn’t lock up children at the behest of the British State.

Scotland’s Constitutional Timeline

A brief journey through Scotland’s constitutional history leading to the launch of the White Paper ‘Your Scotland Voice’. Apparently Labour are furious at Keir Hardie’s inclusion. I’m more interested in what’s missing. The Upper Clyde Shipbuilders ‘work in’ should have bene there, as should the 1820 Rising.

What would you have added?

Bhopal 25 Years On

An important new book for the environmental justice movement has just been produced by independent Edinburgh publisher Word Power Books. 

‘Saving the World: Twenty Five Years of the Bhopal Survivors’ Movement’ edited by Eurig Scandrett is a powerful testimony of survivors left unbowed by vicious corporate crime. The book was launched in Bhopal during 25th anniversary commemorative activities and will be launched in Scotland on 28th January .

Scandrett spent 15 years working in adult education and community development but was also until recently Head of Community Action at Friends of the Earth Scotland. This book, this movement, has important lessons for us in Scotland looking for a world not dominated by the equivalent of Dow and Union Carbide.

As writer James Kelman  has commented: “On one hand the repugnant complicity of political authority and capital: on the other the indomitable courage of the survivors and survivor-activists, mainly women. This important work offers insight into the history of the struggle as well as campaign strategies; when to negotiate , whether to stand alone or ‘allow’ outside support: broad issues but always fundamental. Their complex struggle for justice may have developed into a movement but the horrific effects of the contamination continue.”

Eurig has just returned from India where he has been meeting with survivors and campaigners, participating in various 25^th anniversary protests and launching the book in Bhopal and Delhi. He says:  “It’s worth remembering that I’m not the author but the editor and the principal investigator of the Bhopal Survivors’ Movement Study. The ‘author’ is the Bhopal Survivors’ Movement Study – which recognises the contribution from all participants including those who wish to remain anonymous.”

He writes here for Bella:

“Twenty five years ago, a pesticide factory in the central Indian city of Bhopal leaked toxic gas into the densely populated neighbourhoods. The number of people who died from inhaling Methyl Isocyanate gas on 3rd December 1984 is estimated to be 8,000, with tens of thousands more suffering serious injuries. The Bhopal gas disaster of 1984 remains the world’s most devastating industrial environmental catastrophe and corporate crime. The company which owned the factory, Union Carbide, had been running down the factory, cutting every health and safety corner, cutting maintenance staff, reducing training, switching off protective equipment, neglecting safety practices and dismantling emergency devices. There had been several incidents already at the factory, including one fatality. Even after the disaster the company refused to provide any information on the composition and toxicology of the gas on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.

Is Comment Free?

“Scotland might become to Westminster the nemesis that Ireland was a century ago, but analysis of it has all but disappeared.”

Christopher Harvie on problems with the Guardian’s Comment if Free site.