Sad news reaches me that Eddie 'Ned' Turnbull has died at the grand old age of 88. Eddie Turnbull is one of the greatest footballers Scotland (and the UK) has ever produced.
His record speaks for itself - he was inside left in Hibernian's great 'famous five' forward line and between 1946 and 1959 he played 349 games for Hibs scoring 150 goals, winning three championships - including back to back championships in 1951 and 52 (the first time a non old firm team did this). He was the first British player to score a goal in the European cup in 1955 and played for Scotland in the 1958 world cup.
As a manager he led Aberdeen to a Scottish Cup win in 1970 and Hibs to a Scottish League cup victory over Jock Stein's Celtic in 1972. He was also manager when Hibs thrashed rivals Hearts 7-0 on New Year's Day 1973.
Here's a reminder of Ned and the 'five' in their heyday.
RIP Ned.
30 April 2011
29 April 2011
28 April 2011
Green Party leader caught lying
Perusing the Scotsman's election coverage I came across this article.
Patrick Harvie is an experienced parliamentarian and leader of the Scottish Green Party. He, like the rest of his party, are always keen to highlight their honesty, caring and niceness and contrast it with the typical deceitful mainstream politicians. In the introduction to his party's manifesto Mr Harvie writes, 'We have consistently brought a fresh approach to politics...Greens have argued for years that business-as-usual politics could not last.'
So it comes as somewhat surprising to see see him engaging in business-as-usual politics by dissembling with the rest of them.
Let's be clear Vince Cable and the coalition government are not privatising the Post Office network - they are investing more than £1bn in it and protecting it for the future by looking at mutualisation (a Green party principle one would have thought).
The Royal Mail is a separate loss making letter and parcel delivery business.
Either Patrick Harvie and the Scottish Greens are too stupid to know the difference or they do know the difference and are happy to lie to Scottish voters by deliberately confusing two different policies. Either way it is a pretty good reason to reject them and their so-called 'fresh alternative'.
Patrick Harvie is an experienced parliamentarian and leader of the Scottish Green Party. He, like the rest of his party, are always keen to highlight their honesty, caring and niceness and contrast it with the typical deceitful mainstream politicians. In the introduction to his party's manifesto Mr Harvie writes, 'We have consistently brought a fresh approach to politics...Greens have argued for years that business-as-usual politics could not last.'
So it comes as somewhat surprising to see see him engaging in business-as-usual politics by dissembling with the rest of them.
Let's be clear Vince Cable and the coalition government are not privatising the Post Office network - they are investing more than £1bn in it and protecting it for the future by looking at mutualisation (a Green party principle one would have thought).
The Royal Mail is a separate loss making letter and parcel delivery business.
Either Patrick Harvie and the Scottish Greens are too stupid to know the difference or they do know the difference and are happy to lie to Scottish voters by deliberately confusing two different policies. Either way it is a pretty good reason to reject them and their so-called 'fresh alternative'.
26 April 2011
In memory of Poly Styrene
The news of the death of one of punk's icons - X-ray Spex's Poly Styrene - is a sad loss. But by way of tribute here she is (and they are) at their melodic best with Germ Free Adolesence:
X-ray Spex's other hits included the Lib Dem poster team fantasy 'Day the world turned day-glo', 'Identity' and 'Oh! Bondage up yours!' all of which are readily viewable on YouTube. I'd heartily recommend doing so as a reminder of the freshness and energy of punk at its pomp.
X-ray Spex's other hits included the Lib Dem poster team fantasy 'Day the world turned day-glo', 'Identity' and 'Oh! Bondage up yours!' all of which are readily viewable on YouTube. I'd heartily recommend doing so as a reminder of the freshness and energy of punk at its pomp.
24 April 2011
Teaching trots need to get real
The news that every teaching union is to take strike action to defend their generous publicly funded final salary pension scheme is not surprising, but it is futile and insulting to the millions of people who work without complaint on far less generous terms and conditions.
But the far left leadership of the teaching unions will no doubt point to the pressure and importance of the job, along with some headline grabbing below average salary levels (for trainees). But the fact that they get away with this is more a product of the hideously complex, opaque and lengthy terms and conditions issued by government.
You can download the 195 page document here if you are having trouble sleeping, but they seem to suggest the following levels of salary for qualified teachers:
£21,588 - £31,552 (outside London) plus £3-5K for those in London. Teachers salaries increase in £1.5k increments so in just six years they reach the top of the scale.
But they also have something called 'a post threshold scale' - presumably something to guarantee annual payrises for teachers after year six. That would take an 'ordinary' qualified teacher (outside London) from £31,552 to £36,756 in a further three years and to £40-45k in London.
But it doesn't end there...
There are also allowances called 'Teaching and learning responsibility payments' which are made for 'for the purpose of ensuring the continued delivery of high-quality teaching and learning and for which the teacher is made accountable.' Otherwise known as 'doing your job'. These payments range between £2,535 and £12,393.
So nine years after qualification your 'ordinary' classroom teachers could be earning between £39,000 and £49,000 outside London and £47,000 and £59,000 in London.
But it doesn't end there...
There are additional pay scales for 'Advanced skilled teachers' and 'excellent teachers'
Advanced skills teachers get paid between £37,461 and £56,950 outside London and between £40,433 and £64,036 in London.
Excellent teachers are guaranteed between £39,697 and £52,090 outside London and between £43,668 and £60,993 in London.
Oh and pay scales are 'safeguarded' even if the responsibilities for which they are paid end.
Of course teachers may get promoted. Head teachers salary scales start at £42,379 outside London and finish at a shade over £100k. Within London they start at £45,351 and finish at nearly £112,200
Teachers pay 6.4% and their employers (you and me) 14% of their salaries into their pension scheme.
I'm sure they will get a sympathetic hearing from the millions of private sector workers who have taken a pay cut in recent years, lost their jobs or have to make do with a contribution based pension scheme. The day they will take off work to look after their kids while the teachers are indulging in trotskyite fantasies will come out of their 20 day holiday entitlement - assuming they are still in a job.
But the far left leadership of the teaching unions will no doubt point to the pressure and importance of the job, along with some headline grabbing below average salary levels (for trainees). But the fact that they get away with this is more a product of the hideously complex, opaque and lengthy terms and conditions issued by government.
You can download the 195 page document here if you are having trouble sleeping, but they seem to suggest the following levels of salary for qualified teachers:
£21,588 - £31,552 (outside London) plus £3-5K for those in London. Teachers salaries increase in £1.5k increments so in just six years they reach the top of the scale.
But they also have something called 'a post threshold scale' - presumably something to guarantee annual payrises for teachers after year six. That would take an 'ordinary' qualified teacher (outside London) from £31,552 to £36,756 in a further three years and to £40-45k in London.
But it doesn't end there...
There are also allowances called 'Teaching and learning responsibility payments' which are made for 'for the purpose of ensuring the continued delivery of high-quality teaching and learning and for which the teacher is made accountable.' Otherwise known as 'doing your job'. These payments range between £2,535 and £12,393.
So nine years after qualification your 'ordinary' classroom teachers could be earning between £39,000 and £49,000 outside London and £47,000 and £59,000 in London.
But it doesn't end there...
There are additional pay scales for 'Advanced skilled teachers' and 'excellent teachers'
Advanced skills teachers get paid between £37,461 and £56,950 outside London and between £40,433 and £64,036 in London.
Excellent teachers are guaranteed between £39,697 and £52,090 outside London and between £43,668 and £60,993 in London.
Oh and pay scales are 'safeguarded' even if the responsibilities for which they are paid end.
Of course teachers may get promoted. Head teachers salary scales start at £42,379 outside London and finish at a shade over £100k. Within London they start at £45,351 and finish at nearly £112,200
Teachers pay 6.4% and their employers (you and me) 14% of their salaries into their pension scheme.
I'm sure they will get a sympathetic hearing from the millions of private sector workers who have taken a pay cut in recent years, lost their jobs or have to make do with a contribution based pension scheme. The day they will take off work to look after their kids while the teachers are indulging in trotskyite fantasies will come out of their 20 day holiday entitlement - assuming they are still in a job.
22 April 2011
Good Friday favourite
A couple of mad Scotsmen - Gus and Fin - and their ukuleles with a cracking cover of a top tune from Gary Numan.
21 April 2011
Warsi leaps to top of sack race with Boulton interview crash
Tory Chairwoman, Baroness Warsi, must now be favourite for the chop in any Cabinet reshuffle. The car crash of an interview with Sky's Adam Boulton that is doing the rounds of the interweb is so dire it is worth repetition...
It's not just a one off though. Sayeeda Warsi is usually pretty dreadful when interviewed or when involved on a panel discussion even when she has strong arguments to put across. But here her material is about as thin as it can get illustrating the paucity of the NO to AV campaign's arguments.
And given her job is about communicating Tory policies and achievements within the coalition if she can't communicate effectively - what is the point of her?
It's not just a one off though. Sayeeda Warsi is usually pretty dreadful when interviewed or when involved on a panel discussion even when she has strong arguments to put across. But here her material is about as thin as it can get illustrating the paucity of the NO to AV campaign's arguments.
And given her job is about communicating Tory policies and achievements within the coalition if she can't communicate effectively - what is the point of her?
19 April 2011
Which Conservative MP has issued a super injunction?
John Hemming knows. Maybe when Parliament returns from its Easter break he can put it on the record.
Are the BNP one of No to AV donors?
At the end of March the Yes to AV campaign published its list of major donors. It challenged the No campaign to do the same.
The no campaign refused to do so at the time. And to this date it still refuses to do so. Is this because Nick Griffin's racist party has donated cash to their campaign? Or is there another reason?
15 April 2011
Friday favourite 4
This week's offering is the lovely Claire Grogan and Altered Images. Claire Grogan was also the surprise co-star of the 1981 Bill Forsyth directed, Cumbernauld shot cult coming of age film Gregory's Girl.
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