Despite all the biblical arguments, dire warnings of the breakdown of society, and other threats, the real issue is one of religious freedom, both to not carry out same-sex marriage, or, to carry them out. We were told in the programme by CARE for Scotland, a Christian group, that this freedom of religion must be proportionate, but this also cuts both ways. The Humanist society of Scotland performs more marriages than the RC church so should they have a greater say?

Religious freedom must indeed, cut both ways. It works well in other countries so why not here in Scotland. However the most significant thing which struck me about all the comment on this morning’s broadcast was this; that it appears most folks in Scotland are amazed we are having this debate at all. That in this 21st century a simple matter of equality in society actually needs to be debated, when it should in fact be a given.

For this is not about the rights under civil partnership being the same as those under marriage. It’s about the lack of equality in choice. The spurious arguments about polyandry and ancestral marriage don’t wash either, for both states are made by active decision, whereas being Gay or Lesbian is not choice but a fact of birth.

Equality should exist in all parts of society, including marriage. Anything less is discrimination pure and simple. In this day and age, this has to be the only moral state allowable.

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Firstly, the 67000 households who claim more than the £26k do this because of their circumstances. A family of five are always going to claim more than a single person who shares a flat with friends or lives with his/her parents. Some folks have large families, and whilst there certainly are arguments against the state footing the bill for this, there are explanations for this. Religious freedom, something we prize and hold dear in this country, sometimes means that certain folks will have larger than average families. The orthodox Jewish communities are just one example of this. Widowed folks might also be in the same situation. Life has a sometimes cruel way of forcing people into unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances. Unemployment very often reduces the family income to a point where they rely on benefits to make sure that their children don’t suffer unnecessarily.

Secondly, most of this £26K does not find it’s way into the pockets of the claimants, but goes instead directly to their landlords. Our economic mismanagement; the boom and bust years; political control of interest rates…all of these have lead to artificially high and ultimately unsustainable property prices. This translates directly into artificially high rents, which claimants have no control over. Telling them to move to cheaper areas with lower property rents is a short term and artificial saving, as rents will rise in these areas as demand increases. But what about the children who will be forced to uproot, move school, and leave behind social and support networks? How will the demand for extra school places in the ‘lower rent’ areas be met? And what about the schools from which these children have been forced to exit? Surplus capacity also costs money to maintain. School closure battles will commence in some areas whilst over demand will lead to expensive short term accommodation solutions for other areas…and extra medical services will need to be established to cope with an influx of new patients…the list goes on. Moving these families (half of the 67,000 live in London) is a false economy in the long run, and do we really expect them to move large distances away, deconstructing and reconstructing their entire lives? Just to save what will in fact be a pittance? I am coming to the view that this proposal is based on populist scaremongering (a la Daily Mail) and social stigmatisation of a particular group of people. This kind of thing happened in Germany and Italy during the first half of the last century and we are in danger of heading down a similar road. Many of these claimants are disabled and have special needs. The government is in danger of being seen as picking upon this vulnerable group who very often lack the means to fight back. We need rent controls to deal with this, and ultimately, more social housing will force greedy landlords to lower their rents to more realistic and affordable levels, or sell up and get out. The landlords must be quite happy that the claimants are taking the flak for the high cost of housing rather than themselves!

Thirdly, if people are forced out of their homes because of this proposal, then their local councils have to pick up the pieces by rehousing them. Short term accommodation is probably going to be more expensive than the properties they have had to vacate…so where’s the saving there, Mr Duncan-Smith!

Fourthly, we don’t include child benefit when we calculate the ‘average’ wage. So why should benefit claimants loose this due to their high housing benefit claim? Are we really saying that a family with , say an income of £100K can claim child benefit, but a family on benefits ( maybe due to disability) can not?

Kate and Wills, if they’re blessed with a child could claim but a crippled single mother of three cannot?. This is just crazy.

Fifthly (!) The aim of these proposals is to ‘encourage’ the claimants back into employment. Well, it might do this to some, but the flaw in this argument is that a large proportion of the 67,000 will never be able to work due to disability of because they are carers ( who incidentally, save this country a small fortune in care costs ). Why should they be forced to move, their already stretched incomes cut further to satisfy this Tory populist blood-lust? Social services and the NHS will have to pick up the tab here with revised care assessments, adjustments to new homes, and increased levels of ill health.

Are the LibDems really supportive of these changes? I hope they force the government to have a rethink. Where are the real cost savings, if any, from these proposals taking into account the many indirect costs. Or is it that the Government wants to gain more control over local government spending by the back door of increasing need, which these proposals, if they become law, almost certainly will. Labour needs to step up to the plate and be an opposition. Here in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon is already talking of not giving Scottish Government approval to the legislation. Good on her for standing up for the moral imperative to do what’s right in society, where the principle of taking care of those less fortunate should be a hallmark, not a cost limited cosh…

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Well, how about some of the following…

Running costs for maybe fifteen secondary schools for a year
Salaries of 300 or so extra nurses
1100 extra hip replacement operations
11 day centres for adults with learning disabilities or elderly people
Free school meals for all children
A new hospital maybe?
Extra respite care for parents of disabled children…20 thousand holiday places for these parents who never get a decent break.
Public sector workers get inflation matching payrises
Pensions for care workers, nurses, teachers, fire and rescue workers, ambulance staff maintained at current levels.

What else could you add to the list?

And what will Barclay’s Bank chief executive Bob Diamond do with his £11 million bonus when he picks it up in a few weeks time ?

Economic crisis? All in it together? I don’t think so.
Cutting disability benefits to pay for an economic crisis caused largely by people like Mr Diamond, whilst they still get their huge bonuses is obscene and sick. What value is £11 million to him anyway? An extra £100 a month to severely disabled folk and their families has much more meaning.

Anyone for a 90% supertax on bank bonuses over, say £10K? That would get my vote….

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“Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, is the Fords’ MP, and Emma rolls her eyes when she tells of his doorstep visit at the last election: “I said I was really worried his party would cut benefits for disabled people. He said to me, face to face, ‘You know about David Cameron’s son, that’s why you know there’s no way we’re going to harm disabled children like yours’. Right there, on our doorstep.”

And the title of this blog post? Judge for yourselves…

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I hold no personal torch for the Conservative party in thus day and age, even the Scottish semi-skimmed brand. The Westminster mob are trying to drive through some of the most disgusting and heartless legislation I’ve ever come across with their benefit reform proposals. Making the most disadvantaged and the most sick and disabled people pay for the millionaires mistakes in mismanaging the financial and economic sectors is just obscene. Why should disability living allowance be cut to fund a (state bailed out) banker’s winter skiing trip to Verbier or St Moritz in the form of annual bonuses ? Is this the mark if a political party which cares about ordinary people? Not any more.

Because I think this was not always the case. I was a Conservative supporter in my youth. I was brought up with values like hard work, support your family, contribute to society, maintain law and order help others and remember to look after those less fortunate or disadvantaged through no fault of their own. But that’s all gone now. Our society is selfish, many choose not to work relying on the state to support their ever burgeoning families. Many refuse to contribute, the Police are shot through with corruption and perjury appears to be the norm for for a service which in many parts of the country has become a haven for trigger-happy violent politicised bullies. Instead of contributing more, our wealthiest have become addicted to excess ( bank bonuses are a damming indictment of this culture) whilst our sick and disabled are targeted for benefit cuts and labelled as malingering scroungers. And because of this I’m not the Conservative I once was, almost by nature, I think.

Ruth Davidson is, whatever many might think, a fresh face. This party has done what might have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago in an age of legislation like section 28 and elected a young, gay, woman as it’s leader. Surely to God that must be a sign of progress? So come on Ruth, get going. Fire up all your guns and blaze a bit…and follow the example of the SNP and get your social media presence going. I manage the social media presence of a small number of selected clients including a major Scottish charity, and I know just how important such a presence is if you want to connect with people and their networks in this day and age.

So come on Ruth…let’s hear what you’re all about. We’ll spread the message, good and bad, so think carefully about what you want to say. And manage your presence well (getting professional advice is essential for you) because you’ll get far more connections than a newspaper or television interview will ever get you nowadays, and you’ll be able to target your voter prospects so much more precisely through the networks of your converts than with a traditional media presence ‘scattergun’ approach.

In this era of Salmond-style quasi-presidential politics, strong opposition is needed perhaps more than ever in Scotland. We need you to play your part in this Ruth, so come on…get going girl. Start to build your tribe and who knows, we may just follow you…

Thanks to Amnesty International Scotland for the creative commons photo- at least we know one thing Ruth stands for now !

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What really interests me though are the unanswered questions. Nobody on the independence side actually appears to want to address these, at least, not that I’ve read or heard. What about Scotland’s share of the national debt for example? Or Armed Forces? And what about social security and taxation? Or Border control? Scotland would not automatically be a member of the EU and would have no automatic right of entry. Indeed, specific fiscal conditions might have to be met before Scotland could join. And come to that, what about currency? Would Alex really consider joining the Euro?

These are just a few of the many things which are perplexing me at the moment. The SNP don’t appear to have stated positions on all these points. How could an independent Scotland afford to set up public services from scratch anyway. Alistair Darling highlighted some of these in a recent interview. He was fairly specific whereas Stewart Hosie from the SNP was just dismissive rather than providing a line by line critique.

I am open to persuasion on independence. Thousands if others must be too. So come on SNP – put your case by answering these questions clearly and honestly rather than just dismissing them as Unionist scare tactics…

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It’s no secret that Grisham is against the death penalty. He’s written about this before ( in The Chamber). And the Confession holds up the American justice system for the biased, unfair, and dangerous farce it has become especially for murder cases. In the southern states like Texas, if you’re male and black and accused of murder….well, you don’t stand much of a chance of a fair crack if the whip under their judicial process. Grisham very cleverly, in my view, holds up the whole farcical process from arrest to the needle to the grotesque ridicule it deserves.

The recent judicial murder by the US state of Georgia of Troy Davis was another example of why these lynch mob mentality killings must be brought to an end.

The USA is one of the very few civilised countries left in the world which still has the death penalty and actively uses it. They’re fond of using the bible to justify it. An eye for an eye, they say. But what about, thou shalt not kill? And moving away from the old testament, what would Jesus do? Would he not try to stop each and every one of these executions (and calling them that just adds to their shaky air of quasi-credibility doesn’t it?) just as he did the stoning of Mary Magdalene? Would he stand by and witness these killings and do nothing?

Please support Amnesty International in the important work they do with others in the USA to end these judicial murders. When I taught at Cathkin High School the students ran a campaigning blog and supported the work done by Amnesty.

And yes, I’d have lent them my John Grishams if they’d asked !!

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The ordination was an amazing service. The sense of joy and love in the Cathedral that night was so great you could have scooped it up in big handfuls and thrown it about. Anyone who saw the huge hug Chucks got from Fr Kelvin could be in no doubt about how happy and proud he was that his first curate was now a priest. The spontaneous trumpet playing, and African drumming and singing reminding us of Chucks’ Nigerian origins and culture were just so the right things at exactly the right time…

We have gotten to know Chucks as he joined our congregation. We were privileged to share in his wedding to Adana and delighted at the birth and baptism of their first child Christian. He’s been a fantastic support to our family through some very difficult times and Ruth and I are honoured and blessed by his friendship. And so, so very proud both of Chucks and his family, and of our church which despite being in White middle class West End Glasgow welcomes and embraces people of all faiths, cultures, backgrounds, sexualities, ages, colours and creeds. Open, inclusive, and welcoming is not just a mission statement, it’s a living breathing warts and all ethos which translates into a place where although folk may have very different opinions and values they can still come together to worship God. Other denominations might want to take note…

“Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the tambourine and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”

(Psalm 150)

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Anxiety takes you along to your GP eventually. It affects your life in a huge way. Or problems with relationships takes you down a counselling route. Either way, anti-anxiety drugs or anti-depressant medication gets prescribed and a referral to community mental health is made. This leads to an appointment with a CPN or Psychiatrist. Each stage of this involves long discussion reaching back over whole life experiences and things start to slowly fit into place rather like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Because we understand a lot more about certain developmental conditions now than we did even ten or twenty years ago (let alone thirty years ago when you were growing up and at school where you were just that weird kid who did strange things with her hands, collected the strangest stuff, had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of music, couldn’t keep still, dropped things or griped over her own feet and just wanted to be left alone) and this is no truer than with Autistic Spectrum conditions.

You get a referral to an adult Autism diagnostic service, and over the course of two or three meetings, your whole life comes under the microscope, and you finally discover that at least there’s a reason for all this, and that you’re not just weird or strange, anti-social or depressed. Being given a diagnosis of Autism or Aspergers is not the answer to your problems, but it makes it just a little easier to deal with knowing it’s not your fault that you behave in sometimes strange ways…in fact, a diagnosis is just the start, not the end, of another journey.

Now, that’s just my story, but there are thousands like me out there in the world. Undiagnosed, struggling with the things in life that most folks don’t even think about. We find ways of dealing with our lives and at least accept those things about ourselves we don’t understand. Some of us are lucky and have people in our lives who are prepared to accept the differences, the rigid thinking and quirky obsessions and behaviour, but many are not so lucky and spend their lives alone and unfulfilled. Most of us manage to get by, modelling behaviour and using intelligence to develop ways of reflective thinking and an ability to rationalise unfamiliar situations (indeed, high intelligence is a common factor amongst adults who have undiagnosed Autistic Spectrum Disorders and manage to lead fairly successful lives). We develop strategies to help us function. I used to arrive for meetings and conferences just a couple of minutes before the start to avoid the registration and coffee beforehand, and lunch breaks would often be spent catching up on work rather than socialising or networking. Strange staff rooms could be a nightmare scenario, but there is always somewhere to disappear to.

With current funding cuts, adult autism diagnosis and support services are threatened ironically at a time when they are more necessary than ever before. An uncertain future lies around the corner. Autism service providers and charities need support to satisfy an increasing demand for their intervention and support, not just for those diagnosed but for their extended families as well.

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Well said Tom French, from the Equality network, in response to the unholy alliance between Keith O’Brien, Bashir Mann, and Gordon Wilson of Solas on their attempts to dictate the definition of ‘marriage’ to a largely secular society. Now these Catholic, Muslim and Christian Fundamentalists wouldn’t ordinarily cross the floor to each other except to condemn and denounce each other, however they all have decided to spend crazy money on a homophobic campaign to force their own personal views upon a society which has largely left them behind
in the dark ages. Bashir Mann has already had to resign from one public body in Glasgow due to his homophobia, and dear old Gordon,
well, the least said the better. Wise of the Cardinal to dress in mufti though; the sight of him protesting in his red frock, shoes and hat would have been all too delicious to bear ;-p

The Cardinal only speaks for a minority of Scots Roman Catholics on the subject of marriage equality. Bashir Mann is certainly not representative of most Scottish Muslims, and dear old Gordon, well, one man and his dog. You get the picture.

So, with the polls still indicating a majority of Scots favouring full marriage equality, what is the Scottish Government to do? After all, a consultation exercise is mostly replied to by activists at each end of the scale. And religious bodies will contribute based largely on the views of their leaders rather than their active congregations. But what of the middle ground? How are their views represented? By their MSP’s, who will stand or fall at elections depending on their records. And with all the parties at Holyrood broadly supporting this move, that’s a pretty unified view in my opinion, covering all political constituencies up and down the land.

So whilst the government must certainly consider all responses to their consultation, it’s the representatives of the people, accountable to the electorate and not the vested interests of the large (or not so large) organisations and groups, who are really the ones to make a final decision on this matter when legislation is bought before parliament.

I for one pray to God that they will make the right choice. A vote for fairness, equality, freedom of conscience and religion, which will confirm Scotland’s place on the map with the other forward thinking and inclusive tolerant societies across the world.

And perhaps what O’Brien, Mann, and Wilson fear most of all, is this: that their time has been….and gone.

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“Of course the number of postcards only re-asserts the somewhat slewed view of reality evidenced by the Bishops. 14,000 respondents doing their bidding is not representative even of the Catholic Church, let alone society as a whole. I’m sure the government factor this into their deliberations as well as the fact that the public at large generally don’t take part in these sorts of consultations.
Why don’t the bishops concentrate on matters in their own church and leave legislating to the proper authority, ie, the state. Marriage is not the preserve of Roman Catholicism, or even of Christianity, presaging both.
Perhaps the example of the COS and the Scottish Episcopal Church is one to be commended to ++Conti and +Tartaglia. They consult their clergy and laity and form a view based on this process. Many folk in all churches, including clergy are in favour of marriage equality, and many are against. The Catholic church is no different in this respect. The important thing here is that no individual clergy member is forced to act against his or her conscience”

So…not rude, disrespectful, aggressive, or even abusive. But not agreeing with them. So censored.

One very good reason the the Government should treat their submissions on this issue with caution. If they attempt to stifle debate in this way, how could they be considered fit and proper to engage in debate themselves.

Reply

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We’ve had the spineless Biology teacher who got his pupils to write to the Rutherglen Reformer about lack of funding for rugby ( he didn’t have the guts to do it himself of course!)

Then the RE teacher who walked a thin line with the convicted criminals otherwise known as the IRA hunger strikers.

And now, the two minute silence last week was apparently interrupted continuously by two gobby female teachers

Now there are a few jackey teachers at Cathkin, I’m sad to say. Both male and female. But this smacks of absolute rank unprofessionalism. I bet I could narrow the suspect list down to about six possible reprobates…in fact, the names have just been DM’d to me on Twitter. Should I publish and be dammed? Will the British Legion picket the school? The paper says the Heidie will investigate. So…over to you, Anne Marie.

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Sonme interesting comparisons here. Apparently Tweeps are more generous than facebookers…or is it just that the call to action on Twitter is more direct, by the very nature of 140 character messages?