Alex Salmond's Hugo Young lecture 2012

Full verion (about 40 mins):



Highlights (about 6 mins)

This Asda be the funniest campaign report this year!

I can't stop laughing at this hilarious report from STV News about Iain Gray popping into an Asda store where Alex Salmond was doing a meet and greet.

Iain Gray and Alex Salmond have accused each other of hiding and running away during a visit to an Ardrossan supermarket.

Scottish Labour claimed that Mr Salmond "hid" from Iain Gray when the two leaders found themselves in the same supermarket on Tuesday night.
However, the SNP said that Labour’s claims were "desperate" and that the situation unfolded very differently. An SNP candidate said that Mr Gray "turned tail" rather than face the First Minister.

Classic!

Knighted Troubadours

A number of people have received knighthoods for their contribution in giving this realm a good sing song - Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Elton John our own Sir Tom Jones and, apparently, Scotland's Sir Alex Salmond:



HT Calum Cashley

Thieving Salmond and Obama o Fôn

I use to like Alex Salmond and the SNP, but I am beginning to have doubts - the honeymoon is over.

Everybody knows that Barack Obama (or Obama o Fôn - as he is known locally), with his mother's family deeply rooted in Anglesey soil, is the 41st President of the US of Welsh Descent (he would be the 44th but we have disinherited Nixon and disinheramatated the Bushs).

But that sly, thieving, kniving Salmond bloke is trying to pinch him off Wales and claim him for Scotland! Can you believe it? Disgraceful!

Independence and Glasgow East

Since the announcement of the SNP victory in the early hours of Friday morning, there has been much speculation on blogs and in the media about why the SNP won and Labour lost. The reasons given have been many and varied, but there seems to be some consensus amongst all commentators that the one thing the by election wasn't was a vote on independence.

However in an interview with the Scottish edition of the Sunday Express, the architect of the victory, SNP First Minister Alex Salmond shatters this consensus by explaining how independence was an important part of the party's election strategy.

Meanwhile, Mr Salmond also revealed that an independence poll in Glasgow East showed 46 per cent were in favour of breaking up the Union, with just 28 per cent against and 26 per cent undecided, although he admitted there was still a lot to do before that vote was repeated across the country.

He said: “Unbeknown to virtually every commentator we polled the whole of Glasgow East on independence and got very, very encouraging results. The fact the independence vote was higher than SNP vote and the SNP vote was pretty high! We’ve got work to do but its very encouraging, that in what was previously regarded as a heartland area there is so much support for independence.”

A Question of Sport

Rhodri Glyn has noted that Wales will lose out to the tune of 80 million pounds because of Lottery funding diverted to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Alex Salmond recons that the cost to Scotland will be 150 million pounds, but, he goes on to say It is entirely reasonable to call for an equivalent sum to be returned to Scotland to help us deliver a real, lasting legacy from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

If Mr Salmond gets the support that he wants for the Commonwealth Games will that mean that Wales will lose further million of pounds of Lottery funding?

Is Wales going to lose out to Glasgow as well as London?

What will Wales' payback be for supporting international games prestige for England and Scotland?

Isn't it entirely reasonable for Wales to ask for support for sport and exercise, equivalent to that given to England and Scotland based on need, rather than on attracting prestige events?

Salmond, Paisley, Adams - but not Jones

One of the problems about devolution, raised across the political spectrum, is that many in the centre have treated Devolution as an event. It concerned Whitehall in 1979 when it was happening, but now it is long forgotten. Ministers and their mandarins make decisions without any consideration given to the existence of the devolved bodies.

The media is much the same. When health, education or cultural announcements are made by the ministers responsible for these issues in England they are reported as "British news", without the qualifier that they are purely English announcements. The Welsh media fairs no better than the London media in this respect. Sunday's Waterfront, for example, included a discussion about re-introducing museum charges, despite the fact that this is a devolved matter and not a matter of debate in Wales.

One of the reasons for this has been that the functions of the Northern Ireland Assembly have been has been administered by a Labour minister and the Scottish and Welsh First Ministers have been Labour representatives. Agreements that have been made have been made through informal party mechanisms, rather than through formal inter governmental mechanisms. When Labour Ministers have made a cock-up in announcing changes in Wales and Scotland before consultation, we have seen the farce of Welsh and Scottish ministers announcing, after the fact, that that is what they would have done anyway, in order to save the face of a party colleague.

With Ian Paisley in charge in Northern Ireland and Alex Salmond in charge in Scotland, this state of affairs cannot continue with respect to those two countries. To this end the First Ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland had an historic meeting yesterday to discuss ways of insuring that their responsibilities are no longer ignored by Westminster and means of joining together to lobby Whitehall on reserved issues.

One of the arguments put forward by the Red-Green supporters in Plaid is that only Labour can deliver a referendum on extra powers for the National Assembly. They see these extra powers as an essential part of improving the devolution settlement and as a major step in the process of nation building. However Scotland has enjoyed many more powers than can be obtained through the Government of Wales Act referendum for eight years, but yet Scotland has been ignored.

Having a non Labour First Minister who can join in a tripartite alliance with his Scottish and Northern Irish counterpart to ensure that the present settlement is given full heed in Westminster might do a lot more for strengthening the settlement and nation building than would gaining extra powers that are ignored.

Allowing Ieuan Wyn Jones to join forces with Salmond, Paisley and Adams could be of far greater constitutional significance for Wales than Jones joining forces with Numpti Morgan and seeing Wales sidelined again by the Labour old pals act.