Power Station May Silence McConnell's Plans

Oh dear what can the matter be, poor old Jack has had a catastophe.

The First Minister said that he hoped to extend the life of the Torness and Hunterston nucleur power stations. Only for the aging reactors to say dear Mr McConnell we really are starting to crack up a should be allowed to retire gracefully.

The nucleur safety watchdog has uncovered cracks at six reactors across the UK including Hunterston B in Ayrshire. They have warned that a radioactive leak could be "inevitable" if action was not taken about these. There are claims that this should halt any suggestion of extending the life but British Energy deny this is the case. However David Howarth, the Liberal Democrats' energy spokesman said:

"This could spell an earlier end to nuclear plants, rather than an extension of their life-cycle that the government had hoped for.

"The evidence is mounting that the government is taking a huge gamble by pushing for a new generation of nuclear power plants.

"Over-reliance on large, centralised and risky nuclear plants could seriously threaten our electricity supplies if one or more reactor is shut down due to these sort of safety concerns."

Lothian List Placings

The order the Liberal Democrat candidates for the top up list for next year's election in the Lothian region have been counted and verified and the placings are:

1. Mike Pringle MSP
2. Simon Clark
3. Gill Cole-Hamilton
4. Mike Crockart
5. Charles Dundas
6. Jacqui Bell
7. Derek Young

Quite a could wealth of experience and committment on that list. A good team to be going out to challenge for seats in Lothian.

As one of the above stated on their election literature 100 years ago the Lothian region was largely represented by Liberals. Ironically the only seat we did not hold in the year of the Campbell Bannerman landslide was Edinburgh West now one of the safest Lib Dem seats in the country.

Now it is two in Holyrood and we'll just have to see what happens in the others next May.

How Green Is Your Party?

David Cameron hosted his Summer Party on Monday night but apparently he did not not keep his guests enraptured with his plans for a Conservative greener future.

According to the Mirror during his speech:

"he lost his audience the moment the words "climate change" slipped from his mouth and a murmur of chatter rose up.

"Tories, it seemed, were more interested in filling wine glasses than reducing emissions."

So for £400 a head it looks like you can lead a Tory to a bar but you can't make them think.

Tale of Two Stories

The editor of the Italian sports daily Gazetto Dello Sport must have been one of the Italians who partied shortest last night. When his nation won 2-0 against the hosts Germany in the World Cup he must have taken great joy in shouting the Italian for 'hold the front page'. Instead of the call to relegate 4 senior teams including Juventos and AC Milan he was able to celebrate the Italians regular 12 yearly reaching of the final.

While England fans are upset that it has been 40 years since their team won and reached their only final the Italians seem to have established a regular timetable since 1970 they have reach the last two every 12 years. In 1970 they lost to Brazil in Mexico, in 1984 the won in Spain, in 1996 the lost in the USA. And now 12 years on they're back thanks to Fabio Grosso and Alessandro del Piero scoring two goals in the final minute of extra time.

Now as a Livingston fan I saw my team concede a number of late goals last season, but never that late. So I can appreciate how gutted the German supporters were as Alessandro turned away to celebrate his late decisive strike.

But as Terry Venebales said moments before the goals went in it was a classic example of a thrilling 0-0 120 minutes.

Scotland Yard to Investigate 3-Jobs Bob

Oh dear Bromley and Chislehurst may not have elected a new MP last week. It appears that both John Hemming-Clark the independent candidate from the by-election and UKIP has contacted Scotland Yard regarding the election of Bob Neill the Conservative candidate last week.

In a press release from Mr Hemming-Clark he says he has recieved a leter which has confirmed that an investigation is now underway to ascertain whether 3-jobs Bob has a case to answer. Mr Neill on his nomination declared that he was aware of the provisions of the House of Commons Disqualifications Act 1975 and to the best of his knowledge and belief he was not disqualified from membership of the House of Commons. However, as both Mr Hemming-Clark and UKIP have challenged at the time he signed the declaration he was a member of the North East London Strategic Health Authority, a post that MPs are not allowed to hold. If he has made a false declaration on his nomination it would be a breach of election law and if upheld would result in a further by-election in Bromley and Chislehurst, where the Tories saw a 13,000 majority reduced to 633.

The investigation may take some weeks while the Boys in Blue contact Bob Neill, John Hemming-Clark, members of UKIP (who have prepared a legal opinion) and the Returning Officer for Bromley Council, among others.

Labour's Nucleur Future for Scotland

Labour MSP Dr. Elaine Murray has spoken the words that Jack McConnell has feared to say in saying that her party will rule out a veto on new nucleur power station in Scotland.

While the Scottish Party is alone in Scottish politics on taking an official stance on the subject Dr. Murray told BBC Radio Scotland yesterday that Scottish Labour had no objection in principle. She said:

"The position of the Labour Party going into the Scottish Parliament elections will be that we would not, on principle, block an application for a new nuclear power station in Scotland.

"We would consider any planning application on its merits."

Last week the First Minsiter had said he wanted to see a "massive expansion" in renewables. However, there were the first hints of expanding nucleur reliance as Mr McConnell refused to downplay nucleur as a potential future provider in Scotland.

Already Torness and Hunterston nucleur stations have been muted to have their lives extended.

From the Bahamas with Love...

...good luck.

Well it appears that Sir Sean Connery thinks that young Andy Murray might have been up celebrating reaching the third round at 3 a.m. before his win on Saturday against number 3 seed Andy Roddick. However, his call if probably more likely due to the elder Scot forgetting the time zone difference.

However, as young Andy said there is "nothing cooler than being woken up by James Bond". Even though he went back to sleep and let the answer machine take the message. Good job it was about an important message.

One problem with Saturday's match, apart for the murmur around the court as England failed in the penalty shoot out, was that both players were called Andy. So the cheers from the stands were for Roddick or Murray instead of Andy which could have lifted both players simultaneously. Thankfully that will not be replicated this afternoon. Although the Scot will be facing a Cypriot in Mediteranean conditions it looks like Andy is better conditioned to counter such things this year than last.

Come on Andy.