Golf Week Says Trump Not Playing the Game

There is an article in this week's Golf Week (hattip to Two Doctors) which remonstrates Trump's two headed move into Scottish golf.

First they are very strong about the recent decision of Aberdeenshire Council not ruling out compulsory nature. While there is nothing in the Royal and Ancient's Rules of Golf condemning it Golf Week says:

"The prospect of four families being turned out of their homes for the sake of a golf course does not bear thinking about. I’m sure whole villages have been shifted in other parts of the world to make room for golf courses, but we’re supposed to be civilized over here. Imagine what the families feel like not knowing if they are going to continue living in their own home."

Yes we are supposed to be civilised. The Rules of Golf rely on the competitor marking his own score card. Being honest about a muffed hit if it contacts the ball etc. the rules are very much gentlemanly. Trump may swing a club, but is he really playing the game in his approach to his Menie estate project.

Trump and his lawyers will be saying that they are scanning the full essence of the law, others will argue otherwise, however let's assume for a moment that they are. That may be the case but surely there is some room for the spirit of the laws and fair play as all golfers will tell you is as much part of the game as words in the little book in their bag.

But Trump will argue his he the saviour of the Aberdeenshire economy. This appears to be a line that many on Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Executive are taking as a written. Alistair Tait in Golf Week is prepared to stand up to the entrepreneur, better than many of his 'apprentices' and say that isn't necessarily so. He points to other Golf Leisure resorts including Open venue Turnberry where a recent £85 million investment from Leisurecorp is going to take a long time to recoup.

He goes on to say why an upstart should get going any better than an historic course like Turnberry, especially as the property developers mantra of location, location, location is somewhat against it. Turnberry down in Ayrshire has a longer season than Aberdeen, and longer late autumnal days as well.

But there are other financial reasons that Trump is facing, there are already a number of high-end golf resorts in Scotland. Many courses where you can spend £150 to play 18 holes, when they are many gems that are a lot cheaper to indulge in.

But then it goes on to the battle Trump has entered into at the home of golf St. Andrew's to try and acquire the old university residence of Hamilton 'Hammy' Hall. Townsfolk there are already upset that preferential tee times are being given to the wealthy patron of the Old Course Hotel and fear that the acquisition by Trump or Herb Kohler who owns the Old Course Hotel. However, there is a local hope in a consortium fronted by Richard Wax. The former course designer is concerned that another part of St. Andrews heritage would fall into the hands of only the wealthy elite, severing further the ancient message of accessibility for all. He says:

"The town’s core message is 'golf for all' but increasingly 'Private/Keep Out' signals are being generated to the detriment of the image of the town"

"Our project is conceived to regenerate the economic life of St. Andrews and Fife. It would bring quality business into town on a year-round basis for the benefit of hotels, bed and breakfasts and the commercial activity across the board."

We've yet to see how this second front of wealth seeping into golf turns out. But the fact that a top golfing publication is challenging the Trump project may well make the entrepreneur shank his opening drive out on the tee box this morning.

Free Care for the Elderly: If You Can Afford It

So the Tories have announced their plan to provide free care for the elderly. Right after Labour have announced theirs to cover only those who most need it, the Conservatives announce theirs for those who can afford it, or at least an £8,000 insurance premium paid when you retire. The idea so they say is to prevent people having to sell their home to go into residential care.

I have an issue with that, many of the poorest members of our society don't have savings of £8,000 pounds. If they are lucky that money is tied up in their work pension scheme and not gathering investment in a bank.

One of my own grandmothers owned her own two up two down terrace but as a widow of nearly over 17 years when she hit 65 she didn't have £8,000 stored away. When she was in her 80's she finally could no longer look after herself at home and had to sell up. My other Grandparents were in the fortunate end of things financially, but she still needed specialist care for Alzheimer's in her later years. Obviously the family would have benefited in the later case from the protection of the estate but would not have been able to in the former.

The Tories are saying this system is voluntary. Well of course it is not everyone is going to be able to afford it as pointed out above. The people who will benefit from it are those at the top end. Families of the lower income end of things are still going to have to sell that home and plough the proceeds into paying for that care.

I was watching Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley earlier on the BBC and two comments really grated with me. The first was when he called this system a genuine insurance system. We may have a regressive tax system called National Insurance, but there is a hint in the name of that taxation. It is the system that the nations employee's all pay into according to their wages in order to benefit from through health, care and pension provision. While the poorer do pay disproportionately more, it does in theory provide equal access to service. The Tories proposals will be providing a two-tier system with the wealthy being the beneficiaries.

The second thing that grated was that although everyone joining at 65 would be able too irrespective of medical condition, the Tories will be extending the scheme for a limited time to anyone over that age. However, if there is any condition that may necessitate you needing residential care currently present and you are over 65 you will be excluded. Not only are the Tories creating an obstacle to enter the scheme based on wealth but they are also creating barriers based on health.

We all can see just who the caring Tories are caring for. Their own wealthy supporters not those on the lowest incomes. Personally I'm glad that the Lib Dems made sure that universal health care at home is provided in Scotland, and have it as policy to extend to the rest of the UK.

Homophobes and Anti-Semites Invited to Tory Conference

The Tories are holding their party conference in Manchester this year. LGBTory were even boasting about holding a Conference Pride event in the heart of the City's gay village, although there is a rival Tory Shame event being organised for the week in another venue.

But that is not the thrust of this blog post, no. Both Michal Kamiński of the Tories Polish Law and Justice Party EU allies and Roberts Zīle of the Latvian For Fatherland and Freedom Party will be attending a fringe event on the future of Europe.

One wonders what sort of future that will be. Kamiński, who actually leads the Conservatives EU grouping, comes from a party that have said that homosexuals should be isolated and not be allowed to teach. They also launched an investigation into 'all' gay groups for illegal financing, criminal connections, and pedophilia. The whole thrust was to brand all homosexuals paedophiles.

In Latvia Zīle's party backed the Christian Democratic Party's decision to drop discrimination at work on the grounds of sexuality, the only country in the EU with that omitted. Latvia have also been attacks on peaceful Gay Pride parade and have banned lesbian and gay demonstrations.

They will also spark issues with the Tory party's Jewish supporters, Zīle annually celebrates Hitler's Waffen-SS with a march past of SS veterans. Condemned by Mark Gardner from the Community Security Trust, which monitors violence against Jews, who said:

"Members of this party participate in Waffen-SS ceremonies and that must cause grave concern and pain to Jews and any anyone else who suffered at the hands of Nazism – even in the context of Latvia's very complex history."

So some very queer mixed messages are being sent from Dave's allegedly 'progressive' Conservatives this week. To not just tolerate these men and their believes but to have them addressing the future of Europe is a disgrace. It shows the Tories true colours so that even while the LGBTory group party the night away on Canal Street that these men will be addressing delegates as friends for a right-wing Europe.

Lady Guillotine of CPOs Still Hangs Over Menie

So the threat of Compulsory Purchase Orders still hangs over those in the path of Donald Trump's. The four families whose homes are under threat from the American entrepreneur describe it as "intolerable psychological torture".

One representative of the four, David Milne, yesterday addressed a full meeting of Aberdeenshire saying:

"I don't know how many of you have even tried to imagine what it's like not knowing if your home will be your own for much longer – not knowing if the next birthday or Christmas will be the last in your own house," he said.

"It is a horrible situation to be in, not knowing if the people who are effectively your neighbours will throw you out.

"I ask you now to stand up – stand up for your own personal conscience, stand up for ethics, stand up for morals and stand up for the reputation of Aberdeenshire."

But thte decision was yet put off, yet again the desire of Trump himself seemed to outweigh the desire of the local residents to have an equivocal answer to this state of affairs sooner rather than later. Instead of an unequivocal resonating from the Council Chamber that CPOs would not be used to acquire Trump's desired land from landowners, an amendment described as a "cowardly fudge" was agreed by the majority.

As well as being described as cowardly those councillors who failed to vote for Martin Ford's motion were branded "Trump's puppets" by Martin Forbes whose home is also under threat.

Alex Massie in The Spectator comments following the 57 to 6 vote rejection of ruling out CPOs that:

"While it's good that the Council hasn't yet endorsed compulsory purchase orders, it's depressing that they remain on the table at all and one must fear that, when or if push comes to shove, the council will eventually approve them."

Which just about says it all really. The fact is the guillotine is still hanging hauntingly over the heads of local residents and their council is still able to release the catch.

Year of the Nearly Blog Month Alpha

As you can tell from my stats I am the nearly blog of Political Blogging. Having come 11th in both the Lib Dem and Scottish lists in the Total Politics Guide and 101st overall. How can one blog come so close, so often, so what does a nearly blog do? I noticed that Iain Dale cried out for all of us to use our google analytics to report back on each month. So I've decided to start keeping track.

Last month I had 2,380 absolute unique visitors up from 1,479 in August. They made 3,495 visits and 4,126 page views. So a 63% boost for the nearly blog's confidence. My busiest day was the 7th September when Lib Dem Voice, Iain Dale and Yahoo News all picked up my top story.

My top 11* referring sites were (not counting direct hits so 2-12):

• 1. (10) Google
• 2. (1) Lib Dem Blogs
• 3. (3) Twitter
• 4. (5) SNP Tactical Voting
• 5. (6) Lib Dem Voice
• 6. (-) news.yahoo.com
• 7. (2) Iain Dale
• 8. (7) Malc in the Burgh
• 9. (-) Tory Bear
• 10. (4) Scottish Unionist
• 11. (16) britishblogs.co.uk

The 11 stories that you've been reading most (by direct page views) are:

• 1. Oil be There For You
• 2. Muggles are Following JK Fast
• 3. Body Found in Bathgate House
• 4. Fibbing Tory Bear's in the Hood Today
• 5. Men have Eating Disorders Too
• 6. One Foot in Brown's Grave
• 7. I Think Tory Bear Owes me and Apology
• 8. Evolution of Devolution #ldconf
• 9. Oh What a Rally #ldconf
• 10. Pendle One to Go it Alone
• 11. Eric Joyce's Resignation Letter

Where did you all come from? Here's the top countries from the 70 that visited this month, up from 40 in August.

• 1. (1) United Kingdom
• 2. (2) USA
• 3. (3) Belgium
• 4. (4) Canada
• 5. (6=) France
• 6. (8) Australia
• 7. (5) Ireland
• 8. (13) Germany
• 9. (-)India
• 10. (23) Philipines
• 11= (9) Sweden
• 11= (6=) Italy

As I'm also currently doing quarterly stats for work don't be surprised if later in the day I publish how I did in the third quarter of 2009 as well.

* Hey I'm going to be using 11 a lot this year get used to it.

Openly Homophobic Paper Fails Again

Shame on you Ephraim Hardcastle in the Daily Fail for this:

"Overtly gay Tory blogger Iain Dale has reached the final stage of parliamentary selection for Bracknell, telling PinkNews: 'I hope any PinkNews readers who live in Bracknell will come to the open primary on October 17 to select their new candidate.

"You don't even have to be a Conservative to attend.'

"Isn't it charming how homosexuals rally like-minded chaps to their cause?"

For starters what has the man's sexuality got to do with anything, especially his ability to apply for or do a job. In fact isn't discrimination on the grounds of human sexuality against the law of the land Daily Fail?

Secondly Pink News tends to interview high profile gay men and women with a story to tell. It gives their readers hope against the over accusing homophobic or just not recognised reality of the MSM like the Fail itself. So obviously when a high profile political event does feature a gay candidate he'll be asked for comment. Iain's full quote to the paper is:

"I'm delighted to be on the Bracknell shortlist. It's the only seat I have applied for and I hope any PinkNews.co.uk readers who live in Bracknell will come to the open primary on October 17th to select their new candidate. You don't even have to be a Conservative to attend."

We all know that Iain is a great fan of open primaries, even if I'm not so sure, he sees it as a way of letting the people have their say. He hasn't said vote for me, but has said turn up if you live in the seat and select your candidate. Hardly a case of rally like minded people to his cause, but asking people who are sometime ostracised by society and indeed have been by the Tory party to get involved in the electoral process.

Update: Iain himself has written about the story, starting with the line 'Just by writing this blogpost, I will probably damage my chances in Bracknell'. It is reported in Pink News and by others including Mark and Andrew. Even Lib Dem Voice got in on the act with a special story of the day round up called Homophobia is Gay when it's against Tories, too. Mark Pack also noticed the mystery of the missing comments on the piece on the papers site.

At the end of the day though Iain has recieved an apology from Peter MacKay of the Daily Mail, which Iain has accepted. But he also writes:

"I think there are two lessons here. Don't take this sort of thing lying down. Fight back and you can get a result. It wouldn't have been possible without the internet, though, would it?

"It is all very well for me to do this. I am in a position to. But what about if it had happened to someone else without the facilities to do what I did today? Think on that."

Update 2 00:40 Looks like we may have been taken for a ride. Iain Dale has just tweeted:

"Yup, judging from the content of the Ephraim Hardcastle today, the apology wasn't in fact from the real Peter McKay at all. PCC here I come."

Return of the Redact

The report on the Whitehall leak inquiry that led to the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green is due to be released shortly. However, just what will it reveal? Apparently according to sources objections from senior civil servants and police officers involved mean it is so heavily redacted it 'makes MP's expenses look like a model of transparency'.

The senior policeman who led the enquiry former Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick objected to publication of any part of the report. Sir David Normington, Permanent Secretary to the Home Office first raised concerns that leaks of sensitive material could damage national security, is another who asked for large passages to be blacked out.

The police have concerns that the review misrepresents their investigation. Hello! Isn't that the point of this review. The police have taken one line on this, it appears to have been the wrong one, now we want to find out what actually happened. Of course they are going to say that it misrepresents them if hit is highlighting errors in their methodology.

The fact is that the report was written by Ian Johnston last December when he was Chief Constable of British Transport Police. It is not written by some PhD student like a certain dossier on weapons of mass destruction, but someone who understands police operations and procedures.

However, some are objecting to the fact that the material seized from Mr Green's office in the Palace of Westminster has not been considered. This was allowed to be examined until March of this year after a dispute over whether it was subject to Parliamentary privilege. But in April the judge rules out criminal proceedings against Mr Green and Christopher Galley the Home Office civil servant who admitted passing the documents to the MP.

But if this is review in the public interest why are we not going to see so many important swathes of it. The cover all excuse of national security is being used too much, to either hinder civil liberties or public scrutiny. This Labour government has opened the flood gates to allow an almost secret state exist to protect too many of its own interests rather than those of the individual.