July 13th: The best £790 of tax payers money claimed on any MP's expenses

Scotland's very own village idiot, Lord George Foulkes, has submitted a complaint to the London Parliament's standards commisioner. His beef is about the £790 legal expenses claimed by Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, for his part in the public spirited and very honourable attempt to have Tony Blair impeached for misleading the House of Commons prior to the military attack on Iraq in 2003.

You gotta laugh. This will be the same Lord Foulkes who claimed £45,000 expenses whilst on House of Lords duty (in 2005 & 2006) to stay in a London flat he inherited from his mother! Then, between April 2007 and March 2008, Foulkes claimed a further £54,527 expenses for House of Lords duty. This was at time he was supposed to be representing those who elected him as an MSP to the Scottish Parliament in May 2007 (another huge salary, more expenses).

Lord Foulkes needed the tax payer to stump up right enough. He was skint. During 2005/2006 he only made £400,000 profit from wheeling and dealing on the property market. And with the loose change in his piggy bank His Lordship managed to invest a further £600,000 in two other properties (paid for in cash).

And as for the miserly £50,000 per annum salary he drew for being a director and "political consultant" with Carrick Court Associates? Pah, it was hardly worth getting out of bed for. The £500 per week he was paid for a weekly column in the Edinburgh Evening News writing about Heart of Midlothian? The man was dispensing his words of wisdom on the cheap.

Lest we forget Lord Foulkes is currently still an elected MSP at Holyrood while also serving in the House of Lords. How he finds time to fill in so many expenses forms remains a mystery. How he's got the brass neck to attack Alex Salmond's legitimate claim takes the Kit Kat.

July 13th: The Scales Of Justice Swing Into Motion ...

"Thomas Sheridan, born 7 March 1964, whose domicile of citation has been specified as Paisley Road West, Glasgow, and Gail Sheridan, born 4 January 1964, whose domicile of citation has been specified as Paisley Road West, Glasgow, you are indicted at the instance of The Right Honourable Elish Angiolini, Queen's Counsel, Her Majesty's Advocate, and the charges against you are that..." (Full citation can be read here)

Court case begins on January 11th.

July 10th: First Visit To Easter Road

I said I wasnt going to post any baby pictures on this blog but a young laddie's first trip to Easter Road isnt just any old day. Stephen was shown round the home dressing room, we went through the tunnel, we sat in the dugout in the manager's seat, and walked out onto the hallowed turf. At four weeks old it was long overdue. I think Stephen was impressed. He only cried once.

July 9th: Mel Gibson movie to open 2012 London Olympics

In a move that has surprised many commentators, Boris Johnson and Seb Coe have announced that the start of the London Olympics in 2012 will be marked by continuous city-wide screenings of Mel Gibson's award winning movie, Braveheart. "The events were a long time ago" explained Johnson, "and the film is a moving and beautiful piece of art with a central message of 'never give up', which, of course, is what the Olympics are all about." The BNP were unavailable for comment. (Read the full story in today's Scotsman).

July 7th: Interview With Stuart Christie

New over at Bella Caledonia:

"45 years ago, on the last day of July 1964 Stuart Christie, a newly-turned 18-year-old Glaswegian anarchist, left London for Paris and Madrid on a mission whose objective was to kill the last of the Axis dictators — General Francisco Franco. Christie was threatened with execution by being garroted, just six weeks after his 18th birthday..." (Read rest of article)

June 30th: Last night's Panorama programme: "Will The Scots Ever Be Happy?"

The above video is a neatly condensed three minute summary of last night's Panorama programme a.k.a. "Will The BBC Ever Stop Making Predictable Unionist Propaganda That Masquerades As Impartial And Balanced Current Affairs Programmes With Offensive Quasi-Racist Titles That Would Have Fleet Street Pigs Squealing If The Words 'The Scots' Were Replaced By The Words 'The English'?"

June 29th: In Between Talking About The Football

Now's the time for the young Hibee. Here's hoping Andy Murray gives the whole of Scotland something to cheer about by the end of this week. Good luck to you laddie. Fingers crossed.

June 26th: The Industrial Dancebeat Radicalism Of Test Dept.

My memories of Test Dept. go back to the Miners Strike of 84-85, and the Thatcher era, when their intense clanking metallic tribal rhythms could often be heard at the head of marches and protests and political rallies. They were a radical socialist collective of unemployed Glaswegians at the time.

In the 90s I got to know some of their former members, including, Angus Farquhar and Graham Cunnington. Angus and Graham are two of the most talented and creative individuals I've ever met. Everything they've been involved with since Test Dept has been exceptional.

If I had to choose the most memorable cultural events I've been to in the last two decades at the the top of the list would be Graham's autobiographical show 'Pain' at the Traverse Theatre and Angus's NVA event 'The Path' (May 2000) - a Himalayan midnight extravaganza in Glen Lyon. Unforgettable. Genius. Breathtaking. Such superlatives don't do either event justice.

Over the years I've been searching around online for the music of Test Dept, usually to little avail. But now, thanks entirely to TB at SFRP, I've now got hold of most of the official Test Dept. singles and albums. They still sounds great, bringing back a few memories, and the band's musical evolution between 1981-1997 is both intriguing and groundbreaking.

Just to show how good they were if you go into the Comments you'll find Rapidshare link for the following 12 releases:

Test Dept - Compulsion (1983)
Test Dept - Beating A Retreat (1984)
Test Dept - Shoulder To Shoulder (1984)
Test Dept - Atonal and hamburg live (1985)
Test Dept - A Good Night Out (1987)
Test Dept - The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom (1987)
Test Dept - Victory (1987)
Test Dept - Natura Victus (1988)
Test Dept - Terra Firma (1988)
Test Dept - Gododdin (1989)
Test Dept - Pax Britannica (1990)
Test Dept - Tactics for Evolution (1997)

See Comments for download links. Enjoy.