Councillor George Black - An Independent Voice

Published 20 Jul 2010 10:00

WELL, the world awaits the release of "Meerkat Mandelson's" memoirs - the man is a legend in his own mind.

Who really cares what three-times disgraced Mandy has to say about the New Labour Tories, who hate him as much as he hates them?

People who were shocked at the profanity on the Watergate tapes that Nixon tried to bury will be just as shocked to learn that when Harriet Harman suggested that the last election be fought by Labour on the three F's - Future, Family and Fairness - Mandelson, Alistair Darling and Douglas Alexander, another son of the manse, came up with three F's of their own, Futile, Finished and... let your imagination do the rest.

It is the breadth of intellectual ability as well as the adoption of what used to be the right wing ground inhabited by the real Tories that appals me regarding New Labour.

I can forgive the Tories for being Tories, it is just like a dog being a dog or a cat being a cat, but I cannot forgive New Labour for being Tories. The spectacle of the leadership contenders' attempts to distance themselves from their support of the war criminal Tony Blair is yet another example of the lengths to which these self-serving individuals will go to attempt to regain power.

No-one should forget the last 13 years which saw the erosion of civil liberties, the surrender of national interest and an illegal war which has cost the lives of thousands and ensure that until such times as leaders of this so called Labour Party are people who did not support Brown, Blair or their policies, they remain in opposition.

I will be glad when Mandelson and Alistair Campbell cease to appear on our television screens and like their idol disappear into the ether or the Middle East - or wherever Blair presently infests.

THERE was dreadful news this week that three people died in a road traffic accident after a pensioner apparently drove the wrong way up a dual carriageway.

The pensioner was killed as a result of his injuries, two teenagers in another car also died and a third woman was seriously injured. The road in question, the A78 in Ayrshire, like the A82 is a very fast main arterial road.

This incident highlights the fact that as a nation we are driving at a younger age than previous generations, and continuing to drive at an older age than previous generations.

It is a matter that the Government should take more seriously and perhaps invest through ROSPA in research to improve both the roads and the health and skills of the people who have to use them. Too many young people are becoming statistics of road fatalities and they are not always at fault.

I AM off on holiday soon and shall be going to the East Coast of Scotland which is a "midgie" free zone. I should therefore be able to enjoy warmer evenings without resorting to midgie nets and repellents - not to mention the roar of the latest weapon in the arsenal employed against the dreaded midge - the midgie eater.

Such is the intrinsic value of these devices that when one was stolen a couple of years ago at Aviemore the locals were demanding sentences for the perpetrators on a level with Ronnie Biggs and company.

I shall continue to use Avon's Skin So Soft, which deters more than the midgies.

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This article appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 20 Jul 10

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