David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (16) - The late late show episode 2

I know how much cybernats like pieces about written questions from Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery.
It always surprises me why people who supposedly support democracy object to democracy in action because of cost or perhaps more likely because it embarrasses the party they support, although, it's fair to say, that it is not only Nationalists who are prone to this sort of self delusion.
But anyway here's another couple of the noble one's questions which finance secretary John Swinney has finally deigned to answer quite a few days late.
Readers of the Steamie may remember the questions from Lord George asking about the First Minister's tardiness.
He asked how many times Alex Salmond had been more than 30 minutes late to official events and why he was allegedly more than two hours late to the opening of the latest stage of the Burns Cottage development.
The two answers appeared to be a little contradictory. Here they are:


George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions since May 2007 the First Minister has arrived more than half an hour late for a public engagement.
Mr John Swinney: Under successive administrations it has not been customary to keep a record of arrival times at events by the First Minister.

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the First Minister was over two hours late for the opening of the latest stage of developments at Burns Cottage.
Mr John Swinney: The First Minister was not late to this event. He arrived at 13:15, the arrival time agreed in advance with the organisers.

So basically what Mr Swinney is saying is that no record is kept of the First Minister's arrival time unless he is on time. This probably requires less effort.

David Maddox: How much does an SNP supporter cost the taxpayer?

An interesting written answer has popped up on the list on the parliament website which shows that the SNP ministers are intent on avoiding any details getting out of how much taxpayers' cash they hand out to party supporters. Here it is:

Lord George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs were incurred by and reimbursements made to Elaine C Smith as a consequence of her radio recordings for Weather Wise.

John Swinney: I regret that, under the Data Protection Act 1998, Section 7 (4) and (6), I am unable to release the information requested by the member.
Ms Smith has confirmed that she will be using her fee to fund her support for a range of charities.

The reason for this question is that Ms Smith is a well known SNP supporter and chairs the Scottish Independence Convention. It seems quite a coincidence that she should get the gig to provide the tips on radio for the Scottish Government's Weather Wise campaign in the recent cold snap.
It is highly reminiscent of the row caused by another question from the noble one one the Scottish Government "kickbacks" for the SNP supporting singer Sandi Thom (the one who did a duet with Alex Salmond). Then the Scottish Government admitted to forking out almost £10,000 in expenses including £580 for a breakfast to her for performing at government events.
The incident was highly embarrassing for the SNP and this written answer on Elaine C Smith shows that they intend to avoid any repeat in terms of damaging headlines.
Ms Smith may be giving her money to charity, which is of course highly commendable, but we should be allowed to know how much of our money is being handed out to people, government party supporters or not.

David Maddox: For Foulkes sake (15) - aka The late late show

It seems that the First Minister may have been showing a little bit of tardiness lately if the questions he has been asked recently is anything to go by.
Any journalist who has waited for a briefing or press conference involving Alex Salmond will know this is the norm rather than the exception.
However, two questions were put down on 4 December on the subject by his fellow Hearts fan and old political adversary - Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery and Labour MSP for the Lothians.
Lord Foulkes wanted to know why the FM was over two hours late for the opening of the latest stage of developments at Burns Cottage. He also asked for a list of events where Mr Salmond was late by half an hour or more.
The deadline for the answers was 18 December but, with the smallest hint of irony, the answers are late and the good lord is still waiting.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (14) - In Constance sorrow

It has been noted that the noble one - Lord George Foulkes, MSP to the Lothians, Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery - has been taking a lot of interest in Livingston of late.

This seems to be a slight change of focus for his lordship who has spent the last two years concentrating on being a roving MSP for Edinburgh in his list role.

But with the threat of 500 jobs going at Bausch and Lomb, which an adviser to the First Minister behind the dastardly deed and a former SNP spin doctor doing the public relations for it, George has got on his charger and rode in to fight for the workers.

Others have seen another motive. And today I gather the noble one was accused point blank of preparing to run against SNP Livingston MSP Angela Constance (pictured top left) in 2011.

He, of course, denies this and insists he will be retiring to his red leather armchair in the House of Lords after 2011. But think on this, he also denied that he would be an MSP in 2007 prior to the selection of candidates for the election and lo and behold he is here.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (13) - Weighty issues

As mentioned in my most recent blog on Lord George Foulkes (bottom right), the Baron of Cumnock, MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery is not lacking a sense of humour.

Thus this latest piece of mischief making in the guise of a written question.

*To ask the Scottish Executive what official engagements the First Minister has planned for July and August 2009 and whether an estimate has been made of catering costs.

The "catering" reference, of course, is to the frequent jokes about how being First Minister has apparently led to Alex Salmond's (top left) girth rapidly expanding, as well as his now famed food claims in his expenses as an MP of £400 a month, even when he was not in Westminster for months. The response from John Swinney was a lot more serious and dull.

*First Minister’s summer activities will focus on the Scottish Government Summer Cabinet meetings, taking place across the country.

Further to these events, the First Minister will undertake a range of other engagements in line with usual business. All events are planned with cost effectiveness as a priority.

However, ever one for political gamesmanship, no doubt Lord Foulkes is only too aware that his own critics, not least by the army of cybernats who stalk Scottish media websites, point out that he is not exactly lacking in pounds himself, either from his House of Lords expenses or, indeed, the shirt stretching sense.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (12) - the world's been turned on its head

Hot on the heals of the SNP apparently starting to praise Lord Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, Labour MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery (pictured right), for his hundreds of written questions, then the noble one has delivered his own surprise.

As you will read in tomorrow's Scotsman, the good lord has reported his old Nemesis, First Minister Alex Salmond to the Westminster parliamentary watchdog for claiming back his legal costs for trying to impeach for PM Tony Blair and the Westminster standards commissioner John Lyon, has agreed to investigate.

You can read the whys and wherefores of this matter in The Scotsman tomorrow, but it does remind one of his lordships complaints about the way the standards commissioners in Westminster and Holyrood were brought into play to cause political damage not least for former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander.

But most of all it brings to mind the complaint made last year by an SNP student activist Andrew Harlick about Lord Foulkes' consultancy, which was dismissed, but later blatantly used to derail his attempt to be Rector of Edinburgh University.

At the time his lordship noted that the complaint was "purely politically motivated." The question is whether his referral of Mr Salmond is any different.

The irony is that he has accused Mr Salmond in this Blair impeachment case of getting the taxpayers to "fork out for a political stunt." Lord Foulkes is not lacking a sense of humour.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (11) - aka I'm alright Jack!

How things change. Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery (pictured right at a Hearts match) has been the bête noire to the Nationalists for many months now.

How they have railed at him over his hundreds of "pointless" written questions (more than 1,000), costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds.

But suddenly the Noble one has become a paragon of virtue in their eyes. What has changed? The answer is the target.

The SNP guns are now trained on former First Minister Jack McConnell (pictured left in his infamous Tartan Day get-up) who is being portrayed as Holyrood's laziest MSP.

Apparently in the two years to April 2009, he failed to cast his vote in 17 per cent of debates and submitted the equivalent of just one written question per fortnight. He also tabled a mere 14 parliamentary motions and did not serve on committees.

Nationalist MSPs have pointed out that other former ministers have not been so work shy. And which one did they raise as an example? Yes, you got Lord George Foulkes who has asked more than 1,000 written questions and tabled 61 parliamentary motions.

David Maddox: Tory conference - No longer the McBridesmaid

The Tories wheeled out two "celebrity" speakers this morning. One was the knife crime campaigner John Muir, the father of Damian who was brutally murdered by a knife wielding thug in 2007, who had come to endorse the Tories' new policy of two year minimum sentences for people caught carrying knives.
Before that though was their "controversial" new convert, the leading QC Paul McBride (pictured right).
Controversial because they claimed he joined the Tories three weeks ago and abandoned Labour to do so.
Labour have gone to great lengths to say: "Paul who?" And point out he was not a member at the time and apparently never seen by them.
Lord George Foulkes, First Lord of the Twittery etc, even wrote to the Scotsman ,to question Mr McBride's former Labour credentials. The Baron of Cumnock also asked a question in parliament to check if Mr McBride had declared himself a Labour supporter in his role as a member of the Legal Board, something he would have been required to do if he was a party member or active supporter in the last five years. He had not.
However, Mr McBride maintains he was a Labour supporter for most of his adult life, let his membership lapse in the late 1990s, but later attended fundraising events until recently.
Mr McBride has been described as arrogant by some in Labour in recent days, his e-mail address apparently includes the words topQC, but seeing him this morning you can see why Labour are so wound up about his "defection" and the Tories are gloating about it.
McBride is the sort of bright, sharp dressed, talented individual who flocked to Labour in the early years of Blair, but who can see that the bright future is now with Cameron and the Tories.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (10)

Labour have deployed their weapon of mass distraction in the MP expenses row.
Yes Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery, MSP to the Lothians and interviewer of Jack McConnell, has been let loose on BBC journalists, who you may remember are among his favourite targets.
No stranger to the odd expenses row of his own - £54,000 I seem to remember (as revealed by my colleague Tom Peterkin) - he has been sent in to defend the indefensible on the TV.
This interview is worth a look as he harasses a publicly paid BBC presenter into admitting that she gets £92,000 off the British public for sitting their wearing lip gloss or "harrassing politicians," as the good Lord put it.
Amazingly, despite earning that wage she had not thought of actually doing any research to counter Foulkes on his various jobs and expenses.
It was a classic example of sinners and casting the first stone, but in these times of austerity maybe a warning shot across the bows of the BBC.
After all, as Lord F pointed out, that particular presenter is one of the lower paid BBC presenters paid at the public's expense to "sneer at democracy."

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (9) - 30 years on

Not for the first time I've just had a strange telephone conversation with Lord George Foulkes, MSP for the Lothians, Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery.
He asked me if I was watching BBC Parliament's replay of the coverage of the 1979 election.
There are several TV sets uned into it in several of the hacks' offices in Holyrood.
The programme is running to mark the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's historic victory.
But why would Lord George want to relive the election which saw his party out of office for 18 years?
"Well it wasn't so sad for me," he said. "South Ayrshire's result is just coming up and I'm just checking if I won again."
Of course, that was when he was first elected as an MP and from the coverage there are some familiar but much younger looking faces of people well known now in Holyrood, not least Margo MacDonald and George Reid, then both of the SNP, losing their seats after siding with the Tories to force the election.

As a Westminster career was born others died. and as one of the commenters has just reminded me Lord Foulkes beat former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars to get his seat.

David Maddox: Rewards for failure

So what price failure in the Scottish Government. Well in the last two years it has been £163,024.25, a price paid not by failed ministers but to them by the poor old tax payer.

This nuggest came out in a recent parliamentary answer by John Swinney to Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, Labour MSP for the Lothians, First Lord of the Twittery.

It seems that 10 Labour and Lib Dem ministers who lost their jobs in May 2007 because the electorate preferred the SNP were paid £99,742.50 between them as a pay-off.

Then the three former SNP ministers - Stewart Maxwell (bottom left), Linda Fabiani (mid left) and Maureen Watt (top left) - deemed so hopeless by Alex salmond that he sacked them got £43,730.75 between them for not being up to the job - that's £14,576.92 each.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (8)

Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP for Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery has been at it again, as you can read in his column in today's Evening News.

He has wound up his opponents by suggesting that MPs and MSPs are underpaid and that lavish expenses are not as bad as they might seem.

But, there was a hint of irony in the response from the SNP claiming that the noble one was "out of touch."

In the second piece of the column, Lord Foulkes took a pop at his favourite target cybernats - the lunatic fringe of Scottish nationalism who stay up all night to write vitriol on newspaper websites. One of his complaints was that their grammar is appalling and they cannot spell.

This must be why the SNP press release condemning him misspelt his name "Fou8llkes." So maybe he is not as out of touch as they suggested.

David Maddox: Labour stir up the ghosts of Salmond's past and present in the hope the future will follow

It may be that they think Alex Salmond (top left), the First Minister is wounded, but two motions went down in Holyrood today which suggest that Labour has properly regained its confidence in Scotland.

The two not only revive the ghosts of recent and long past troubles for the SNP leader, but are clearly aimed at what many consider to be his weak spots - his ego and his grasp of foreign policy.

The first was put down by Lord George Foulkes (top right), Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery, MSP to the Lothians, who rather cheekily accuses Mr Salmond of cronyism in office. One wonders if the term "Tony's cronies" for the Blair regime is such a distant memory to the noble one.

However, he has been buoyed by the genuine hit he had over revealing the £10,000 expenses paid to the SNP supporting pop singer Sandi Thom. And let's face it, Lord George and Wee Eck love poking fun at one another.

The second is from Labour's Holyrood business manager, Michael McMahon (left), to remind us of the 10th anniversary of Mr Salmond's greatest foreign policy gaffe. The one where he condemned the bombing of the ethnic cleansing Serbs in Kosovo, allowing opponents to (unfairly) link his party with that sort of behaviour and describing the RAF as the Luftwaffe.

You may remember that the First Minister is sensitive about this and recently described veteran Lib Dem MP and foreign policy expert Sir Menzies Campbell as "a pompous ass" for reviving the same issue at the recent party conference.

The anniversary perhaps allows Labour to have some sort of repost to the constant battering about Iraq, although Mr Salmond's mistake only damaged his reputation, it didn't cost lives.

No doubt they hope that the ghost of his future will follow and visit its curse upon him in the forthcoming elections. Although, perhaps they have forgotten that Scrooge (played famously by Alistair Sim, right), the original one to be tormented by the three ghosts, learnt from his mistakes and had a happy ending.

David Maddox: Many questions, double standards (2)

Just following up on my colleague Hamish Macdonell's blog earlier on the SNP and their alleged aversion to oppositon MSPs putting down written questions.
The party of Scottish Government appear, according to some in Labour, to have taken up a new tactic to nobble their opponents, particularly their would-be nemisis - Lord George Foulkes (pictured right), Baron of Cumnock, MSP for the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery.
The SNP cunning plan supposedly is to get one of their backbenchers to put down a near identical question to one tabled say by the noble Lord George after he has submitted his for answer.
They then answer the question from afore mentioned backbencher and send the oppositon MSP an answer referring him to the answer given to the party lackey.
This means that their backbencher gets the answer 24 hours before, but, if the SNP MSP Ian McKee's press release on questions is to be believed, it also costs the tax payer almost £100 for the extra question.
An example of this is below. A question put down by Lord George on February 26 for First Minister Alex Salmond and then a near identical one put down by SNP backbencher Nigel Don (pictured left) on March 4. The answers were given by Michael Russel, the new minister for external affairs, on March 5.

S3W-21418 - George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab) (Date Lodged Thursday, February 26, 2009): To ask the Scottish Executive what engagements the First Minister undertook during his visit to the United States of America; what topics were dealt with in each case, and whether he proposes to make a statement on these matters.
Answered by Michael Russell (Thursday, March 05, 2009): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21578 on 5 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.


S3W-21578 - Nigel Don (North East Scotland) (SNP) (Date Lodged Wednesday, March 04, 2009): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will report on the main outcomes of the First Minister’s recent visit to the United States of America.
Answered by Michael Russell (Thursday, March 05, 2009): The First Minister made a two day visit to Washington DC last week to raise Scotland's profile in the US; to strengthen relationships with key policymakers, particularly in the new administration, and to promote the Year of Homecoming in one of Scotland's biggest tourist markets.

The First Minister met with important figures in the new US administration. The First Minister's meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton marked the deepening friendship between our two nations and provided a good basis for further on-going dialogue in important areas of mutual interest, such as climate change and Scotland's renewable energy potential. The First Minister also met with Dr Christina Romer, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, to discuss efforts to promote economic recovery, the US stimulus package, and possible areas for future policy discussion and cooperation between the US and Scotland.

The First Minister's visit to the United States coincided with the launch of a new Scottish Caucus in the US Senate. The newly announced Caucus is one of very few in the US Senate and reflects the ability and efforts of Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia) and his colleagues. With 30 US Senators “ a third of the Senate “ now joining the 50 members of the Friends of Scotland Caucus in the House of Representatives, Scotland now has a significant asset to promote our long-term interests in the United States.

In addition, the First Minister hosted a reception to promote scotch whisky, delivered a lecture at Georgetown University, and gave the keynote address at a prestigious symposium on the life and works of Robert Burns, at the Library of Congress. He also undertook various media engagements to publicise the Year of Homecoming and to promote key Scottish industries such as renewable energy, tourism and food and drink, in an effort to spur economic recovery in Scotland.

David Maddox: The Scottish X Files

It did not take the conspiracy theorists long to pop up when it emerged that the marked voter register for the Glenrothes by-election had mysteriously disappeared from Sheriff's Court in Kirkcaldy, as can be seen from the comments after today's piece in the Scotsman.
Perhaps we should call in Scully and Mulder (pictured top right) from the X Files to see if Gordon Brown has made a secret pact with aliens to get them to cast an extra 7,000 votes and then spirit away the register just to keep the Union intact. But let us not pretend that conspiracy theories are limited to the fevered imaginations of cybernats.
Labour at the moment believe that there is a conspiracy going on currently to sway voters in another election. I speak, of course, of the fascinating twists and turns in the campaign that is the election for the new Rector of Edinburgh University.
The three candidates are George Galloway, the Scottish exile, former Big Brother cat and some time Respect MP for Bethnal Green in London; Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP for the Lothians, former minister and First Lord of the Twittery; and Ian McWhirter columnist and commentater on Scottish politics who has promised to visit the Scottish Parliament on occasions.
The two latter candidates are believed to be the frontrunners. Lord George is Labour's candidate and the non-party political Mr McWhirter has been backed by the Tories, SNP, Greens and Lib Dems.
The election is coming to its climax with staff and students due to vote online on Wednesday February 12 and Thursday February 13.
But, Lord Foulkes' campaign team have cried foul over a prominant article about him which appeared in a West coast weekly publication (The Sunday Herald) claiming that he had been referred by ana anonymous academic to the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Jim Dyer for having a consultancy arrangement with the law firm Eversheds.
MSPs cannot have consultancies, but Lords can, and Lord Foulkes has always claimed that his arrangement was only connected to his work in the Lords.
What the article failed to mention was that the same complaint had been made last year by an SNP student activist (Andrew Harlick) and Lord Foulkes was cleared in quick time by Mr Dyer because there was no evidence against him. Lord Foulkes has claimed that the Sunday publication knew this before printing the article, but chose not to mention it. Added to that apparently he has not been referred because the referal was done by e-mail, which technically makes it inadmissable. But these complaints can be put down to editorial judgement and technicalities.
The article was then rewritten as the front page piece in the student paper by a student called Liz Rawlings. On the face of it nothing wrong with that considering it was the best Edinburgh University story around at the moment.
But here is where the conspiracy clicks in, the puff of smoke over the grassy knoll, the mysterious Fiat speeding away from the mangled car wreck in the Paris tunnel: The Sunday publication is the same one that Mr McWhirter writes a column for and Ms Rawlings has a picture of her with SNP leader and First Minister Alex Salmond taken in his office in the Scottish Parliament on the front page of her Facebook (she's the one on the left in the picture).
Perhaps not surprisingly, Lord Foulkes's campaign team spot a conspiracy to undermine their candidate's chances and have made allegations of dirty tricks.

Like all good conspiracy theories it has a ring of truth to it and circumstantial evidence. But why would anybody go to such lengths to decide the result of a Rectoral election? Maybe it was those darn tricksy aliens again.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (7)

This whole mirky business about cash for amendments in the House of Lords has encouraged the resident Nats in Holyrood to participate in one of their favourite sports - Foulkes bating.

It is not as if the noble Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP for the Lothians and would-be Rector of ancient University of Edinburgh (pictured), minds having fun poked at him by the SNP. He seems to positively love the attention.

But with the political world aghast at revelations that four Labour peers were allegedly willing to accepts tens of thousands of pounds to influence legislation, it seemed an ideal opportunity for the Nationalists to raise the issue of Lord Foulkes's consultancy Carrick Court, which helps out the legal firm Eversheds.

The first shot across the bows came on Monday morning from one of my favourite SNP bloggers, Calum Cashley, the party's candidate for Edinburgh North and Leith and researcher in Holyrood. He quoted the following item from the Code of Conduct for MSPs:

5.1.6 The section of the Code on General Conduct (Section 7) sets out the standards expected in relation to acceptance of hospitality, gifts and benefits. In addition to this and the statutory provisions in the Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament Act 2006, Members:...should not accept any paid work to provide services as a Parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant, for example, advising on Parliamentary affairs or on how to influence the Parliament and its Members.

He then quoted Lord Foulkes's entry on the register of interests:

I am a director, as is my wife, of Carrick Court Associates Ltd, a consultancy business. Carrick Court Associates receives remuneration of between £45,001 -£50,000 per annum for my work from Eversheds LLP and GovNet Communications (as Chairman of the Editorial Board). I work approx 3 days per month in relation to the consultancy. As a Director of Carrick Court Associates I estimate that I will receive between £15,001 and £20,000 per annum in expenses and dividend. [Registered 24 May 2007, Amended interest 4 July 2007, Amended interest 13 July2007].

"Hmmm..." Mr Cashley concluded thoughtfully at the end of his blog.

Within a few hours the SNP spin doctors were around quietly mentioning to journalists that maybe Lord Foulkes's dealing should be looked into, suggesting that he was breaking Holyrood rules and even hinting that he may be not too dissimilar to the four lords currently sitting on the naughty step.

All this may have been valid had they not tried a similar trick last year when an SNP student activist, Andrew Harlick, made a formal complaint about this to the Standards Commissioner Jim Dyer.

Mr Dyer, the bane of Wendy Alexander, has not been known for holding back when something smells fishy, but in this case he dismissed the complaint because "not only was there a lack of evidence, but there was no evidence at all" to support it.

Lord Foulkes concluded at the time that this proved the complaint was "purely politically motivated." Which, strangely enough, was what he had to say about the latest attack. He says that the Eversheds work purely relates to his House of Lords activities in terms of explaining how things work there.

David Maddox: At last an MSP willing to speak for Israel

Last week I bemoaned the fact that many of our pro-Israel MSPs were too reluctant or being blocked from taking part in a debate on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
In particular there were Labour and SNP MSPs who I know to be pro-Israel, who were silent on the issue, as sadly they often are in these all too regular circumstances.
But since I posted that blog one at least has come out and expressed his view - step forward, again, the the noble Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP for the Lothians and would-be Rector of Edinburgh University.
It seems that the good Lord's silence until now had something to do with the Rectoral election, especially as there is a strong pro-Palestinian group at the university and one of the champions of the Palestinian cause, the Bethnal Green Respect MP George Galloway, is also in the running.
Lord Foulkes as already been targeted for his membership of the Labour Friends of Israel, with some apparently quite gratuitous suggestions that his affiliations make him something akin to being a murderer.
But now the Lord has spoken. In the commentisfree section of the Guardian's website he has talked about his experience in 1999 as the UK minister responsible for helping the Palestinians.
The reflections make interesting reading from somebody who has actually been to Israel and Palestine and done something out there, rather than the usual pontifications of the ignorant who have no real experience at all. They are though - as one might expect in an election - balanced, careful and guarded.
Anybody wishing to read his thoughts should click on to this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/15/gaza-middleeast

David Maddox: By George not another one!

I have just been told that "Gorgeous" George Galloway, the Scottish exile and Respect MP for Bethnal Green, is intending to run in the election for Rector of Edinburgh University.
You can read about the ins and outs of Rectoral race in tomorrow's Scotsman, needless to say it's going to be an exciting one this year.
But some Labour sources are suggesting that their former colleague may be using this university election as a launching pad for going for a Scottish seat after promising to retire as MP for Bethnal Green following his ill-judged Celebrity Big Brother antics.
It has to be said that one of his opponents for Rector is his old colleague the almost equally flambuoyant (by Scottish Parliament standards) Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock and Labour MSP for the Lothians.
This has led to some mischevious speculation that with a nod to George III, a collection Georges must be a "madness."
One thing is certain though, in terms of winners, to paraphrase the film Highlander, there can only be one and it might not even be somebody called George.

David Maddox: First Lord of the Twittery (aka For Foulkes Sake 6)

He may look like a congenial old(ish) buffer whose idea of modernity may not stretch further than the introduction of the wireless, but the Baron of Cumnock, Lord George Foulkes, MSP for the Lothians, can lay claim to being the most cyber active politician north of Hadrian's Wall.
I gather his lordship has become the first member of the upper house to become a twitter, which has a slight irony considering that many of his opponents have long thought he was that without the last "ter".
It seems having his own Facebook page, Youtube TV channel and blog were not enough for him.
And I'm realiably informed that this is the form of communication that is going to outstrip Facebook in 2009. Apparently twitters tweet, which is to put out lots of quick messages about themselves or whatever interests them of no more than 140 characters.
I understand many politicians have already become twitters, so much so that there is a special tweetminster website - http://www.tweetminster.co.uk/ - where MPs happily tweet to one another.
Whilst we are at it, there is also another new bit of cyber wizardry available for those who want to hold ministers to account.
Visitors to http://www.yoosk.com/ can post a question to anybody and if enough people ask that question of the same person, the website will go and ask the person in question. Not surprisingly it is dominated by political questions and has had responses from UK ministers including Foreign Secretary David Milliband, who sent in video replies. The quality of the answer is then rated by users of the site, just in case the politicians think they can get away with one of their traditional fob offs.
Currently no Scottish ministers have been held to account this way, but one suspects it is only a matter of time before it happens. Take this as a warning Alex Salmond.
By the way, if you wish to tweet or become a twitter go to http://www.twitter.com/.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (5)

As yesterday was 12th night or Epiphany to give it its proper title, like many other people around the Christian (and materialistic) world I took down my Christmas decorations. It gave me a chance to take one last close look at the various Christmas cards I received and one in particular caught my eye.
The card in question was from Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock and list MSP for the Lothians, with an illustration of old men buying peerages. The picture is the famous Fountain of Honour cartoon by Stranger Prichard depicting the scandal of former Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George selling titles. It is now part of the House of Lords art collection.
It took little to remind me that the most recent cash for honours scandal involved the government in which Lord Foulkes served as a minister and lead to Yates of the Yard questioning a certain Anthony Charles Lynton Blair of 10, Downing Street, Westminster. So all in all it shows a remarkable ability of the good Lord to be able to laugh at one of his party's darkest moments.
There is of course no suggestion that the Baronacy of Cumnock was purchased through any means other than hard work and steadfast loyalty.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (4)

Never let it be said that the good Baron of Cumnock - Lord George Foulkes MSP of the Lothians region - does not know how to win friends and influence people.
Having managed over the last couple of weeks to have found almost every way possible to insult BBC Scotland - "pretty poor," "parochial" and "pro-SNP" were among his more tender remarks - I gather Lord Foulkes has been invited to a drinks do this evening with BBC Scotland staff by the Corporation's Scottish chief Ken MacQuarrie. What's more the noble lord has accepted the offer.
Far be it for me to give advice to a seasoned politician, but he might want to check what's in his drink.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (3)

Having dismissed BBC Scotland as "pro-SNP" it seems that the noble Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock has launched his own TV channel on youtube. It comes as little shock that it offers a strongly pro-Labour viewpoint.
We have been promised weekly updates from one of Holyrood's big personalities, although he will need to improve on his blog - appropriately called For Foulkes Sake - which was not updated from April to November.
Anybody interested in seeing Lord George's take on the week and whether he rivals BBC's Brian Taylor in more than girth should click on the following link: http://uk.youtube.com/georgefoulkes

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (2)

By George he's at it again. As promised the regular contributions of Foulkesisms from Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, one of Holyrood's most colourful and straight-talking MSPs.
Not satisifed with his destruction of BBC Scotland in a broadcasting debate on Thursday describing it as "parochial" and "pretty poor" amongst other things, but he has had another go at the Corporation in the Sunday papers.
Now he says that the BBC is "SNP biassed." This has puzzled the SNP somewhat.
This is the same BBC Scotland which has a prominant employee married to Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott and a presenter who used to be a Labour councillor, the Nationalists have privately pointed out.
Admittedly John Swinney is also married to a BBC employee, but SNP members have long made plain their feelings that BBC Scotland and Labour are too cosy by far.
All this is just further evidence on how high the stakes are becoming in Scotland in what now must be seen as the long run-up to a general election.
Most political journalists in Holyrood are getting increasing numbers of anguished calls and e-mails from the parties as they try to put pressure on us to put their message above others.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (1)

MSPs have this morning been debating the parlous state of broadcasting (and the media in general) in Scotland which has allowed the Steamie to bring the first in what should be a regular series of Foulkesisms by Labour Lothians MSP Lord George Foulkes (pictured).
Baron Foulkes of Cumnock made a very colourful speech in which he lambasted the quality of BBC Scotland.
"Just take a few examples," he said. "Listen in the morning. Switch from Good Morning Scotland – and that awful, parochial, kailyard stuff – to the Today programme with erudite people, incidentally who went to Keith Academy, like James Naughtie appearing."
He went on: "Look also in the evening at Drivetime with Abeer McIntyre whining away or turn on your radio, switch it over, to Radio 4 and you hear mellifluous wit and wisdom of Scotsman Eddie Mair."
He claimed the most "astonishing example" came on yesterday's Reporting Scotland when newsreader Jackie Bird presented a story about BBC presenters, including herself, who had "limited" medical information disclosed by a Fife doctor.
"We almost had Jackie Bird interviewing Jackie Bird about this astonishingly parochial thing," he said.
It should be said that there was much concern raised about STV potentially disappearing and BBC Scotland reducing staff in the debate general. But it was interesting that in these difficult times no MSP (not even Lord Foulkes) looked at the issue that a mammoth state funded media outlet (the BBC) is actively crowding out a struggling market on lots of different platforms. STV and other commercial interests have a difficult battle on their hands on the TV, radio and the web against such odds.