Meister Jag

I'm too old for all of this but what exactly is an Ultras group? Does this by any chance entail joing forces to fight, erm, the h*ns? If so, why would we do that? As far as I know - and I've met loads of them in my time, not all Rangers fans are sash wearing fascists and I guess the same could equally said about Celtic and their "Green Brigade" fans. Are the vast majority of fans not just football fans? When my former Communist Party comrade Dr Reid became chairmen of the board a number of work colleagues promised that they'd never step inside Parkhead again. Something about "not wanting to enjoy football in the company of a war-monger". Funny thing is that they've all still got season tickets and still seem to find their way to Parkhead every other Saturday. All offers of joining me at Firhill were politely refused. Any notion of turning us into a Glasgow version of St Puali won't involve disaffected OF fans. No pasaran.

I'll meet you almost half-way on that one mate but do you ever remember when Lambie signed (maybe he was only a trialist) someone called Mark Hughes? He wasn't "The" Mark Hughes obviously but we were promised a player of size bulk and stature who had a natural eye for goal. My endearing memory was of him being stretchered off during a pre-season friendly with Pollok - concussed and didn't know where the f*** he was! Never did see him in a Thistle jersey and not day goes by without me wondering what he might have done for the Thistle cause. Okay, I made that last bit up; but he was pretty poor. To be honest, this could be a thread in itself - worst Thistle player of all time etc. With apologies if this slightly off-topic!!

Funny but I miss the old goose-steppin' nazi scum myself. Maryhil Road just isn't the same without a few England tops and dodgy looking casuals coming to visist a couple of times a year. But if you really miss them try their Airdriehooligan website (if its still in operation). From the nazi eagle homepage to the tales of derring do; a must for all football fans with a psycopathic tendency. Enjoy...

Might need to break ranks with you there mate as I go to very few away games these day. The wife is over in Australia so this would be as good excuse as any to enjoy a day taking in a game of fitba - especially when the hosts are still clutching their b**s having been docked all those lovely points These days I've got to take every opportinity that I can to engage in my guilty pleasures. But not as bad as a mate who tried for years to get his bird to wear one of Bobby Law's old shirts. I'm still trying to get my head round who the object of his desire really was!

By way of brief response - and I know some of my posts are somewhat verbose, my understanding is that dialectical materialism is a way of understanding reality; to encompass thoughts, emotions, or what we physically encounter in the material world. Put simply, this methodology is the combination of Dialectics and Materialism. The materialist dialectic is the theoretical foundation of Marxism - while being "communist", in the trues sense, is the practice of Marxism. By way of relevant example, I quite liked the Italian communist Gramsci's efforts to persuade Italians that the way, the only way, to express humanitarian concern for the poor or those left behind as the detritus of capitalism was through a government that could be benevolent. If this involved the state having to raise taxes then he didn't consider this to be state-sponsored theft. How far away is this from the current mob who don't want to pay a penny extra but want to literally rob the poor to get us out of the mess that their mates, the bankers, created - benefit cuts, VAT hikes, shrinking public sector etc. Where is the "fairness" in any of that and what kind of society will we be left with in the future? I no longer read the Communist Manifesto before bed but can remember that Marx and Engels suggested that there should be a heavy progressive or graduated income tax (one of the early chapters if memory serves). Basically, those who could should pay more for the common good so as to maintain a functioning and inclusive society (my assertion). Marx then went on to expand on his theories regarding the state and his references to centralism (IMO anyway) suggest that it does have a key role to play in leading us toward a better society; basically the socialist utopia that we're all promised if we follow his path. Lenin also gives it a good go and takes Marx's analysis further in The State and Revolution - a real page turner btw; and I used to take this stuff on holiday to read! Hope this helps and doesn't send you to sleep!

FAO Jaggybunnett Meant to say - read my post with your tongue firmly in cheek. I wasn't having a personal go at you... promise! As Douglas Adams so famously said: He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot! Vive la Révolution! Meister Jag

Thanks for your comments, it's a DG so I guess opinions of all shades can be freely expressed. The figures are, I believe, courtesy of the Institure For Fiscal Studies. I believe your party is quite good at quoting them when the occasion demands i.e. they can make cheap capital out of them. I'm taking it that you are a Tory? Doesn't make you a bad person incidentally. In terms of my rather long rant, I was simply suggesting that we are not really that poor a country and the debt we are in is a convenient excuse for your mates to put the boot in and to reduce the State further i.e. another step closer to us mirroring that fine upstanding democratic role model that is the good old US of A. IMO your bed mates, the Libs, have truly fu**ed up and they know it; so expect a two-party state within our lifetime. In essence, for the neo-cons, this is basically a return to unfinished business and, in truth, this dates back to the time of, would you believe it, Ted Heath. Successive governments have been keen on reducing the public sector for decades and the current so-called debt problem is but a convenient excuse for them to reduce the state yet further. No Tory can deny this fact. In terms of the gist of my post, you'll note that I said "could" throughout. For my part and if for the good of the country, I'd have no problem taking all major institutions into public ownership. Seems that private companies have no problem returning their business to the state if they can't make a profit e.g. GNER on the railways. Times are hard so for the good of the country - you, me and everybody, the state must prevail; so "nae luck guys, you've been making plenty poppy from us for yonks so the party is over... maybe for ever! Now the country can start to rebuild and we can have a stronger, more civilised and equitable society." What a vision that would be and if you and your mates can't pay the school fees than tough titty! I mean, "we're all in this together!" so let's all feel a little of the pain. In terms of compensation, in truth, I didn't really think about that because there would be no need - plain and simple. Job losses? Naw, anything but, the state would take over as it did when many sectors were nationalised. There'd be full employment in my brave new world and free McGhee's pies for the masses; this would result in more employment for bakers, delivery drivers etc... the good times are just around the corner. It's amazing what comes to you when you apply the principles of dialectical materialism to a McGhie's mutton pie. When you approach "any" issue using Marx's dialectics, you can arrive at "any" answer. But shhh, don't tell the Tories or they'll be patenting it and rolling it out as a management development tool. But on a serious note, talk to civil servants and other public sector workers who could be out of a job and they'll show you "fairness". In a nutshell, the Tories don't like the contractual terms that cover redundancy in the public sector, so what do they do? Drrrruuum roll....Why of course, they re-write the rules so they can pay less and get rid of more. And you wonder why nut jobs like me start spouting off about your party and "fairness". There is no "fairness" when you deal with Mammonites. They want all the money for themselves and there is no common good. Fair society my a***! In truth, I'm actually not that political, its just that I hate bullies and crooks. That last lot were just as bad incidentally. Everything I've suggested is possible but would have to be done with the will of the people. I'm not suggesting a Marxist-Leninist agenda or even a worker-led revolution; although the recent Spending Review probably take us a small step in that direction. Remember that the difference between capitalism and socialism is that in a capitalist society man exploits man, and in a socialist one, it's the other way around! Make of that conundrum what you will. Enjoy your power trip while it lasts, but being two goose steps to the right of Enoch Powell doesn't really cut it with the people of Scotland. The good news is that this government won't last forever - the people will have the final say! I recall that was one of the great anarchist thinkers (Bakunin I think) who said: The whole people will govern, and there will be no governed. We can but hope.

I never thought I'd be defending my anti-Tory / liberal position on the spending cuts on this DG but here goes - Osborne talks of having to take immediate action on behalf of the country, his claim - and let's be clear that new labour said similar when they took over - is that the outgoing party made a mess of things so we have to show fiscal responsibility and clear up the mess i.e. time to get tough and claim a few easy ideological scalps - public sector workers, pensions and redundancy terms etc. Also and while we're at it - let's take a kick at the real poor; single parents, long term sick and those who rely on Housing Benefit. Be clear, they've been waiting for this day. Yesterday's press revealed that during recession that the pay of boardromm bosses increased by 55%. That will be quite a lot more than any of the aforementioned groups will have received by way of pay or benefit increases. But don't forget, we're all in this together... I'd suggest that exeptional times do call for exceptional measures so let's start by taking some exceptionally radical action. Oh, and let's not forget that Britain's debt has been a lot worse in the past - and no mention of it being the fault of the sick, unemployed and public sector workers. Just acceptance that the country would need time to right itself - the capatalist system always finds a way! So what could we do? We could take the banks under full social ownership and control – they have £560 billion in liquid cash and £5 trillion of assets. In so doing we would all be in this together and this small step would not only allow us to recoup the £375 billion (£175bn indirect investment and £200bn through quantitative easing) that we have ploughed into them during the financial crisis, it would also allow us to pay down a major part of our debt and fund socially useful projects e.g. inner city housing that is making a few scum landlords a fortune. (Even f***ing Boris Johnson has recognised that they're scum and good to see that he's distanced himself from the mother party! "I won't be involved in Kosovo-style ethnic cleansing" etc. Go BoJo!) Instead of spending £4.5 billion on two socially useless aircraft carriers - the ones without any planes - we could build new rolling stock for an integrated public transport system. In so doing we do our wee bit fopr the public and the planet. Even good old Uncle Joe Stalin saw the wisdom in giving the proles a decent transport system. Kept them happy and able to travel about... and it's still a jewel in Russia's crown to this day. But look at what the Tories did to out rail infrastructure - destroyed it along with everything else. The famous selling of the family silver - our silver btw!! Is there a theme here? We could introduce a progressive local income tax to replace the council tax; this would raise another £20bn across the UK and £1.5 bn in Scotland. The SNP know this and as things stand I'd imagine that quite a few public sector workers will be considering which way to vote next May; although Labour will no doubt be back campaigning as the party of the people; so perhaps not an SNP landslide. We could reduce spending on defence by half and withdraw from the Afghanistan and Iraq; thus saving up to £20 bn per year to spend on socially useful projects with no loss of jobs. Indeed such projects actually create jobs and kick-start economied. But the Tories want this to only be led by the private sector. why, well, I guess so that their mates in the boardrooms up and down the land can make yet more dosh. If we're all in this together then the government of the day should be dropping dogma and taking care of its citizens. Would reduce crime and would help local businesses. The 16 millionaire in the cabinet should remember that most local businessmen are trying their hardest to keep their enterprise afloat and that they're the ones who don't have expensive accountants to fiddle their books. We could raise taxes on corporations which have seen their tax rates halved under successive Conservative and Labour governments. Guess what, a further 4% cut is planned in the budget. This could raise an additional £30 billion a year in revenues. Really a no-brainer IMO and an easy way to whittle away the defecit - certainly easier than taking a few quid of a single parent. And so to a big Tory no no - instead of the cuts in services we could close the loop holes in tax avoidance schemes. This alone could save £20 billion a year. Reading back, how much money have I saved these c***s? By my calcualation I've got us back in the black already! Rock and roll! Finally, we could really tax the rich and wealthy; and I mean tax them! A one off 10% tax on Britain’s richest people would raise £35 billion. See this country is afloat with cash and YT has just highlighted where it is and how to get at it! Don't let the fat cat f***s get away with it; and remember, "we're all in this together!" So we can take it as read that they'll probably not mind. Aye right... This measure alone would be used to provide millions of much needed houses through building conversion, building renovation and housing insulation and all the jobs that would be needed to achieve that. All this and full employemnt in the building sector too... could this even result in much needed apprenticeships in traditional building industry jobs for school leavers or even for the unemployed who would like to earn more than the £55 per week ESA pittance that they're currently on? How f***ing straightforward is all of this? Finally, finally, finally and in case they don't understand that what we really want is a better future for everyone, we could raise another £38bn a year for fifteen years by in taking North Sea Oil under full public ownership control. All together now: "We're in the money!!!" Oh and as I'm on a roll and starting to feel the strains of a semi - instead of cutting pensions and demanding people pay more towards their pensions we could look to provide an alternative retirement provision that is not dependent on the whims of the financial markets. With all the money that's available above, we could provide for all people over 60 free rented housing, electricity and gas, public transport and free access to cultural and sports facilities. A socialist utopia is possible - it just takes guts to achieve the prize. But guess what, the money men would still make money - just a little less! I close this sermon by apologising if I've bored the t**s off you and by saying that an alternative world is not only possible but it is now necessary if we are to avoid paying for the crisis of their economic system and suffer years of austerity and slump. If your eyes and brain can take it, tot up the figures and reach for your molotov cocktail. Thank you and good night... No pasarán! As they don't say in the wine bars of Kilbarchan.

Pretty sure there was some reference to her then News of the Screws contract being extended if she did the dirty on Sheridan. His assertion of course; although internal emails were apparently being read out as evidence. Whole fiasco has kept the polis in overtime, paid for a couple of QCs even if Tommy likes to hire them, brief them then fire 'em. All part of the theatre and illusion darlings. (But please tell me we're not paying for his Legal Aid as I can't imagine Paul McBride and chums would give up their time for free... Ain't we paying for the court, clerks and judiciary? I think Joe Public should be charging a fee to the press for access to the dirt that's being thrown here as you couldn't make this stuff up. We should also be in line for any royalties that will come out of his book, the move, the opera etc.) But if / once he's gone down (bad pun probably intended) watch the Murdoch press gloat. They'll probably already have a made up story about socialist orgies on the stocks. The whole thing's a farce IMO and shouldn't have ever found its way back into a courtroom. Why not have awarded the wee sh** £0.20 damages with the NoW being told to foot the legal costs. None of this can be in the public interest (okay some of it is titillarious) and I'm pretty sure that more has been spent on this than was spent on investigating Blair over his cash for honours.

Do you mean Deja moo as in same old bull? I thank you !

Firstly, I'm not a Labour supporter and have rarely voted for them since they kicked me out with a number of, erm, comrades, during the Militant purge. For the record, I wasn't actually a member of the party within a party; I just bought the paper and defended a few of them as I believed them to be good socialists. Some still are and some have been proved to be gobsh**e careerist wee b***ar** of the first order. But I digress... Secondly and I fully accept that this is a matter of opinion and taste, but history has taught us never to trust a Tory. And IMHO, Blair and his project team were but a b*w hair away from Thatcher and her cronies. The Tories are to politics what Fred and Rose West were to the hitch-hiking community. Show them a single parent and they'll show you who is at fault for all that is wrong with our green and pleasant land. Problem is that they want to return it to a green and peasant land... with them owning all the good bits. Finally, I've read some of this stuff and it really is a red rag to a communist; which I'm not incidentally. Okay, everyone is entitled to an opinion but FFS guys: From the minute during the Spending Review Osborne said "we are bringing the economy back from the brink", the bulls**it flowed and it didn't stop flowing. He mentioned "fair" fifteen times in a review that couldn't be further from fair. He kept mentioning "progressive" numerous time when the word he should have been using was regressive. All the time he was spouting this complete and utter sh*t, Alexander and Clegg sat their with smirks on their faces. It was a truly gut wrenching spectacle. To show how "progressive" he was he released a bar chart to suggest that the top ten percent were paying more than all the rest of us. What he didn't mention was the fact that he was actually using tax changing measures brought in by the previous Labour government - measures that were actually broadly progressive. Strip away the Labour measures and the Tories have formulated a spending review so that the bottom 30% will lose more as a percentage than the top ten percent. As ever, they are looking after their own kind. Not much "fairness" in that! Not satisfied in attacking the poorest and and slashing benefits, Osborne then attacked our services as well. The Police Federation says there will be 20,000 less police on the streets to protect us. There will be thousands of less warders to keep prisoners in tow. There will be less courts and less Legal Aid. There will also be three thousand less prisoners, which means there will be more of them released early and on the streets so free to go to Old Firm games. There will be thousands of less firemen. He even told a load a bollocks about the so called increase in education spending. He pointed to the extra money he found for the "Pupil Premium" however after a little investigating it has been found that the money for the "Pupil Premium" has actually come from other cuts from within the education budget, not the extra money he said he'd found. In short, he's an "A" clas bull****er and an even better liar. Oh, and Further Education is being cut by £1.1 billion. I could go on... and I guess I am: However none of the above is as shocking as Osbornes attack on the disabled community. It shows the morals of the entire coalition when they can sit there and smirk, while they are telling people that are on Employment and Support Allowance that they will now only be able to claim it for twelve months and after that will go on a basic job seekers allowance. In basic terms, disabled people will lose between £20 and £40 a week after 12 months depending on how severely disabled they are. Disabled people find it harder to find jobs due to employer discrimination and other problems such as travel issues. If they, and there will be thousands who will, struggle to get a job, after two years they will also get a ten percent cut in their housing benefit. Aye, let the the Tories and their lapdogs sort it out. Fifty two years ago Bevan described them as lower than vermin and said "I have warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were" that warning and description of them is as true now as it was then, what happened during the Spending Review is all the proof you need. Rant over... with apologies to all! Please do not take any offence at anything I've said - use it in place of Horlicks or good whisky. It will help you sleep.

If looking for leftie stuff, the LU library in Waterloo Street (CP offices) is quite good as is the Wee Red Book shop (SSP run) which is up the Barras (London Road). Both are cheap and cheerful and will give you a left-leaning library that will be the envy of all your mates! I'm not too sure that are too many lefties on this DG but is anarchism really anything to do with left-wing socialism? Thinking of the writings and ideas of Bakunin, Kropotkin and Proudhon. None of who were exactly Marxist thinkers. Some of these guys actually advocated the defence of the right of inheritance and even went so far as to confirm the genuine need for man to establish property rights. Anarchism but not as we know it!! Can't believe that I'm writing this sh***; but now't better to do of a Sunday morning as I'm barred from Sunday school. Sorry folks!

No problem signing this and the others. I think I'll be having a look at my shares portfolio and asking my broker to invest heavily in the ink and related writing implements sector. Would seem that pens and paper might shortly be back in vogue - thinking all these anti-cuts petitions etc that I'm signing these days!

I'm still thinking about going as I don't take in too many away games. The wife is over visiting relatives in Australia so I might venture out with my youngest. Would it be best to to try to book onto the CC bus or should the train take the strain; thinking cheapo taickets if i book on-line... but dunno' what the best option is. Still probably an expensive day though. Long gone are the glory days of the South Side PTFC bus and a team of us going to every away game!

Let's face it, it's the same old Tory party but with a new head boy. I think I'm right in saying that there are 16 millionaires in the cabinet and it's as if "new labour cost us big so we're back in charge." Of interest is how they've quickly returned to pick on the poor - targetting single-parents, the sick and after January whacking everyone on a low income by increasing VAT. But don't forget: "We're all in this together and Britain can become a super power again!" What gets me is how middle-Engalnd fell for the con (they admittedly also fell for Blair's project con)and how they're happy to allow papers like the Daily Mail to make scapegoats of the aforementioned disadvantaged groups. Funny how old Lord Ashcroft has f***ed back off to his taxen haven and how the whistle-blowing Lib Dems - now Cameron's little helpers - have become mesmerised by power: Tory peer Lord Ashcroft has deprived the public of more than £127million in a 10-year-long tax dodge. The staggering sum was estimated after the party’s chief donor yesterday admitted he is a “non-dom” and does not pay all his levies in the UK. The billionaire, whose empire is in Belize, had promised to move here permanently in return for his peerage 10 years ago. Lib Dem Chris Huhne, who worked out the figures, blasted: “He’s avoided vast sums in a non-dom tax dodge.” And all we want is a decent team on the park and to be debt free. Is that too much to ask? Is that wee Tory MSP John Aitken not able to do something to bail us out? I'm pretty sure he's a Jags fan. He must know a few rich party donor-types and there must be at least one who'd be bonkers enough to write off his vast fortune to avoid paying tax and to give something back to the club he's always loved but has never seen play as he was too busy watching rugger, or shooting pygmies or birching a fag or somthing posh and decadent.

If you'd like summit different for the weekend, try this: & Deal's Gone Bad are from Chicago, Illinois. Their sound mixes reggae, rocksteady, and ska music with American soul. With apologies for the use of cut 'n' past but I got into this band a while back and their current lead singer, Todd Hembrook, is the real deal. As good a voice as anyone past or present. P.S. Hope the links work ok.

Slightly off topic but staying with all things tanned and sharp suited; but whatever happened to Gorgeous George's plans to buy the Jags? I seem to remember he was fronting a takeover by some wealth Arab businessmen or was it a cartel of kebab shop owners from Possil? Either way, it would have made life interesting - Donner, chips 'n' cheese kebab at half-time. (I think they call it a "Hoagy" in Renfrewshire; this being on account of the noise yir Ronson makes when trying to get rid of the geasy waste! Sorry about that, bit early in the morning. )

Boyle has surprised me - seemed to be our only attacking threat against Dunfermline (two good shots if I remember correctly) and had a great game agaisnt Falkirk. So far I've been proved wrong.

With apologies - just noticed your post!! Doh.

Good point, I remember a mate at work telling me that Alasdair Burnett announced the score of a cup tie at Love St with the memorable opener of:"And now for the one we've all been waiting for!" I was at the game but can't recall the score; but we won. This apparently came after he'd read out English 1st division scores as well as the OF (remember this was way back when). I can also remember that he once won the monthly draw - the one you used to win a grand or pre-match hospitality. His name was read out and the shed burst out laughing. (Thrown that in as I remember winning both - the latter is still a blur and me and my mate didn't even make the tour of the trophy room. I mean, how often are you presented with freebie champers before a game!! Happy daze... )

Victory

Confession time here folks, I remember writing a rather wordy letter to the Morning Star about how Tommy's Solidarity party were going to be the vanguard of the working class... blah, blah, blah! Yip, got that one wrong! But in the final analysis, he did f**k the socialist cause in Scotland because of his monster ego and for that alone he cannot be forgiven. The faction-fighting and bickering that then followed basically resembled a scene from The Life of Brian and gawd knows when there will ever be a creditible left wing presence again in Scotland. IMO, when not pulling off childish stunts the SSP were actually a force for good and provided a certain counter-balance within Holyrood. Now I guess all we've got is Margo MacDonald to stoke things up - and more power to her. IMHO of course.

Probably entering this late in the day but did New Labour not reduce corporation tax to an all-time low level and all to suck-up to big business? Surely during these exceptional times of austerity it would be reasonable to expect those who have so much to pay a little more. I mean, would some of the corportate big boys really miss a few squillion? When the Spending Review was being announced it was sickening to see government MPs cheering measures that would clearly hammer those in society who have next to nothing. It's probably been said before, but a lot of what's happening just now is simply unfinished business for this lot.