Scottish lonely-hearts column

Grossly overweight Buckie turf-cutter, 42 years old and 23 stone,

Gemini, seeks nimble sexpot, preferably South American, for tango

sessions, candlelit dinners and humid nights of screaming passion. Must

have own car and be willing to travel. Box 09/08



Aberdeen man, 50, in desperate need of a shag. Anything considered.

Box06/03



Heavy drinker, 35, Glasgow area, seeks gorgeous sex addict interested

in pints, fags, Celtic football club and starting scraps on Sauchiehall

Street at three in the morning. Box 73/82.



Bitter, disillusioned Dundonian lately rejected by longtime fiancée

seeks decent, honest, reliable woman, if such a thing still exists in

this cruel world of hatchet-faced bitches. Box 53/41



Ginger-haired Partick troublemaker, gets slit-eyed and shirty after a

few scoops, seeks attractive, wealthy lady for bail purposes, maybe

more. Box 84/87



Artistic Edinburgh woman, 53, petite, loves rainy walks on the beach,

writing poetry, unusual sea-shells and interesting brown rice dishes,

seeks mystic dreamer for companionship, back rubs and more as we bounce

along like little tumbling clouds on life's beautiful crazy journey.

Strong stomach essential Box 12/32



Chartered accountant, 42, seeks female for marriage. Duties will

include cooking, light cleaning and accompanying me to office social

functions.

References required. No timewasters. Box 23/45



Bad-tempered, foul-mouthed old bastard living in a damp cottage in the

arse end of Orkney seeks attractive 21-year old blonde lady with big

tits. Box 40/27



Devil-worshiper, Stirling area, seeks like-minded lady for wining and

dining, good conversation, dancing, romantic walks and slaughtering

dogs in cemeteries at midnight under the flinty light of a pale moon.

Box 52/07



Attractive brunette, Maryhill area, winner of Miss Wrangler competition

at Framptons Nightclub, Maryhill, in September 1978, seeks nostalgic

man who's not afraid to cry, for long nights spent comfort-drinking and

listening to old Abba records. Please, Please! Box 30/41



Govan man, 27, medium build, brown hair, blue eyes, seeks alibi for the

night of February 27 between 8pm and 11.30pm

Not in the mood for being sensible

Today I am not in a very serious mood.

I am in pain from the weekends sporting triumph.

The ibuprofen and paracetamol combo seem finally to be doing the trick.

Today I am posting stupidity stuff.

Others have the really great posts

i.e Libya and Jack Straws letters
Macaskill current position Ainsworth new smears
Brown in Afghanistan and the income tax question
No more bullets in training.

Therefore a wee video.
Who has ever had a vain or constant image person in there life that just wants to be around when such a thing as this is done.

Gordon Brown in Afghanistan Photo Opportunity

H/T Gerald Scarfe Cartoons

Pressies for Real Men............a Series

Update as to the Greyhounds

I am in bloody agony.

This morning in our 5* Premier Travel Inn..............notice the word Premier it resembled that car crash scene in the movie "Gone in 60 Secs".

Hideous.

Suffice to say though loading said bus up and returning home.

Oh and in case anyone cared..................WE WON!!!

I will give a wee report a little later on.
When I can actually see the keyboard!!

Come On you Greyhounds

Well TLOTF sits awaiting the arrival of the charabanc.

It will pick me up and all my kit and take my good self and the members of the most fantastic Greyhounds RFC team to the lovely city of Newcastle for the weekend.

Here we will engage in sporting combat with others in the senior league of the greatest game in the world.

Yes we are the greyhounds..........and that is a ref to our pace and agility nothing to do with our hair colour or age.

As the tournament is all weekend everyone can rest assured that alcohol consumption will be refrained from but as we are all paid up members of the temperance society that was never in question anyway.

I have been selected at flanker and now normally I play at centre, so you can also all rest assured that I will get a real good kicking all weekend.

But my superb fitness and athletic prowess will see me through.....cough cough.
Failing that I have a boat load of ibuprofen and paracetamol to make the pain go away.

So we have our new strips with our Saltires bright and loud, and to quote Richard 3rd .......once more into the breech dear friends once more. (I might be wrong with that quote by the way).

But as we step onto the field of battle I am reminded of the Highlander and that immortal line "There can be only 1".

Come on the Greyhounds!!!!!!!!!

Updates as to how many points we rammed up them next week!!!!

Baaaaaaa hahaha

I must firstly direct your attention to my blog pal Fitaloon and his breaking of the sory on the sale in a Scottish auction of a sheep for a record breaking £231,000.
I know nothing about sheep.

But I do know this.

Sadly our Scottish Northern sheep farmers come in for a fair amount of ridicule. Some call it blatant piss taking. This is supposedly over there relationships at times with these animals. Many a welsh sheep farmer has been the butt (excuse the pun) of same said jokes.

However our beloved Scotsman Newspaper does NOTHING and I mean NOTHING by the style of the reporting on this story to dispell this rumour.

Full story here and I quote in part from it.


Not surprisingly, Jimmy Douglas described his purchase as the best lamb he had ever seen, with "a great body and a strong back"

He also said "I saw Deveronvale – it's an incredibly chunky animal with a tremendous back end on it"
Meanwhile, Graham Morrison, of Banff, who sold the sheep, said of the sale: "He's the best lamb I've ever bred"...............no I could finish that sentence myself but I will leave it to you.

OMG get a doctor please I have just burst my sides hahahahahahahaha

General Sir David Richards

Today is the first day in his new job of General Sir David Richards.

General Richards will become Chief of the General Staff with his troops engaged in a bloody conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In Whitehall, he will have to fight to ensure he gets the equipment his men and women need to do the task - a challenge which left his predecessor Sir Richard Dannatt frequently at odds with ministers.

Sir Richard had not been a quiet occupant of the post and his departure has been accompanied by continuing controversy and a disgraceful, Labour-inspired smear campaign that backfired spectacularly.

Some old military hands believe he should have been less outspoken and played a more political game behind the scenes in Whitehall. His refusal to do so almost certainly cost him the top military job as Chief of the Defence Staff.

However, from the outset Sir Richard felt that, for the good of the Army and his soldiers, playing by the old rules was no longer tenable. Within two months of taking over as CGS, he accused the Government of abusing the "military covenant" of mutual protection between a nation and its armed forces. Even if his political masters did not respond to these reproaches, the British public most certainly did. Troops who used to arrive back from Iraq or Afghanistan to a desultory greeting from family and friends now march proudly through their garrison towns. Sir Richard's insistence that men and women sent to war should be adequately equipped may have angered our pusillanimous ministers, but it endeared him to the soldiers who are his, and our, first concern. Those who criticise his forthrightness should ask what else he was expected to do.

It remains to be seen whether Gen Richards will be as outspoken as Gen Dannatt in his new role.

I for 1 wish him all the best in his new role but warn him of the beast that is Whitehall and our current Government.

General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank....another stinging article

Yesterday in the Times Lord Guthrie wrote an article.

Lord Guthrie was probably the best Chief of the Defence Staff to ever oversee British armed forces. See Here.

His attack in the paper was savage.
He wrote.........substantial budget waste. He said the “insufficient needs” in Afghanistan was explained by the size and structure of the MoD, he argues with 87,000 civilian staff employed for 175, 000 servicemen

“At the head of this unwieldy edifice are six ministers, each enjoying a private office and their own staff - six private empires, with their own turf to be jealously guarded. Sadly, bigger does not mean more efficient; usually quite the opposite.”

He highlighted the lack of military experience among civil servants who were “parachuted in to lead this complex department with little idea of how it works”. Few high calibre people existed in a “dumbed down” Civil Service.

He reserves his venom for the numerous “special advisers” who have dominated government “who confuse the chain of command and wield huge power in unscrupulous ways”.

“Yet ministers are sometimes more comfortable with these inexperienced young people than with senior staff,”.

Instead of being strident ministers are “frozen with indecision” and terrified of making mistakes that leads to delay and “insurmountable financial problems”.

He was critical too of Whitehall’s failure to recognise that “Britain is at war” with politicians believing it was “another day of awkward things happening in far away places”.

The conflicts are only seen as “inconvenient blips” that had to be “muddled through until things return to normal”.

In his still unpublished report Bernard Gray, commissioned to examine MoD profligacy, says that “political fudge” in the MoD has been responsible for more than £35 billion wasted in equipment projects that are constantly delayed.

The full and complete article is here. Get a coffee and have a read.......superb!!

Politicians ordered the Army into Iraq and Afghanistan, but they did not give soldiers the wherewithal to succeed. Gordon Brown writes about courage, and can be eloquent and sincere when expressing sympathy for bereaved Service families, but words are not enough.

Bob Ainsworth re-assesses The Afghanistan Timeline

H/T Peter Brooke

Wootton Bassett

Today once again sees the town of Wootton Bassett observe its now famous re-patriation ceremony.

The bodies of Sgt Paul McAleese and Private Johnathon Young will be flown into RAF Lyneham in Chippenham, Wiltshire.
They will have a ceremony in the chapel before the cortege takes it now well trodden path.

My many thanks to the people of Wootton Bassett for their now World Famous show of respect.

Sadly world famous for all the wrong reasons.

Dont Speak too Soon

Remember these little news stories on the 13 August.

Basically the Germans and the French stated publically that they were coming out of recession after showing 2 quarters of growth.

Then we see this headline coming out of Germany earlier today.

German state to lend directly as second credit crunch looms

Germany could directly intervene in the credit insurance and lending markets as soon as September to head off a looming credit crunch, as it fears the economic recovery may soon falter as banks refuse to roll over loans.

The finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, said broad sectors of the German economy are in trouble even if the country has avoided a full-blown lending crisis so far.

"Conditions have become much tougher for some industries – electrical engineering, machine tools, suppliers, chemicals and shipbuilding. We have clear evidence from both small and large companies that lending is jammed.

"The banks are not stepping up to their responsibility to provide credit," he told the German paper Handelsblatt.

"Some indicators that have performed better, but... it is too early to say we have shaken off this crisis. There is still lots of risk and uncertainty, and no grounds for complacency. The fact that GDP proved better in the second quarter with 0.3pc growth is somewhat reassuring, but let's not forget the economy has shrunk 7pc from a year before."

So basically German banks still refuse to lend. The small amount of money that appeared in circulation is now locked down and some one shot their mouth off a little too early to state all was well with German economy.
I do not realise that Gordon Brown and Badger Darling were involved with the Germans as well.

Was it Worth it???

I think not!!!!!!!!!!!

Just 150 Afghan voters dared to go to the ballot box in the area of Helmand province where British soldiers sacrificed their lives to secure a safe election day, it was revealed yesterday.

The figures were released as the British Ambassador to Kabul admitted that troops could be engaged in combat in Afghanistan for five more years.

The Electoral Commission in Kabul said that early estimates of voting in the former Taleban stronghold of Babaji, north of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, indicated that few exercised their right to vote last Thursday. Several thousand people could have voted.

Four of the ten troops who died in Operation Panther’s Claw, the five-week offensive to drive the Taleban out of central Helmand before the presidential election, were killed in or around Babaji.

So the whole operation cost 10 British lives and 4 directly as a result of helping to clear this direct area for the 150 poxy votes to shore up the already corrupt regime of Hamed Karzai.
The ambassador, Mark Sedwill, did not deny the low vote count in Babaji, although he said that it was too early to be sure. He said: “Panther’s Claw, although timed to try to improve security for people to move around for the election, was not specifically itself about the election.”

However, the publicly stated aim of Panther’s Claw before it was launched on June 19 was to make the highly populated area between Lashkar Gah, Babaji and Gereshk safe for 80,000 Afghans to go to the polls without being intimidated by the Taleban.

Defence officials said that, if confirmed, the voting figures for Babaji would be “very disappointing”.

Disappointing............DIS-A-BLOODY-POINTING.........hows about bloody criminal!!!!!

Source Times

Looking forward to Bob Ainsworths comments on this little story.

More Good News!

Do you remember this post from last month about another tosspot in the game of rugby.

A certain Gareth Hock.

Well I am very pleased to announce that Gareth Hock's two-year ban for failing a drugs test has been confirmed by the RFL. See Here.

Good news. What with this and the fact that Big Brother is being dropped by Channel 4...................means it risks turning into a good day.
All I need is Browns resignation to be announced and I could possibly crack a smile.

Quite an apt picture I thought!

The Rugby Bloodgate Scandal Part 3

Yes the story that made my blood boil as my readers will testify to.

Previous posts here and here.

What started off here as a simple cheating player became,

A story of a sustained cheat in Dean Richards, one of the most respected figures in the world in this sport

A story that nearly destroyed the team doctor Wendy Chapman by a referal to the GMC.

Cost the physio his England team job.

Nearly destroyed one of the oldest teams in the sport, in the world.

Destroyed the reputation of the game in the eyes of many.

It transpired that now not only was there a fake blood capsule, a fake or man made injury to the cheek , complicit doctors, physios and a Director of a club who admitted to this 4 times previous but the player concered was offered a lucrative compensation package by his club as he was preparing to appeal against a ban for faking injury.

Tom Williams, a wing at Harlequins in London, was banned from playing for 12 months by the rugby authorities after he was found guilty of faking a cut to his mouth to influence the outcome of a match at his coach’s request.

His club asked him not to reveal the full circumstances of the offence during an appeal against the ban.

However he did reveal it!!!

To compensate Williams for the damage the affair had caused him, club officials offered him a two-year extension to his contract, a money-making testimonial and the guarantee of three years’ work after he retired. Harlequins said that the offer was not conditional on his silence.

But I think we can all agree these offers where conditional on him keeping his gob shut.

The revelations are contained in a 38-page dossier that sets out Williams’s evidence. It was released yesterday by European Rugby Cup, the governing body of the sport in Europe, which has been investigating the worst incidents of premeditated cheating in the sport. It details the extraordinary pressure that Williams was put under before, during and after the crucial European Cup quarter-final tie between his club and Leinster in April.

That report is here.

Yahoo

Channel 4 axes Big Brother after 10 years

Thank god.

No more airtime for a nameless, faceless bunch of chav morons and no more having to listen to the spawn of this group going on about what the hell they have left in there miserable lives when the show finishes each night.

At last some common bloody sense.

Did MacAskill Lie???

The Times is reporting that Strathclyde Constabulary have come out all guns blasing and have contradicted Kenny MacAskill speech on Monday about al-Megrahi's release.

As a result Auntie Annabel has accused MacAskill of misleading Holyrood and the public yesterday after Scotland’s largest police force cast serious doubt on a key part of the Justice Secretary’s explanation for freeing the Lockerbie bomber to return to Libya.

The force contradicted the SNP Justice Secretary, who told the Scottish Parliament on Monday that he had ruled out keeping al-Megrahi in Scotland on the advice of senior officers who said that the security implications would be severe.

Instead he opted to allow al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, to return home to Libya on compassionate grounds.

In a statement, a Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: “If a decision had been made to release Mr al-Megrahi in Scotland, we would have provided whatever security was required.

“We were asked how many officers would be required to provide security and we provided that advice. All we are saying is that we were asked about the level of security which would be required for al-Megrahi, members of his family and the local community should he be released.

“We were asked how many [officers] it would take in our opinion. In terms of guidance we were not asked whether we could do this.”

On Monday, in a statement, Mr MacAskill told MSPs: “It had been suggested that Mr al-Megrahi could be released from prison to reside elsewhere in Scotland. Clear advice from the deputy chief constable of Strathclyde Police was that the security implications of such a move would be severe. A minimum of 48 officers would be required simply to allow Mr al-Megrahi to live in Scotland. I therefore ruled that out as an option.”

The development was seized on by opposition parties who accused Mr MacAskill of misleading the Scottish Parliament and the public.

Miss Goldie said that the Justice Secretary’s statement was “unfair to the police, misleading to the public and a lame excuse for sending Mr al-Megrahi back to a hero’s welcome in Libya. It is clear that the Scottish government only paid lip service to investigating whether Mr al-Megrahi could be kept here.”

I think this is going to be my last post on this subject. It has gone on too long and al-Megrahi is in Lybia. That is a fact and nothing ANY nation say will bring him back. I feel a bit for MacAskill on this subject and Auntie Annabel is not really thinking before speaking. In a nut shell if the Police said we need XXX amount of officers and equipment - MacAskill then looked at that and felt.....nope too much money for the tax payer then he actually IMHO made the right call!!!

UPDATE Last night after the Scottish government contacted Strathclyde Police, the force issued a second statement denying that there had been any difference of position between itself and the Justice Secretary. HHHHMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Libya...another reason........or is it.

The gent in the photo is President Merz of Switzerland.
He flew to Libya as Al-Megrahi was being released.

Why you ask.

Well please read on.

In July 2008 Swiss police arrested Colonel Gaddafi’s son Hannibal and pregnant daughter-in-law in a Geneva hotel suite after receiving reports that they had abused their two servants. Hannibal Gaddafi, 33, and his wife, Aline, spent two nights in custody and left Switzerland after being released on bail.

The Gaddafi family were furious and reprisals were swift. Two days later Mr Goeldi, a director of the Swiss engineering company ABB, was arrested at his Tripoli home, as was Rachid Hamdani, another Swiss citizen. Both were imprisoned for alleged breaches of immigration rules. They were released ten days later but banned from leaving Libya. The Swiss media described them as hostages and Mr Goeldi sought refuge in the Swiss Embassy. In the past year Libya has imposed trade sanctions, stopped Swiss flights to Tripoli, withdrawn more than $5 billion from Swiss banks and cut the crude oil exports that provide half of Switzerland’s oil.

The new Swiss Ambassador was denied a visa. Sources said that Mr Goeldi was left almost alone in the embassy, with ABB employees bringing him food.

Last September Hannibal Gaddafi’s servants withdrew their complaint after agreeing a financial settlement but Swiss diplomatic efforts to placate Libya bore no fruit. In April Hannibal Gaddafi, his wife and the Libyan state filed a civil lawsuit against the Geneva authorities in a Geneva court.

Last Thursday, as al-Megrahi was returning from Scotland, President Merz of Switzerland flew to Tripoli and delivered an “official and public apology for the unjustified and unnecessary arrests”. He promised to have Hannibal Gaddafi’s arrest investigated by an arbitration panel. Libya promised to restore normal relations. Mr Goeldi and Mr Hamdani should soon be on their way home.

Libyan newspapers proclaimed a double triumph — and the humiliated Swiss Government was, as with Scotland’s, excoriated at home. “In this crisis Switzerland loses more than honour. The country has slowly taken stock of its powerlessness,” said the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

Expats who have been finding it difficult to get their visas renewed hope that, with al-Megrahi’s release, the wheels of bureaucracy will turn more easily.

Now it is reported in the Times that how can I put this........lets say British and other Western expatriates living in Libya were warned in April that they faced serious repercussions if the Lockerbie bomber died in his Scottish prison.

“Word went out that there could be reprisals . . . . We were told not to go into the centre of Tripoli,” said one of the thousands of Westerners who are helping to develop Libya’s oil and gas fields. “Everybody went ‘eek!’. It’s so unpredictable here. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It could be something or it could be nothing.”

The expats were not told what the reprisals might be were Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi to die in Scotland, but the story Max Goeldi may point a finger????.


So as reported the Libyans managed to cut up rough with the Swiss.
The Swiss cave in, but 60% of Swiss oil comes from Libya.
Mandleson meets "Mad Dog's" son in Corfu.
Scottish parliament release al-Megrahi.
Nothing to do with oil..............Scottish descision only.
Visa granted willy nilly for oil workers from now on.

Got to admire them??

We have all heard of the ambulance chasers.
That group of No Win No Fee injury lawyers, accident claim, turn us into the USA, fart and we will sue you bunch.

Well check this bunch out HERE

£450.00 quid to be told how to tell someone to stay at home, and blow their nose correctly.

Got to admire the business thinking.
Wonder how many take ups they have had??????

Coincidence - or what !!!!

2007 - Chinese year of the Chicken - Bird Flu Pandemic
devastates parts of Asia

2008 - Chinese year of the Horse - Equine Influenza
decimates Australian racing

2009 - Chinese year of the Pig - Swine Flu Pandemic kills
hundreds of pigs around the globe.

Has any one else noticed this???!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It gets worse........

next year......

2010 - Chinese year of the Cock - what could possibly go wrong? EEEEEKKKKKKK

G20 Meeting.................Bets on Gordon not going!

There is a G20 meeting in Pittsburgh next month.
Our Gordon would no doubt have been looking forward to not only a nice wee meal but perhaps a bit of praise for his hosting of the London G20.

However recent events have made me think otherwise.

What I do find particularly gaulling is the tight lipped not a sound blanking we are getting.

Lets be honest Brown did write to Gaddaffi and ask for a low key return of Al-Megrahi.............and of course we all know the results of that request.

This is a case of the silence is deafening.
Ok his spiritual mentour in Mandyis having some reconstructive surgery so perhaps Gordon coach is unavailable to assist.

Brown did write a letter to the ashes winning team on Sunday to give congratulations.
Maybe Sarah has damaged the remote and the TV is stuck on sports channels!!!!!

But when fellow Westminster bodies are using terms like “It is inexplicable and cowardly. The silence of the Prime Minister is unforgivable on an issue of such national importance.”

Others are warning about the continued silence on international relations with the United States in particular.


Now I blogged re "The Special Relationship earlier and its potential to have been a factor in the high death toll in Afghanistan. The special relationship has been on the wayne for a while now. I personally see no real reason to maintain it as the way it is described. we have paid all the WW2 monies back!!!

However 1 thing is for sure our credibility as a nation is now at its lowest, and our PM's credibility as a world statesman was always low but also is at its lowest.

Gordon, your No10 spokesman yesterday repeatedly refused to comment. Instead he simply said it was a matter for the Scottish Justice Secretary. No its not, not with the multiple reports of the Mandleson meeting with the Col's son in Corfu. Not with the multiple reports of the oil/gas and trade deals.

I suggest you stay at home gordon. You are going to get pelters if you go.
Playboy Prince Andrew just knocked his Libya trade mission on the head.
Mandy did all the work for him!!!
Suggest you do the same!!!

Where is Gordon???

Here he is!!!

H/T Peter Brooke

MP's Hijacking ........Update

Need I say More????

FBI Letter

I publish here in full the letter from the Director of the FBI to Kenny MacAskill.
Source The Times

Dear Mr Secretary

Over the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.

Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law, having been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of “compassion”.

Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one man’s exercise of “compassion”. Your action rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.

Your action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of debris related to the break-up of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years - in some cases a full career - to see justice done.

But most importantly, your action makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution. You could not have visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those who perished were gathered for identification - the single sneaker belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with his wife and children.

You apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion, preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references to “the need for compassion”.

You have given the family members of those who died continued grief and frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have given Megrahi a “jubilant welcome” in Tripoli, according to the reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?

Sincerely yours,

Robert S Mueller, III

Director


Well Mr Mueller,

A well timed letter.

Just what Mr Obama needs to get some of the right wing chaps in the USA back on his side. Lets blame everyone else. lets blame Scotland. Lets try to hide the fact that your popularity is falling very quickly with your health care plans etc. Need someone to carry the can and deflect a bit of blame from your own front door?

Maybe a small country..........but we are not thick.

And in the vein of "chucking a bit back".....hows about you answer these few points made by wardog before you go around slapping others and playing your "More Holy than Thou" card.

As well as the IRA bankroll do not forget these little gems.
Illegal killing of civilians in Iraq
Illegal killing of civilians in Afghanistan
Illegal killing of civilians in Belgrade
Illegal killing of civilians in Lybia
Illegal killing of civilians on Iran Flight 655 and then awarding medals FFS
Illegal killing of civilians of in Vietnam, Lt William Calley
Illgeal killing of civilians in Nagasaki & Hiroshima
International condemnation over Guantanmo Bay
International condemnation over Abu Graib Torture
International condemnation over Rendition Flights
International condemnation over Sanctioning Torture
International condemnation over Arms Deals to Terrorists
International condemnation over Iraq WMD lies
Barbaric use of Capital Punishment

Just thought they need brought up.

Bloody Hypocrite!!!!

MPs hijack expenses

When are the 646 Club going to realise that actions such as this are further destroying any aspect of public support they once thought they had.
Their contempt for the public is beyond reasonable.

Sir Christopher Kelly’s Committee on Standards in Public Life invited the public and politicians to set out their views before a report that is expected to propose far-reaching reforms in October.

This in the wake of the expenses scandal.

However the trough piggies are still upset.

And as a result the MPs are trying to hijack the expenses inquiry with complaints and demands for pay rise.

Some are saying they may quit.

This on the back of

Margaret Becketts latest tears

Check out the Times article here

I have Upset Willie Rennie MP

Oh dear have I???

Well Mr Rennie I AM going to question more.

Following on from this post.........I said I would.

So why dont you post some credible info.
Stop hiding behind sources you can not name.
And please answer the 21K expenses issue outstanding with regards to the rent on your property.

Go have a little look at the comments here...........I only asked a question

The Gray Report

H/T Morland Cartoons

Gray Report Leaked

Remember Channel 4 news reported that the government had blocked the publication of the Gray report.

This report was carried out by Bernard Gray, a leading businessman and former special adviser to Labour defence ministers, and was all about MOD spending.

Well channel 4 said it was bad and well guess what it is horrendous.
The Times has a leaked copy of the report.

The Times describes it as A DEVASTATING official report suppressed by ministers has revealed that soldiers’ lives are being put at risk by “endemic” failures at the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The secret dossier blames “political fudge” and Whitehall incompetence for the plight of soldiers in Afghanistan who are provided with inadequate frontline kit.

The 296-page report, leaked to The Sunday Times, claims the scale of MoD bungling is so severe it “is harming our ability . . . to conduct difficult current operations”.

The publication of the document will be a severe embarrassment for Gordon Brown, who has insisted that the armed forces always receive the equipment they need.

The report was commissioned by John Hutton, who resigned as defence secretary in June, and was due to have been published last month. However, Hutton’s successor Bob Ainsworth, backed by the prime minister, decided to bury it after ministers were plunged into a damaging row with General Sir Richard Dannatt, the recently retired army chief, over equipment shortages.

Although all nearly 300 pages are not published themselves this article gets the full treatment in the Times.

See Here and here.

I will leave you to read the links yourselves but the tone of the wording is used shows further weapons grade failings in our PM, our Governmnet, Ainsworth and his predecesors and the MOD as a whole. Makes me actually have a little sympathy for John Hutton.

Words fail me right now!!!!

Anyone for a wee wager on the next smear campaign then??????

What are the Russians hiding????

The pics are 1 the Arctic Sea Cargo ship and 2 a Russian Ilyushin IL-76 Cargo Plane.

Ok everyone knows about the "hijacking" if I may use that term of the Arctic sea cargo ship.

Something does not ring true about this!!!!

The Maltese-registered Arctic Sea left Finland around July 23 with a delivery to Algeria on August 4. It made contact with British coastguards in Dover on July 28 but went missing three days later.

The Malta Maritime Authority said that it had received reports that the ship was boarded for 12 hours by armed masked men on July 24. A Swedish police spokeswoman said that everything had seemed normal when Swedish authorities had a brief telephone call with someone identified as the captain on July 31.

The Arctic Sea went missing after passing through the Channel from Finland, prompting fears that it had fallen victim to the first act of piracy in European waters for hundreds of years.

Dmitri Rogozin, the Russian ambassador to Nato, said that the ship had been attacked by a “well-organised network” of pirates. He said that the issue of security at sea would be raised at a Nato-Russia Council meeting next month.

The Arctic Sea was then spotted by coastguards on Aug 14 in international waters 500 miles off the West African island archipelago of Cape Verde and the vessel was placed under ongoing surveillance by Russian and Nato military.

Finnish police investigators confirmed this weekend that a ransom demand, said to be around GBP900,000 had been received by the Arctic Sea's Russian owners.

Anyway Russian authorities have not given information on the precise circumstances of the ship's interception near Cape Verde, some 2500 miles away from the vessel's intended location.

The naval operation, which took place at 21:00 GMT on Sunday night, followed a weekend of joint Russia-Nato surveillance of the "hijacked" Maltese flagged ship culminating in its detention by the Russian anti-submarine frigate, the Ladny.

The men accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea were brought to Russia yesterday as investigators continued to interrogate crew members about the ship’s mysterious voyage.

Eleven crew members and the eight suspected hijackers landed in separate aircraft at a military airfield outside Moscow, where the accused were led away in handcuffs by special forces troops.

Speculation over a possible secret military cargo on the vessel was intensified by the manner of their return.

The two groups and an investigative team flew to Moscow in three Il-76 transporters, one of Russia’s largest aircraft, which are normally used to move heavy weapons.

A quick look on wiki tells us that the plane was originally built for the military, but has subsequently seen extensive service as a commercial freighter, especially for the delivery of outsized or very heavy cargo.

Well call me bluff old sceptic but rumours were all over the place as to the cargo on the ship at point of hijack. Even the Somali pirates have the brains to go for oil tankers and cruise liners. A million quid worth of wood as per the original ships manifest is not a hijack target.

So why would the Russians chase it to Africa?
Why would the Captain with Navy assistance return the ship to a Black Sea Russian port?
Why require 3 heavy lift Aircraft flown from Russia to Cape Verde to bring 8 bad guys and 11 crew back to Russia?........what for some wood!!!!
Anyone for dodgy Russian weapons sales to the Middle East??????

Nice try Gordon

In celebration of Rugby's Bloodgate Scandal and the much awaited return of our refreshed, beloved leder.

Cant wait.

H/T Morten Morland

Thank you

I have a a friend who reads this blog in the beautiful state of Iowa in the USA.
Yep you know who you are........and how is Casey today?

Ok just to say thank you for the words you said yesterday.
I will post this thank you too you.

I am well aware of Obama's comments this am.
I am well aware of the anti-Scottish blogs, websites, the boycott Scotland sentiment that is springing up.
I am also aware of the pathetic posts by certain right wing supposedly heavy weight political bloggers here in the UK who are doing it for political reasons to appease certain areas.

So thanks again..........glad some of you look with a bit of objectivity.

Right or wrong, innocent or guilty............this wee island had no chance.

Sorry Iain your very wrong

The beauty of the blogs is it gives everyone a chance to say what they think.

But there comes a time when even a novice likes me gets livid with the posts of another blogger.

So I will not disrupt another persons blog.
I will comment on my own.
Even if I make referance to 1 Iain Dale.

This is a pathetic post Iain.
Another kiss up post.
I love the way you make that great distinction.
Buck passer.

But hey I could name 30 followers of your musings who will lap that up.

But you have a job to do.
And you are doing it well!!!

How to ruin someones life across the entire world?

Despite all that going on in the world today I have been keeping an eye on the athletics in Germany.

The success we have had in Philips Idowu, Jenny Meadows, Jessica Ennis and are good news.
And as for watching Usain Bolt..........that guy is not real.

He has had more drugs tests in the last 2 years than any other athlete in sporting history.
However his tests are yes as the name says for drugs, to prove he is not cheating.

But sadly a young requires a not so normal type test, and this ladies name is being dragged across the world media and it is a disgrace.

Last night Caster Semenya, an 18-year-old South African, last won gold in the 800 metres but she may be forced to return the medal if she fails a gender-verification test.

Yep a gender test.

Semenya, unknown on the world stage until this week, is now a world champion but her sexuality has been officially questioned and she has been asked to undergo medical examination to prove that she is female.

Her victory last night was notably dominant, particularly for a newcomer, and comments afterwards from her beaten rivals emphasised the unpleasant situation in which she now finds herself.

Mariya Savinova, the Russian who was fifth, raised doubts over the winner’s gender and Elisa Piccione, the Italian who finished sixth, was more damning. “For me, she is not a woman,” Piccione said. No one should be accusing Semenya of cheating, though. Instead, her strength and appearance have raised fears that she may have been born with a rare abnormality, where she has grown up with the genitalia of a woman but the chromosomes of a male.

The storm growing around her is such that last night’s race was a comparative moment’s calm. After she had beaten Kenya’s Janeth Jepkosgei and Britain’s Jenny Meadows into second and third respectively, she did half a lap of honour before being whisked out of the stadium, avoiding the media mixed zone and the winner’s press conference.

Now the rumours about this ladies condition started well before the Berlin games. Her arrival was preceded by speculation in athletics chat rooms about her sexuality. And when she arrived, it only got worse. Down at the warm-up track, she has had rivals pointing, starring and gossiping.
What the IAAF had hoped was that the South Africans would withdraw Semenya from Berlin, to protect her. “We would not have entered her in the female event if we had any doubt,” said a team statement. So the South African are confident as to her gender.
Nick Davies, the IAAF spokesman, explained yesterday that “the extremely difficult, complex” gender-verification process involved “an endocrinologist, a gynaecologist, an internal medicine expert, an expert on gender and a psychologist” and would take a matter of weeks.

There are between 20 and 30 different types of “intersex” conditions, each of them affecting the body in different ways, and it is for the medics to decide whether, if Semenya is found to have one of them, the resulting hormonal balance gives her an unfair advantage.

“It will have to be carefully considered,” Davies said. “It is not straightforward.” This is not the first time the IAAF has asked for gender verification though, generally, the athletes have managed to retain their privacy. It remains to be seen whether Semenya appears for today’s medal ceremony. The last athlete to fail a gender test was Santhi Soundarajan, the Indian 800 metres runner, who was stripped of the silver medal she won at the 2006 Asian Games. A year later, she failed in an apparent suicide attempt.

So the IAAF, her colleagues on the track have now publically come out and detailed the issue, and we now from the MSM have a complete insight into this ladies issue and the examination, of what by who that has to be carried out to prove her gender.
Now if this was a drug cheat it would be under wraps until 2 samples had been found positive. But we will take a highly difficult and personal medical issue like this. Blow it across virtually every paper, TV sports channel in the wrold and expect an 18 year old to just walk away as if nothing had happened.

But the thing is they knew there was an issue in the background. So why not deal with it quietly, privately behind closed dorrs before the games.? Why drag her name, her family, her reputation through the world press and the mud.

The handling of this is an absolute disgrace. I hope she is proven to be 100% lady in all aspects and goes on like Usain Bolt to dominate her sport and put all her doubting competition into second place.

Go on girl.

You have lost how much?????

This is an amazing story for all the wrong reasons.

It shows complete and utter "words can not describe" incompetance.
And who is the big boss........the one the only Bob Ainsworth.

It transpires today that nearly £7 billion of military equipment has gone missing from Ministry of Defence.

Un-bloody-believable............or actually given the man at the top yes very believable.

The National Audit Office has refused to sign off on MoD records that £6.6 billion of assets exist because of “inadequate levels of evidence”.

The assets include about a sixth of all vehicles, weapons and radios used by British forces and are equivalent in value to the entire annual defence equipment budget.
Please note that last sentance.

The items in question include £1.25 billion of equipment deployed with British forces, such as machine guns, night vision goggles, encrypted radios and body armour.

Defence officials were unable to account for £350 million worth of fighting vehicles that were in theory being used for training and operations.

The remaining £5 billion of assets that could not be accounted for were predominantly raw materials and spare parts, ranging from bolts and oil to jet engines and propellers.

Are we not currently in a war with the constant stories from families of the fallen, injured servicemen and women, military chiefs bith serving and retired that the above equipment is needed in theatre but nothing is forthcoming. Shortages of equipment, including night vision goggles and radios, have been blamed for the deaths of several British service personnel.

Well apparently it is about but can not be accounted for, well a good chunk of it anyway.
The MoD insisted last night that the equipment was “never physically lost” and that the NAO figure was an “extrapolation” from its audit.

It said that at the time of the report, the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency, which is responsible for supplying the armed forces, was unable to satisfy the NAO’s demand for paperwork to verify the assets.

Utter cobblers.
I have blogged on the complete incompetance of the MOD method of procurement before. See here.
This is another blatant example of a government deparment completely out of touch with reality.
Having to spin lines like - the NAO figure was an “extrapolation” from its audit, just goes to prove my point.

So come on Bob........bust a gut and sort this one out!!!!!

The Bird Feeder

I bought a bird feeder.. I hung it on the edge of the decking on a pole and filled it lovingly with seed. It was indeed a beautiful bird feeder. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests around the deck and patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the bird shit. It was everywhere; on the boards, the slabs, the tiles, the chairs, the table ... everywhere!

Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And other birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. So I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the place.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be ... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see .... Brown & our government give out free food, subsidised housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegals came by the millions. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for the free services; small flats are housing 5 or more families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by a doctor because it is filled with illegal non tax payers; your child's year class is
behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak
English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to 'press one' to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than 'The Union Jack' are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Its just my opinion but:

Maybe, just maybe, it's time for the government to take down the damn bird feeder.

If not we are just gonna have to carry on cleaning up the shit.

But hey what better way to get votes than to breed a dependant culture and threaten them that if you dont put them back in power somebody else might get in and take it away.

Colonel Stuart Tootal

We are all quite aware of recent verbal attacks on the government in relationship to its policy on troops and equipment in Afghanistan, by former and serving military commanders.

Jock Stirrup
Mike Jackson
Bob Stewart
Charles Guthrie
Brig Ed Butler

Mr 21 out of 23 Bob Ainsworth having carried out weekend television jokes and radio broadcasts by trying to make cheap political gain over the tories has failed to stem the flow criticism.

Today Gen Richard Dannant launches another stream in the Telegraph.

I dont think Dannants comments will carry much weight but perhaps this mans might.

Colonel Stuart Tootal was O.C. 3 para.
He left the army a year ago under what can only be described at absolute disgust of the government treatment of UK Armed Forces.

His 1,200-strong battle group was the first to set boot in Helmand province in 2006 on a totally unrealistic “peace support mission”. They landed shortly after John Reid, then defence secretary, announced that “we would be perfectly happy to leave in three years and without firing one shot”.

During its six-month tour of duty, 3 Para fired more than 479,000 rounds and became embroiled in the fiercest fighting for a generation: 15 of Tootal’s group were killed in battle and 46 wounded.

Colonel Stuart Tootal said: "Soldiers are robust and losing comrades will hit hard, but it will also reinforce their determination. He went on, ministers are risking soldiers' lives by failing to provide the right resources and "a proper strategy and a justification" that the British public can understand. He criticised the PM saying, "Gordon Brown took a reassuring tone, saying there had been a 60% increase in the number of helicopters in Afghanistan and £6 billion had been set aside for future investment over the next 10 years". Tootal is sceptical, calling the provision “woefully inadequate”.

“The issue is not generally lack of air support, because support provided by the Americans is very good,” he says. “The key is lack of troop-carrying helicopters. It’s a major weakness. We had six helicopters, of which we were the majority users, and we were one battle group of 1,200 men in a total force of 3,500.

“You’ve now got nearly 9,000 troops in Helmand and while there’s been some increase, the Chinook fleet is only up by a few helicopters. A number of Sea Kings have been brought in but these are smaller and less able and Lynx can’t fly in the hottest part of the day and can only lift one or two individuals and a limited amount of equipment. So even though there has been — and will be — more helicopters, lift support for British troops in Helmand is still woefully inadequate.”

The issue has bite because the Taliban have adapted their tactics to take advantage of this weakness by killing with roadside bombs and improvised explosives: “It may be that the most recent casualties, from Operation Panther’s Claw, are not directly attributable to lack of helicopters but there are many, many troops who might have been alive today had we had enough helicopters.”

Tootal identified helicopters as a problem even before his troops left the UK. Having worked up a number of scenarios — raids on Taliban compounds and so on — he could see there would not be enough helicopter hours (ie, helicopters and/or crew to fly them) available to allow his teams to move as one force. “Every time someone turns round and says there isn’t an issue of helicopters, when clearly there is, how much credibility can the Government have?”

A damning final statement there I believe.

"Troops can't do everything from the air," he went on.

"But if they are using vehicles when a tactical situation dictates they should be using helicopters, they will be exposed to unnecessary risk and operations will lack vital flexibility."

Finally, he insisted: "The war in Afghanistan cannot be a half-hearted affair. It is a sad inevitability that there will be more losses.

"Our soldiers are doing a superb job. They accept risk but if they take risk due to shortages and the absence of a coherent and properly resourced strategy, the casualty rate will be higher and success will be elusive."

Post his resignation from the army after his tour of Helmand, he now has a new role as head of global security for a corporation. He may well wear a smart city suit but beneath his perfectly pressed shirt beats the heart of a soldier, dismayed at the continuing row over resources for our forces in Afghanistan and the lack of a clear objective.

He still gets e-mails from soldiers starting “Hiya Boss.

This story line is not going away........why can the government not see it???

Marine Ben McBean

In another example of scandalous government policy it has transpired that a young Marine is fighting to have his compensation increased as a result of injury he received in Afghanistan.

Marine Ben McBean, of 40 Commando Royal Marines, lost an arm and a leg in a landmine explosion while on routine patrol in Helmand Province in February last year.

He also suffered multiple shrapnel wounds and burns that have scarred his body.

The Ministry of Defence had offered the 22-year-old compensation for only eight of his injuries - and for six of those he was awarded the minimum tariff.

He was initially awarded £161,500, but this was raised to £281,150 after a public outcry.

Now lets put this into perspective shall we.

£281,151.00 for that level of injury.
And that after the public got involved.
6 of the injuries he received got him MINIMUM payout..........MINIMUM.
Legal experts believe a civilian court would have awarded him more than £1m if he suffered the same injuries.

Recent civil cases brought against the MoD have resulted in much bigger payouts including £2m for an Iraqi teenager paralysed by a British bullet and £484,000 for an RAF typist who suffered repetitive strain injury. Nearly twice what Ben received........TWICE.

Marine McBean's lawyer is expected to argue that the MoD only looked at his injuries individually and did not take into account the disabling affect of the sum total, nor the potential for deterioration over time.

The Royal British Legion is representing Marine McBean at his appeal at a tribunal at Plymouth Magistrates' Court.

It said there is a need for MoD payouts to be "interpreted in a spirit of gratitude and generosity, not with an anxious eye to the Treasury".

The charity's director general Chris Simpkins said: "It is terribly sad that this brave young Royal Marine should feel dissatisfied with his compensation for injuries incurred in selfless service to his country.

"We're going to do our best for Marine McBean, but we need to be realistic - the appeal tribunal's decision will be limited by the Armed Forces' Compensation Scheme and we believe this scheme is unfair."

Under the MoD's existing compensation scheme, lump sum payments for the most serious injuries are capped at £570,000, although the scheme is being reviewed.

I am stunned by this story...............I can not get my head around his award and the award to the typist.

Brown.......Ainsworth.......how the hell do you actually sleep at night......HOW?


Ben initially came to the fore as he was returned to the UK on the same flight as Prince Harry.

The Rugby Bloodgate Scandal Part 2

It gets worse.

See post here and here.

Well it transpires now that a hospital consultant may face a disciplinary investigation by medical regulators after suggestions that she cut the inside of a player’s mouth to conceal a fake injury.

Wendy Chapman, allegedly used a scalpel on Tom Williams, the Harlequins wing, and then stitched the wound to make it appear like a genuine injury.

Williams, has admitted using a blood capsule to fake an injury during a Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster so that he could be taken off and replaced by another player at a critical stage of the match. He had been caught on television cameras winking as he was led from the pitch in the final minutes of the match at Harlequins’ Stoop stadium in Twickenham, southwest London, in April.

Sources at a rugby disciplinary hearing on Monday claimed that Williams confessed that the cover-up occurred in the treatment room after the game when the Leinster team doctor, Professor Arthur Tanner, became suspicious and demanded to inspect his wound.

The GMC was reviewing reports of the case yesterday and could open its own formal review of the allegations against Dr Chapman. However, investigators from the General Medical Council (GMC) will be careful when considering any unsubstantiated allegations made by a self-confessed sporting cheat.

Dr Chapman, is employed as an accident and emergency consultant at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust but has also worked as a match-day doctor for Harlequins. She was registered as a doctor in 1986 and is listed as having previously been employed by Pure Sports Medicine, whose clients have included Harlequins and Wasps rugby clubs and Fulham and Charlton Athletic football clubs.

This is getting out of hand now.
Williams was obviously upset that he took the wrap all on his own so blew the whistle on Dean Richards, the physio and the team doc.
But the reputation of this great game is now in shreds and the level at which this corruption (dramatic word I know, but if you are willing to deceive like that then it is corruption) has risen too is beyond anything in the history of this great game.

Good Luck getting it repaired.

Wootton Bassett

Today the bodies of Lance Bombardier Matthew Hatton, aged 23 and from North Yorkshire, Rifleman Daniel Wild, 19, from County Durham, and Capt Mark Hale, 42, from Bournemouth will be repatriated.

And once again the town of Wootton Bassett will again come to its now world famous stop and show its respect as only it does to the funeral cortege as it passes through the town.

Once again a huge tip of the hat to the residents and many visitors of this town for the the humility and respect they show to the repatriated soliders that is so evidently lacking by our government.

Thank you

Lockerbie............A cover up???

It is reported in the Scotsman today that the Lockerbie bomber has been sending his possessions home for the past six weeks, fuelling accusations that the decision to release him is a "done deal".
The revelation has increased pressure on justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, with opposition politicians criticising his "inept" handling of the case. With a decision now widely expected tomorrow from Mr MacAskill, he has been urged to give answers to the Scottish Parliament "quickly".

There is a huge amount in the MSM and the blogosphere about Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber who is serving his sentance right here in Scotland.

A quick trip about the web details the case the case files, or what we think we have and the conspiracy theorists as well.


Politicians, relatives and experts accused the Scottish government of striking a deal with the convicted terrorist: that in return for his repatriation he would abandon an appeal that might have exposed a grave miscarriage of justice. “It’s pretty likely there was a deal,” said Oliver Miles, a former British Ambassador to Libya, who told The Times that the British and Scottish governments had been very anxious to avoid the appeal.

Christine Grahame, a member of the Scottish Parliament, said: “There are a number of vested interests who have been deeply opposed to this appeal because they know it would go a considerable way towards exposing the truth behind Lockerbie.”

Robert Black, the Edinburgh law professor who was one of the architects of al-Megrahi’s trial before a special Scottish court in the Netherlands, said: “There would have been strong pressure from civil servants in the justice department and the Crown Office to bring this appeal to an end . . . I’m convinced they have never wanted it to go the full distance. Legitimate concerns about the events leading up to his conviction will not be heard.”

Al-Megrahi is suffering advanced prostate cancer and his anticipated release by Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Minister, on compassionate grounds caused outrage, particularly among American relatives of the 270 Lockerbie victims.

Indeed Hilary Clinton has even been on the phone direct to Kenny Macaskill stating the apparent position of the "American People".......or does she mean the CIA.

The Libyan’s decision to drop his appeal gives Mr MacAskill the slightly less controversial option of transferring him to a Libyan jail under a prisoner transfer agreement that Britain and Libya finalised in April. Such transfers cannot take place until all legal proceedings have ended.

Either way the Obama Administration will be angered, and the victims’ relatives will be deprived of an appeal that they saw as their last chance, short of the independent public inquiry that they have long demanded, of finding out who really killed their sons, daughter, spouses and parents when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie in December 1988.

They and other experts have long doubted the evidence used to convict al-Megrahi and asked how a single man could have carried out such a deadly attack. They have questioned whether Syria or Iran was really responsible. Some even suspect that the CIA tampered with the evidence.

Al-Megrahi lost his original appeal in 2002 but when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission awarded him another in 2007 it said that it had identified six grounds where it believed that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.

Al-Megrahi’s lawyers said he had dropped his appeal because his health had deteriorated sharply, though Scottish law would permit the appeal to continue even after his death.

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, strenuously denied that any pressure had been put on him. “We have no interest in pressurising people to drop appeals. Why on earth should we? That’s not our position — never has been,” he said.

But the Scottish government faced a wave of scepticism. Mr Miles called al-Megrahi’s original trial “deeply flawed” and said that both Scottish and British governments wanted no appeal because it would be very embarrassing.

Ms Grahame, a backbench member of Mr Salmond’s Scottish Nationalist Party, had visited al-Megrahi in prison and said he was desperate to clear his name. She claimed to have seen a leaked e-mail from the Scottish justice department showing that senior officials were pressing him to drop his appeal.

Tam Dalyell, the former Labour MP who has long proclaimed al-Megrahi’s innocence, said: “If he abandons his appeal, it means that Lockerbie will be one of those mysteries like the assassination of President Kennedy that will remain unsolved for a long time — possibly forever.”

He added: “It would come as a mighty relief to officials at the Crown Office in Edinburgh, to certain officials in the stratosphere of Whitehall, and above all to officials in Washington.”

If the Edinburgh High Court approves al-Megrahi’s application to drop his appeal on Tuesday he is likely to fly home within another 24 hours — well before Ramadan starts on Friday.

Evidence that would have been tested

The witness Testimony given by Tony Gauci, a Maltese shopkeeper, who identified the Libyan as the man who bought clothing that was packed in the same suitcase as the bomb, was crucial to securing al-Megrahi’s conviction. Al-Megrahi’s defence team claimed Mr Gauci was not a credible witness. They maintained he was coached by police before giving his damning evidence, and believe that he was paid a $2 million (£1.2 million) reward by the US Government.

The forensic evidence Al-Megrahi’s defence team were also due to challenge evidence surrounding pieces of the timer that was said to have triggered the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103. Tests suggested a circuit board placed as close to the Semtex as the Malta device must have been could not have survived intact as it apparently did.

The missing suspect Abu Talb, an Egyptian-born terrorist serving life in Sweden, was arrested in connection with the bombing but never charged. He came under suspicion after Swedish investigators established that he had travelled to Malta in October 1988. In Talb's apartment in Uppsala, the police also found a 1988 calendar with the date “December 21” circled. Talb denied he was involved in the bombing and said his trip to Malta was for business.

The bomb-maker Edwin Bollier, a Swiss-based businessman, made the timing device that is said to have set off the bomb. He gave evidence that he had rented office space to al-Megrahi. During his testimony, it was revealed that the prosecution had been considering charging him with the same conspiracy to murder charge as the Libyans.


Scotland is a hugely compassionate country. The cancer this man suffers certainly without the political intervention and international furfore would have had the man back in Lybia many months ago.

However reading into this story some other forces are at work. Some dark ones as late last night some reports that even Mandleson has had his somewhat slimy hand involved as well.

The only person who can close this is al-Megrahi himself. his dropping of his appeal, his return to Lybia and his death for his illness will certainly now ensure that certain agencies breathe a sigh of relief whilst the families of the 270 remain in turmoil.