Scenes of the Saltire being waved on the tarmac at Tripoli Airport, in celebration at Mr. Megrahi's return, were sickening to me particularly as Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP, confirmed in his statement that Mr. Megrahi had expressed no remorse or compassion for the 270 victims of the bomb he was convicted of planting on Pan Am Flight 103.
These scenes brought shame on our national flag
More conceerning to me is the revelation that East Renfrewshire Council are now expected to monitor Mr. Megrahi while he is in Libya to ensure he adheres to the terms of release that have been agreed. Our officials are to receive regular medical reports and are reported to be establishing a satellite link to Libya to maintain communication.
That the hard pressed Council Tax payer of East Renfrewshire is expected to pay for this is completely unacceptable to me and the SNP Scottish Executive who took this perverse decision must immediately indemnify us against any loss.
As equally unacceptable is the silence of our local MP, and Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy. Scotland's name is being dragged through the mud internationally and the man empowered with representing our country through our UK national parliament remains silent.
His own constituents face the prospect of financial loss simply because we had the good grace to host Mr. Megrahi's family while he served his term in Greenock Prison - and that is completely unacceptable to me. Despite the difficult circumstances under which the Megrahi family came to live in Newton Mearns they lived in peace and were accepted by our local community. That we are now open to financial loss as a result is unacceptable.
In the modern day when most politicians have blog sites and/or Twitter it is easy to register what you believe on any issue, even if the media do not report what you say. Jim Murphy's blog remains as silent as his burgeoning press office on an issue that affects Scotland as a whole but more particularly his constituents in East Renfrewshire and that is an abdication of responsibility for which he must be held to account.
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2 comments:
I was delighted to see the Saltire waved as the Libyans welcomed home an innocent man. I was very proud to be a Scot when Mr MacAskill showed compassion and correctly interpreted Scots law, while deftly avoiding the traps set by the UK and US administrations. I was further gladdened by knowing that there would be no "martyrs graveyard" in Scotland.
I used to have some respect for Annabelle Goldie as a sincere politician who had grasped the realities of the present political landscape but that has unfortunately disappeared as she set off to try to score cheap political points, bringing her down to the level of the pygmies such as Grey and Scott.
Very disappointed - I had been considering a tactical vote for the Conservatives to get rid of Murphy but that is in serious doubt now.
Considering the accused never admitted his guilt, how was it possible for him to ever be classed a 'martyr'?
What of the 200 innocent dead? Their memory has been martyred for a pathetic sop to Libya, via MacAskill's attempt to gain Scottish prestiege by setting out to go against the grain of what the US preferred.
This is a big, big mistake in practical terms considering the US is the largest foreign investor in Scotland.
Personally, I thought Goldie took a very measured approach. The closest thing to a political attack during the Holyrood debate was made by the SNP against the Lib Dems by showing up the contradiction between what Lord Steel thought, and what Tavish Scott said.
For the record, I'm a Tory - but I still think there was no call for this cheap and snide attack on the LibDems on that day, of all days. Aside from that though, I thought all of the Labour Party and Conservative Party input was entirely proper.
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