“Better Together” Gains Unfettered access to Experian’s Database

Experian is one of the largest data collection companies in the world, and provides credit worthiness reports for its subscribers.

Blue State Digital, a US data-mining agency that had worked for US President Obama on his successful election campaigns was asked by “Better Together” to devise an enhanced data management tool further developing its “Patriot” software which had contributed so much to Obama’a election.

Experian extracted extensive personal data of millions of Scots from its database and supplied it to Blue State Digital who then developed a data-mining software programme which they titled, “Mosaic” and sold it to the UK government supported “Better Together” campaign for use in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. Cost £500,000.

“Mosaic” allowed “Better Together” to identify lifestyle indicators, categorize voters and link them with activists of a similar age or with similar social media friends in order to greatly enhance voter targeting and canvassing.

The data was used on, Facebook and UTube with the purpose of recruiting volunteers who were subsequently provided with the personal details of Scots and asked to cold-call them in order to canvass them for support. All information gleaned by the calls was then stored in the campaign database and transmitted to the three parties involved in Better Together.

19 Jul 2013: Scottish independence: “Better Together” Targets Voter ‘Tribes’

The group campaigning for a “no” vote in Scotland’s Independence Referendum has said it will embark on the most sophisticated targeting of voters seen in British political history.

Pro-union “Better Together” has launched its new “Mosaic” system.

It will divide Scotland’s four million voters into 40 different tribes.

This will then allow the campaign to speak directly to undecided voters using letters, emails and face-to-face discussions.

Better Together said the technology, developed with information purchased from credit rating agency Experian at a cost of £500,000 and further improved by additional input from political and strategy advisers of the successful President Obama campaign will allow it to identify lifestyle indicators such as, the number of cars a family owns and other personal information. Voters will then be “linked” to activists of a similar age or with similar social media friends.

Better Together Campaign Director Blair McDougall said;

“We have to make sure that we are on the doorsteps and high streets, but also that we are also on peoples’ smartphones, tablets and PCs.

This new tool will help bring our thousands of volunteers together with the key voters who will decide the outcome of the referendum.”

It is estimated “Better Together” had 10,000 volunteers signed up by the start of the campaign. IT expertise was utilized through the on-line presence of a significant number, including UK government staff based in England.

Social media (Facebook) played an important role in local campaigning especially as it enabled “Better Together” to more effectively mobilize more volunteers and disseminate information using the “Patriot” software.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-23379615)

16 Dec 2014: Westminster Civil Service, “Devolved Countries Unit”, (Dirty Tricks) campaign team wins “special” Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Award

The three amigo’s who actually run the UK: Sir Jeremy Heywood, Sir Bob Kerslake and Sir Nicholas McPherson collaborated and plotted against Scotland marshalling the full might of the civil service attacking the Scottish government and anyone in support of the “Yes” campaign.

In the months after the referendum they expressed great satisfaction that their “Campaign of fear” had generated “fearties” in sufficient numbers so as to win the day for the Unionist coalition.

An award, in recognition of the team’s outstanding achievement in making a difference on an issue of national significance, (the Referendum) was presented by the ”Cabinet Secretary and civil service head Sir Jeremy Heywood. The proud team of strictly impartial, very senior civil servants commented afterwards;

* Paul Doyle;

“This award is for all the hard work that was done by all government departments on the Scotland agenda. The reality was in all my experience of the civil service, I have never seen the civil service pull together in the way they did behind supporting the UK government in maintaining the United Kingdom.”

* William MacFarlane, Deputy Director at HM Treasury, (Budget and Tax Strategy);

“As civil servants you don’t get involved in politics. For the first time in my life, suddenly we’re part of a political campaign. We were doing everything from the analysis, to the advertising, to the communications. I just felt a massive sense of being part of the operation. This being recognized [at the Civil Service Awards], makes me feel just incredibly proud.”

* Shannon Cochrane;

“We’ve learned that it is possible for civil servants to work on things that are inherently political and quite difficult, and you’re very close to the line of what is appropriate, but it’s possible to find your way through and to make a difference.

* Mario Pisani Deputy Director at HM Treasury, (Public Policy);

“We all had something in common, we’re trying to save the Union here, and it came so close. We just kept it by the skin of our teeth. I actually cried when the result came in. After 10 years in the civil service, my proudest moment is tonight and receiving this award. As civil servants you don’t get involved in politics.

For the first time in my life, suddenly we’re part of a political campaign. We were doing everything from the analysis, to the advertising, to the communications. I just felt a massive sense of being part of the operation. This being recognized [at the Civil Service Awards], makes me feel just incredibly proud.”

http://www.civilserviceworld.com/articles/news/hm-treasury-team-wins-special-civil-service-award

Comment: The Scottish electorate should be concerned about the abuse of personal information by State supported bodies:

“Anyone with a credit card, bank account, loan, mortgage, store card or monthly/quarterly mobile phone will likely have an Experian profile. The company conducts millions of credit checks each year on many hundreds of thousands of UK citizens. The level of data they collect and hold is frankly staggering. Making matters worse, the information Experian retain is very often gathered without our knowledge.

Companies run credit checks on potential customers whenever a new application for credit is made, yet it is rarely explained what “doing a credit check” actually entails. In fact, the consumer has little to no choice over which company actually undertakes the credit check. They are chosen by the bank, estate agent, mobile phone network or any other commercial organization.

Not engaging with a credit reference agency is almost impossible. It would entail not having a bank account, not having any direct debits, not having a credit card, not renting or owning a property. We have to, whether we like it or not, engage with these companies.

The consumer needs to be able to trust companies such as Experian that handle massive levels of personal data, more acute when we have little to no say over what data they hold.”

This is what the French thought: (https://rfcb.revues.org/418?lang=en)

The Scottish Tory & Unionist Party and Glasgow Rangers

Links between Tory Party MSP’s and other Individuals, Glasgow Rangers, the Ulster Democratic Unionist Party (UDUP) and the Orange Order are an unhealthy manifestation of the hard line Unionist approach to politics in Scotland adopted by the Tory Party under the Leadership of Ruth Davidson. It is time Scottish Rangers supporters, (the bulk of the fans) voiced their views publicly making it clear that the sectarian views of the largely foreign minority have no platform with Glasgow Rangers. Politicians are expert at exploiting division to their party’s ends and fans should reject any political mischief.

Old Firm Match Sunday 11 March 2018 – The Conduct of Douglas Ross – Linesman

The match was frenetic and chaotic but played in good spirit and was finely balanced until the 57th minute when Referee Collum sent Jozo Simunovic packing for elbowing Alfredo Morelos.

Collum, was behind the play and being unsighted might have viewed the incident as a 50/50 tackle but there was no chance of that since the linesman Douglas Ross, (Tory MP) who was also behind play frantically waved his flag and repeatedly shouted “Red card !Red card! Red card!” forcing the referee to send the Celtic player off. Watching a replay later it is clear that Simunovic’s arm is outstretched and there is contact with the upper body of Morelos but the disparity in height between the players exacerbated the incident and it is difficult to determine if there was any malice aforethought on the part of Simunovic unless you’re Douglas Ross.

The antics of Mr Ross were widely criticized and reported in the media after the match and in consideration of the necessity to ensure politics and sport are not adversely influenced by conflicting loyalties it is perhaps time politicians steered clear of officiating in professional sporting events.

15 May 2008: UK Prime Minister Brands Rangers Riot Fans ‘A Disgrace’

The Prime Minister, Mr Brown condemned the hooligans for their running battles with police during and after the Uefa Cup final, while a senior police commander compared them to a “pack of wolves” after one of her officers was pounced on by about 20 thugs.

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, said the “shocking and unacceptable” violence had severely dented Scotland’s hard-won reputation for well-behaved football fans.

The Scottish Conservatives’ deputy leader, Murdo Fraser, a Rangers fan, suggested the problem may have been caused by heavy-handed policing.

The crowds of up to 200,000 Rangers fans who travelled to watch the UEFA Cup final in Manchester left a “tide of filth” in their wake. The streets were littered with broken glass, empty bottles, cans, vomit and even human excrement.

It looked “like a tornado had hit the city”, one resident said. Yesterday, the city council was embarking on its biggest ever clean-up, with hundreds of tonnes of rubbish uplifted. (the Scotsman)

Former Vice Chairman of the Scottish Tory Party Provides a Secret £425,000 Brexit Donation for the DUP

Brian Monteith, former Tory MSP and ex-colleague of Richard Cook, the Scot whose group plowed more than £400k from undeclared donors into the DUP for its pro-Brexit campaign, denies knowing where the money came from.

Monteith runs the right-leaning think tank Think Scotland, for which Cook once acted as a senior adviser, and served as head of press at Leave.EU, which campaigned for withdrawal in the EU referendum.

Leave.EU was co-funded by Arron Banks, whose EU referendum donations are still under investigation by the Electoral Commission.

Cook also chairs the top secret Constitutional Research Council (CRC), which bankrolled part of the DUP’s Brexit campaign.

Full story at (opendemocracy)

17 Jan 2018: Bella Caledonia Addresses the Scottish Tory Party Agenda

There have always been extreme elements on the Scottish right. As a political tradition, it is defined by a drooling loyalty to antique British institutions, from the Crown and the Union to the empire and the military. But they are more pronounced now than they have been for years – and Ruth Davidson is directly to blame for that.

In an effort to shore-up opposition to independence, and to consolidate her electoral base, she elevated hard line unionism to the centre of her entire political strategy, relentlessly exaggerating the threat of a second independence referendum while simultaneously decrying the “turmoil and division” of the first one.

The result is a form of turbocharged British identity politics, heavily laden with right-wing jingoism, that has resonated with some of the most backward and reactionary (and Orange-inflected) sections of Scottish society.

That’s why she won’t publicly disown those members of her party who use arcane slurs to describe Irish Catholics, or who openly celebrate the sectarian lineage of Rangers Football Club, or who eulogize Enoch Powell. Her success is symbiotically linked to their support, and without them, she would be lost.

For anyone even slightly familiar with the iconography of unionism in Northern Ireland, which fetishes the royal family and the UK armed forces, the messaging was and is unmistakable. Indeed, the Scottish Tories have a much closer relationship to the Orange Order than they are willing to admit.

According to a report last year, which quoted Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland Grand Master Jim McHarg, a “huge number” of the Lodge’s estimated 50,000 Scottish supporters are Tories, and more members of the Order are now serving as elected officials across Scotland than at any time in the past two decades. (bella caledonia)

16/08/2016: A Holyrood Motion – Adam Tomkins, MSP, Representing Glasgow for the Tory & Unionist Party

That Parliament congratulates the Rangers Charity Foundation on the work it has undertaken in summer 2016 under its director, Connal Cochrane, in the communities of Ibrox and Govan;

Notes that 114 young people from the local area attended a free summer camp in July, run by the foundation, which allowed them to participate not just in football but in dance and badminton clubs.

Recognizes that the foundation hosts the Glasgow Veterans United organization at Ibrox Stadium, which helps veterans in overcoming addictions and mental health issues, and that many veterans go on and obtain an SFA level 1 coaching badge, and further notes the positive impact that the foundation’s work will continue to have during the 2016-17 season with many new programmes to be introduced, including a Friday night sports hub for young people from the local area and a food bank collection that was organized by the foundation prior to the Rangers v Motherwell match on 20 August in aid of the Glasgow South West food bank, which is based at Govan Parish Church. Supported by 21 MSP’s (19 Tory):

Tory MSP’s: Miles Briggs, Alexander Burnett, Maurice Corry, Oliver Mundell, Alexander Stewart, Jeremy Balfour, Margaret Mitchell, Alex Johnstone, Peter Chapman, Alison Harris, Murdo Fraser, John Lamont, Ross Thomson, Jackson Carlaw, Edward Mountain, Gordon Lindhurst, Brian Whittle, Maurice Golden, Neil Bibby.

2 Oct 2017: Compulsive Tweeter – Murdo Fraser Tory MSP

Fraser, a well known and unashamed anti-Catholic bigot, tweets sly sectarian driven innuendo almost daily alongside his Sevco tweets and his party never censor him.

The Scottish Tory’s clearly don’t give a toss about their MSP’s openly publishing and voicing anti-Catholic sentiments stirring the sectarian pot, they know their behaviour will not be condemned by the Scottish press and will be embraced by the Orange Order Unionists anticipating that the exposure will increase their vote share allowing them to carry on, and that sums up the Tory “one nation conservatism”.

Fraser tweeted, after the Bayern game about Celtic’s elimination from the Champions League: “Don’t you hate Scottish teams being dragged out of Europe against their will? And on Reformation Day too.”

After an “old firm” match in 2016 Fraser tweeted: “Rangers 5 Celtic 4 – The Queen’s 11 deliver Her Majesty the perfect Birthday present.”

Tweets, designed to increase the pain of losing confirm the mindset of the man who associates Brexit and Protestantism with Celtic’s elimination from the Champions League. And this from a someone who has sat in the Scottish parliament for nearly 20 years collecting his taxpayer funded salary as an MSP without ever being elected.

15 Nov 2016: Murdo Fraser – His College Days

Commenting on the election of Donald Trump, Tory MSP, Murdo Fraser wrote: “If it was mostly poorly-educated working-class males who voted Trump, wasn’t it the same demographic that largely voted yes in 2014?” Last month on Twitter he declared: “I’m British and I’m staying that way.”

At Aberdeen in the 1980s, he was a member of the FCS, the Federation of Conservative Students. The FCS were an organization so obnoxiously right-wing that they embarrassed even Norman Tebbit, who was then Conservative Party Chairman and not much left of Vlad the Impaler in his own political beliefs; and he had them disbanded in 1986.

When Murdo and his FCS mates weren’t strutting around the campus waving the Union Jack, they were behaving like pillocks towards gay students, singing “Hang Nelson Mandela!” at discos whenever the DJ played the Special AKA anthem Free Nelson Mandela, and making nuisances of themselves in pubs yelling “F*** the Pope!” But I guess that for Murdo, white, Protestant British nationalism is all good; whereas Scottish nationalism is unspeakably bad. (blood and porridge)

15 Mar 2018: Tweetie Time Again

Aidan Kerr Tweets: MSPs have voted to repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act. https://stv.tv/news/politics/1410439-holyrood-scraps-offensive-behaviour-at-football-act/

Murdo Fraser added: Great to be part of this – scrapping illiberal, unworkable legislation

KAT Prodcast: Replying to Murdo Fraser: Murdo please be guarded against the inevitable consequences of this. The SNP along with others will comeback with a new shambolic piece of legislation that is blatantly aimed at Rangers fans (unionists) and doesn’t target the IRA nonsense and anti-British pish from they tramps.

16 Mar 2018: The Times: Letter from Stephen Davies (Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust)

Sir, further to your report (‘Poision Exposure Leaves Nearly 40 needing Treatment’), may I clarify that no patients have experienced symptoms of nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury and there have only ever been three patients with significant poisoning. Several people have attended the emergency department concerned that they may have been exposed. None has had symptoms of poisoning and none has needed treatment. Any blood tests performed have shown no abnormality. No member of the public has been contaminated by the agent involved.’

5 Mar 2018: Former Russian Spy Mysteriously Falls Ill in Britain.

A man identified as a retired Russian military intelligence officer who once spied for Britain is critically ill at a British hospital, and the authorities were investigating his “exposure to an unknown substance.”

The man, found unconscious on a bench together with a 33-year-old woman who fell sick with him in the city of Salisbury, has been named as Sergei V. Skripal, 66 and his daughter. He was once jailed by Moscow, then settled in Britain after an exchange of spies between the United States and Russia in 2010.

The police said a major incident, with a “multi-agency response,” had been declared. “At this stage it is not yet clear if a crime has been committed,” they said in a Twitter post, adding that they are “carrying out a full investigation & working with partner agencies, to clarify exact circumstances.”

The priority, the police said, is to identify any substances involved. They said they were working with experts to make a speedy diagnosis to ensure “appropriate and timely treatment.”

Mr. Skripal is a retired colonel in Russia’s military intelligence service. He was convicted in 2006 of having passed classified information to British intelligence, MI6, for a decade, in return for $100,000 wired to a bank account in Spain.

At the time of his conviction, the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor to the Soviet K.G.B., said in statements to Russian news agencies that Colonel Skripal began spying in 1995 while stationed overseas. His espionage activities were said to have continued even after he retired from the Russian military in 1999. (NYT)

12 Mar 2018: Britain Blames Russia for Nerve Agent Attack on Former Spy

Britain’s prime minister said on Monday that it was “highly likely” that Moscow was to blame for the poisoning of a former Russian spy attacked with a nerve agent near his home in southern England, and she warned of possible reprisals.

“It is now clear that Mr. Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia,” Mrs. May said in the House of Commons. “The government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.”

She said that either the poisoning was a “direct act of the Russian state against our country” or that Moscow had lost control of its nerve agent and had allowed it to get into the hands of others.

The White House took a different approach, declining to point a finger at Russia. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said at her daily briefing: “The use of a highly lethal nerve agent against U.K. citizens on U.K. soil is an outrage. The attack was reckless, indiscriminate and irresponsible. We offer the fullest condemnation.”

But Ms. Sanders brushed off several questions about whether the White House shared Britain’s view that Russia was responsible. “Right now we are standing with our U.K. ally,” she said. “I think they’re still working through even some of the details of that and we’re going to continue to work with the U.K.”

“This is a circus show in the British Parliament,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told journalists in Moscow.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, was equally dismissive. Whatever Mr. Skripal may have once done, he said, he posed no threat to Russia now. “This already is not our issue,” Mr. Dzhabarov said. “He had access neither to our secrets nor facilities. He was of no use to us, to Russia in general.” (The Insider)

13 Mar 2018: What is the Novichok Nerve Agent

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and destroyed stocks of all listed chemicals.

But many chemicals in everyday use within industry and in the home are not included in the Convention.

In 1992 a Russian Chemist, Vil Mirzayanov revealed the existence of a new binary nerve agent named Novichok and was arrested and punished for revealing State secrets.

Novichok agents are easy to manufacture covertly because they can be made with commonly available chemicals, (not on the banned list) in relatively simple pesticide factories anywhere in the world.

Vil Mirzayanov said: “the weapons originality lies in the simplicity of its components, which are used in civilian industry and which cannot, therefore be regulated by international experts”

The break-up of the Soviet Union brought with it an availability of stocks of unregulated Novichok chemicals and the distinct possibility that stocks may have been made available to terrorist groups or criminal elements within and outwith the former Soviet Union.

Detection and Treatment

Detection and treatment is not well established and their use as a weapon of terrorism presents difficulties when considered with the ability of amateur journeymen to manufacture them in binary form totally free of controls.

Delivery of Novichok is in liquid or vapour form and there is no minimum toxicity dose. Onset of symptoms, (restlessness, loss of consciousness, wheezing, and a running nose) is measured in seconds when inhaled and longer when absorbed with liquid

Hospital triage of patients should first include decontamination before therapy. Patients exposed to the vapour agent that are still awake are likely to recover after treatment. (C E Stewart)

12 Mar 2018: Russia ceased production of the Novichok nerve agent around 1998 and stocks were destroyed.

A Russian spokesperson briefed the press that the British claim that the Novichok nerve agent was only accessible to the Russian government was untrue, adding:

“Novichok was manufactured in Uzbekistan in the Soviet times and after the fall of the Soviet Union and, it is common knowledge that American intelligence services had access to the factory. The American and British intelligence services are well bonded and I am almost certain that the British got this Novichok nerve agent from them. It is clear Washington and London are working together to nullify Russia’s growth.

Placing blame on Russia for the attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal without definitive evidence is unwise given that the Novichok agent can be manufactured in someone’s kitchen and the chemicals needed are not included on any banning list.

An added fact is that Skripal spent 6 years in a Russian prison before being exchanged – Bags of time for Putin to have him killed for being a traitor.

It will be of interest that Skripal’s MI6 handler was Christopher Steel, the author of the fake Trump dossier debacle which has recently been exposed as a blatant MI6 attempt to prevent Trump from winning the recent Presidential campaign.

13 Mar 2018:  The Russian Response  – Russia demands Nerve Agent Samples in Standoff Over Poisoned Spy

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov ,in a press briefing stressed that the UK should abide by the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and provide Russia with access to the samples of the nerve-agent which was allegedly used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

The Russian Public

Many Russians believe Western spymasters are behind the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, as conspiracy theories about the attempted assassination flourish.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s allegation that the Russian government’s involvement was “highly likely” in the attempt to kill Sergei Skripal, 66, with the Novichok nerve agent on March 4  are an attempt to deflect public attention from the internal problems her government is facing, including Brexit.

The Russian public simply do not believe that President Putin or anyone in the Russian intelligence would order such a murky way of getting rid of Skripal.

Is an Increase in Sanctions Against Russia Possible

The UK has been putting out feelers to sense what countries would be prepared to do in a show of solidarity.

No EU country has so far committed itself to further sanctions against Russia if the UK declares the Russian state had acted unlawfully on British soil.

Returns also indicate that some EU countries will advise the UK to put its own house in order, rather than agree new collective sanctions.

Norbert Röttgen, chairman of Germany’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said the case showed the need to target the blurred lines between the Russian state security apparatus and organized crime.

He added: “The incident should provide a reason for Britain to examine its open stance towards Russian capital of dubious origin”

MEP’s in Brussels are questioning whether the UK would use legislation – such as unexplained wealth orders that are included in the Criminal Finance Act 2017 – to challenge Russian millionaires living in the UK.

Tory government Ministers insisted the legislation may be used but they cannot risk using them in a way that undermines the UK’s reputation for judicial independence. (the times)

9 Mar 2018: Criminal probe launched as sectarian flyer showing abuse against ‘Fenians’ surfaces before match

The flyer, posted on the “Union Bears” Facebook page showed a silhouette image of someone wearing a green-and-white hooped jersey being kicked in the head while on the ground, surrounded by text reading: “Good night, green white.”

And added: “The Union Bears have organized a fans march to Ibrox before Sunday’s game against the Fenian’s. The march will leave the Kinning Park Louden Tavern at 10.45am. Wearing dark coloured clothing is encouraged. Please pass this on to fellow Rangers supporters. “UB07.”

Match commander Superintendent Alan Murray revealed Police Scotland is now looking into the controversial flyer. He said: “We are aware of a planned fans’ march on Sunday and would urge supporters not to join in.

Large groups of fans moving together can cause problems and I am asking fans to make their way to the ground as normal. We are aware of the content of the advert connected to the march, which permission has not been granted for.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the wording and logo of the advert.”

The fan pages have called for Police Scotland to take action against the Union Bears, with the statement: “The time to act is now, when the incitement is so explicit as it is with the Union Bears’ poster.

Waiting until after the called-for assaults have taken place is not an option. There is no place for this in football and there is no place for this in Scotland.” (Evening Express)

11 Mar 2018: Hundreds join Rangers v Celtic game march in defiance of police

Hundreds joined in a Rangers ultras fans group-organized march promoted by a sectarian hate-filled flyer which also depicted a Celtic supporter being booted on the ground. The, “Goodnight Green and White” banner was draped across a large group of face covered, balaclava-wearing marchers at the front.

The marchers set off red, white and blue smoke bombs in support of the Union and sang celebratory Rangers songs and sectarian offensive songs including “Follow, Follow” containing the “f*** the Pope and the Vatican”.

The police who had urged Rangers fans to boycott the unauthorized march have launched a probe into Rangers fan group the Union Bears. (Evening Express)

15 Mar 2018: Fake news:

To MSP Members of the Tory Party Rangers Football Club

I’m writing to hopefully discuss the disgusting scenes witnessed at Ibrox yesterday. I have attended hundreds of football matches at Ibrox, Parkhead And Hampden but I have never seen a Rangers supporters march like yesterday. As a Rangers supporter, it’s safe to say I was afraid for my safety and that of Celtic fans also attending.

I appreciate there’s not a huge amount that can be done following the recent removal from statute, by the Unionist parties at Holyrood, of the SNP government anti-social behaviour legislation, but I am keen to know your thoughts on the matter, none the less, and hoped as the Tory Party is the main opposition, they would be the best body to contact.

I know I speak for the majority of Rangers fans when I say that we can’t accept what happened yesterday getting swept under the rug by the Unionist supporting, media, press and BBC.

What follows, in case of interest, are the lines the Scottish Conservatives have put out today 14 Mar 2018.

“The “Union Bears” organized illegal march on Sunday before the match ruined what should have been a great advert for Scottish football.

It is understood that Police Scotland have set up a unit to investigate the matter further, and the Tory Party would urge them to ensure that all routes are taken to identify and charge anyone involved in criminal acts.

The hard work of footballing authorities, the police, football teams and their supporters has meant that significant progress has been made in the past two decades in making attending football matches in Scotland safer and more enjoyable, sadly the scenes on Saturday represent a significant setback for that progress.”

This is not the end of this matter, but I hope you can see from the above that we have made a start in getting to the bottom of this, with a view to ensuring that all relevant lessons are learned.

With very best wishes: Glasgow Rangers Football Club Conservative Party MSP’s (http://forum.followfollow.com)

14 Mar 2018: Forum members comments:

* Bravo the Tory Party. I actually trust it to do their best for us.
* I’m heartened to read that response from the Tory Party
* Thank you Tory MSP’s. I trust the party will be vigilant when the SNP and Labour attempt to whitewash this affair.
* If this party was in charge, they would get more votes.
* One of the reasons why I voted Conservative for the first time in recent elections.
* That is the difference between a real political party and a shower of charlatans (SNP and Labour).
* Impressed with that response.
* That reply is very good. Hope they deliver.
* Good reply, The SNP could learn from the Unionist Tory Party.
* This is the result of voting Conservative in the Glasgow region. Don’t give SNP or Labour your votes, they despise Gers fans not like the Tory’s who love us.
* This is one of the reasons I voted conservative for the first time
* Excellent response. I don’t know why we don’t vote more conservative in Scotland.
* A good reply. Glad to see that we have someone our side.
* Best political response so far…..sadly maybe the only one. Sunday’s troubles and concerns should transcend politics.
* Excellent reply from the Tory party. It’s good to know we have politician’s in our corner. I may need some advice later.
* The Tory’s have just gained a vote for the next election. Bravo. But hopefully they will keep to their word and clamp down on the Ultra’s.

Read also:

https://caltonjock.com/2016/10/27/in-bed-with-the-unionist-scottish-tories-rangers-football-club-supporters-reveal-their-hand/

https://caltonjock.com/2016/11/05/teddy-bear-supporters-embraced-the-unionist-fear-campaign-in-the-2014-referendum-the-tory-party-is-hi-jacking-the-club-to-its-cause-rangers-fans-beware/

https://caltonjock.com/2016/12/02/glasgow-rangers-fans-westminster-unionists-or-scottish-patriots-if-you-know-their-history-you-wouldnt-have-to-ask-true-teddy-bears-are-wrap-themselves-in-the-saltire/

Claire Louise Roe

b1976 – Lived in Southend, England. Parents divorced and she returned to Scotland with her mother.

Son, Cameron Roe, b 2001. Raised child as a single mother.

2015: Married Neil Martin Imrie. Recently announced she was with child. Due Aug 2018.

Parents: Father: Michael David Roe: b1956, Southend-On-Sea, England. Prison Service Officer. Resides England.

Mother: Karen Fraser Lovie: b1955 Aberdeen, Scotland. Divorced. Re-married Gary Trimmer 2000. Employed Aberdeen Council. Resides Aberdeenshire.

Education: Thorpe Bay High School (Near Southend-On-Sea) Secondary Education

Voluntary Community Service:

C-Fine Enterprises Ltd. (http://www.cfine.org) Charity operates food banks, good neighbours schemes.
Aberdeen performing Arts Committee
Gordon Highlander Museum Committee
Macdonald Art Committee
Rubislaw Field Committee
Friends of Hazlehead Park

Politics:

Elected Councillor (Tory Party) for Queens Cross, Countesswells & Hazlehead, May 2017

Employment:

Jun 2017 – to date: Dishy Dogs Ltd. (production and retailing of spicy sausages. Owns and operates enterprise together with her husband Neil.

Jul – Sep 2016: Events Consultant. 11th Annual Asset Integrity Management Aberdeen.

Jan 2009 – Jun 2016: Clerical duties. The Wood Group.

2004 – 2013: Part time Photographic and fashion modelling for a number of Agencies.

1994 – 2003: No record of employment in 9 years. Aged 18 – 27 years old.

8 Mar 2018: The Baby Box Story

The baby Box story first appeared in the the Unionist local rag,  The Press & Journal quoting Louise saying:

“I am lucky enough not to require a box which, in my opinion should be provided only to those in most need. Aberdeen Council, of which I am a Councillor, produced a working budget for the current year with reduced resources unlike the SNP government who are insisting on the provision of unnecessary provisions such as baby boxes which should be means tested. I intend donating mine to the CFINE foodbank where I am a volunteer helper” (paraphrased)

Willie Young gets involved accusing the midwife of completing the application form then attempts to deny it!!!

Government and SNP Councillor Reply

A Scottish Government spokeswoman stated: “Every baby born and living in Scotland is entitled to a Baby Box, but parents must opt in to the scheme by registering at an existing midwife appointment, or via their family nurse.

“The registration form must be signed by both the parent and the healthcare professional to validate the claim.”

SNP Councillor Michael Hutchison said: “I fundamentally disagree with the principle of means testing the baby box, but let’s consider how absurdly impractical means testing would be.

“What sort of cut-off are the Tories and Jennifer Stewart suggesting? Would we be taking baby boxes back from mothers-to-be if they get a pay-rise before they give birth? Or would it be phased, with a few less [items] if you earn more, up until you just get an empty box?”

Unionist Councillor Supporters Have Their Say

She was backed by former Lib/Dem now Independent Councillor, Jennifer Stewart who called the boxes a “vanity project. Adding most people I know wouldn’t want to put their baby in a box and neither would I.”

Readers Have Their Say:

Comment: A background search of her wider family group reveals no evidence of any political preference, with one exception. Her husband Neil. A declared Unionist. Claire is extremely photogenic, as are the other Lovie ladies and it is not surprising she enjoyed a successful career as a model. She is a talented, well intentioned, hard working lady who should do well in politics, always provided she avoids petty political punch-ups; eg. the baby-box fiasco. Caroline Lucas (Green Party leader) would be a much better choice for her, as a role model than Ross Thomson.

Lauren Apfel – A lady of Principle

Lauren Apfel is married to Adam Tomkins (MSP.) They have 4 children, including one set of twins. Lauren is an American Jew. She was born in New York. The children are raised and schooled in the Jewish Faith.

Her parents Richard Apfel & Sharon Bickler were married in 1966. They had 3 children. The marriage ended when Lauren was still young.

Her father departed the scene to operate his own Media Services Company whilst Sharon went on to marry the brilliant head trauma safety expert, Dr CJ Abraham. The combined “new” family increased in size to around 8-9 in total and reside in Great Neck, New York.

Lauren was a very gifted scholar who graduated from a number of “Top” universities in the USA. She then moved to England attending Oxford University studying the classics, literature and ancient history. Her sister Gillian, also a gifted scholar is a senior diplomat with the US State Department and admires Hilary Clinton

Lauren met her future husband, Adam Tomkins at Oxford. She put a very promising career in journalism on hold so that she would be able to raise her ever increasing family giving them all of her attention, a sacrifice, gleaned from her writing she does not regret. She publishes an excellent magazine/blog for thinking mothers.

Tomkins himself was also a gifted scholar and has written and published many academic books/publications. His swearing an oath of allegiance to HM Queen Elizabeth at the time he took up politics with the Tory Party could be likened to the Pope expressing solidarity with the Ulster Unionists. A strange event indeed. The SNP would have been a better fit.

Lauren however has no doubts about the fit of her politics and the British royalty. They don’t and she is to be admired for her honesty. The article, written and published by Lauren is printed below. Happy reading indeed.

22 Jul 2013: Lauren Apfel takes Britain to task for allowing the continuation of a governmental system that relies on the existence of a Royal family – Princes Are for Fairy Tales

Am I the only person in the world today not going gaga over the arrival of the royal baby?

Don’t get me wrong: it’s not that I don’t like the royal baby. I’m sure His Royal Highness is practically perfect in every way, and I, too, will wait with bated breath for the release of his first picture spread. It’s that I don’t like the royal baby.

Maybe this is because I am an American in Britain who nurtures a homegrown belief in the principle of the republic despite living in a country manifestly the opposite. Maybe it’s because, as a longtime student of political philosophy, I have a distaste for unelected power. Or maybe it’s because, as a parent, I just don’t care for princes and princesses, whatever form they come in.

Americans use the phrase “British royalty” loosely. In the glossy magazines, the expression refers to celebrities whose fame and whose children’s names and faces have managed to cross the popularity divide of the Atlantic Ocean. But as much as we lump William and Kate together with, say, David and Victoria Beckham as examples of A-listers who hail from Britain, the quotation marks matter. The metaphor of royalty is different from its reality.

The reality is that this baby is not a Beckham or a McCartney or a Connery. He is a Windsor, and that is a surname that comes with serious consequences — perhaps not to people in the United States, where political position isn’t so overtly contingent on lineage, but to those of us who reside on this small island, and to our children’s standing as subjects, not citizens.

The truth of the matter is that British people are both subjects and citizens. Britain is a constitutional monarchy, with a prime minister who is elected and a queen who is not. Many Brits take comfort in the idea that the sovereign is a figurehead. They indulge in the pomp and circumstance of royalty, the jubilees and the garden parties, all the while knowing that their true interests are represented by a Parliament of their own choosing. But the influence of the Crown, as an institution, goes well beyond the symbolism of Victoria sponge cake.

For the queen is still the head of state, the public face of this nation, which is something my child can never be. Your American child, on the other hand, very well might. Every child in the United States who is a natural-born citizen has the potential to be president. This is an equality of opportunity for which our founding fathers fought hard. It is the point Johann Hari was making when he quipped: “The American head of state grew up with a mother on food stamps. The British head of state grew up with a mother on postage stamps.” It is also the point Jaime Moore was making when, in a stunning series of photographs, she posed her 5-year-old not as a princess, but as a candidate for the highest office in the land.

The existence of royalty raises a special problem for our daughters. We are awash in a “princess” culture, in which girls — very little girls — idolize a subset of characters distinguished mainly by their cinched waistlines, their ability to accessorize with a diadem, and an arbitrary title. Our daughters need real heroes to emulate, the argument goes: women who can be admired for their strength of purpose, their brains, their prowess. Women who can be admired for the fact that they have achieved their status as heroes precisely because of these qualities.

Alas, real princesses do not fall into this category, either. They have the capacity to achieve, of course, but their royal status is not dependent on it. For that, there is only inheritance or marriage. A princess, as Peggy Orenstein notes in her brilliant book “Cinderella Ate My Daughter,” is “special” and “elevated” by her mere existence. She doesn’t actually have to do anything, except perhaps look good.

Among the Cinderella-like attributes Ms. Orenstein lists as the ones young girls aspire to are the desire to “please everyone, be very thin and dress right.” This describes some of the members of the Disney pantheon, to be sure, but it also describes, to a tee, the features of Kate Middleton with which we are particularly obsessed — not to mention those of Princess Diana before her.

Now there is a new royal in town. Our continued, collective interest in the Prince of Cambridge will be because he is a celebrity baby, but it will also be because he is third in line to the British throne. This is why, even as a lover of birth announcements, my enthusiasm is damp at best.

The message royalty sends to our children — the one about meritocracy, just as much as the one about aesthetics — is all the more suspect when it comes in flesh and blood. Prince Charming, at least, can be explained away as so much make-believe. Which is exactly what I tell my own children: princes and princesses belong in fairy tales, not in real life.

https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/princes-are-for-fairy-tales/

http://www.beyondyourblog.com/podcast/byb-091-writing-for-motherwell-magazine-with-executive-editors-randi-olin-and-lauren-apfel/

https://caltonjock.com/2015/09/02/professor-adam-tomkins-a-visionary-or-a-plonker-the-scottish-jury-is-still-out-but-a-verdict-is-expected-very-soon-part-1/
https://caltonjock.com/2015/09/02/professor-adam-tomkins-a-visionary-or-a-plonker-the-scottish-jury-is-still-out-but-a-verdict-is-expected-very-soon-part-2/
https://caltonjock.com/2015/09/02/professor-adam-tomkins-a-visionary-or-a-plonker-the-scottish-jury-is-still-out-but-a-verdict-is-expected-very-soon-part-3/
https://caltonjock.com/2016/10/26/get-to-know-chancer-prof-adam-tomkins-the-tory-list-msp-is-the-brains-behind-the-scottish-tory-deferendum-campaign/