Monday 9 June 2008

A Walk to Remember...

Alex Salmond and Bertie the walrus
I do remember recently reading an "in-depth" interview in the Church of Scotland's magazine 'Life and Work' with Alex Salmond. The picture on the front made him look cheery in a warm and friendly kind of way. If you were to have shuvved two pens in his top lip he'd have done a cracking impression of a great big happy walrus. I like that. It's cute. (Do not fear, I shall stay well- clear of the many fish jokes I could insert if I felt so inclined.) But the interview, a disappointing read for many reasons, was cut short because the FM needed to have a sandwich. I paused and stopped breathing for a second or two as I flicked back to the front cover and thought to myself, "Do you really think he needs another sandwich...?!" It really upset me.


And so i was delighted that George Foulkes recently invited him for a walk down the High Street of Edinburgh to meet and greet constituents. This of course came after Alex quite unfairly said "If George Foulkes bothered to see his constituents..." at FMQ's last week, despite the fact that that very morning George had met dozens of them at the protest to keep creches open. I understand why the Nats have a problem with George. It's because he is a political threat to the Nationalists, proved by the fact the SNP have a go at him at every possible opportunity. However, one thing he certainly can't be blamed for is meeting his constituents.

When was the last time Alex met his?

I doubt he'd meet many in his Ministerial car which he takes rather than walk 200 yards... What does that say about a person? How arrogant is that??? That's what upsets me most about it. He never answers a question in the chamber, and he never takes a walk on his own or uses public transport. Is it because he's scared? Jack McConnell would regularly walk into town, so security isn't an issue.

I think it's an awful shame that people who put themselves up and up so much don't actually like themselves. They love causes and people to compensate for not actually loving themselves. It's really sad and I see it so much in him.

He never takes responsibility. Never takes account.

I hope he takes a walk with George. I think he could do with seeing just a bit for what life is actually like for people.

When will he noticed that people aren't 'freed' with nationalism, but with education and health care? They're the real challenges, the real borders.

I would love to see the day this walk happens, as long as it doesn't lead to a jogging club. I'd hate to have to see them both in spandex...

Bring on the day when Alex puts his feet on the real ground. The ground of people. The ground of reality. The ground of Scotland.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear Matt - first you write a long piece about the independence referendum (yes, some of us spotted it), then delete it hours later as the Labour position disintegrated into farce, then you vanish from the blogosphere for weeks...

...and now you're back with yet more Salmond-bashing, and deleting a comment that fairly and squarely nailed you. If you're going to dish it out, then please be prepared to take it.

In a way I wouldn't be surprised if Salmond were scared to walk the streets of Edinburgh - given the sheer level of vitriol and personal hatred directed at him from people like you on a daily basis.

And if you object so strongly to Salmond's performance at FMQ's, can we have your views on Brown's performance in the Westminster version?

Matt's Mic said...

Wowowowowo....

Ok. Let's all calm down here....!

I deleted that blog about half an hour after I put it up. It wasn't appropriate or fair on Wensy Alexander to comment so personally on her stance, when to be honest, I didn't really at that time know what it was.

As the party's position is now clearer, I shall blog about my opposition to a referendum in due course. Just for you... ;)

Can I also say that dissapearing from the 'blogosphere' was nothing to do with the referendum or national state of the party, but rather that blogging slipped in my priorities. I am now seeing why...

I think Brown has been quite good at PMQ's, and he does deal with the points at hand, unlike Salmond, who quite often responds with a completely irrelevant point. For example, a question on health care being replied with a statement on Iraq. That level of debate is depressing.

Let's SPREAD THE LOVE PEOPLE!!!

Anonymous said...

"It wasn't appropriate or fair on Wensy Alexander to comment so personally on her stance, when to be honest, I didn't really at that time know what it was."

Fair enough - at the time Wendy didn't really know what it was from hour to hour either... :-)

For what it's worth, I agree to a point about Salmond at FMQs - while it's amusing to watch him stomp all over Wendy and co, he does need to adopt a more statesmanlike approach. The public know that he's head and shoulders a more substantial politician than probably anyone else at Holyrood, but he risks coming across as a bully as a result once the honeymoon period is over.

Really though you should take the blinkers off about Brown's performance at PMQs. He has a very nasty habit of ignoring the question being asked, and instead trying to pose one back.

It's really rather odd that he's getting so thoroughly skewered week after week by Cameron, as the 1990s model Gordon Brown was a rather impressive Parliamentary performer. Perhaps he's now paying the price for 10 years at Treasury Questions where his junior ministers would be deployed at every opportunity - as PM there's no longer a hiding place from the tough questions. Or perhaps he just looks especially poor in comparison with Blair?

Anonymous said...

Were you ever called names at school Matt? If you were it probably wasn't a very nice experience. Don't bring playground tactics into political debate. It's childish!

Spread the love? Not like this..

madeemcp said...

yeah matt your pish but i think your sis is well hot.these people are clearly just lesbians who enjoy wearing sandals and kaftans in their free time.