Let’s be clear from the off, Craig Whyte is not your friend. He was not the man who “murdered” Rangers any more than Alasdair Johnston, his accuser, who was paid to ensure the club was run in an appropriate manner in the years prior to its crash into liquidation.
If Whyte has your job, your pension or your wellbeing in his hands, you would likely fair no better than those who have had the misfortune to be vulnerable to his exploitative nature before. He is the worst manifestation of our corporate system.
As yesterday’s verdict at Glasgow High Court established, he was merely a collaborative player in the drama which saw Murray Group shed its liabilities to Rangers fans into an all-too certain, and limited, future.
The SFA were right to quickly fine and sine die Whyte, despite the fact that he has no inclination to become involved in football again. What the Association must now do is examine the role of those who had explicit and executive oversight responsibility of managing Rangers through the process of its decline and sale to a character with a lengthy corporate irresponsibility charge sheet.
Whyte was not in any way a bad choice for the job required at Rangers. For those with most to gain, he was the perfect choice. He was, in fact, the only choice, if the desired result was to be delivered – and it was.
No one else would have had the stomach to pick up a corporate basket case, manoeuvring bank debt, securitising years of ticket sales, brazingly stiffing public service funding, and in doing so, freeing Murray Group from a disabling liability.
What do I care? I predicted, then watched, Rangers inevitable crash into administration and liquidation. Patience and thick skin was all that was required through the years of bravado from Ibrox. Those who shouted down the glaringly obvious in support of these charlatans have been shown up as malleable accomplices.
There is one outstanding matter I do care about. In my opinion, Sir David Murray did not discharge his duties as the ultimate controlling director of Rangers FC in a responsible manner. If there is one issue which every Scottish football fan can unite on, it is surely this.
The deplorable sequence of events at that club, from it’s exploitation of the Employee Benefit Trust scheme to pay millionaires tax free sums through a system which was designed to allow employers to aid staff through periods of hardship.
To its submissions to the SFA on taxable overdue. To the shredding of correspondence, and failure to disclose other correspondence.
Rangers were a huge influence on our game; on the SFA, the SPL, the media, and more. The executives concerned had placemen who protected them. The SFA must now charge those responsible for bringing the game into disrepute.
More sine die punishments would mean little to men who are already finished with the game, but it would be a hugely significant act of faith towards the paying public, of all colours. It is time for us all to unite against the men who really did sell the jerseys.
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GG –
camu camu is a good drug to take. The organic was horrific to taste – means its better…IMO
GG
I didnae want to lose Mumski.
I know she won’t be a Noah type but…… I need her here for as long as possible.
I Do actually Kerr.
So the polls are opening soon in UK.
I don’t have a horse in the race so I don’t care to pass an opinion.
But, of course there’s a BUT,
I will watch with interest as the results unfold tomorrow night.
The witching hour approaches and my pumpkin awaits in the wings.
Goodnight and God bless.
INVINCIBLE ‘GG
That’s a cracking post you dug up. Looking at the timeline,Jacko and Jabba,et al,were still convinced he was a billionaire.
As someone said on here at the time-and I really wish I could remember who,he deserves the credit!-he wasn’t even a thousandaire!
I noted that in amongst Boris Nutalls slighting of Muslims, refugees and the Quran yesterday he also had a wee dig at Diane Abbott.
Here is what Diane Anbott has wasted her time doing for us.
By Jack Monroe
This is not a recipe. I wrote this as a series of tweets today and readers asked for it as a blog post, so here it is. Our politics may differ, so feel free to skip straight back to the recipes if that’s what you’re here for.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DIANE ABBOTT.
Right one of us political writer people needs to do this and it looks like it’s me. Grab a seat. I wanna talk about Diane.
Diane was first elected as an MP in 1987, the year before I was born. She has been dedicated to serving the British public for longer than I have even been alive. Hold that thought. Understand it.
Diane was the first black woman to have a seat in the House of Commons. She MADE HISTORY. Her father was welder, her mother a nurse. How many working class kids do we have in politics these days? Fuck all, really.
Diane went to Cambridge University to study history. IN THE SEVENTIES. In 2017 only 15 black kids went to Cambridge. Sit down and listen.
Diane worked for the Home Office in 1976. She was so smart they put her on a course to fast-track her career. (I’m just getting started.)
Diane was Race Relations Officer at the National Council for Civil Liberties from 1978 to 1980. (Big fucking job. Bet you couldn’t do it.)
Diane was a TV researcher and reporter from 1978 to 1985. I know a lot of those. They’re fast thinkers, avid fact hounds, brilliant minds.
Diane’s political career began in 1982, on Westminster City Council. Then in 1987, I’ll say it again, she became the first black female MP.
In 2008, her speech on civil liberties in the counterterrorism debate won Parliamentary Speech Of The Year in the Spectator awards.
That speech is here. Watch it, and then come back. https://t.co/qNMvtilMa1
She founded the Black Child initiative, to raise educational achievements among black kids. She shared her damn platform.
She’s been the Shadow Minister for Public health, working tirelessly to tackle Tory cuts to children’s services, maternity care, all of it.
In September 2011, the Telegraph called her ‘one of Labours best frontbench performers’. The same Telegraph now monsters her for clicks.
Diane was one of 16 MPs to write to Miliband in 2015 asking him to commit to opposing further austerity measures. She did that for all of us. Diane was one of a tiny handful of MPs to defy the Labour whip and vote AGAINST Tory austerity cuts. Those cuts are KILLING people.
Diane has consistently voted against a reduction in spending on benefits. She has consistently voted for and campaigned for higher benefits over longer periods for people unable to work due to illness/disability.
In March she raised the issue of cuts to domestic violence services, in the House of Commons: “women and children are turned away daily”.
Diane has campaigned to help unaccompanied migrant children travelling from Greece and Italy.
Diane is a skilled orator, a quick thinker, a glorious debater, a genuine public servant and a thoroughly decent woman. I mean reading through Hansard right now is a delight, some of her points and comebacks are glorious. And brilliant. And strong.
31st Jan 2017 – demanding to know why ESOL funding was being cut while the immigration debate focused on the importance of integration…
She has spoken on Leveson, terrorism, education, poverty, welfare, illness, disability, refugees, child sexual abuse, pro-choice abortion. Her campaigns include legal aid, civil liberties, fighting crime, sickle cell thallasemia, public transport, improving education. She has given speeches at Harvard University, for Christ’s sake. Have you? She has travelled to Kenya, China, Uganda, all over the world, representing the Government. Representing Britain. HAVE YOU?
And how, how has this brilliant, bright, dedicated, little black girl been thanked for 30 years of daily service to our country?
Like this. This is how you repay her. She gets this EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. FOR. THIRTY. YEARS.
Now most of us cannot imagine what that level of abuse must be like as a one-off, let alone every single day. Let me help you with that.
I’ve been in the public eye for the last 5 years. I get abuse every single day too, but I’d imagine it’s not a tenth of what Diane gets. But let me tell you about it, and you can multiply it by ten to get some idea. Not much of an idea, as it’s not happening to you, but try.
Online abuse has made me suicidal more than once. I have taken the pills. I have stood on the train bridge. I have been driven insane. I have had periods where I have been unable to work because I am such a wreck from sustained hatred and vitriol. I have lost work. I have been literally driven insane by hatred from strangers. It interrupts, it diverts, it permeates, it seeps in, you bullying bastards. It’s there when you’re reading bedtime stories to your kids. It strangles you in your sleep. It follows you in your hand, in your head. It slowly destroys you from the inside, a rot starts to set in. You become scared to say anything, scared to be anyone. You hide. You cry.
Imagine 30 years of getting up every day and putting your suit on and going back to work to make life better for your abusers despite them.
Imagine being tough enough to withstand people hurling metaphorical rocks at you every day and to still work to improve their lives.
Imagine the dedication required to give 30 years in service to people who regularly tell you to die.
Diane Abbott is tougher than any one of you sitting here making your lame memes from behind anonymous screens. She is a titan. A pioneer.
Diane Abbott is here for women, children, food bank users, nurses, students, mothers, disabled people, refugees, every single one of us.
Diane is one of the very best members of Parliament you could EVER hope to have to stand up for you, and you have her, & you better hold her. Because if the Tories get back in tomorrow my god we are going to need Diane more than ever to stand up to their callous, brutal austerity.
If we have five more years of cuts and cruelty, we need five more years of one of its strongest opponents to face it down. We need Diane.
And so tomorrow, Stoke Newington & Hackney, go out and vote for the Diane Abbott who has worked for you for 30 years. Without hesitation.
And as someone who has also done a lot of telly, we all cock up on breakfast sofas. It’s a horrible situation but unless you’ve been there, unless you’ve tried to answer three different questions in 15 seconds to 2million people with 6 cameras in your face before a cup of tea, you can sit down, shut up, and stop criticising people whose jobs and lives you really know bugger all about.
I’ll end this by saying – this took a few minutes of research through news archives, Wikipedia, Hansard and TheyWorkForYou. Not tabloids. Her achievements and voting record are extremely simple to find. They’re handily above. Maybe read those, not the front pages of the Mail.
I conclude by wishing Diane some well-earned rest, and all the success tomorrow. Thankyou for all you do, for all of us, every single day.
With love, as a mother, a disabled person, a former food bank user,
Jack Monroe.
MOONBEAMS MWD
Great stuff, unlikely to reach the audience it deserves though. Take care everyone, it’s about to get a bit tough for everyone of us.
HH
Good morning CQN from a grey, cool and dampish East Devon.
Good morning friends from a thick cloud covered, breezy but dry East Kilbride.
Very dark , windy and wet here in Salford too. Weather not too clever either.
On the One Road to Vegas…
Sittimg at GLA now -hoops everywhere :-)
Yeeehaaaa!!CSC
Word of The Day (What happens when the money runs out?)
obumbrate [ob-uhm-breyt]
verb (used with object), obumbrated, obumbrating.
1. to darken, overshadow, or cloud.
adjective
2. overshadowed, darkened.
Origin of obumbrate
1505-15; < obumbrātus, past participle of obumbrāre; see obumbrant, -ate1
KTF
hi bhoys good morning from a damp west cheshire just going to cast my vote for a socialist republic hail hail.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DIANE ABBOTT.
==========================================
Even Jeremy begs to differ.
He has decided that we need to STOP talking about Diane Abbott .
On the eve of an election
Here`s your jotters , Diane.
NEXT ! !
Jeremy.
If you cant run your party , you cant run the country.
Regards, Boris.
Wish we could have posts about Celtic or matters consistent with the Celtic ethos. Signing off in digust. HH
VFR800 IS NOW A MONSTER 821 on 7TH JUNE 2017 1:45 PM
Thank you indeed for your kind wishes.
We will , I`m afraid , have to disagree in relation to ” getting a immigrant gallon out of a resident pint pot “.
( Pre WW 1 a tad modified )
Nevertheless , your sincerity in the point of view you hold is respected .
Hope your day goes well , although I hae ma doots.
Gooooood morning CQN
Looks like Diego Costa is available :-)
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 8TH JUNE 2017 8:15 AM
HH Macjay; my day will go well. Labour probably won’t get a victory but I suspect that he Tories will have no overall majority. That will be enhanced if wee Jimmy Crankie gets a skelping in Alba as well. SNP are going to lose seats as they are operating from a very high level, so that’s (IMHO) inevitable.
As far as the disagreement goes, that’s part of the appeal TBH; though I did think you were operating at around 65% yesterday, so I can only give you 65% respect for that! 😎
Have a great day!
KTF
A few comments on the start of the transfer window: it opens in Scotland tomorrow so anyone signed by the Orcs from tomorrow onwards can play in their
doomedforthcoming Europa League <financial disaster campaign.KTF
Boris Johnson the best the “elite” have to offer, if it wasn’t for the centuries of inbreeding he’d be pumping gas at the Duelling Banjo Petrol Station in Dalry…..
VFR800 IS NOW A MONSTER 821 on 8TH JUNE 2017 8:26 AM
Marvellous.
We agree about the SNP.
Brexit Boris will make Britain safe again.
God willing.
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 8TH JUNE 2017 8:32 AM
Well, that’s. my cover blown! 🙄
Nicola Sturgeon is one of the most disingenuous politicians to surface recently IMHO; fitting though that she leads the SNP!
KTF
And we think the huns are thick..
Deary me…
Starry
Aye, the brits will vote in a party that has decemated the heath service, reduced the police so much that terrorists can kill at will, reduced services to such a degree that pensioners are freezing to death in their homes, I could go on and on, yet we have some on here who laud them, the mind boggles so it does.
HH
THE EXILED TIM
I’ll give the blog a miss the day my old mate, the mind boggles as you say…
May the best man win:))
HH
Jeremy Corbyn is soft on terrorism.
Why because he speaks the truth and has done for decades about the tragic consequences of Britain’s Great Colonial adventures.
Teresa May, she knows how to deal with terrorism.
Yes selling multiple millions worth of arms to those wonderful liberal Democrats and bastion of tolerance The Saudis
I know who I would trust.
Up to you citizens of the UK but a victory for Labour would be a huge step towards making Britain and the world a fairer and safer place.
Alternatively coming down the road is the true face of right wing conservatism. ..too old or sick to work? Ok just starve. ..next
The commentary on Diane Abbott by Jack Monroe was salutory but will have little effect.
We get the politics, and the football we deserve.
We have shown, over the past few years, a desire for our politics to be Presidential regardless of the fact that we ain’t a Republic and we ain’t being promised a republic. We want a bland, vaguely handsomish youthful middle-aged thrusting safe pair of hands as our leader to do it all and take responsibility away from us.
We used to vote for parties and principles and even joined or affiliated to them through allied organisations. We used to live and care about politics. Now, we want “strong leaders” and “tight discipline” and “fiscal discipline”. We want sado-masochistic policies that will hurt us and make us grateful for being hurt.
We are ashamed to disclose our preferences, so the Tory vote is always under-represented in polls. It is the vote that dare not speak it’s name because it is an admission of selfishness and “I’m alright, Jack”.
Our voting preferences and our viewing of the main figures is hugely influenced by the media barons that want us to be ashamed of being poor and aspirrational to ape the lifestyle of the wasteful and idle rich. And, if anyone thinks they are above such influence, ask yourself why rich white right-wing men want to run loss-making newspapers and TV news propaganda outlets, which are subsidised by theor non-fiction shows. They want to influence your democratic vote to their way of thinking.
The Fox Fake News movement is on its way here. Even the neutral BBC has had to acccept the likes of Nick Robinson and Laura Kuennsberg as their price to the Tories for license renewal. And their voices and demands will only get louder.
We ask a lot of our public representatives. They work long hours. They sacrifice family life. They are asked to deal with huge social problems, often beyond their power to resolve. They get ridiculed for mis-steps in remembering figures as if politics was a game show quiz or a final exam rather than a means of planning to help society become fairer and kinder. If Diane Abbott was exhausted by the pressures of the campaign trail, she has my sympathy, as does any Tory who stumbles or falls under this inhuman pressure to move around their constituency constantly, because if they are not seen they will not be voted for, no matter how good they may be. We vote for the ubiquitous and the publicity hungry rather than the fair law maker.
Politicians deserve every ounce of ridicule they got for the Expenses scandals, cash for questions, and taking us into wars at the bequest of foreign powers, but, if we applied to ourselves the standards we apply to these elected punchbags, we would all come up short.
I intend to go out and vote for people who want to promote fairness and decency. Then, I want to hold them to account as an active citizen.
I do not want to elect a Press-proclaimed “strong” leader who will do it all for me so I can abdicate my responsibilities and let them get on with it without bothering my pretty little head and ending up disgusted and voting for a change, any change.
And you better believe that this is a football post too, because we get the football punditry and administration that we allow too. That too is our responsibility and, currently, our shame.
Vote for Good People!
I hope some of our Rutherglen residents have an alibi for this
Local emperor campaigns in Rutherglen
Not voted as yet.
No candidate or any of their campaigners in my area had the nouse to once chap my door.
Why should I go to the effort for them?
MWD
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX
The Heat Of Lisbon has gone to someones head, the big head I mean:))
Naked In Rutherglen High Street, got to be a movie in there somewhere!
Morning Celts
Election Day.
Being somewhat anarchistic by nature, i dont usually bother to vote, however, today i will vote Labour.
Certainly not down to Kezia….but Jeremy Corbyn is a one-off in modern politics, the nearest to socialism we can get. He is a decent guy with a bit of compassion, heart in the right place.
The alternative is horrific….full scale assault on the NHS and the poorest and weakest in society.
A government of Millionaires who want to stamp on the face of the weak and unfortunate….despicable bigots.
FK the Tories.
HH
MOONBEAMSWD on 8TH JUNE 2017 9:15 AM
Not voted as yet.
No candidate or any of their campaigners in my area had the nouse to once chap my door.
Why should I go to the effort for them?
MWD
—-
That doesn’t matter. It’s up to you to make your vote count. If you don’t vote you surrender your right to mump and moan for the next 5 years.
Starry Plough
“And we think the huns are thick..”
They are but……..not exclusively so and today millions will prove my point.
JJ
” If you don’t vote you surrender your right to mump and moan for the next 5 years.”
Really? Why is that then?
JJ
Im being serious here.
If these Tory bigots keep going with the same intensity…lining their pockets at the expense of the majority and making the poor pay for the criminality of bankers.
There will be trouble.
You cannot continually grind people down intentionally, without a backlash.
HH
It’s an opinion.
http://votingcounts.org.uk/why-should-you-vote-html
My friends in Celtic,
It’s great to see the happiness and enjoyment on various Facing Book sites of all the lucky fans who are in Vegas. I hope that those eligible to vote have made the necessary arrangements.
I also hope that they reflect on the fact that some of the tunes could have them facing charges in Scotland under the odious OB act.
As this is a football blog, a Celtic blog; I hope they have cast their votes accordingly.
Hail, hail.