Our Scotland - www.our-scotland.org

Reluctant Hero

I'll wait to see how this one pans out before passing judgement However, if Salmond can waive the requirement for NI students to pay the endowment fee so willy nilly, then why doesn't he just do it for the whole of the UK. There doesn't seem to be much thought behind it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6767163.stm

Ministers sign cooperation pact

Northern Ireland and Scotland have pledged to work together on tourism, education, renewable energy and strengthening cultural ties.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and his NI counterparts, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, signed the agreement at Stormont.

Mr Salmond said his visit to Northern Ireland had exceeded expectations.

He also revealed that Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness will make a reciprocal visit to Edinburgh in the autumn.

"We have made progress across a number of areas," the Scottish first minister said.

"This has been a very useful trip which has exceeded our expectations. We are now going to get down to the nitty gritty of working together on issues like education, transport, tourism, and we will also be working with Wales.

Joint committees

"I think there is a realisation that this is a far better way for the devolved administrations to do business.

"Given the series of misunderstandings that have existed between Scotland and Westminster and Wales and Westminster, we are arguing that the resurrection of joint-ministerial committees involving the three devolved administrations and the government in London is a good way forward.

"I also believe the next prime minister will also prefer this way of decision-making."

Mr Salmond also agreed to look at the possibility of Northern Ireland students attending universities in Scotland benefiting from his executive's decision last week to scrap the £2,000 endowment fee paid after graduation.

The two devolved governments will also look at building links between universities and colleges, and ferry links, including the summer service between Campbeltown on the west coast of Scotland and Ballycastle, County Antrim.

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gordon899 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:09 am Post subject:

i just hope that mr. salmond is going to be a wee bit more ambitous, strenghening ties with ulster is not exactly something to get excited about. then 2 ask 2 mad bigots over here sticks in my throat a wee bit. maybe i'm too cynical of how narrow minded the people of ulster are. i don't know, i jst think some ambition is needed.

Holebender · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:47 am Post subject:

I believe Mr. Salmond's ambitions stretch to independence for Scotland. Haven't you heard?
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gordon899 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:02 am Post subject:

SLG · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:43 am Post subject:

I think Salmond is playing this perfectly. No grand trips around the world. Concentrate on building the relationships that really matter at home first. His position in dealings with Westminster is severely strengthened if he can show a united front with the other devolved institutions.

gordon899 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:46 am Post subject:

his position is strenghened cos he has 2 uber-bogots onside. i thnk not. on a global scale ulster is nothing more than an embaressment to us all and to be seen as being allied to them i think is not clever.

SLG · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:50 am Post subject:

We are not working on a global scale though Gordon. We are working on an internal UK scale. And on this level, these two 'uber-bigots' have been elected by the people of NI to take charge of their devolved government. You might not want to respect that and would prefer remote rule from London, but most do accept it and luckily it is them that Salmond has to deal with and not you.

gordon899 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:14 am Post subject:

we are not working on a global scale, lets make pacts with the bigots who are 20 mins away on a plane. i'm sorry but it is not exactly inspirational. i'm fine with some responsability remaining in london, it is our uk capital and where the world looks to when liasing with the uk. that is good for scotland.

SLG · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:20 am Post subject:

It's not meant to be inspirational, it's about making progress towards a better system of government for Scotland.

gordon899 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:28 am Post subject:

tell me, what exactly can ANY poloitician in ulster possible offer us in terms of better govenance. let me think, hatred, bigotyr, murder, hidden agendas.

now if salmond had said he was going to france or italy or the US to find new and better ways to govenr then i would say good. but ulster, naw, f**k that.

SLG · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:03 pm Post subject:

gordon899 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:40 pm Post subject:

SLG · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:13 pm Post subject:

Well because that staunch unionist is still in favour of certain additional powers to be devolved to the NI assembly. The Welsh FM is also in favour of additional power being devolved. Salmond believes that the three devolved governments working together will make this more acheivable and hence make progress towards his vision for Scotland.

I don't think Salmond it trying to takle the 'madness of the idiots in ulster', he is just trying to work with them in areas of mutual interest.

Zac · On A Journey (500 Miles) Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 32

Big mistake Salmond getting into bed with Paisley and McGuinness - these two are both scum and have blood on their hands.

gordon899 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:41 pm Post subject:

Jimbo · Our Scotland = 2nd Job! Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 1086

So Gordon and Zac,

do you think Salmond should just ignore these two leaders of NI and take nothing to do with that region of the UK? Do you think that now it is being run by democratically elected 'uber-bigots' with 'blood on their hands' we should perhaps take sanctions against NI and treat them like the democratically elected party Hamas?

Don't you think it would be better strengthening our ancient historic relationship with that area for the betterment of our country and theirs?

I didn't see either of you on this board complaining about Blair's dealings with Gaddafi.

William_Cleland · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:47 pm Post subject:

A lot of people sound off about Ulster on here who clearly know very little about the place. Ian Paisley actually has a reputation as a good constituency MP who has done a lot for predominantly Roman Catholic communities in North Antrim and even gained some votes on that basis just as the SDLP sometimes get Unionist votes in preference to Sinn Fein when Unionist candidates have no hope of winning.
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Avatar · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:50 pm Post subject:

Its a very clever move, once he has allied himself with NI and Wales for the purpose of "negotiating" with Westminster - hes no longer seen as a stray nationalist picking fights - with the backing of the Welsh and N'Irish devolved institutions it gives him the kind of credibility that Bliar, Brown and Cameron could only dream of.
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gordon899 · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:48 am Post subject:

Holebender · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:24 am Post subject:

So we should just sit in our ivory towers and be virtuous, without solving any of the world's problems. The bad people can all go to Hell as long as we don't get our hands dirty, ever.

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"My instinct is to agree with your opinion of his verse, but I've never so much as glanced at it." - agentmancuso