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Rinty · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject:

"It is, as you correctly point out, entirely up to the leadership of the SWP to decide what the SWP should do, and of course their members in Scotland will loyally follow every unprincipled twist and turn in the party line."

That may be how they work but I think it is wrong to label every decision a 'london' decision just because that is where their office is.

I took part in the negotiations that brought about Solidarity and can assure you that the SWP argued and agreed decisions at meetings without consulting with London. I can also tell you that they brought a statement of aims to the negotiations which included the bullet point "for an independent socialist scotland".

Red Justice · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:13 am Post subject:

Getting back to Tommy Sheridan I see STV put the cost of police investigation at almost a million pounds I take it in the Lothian & Borders area council tax payers would not approve of this use of police resources.

See Below:

stv news can reveal the perjury investigation into Tommy Sheridan has topped the million pound mark. Forty thousand police hours have been spent on the probe which is the first perjury case at Lothian and Borders in nine years. Crown Office figures suggest perjury cases arising out of civil trials are virtually non -existant.

As Tommy Sheridan's wife Gail and father in law Angus Healy became the latest to be charged with perjury - the socialist politican was in little doubt about whether the case is a political witch-hunt or Scottish justice in action.

He said: "We as a family are disgusted about the way we're being treated...I really want to raise the question how Lothian and Borders police can find the time and the resources to conduct this vendetta."

The duo joined five others - including Mr Sheridan - to be charged with lying under oath in the wake of his £200,000 defamation victory over the News of the World. It came after the paper printed lurid allegations about his private life.

Figures obtained by stv News appear to add weight to Mr Sheridan's charge. In the last five years the Crown Office has received 1.6 million reports from the police - only 40% of which went to court. Those which did resulted in the police charging just 61 people with perjury. It means just 0.01% of all those cases heard in Scotland's courts resulted in perjury charges. The number of convictions is even lower - at just 13.

It has also emerged the current investigation is the only one conducted by Lothian and Borders Police following a civil case in nearly a decade and that it has spent around £1 million on police salaries alone.

The decision on whether or not those charged with perjury in this case face prosecution rests at the Crown Office. They must decide whether there's enough evidence and, crucially, whether it is in the public interest to push ahead. It is fair to say whatever their decision is - it will be closely scrutinised.
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jimtrot · No Longer a Wean Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 60

Rinty · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:54 pm Post subject:

"here's me thinkin that this was a bill put forward by an SSP MSP since it was party policy and all the time it sprang fully grown from the Great Leader's brow."

Dont know where you get that idea from, I would be firmly in the camp, with you, that would argue that this is more than just a bill in Tommy's name.

Officially, however, bills are in the MSPs name and not the party's name. I refer to the free prescription bill as Colin Fox's bill even though more people than him are involved.

If you were atempting a clumsy accusation of me seeing Tommy as a 'the great leader' then you have got me wrong Jim. Mst people will see it as Tommy Sheridans bill but it ws, as you point out, arrived at through the work of other people who are in the SSP, Solidarity and neither.

????