No Alternative?
A few days ago the G8 Alternatives organisation received a letter from SNP leader Alex Salmond. In the letter Alex backed their demand for the right to demonstrate at Gleneagles.
How ironic now that an SNP controlled council have effectively banned the march by demanding up to £5million insurance cover before it can go ahead. They have also called for it to be limited to 4500 people.
And former front-bench MSP Roseanna Cunningham - supposedly on the left wing of the party - has backed them.
BBC News
SNP MSP for Perth Roseanna Cunningham said: "I would ask G8 Alternatives to accept the decision of the police and the council, however unhappy they might be about it.
"The council's request that the Scottish Executive pick up the cost of insurance is, in my view, a completely legitimate demand.
"It would be utterly inappropriate for the local people of Perth and Kinross to have to foot the bill for any damage caused, however inadvertently."
This is typical of the SNP. In Glasgow they claim the mantle of Red Clydeside, whilst in the suburbs they are neo-liberals. In the schemes of Edinburgh they are radicals whilst in rural Perthshire they are the same old tartan tories. Oh and guess what? They are now looking at ending their opposition to the House of Lords and donning the ermine, all in the interests of the Scottish people no doubt Lord Salmond of Buchan.
The Herald describe the outcome as a "a dangerous, as well as a depressing, development" and it's editorial lambasts the attack on free speech that the decision represents. It also makes some sensible points that G8 Alternatives have repeatedly made, that the safest thing to do is to allow the protest to go ahead with a march that goes past Gleneagles hotel, but not to the village of Auchterarder. "It is in the interests of the organisers, councillors and the people of Auchterarder for the rally to be well-managed and go off peacefully. If it cannot go ahead because of insurance costs, there is a risk that disparate groups, with perhaps a different agenda, could converge on the town. An unorganised, spontaneous event would serve only the interests of those intent on making mayhem."
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