Strontium Dog wrote:So it turns out that dangerously backwards-looking nationalists are dangerous and backwards...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-33959450

GM crop ban 'threatens research' say scientists

Sense About Science is closely linked to individuals who have become prominent in public debate and occupy board positions in areas of medical and agricultural science and public health. They were all in the splinter group RCP in the 1970s. Their magazine was ‘Living Marxism’, which became simply ‘LM’, then transformed into the online site Spiked. There are of course lots of left-wing sects in the UK, and they all have their own papers. Lots of them practised entrism, or the covert infiltration of existing parties or groups. But a big difference here is that this group, the so-called ‘LM Network’, are on not even vaguely Marxist. They are on the extreme, libertarian right. The other difference is that, unlike the other myriad leftist splinter groups, members of the LM Network are now extremely influential.

Anti-capitalist writer George Monbiot first started investigating the LM Network in the late 1990s when they were starting to gain positions in various think tanks. He has established their links to far-right groups such as the Center for Defense of Free Enterprise and the Cato Institute. Their virulently anti-green views were aired in a 3-part Channel 4 documentary in 1998; it provoked hundreds of complaints and was eventually ruled to be misleading and distorted, forcing the broadcaster to issue an apology. Monbiot describes their position on GM as ‘far to the right of the government . . . even to the right of some of the industry lobby groups . . . more extreme than Monsanto or Europa Bio or people like that.’

[...]

the LM Network which is behind Sense About Science has long had links with the corporate lobby for genetic modification, as well as the nuclear and anti-green lobbies. Another front organisation, the Science Media Centre, tried to bring a BBC documentary off the air because it looked at the issue of GM contamination. If you look at the anti-GM open letter sent to the Scottish government you’ll see Rothamstead Research on there. This was where, in 2012, protestors attempted to destroy the GM crops, with one partially succeeding; he was tried and charged £4,000. Sense About Science responded with the ‘Don’t Destroy Research’ campaign, complete with public petition, VIP quotes and videos of ‘stay-at-home mums’ backing GM research. Just as well there was all that public support, as the taxpayer-funded research council provided an extra £1.7m for extra security. In the end the GM trials being carried out there eventually reported, showing no positive results at all.

In this worrying context, then, it’s worth commending the Scottish government on their firm GM stance. The open letter is almost entirely concerned with the effect the ban will have on cutting-edge research – but it’s a ban on cultivation, not research. The letter is pure spin, and either the scientists signed up to it know this or they’ve been hoodwinked by a slick PR exercise. Scotland’s agricultural strengths are in its diversity – for instance, seed potatoes, of which many blight-resistant strains are produced here through conventional means. The introduction of corporate GM cultivation would mean monoculture – the opposite of what we should be aiming for. With a virulently pro-GM government in Westminster, and the threat of TTIP’s ‘regulatory harmonization’ round the corner, we can take some solace in the Scottish government’s decision not to heed the spin of this powerful lobby.

In Scotland GM crop research is carried out at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee. When asked for comment they confirmed that Sense About Science had asked if they would sign the letter, but the institute declined, as they ‘felt the wording wasn’t the best’ and intend to ‘focus on the consultation’.

The SNP will set out the timescale for a possible second referendum on independence in its manifesto for next year's Scottish Parliament election.

But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would only hold another referendum if she was confident she would win.

Opposition parties accused Ms Sturgeon of breaking her "once-in-a-generation" referendum promise.

Scots rejected independence by 55% to 45% in last year's referendum held on 18 September.

Since last year's result, the SNP has gained thousands of new members and won 56 of Scotland's 59 seats in May's general election.

Ms Sturgeon has come under increased pressure to clarify her position on a second vote ahead of the party's conference in Aberdeen next month.

The Scottish government will not do a deal with Westminster over human rights, Nicola Sturgeon has said, as the first minister laid to rest suggestions that SNP MPs might abstain on Conservative plans to scrap the Human Rights Act in exchange for a Scottish bill of rights.

In a speech that the Liberty director, Shami Chakrabarti, described as “an incredibly important intervention”, Sturgeon said Holyrood would oppose any weakening of human rights protections across the whole of the UK, not just in Scotland.

The first minister told an audience in Glasgow: “We would have no interest and no truck whatsoever in doing a deal with Westminster which leaves rights intact here in Scotland but dilutes them in other parts of the country or, as is perhaps more likely, protects human rights on devolved issues but not on reserved issues.”

In what will be seen by many as a clear indication that human rights trump nationalism, Sturgeon said: “To put it bluntly, there are no circumstances in which my party’s MPs will choose to view this as an English-only issue and opt to abstain. Human rights, after all, are not English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish rights – they are universal rights.”

Sturgeon also repeated the pledge first made in the Scottish parliament by the justice secretary, Alex Neil, that her government would withhold legislative consent on the Conservative proposals to scrap the 1998 act.

“It is inconceivable – given the breadth of support which the Human Rights Act commands across the Scottish parliament – that such consent would be granted. The Scottish government will certainly advocate that it is not granted,” she told the Pearce Institute in Govan.

Under devolution legislation, acts of the Scottish parliament and decisions of Scottish ministers must comply with the European convention on human rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. To further complicate matters, although the act is reserved, human rights issues are devolved. This creates two different human rights regimes across the UK, which could technically act as a lock on Westminster moves.

ronmcd wrote:

Strontium Dog wrote:So it turns out that dangerously backwards-looking nationalists are dangerous and backwards...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-33959450

GM crop ban 'threatens research' say scientists

Fascinating.

The Murky Front Group Pushing GM on Scotland

Sense About Science is closely linked to individuals who have become prominent in public debate and occupy board positions in areas of medical and agricultural science and public health. They were all in the splinter group RCP in the 1970s. Their magazine was ‘Living Marxism’, which became simply ‘LM’, then transformed into the online site Spiked. There are of course lots of left-wing sects in the UK, and they all have their own papers. Lots of them practised entrism, or the covert infiltration of existing parties or groups. But a big difference here is that this group, the so-called ‘LM Network’, are on not even vaguely Marxist. They are on the extreme, libertarian right. The other difference is that, unlike the other myriad leftist splinter groups, members of the LM Network are now extremely influential.

Anti-capitalist writer George Monbiot first started investigating the LM Network in the late 1990s when they were starting to gain positions in various think tanks. He has established their links to far-right groups such as the Center for Defense of Free Enterprise and the Cato Institute. Their virulently anti-green views were aired in a 3-part Channel 4 documentary in 1998; it provoked hundreds of complaints and was eventually ruled to be misleading and distorted, forcing the broadcaster to issue an apology. Monbiot describes their position on GM as ‘far to the right of the government . . . even to the right of some of the industry lobby groups . . . more extreme than Monsanto or Europa Bio or people like that.’

[...]

the LM Network which is behind Sense About Science has long had links with the corporate lobby for genetic modification, as well as the nuclear and anti-green lobbies. Another front organisation, the Science Media Centre, tried to bring a BBC documentary off the air because it looked at the issue of GM contamination. If you look at the anti-GM open letter sent to the Scottish government you’ll see Rothamstead Research on there. This was where, in 2012, protestors attempted to destroy the GM crops, with one partially succeeding; he was tried and charged £4,000. Sense About Science responded with the ‘Don’t Destroy Research’ campaign, complete with public petition, VIP quotes and videos of ‘stay-at-home mums’ backing GM research. Just as well there was all that public support, as the taxpayer-funded research council provided an extra £1.7m for extra security. In the end the GM trials being carried out there eventually reported, showing no positive results at all.

In this worrying context, then, it’s worth commending the Scottish government on their firm GM stance. The open letter is almost entirely concerned with the effect the ban will have on cutting-edge research – but it’s a ban on cultivation, not research. The letter is pure spin, and either the scientists signed up to it know this or they’ve been hoodwinked by a slick PR exercise. Scotland’s agricultural strengths are in its diversity – for instance, seed potatoes, of which many blight-resistant strains are produced here through conventional means. The introduction of corporate GM cultivation would mean monoculture – the opposite of what we should be aiming for. With a virulently pro-GM government in Westminster, and the threat of TTIP’s ‘regulatory harmonization’ round the corner, we can take some solace in the Scottish government’s decision not to heed the spin of this powerful lobby.

In Scotland GM crop research is carried out at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee. When asked for comment they confirmed that Sense About Science had asked if they would sign the letter, but the institute declined, as they ‘felt the wording wasn’t the best’ and intend to ‘focus on the consultation’.

http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2015/09/11 ... -scotland/

Tenacious Tubbs wrote:
Just FYI - there is no scientific basis on which to oppose "GM crops". Anyone who does so is engaging in the same kind of science denialism as anti-vaxxers. Have there been vaccines which inadvertently caused harm? Yes. Is this any reason to criticise vaccines as a whole, or to oppose the vast majority of well researched vaccines? Not even remotely.

ED209 wrote:Yes, lots of commercial, ethical, political and food security objections.

Of course in tory world, saying you'll stop selling off social housing is a threat to national security but allowing multinationals to hold patents over your basic crops is just fine.

ED209 wrote:Yes, lots of commercial, ethical, political and food security objections.

Of course in tory world, saying you'll stop selling off social housing is a threat to national security but allowing multinationals to hold patents over your basic crops is just fine.

Tenacious Tubbs wrote:Just FYI - there is no scientific basis on which to oppose "GM crops". Anyone who does so is engaging in the same kind of science denialism as anti-vaxxers. Have there been vaccines which inadvertently caused harm? Yes. Is this any reason to criticise vaccines as a whole, or to oppose the vast majority of well researched vaccines? Not even remotely.

New SNP MP suspended amid property probe

Business spokesman Michelle Thomson resigns from party whip as Police Scotland investigate 'irregularities' in property deals

The SNP is facing major embarrassment after its business spokesman was suspended as police launched an investigation into property deals she was involved in five years ago.

Michelle Thomson withdrew herself from the party whip and stepped down from the front bench role after it emerged that officers were looking into “alleged irregularities” in a series of transactions.

A spokesman for the SNP said that the decision meant that in line with party rules her party membership was also suspended.

The inquiry follows a tribunal last year in which Christopher Hales, a solicitor acting for the Edinburgh West MP, was struck off for professional misconduct over 13 deals potentially involving mortgage fraud.

Culture secretary quizzed over £150,000 state aid to T in the Park

Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop has appeared before a Holyrood committee to explain why the Scottish government gave £150,000 to the T in the Park music festival.

Accusations of "cronyism" were made after the MSP approved a grant to help the event move to a new site.

MSPs have questioned why the popular event needed taxpayer funds.

Ms Hyslop insisted funding was appropriate, transparent and in line with amounts given to other events.

A former SNP aide who set up a meeting between Ms Hyslop and festival organisers DF Concerts has since abandoned plans to stand for election.

Jennifer Dempsie, a former aide to Alex Salmond, was working on a contract for DF Concerts as a festival project manager at the time of the meeting, ahead of the grant being awarded.

Strontium Dog wrote:For some reason nobody's mentioned the fact that the SNP's Westminster contingent has already dropped by 1

Strontium Dog wrote:Meanwhile, in Scotland, the SNP is hauled over the coals for funnelling 150 grand of taxpayer money to a profitable private business, that was in no way connected to the fact that a prospective SNP candidate was working for said business

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-t ... l-34380607

Culture secretary quizzed over £150,000 state aid to T in the Park

Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop has appeared before a Holyrood committee to explain why the Scottish government gave £150,000 to the T in the Park music festival.

Accusations of "cronyism" were made after the MSP approved a grant to help the event move to a new site.

MSPs have questioned why the popular event needed taxpayer funds.

Ms Hyslop insisted funding was appropriate, transparent and in line with amounts given to other events.

A former SNP aide who set up a meeting between Ms Hyslop and festival organisers DF Concerts has since abandoned plans to stand for election.

Jennifer Dempsie, a former aide to Alex Salmond, was working on a contract for DF Concerts as a festival project manager at the time of the meeting, ahead of the grant being awarded.