A fantastic fundraising dinner on Friday night - many, many pounds raised for campaigning in Edinburgh North and Leith. I had a great night but I'm assuming that no-one else did since I was speaking. 
It looks remarkably like I haven't fastened the collar of my shirt in those photographs - must be a trick of the light...
It looks remarkably like I haven't fastened the collar of my shirt in those photographs - must be a trick of the light...
Expertly chaired by Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP and expertly organised by Ria Donaldson, it was one of the smoothest- running fundraisers I've been to in quite a while.
Kenny MacAskill was our guest speaker and his speech was so good that he got a round of applause before he even started - and a standing ovation for taking us on a journey around the world, engaging with the Scottish Diaspora from Nova Scotia to Auckland, from the southern states of the US to Hong Kong, Adelaide to Gujarat, and his contention that we should be proud to be part of the same nation. 
Some decent jokes as well!
Some decent jokes as well!
Thanks to Martin Robertson for his photography.
Mind how you go!
4 comments:
Braw photaes Calum and I wid blame yer mammy fur the loss o yer top button. :)
That would get me two thick ears - one for appearing in public with my collar unfastened while wearing a tie - and another for trying to blame her.
Definitely not a safe place to be!
Mr Simpson said that voters were increasingly venting anger on the doorstep when activists attempt to promote New Labour policies.
He said that the party was facing “certain defeat” at the general election next year unless it adopts a more left wing “Old Labour” agenda.
“If you want to go down the New Labour route it is suicide,” he told the Daily Mirror.
“People are sick to the back teeth of that approach. Our people are being told to ‘—- off’ on doorsteps by people who would historically be Labour supporters.
“New Labour is dead. It’s like the parrot in Monty Python. Anybody who is going to take over and lead us down that path is taking us to certain defeat.”
He called for Gordon Brown to stand aside as leader and suggested that Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary whose older brother David is Foreign Secretary, should take over.
His remarks represent a serious blow for the Prime Minister. Mr Simpson’s union, formed from the merger of the Transport and General Workers Union and Amicus, has more than two million members and is a major donor to Labour.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/6171887/New-Labour-is-dead-like-Monty-Python-parrot—Derek-Simpson.html
Here is the full Mirror Exclusive:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/11/new-labour-is-like-the-monty-python-parrot-dead-115875-21664252/
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