Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Scotland wins on devolution but after 10 years Scots still miss out on justice

Scottish ParliamentHolyrood brings devolution but no justice for Scots. While Scotland celebrates 10 years of devolution with the anniversary of the Scottish Parliament, Scots have not enjoyed increased access to justice or increased rights against corrupt professionals or reforms to over the span of the Holyrood parliament to-date.

While there is no denying it the Scottish Parliament has given us a stronger voice in our own affairs, the fact remains that in the 10 year span of the Scottish parliament so far, there has been scandal after scandal in the world of Scots law, where the legal profession and vested interests have for the main, delayed, dodged, or even obliterated most cases seeking remedy of injustice in Scotland from the McKie fingerprint saga, to the fate of the Lockerbie bomber, to the very public, consistent failures at Scotland's Crown Office which have seen a string of high profile convictions quashed over ‘unsafe’ (doctored) evidence and even cases where the thoroughly guilty have walked free.

In the world of Scots civil justice, the pace of reform has been virtually non existent, with Scotland being one of the few countries where class actions are not allowed, simply due to fears the public will turn on the financial & legal sectors themselves , MacKenzie Friends, also still banned from the Scottish Courts, even after 39 years of service in the rest of the UK (and other countries), rights of audience reforms, initially brought in 20 years ago, still not fully implemented allowing the public to choose their legal representatives, rather than as things still stand – solicitors choosing their clients .. etc etc … the list is endless, suffice to say, Scots are third class citizens when it comes to civil justice, in fact, when it comes to any justice.

I am a supporter of Scotland having a Parliament. It certainly has given us a stronger and much needed voice in our own affairs.

Debating chamberMSPs – you pay their mortgage as well as your own but your house will be repossessed before theirs. I am not, however, a supporter of MSPs having us pay their mortgages (and everything else down to stamps) while earning £67,000 a year or the £96,000 a year the 6 Cabinet Ministers earn who do get their mortgages paid for by us. I am also not a supporter of the cosy arrangements certain MSPs have with the likes of the legal and financial professions, who seem to enjoy political favour after favour, where MSPs will happily take over parliament's time to put forward their friend’s policies or legislative proposals, while oh-so—obviously blocking members of the public access to elected representatives or victims campaigns seeking resolutions to a wide range of cases of injustice, simply because those campaigns or cases conflict with potential donations from the professions.

scottishcabinet2MSPs help the professions much more than the public. Put simply, its nice & fancy for an MSP, even a Cabinet Secretary to be seen with a bunch of bankers & lawyers at a fancy dinner, and then the next week, take over some Parliamentary time to raise a motion on their dinner host’s behalf, but its not so convenient for an MSP to do the same for, say, abuse victims, or a cancer sufferer asking for withheld medication just because he’s in the wrong postcode, or perhaps say to victims of poisoned blood products – “oh we can answer and settle your cases next week because we know who is guilty” …. no .. its just not possible to do, is it … our politicians are just not honest enough to take those kind of simple steps … there’s too much … “oh .. we’ll see what we can do” (while worrying about how much they can secure for doing or not doing it) and 10 years pass, and nothing changes.

So what good is a parliament and a Government to people if there is no justice ? Well, there are plenty countries around the world who have Parliaments and Governments but, like Scotland have high levels of injustice. Thoughts turn to comparisons with several South American countries, which also prompted officials from the United Nations to call Scotland's Justice system that of a "Banana Republic". They were right to do so.

William_WallaceWilliam Wallace – he wouldn’t have wasted much time on bent politicians & crooked officials. Selling William Wallace to Scotland is fine, I think most of us probably look up to him, and oh, but to have someone like that in politics .. we will sadly never see. If, perhaps, we were able to travel back in time and inform William of how unjust Scotland is today, I suspect the response would be more of a raised claymore to those who commit injustice, cover it up, or prolong it for profit, rather than the usual bout of letter writing which many Scots and their families are forced to engage in to the smarmy, egotistical politicians of our day who lead only by cult and bluster, rather than face the truth by walking among their people and do as they are commanded by the very people they are supposed to serve, rather than rule.

I doubt William Wallace would have embarked in 5 or 10 year letter exchanges to help resolve the cases of victims who are denied justice, where perhaps the murder of a family member has gone without proper investigation, where innocent people have been vindictively set up with criminal charges only to be acquitted while politicians mounted a concerted attempt to cover up the falsehoods, negligence & corruption, where political interests have used our justice system to fiddle verdicts such as the Lockerbie trial , where victims of medical criminality have been allowed to die to protect corrupt civil servants who knew about poisoned blood products, and where the legal establishment (as I have reported on so often) have blocked legislative reforms to its own protection of crooked lawyers, crooked members of the judiciary, and unjust laws.

Of course, everyone laughs at people who claim injustice, don't they ? its funny .. it didn’t happen to someone (yet) so they are not too bothered … but they stop laughing fast when they fall victim to an injustice that also cannot be put right because the same politicians of our present day who cry ‘Scotland ahoy’ and claim to represent our best interests, are too busy prostituting themselves generally to those who are causing the injustice, for top dollar.

Indeed, while the public struggle & usually fail to secure hearings from politicians, businessmen whose foreign empires are built on gambling money, can apparently secure the undivided attention of politicians, with even Ministers rushing to their side, even willing to change & bend the law as long as big finance heads their way, that's Scotland today, nothing to do with William Wallace, I can assure you..

So what kind of a Scotland do we live in, when our Scotland has no justice and still no one humble or honest enough to give us justice ? Isn't it time we took back Scotland, for Scot's sakes ?

This is what Scots are left with on Justice after 10 years - a Justice Secretary who prides himself as owing a bunch of lawyers [and bankers] for putting him in power. But Scotland is made up of more than lawyers and bankers, Kenny …

Happy 10 years, Holyrood, but for my view, while people drop dead before receiving medication they’ve campaigned for 3 years to obtain, or abuse victims are denied help (even after writing to their MSP (now the Justice Secretary) for years) .. or victims of medical criminality die simply so that a few politicians & civil servants are spared the clink, there’s nothing much to celebrate .. just more work to be done, with maybe one day, an honest man or woman to be found among us who will do it, selflessly, without fear, serving and putting the community first, instead of vested interests & big money worship.

25 comments:

Scots Against Injustice said...

An observation from "Scots Against Injustice" ...

http://shirleymckie.myfastforum.org/sutra3673.php#3673

Well done on all your efforts on Scots injustices over the past 10 years (and more) Peter.

Just a great great pity that there weren't a few more out there like you Peter; with your obvious convictions and with your sense of "fair play", of "doing the right thing" and of "Justice For All" (Scots).

You are a one off Peter ... and a true champion of the underdog and of those in Scotland who have suffered injustice.

Keep it up my friend.

Bestest ... later!

Yours aye ...

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon Peter,

Are we also barred from the European Court of Justice? Do we have any rights with supra national law over Scots law? Can the citizens of Scotland act in concert on this issue at a European Level? I know further awareness would be required to achieve this.

Anonymous said...

‘Scotland ahoy’ and claim to represent our best interests, are too busy prostituting themselves generally to those who are causing the injustice, for top dollar.
=====================================
Yes Salmond and his corrupt minority goverment, are financially better off for giving lawyers victims no rights, than protecting them. Salmond is a crook.

Anonymous said...

If you are saying we have lost our way a wee bit you are bloody right !

and another thing there is a hell of a lot more to Scotland than lawyers and bankers Mr Kenny Macbuckfast

Anonymous said...

The Scottish Parliament, a house of criminals.

Anonymous said...

MSPs – you pay their mortgage as well as your own but your house will be repossessed before theirs

AINT THAT THE TRUTH !! F*CKING ROBBERS

Anonymous said...

All british politican class is sh*t
all scotland politican class is sh*t
they come to China and tell us to do other stuff but they are criminals back home
now we say when british politican come here hello mister criminal how are you today why are you here to lecture us and you are criminal in your own country
now scotland politican class is criminal too and they pay for by gangster and lawyer
keep your politican home and dont send them here
keep write your good blog to and show everyone criminal politican and how they lie to you
88

Anonymous said...

Now that's the kind of speech the Queen should have given at Holyrood !

Good work, keep it up mate !

Anonymous said...

That was a little harsh (if honest) assessment but I see where you are coming from.All these people hitting their heads against brick walls while Mr Las Vegas steams in and gets his way is rotten on all of us.Money talks?

Anonymous said...

There is prsently a CLASS ACTION Petition before the Parliament - PE1234 - which I believe deserves everyone's support.

Class Actions, if permitted, would scare the daylights out of the business and legal professions.

Imagine empowering all those presently disenfranchised indicvidual members of the Scottish Public, effectively barred from justice by the attendant costs, being allowed instead to join together, share costs of a single action, pay a single fee to one firm of solicitors and not as now pay solicitors many times over for what is effectively the same claim.

Now that would be access to justice, which is no doubt why MacAskill, Salmond, Swinney et al will do nothing to promote it.

Anonymous said...

Well MacAskill, the strength and independence of the Scottish legal profession, does not imply or prove it is an honest profession. On the contrary the evidence proves beyond all doubt that your colleagues are corrupt. Your stance of defending them undermines your credibility and you should go.

I have stopped voting because I do not see any politicians in Edinburgh, with the exception of John Swinney, who will fight for the people. The first ten years of devolution prove we have a lawyer loving parliament. Step forward candidates who will fight for the Scottish electorate, not cowards and lawyer lovers such as MacAskill.

Finally, Kenny the letter I send to you regarding the FOI Act not applying to the Law Society. I do not believe I will receive a response, because I sent you a letter before and got no reply. The last letter was about corrupt professionals.

If you ever do apply the FOI Act to the Law Society, we will expect the use of copious quantities of black ink.

Anonymous said...

Actually I don't agree with you at all Peter.I think the Scottish Parliament has been a complete waste of time,money & effort.
All the issues you write about and campaign on could probably have been advanced much faster in London than Edinburgh and all we have really achieved is yet another layer of bureaucracy in Scotland which is the most over governed country in the world right now.

However I do respect your efforts on injustice so keep up the good work!

Diary of Injustice said...

# Anonymous @ 2.30pm

Thanks, and well, there are many more of me to be fair .. many more campaigners for injustice and many many more victims of injustice.

Three cheers to our success one day against the vested interests of thoroughly corrupt people who cause injustice, and who are of no real benefit to the community at large.

# Anonymous @ 2.53pm

While we aren't barred from access to EU law, the courts in Scotland are for the main, controlled by those low lifes which Mr MacAskill seems to admire so much.

There are efforts to bring class actions to Scotland so that people can 'act as a group' and we are told that Lord Gill's review will include such ideas .. but with MacAskill and the legal establishment firmly in control of access to justice, don't hold your breath for any immediate changes ...

# Anonymous @ 2.58pm

Yes indeed .. I suspect under the current regime, if Al Capone wanted to build a casino on top of Calton Hill, but had a little problem with the local planners, Cabinet Ministers would rush to his aide in the blink of an eye ... but for victims of injustice ... they don't want to know ...

# Anonymous @ 4.41pm

Yes, thanks .. I will have to do a refresher article on that petition, although I'm sure the vested interests at Holyrood are keen to see no such right is ever awarded to Scots ... so much for devolved legal issues ...

# Anonymous @ 3.56pm

Yes, it seems that way.

# Anonymous @ 6.06pm

A big fat cheque for the SNP might have helped form a reply - so I'm told.

# Anonymous @ 6.20pm

There are probably many who agree with you .. as I do in parts of your comment.

Anonymous said...

I have been writing to my msp for months about a complaint against my local hospital and when she eventually had a meeting with the hospital manager who denied everything of course when I asked her what happened and what was said she wrote to me and said she forgot !

Scottish Parliament is absolutely useless

Anonymous said...

Yes full of criminals who aide and abet more criminals while we pay their bloody mortgages.
DISGUSTING

Anonymous said...

"There are efforts to bring class actions to Scotland so that people can 'act as a group' and we are told that Lord Gill's review will include such ideas .. but with MacAskill and the legal establishment firmly in control of access to justice, don't hold your breath for any immediate changes" ...

Peter I agree with you and it will be interesting to see Lord Gill's review. With regard to immediate changes I like many other people do not expect any soon, but I firmly believe change will come.

The culture of the current system as you point out is a lawyer loving parliament, but all through history there has been injustice and the perpetrators were overcome. One day these lawyers will not be able to investigate complaints from clients. They are against the ropes just now. One example of a man who I am sure would have believed he was invincible is Douglas Mill. Innocent men do not run Douglas. Your resignation was poetic justice.

More and more members of the public distrust lawyers and politicians. The blacked out documents from Westminster and the SLCC, are a public relations disaster. Sites naming and shaming law firms, I could go on. These changes demonstrate your site and other sites are putting great pressure on the legal establishment, and they are impotent because they are guilty. Your blog is excellent and we keep fighting. They will not keep self regulation, but this will only be accomplished when no lawyers or their sympathisers are involved in the complaints process.

The lawyers talk about a Justice System, in reality it is a Justice System and lawyer support system. This is in conflict with natural justice when a powerful minority can do as they please. Kenny MacAskill and his lot are criminals who operate under that most corrupt system, self regulation. No wonder Scotland has been called a banana republic.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

I have been writing to my msp for months about a complaint against my local hospital and when she eventually had a meeting with the hospital manager who denied everything of course when I asked her what happened and what was said she wrote to me and said she forgot !
Scottish Parliament is absolutely useless.

===================================
I agree with you. Complain about a medic or a lawyer, accountant, those who recieve the complaint want everything covered up. We know, we have been there.

Anonymous said...

I think the clip says it all Peter.If an MP had come out with that crap at Westminster they would probably have been shouted down.Owe the legal profession for what ? Did they rig the vote or something ? What a cheek.

MacAskill you are untrustworthy and so is any government who 'owes' lawyers a great debt.Its us the people who you owe debts to MacAskill

Anonymous said...

People of Scotland,

Have you noticed the common theme with MP's & MSP's expenses, complaints systems against lawyers, accountants, public bodies, doctors.

They all self regulate or self protect. That is why you cannot take legal action against them. This is ethically and morally wrong and must be overturned. To all you corrupt professionals out there, you are not as intelligent as you think.

Anonymous said...

# Anonymous @ 6.06pm

A big fat cheque for the SNP might have helped form a reply - so I'm told.
====================================
Yes Peter, but it would need to be a Euromillions cheque for the MacAskill's SNP to reply.

Anonymous said...

To all perverse self regulators, the court of public opinion condemns you for years of cover up's.

Your days for doing what you please are numbered.

You are only hanging on to self regulation because you have supporters in the right places.

The public know you maintain your current status because of a rotten corrupt system. That is changing and the greater you resist change the more corrupt you must be.

The 5,100,000 Scots will win because 10,000 lawyers and their allies cannot control a population this size permanently. Our day will come, self regulators you can be sure of that. You believe that too, that is why MacAskill was appointed after Jamieson.

Anonymous said...

Lawyer faces jail for giving crook an alibi

A LAWYER has admitted giving a "serious criminal" a false alibi as police investigated an abduction and attempted extortion.

Solicitor Shahid Pervez told police the man was in his office discussing an insurance claim when the crime was alleged to have been committed.

But at the High Court in Glasgow, the father-of-two, of Langhaul Place, Crookston, admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Judge Lord Hardie, told him he faces a jail sentence, but continued his bail pending sentence next month. He ordered him to find £10,000 and to report to the police twice daily.

Pervez, 39, is no longer practising as a solicitor and will be struck off.

Alex Prentice, prosecuting, said Pervez was a conveyancing lawyer at the firm of Belton Pervez in Victoria Road, Glasgow, when the offence happened.

He said the lawyer was approached by a client who was indicted for a trial alleging charges of abduction, assault and attempted extortion.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, asked the solicitor to provide him with an alibi and Pervez agreed.

A special defence of alibi was lodged by the man's solicitors for the trial, and the Crown instructed police to take statements from Pervez. He made the same statement in a sworn affidavit.

However, after further inquiries, concerns were raised the alibi might have been concocted and police were instructed by the Crown to investigate.

In the meantime, the trial of the man and two others, who also cannot be identified for legal reasons, was adjourned.

When Pervez was interviewed on tape he maintained the alibi statement earlier was true. But later he admitted the man had called him and told him he wanted an alibi.

Mr Prentice said: "According to Pervez he felt intimidated by the man, who was regarded as a serious criminal of some notoriety."

Paul McBride, QC, defending, told Lord Hardie: "It was made abundantly clear if an alibi was not forthcoming that people had been firebombed, stitched and stabbed, and this could happen to his family."

Publication date 18/07/07

Anonymous said...

With MacAskill and the legal establishment firmly in control of access to justice, we have a dictatorship within a democracy, how is that for transparency and accountability.

So the power the legal establishment has over government, clearly points to a biased corrupt government.

People of Scotland, the next time you hear Salmond shouting about independence, write and ask him when he will free the Scottish people from corrupt lawyers and other self regulators. The man is a hypocrite, a barrier to justice, a friend of the legal profession.

Please write to him, I am sure he will not answer you, and if he does not you have your answer.

Anonymous said...

When it comes down to the wire Peter even the msps dont think much of the parliament.

Look what happened yesterday when the Queen was there to give a speech - about half the msps failed to show up because most were on holiday or fiddling about somewhere.Christine Grahame (another snp) is reported to have been checking her emails !

:

An MSP has claimed she stayed away from the Queen's visit to Holyrood to mark the 10th anniversary of devolution so she could catch up on her e-mails.

The SNP's Christine Grahame was one of about 50 MSPs who failed to attend the parliament for the event.

Former Presiding officer George Reid described their absence as "sad".

Anonymous said...

Wallace would have burned the Scottish Parliament, with the crooks in it. A house of crooks who protect crooks. Perhaps all Scots should march on Edinburgh.