Kenny MacAskill and his decision

[BiggestNizzy]

why is the quality of MSPs so deplorably low?

Because and I use Kilmarnock as an example, although it has changed recently due to an SNP surge if a monkey stood up for election in Kilmarnock wearing a red roset it would get in, and to get a red roset in kilmarnock all you had to be a mouthy union man/woman. I guess there are large parts of scotland are the same.

I would stand for election myself but by my own rules wanting to stand rules me out

[Peter]

Not read the whole thread on this, but seeing a Saltire flag being waved by one of his supporters as he gets off the plane is stomach churning.......

Could have been worse, they could have been burning it...

I suspect it was meant to be a well staged message of thanks to Scotland.

[meatball]

Greg, I did take it personally when you did make that post, possibly wrongly. I'm sure my opinions are quite transparent without me actually stating them. I believe that there will be many people that see this as a poor decision made by a person who was not obliged to get involved (as I understand it, but again I may be wrong) but chose to do so, for whatever reason. Kenny MacAskill represents Scotland and made this decision on behalf of Scotland.....as such it was done in all of our names. That is something I believe people will object to.

Martin, I didn't take anything you said personally or see it as you vs me, so hopefully you weren't offended by anything that I said. I think it is clear that our opinions on this matter are very different but I am fine with that and as Greg says it would be a boring world if we all agreed all of the time. I could go through all of the posts and cast up all the bits that I took as being what I posted, but I do not see the value in that....but I can do if you really want me to?

In the interest of fairness I will add that I saw a stat stating that out of 30 requests for release on compassionate grounds, 27 were granted......I did not catch the timescale.

On prison sentences, I believe that if a person is given 10 years he/she should serve all 10 and not have a reduction for good behaviour. If there is bad/poor behaviour the term should be increased. IMHO

This thread was started as I was genuinely interested in what people though and believed.....that is still the case I and I thank those that have posted and invite more people to do the same.

One last thing, if Thomas Hamilton had survived and was in the same condition as Megrahi, would Kenny MacAskill have made the same decision? I dunno about that one.

[Lazydonkey]

No offence taken

[neil]

Thomas Hamilton's a completely different case though - there is no doubt in anyones mind that he did it, and if he had survived and was let out there's nothing to say he wouldn't do it again.
With Megrahi on the other hand there is doubt, probably because the general public haven't been privy to much of the evidence. If he was guilty of it, he'll only have been a very small cog in a big wheel - blowing up airliners isn't the sort of thing lone nutcases do.
Scotland shouldn't have been involved in the whole thing anyway. If my memory serves me correctly, the plane was running late so should have been well over the Atlantic by the time the bomb went off - makes me wonder about the Air France flight that disappeared recently.

[tut]

There are not many ex servicemen on here, so I suspect that nearly all the rest of you would not agree with me regards capital punishment being brought back, and of course it will never happen.

We will therefore completely disagree with each other, you could not change my views and I would not be able to change yours. Pretty much the same with carnivores and grass eaters, we will always have our own opinions and they will very often be opposites.

However I bet there are a few of you that think twice when yet another paedophile rapist murderer escapes or is released early, and promptly goes and does the same again. For these people there is never any doubt about their guilt, and there is only one sensible solution to prevent them ever getting the chance again.

tut

[tut]

None of us have the right to slate or get personal over someone else's opinion. It is exactly that, THEIR opinion which they are free to express but not try to enforce.

Discussing the subject is something else, a healthy pastime, and you get to see other peoples opinions. However we should also stick with the facts of the discussion and not spin or misquote those. I try now with many years of experience to discuss as opposed to argue, one reason being that women are never wrong, wives especially, so they absolutely hate it when you know that you are not going to get anywhere so simply say quite right darling, you are correct, I got it completely wrong, would you like a cup of tea?

tut

[meatball]

Thomas Hamilton's a completely different case though - there is no doubt in anyones mind that he did it, and if he had survived and was let out there's nothing to say he wouldn't do it again.
With Megrahi on the other hand there is doubt, probably because the general public haven't been privy to much of the evidence. If he was guilty of it, he'll only have been a very small cog in a big wheel - blowing up airliners isn't the sort of thing lone nutcases do.
Scotland shouldn't have been involved in the whole thing anyway. If my memory serves me correctly, the plane was running late so should have been well over the Atlantic by the time the bomb went off - makes me wonder about the Air France flight that disappeared recently.

The doubt over the conviction isn't a factor in MacAskill releasing him though, as I understand it anyway!
Lone nutcases don't blow up airliners.....do you remember the guy who tried to just that with a bomb in his shoes?

I'm not sure how I've come accross on this thread.....hopefully people don't think I asked for opinions then jumped on them when they gave their opinion.....if I did, sorry folks.

[neil]

The doubt over the conviction isn't a factor in MacAskill releasing him though, as I understand it anyway!

Totally agree, although it will be a factor in the general publics reaction to it.

Lone nutcases don't blow up airliners.....do you remember the guy who tried to just that with a bomb in his shoes?

The guy who tried to blow up the plane with his shoe can't have been working alone either. People aren't born suicide bombers

[Peter]

I'm not sure how I've come accross on this thread.....hopefully people don't think I asked for opinions then jumped on them when they gave their opinion.....if I did, sorry folks.

Nope, just looks like you provoked some debate. All seems pretty healthy from where I stand

[campbell]

yep, 5 pages in and we're all still friends - just

although Greg's a bit quiet...he must be working

[meatball]

yep, 5 pages in and we're all still friends - just

although Greg's a bit quiet...he must be working

I thought you had popped round and sorted him out.......can't type with broken fingers!

[tut]

"The guy who tried to blow up the plane with his shoe can't have been working alone either. People aren't born suicide bombers."

So is there a better case for banning the wearing of shoes on an aeroplane? Yet when we came back from Cyprus a few years ago, they would not let me on the plane because I was barefooted, the scuffs that I should have had with me were in the suitcase on the plane. I had to speak to the pilot to get some common sense, as they could not take off with my suitcase in the hold and me on the ground.

tut

[hendeg]

"The guy who tried to blow up the plane with his shoe can't have been working alone either. People aren't born suicide bombers."

So is there a better case for banning the wearing of shoes on an aeroplane? Yet when we came back from Cyprus a few years ago, they would not let me on the plane because I was barefooted, the scuffs that I should have had with me were in the suitcase on the plane. I had to speak to the pilot to get some common sense, as they could not take off with my suitcase in the hold and me on the ground.

tut

Do you think "common sense" is an applicable term these days. It feels more like common stupidity (SE forum excepted of course).

[campbell]

yep, 5 pages in and we're all still friends - just

although Greg's a bit quiet...he must be working

I thought you had popped round and sorted him out.......can't type with broken fingers!

nah, he'd probably break mine first...just by revving his V10 at me, rather gently