No Galloway
to bide away
IT is with some trepidation that the Diary approaches the following
wee story on Mr George Galloway, the Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead. As
Mr Galloway himself told us, he is ''on a good wee run'' in the matter
of receiving payments from newspapers in out-of-court settlements.
The Sunday Post has just paid out a tidy sum to the bold boy from
Dundee and the Isle of Man Examiner is currently talking turkey on a
small libel.
Now Mr Galloway is faced with taking legal action against Tribune, the
Labour movement's own organ. The offending item was a message in the
personal column which began: ''Lost. One MP, balding. Answers to name
George but also known as Gorgeous. Last heard of in Romania . . .'' It
went on to insinuate that Mr Galloway was something of a stranger to his
Glasgow consituency. George tells the Diary that he has attended five
Labour Party meetings in Hillhead in the last year and holds a surgery
every Saturday morning.
As well as Tribune, the MP has taken action against two English
newspapers, Today and The Guardian, which repeated the claims contained
in the advertisement.
The advertisement offered a reward and included two London telephone
numbers. One turned out to be the Metropolitan Police aliens' unit and
the other the Groucho Club. (There was a story in another English
newspaper about an alleged attempt by Mr Galloway to gain membership of
the Groucho Club, but we won't go into that in case it ends up in the
courts.)
Mr Galloway fears that he is the victim of a sustained dirty-tricks
campaign.
One fact is true. George has spent more time recently in Romania than
even he would have liked. He was in that country last week with a party
of doctors in connection with the Aids clinic he is helping to set up.
When he turned up at Bucharest for the flight to Britain, he
discovered that he had left his passport in his hotel in Constanta in a
distant part of Romania. Member of Parliament or not, he was not allowed
by immigration officials to leave without a passport.
They were equally unmoved by his plea that he wanted home to watch the
Scotland v. Sweden World Cup match. Thus, Gorgeous George had to be
content with another night in Bucharest watching the game on his own, on
satellite TV.
The right stuff
WE repeat, without comment, the following overheard conversation at a
meeting of engineering union shop stewards at Weir's of Cathcart. One of
the comrades commented on the fact that Jimmy Airlie had been elected
unopposed to the Scottish executive post in the AEU. ''Did the left no'
put up a candidate?'' asked a second comrade.
Country life
THE Oban Times, as ever, contained an intriguing message in a recent
personal column: ''To the mistress and the jealous husband, happy
wedding anniversary!'' Being mere city folk, we cannot begin to
speculate on the undercurrents in Oban mores which led to this
insertion. But we thought the paper itself enhanced the whole experience
by placing it beside a slogan which read: ''It pays to advertise in the
Oban Times.''
Team spirit
IT was bad enough that Costa Rica should blag our World Cup place. Now
they have purloined a Scottish hero.
This information comes to us from Dr David Black, a native of Biggar
who is currently in Costa Rica on an overseas aid agriculture project.
Dr Black has been sending back regular reports to his chums in Biggar on
how much the Costa Ricans are enjoying this World Cup.
One of their commentators, obviously a distant relation of Oor Archie,
mentioned that Robert the Bruce would have made an ideal Costa Rica
player because he never gave up against the heaviest odds.
Members of the Costa Rican parliament are no slouches when it comes to
marking the achievement of their team. Within minutes of their boys
going forward to the second stage, the Legislative Assembly passed a
special Bill giving them a tangible reward, according to Dr Black.
The parliament decided to allow every member of the Costa Rican team
to import a new car without paying duty on it -- import duty on vehicles
in Costa Rica is 450% of the basic price.
Suggestions, direct to the SFA please, as to what our boys should
receive for their efforts in Italia 90.
Lang words
PHILISTINE of the Week Award goes to the guest of honour at the
ceremony when the 1990 BP research fellowships were announced at the
Royal Society of Edinburgh this week.
''In a modern industrial society like our own, higher education must
be relevant to the needs of employers,'' he declared.
''Employers are the best qualified, perhaps only people, to say what
is and what is not relevant and of benefit to them and ultimately, to
the country's future competitiveness.''
The speaker was Mr Ian Lang, Minister of State for Industry and
Education. Mr Lang read history at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Eye on the road
LOOKING for the ideal gift for the psychopath in your life? The
current edition of Toyota Today, the magazine produced by the Japanese
car firm, carries an advert for an item that might fit the bill.
It is the Snooper Radar Detector, an electronic device which warns
motorists of police speed traps. It can pick up radar signals from a
distance of more than two miles and enable your average mad motorist
(perhaps in his Toyota MR2 GT; top speed 137mph) to belt along the
outside lane with impunity.
''And what does peace of mind cost? Just #199.50,'' says the advert.
It depends what you mean by peace of mind.
TO be found in a short series of great stamps of the world is this
specimen from Trinidad and Tobago. Thankfully, we do not have colour
printing facilities on this page.
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