Sheridan abandons hope for the SSP and tries to form new party

[Fullyplumped]

ust a nasty little political troll who wouldn't even put on a fucking jacket for the interview, looking more like someone who came for a fight in an open necked shirt and skinhead haircut..

You mean he wasn't wearing a jacket and tie? He sounds like an absolute bounder, a complete outsider.

This is what a presentable politician looks like.

.

 

[Fullyplumped]

But if we're going to do character assasination, you can't do much better than Mr Sheridan's former literary colllaborator, Joan McAlpine -

I cannot help thinking back to one of our first recording sessions when we wrote A Time to Rage. We were sipping tea in an ornate meeting room at Glasgow city chambers. He described how growing up in Pollok had shaped his politics. “I like living here, I love the insularity. I love feeling part of something. I admire the people, their resilience, their humour, their sense of values,” he said. “If I ever had a family, I couldn’t imagine bringing them up anywhere else.”

Now he has a family that he is bringing up somewhere else: a comfortable Victorian villa in owner-occupied Cardonald. I am told he and Gail drive matching Jeeps.

As well as Baldassara and McNeilage, he has broken ties with Alan McCombes, who co-wrote Imagine, his second book, and who has known him since his teens. This must be a terrible wrench for somebody who placed such a high value on camaraderie.

Old political confidants have been replaced with some strange new ones, such as Paul Ferris, the convicted criminal whose book he helped to launch last year. Former associates of Ferris have been accused of pushing the drugs McNeilage fought so hard to eradicate in Pollok.

Most of Sheridan’s allies in the Solidarity party are members of the old Socialist Workers party. The most disquieting thing about some of the SWP is their attitude to the Iraq war. They don’t just oppose it, they support the insurgents. The people who beheaded Margaret Hassan are, it would appear, the good guys. Sheridan must be desperate for pals.​

Joan McAlpine co-authored A Time to Rage with Tommy Sheridan, published in 1994. She's now Assistant Editor of The Herald.

 

[Wilf]

Yeah, scruffy bastard - obviously the Daily Record's stylist wasn't on hand before he went on the telly.

Now, this is how a real socialist presents himself to the wider public:

The Sheridans have become media celebrities. They have sold their story for a reported £25,000 to the Daily Record and its sister paper, the Sunday Mail

They have been photographed in matching towelling bathrobes with their 14-month-old daughter, Gabrielle. In one photograph their baby is clutching a copy of the Record, oblivious to the fact that a few years previously it had repeatedly attacked Sheridan's politics and his party. Mrs Sheridan, whose testimony helped to secure her husband's victory, has appeared on GMTV, has been invited on to Richard & Judy and offered a beauty column in the Record

Last week Sheridan posed topless for Harry Benson, the renowned New York-based photojournalist, to verify his wife's evidence that he was 'hairy like an ape'

 

[nwnm]

Latest update

George McNeillage has not ruled out the possibility of more tapes and Fiona McGuire has stated that she has received a death threat. Sheridan has recommended that McGuire gets psychiatric help.

George 'pin cushion arms' McNeilage sounds like one of those blokes that you'd find in markets in the 1990's selling duff pirate copies of videos

 

[nwnm]

so how did this paragon of virtue manage the more than secret video trick then? By jumping up in the middle of an intimate conversation and shouting "Hang on Tommy - I've just got to change the video in the plant pot holder". This candid conversation rates as the best of British comedy entertainment - It'll be up there with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Lobsters sketch

 

[tollbar]

But if we're going to do character assasination, you can't do much better than Mr Sheridan's former literary colllaborator, Joan McAlpine -

I cannot help thinking back to one of our first recording sessions when we wrote A Time to Rage. We were sipping tea in an ornate meeting room at Glasgow city chambers. He described how growing up in Pollok had shaped his politics. “I like living here, I love the insularity. I love feeling part of something. I admire the people, their resilience, their humour, their sense of values,” he said. “If I ever had a family, I couldn’t imagine bringing them up anywhere else.”

Now he has a family that he is bringing up somewhere else: a comfortable Victorian villa in owner-occupied Cardonald. I am told he and Gail drive matching Jeeps.

As well as Baldassara and McNeilage, he has broken ties with Alan McCombes, who co-wrote Imagine, his second book, and who has known him since his teens. This must be a terrible wrench for somebody who placed such a high value on camaraderie.

Old political confidants have been replaced with some strange new ones, such as Paul Ferris, the convicted criminal whose book he helped to launch last year. Former associates of Ferris have been accused of pushing the drugs McNeilage fought so hard to eradicate in Pollok.

Most of Sheridan’s allies in the Solidarity party are members of the old Socialist Workers party. The most disquieting thing about some of the SWP is their attitude to the Iraq war. They don’t just oppose it, they support the insurgents. The people who beheaded Margaret Hassan are, it would appear, the good guys. Sheridan must be desperate for pals.​

Joan McAlpine co-authored A Time to Rage with Tommy Sheridan, published in 1994. She's now Assistant Editor of The Herald.

Nice to see Mr Ferris getting a mention. I suspect we are going to hear more of his 'former associates' and their alleged role in this matter in the weeks and months to come.

'matching Jeeps' ?. not bad going on the workers wage.

 

[greenman]

Andy Newman's Socialist Unity Blog response to the Bustelo/Marxmail post on the Sheridan/McNeilage tapes is here.

 

[niclas]

George 'pin cushion arms' McNeilage sounds like one of those blokes that you'd find in markets in the 1990's selling duff pirate copies of videos

Is that the best the SWP can do?

Probably...

Still supporting Solidarity's pro-independence line? or is the SWP reviewing that?

 

[Wilf]

George 'pin cushion arms' McNeilage sounds like one of those blokes that you'd find in markets in the 1990's selling duff pirate copies of videos

Whatever the rights and wrongs of selling the tape (and i've made it clear i think its way out of order) that's a really snidy, small minded thing to say.

 

[tollbar]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of selling the tape (and i've made it clear i think its way out of order) that's a really snidy, small minded thing to say.

I bet NWMN wouldnt say that to his face.

Or in Pollock for that matter.

 

[JHE]

Have the Social Workers become junkiephobes? Boo hiss


I thought they (like the SSP) had adopted the fashionable view that all poisons should be legalised.

 

[danny la rouge]

I thought they (like the SSP) had adopted the fashionable view that all poisons should be legalised.

Kevin Williamson wrote a very coherent book about it a while back called (if memory serves) "Drugs and the Party Line". A bit timid from my perspective, but well-argued.

I've got a copy somewhere, I'll just check the title...

 

[danny la rouge]

Yes, my memory was correct.

Williamson, K, (1997), Drugs and the Party Line, Edinburgh: Rebel Inc. ISBN 0 86241 647 7.

(Kevin resigned from the SSP, didn't he? But was critical of Sheridan in his resignation letter.)

 

[nwnm]

Is that the best the SWP can do?

Probably...

Still supporting Solidarity's pro-independence line? or is the SWP reviewing that?

c'mon then niclas - how many 'secret' tapes can one man do in one sitting without giving the game away?

 

[nwnm]

I bet NWMN wouldnt say that to his face.

Or in Pollock for that matter.

as long as the news of the screws pay my airfare I have no problem with that.... Can't see them taking me up on that though..... So what D'you reckon he spent his <undisclosed> ill gotten gains on then?

 

[nwnm]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of selling the tape (and i've made it clear i think its way out of order) that's a really snidy, small minded thing to say.

considering some of the stuff which passes as 'debate' on here its pretty timid.....

 

[nwnm]

Have the Social Workers become junkiephobes? Boo hiss


I thought they (like the SSP) had adopted the fashionable view that all poisons should be legalised.

This has always provoked a bit of a debate on the left - personally I would go for de-criminalised which is slightly different <and prevents big business from being overtly involved i.e. you wouldn't be able to buy Marlboro skunks over the counter, but there could be 'tolerence' zones, and people wouldn't get charged for posession etc. It would also make it easier for health professionals to work with people on harder/more addictive drugs, providing clean needles etc. This would also have a knock on effect in terms of people who have a problem with legal drugs such as alcohol/caffeine/tranquilisers coming forward i believe. But hey, we're going way off topic.>

 

[nwnm]

Yes, my memory was correct.

Williamson, K, (1997), Drugs and the Party Line, Edinburgh: Rebel Inc. ISBN 0 86241 647 7.

(Kevin resigned from the SSP, didn't he? But was critical of Sheridan in his resignation letter.)

Its not a bad book - I think Williamson had something to do with setting up the publishing company <they published the book 'Imagine' as well>

 

[Fullyplumped]

This has always provoked a bit of a debate on the left - personally I would go for de-criminalised

But aren't you in the SWP? What does it matter what you think? You have a central committee to do that for you.

 

[nwnm]

yeah right - we all have implants in our heads they see everything and then tell us what to do. We have no meetings, make no decisions, never argue about stuff at marxism or at conferences or at branch meetings

You are more naive than I thought

 

[imposs1904]

George 'pin cushion arms' McNeilage sounds like one of those blokes that you'd find in markets in the 1990's selling duff pirate copies of videos

"pin cushion arms"?

Interesting - an SWP muppet called 'Sonic' has been coming out with the same sort of witless remarks on various blogs.

Nice to see you can think for yourselves.

 

[nwnm]

its the implants - they're bloody marvelous I tells yer....

 

[tollbar]

as long as the news of the screws pay my airfare I have no problem with that.... Can't see them taking me up on that though..... So what D'you reckon he spent his <undisclosed> ill gotten gains on then?

All will become clear in a couple of months time, so he said on Newsnight the other night.

He also said that the sum of money involved was an 'ironic figure'.

Make of that what ye will.

 

[danny la rouge]

Its not a bad book - I think Williamson had something to do with setting up the publishing company <they published the book 'Imagine' as well>

I'd go so far as to say it's a good contribution to the debate. But doesn't go far enough. Nor as far as Williamson subsequently went in his thinking on the subject. But worth reading.

Yes, I believe he set up Rebel Inc. Which is a good imprint, bringing us a variety of non mainstream writing both fiction and non fiction.

 

[tollbar]

Yes, I believe he set up Rebel Inc. Which is a good imprint, bringing us a variety of non mainstream writing both fiction and non fiction.

Including the original 'Trainspotting'.

 

[danny la rouge]

Including the original 'Trainspotting'.

The one trick Welsh had, which he tried unsucessfully to repeat, but actually achieved a load of old pony.

 

[niclas]

c'mon then niclas - how many 'secret' tapes can one man do in one sitting without giving the game away?

You've lost me now.

You called George "pin cushion arms". Do you know whether McNeilage is a current or ex-drug addict? If he's not, that's libel you know... . If he is, you're a sly twat.

McNeilage apparently is donating the sum received to some local Pollok community centre. Not a matching jeep in sight.

Sheridan on Question Time tonight was very close to the SNP on a number of issues, including independence. So are you going to answer me on the pro-independence line, nwmn?

 

[danny la rouge]

If he's not, that's libel you know...

Defamation. If McNeilage sues, it's defamation. Scots law would apply.

 

[JHE]

Sheridan on Question Time tonight was very close to the SNP on a number of issues, including independence.

That cannot be true. Social Workers have explained that there are important programmatic differences between the SSP and Sheridan-Solidarity. The SSP is nationalist and Sheridan-Solidarity is not. Oh, no! Neither London nor Edinburgh, but international Islamo-Trottery!*




* with added nipple-clamps to keep Big Tommy on board

 

[tollbar]

That cannot be true. Social Workers have explained that there are important programmatic differences between the SSP and Sheridan-Solidarity. The SSP is nationalist and Sheridan-Solidarity is not. Oh, no! Neither London nor Edinburgh, but international Islamo-Trottery!*




* with added nipple-clamps to keep Big Tommy on board

On the Independence issue you probably could not get a cigarette paper between Sheridan and the SSP. Interestingly, a leading member of the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (just about hanging on in the SSP currently) was recently invited to address Sheridans home branch of Solidarity and got a good reception. I reckon that this will be the issue that the Social workers will dump Sheridan over when his usefulness to them is past.