Posted on 04/22/2003 7:25:00 PM PDT by Happygal
IF THE only thing worse than being talked about is not to be talked about at all, George Galloway might, in Oscar Wilde’s opinion, have had something to smile about yesterday.
But whether the publicity-loving MP for Glasgow Kelvin would have been happy had he eavesdropped on the chatter in his constituency yesterday, one can only speculate.
For of all the questions being asked about the Telegraph’s allegations , one was being shouted louder than most.
"What is the motivation behind George Galloway’s visits to the Middle East, anyway?" asked Bill Watson, 45, an English teacher and constituent of Mr Galloway’s for several years. Mr Watson had paused for an Americano at the Tinderbox café on Byres Road, the commercial heart of Glasgow’s West End.
"I have questioned his reasons for this for many years, and I have never come to a satisfactory conclusion as to what it is all about.
"At the end of the day, he is a Glasgow constituency MP. Why isn’t he busying himself with concerns closer to home?
"What is George Galloway and Iraq all about?"
Whether the key to Mr Galloway’s relationship with the Middle East is a pay-packet from Saddam Hussein’s regime in the region of £375,000 a year, is fiercely denied by the MP.
But whatever the facts of the matter, there is one truth which even his staunchest supporters could not escape yesterday - that Mr Galloway may pay for this episode at the ballot box.
"You can’t help feeling there is no smoke without fire," said Kirstan Simpson, the manager at Nancy Smillie, the shop and gallery on Cresswell Lane whose name is synonymous with style and funk in interior decoration.
"Don’t get me wrong - I was against the war in Iraq, and I admired George Galloway for sticking to his guns against Labour, although I’ve never understood what his connection with the Middle East is.
"I have voted Labour in the past - although I voted SNP last time - but I can’t imagine I could vote for George Galloway now. There needs to be a full inquiry into this."
Mr Galloway’s constituency sprawls from the city centre of Glasgow to its affluent West End, and many of his constituents are among the better-heeled of Scotland’s largest city.
The presence of BBC Scotland’s headquarters in the West End has made Glasgow Kelvin a popular place to live for those in media-related jobs. Other professionals are prepared to pay some of the highest housing prices in Scotland to enjoy the night-life of Byres Road and Ashton Lane. Then there are the students of Glasgow University.
All these factors contribute to an electorate which is perhaps unusually well-informed. Cynicism about the press and its potential as a propaganda tool runs high. But yesterday, that appeared to be outweighed by cynicism about the Scottish Labour party and "Gorgeous George".
Lisa Wilson, 20, a third-year student in maths and geography, again wanted to know why Mr Galloway was not concentrating on matters closer to home.
"What about student loans? The system seems to change from year to year. What about making education more affordable? I don’t really know much about t’ - he’s never been that visible to me. But it’s shocking to even see accusations that a politician could be involved in something like this."
Even those more experienced appeared to be momentarily stunned by the allegations against Mr Galloway.
Many members of the business community declined to comment yesterday. As one retailer told The Scotsman: "You don’t want to go upsetting your local MP."
But outside the Esquire Coffee House on Cresswell Street, two friends and colleagues sipped cappucinos yesterday. Sharp-suited and articulate, both asked not to be named, but described themselves as employed "in security".
"It is gasp-making to think that a Labour MP could be accused of such a thing," said the 49-year-old woman. "But on the other hand, am I surprised at all?
"Only at the weekend, I was discussing with friends how sad I am at my own level of cynicism about politicians, and New Labour as well.
"Do I vote Labour? Ask me that ten years ago, it would have been an immediate yes. But it becomes harder to do so, as the years go on. As a socialist, I find it difficult to accept what Labour is now. I feel disenfranchised, because there is no party I can easily vote for.
"As for George Galloway - these allegations take your breath away.
"I have never really understood Mr Galloway’s motivation for being so involved with the Middle East. I don’t think he has ever explained it adequately. So you cannot help but wonder if these allegations are true."
A stone’s throw away, Isobel Rodger has been buying a fairytale party dress for her young daughter at The Sentry Box, the toy shop which is a mecca for five-year-olds and grateful god-parents alike.
"No smoke without fire," says Mrs Rodger, a full-time mother-of-two, who is married to a property developer, "but we need to find out the full truth."
At 1274 Argyle Street, Mr Galloway’s constituency office, all was quiet yesterday.
A poster bearing a mug-shot of the MP alluded to the fact that this is a Westminster member who has interests thousands of miles away, by pointing out that the elected member’s surgeries might sometimes be held not by Mr Galloway, but by his staff.
"Can anyone explain to me why he is always in the Middle East anyway?" said Thomas Bell, 21, a constituent and cocktail waiter at Gong, a West End eaterie and bar.
"I’ve never seen Galloway round here. I think all politicians are at it, myself. It’s all about money and power for them. Maybe Galloway is interested in human rights and starving kids. But there are plenty of kids starving in Glasgow, too. Why is it he is so interested in the ones in Iraq?"
Glasgow Kelvin
THE idiosyncrasies of Glasgow Kelvin can be summed up with the man best remembered for serving its constituents.
Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, as the constituency was previously known, said that it "was indisputably the most highly educated in Scotland, and arguably in the whole of the United Kingdom".
Yet, while he was on the campaign trail for the SDP in a by-election in the winter of 1982, a staunch Orangeman from the shipyards of Scotstoun asked if he would keep the Pope out of Partick. Thinking the misanthrope was talking about pork, he assured him it would be banned, especially if it was diseased.
Therein lies the nature of Glasgow’s most bohemian constituency; sprawling across the West End, it is home to all three of the city’s universities and includes some of the city’s most prominent buildings.
From the denizens of Byres Road, to the remains of the shipbuilding industry in Scotstoun, it features both working class and elite, and a huge student population.
The Merchant City, on the border to the east, brings with it a young, urban professional constituency, more often interested in late-night bar licence applications than global politics.
It is, perhaps, odd then that such a constituency should be stuck with Mr Galloway’s brand of unreconstructed socialism.
Lord Jenkins set the tone during his historic by-election campaign: "Socialism? I haven’t used that word for years."
Mr. Galloway may think he can run as an 'independent'...but methinks his constituency will be a minority of ONE.
BTW..me thinks Mr. Galloway got the Scots upset, and that hasn't happened since the last distillery ran dry! *LOL* (kiddin') ;-)
Please ping people who may find this interesting btw! *S*
No, the socialists avoid that term like the plague. They know it is a totally discredited political belief, so they hide under various other names like 'liberal' (in the US) and New Labor or New Democrat.
To continue the theme, Galloway has started libel proceedings against the Telegraph, a decision which may rank with Wilde's suing the Marquis of Queensbury for slander.
Wilde lost, even though Queensbury conceded that he knew the original slander, that Wilde was pretending to be homosexual, was false when he wrote it.
Of course he's getting attention. This article is in 'The Scotsman'. Ye think the home boys would ignore it?
Wilde chose to prosecute the implied accusation of homosexuality, on the basis that he wasn't one. Queensbury defended on the basis of "oh yes he was".
No way Wilde was going to win that contest.
No shit! *LOL*...Doesn't take away from the fact that Wilde was probably one of the greatest wits of the 19th century.
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