Lockerbie bomber released

Well this has certainly caused bad blood all the way round has it not?

The whole thing leaves a bad taste in the mouth..and the Lockerbie victims do seem to have been pushed to one side..But at the end of the day the Scottish judicial system can only do what it can do without breaking it's own laws.Whatever they decided someone was going to peed off about it.

But at least it was done as well as any democracy can do these things..and to expect anything else is unfair.

Nice also of Gaddafi's son to muddy the waters..Gets everyone at everyone's throats.Very typical of the way the Libyans go about life and politics.

[SB_07]

This guy has been let out to DIE. What's the problem?

And it was nice to see the Scottish government speaking up against American pressure, something Gordon Brown would be too scared to do.

Originally Posted by Osem

Salmond's nothing if not a canny guy and if he has got some dirt on Gordon you can bet he'll use it if he can but at the time that best suits him and the SNP best, just before an election possibly and not necessarily in a manner which betrays him/them as the source. This is all just another a political game and there is a myriad of means by which Westminster can exert pressure on Holyrood (and vice versa) some of which will be more successful than others. It's not impossible, however, that the SNP has a few rather nasty skeletons in their closet. If that were the case and they were known to Brown, that'd be just one way of preventing Salmond from spilling any beans in this case. That's the way politics works.

Would there be any point in mentioning Occam's Razor at this juncture?

[SMG]

I have no problem releasing this guy, 3 months to live, let him go home & die, save us the cost of shipping his worthless carcase back. The Scottish have taken a brave stand by releasing him, they knew the pressure was on.

I do have a big problem with him returning to a hero's welcome. Libya, Gadaffi, may have renounced terrorism, but words are cheap, their actions speak for them, & shows why they can not be trusted on the world stage.

Perhaps in hindsight it would have been better to let him rot in jail & pay the shipping bill.

[SB_07]

I think Libya was entitled to give him any welcome they wanted, it's their country and they don't have to do what we or America says. George Bush used to get a heroes welcome when he visited troops.....and we all know he was the world's #1 terrorist

No sorry but a lowkey return would not have been losing face for anyone and the fact he returned the way he did was distasteful and insensitive and does show a little of lybias attitude. As Maggy said we have to remember there are many victims familys that also deserved a little respect in this matter and lybia could have shown that and got something positive from this. The whole affair from start to finish has a grubby feel to it and that will be felt most by the familys of the victims but then these days we don't seem to factor them in anymore which says a lot about our systems as well.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Chris

In that case, don't call it an assembly, call it what it is - a parliament, with the power to pass primary legislation and ministers to carry it out. Devolution in Scotland is not the same thing as in Wales, not by a long way.

Only if you're determined to believe it happened in some way other than it should have, or as it manifestly did.

The funding of Scotland is determined by a fixed formula that sets it in direct proportion to money spent in England. Once again, you're crediting UK ministers with having powers they simply do not have.

You're also continuing to show complete ignorance of the political situation in Scotland - and I use 'ignorance' in its correct sense, not as an intended insult. Since getting into government the SNP has consistently played out a strategy of looking for conflict with Westminster, seeking to show how 'London Labour' is bad for Scotland, complaining at every non-devolved decision taken in London that affects Scotland ... in every possible way to claim that the Union doesn't work and Scotland should break away (except that they call it 'independence' rather than separation, because that serves their aim of painting Scotland as being somehow under English control or domination).

If there was the merest whiff of Gordon Brown trying to influence last week's decision about Megrahi, you can be quite sure that Alex Salmond would have been in every TV studio in the whole of the UK making sure we all knew about it. And if the UK Government had found some means of 'punishing' Scotland with reduced funding, it would serve the SNP's long-term aims to take the hit in the wallet and then use that as another means of bashing the Union.

I made an error in calling the Scottish parliament an assembly but I still do not trust the UK government not to have applied pressure on the Scottish parliament.

[Tezcatlipoca]

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion...t-1776188.html

http://consortiumnews.com/2009/082109a.html

[Mr Angry]

Strange that Lisa Pease makes no mention of Bernt Carlsson.

[iFrankie]

Originally Posted by harmitage

Keep a terminally ill, potentially innocent, man in jail to appease the Americans.

Why would we want to do that?

I don't really know the full story i didn't even know anything about it until it was on the news the other day, the news never mentioned anything about him being innocent but now iv heard he is going to try and prove his innocents, now that's making me think he is innocent i mean why say it when your free?

His conviction is dodgy to say the least while i am not familiar with all the evidence that i have seen is not wholly convincing. I believe megrahi took one for the team and maybe thats a part of the reason for the way he was greeted when he returned. I doubt very much we will ever get the truth about lockerbie and i feel sorry for the victms familys because there will never be full closure for them but there is too much risk for politicians in pursuing this matter any further and i think they will be happy to bury it now.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Chris

Would there be any point in mentioning Occam's Razor at this juncture?

No - I think we should discount it Political expediency rather than morality or compassion is the key to issues such as these - quid pro quo, deals behind closed doors etc. which often serve the interests of our glorious leaders more than anything else. Neither you, I or anyone else around here knows the truth but we can smell a rat and certainly speculate that there has been political interference in this decision for whatever reason and despite Obama's public stance, we can't even rule out the US from that possibility.

[beanobhoy]

i just hope that the people of america won't boycott scottish products
the government made this decision....not the scottish people

Maybe something for the scottish people to remember next time there is an election if there are many that are not happy about this.

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

Maybe something for the scottish people to remember next time there is an election if there are many that are not happy about this.

The SNP is a minority administration and is only in power because in 2007 Labour had to accept that its share of the vote had shrunk by too much for a continuing Labour executive to have any legitimacy (besides, IIRC the Lib Dems also decided to walk away from the coalition).

Unless the SNP significantly improves its share of the vote in 2011, they have absolutely no chance of remaining in power. That said, Labour nationally is now so unpopular that the SNP is likely to do well out of the Westminster elections next year, regardless of any ill-feeling over Megrahi's release.