𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

This week saw the conviction of former Scottish National Party Chief Executive Peter Murrell for the systematic embezzlement of funds worth more than £400,000. The stolen money was used for a bizarre range of purchases including a luxurious motor home, tea sets, coffee machines, umbrellas and pens. But many other troubling aspects of the saga remain.

Was Murrell’s ex-wife Nicola Sturgeon, a woman famous for her attention to detail who denies knowing, really clueless about his spending spree? Did the auditors Johnston Carmichael have any concerns about the accounts? And why did the authorities move Murrell’s trial – originally intended for February – until after the Scottish Parliamentary elections? There is something rotten in the state of Caledonia.

Makerfield, scene of the most crucial by-election in history, is dominating the news. Yet even the brightest political stars fade beside the lustre of the area’s biggest ever celebrity, the comedian, ukulele player and screen legend George Formby, who was born in Wigan but grew up in Hindlereen in the constituency.

His films and records were adored by millions of fans. But behind the buck-toothed smile and saucy songs, Formby’s life was miserable for he was locked into a loveless marriage with his tyrannical wife Beryl who also acted as his manager.

A morbidly jealous control freak, she barred her husband from even talking to other women, yet she was repelled by the idea of sex with George. Such was her domination that she allowed him just five shillings pocket money each week from the vast wealth he earned and she controlled.

After she died from cancer in 1960, he publicly declared: “My life with Beryl was hell.” With a sense of liberation, he had romances with a bisexual Russian singer and a schoolteacher 20 years his junior. But within three months of Beryl’s death, he too had gone, succumbing to heart failure. His moment of freedom had been all too brief.

The last thing we need

For sheer irresponsibility, it’s impossible to beat the British Medical Association, the trade union that represents permanently-aggrieved doctors. The Association has just announced that resident (previously junior) doctors are to hold their 16th walkout next month as part of their long-running dispute over pay and jobs.

Given their generous rates of pay, this is perhaps the most absurd strike in British history. Even the patience of the public, famously sentimental about the NHS, is wearing thin.

But another union for public sector professionals looks like it wants to extend the mayhem. This week there were authoritative reports that the 487,000 strong National Education Union (NEU), which represents teachers, is gearing up for the biggest schools dispute in modern times, with a ballot to take place in the autumn after staff have been subjected to a barrage of propaganda about the supposed iniquity of the Government’s pay offer of 6.5% over three years.

Apart from the usual sense of grievance that infuses so many public sector organisations, there are a number of specific factors behind this new mood of classroom militancy. One is the influence of the union’s new hardline General Secretary Daniel Kebede, an avowed Marxist, who says that he wants to take “back control of education from a brutally racist state”.

Another is the alleged infiltration of the NEU by the extreme Socialist Workers’ Party. A third is the Labour Government’s new Employment Rights Act, which makes it much easier to hold a strike ballot. But with too many young people struggling to find work, another selfish strike is the last thing our schools need.