It resembles the
desolation of the aftermath of a battlefield. The keyboards of the
Rangers Tax Case bloggers have fallen silent in a manner akin to a
Nazi artillery unit. Their frantic and forlorn attempts to delete all
trace of their blogs the actions of an innocent man/men ? I say
forlorn because they are still available via the google servers
albeit as raw data.
Of course like any
battlefield pockets of resistance remain. We were treated to Graham
Spiers post verdict espousing on the immorality of EBT's. Pardon me
Mr Spiers, but I will pass on lessons on morality from a man who was
caught lying on national television only this week.
James Traynor, one of
few journalists to emerge with any credit from this whole debacle,
summed it up perfectly. He was ashamed to be part of the fraternity
of Scottish journalists. Let me say this to you Jim, you should feel
no shame nor should you feel guilty by association.
Nor should the guilt be
attributed to solely to one area of Scottish society. Many months ago
I wrote that Craig Whyte's shame proved to be the catalyst to a
nation's disgrace. An entire nation seemed to sweep aside the
fundamental principle that a party was innocent until proven guilty.
Holyrood was silent as a nation moved to convict Rangers. Where were
the moral guardians of our society, of fairness, equality and justice
? The word “cheat” became synonymous with Rangers.
But not only did
Scotland abandon a fundamental principle of law upon which every
civilised nation is built, in it's thirst to quench and justify it's
hatred of Rangers, it drank from whichever watering hole would give
it succour. So often in testimony the character of the witness does
much to verify the credibility of the evidence being given.
A failed and disgraced
lawyer who can only practise under the strictest of supervision. A
man who has been forced to change his surname with the regularity of
a person on a diet of All Bran and prunes. An anonymous blog whose
intent was clear – to destabilise Rangers Football Club. Perhaps
their Orwellian Award will serve as the greatest reminder and
indictment of this nation's disgrace.
Or perhaps not. For
some of the aforementioned gained a respectability and credibility
due to gross unprofessional and criminal conduct by some in publicly
accountable bodies. Its is still unclear the motives behind the leaks
from HMRC to the Rangers Tax Case Blog. But it gave a website driven
by hate the ammunition of exclusives to fire bullets of credibility
and respectability.
Equally so for the man
of many surnames who managed to gazump BBC Scotland's “exclusive
interview” with Craig Whyte by posting details of the interview the
day before it's BBC Scotland release.
Its shouldn't be the
anger of the Ranger's support which is the catalyst to official
in-depth investigations regarding these bodies aforementioned, but a
desire to find the truth and bring those accountable to book. Perhaps
those outside the Rangers family should be asking questions of the
official bodies whose conduct and behaviour was instrumental in
feeding this bloodfest. Because not only did they fail Rangers –
they have failed society, all of it.
There is a saying that
a broken clock is right twice a day. Therefore its perhaps fitting
that I mention when Graham Spiers is right. Rare happenings should
after all, be highlighted. He was right when he said that as a result
of the tribunal victory Rangers fans will be more dangerous than
ever.
We will be. We have
learned not to trust, not to be naïve. We have seen the hatred of
our club manifested. We have seen a total abandonment of all
safeguards of decency and fairness in the clammer to kick our club
when it was down. We have learned we cannot even trust those who are
required by law to be objective and impartial, that the term
fair-minded does not apply when Rangers are the subject.
You gave it your best
shot, you played dirty, you were underhand, cowardly. You deceived,
you manipulated.
But you failed.
But you did succeed in
one respect.
You have awoken the
sleeping giant and filled it with a terrible resolve.
I have learned that not
only is the pen mightier than the sword, so too is the poisonous pen.
It is time for them to
prepare to reap the seeds which they have sown.
.
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