He’s bold Mcdonnell

Fringe show is hint at Labour election ploys PROTECT OUR COPS IN PERIL

MY cousins from Australia are in town. They come over every ten years or so, which is just about the right amount of time.

That’s about the time it takes for my liver to regenerate. Brutal.

My standard tour guide impression takes in four or five pubs along the river – which would pleasant if we didn’t have four or five pints in each one.

One thing Aussies seem to share is the desire to visit a place then spend a few hours sightseeing, eating and drinking the merry hell out of it before moving on.

And their concept of distance is frightening. Utterly frightening.

Maybe it’s a consequence of living in such a vast country – a continent, actually – where everything is so far apart you measure a trip to the shops in days.

During this visit, one cousin visited other relatives in Scotland.

“Edinburgh, mate. Bloody nightmare. the Fringe is on so we drove round and round looking for somewhere to stay.”

“Yeah. You have to go out of town a little bit. Where did you end up?” “Cardiff.”

Distance, eh? Just a word.

I was going to join them on tour but I can’t take the pace.

It would have been an interesting visit, though. And not just for the drinking.

The main draw of the Fringe so far has been shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell.

A lot of Westminster people were expecting a quiet summer. Some gentle back NEARLY 31,000 police officers were assaulted across England and Wales last year.

In London there were just short of 5,000 attacks on cops – more than 13 every day.

We read this week about a horrific attack on a constable in the capital – hit repeatedly and forth till the real madness begins at the end of this month.

A few weeks of PM Boris Johnson churning out the odd announcement with the only game in town a gamble on how quickly each unravels. Prisons this weekend, I bet.

But Mr Mcdonnell had other ideas. Politically, the early part of this week was dominated by him saying Labour will allow a second Scottish independence referendum.

Many people thought this was a mistake. But Mr Mcdonnell is in

election mode at the moment with a machete while he was making an arrest.

I speak to police force staff all the time and the story is the same.

Long hours working their shifts, cancelled leave, poor pay, the lack of proper kit.

And over it all, the threat and mistakes are rare. He made the point that if the Scottish people want a second referendum, Labour would argue against it but not block it.

And he ruled out a coalition with the SNP. Fair enough.

Hard

It’s about time Labour in Scotland drew up some sensible battle lines.

And getting rid of the imagery of 2015 – where Ed Miliband was made out to be in Alex Salmond’s pocket – is a start. So is looking for a way to focus on the domestic agenda.

Like Brexit, Scottish independence of harm and the prospect of dealing with some of the most dangerous people in the country.

Boris Johnson wants to recruit another 20,000 officers across the nation. That’s fine.

But why not start looking after the ones we’ve got first? hangs over – and sucks the life out of – the domestic political scene. So it’s sensible for Mr Mcdonnell to try to move off the issue. Not to ignore it but to begin de-weaponising it and move on to the economy, schools and crime.

If Labour is to repair any of the damage to its standing in Scotland, this is the only way.

But it’s a long, hard road and only time will tell if it can be done.

Anyway. By the aching in my liver I can tell another cousin has just touched down at Heathrow.

If there is a Scottish recovery I very much doubt I’ll be here to see it.