Tommy Sheridan MSP

Edwards Duthie Solicitors has a special affinity with trade unions, their members and officials. We have advised union members and their families for some 22 years, to the point where we now serve some 40,000 members across 230 branches nationwide. We have a dedicated team which serves RMT members, their families and friends. Unlike our competitors, we offer a full range of legal services, many of which are free or heavily discounted for union members : G PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS G SPECIALIST CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE TEAM G EXPERT ADVICE ON ALL ASPECTS OF EMPLOYMENT LAW G 24 HOUR CRIMINAL ADVICE AND REPRESENTATION G FREE WILLS SERVICE FOR MEMBERS G 10% DISCOUNT ON RESIDENTIAL CONVEYANCING G LAW SOCIETY SPECIALISTS IN FAMILY AND MATRIMONIAL ADVICE G FREE HALF HOUR INTERVIEW IN ALL AREAS OF LAW Our approach is both proactive and hands on. Our lawyers go to see members and officials at the workplace, at home, at union premises or wherever discussion can best be accommodated nationwide. We are here to provide a service and, unlike our competitors, we do not consider that we can do that from a remote standpoint. RING NOW FOR ADVICE & ASSISTANCE ON 0208 514 9000 email: allinfo@edwardsduthie.com In partnership with the 29 I’VE KNOWN Rose Gentle since our teenage years together, running about the Pollok housing scheme on the south side of Glasgow. We enjoyed our teenage years which were full of hope before the dark years of Thatcherism set in. Rose went on to be a mum and a community activist, fighting hard over the years against the poll tax, warrant sales and closures of community facilities. She is now at the forefront of political activity but through no choice of her own. In fact, Rose would give her right arm not to be politically active just now if she could still have her son Gordon by her side. Young Gordon Gentle was blown to pieces while sitting in his British Army vehicle as a member of the Royal Highland Fusiliers on a tour of duty of Iraq. He was a son to be proud of. Tall, dark, handsome and extremely well-mannered, that his short life has been so tragically cut short is a scandal. The truth is neither Gordon nor any other British soldiers should be in Iraq. They were sent there on the basis of a lie and they continue to occupy that country illegally. Rather than fall apart, Rosy has decided to invest her anger in a campaign to save other parents from going through the same pain. Rose Gentle has launched a petition calling for all British troops to be returned home by Christmas this year. She has asked the people of Scotland and the UK to come to her housing scheme of Pollok on 30 October to march behind the banner demanding the withdrawal of all British troops before 25 December this year. There are those who claim it would be irresponsible to leave Iraq now because it could descend into chaos. But there are even more others who point out that Iraq is already in chaos and that chaos was of our making, along with the United States. The bitter truth is the US and British troops are part of the problem in Iraq today, not part of the solution. We supported George Bush’s illegal invasion of a sovereign country. None of us who opposed this illegal invasion had any time for the tyrant Saddam Hussein. In fact, the left were opposing Saddam Hussein while the British and US governments were arming, financing and supporting him to the hilt. Remember, while Saddam was fighting Iran he was in Douglas Hurd’s words, “a man we can do business with”. We sold him guns at discounted rates. The weapons used against the Kurds in 1988 were manufactured in factories built by British companies. We will take no lectures from anyone on the right in social responsibility. However, Saddam Hussein presented no threat to his neighbours and if he did, why did none of his immediate neighbours apart from Israel support the actual invasion? He also possessed no weapons of mass destruction, let alone weapons that could be unleashed at 45 minutes’ notice. Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been crushed in so-called “precision bombing”. Over 1,000 US soldiers and almost 100 British Army personnel have paid Tony Blair’s “blood price” with their own lives. I make no apology for challenging Tony Blair to send his own sons to Iraq if he feels the cause is so noble. I demand he stops sending the sons and daughters of working class people to an early grave in the name of Bush’s war for oil. I support Rose Gentle and her family and friends’ campaign to secure the withdrawal of all British troops. I appeal to those who believe in peace, democracy and solidarity to come to Pollok in Glasgow on Saturday 30 October to demand the withdrawal of British troops. Stop the war in Iraq By TOMMY SHERIDAN MSP