Crivvens. Whatever next? An apology for 1978?
“IRAN sought to ally itself with Scotland last night, praising Alex Salmond's administration for its anti-war stance and suggesting Tehran has more in common with Holyrood than Westminster.
Rasoul Movahedian, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told The Scotsman that Scotland and Iran shared "similar views" on many issues, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and nuclear non-proliferation.
And he said there was "fertile ground" for a stronger relationship with the controversial government of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"I think that Iran and Scotland enjoy similar views on many regional and international topics and issues," he said. "The views and the position of this present government of Scotland pleased many people in Iran and enabled us to make a distinction between Scotland and England."
"We are very much pleased by the views of the present government, (which] is against the war, against chemical weapons, against proliferation, and advocates a world based on peace and friendship, which strives for wellbeing and economic progress.* This provides fertile ground for further works."
Then again, perhaps there are some unfortunate "similar views":
“A BISHOP has sparked outrage by claiming gays only attend Holocaust memorials to get sympathy.
The Right Rev Joseph Devine also said parents of homosexual children faced a "nightmare".
Devine, who is Catholic bishop of Motherwell, said: "The homosexual lobby has been extremely effective in aligning itself with minority groups.
"It is ever present at the service each year for the Holocaust memorial - as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution."
*Hmmm. You couldn't have accused the Labour-Lib Dem administration of striving for that. Thank god our elections were marginally more free than today's poll in Iran. Even then the populace remained cowed and fretful, only barely managing to throw the bums out...