Monday 17 November 2008

Cash for Motions

S3M-02891 Jack McConnell (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Scottish Labour): Congratulations to JK Rowling and Children's High Level Group— That the Parliament welcomes the publication of The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling on 4 December 2008; notes that the net proceeds from the sale of the book will be used to support the work of the Children's High Level Group (CHLG); congratulates CHLG on its work so far in helping around 250,000 children in eastern Europe who are growing up in unacceptable conditions, and hopes that fans around the world will enjoy The Tales of Beedle the Bard while helping to benefit institutionalised children in desperate need of a voice.


Interesting. Nothing to do with that Million quid hitting the coffers of the financially beleaguered Labour Party then. Enjoy further free advertising space Ms Rowling.


PS: Obviously Net Proceeds means proceeds after expenses, publication costs etc. Could this include an advance for the author?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have to disagree here - I fail to see what's wrong with this.

MSP raises the issue of someone writing a book for charity and hopes people buy it isn't bad. Labour donor or not.

It's a bit like saying the Scottish Government shouldn't use Sandi Thom for events just because she supports the SNP. And that would be fairly churlish too.

Anonymous said...

Has Sandi Thom donated money to the SNP.
I had started this post to poke fun at jack for his relatively quiet nature in parliamentary terms.

It was tongue in cheek, but would Jack be posting this motion if the donation hadn't occoured?
Also, theres a chance JK herself is taking a chunk of the profits, undermining the charitable status.

Anonymous said...

Can't speak for Jack McConnell obviously but given the various motions from members of all parties on diverse and charitable issues I suspect he would have.

I've no idea if JKR is taking any profits although would imagine not given that she is already very wealthy and has previously given over work to charity. To me net proceeds means all money after basic costs are paid for e.g. printing, etc.

I also have no idea (can you see a theme developing?) about Sandi Thom donating to the SNP although do know she's done some events with the First Minister.

Either way though it shouldn't matter - she can support a party and still do something just to back up her country (or a charity). Which was really the point of my post.

Anonymous said...

Ill be honest
I wanted some ammo to hammer Jack as I think people like him are an affront to democracy, in the same way as John Prescott, John Reid etc.

This came up. Weak I know, but he rearely puts out motions that dont relate to how great he was as a first minister, which we already knew of course