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Listed below are comments made by cernow between Tuesday, 7th July 2009 and Friday, 10th July 2009.

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Diageo damage 09:16am on 10 Jul 2009 Hi there,

"Yes, Johnnie Walker is a premium blended whisky brand, but its competitors include vodka, rum and beer as much as bourbon and Bushmills."

True. And all those competitors of Johnnie Walker and whisky in general can be found in the Diageo portfolio itself.

A drinks giant as big as Diageo is competing against itself and the competition lies among the drinks categories the company offers.

The other thing is that - much too late -suddenly everybody seems to remember that Scotch is the Scottish national drink.

Historically true but seen from an economic point of view wrong. The time to play the "historical nationalist Scottish card" has long since passed and it should have been played in the 1970s. But nobody did could or seemed to want to in these years.

It is sad and a tragedy what is happening. And it is with brutal efficiency that Scotts are made aware that Scotch whisky is no longer in Scottish hands. Only about 5% still is.

So why does everybody wonder that decisions about Scotch whisky and i that case Scottish people are being made outside of Scotland nowadays?

What does the SNP say to the fact that the Scottish national drink is forreign owned and forreign controlled and - while we are at it - forreign consumed which brings the revenue to British coffers and they are so keen in redirecting to Scottish ones.

To confuse Scotch with the independence and nationalist issue brings harsh proof that in that respect there is only a slim chance for independence. It shows the economic dependencies that exist.

And having thought that there are probably other fields were ideas look well on paper. But only ont paper.
Scotch hits some political rocks 09:23am on 07 Jul 2009 Hello,

all right and true Mr Fraser. But in modern times responsibility is hard to find and even harder to make fast somewhere or with someone.

Looking at share prices and the value they represent Diageo has no home and no special responsibility towards Scotland or to Scotch whisky. Therefore there is - in the eyes of the decision makers - no special responsibilty towards Kilmarnock. And tradidtion does not count at all.

The responsibility of Diageo is laying at keeping the value of the shares that were issued high and to take that value even higher.
That responsibility is distributed over the whole world. And because of that responsibility lies not towards real people but towards mostly anonnymous shareholders.

There is only one sector of whisky making where romanticism has still a place - in marketing.
To give up Kilmarnock and to close Port Dundas is a strategic decision made at the headquarters of an international company.

That a Scottish area loses many of its jobs is a collateral damage.

People who have worked there for generations should be proud of their achievement but should not stand in the way of development.
It was good as long as it lasted but now it has to be over unfortunately.

That is the point of view modern decision makers take.

Politics and politicians will not change that. The factual constraints you know.

One could argue if it is right that decions that affect so many people are made at the headquarters of companies by powerful men and - to a lesser extend - women who are paid ridiculous sums to do just that and who are not controlled or watched over in a satisfying way. Nor are such decisions legitimised in a democratic way.
We have learned in a very hard way that all hell broke lose when money really tried to take over the world.
We all feel the consequences. But can the people of Scotland vote against this decision? They can not. They can vote for or against politicians but they can not vote against Diageo and her board of directors.

That is the scandal in my view.

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