Nice move George!

George Foulkes has had a wee bit of bad press in 2007:


There was the xenophobia slur against Alex Salmond

After becoming an MSP he quit a committee as it was too "dull", seemingly preferring the House of Lords lifestyle

The Scotland on Sunday even gave him a wee warning in one of their editorials recently:

George Foulkes, for one, needs to take care that his instinctive hatred of nationalism does not blind him to the need for a mature debate on constitutional evolution. He should tone down his vitriol accordingly.


So given the above, it seems to be a smart move for the Lord to have a well-publicised reach out to the Lothian constituents via what is being claimed as the first series of "live online surgeries".

I think this is a fine idea. To be fair, it's not too dissimilar from simply dropping your local MSP an email but still a bit of credit should be given for this. Of course, it's not entirely clear who will be on the other end of the internet cable, George himself or an assistant but that's not really so important as the method of communication is merely a means to an end.

MSPs starting blogs, online surgeries and having podcasts can only help in decreaing the democratic deficit (Though, to be fair, these moves have had varying degrees of success. David Cameron at home, pausing in washing the dishes, to discuss Tory policy was about as staged and unnatural a broadcast as you can get!)


But hats off to George, it's not out of the question that if I have a Lothian-based problem that I won't turn to his e-surgery in the future. After all, it's all about choice these days....