Aroma Therapy

There has been a phrase in the national press and among political commentators that I have noticed more and more over the last year or so. I wouldn't go as far as to say it annoys me but it certainly irks. Generally preceding a female politician, the phrase in question is "the fragrant......".

Even bloggers have picked up on it and are seemingly using it with reckless abandon. Examples include:

Ridiculous politics

Mr Eugenides

Tartan Hero

Holyrood Chronicles



There is more than the faintest whiff of sexism about it and also a subtle aroma of condescension. And even though I wouldn't say it gets right up my nostrils, from now on, to redress the balance, I shall be prescribing all men I discuss on my blog with the phrase: "the smelly...."

You Heard It Here First

Well, if anyone aside from my anonymous source has been chatting to Nick Robinson maybe you heard it elsewhere but thanks to my source (let’s call him Pedro McHairyLegs), the word on the Bournemouth streets is:

The Comprehensive Spending Review shall be on the 9th of October.

And then, one day later, on the 10th of October, our beloved PM Gordon Brown will announce a not-so-snap election scheduled for the 8th of November.

And, checking my diary, I’ll be in stupid Southampton again for the big day, ‘sans’ internet access and a postal/proxy vote required.

I think I’ll be getting one of those Vodafone wireless cards before too long. There’s going to be a lot of blogging going on in the next 6 weeks.

Nuclear Power and Hot Air

The SNP have a fairly obvious strategy at the moment. Choose populist areas and make a lot of hay out of them to gather as many rosebuds (and wavering voters) while they may.

This political tactic has seen them save local hospitals, strongly back the Commonwealth Games, end road tolls on the Forth Crossing and vocally oppose nuclear weapons in Scotland.

It is therefore only a matter of time before the slick SNP machine gets the Sunday headlines to discuss Nuclear Energy in Scotland. And in my opinion, the sooner they get going on this the better it will be for them.

The question of where we get our power from is a specific area that largely divides the UK. You have the woolly jumper brigade who want renewables at any cost based on principles or you have the hard-nosed b*stards who want nuclear energy based on cold hard cash. Maybe that’s painting two extremes but I think we can all ally ourselves to one camp or the other.

And it seems most Scots ally themselves with the woolly jumper brigade. Perhaps as a result of there being more scope for renewable energy north of the border. After all, if we’re going to have wind and rain all the time we might as bloody well get some use out of them!

And yet, the reason why we seem to have this fundamental dislike of all things nuclear has always seemed rather vague. I personally think The Simpsons may have fed a lot of people’s knowledge on this subject more than science has. Images of a garish bright green Springfield after Homer’s latest gaffe at the nuclear plant would scare anyone stupid enough not to be watching the news at 6pm on a weekday!

So some lesser known facts deserve to be heard here:

· Nuclear power emits less radiation than coal-burning power plants.

· Nuclear power plants are a cheaper source of energy than any other available source. It costs £39/MWh for nuclear power compared with £81/MWh for offshore renewable energy.

· Nuclear power is carbon-free at the point of generation and yet does not attract greenhouse gas credits at a UN level.

· 77% of France is powered by Nuclear energy, 28% of Germany is powered by Nuclear energy while 0% of Italy is powered by Nuclear energy. Approximately 16% of the UK is nuclear-powered.


So, nuclear power is cheap, it’s popular with our closest continental cousins and of course it is much more stable in terms of delivery. Will people really want to depend on wind and waves to ensure whether or not they can have a cup of tea? With nuclear power you just flick a switch and as long as you have enough fuel, you can be sure the National Grid will be stocked with x% of its needs all year round.

But a final fact is going to bring the nuclear and renewable energy debate pushed to the fore before too long:


· The power sector is responsible for c.40% of worldwide CO2 emissions with c.70% of these emissions from coal powered generation.


With carbon emission limits tightening as the years tick by, you can be sure that coal-powered generation will be getting squeezed out and in its place there are two main options: nuclear or renewable.

I stated above that renewable energy is twice the price of nuclear so it’s pretty clear the government (of either country) will be getting leaned on pretty hard by the power companies to allow nuclear power to continue on our shores.

The SNP has more to gain from resisting these overtures as it wants the principled and perhaps romantic stance that Scotland should be powered by renewables as much as possible. The UK Government will lean towards the money side of the debate and accept the need for more nuclear power stations.

So it would be sensible for the SNP government to spread its rosebud-net far and wide by stoking up as much anti-nuclear sentiment in this country before the inevitable head-on collision between the UK and Scottish Governments takes place.

The days of burning masses of fuel to heat our homes will soon be over. What takes its place, nuclear energy or renewable energy, could be the hottest potato of the next decade and, indirectly, could have a large bearing on the independence question. So make your mind up now before you get rushed into it, and be wary that to be anti-nuclear may well end up meaning you are anti-British.


It may not have all of the facts on its side but the SNP has most of the people and that’s all that counts as the long road to independence winds on.

Light blogging

Just a quick posting to say that blogging will be light this week.

No, it’s not a protest at this week’s Labour conference but simply a consequence of having to travel to Southampton with work. Optimistically I still live in hope that the hotel will have wi-fi aswell as other luxuries in order to ease my evening boredom but given that said hotel has the phrase “Junction 7” in the title I will have to realistically settle on long evenings of sitting struggling to progress with my Spanish or, more ambitiously, driving down to Bournemouth to see my brother and check out some fringe Labour events at their conference, assuming of course that someone labelling himself as the SNP Tactical Voter doesn’t set off alarm bells on the way in!

The celebrity spotting for said conference is already underway as I am currently sitting 2 feet from (and 30,000 feet in the sky with) the heavyweight political commentator Brian Taylor. It is odd to watch Brian read The Sctosman. What thoughts are being processed by that razor sharp mind? One can only wonder. He did spend rather a long time reading about Britney’s latest fall from grace and skipped over the lead editorial on Brown’s potential gambit regarding calling an early action. But who am I to question The Master.

And to check our overall progress on this De Havilland twin propeller aircraft, we are either sitting above some thick British clouds or we’ve taken a wrong turning and are somewhere above Lapland.

I also have to take this opportunity to basically slag off Fly BE for being truly awful. I had heard of the phrase “Fly mayBE” being levelled against them, given that they tend to cancel flights. True enough, the Belfast flight got the chop at 6:45am. Things have to be bad if you’re cancelling one of your first flights of the day.

My own patience was tested by the check-in desks manned with people inexplicably on the phone as the growing queue stood still. Looking to our left, BA had clear desks and to our right, so too did BMI.

So despite my glaring at the many Kiwi supporters in the queue it clearly wasn’t their fault we were going nowhere fast. Even still, I do think we could have just given New Zealand their victory without actually having played the match yesterday, it might have eased the congestion slightly.


OK, well, it appears we’re landing now so as I say, blogging will be light this week.

Unless we come a cropper in this landing in which case blogging will be non-existent.

Labour in disarray

My goodness, that didn’t take long.


I appreciate that over the past few weeks the Sunday Herald’s Paul Hutcheon has been rather loose with his reporting of stories but it does appear that the wheels of Team Wendy are falling off just as the wannabe juggernaut attempted to move into 2nd gear.

The headhunted head of communications, Brian Lironi, is set to resign only one week into the job and after George Foulkes labelled him an idiot. Wendy seems to have lacked the wherewithal to ease Brian’s righteous anger over the debacle.

The old New Labour trick of centralising decision making and forming a ‘clique’ seems to be Wendy’s chosen method of governance of the Labour party and MSPs are not a happy bunch. In other words, Wendy is taking her own MSPs for granted, one can only wonder about the level of contempt she will hold for the electorate at large.

The 24-hour working schedule that Wendy employs, which makes a mockery of the idea of work-life balance, seems to be in full operation. There’s only so long such an oppressive approach can be taken to working life before the Labour Indians start revolting against their Chief.


So in Wendy’s first week, the only potential high points are a distinctly average performance at FMQs and instating her Chinese Take Away buddies in their promised slots in the Shadow Cabinet.


It’s hardly “hitting the ground running”.

Money down the drain

The Scotsman reports of an obscecne payoff for one council official who apparently wasn't even up to the job in the first place.

Yet another chapter of stuffing the pockets in the book of greed that is fast becoming the legacy of Scottish council politics.


Perhaps this is a good time to remind readers of the review of MSPs expenses which is due to be concluded before March 2008. One can only hope the review has some teeth as the profligacy of elected officials really has to be curbed sharply.

The ticking timebomb runs out of time...

So it seems the £30,000 of Iberdrola shares have finally had to be sold by Stewart Stevenson. The disclosure of this shareholding has been sitting on his Member's Interest page like a ticking timebomb ever since he was installed as the Climate Change Minister

Full credit has to go to Ridiculous Politics for lifting the lid on this one weeks ago. And I also get some personal satisfaction since I backed RP in the comments field only to get some heated retorts from someone saying it was a non-story. Ah, if only Anonymous comments were banned....

Anyway, even though most people, (Labour MSPs and Scotsman journalists included I am sure) believe nothing untoward has actually happened, the SNP have been surprisingly sluggish and naive in letting this one blow up not onlyin their faces but also in Scotsman readers faces up and down the country.

Much like how Henry McLeish's problems were a "muddle and not a fiddle" and David Blunkett and Peter Mandelson didn't do much wrong in their own personal yet public debacles, Stewart Stevenson should have known all along that this was going to cause problems somewhere down the line and acted early, selling the shares so as to be and to be seen to be independent of all companies he would have an impact on during his work relating to renewable energy and climate change.


This of course is the second time in four and a half short months that Stewart Stevenson has come under scrutiny for his personal dealings. On each occasion there has been little in the way of skullduggery and more to do with messy PR. But Politics is all about PR in this modern world and you have to think that it will be a case of "3 strikes and you're out" for the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change. Personally I think the shiny PR side of politics shouldn't be considered by those in power, which is why I delighted in Donald Dewar's crushed suits as much as I rued Peter Mandelson's needless resignations.



It's just regrettable for the SNP that this second strike for Stewart Stevenson could so easily have been batted out of the stadium months ago.

Wendy's first PMQs

I've not seen yesterday's PMQs yet, but I'm looking forward to it going by The Herald's analysis:

"It's tricky when you try to storm a citadel armed with a damp squib."

A Tale of Two Parties

September 2007:

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times....


The best of times: SNP

A fascinating insight into the SNP selection process from Richard as he blogs (amongst other items) on his travels and travails around the country trying to find a constituency that will accept him as their candidate.


The worst of times: Conservatives

Constituencies having candidates rammed down their throats and open rebellion occurring by highly frustrated and infuriated members.



Which party do you think has more confidence in its members and displays a truly democratic style?

It won't contradict your Great Expectations that I would say it's clearly the SNP.

Pantomime Politics

Is it really that polite to invite an MEP to your conference, ask him to speak and then boo and hiss when he takes to the stage?

Lib Dems seem to think so...

Cameron hits Rock bottom

Poor David Cameron.

Even when a big British business like Northern Rock hits some trouble and Foot and Mouth cases keep rearing their ugly hooves, the Tory leader remains unable to park the blame at Number 10.

And quite right too, no-one really thinks that Gordon Brown has caused this Northern Rock mayhem. It's really rather simple, even with BBC News 24 spelling it out to us every 15 minutes Cameron still hasn't cottoned on:

American banks took on too much risky debt, it was sold on to British banks and the resultant jitters has led to a lack of short-term funding available for the institutions who have been left holding the dodgy assets. Northern Rock may not have the money short term that they would like but they have stacks of assets propping them up so there isn't any risk of serious long-term problems, hence the Government's calmness in guaranteeing all of the bank's deposits.

And yes, despite all of this, Cameron tries his best to win some political points on the issue by claiming Gordon Brown presided over this rising debt so therefore, somehow, he is to blame.

I would always expect such cheap political tactics to backfire and Cameron only had to wait a few days for the negative effects of his finger-pointing to hit home. For Cameron is now less popular than Ming Campbell which really is remarkable given half the Lib Dems would fancy seeing the back of Ming. And through all of this Gordon Brown glides into the 40% polling zone. The clunking fists may not be ordering an election anytime soon, but I'm sure he's sleeping easier at nights than Cameron is.

Yes, it's safe to say, the Labour Government is solid as a Rock these days. Expect to see lots of smiling faces at Bournemouth next week.

An Opposition Reborn

Monday the 17th of September. That could be the date that the fortunes of the SNP changed during the term of this Scottish Government for that is the date that Scottish Labour picked a front bench team that truly handpicks the best of the talent that the party has to offer.

I had always been frustrated by McConnell's lack of effort at getting the hugely talented Susan Deacon and Wendy Alexander on board and into his government so it's a welcome sign to see a full strength Labour squad limbering up to take on the SNP who have unquestionably been in top form since May 3rd.


So, in true Sky Sports fashion, let's check out some head to heads...


Iain Gray vs John Swinney - Finance

Iain Gray is largely known to be a nice guy, and a thoroughly capable one too. Perhaps he lives up to his surname a little too much and fades into the background on occasion. He will undoubtedly give sensible checks against the policies that John Swinney comes up with and I imagine will only fleetingly sully himself with party politics but given John's attention to detail and thorough approach to his role so far, I can't imagine Iain Gray landing any devastating blows, as conscientiously as he will work towards it.


Margaret Curran vs Nicola Sturgeon - Health

For me, Margaret is a strange choice for this position. Whenever she goes up against Nicola she usually ends up flustered and loses her cool. Though my impression is, hers is a cool which is often lost easily. I just don't see Margaret as the caring, warm, empathetic person that should really be in charge of the health brief. She'll huff and puff as much as usual but, much like the boy who cried wolf, I can't imagine her rants will carry much weight as time passes.


Pauline McNeill vs Kenny MacAskill - Justice

I have to admit, all I really know about Pauline McNeill is that she gave an embarrassingly belligerent victory speech on May 3rd. The one thing that really puts me off Labour was encapsulated in that one manic monologue. For those who are interested, Doctor Vee has some chat and a link to YouTube for it. So my impression is, Pauline won't make much of a dent in Kenny's great start to this position, not unless Pauline can channel some of her energy in a more positive manner.

Kezia Dugdale is much closer to Ms McNeil and paints her in a much fairer light. Arguably.


Rhona Brankin vs Fiona Hyslop - Education

With years of front bench experience, Rhona Brankin is a real threat to Fiona Hyslop's Education brief. Already the warning shots have been fired regarding smaller class sizes for P1 to P3 and I can't imagine the salvo is going to let up any time soon. Education has been branded a key area for both parties and I can't help but think the SNP are a little bit vulnerable in this area, perhaps promising more than can be afforded. Rhona seems a good choice to exploit such vulnerabilities.


This is of course just a sample of the various new briefs that Labour MSPs have been awarded.

If the SNP's election victory was a whole new lease of life for Holyrood, then Wendy's cabinet is at the very least a shot in the arm. For one thing, the SNP are finally up against a team who are willing and ready to play ball.

Is Foulkes an SNP mole?

Honestly, I do wonder....

It seems that yesterday he branded Labour's head of communications an idiot and also labels Henry McLeish a strange man. So, mere days after Wendy is installed as Labour leader and keen to press on with gaining momentum, George Foulkes wades in and steals the limelight.

Took one for the team perhaps? ;)

Britain is a lemon and I want my money back

Maybe it's with Christmas fast-approaching or perhaps due to the currency/stock markets going up and down like a yoyo or it's even potentially just cos I'm a tight Scotsman but my thoughts have turned to money of late.


And then when I heard this story that obese people cost the taxpayer £1bn a year in NHS costs it got me thinking further. Just how much of my hard-earned taxes are going on national costs that I derive minimal personal benefit from?


Health - I haven't used the health service in years. Of course I want it to be there in some manner if I am unlucky enough to pick up MS, a physical injury or even something as serious as cancer. But the creaking behemoth that is the NHS is hoovering up money as a result of a British culture that is drowning in excess alcohol, drugs, junk food, smoking and general lard-ass behaviour.

Why should the healthy people who use the NHS on an infrequent basis put up with subsidising others who seemingly have little intention of helping themselves?

We insure our cars on a 'no claims bonus' manner, perhaps we should insure our bodies in the same way.

Nuclear weapons - With a fundamental disagreement on the holding of nuclear weapons, I can only see the billions spent on them as a waste of my taxes.

£20bn is a ridiculous amount of money. Of course I respect the democratic process that led to the decision but I honestly don't know how Labour activists can complain about the SNP's £100k on a Scottish Government name change when they seem perfectly content with this expenditure.


Council Tax - I see one of Wendy's first plans for the Labour party is to consider a full review of property prices to make Council tax more equitable. To me, this is a double waste of money. The review in the first place (didn't we just have one!) and also the manner of which council tax is paid.

Two resources that should quite rightly be used sparingly are electricity and water. Electricity is charged based on how much you use. Fair enough. Water on the other hand is charged based on the value of your house. So if there are 5 people sharing a household taking baths everyday, they'll still pay the same as the smelly guy in the street who hasn't had a shower in weeks.

Hardly fair.

Again, I believe I am getting a raw deal with regard to Council Tax. I am certainly not wasteful and I spend so much of my time outside of my flat that weeks can go by without the tap being turned on.

Meters were recently installed in New South Wales, Australia. You pay for what you use. This helped to concentrate minds in preventing water shortages and it worked to a great extent. Doing the same here may prevent a lot of hose-pipe bans. And would probably save me a lot of money at the same time.


Bureaucracy - Health and Safety Executives, burdening red tape in business/policing/health/science, meaningless committees, council pay-outs and government internal spending that borders on corruption. I could go on and on.


PPP - Costing us £22.3bn more than it would have if we hadn't opted for credit card style financing. This is perhaps the most scandalous disrespect of a nation's taxes in the developed world that I can imagine.


Iraq War - I have never agreed with how we got there and if we hadn't been dragged into the unholy mess on George's coat tails then who knows how many lives and £££s would have been saved.


European Union - I used to be about as pro-EU as you can get. I am now wondering if the advantages of being inside the EU (and there are lots) are worth the financial disadvantages. The institution is becoming increaingly flabby and I just wonder if my Euros are ending up in a fat European's expense account rather than to assist genuinely useful directives.

After all, if the EU was value for money then Gordon Brown would drop the Tony Blair Rules** and actually let us have the promised referendum on it.


The Olympics - £9bn and counting, with no discernible benefit to Scotland. And the Lottery charity funds raided to bail it out. Not in my name.



So, Alastair Darling, if you do happen to be reading this and are so moved as to give me a rebate, drop me an email and I'll send you my bank details. Till then, keep up the good work of pissing my money into the wind.....





** See also:

The Jane Austen Rules - where if your wee sister marries before you do then you have officially lost.

Or the George W Bush Rules where the life of one American is worth 200 times more than someone with darker skin and a funny name.

A blogger returns

Well, possibly the longest period of silence since I started this blogging lark is (as I type) coming to an end.

No, it wasn't some sort of blogging fast linked to Ramadan but rather a training week in London.

The upside of visiting the Tate Modern, Covent Garden and Tower Bridge etc was fully cancelled out by the fact that there were no pubs that I could find showing Scotland's historic victory in France. The news came through from John Motson, and his words had me clenching my Fosters in fury:

JM - "Well. Here's a score that may surprise you. Scotland have taken the lead against France! France of course are without the suspended Thierry Henry."

'United' Kingdom? I think not.


Anyway, I'd better get posting if I'm to make the Scottish Roundup deadline.......!

And so it begins....

There are schools threatened with closure in Edinburgh and we have the best bus network in the UK. I've met a lot of tourists and they've all raved about how easy it is to get around.


So of course it makes sense to pour even more money into the tram vanity project doesn't it.



Shall we open the bets at just how far over budget this tram nonsense is going to go?

This hoodie needs a hug

This is one of these silly season stories but even though some would say it's "political correctness gone mad", a phrase that is beginning to get as annoying as that Crazy Frog tune, but I can see both sides of the argument.

Even though I have no strong feelings either way, it's worth reading the link not just for the dilemma it poses (do you agree with the Mum or the MD?) but also because of the photo the Mum snapped of her daughter afterwards.

The idea that the wee girl posed any danger or concern whatsoever is rather baffling.....

SNP get the Bills rolling

Even accounting for my natural bias, I was rather impressed with the SNP's approach to setting out the parliamentary agenda for the next year. I did wonder if they would come in all guns blazing ready for a ruck with the unionists but they've gone for the pragmatic, consensus-building approach. The Nationalists can be safe in the knowledge that anyone who votes against them on such issues as rape law, abolishing student endownments, free school meals* and bridge tolls will only come out unfavourably in the eyes of the electorate. It will be a relatively placid 12 months in Holyrood I fear.

Basically, the SNP's impressively shrewd approach seems to be why spend your first year causing fights and getting voted down in the chamber when you can save that for three years hence when you have much less to lose and an election around the corner.

An all-in strategy in the early rounds is suicide in Politics, as much as it is in Poker.


And the frustration on the unionist benches was palpable:

"All dinner and no gong" according to Nicol Stephen. "Less a Queen's speech than the musings of a man who would be King" per Annabel Goldie. They wanted something big to object to. And they didn't get it.

An all-guns-blazing SNP agenda would have been shot down in flames by the Lib Dems and Tories and they are clearly more than a little bit disappointed that they won't get their chance.

Would I have wanted more in the SNP agenda? Absolutely.

But give them three years and Salmond and Sturgeon will get around to rolling out the manifesto commitment big guns. Wendy can have her full-throated attacks, Nicol can give his mock-shock expressions and Annabel can huff and puff at those crazy Nationalists all she likes.

And I might, just might, get my student loan written off. But I'm more than happy to wait and see...




* Incidentally, I know for a fact that my nephews scrape the vegetables and half the meat into the bin every lunchtime and just eat the chips or potatoes. Free school meals is a step in the right direction but falling short of forcefeeding kids healthy food, there's only so far a Government can go. I'm sure someone with a far bigger brain than I possess, and someone other than Jamie Oliver (the legend), is already working on this one....

Please Sir, can we have some cash?

What a bizarre story this is?

It transpires that the Edinburgh city council's "previous administration" (The Herald's way of admitting it was Labour) asked Sir Tom Hunter for money to prop up investment in schools.

Is this really the way forward for Scotland? We don't have enough cash for public services so we ask the rich to bail us out? Perhaps Sean Connery could finance drug rehabilitation centres and JK Rowling could buy a hospital for us? They won't miss the cash, they're rich after all.

How desperate must a council be for money before they would make such a surprising and slightly rude request? And the next line of thinking, what drastic action is going to be required going forward if the council doesn't get this cash that they, clearly, so desperately need. Necessary school closures perhaps?

We can't walk on eggshells on this one and pussyfoot around with enquiries and meetings and delays if the clear answer all along is going to be that there are too many schools or cuts need to be made. Basically, the SNP need to sort out a decisive course of action, whether it is to side with the Lib Dems or side with Labour or put forward their own agenda.

Labour on the other hand need to truly assess if they are being reckless in taking the easy populist approach of the "Save our Schools" campaign. If the money isn't there, then it should really be a "Save our Schools but....." campaign.

And given they didn't get any of Sir Tom's cash in the last administration, I'd like to see what Labour's but looks like this time around.

Mercury Music Prize

I have to admit, I'm not really up to speed on the current UK music scene so I watched the Mercury Music Award tonight mentally taking notes and with Amazon.com at the ready.

I have to say, I was very impressed.

The haunting Maps truly did have the much trumpeted fuzzy beats and dreamy vocals, all the more impressive as he penned his CD in his bedroom.

Bat for Lashes, the unofficial stars of the night, played a perfect rendition of one of their songs, weird in a Bjork-like way but overflowing with talent and style.

Amy Winehouse stepped out of the tabloid drudgery to sing a flawless ballad. The audience were stunned into beautiful silence. An awesome talent indeed as backed up by Jools Holland who confessed she truly had one of the best voices he had ever heard. I hope she sticks around for a heck of a lot longer than the few years she's been in the spotlight.

Dizzee Rascal fizzled with lyrical excellence while Fionn Regan won many new fans with his stripped down 'man and a guitar' folk set.

All in all, the viewer was spoiled for choice, so much talent and creativity crammed into an hour and a bit.

And who won? The bloody Radio 1 middle-of-the-road Klaxons.

Gutted.

The vote on Wendy Alexander

Is it just me, or would the entire SNP benches voting to abstain on the question of whether Wendy Alexander should be suspended be a good idea?

It would simultaneously be a stronger insult and at the same time show that the SNP are ready, even keen, to move on to focus on the legislative agenda released yesterday.

It would leave Labour standing and consign Wendy to her fate --> yesterday's news.



PS I heard a wee rumour that one Labour MSP, perhaps even a former Labour leader, was tempted to vote for Wendy's suspension. I guess we'll find out just after 5....

A Very Public U-Turn

I have just seen that the SNP/Lib Dem coalition that leads Edinburgh Council have changed their mind regarding the school closures that had been planned.

I was almost going to say that this is disappointing but to clairfy, my unhappiness stems only from a political standpoint as I have little knowledge on the finances or numbers of pupils involved at each school. To suggest I am disappoionted that St Cuthbert's Primary (for example) will now be staying open can so easily be misconstrued!

I am also surprised by the decision. Surprised because it has clearly been taken for one of two reasons:


(1) Either the SNP/Lib Dem coalition acted too soon and made a rash, incorrect decision involving millions of pounds that would have affected many schools and families in Edinburgh.

Or (2) they have caved into political pressure from Labour and local families, even though their original decision was the correct one on balance.


So it seems the SNP councillors that serve Edinburgh are either reckless or weak.


Whichever it is, it's a bad start for them and I will be paying my Council Tax with a little more trepidation from now on....

SNP Marathon Team - Progress Report

My Sunday mornings generally involve a few concrete habits that never change.

Some of these are:


(1) Cursing that not only did I miss the Saturday night showing of Match of the Day but I've also missed the Sunday morning slot and, this weekend for example, I won't get to see Diomansay Kamara's overhead kick not to mention Xabi Alonso's non-sensical 45 yard free kick.

(2) Cursing that I've also woken up after Sunday AM or the BBC News 24 special that starts at 9

(3) Wandering down to the local newsagents to check if the front pages of the Sunday Herald hold good news or bad news for the SNP


And alas, it was a hat trick of bad news for me this morning, or so it seemed on first inspection of the front page of the Herald which stated that the SNP have "suffered a blow" given that the majority of Scots would vote against independence.

Further musing has led me to think that the polling data released by System 3, that 50% of people are against independence with only 35% in favour, is not so bad for the SNP after all.


Why? Well let me begin...


(1) The most important aspect of the figures is that 35% should be seen as a base for the SNP to work with. The independence referendum won't be tomorrow, next month or even next year and they have the political agenda at their fingertips to use to their own ends to bump this figure up to a level nearer the 50% mark where the unionist parties would be simply unable to oppose a referendum.

I personally have no problem with this political tactic. I'll be judging the SNP's performance solely on how well Scotland are benefitting from them sitting in charge of the Executive, sorry, I mean Government. And this judgement has thus far been 5 star. Any independence manouevring that is no doubt going on behind the scenes is by the bye.

(2) 50% have said no to independence in this poll and 35% have said yes. Despite this seemingly black and white picture, I'm sure most Scots are open to being persuaded either way and are not burying their heads in the sand to the opposite argument. Unlike some.

And unfortunately for the staunch unionists, I can easily imagine more of the 50% will be won over by the optimistic and inspiring overtures from the SNP than the 35% will from the pessimistic doom-mongering from the unionist parties.

The 35% have set up camp in one half of the independence ideological divide with the vast majority of them probably not looking back for a second. I bet my bottom euro that large swathes of the 50% are ambling around the same ideological divide and having a look at the benefits of independence, wondering, assessing and perhaps daring to dream...

It would take an SNP disaster for them to slip much below 35% support but only a small tipping point or single significant event would have the 50% dropping quickly.

(3) Younger people are much more likely to vote for the SNP and, as shown by this poll, are more likely to vote in favour of independence. It is fairly non-sensical to have 16 and 17 year olds who are able to get married, have children, pay taxes and join the armed forces but are denied the right to vote. If this were to change, and I suspect it will in the near future, the SNP would see an automatic bump in this 35% base position.

(4) It's rather morbid this one, but there's no escaping the fact that more older people die than younger people. Given that elderly people are quite staunchly unionist and, as noted above, youngsters are generally in favour of independence, then as the most advanced generation die off and as more and more young ones see their 18th birthday, then there's a chance the share of the vote in favour of independence will slide upwards.

Of course, this may not be the case. Perhaps around the age of 30-40 many people's preferences change from independence to unity (the ignorance of youth?) such that the above benefit for the SNP is cancelled out.

Even still, I'd choose the young ones rather than the old ones to be on my side as the years tick by.

(5) Considering 23% of people were in favour of independence on May 2nd and 31% were in favour on August 10th, then the SNP are clearly getting their message across and winning people around. Has support levelled off at 35% or is it merely the beginning of a surge? Given the Nationalists are only starting to explain the benefits of independence from an appropriate platform I would guess it's the latter. Only further polling in future months can tell us for sure...


So, with the World Athletics Championships currently on, it may be appropriate to describe the race for independence as a marathon and not a sprint. And with plenty of laps of the Scottish Government's reign still to go and flagging competitors up ahead, I would say the SNP have more than enough gas in their tank and ideological stamina to see this one home.

The Fickle Mind of a Tory

I have always thought that the most admirable trait in your average Conservative is their consistency, their ability to be resolute, always steadfast in their views and actions. To use George W Bush's language, they 'stay the course' more often than not which, in the vast majority of instances, is to be applauded. The Conservatives are not flip-floppers.

I have good friends who are Tories, who display these virtues day in and day out. The Tory bloggers whose pages I read regularly (Scottish Tory Boy , The Tired Tory and Caroline Hunt) all have a consistency in their articles and opinions which backs up the impression of the Tory party which I outline above.

It is therefore with some surprise and not a little bit of mirth that I begin to wonder what Tory members will make of the news that 3 Tory MSPs are happy to abandon Holyrood for Westminster. Alex Johnstone, Jamie McGrigor and Johan Lamont will be standing for Westminster at the next UK elections, as reported by the Sunday Herald. This is a decision taken a mere 4 months after they were elected as MSPs.


In a potentially related topic, let's pause to consider:

Salary:

MP - £60,000

MSP - £53,000


Average expenses:

MP - £118,000

MSP - £28,000



Anyway, if the Unholy Trinity were to lose in the next Westminster election, can their commitment to Holyrood really be relied upon? Are they really giving their all to a job when they'd really rather be elsewhere?


Further to this, if Johan Lamont were to win his seat (whichever seat it may be) then Roxburgh and Berwickshire is up for a Holyrood by-election. Now granted, SNP were a distant 3rd behind the Lib Dems and Tories in May, but it would be a highly interesting contest if it was to come to pass.

Would people who had voted Tory in May, with that steadfast moral fibre they possess, really want to vote for another one so soon?