Decisions and their ramifications

I have spent most of today preparing for my new post as Secretary of the Church of Scotland's Church and Society Council.

Its going to be an adventure but the biggest challenge in the first few months with be the mental adjustment to not having the City Council as my main focus as it has been for the last 9 yeras. Although I remain a member of the City Council as Labour member of Craigentinny /Duddingston, it is now what I do as well as my main job, rather than it being my main job and that will be a big change for me.

Wendy Alexander faces a different but not unconnected adjustment. I didn't want her to resign but I think, given the highly politicised decision of the Parliamentary standards committee, (despite Salmonds denial), I do not think she was left with any choice. She needs now a quiet summer with her family and then I hope she will return to a role within the Labour Party that can make best use of her deep understanding of political life in Scotland and her ability to think about policy and political possibilities that few in any party can match

Despite some apparent similarities in our recent decisions, I have not been where she is but in some small way I think I have an understanding of what she has felt like in the last few days and she and her family are simply in my thoughts and prayers.