Aitken's Edinburgh

Just popping my head round the digital door to say that I have moved....

2010-12-08T20:58:00.005Z

I return for a brief moment to say that after a very long 5 mins... over 18 months to be exact.. I have begin blogging again... but not here. My new site is to be found at Ewan Aitken for Edinburgh Eastern and is, though I say so myself, worth a wee visit.

I post this simply to help guide you towards my new digital space which has been created, as you might have already guessed, for a very specific task as I take another new step on my political journey, this time, standing for the Scottish Parliament in the constituency of Edinburgh Eastern.

It is proving to be an adventure but then life should be one even if on snowy nights in November it seems a wee bit mad!

Talk soon I hope

Back in 5 mins (or so)

2009-03-03T22:33:00.005Z

A wee computer glitch meant I was suddenly unable to blog for 5 days. I really enjoy blogging but but this enforced break has been refreshing, let me step back a wee bit and ask not just what will I say but why do I want to say it here, in the blogoshpere?

So I am going to continue that break. Not for long, just enough time to refresh my thinking and replenish my ideas. Don't go far, I will be back, the site will stay up and I will be looking at other site for some inspiration but for now, goodbye and happy blogging.

The birthday girl!

2009-02-25T21:52:00.006Z

I had the delightful task this evening of visiting one of my constituent on her birthday.. her 103rd birthday that is! Still sharp in mind and able to "see as far as Arthurs Seat" she struggles to get about these days but is a whole lot fitter than many much younger than her. She still lives in her own home supported by a couple of hours a day home help, but otherwise about as independent as she can be.

She came to Edinburgh during the war to work in a biscuit factory and "just stayed". Its astonishing to think that she is 99 years older than my daughter and seen just so much change, (not all of it for the better, she says!). I hope that I have that ability to be independent when old age comes my way though given my state of health these days, I doubt I'll make it to 103!

Disaster is looming

2009-02-24T21:24:00.013Z

The plight of the trams is seriously bad new for Scotland, not just Edinburgh. As rumours fly and opinions form and reform, we need to know who knew what when and what did they d about it.

Here are the 6 questions that we need answers to:

1. Is it true that the project is running 8 months late?
2. If so, why was the Princes Street closure put in when it was?
3. Did BSC warn the Council that there were problems?
4. who did they warn, when and what was the response of those they warned?
5. What are the so called "contractual obligations" that allegedly have not been met?
6. What are the costs of delay?

More than ever, this city needs leadership. It needs the SNP in particular to realise that to pull out now would make Edinburgh a laughing stock with no nerve. They need to get a grip and the Lib Dems need to realise that they cannot avoid the decisions before them nor can they blame someone else.. This is their time and they cannot fail us. Right now, much as I despise much what they have done to our city in the last 2 years, I don't want them to fail on this one, even if it meant that we were to benefit electorally. I am willing them to succeed. This is not about party politics any more, its about our capital city and our nation and we cannot fail or we will reap the pain for years

Even a cold touchline is a worry

2009-02-22T20:19:00.004Z

Spent some of today on the touchline watching my son play rugby for Portobello Hornets against Preston Lodge (a good win for the Portie boys). It is difficult to avoid the temptation to live our sporting dreams through encouragement of our children's enthusiasms but despite dangerous temptation I do find watching him play a real pleasure.

Having said that , this was the first competitive game his team has had since early December. I know that there's often a winter lay off but this seasons seems particularly bad. I am not sure of the reasons are as simply as the pitches not being properly looked after or a complex as global warming or somewhere in between but whatever the reason, the consequence is fewer games and the potential of hundreds of young people hindered that wee bit more. I hate to be a prophet of doom but we'll never win the big games if we can't get the wee ones sorted first. Unless we do it won't just be my vicarious dreams that will be shattered, it will be the Nation's.

Another bizarre piece of SNP "populism

2009-02-21T14:00:00.007Z

Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill's suggestion that killers would pay for their victim's funeral is bizarre. The last thing that a victim's family would want is cash from the perpetrator of the crime that has caused them so much pain but more significantly it could allow those to commit these crimes to feel they had somehow "compensated" for their deed.

It would be a whole new meaning for "blood money" and I don't think we should go there.

Tram brinkmanship is not a new ploy

2009-02-20T22:45:00.010Z

This is not the first time BSC; the consortium delivering trams in Edinburgh have tried to hold the city to ransom. When the contract was just about to be signed last year, I was briefed as Labour leader along with the leaders of the other groups on the Council that at the last minute that the consortium wanted another huge sum, (somewhere between £12m and £15m), because of alleged "increased steel prices". We all knew it was brinkmanship and officials were encouraged to beat them down hard which they did significantly.

The SNP/Libdems need to face BSC down again. That is what they understand. Stare them in the eye and say no, you can't hold us to ransom and your attitude is unacceptable. That's exactly what they would do where they in our place and we should do the same to them. It's the only language these guys understand. My deep concern is that the Libdem don't have the bottle for brinkmanship and the SNP want trams to fail. These are bad times indeed for our city.

SNP/Libdems will have to take responsibility for once

2009-02-19T12:03:00.005Z

The public statement by TIE, the company delivering trams for Edinburgh that it will be the SNP/Libdem administration that decided whether the tram works stop the world famour Festival cavalcade this year is nothing to do with Festival floats and glorious costumes.

It is, instead, a sign that TIE are finally fed up with being the fall guys for the SNP/Libdem administration total lack of leadership. The SNP/Libdems want to take all the credit for the good things and none of heat for their incompetence. That's why they were posted missing when the closure of Princes Street fiasco happened but why they demand that their names are on plaques on all the new schools for example, (and I mean demand), even though these are schools Labour started and secured the funding for. Their motto is "it wusy me". This time however, it will be them in the firing line and not before time too.

This is a do-able task, if we are brave enough

2009-02-18T21:54:00.006Z

The comment that Labour will "fail" to reach the target of having child poverty may prove to be statistically accurate but is another example of how statistics make easy headlines but never tell the whole story. The fact is that Labour alone set the target in the first place. The Tories would have done it ever because their philosophy could cope with that kind of compassion. The Libdems wouldn't have done it because it would have meant making a decision and the SNP say they want to achieve it but want independence more than they want to have poverty otherwise they wouldn't have ripped regeneration funds from poor areas and hurt those least able to help themselves.

That being said, the fact that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation can identify the funds needed to get to where we need to get to as being only around £4.2b when we can find more than £37b for the bank bail out is a serious challenge to the labour Government. If investing in banking capital is worth that kind of cash, then investing our 12% of the same in the social capital of freeing children of poverty is surely a win win for all of us. This is areal chance for Gordon to practice what he preaches.

Its going to take more than a headline and a few easy words

2009-02-17T20:42:00.007Z

Sir Peter Birt's comments on the "greed culture" are just the latest in a long line of similar comments from folk right across the political and business spectrum. Easy words but what are we now going to do about that culture? How are we going to change it? I have yet to see, for example, any calls by the financial services industry to review the Cadbury Code which is supposed to form the basis of good practice and ethical decision-making in the industry. Whilst legislation would help, unless the mood and the mind of those involved changes dramatically and voluntarily, then we will continue to be creating the atmosphere of decision-making where greed can flourish

Somewhere, somehow, we need to be asking what our economics are actually for. exploring how economics, far from being a morally neutral scientific endeavour is a reflection of human emotions and the quality of human relationships with the self, the neighbour and the stranger.

By defining success as a human being by the accumulation of wealth as had begun to happen, the production of profit moved from the creation of liquidity to being end result and so greed became justified as a means to achieve an idea of success that was then celebrated and affirmed. Far from fulfilling human need it ate away at our very humanness. It is these kinds of explorations that will change the culture that has brought us to the place we now find ourselves in. This has to be a debate and a discourse not about pounds and euros, dollars and yen but about morality, the soul and what it is to be human. Much more difficult to put into words than "its a greed culture" but the end result will be a better place for us all; the self, the neighbour, the stranger.

A sad day filled with tears and laughter

2009-02-16T20:13:00.015Z

"Since God is of Heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?"

No politics today as more fundamental things are on my mind. I attended the funeral this afternoon of an old friend and fellow Iona Community member Rev. Richard Baxter. Famed for his ability to have a song for every moment, Richard was a man of contradictions; an ex commando who became a campaigner against trident (including getting arrested several times), an irreverent man who was deeply respectful of tradition and ritual, a brilliant singer who knew the power of silence.

He spent 15 years in Malawi, helping to fight the British Colonial attempts to create a "Central Africa Federation" out of what was then Nyasaland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Instead, Malawi was formed and Richard help create their education system. He hasd such an influence on that country that that a letter of deep sympathy was read out at the funeral written by Malawi's High Commissioner on behalf of the President Bingu Wa Mutharika.

Committed to the Ecumenical movement, Richard believed in the strength of diversity. He was a very serious man, committed to social justice in every action who was always full of fun and laughter. A talented artist he would brighten up many a boring meeting with a wee cartoon quickly sketched and passed round on a scrap of paper!

I worked with him when I was assistant minister at South Leith Parish Church. He was a massive support to me as I struggled with the strictures of church, institution and faithfulness. I owe him a great deal.

There were well over 500 people there today laughing and crying as we laid to rest a great man whom we will all miss terribly. My thoughts and prayers are with Richards wife Ray and their family.

A good election result

2009-02-15T11:28:00.008Z

I was delighted to hear the news that Rev Peter Macdonald of St Georges West Church has been elected the new leader of the Iona Community. I have known Peter for nearly 30 years and I feel very confident that he will do an excellent job as leader

I have been a member of the Iona Community for over 20 years and my membership is what keeps me both sane and continually challenges as I struggle with the idea of what it is to be a person of faith in the 21st global village.

Peter will have very hard act to follow in Rev Kathy Galloway who has been a brilliant leader for the last 7 years, (our leaders are only in post for up to 7 years), but he will carry the torch of leadership well.

An apparently smart move might turn sour soon...

2009-02-13T20:50:00.004Z

It is not a surprise that most councils are setting a 0% council tax freeze. To do otherwise would cost money and set them against the rest of the country. But it is unsustainable. It puts less cash in public services, undermines local democracy and will mean cuts elsewhere. It seems fairer but actually will have unfair consequences and with the demise of the local income tax, simply perpetuates a system it was introduced to remove.

The Council tax freeze, as a precurser to the local income tax (much as I think that was more unfair) was, in itself, a clever political move in the short term. Now the short term is getting longer and longer, it may well come back to haunt the SNP in ways they never imagined.

A strange idea of consensus

2009-02-12T17:22:00.004Z

The City Council Budget meeting today could best be described as an example of poor political theatre; no vision from the SnP/Libdem mal-administration and a torrent of personal abuse from those on their benches with nothing helpful to contribute. One wee interesting thing came to light; the SNP/Libdems had had "budget talks" with the Tories and the Greens, but admitted that they decided not to talk to us. Apparently their idea of consensus politics is to only talk with those they agree with....

If they had talked with us they wouldn't have had to push through their cuts; instead they could have done these things;

On Schools - reversed last year’s funding reductions in those budgets giving schools an extra £2.7million; established a ‘£2million revenue’ schools “Energy and Efficiency Fund” for the city – established a ‘£1.2million capital’ school ‘Refurbishment and Upgrade Fund’; to provide funding to undertake the essential works at Wave3 schools; and to establish a new (year 1) £12million ‘capital fund’ with further funds being prioritised in future years to enable development of the remaining Wave3 Schools.
On Economic Development - made an additional investment of some £1.3million in ‘economic development activities’, and established a £5million “Affordable Housing Fund” for the provision of affordable housing across the city.
On Protecting the Vulnerable - invested an additional £2million revenue in ‘Care for the Elderly’ and ‘Respite Care’ services and accommodation services for ‘Young People with Disabilities’; provided an additional £320,000 to towards the provision of 10 new, local Police Officers; and 2 new ‘Care Homes’ for the city.
On Transport -invested an additional £300,000 to protect and enhance all currently ‘supported bus services’ ‘£1.5million capital’ in bus-priority measures and to re-phase all non-essential ‘capital’ roadworks for the duration of the current tram works, prioritising pavement repairs to a ratio of 60%/40% -£8million of capital expenditure in 2009-10 on pavements and £5million of capital expenditure on roads.
On Local Environment - invested £0.6million to provide £50,000 per annum, of new monies, to each of the local Neighbourhood Partnerships. £0.5million per annum to World Heritage Trust to protect the fabric of the city.
On Culture and Leisure - Invested £120,000 towards cultural education and outreach work and to invest ‘£2million capital’ in parks, pitches, pavilions and play areas.

Is this the end of the big (Council Tax) freeze?

2009-02-11T21:55:00.007Z

I never thought that the local income tax will succeed but i never thought it would falter so quickly. There is no doubt that it was not only unworkable but that it would have cost more and produced less in terms of cash for public services.

But lets look at whats happened here. A minority Government has admitted it can''t build a consensus in parliament so it has dropped a manifesto promise (a pretty major one at that). It is at least honest; " we can't build a consensus so we won't waste time trying any more" but that does also mean that immediately others get the blame rather than any real analysis of why the policy couldn't get support. "the unfair tax remains because others would not help get id of it"

It means getting bad news over and done long before an election so any "broken promise" opportunities have lost their edge. But it also begs the question "what about the council tax freeze?" It was an interim measure for a policy that won't now be implemented. It will, by 2011, have removed £240m from the public service budget but not removed the tax it was introduced to help shift. So the question becomes, will it stay? If the SNP removed the freeze next year that would do two things; first give them an addition £70m to play with, (a tiny amount in the whole Scottish budget but hey, was the price of the Tory votes on the budget), but it would also allow them to argue that the Council tax rises have returned because the other parties wouldn't let the SNP get rid of it; "they wanted to keep it so let them pay the political price if it being used again"

It would be a risky strategy but would mean that the locus would shift from a broken promise (and a big one at that) to look what these nasty opposition parties have done to you....call me a cynic if you will but....

Kez is back!

2009-02-09T22:39:00.005Z

Just delighted to see Kez Dugdale back in the blogosphere! Kez is the reason I started blogging again after my post election blogging break became a habit that needed breaking. She tells me that she is also now a convert to "twitter" which I have not yet mastered but life should be an adventure so maybe soon I shall be also in the world of the twitter!

Diversity is our strength

2009-02-08T23:16:00.006Z

I never had the opportunity to meet SNP Bashir Ahmad MSP. who died this weekend and, as is the custom of his faith, was buried within 24 hours. Nor did I know to much about him but those who spoke of him we fulsome in their plaudits and praise.

What I do know is that he achieved two important firsts; first Asian MSP and first Muslim MSP. That is a record to be proud of in any ones book and the Parliament will be the poorer until the 2nd (and more), of each is elected. Diversity is a strength and he gave the Parliament some of that strength in, I am told a quiet, unassuming but powerful way.

What will be a true tribute to him and those who hopefully follow him in being other ethnic and/or faith community first would be when the time comes that the ethic and faith (including those whose faith is not in a divinity), diversity of our parliament is such that no one is counting and there's no need to herald firsts.

Another fine mess you've got me into

2009-02-06T22:32:00.005Z

Regular readers will know that I have been banging on about the fiasco that is the junction project at the Kings road roundabout. Having produced a plan that was "dangerous" (their words), the SNP/Libdem administration the signed off a plan B that was uncosted and is now 6 months late. I called for an investigation. The report is probably the most damning review of any council project I have ever seen. It includes the immortal line that traffic planners had "failed to predict driver behaviour!" I thought that was what traffic planners did for a living!

the truth is out!

2009-02-05T16:41:00.005Z

Today's City Council meeting only lasted about 2 hours. Thank goodness for small mercies though it was mainly because the big debate is next week on the budget

There were some highlights though;

When challenged about a broken promise, one leading Libdem admitted that their manifesto was "mostly aspirational" rather then promises they had made to the electorate! It would have been nice if they had made that clear to the voters

The SNP/Libdems admitted that, despite claiming that the new Scottish budget was a potential "lifeline" for Edinburgh schools, there is no new money in the budget for school buildings. Not much of a lifeline then..

The SNP said that to ask for a sustainable approach to air travel was unacceptable and madness...that will be the Green vote grabbed then!

Roll on next week and the budget meeting; that is going to be soooo much fun! I will lay money that it will last a whole lot longer than two hours.

Not a vote winner

2009-02-04T22:17:00.004Z

The proposal to separate council election from Scottish parliamentary elections is one of those things that seem blinding obvious, so much so that it blinds us from the fact that it is an unnecessary and unhelpful move.

There is no evidence that peoples clear confusion with the Scottish parliamentary elections was in any way caused by having the election on both days, evidenced by the fact that the new system introduced for council elections caused far fewer spoilt ballot papers.

The idea that Councils will be called to account on their own record has to be countered by the clear evidence that midterm Council elections are always seen as a opinion poll on the Government.

If this is a response to what happened in 2007 then its the wrong target. The solution lies in having the ballot paper as it was before, with the list vote second.

If it is about making Councils more accountable then it will not achieve that to the extend that might be assumed and there remains the issue of voter fatigue. There are better things for Parliament to to be doing with legislative time and resources.

Another Libdem (and SNP) U turn

2009-02-03T23:04:00.006Z

Its good news that the Budget will get through the Scottish Parliament tomorrow. After what was probably a helpful shot across the SNP bows, the time for working together was now and it would appear all have heeded the call.

Interestingly however, there's a wee twist to this tale. According to the BBC, one of the parts of the deal that brought the Libdems to the table was an agreement that some schools will be commissioned under PP/PFI because the Scottish Futures Trust remains a chocolate teapot.

But isn't that the same Lib Dems who on Edinburgh Council voted and campaigned against PPP. Will they now bid to be amongst the Councils to have school under PPP (and will there be level playing field support as there was under Labour...)

In the name of God!

2009-02-01T23:49:00.009Z

Two prayers for comment. First is the sad story of the nurse who's been suspended because she offered to pray for client. From what I have read she probably wasn't wise to make that offer in that context but what annoyed me is the comment of the woman who complained, saying that she wasn't offended but was worried that some-one else might be.

The offer to pray would have been no more than a statement of concern for another human being who was ill. Who is this mythical person who "might be offended" by what was a misguided act of compassion? If they do exist and are offended, let them speak up for themselves. Would we suspend anyone else to investigate the speculation that some-one "might be offended" by a nurse who in the course of conversation with a client who happened to be a Christian said, "I don't believe in God". No chance. This was an unwise expression of care, not a hanging offence. We need to get a grip here otherwise, in the name of equality, the Christian community is being treated unequally.

And the other prayer? It is the allegedly "long lost second verse" of Burns Selkirk grace which I was given a copy of by the Portobello Burns club who invited me to give their immoral memory this year. I will tell you it as long as you promise not to be offended by a prayer or on behalf of those without their own teeth;

"some hae teeth to eat the meet
whilst others o' this nation
rely on gums and porcelain
to aid their mastication!"

Church speak with one voice on homelessness and recession

2009-01-29T22:31:00.006Z

I was pleased to see that at the opening of Poverty & Homelessness Action Week, leaders of 12 Christian churches and communities in Scotland have called for intensive investment in affordable housing

They have endorsed a call from Scottish Churches Housing Action for a return to post-war levels of affordable house-building as a way of avoiding the worst effects of the recession.

The call comes in a paper which Scottish Churches Housing Action has sent to First Minister Alex Salmond MSP, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling MP and other political leaders which calls on the administrations at Holyrood and Westminster to get together in facilitating a massive boost to public investment in affordable housing.

The church leaders’ argue that building affordable homes for rent and for sale will have a triple impact: it will help those who’ll be made homeless in the recession; it will keep people in jobs in the property, building and related industries; and it will keep tax revenues from those jobs flowing to the exchequer, while avoiding unemployment pay-outs. It just takes a wee bit of political will. The full text of the statement can be downloaded from www.churches-housing.org

The Poverty & Homelessness Action Week partnership comprises Church Action on Poverty, Housing Justice and Scottish Churches Housing Action. The week runs from Saturday 31 January to Sunday 8 February, and includes Homelessness Sunday (31 Jan) and Poverty Action Sunday (8 Feb). www.actionweek.org.uk

Lets try and see this differently

2009-01-28T23:11:00.006Z

The failure of the SNP minority administration to get its budget passed was a momentous day for Scottish Politics, but not as some might think. It does not mean the end of the SNP Government. That will not happen. They still have time to bring back another bill, but more significantly its difficult to think of an occasion when a party who brought down a Government, especially a minority party, have benefited. The SNP know this from bitter experience, dropping from 11 in 1974 to 2 in 1979 having brought down Jim Callaghan . So the Greens will not, if they have any sense, put themselves in that position, and for the Government to fall, they would have to be so.

No the significance is that there is now a real opportunity to again grasp the nettle of consensus politics. I was in the public gallery today and the debate was not a pleasant experience. I am used to the hurley burly of politics and we need to know the differences between parties. But we need to put energy not into scoring debating points but discovering what it will take to find common ground which will allow us to have grown up conversations about whats possible, plausible and frees the potential of the people (I really do sound like a politician don't I!). We don't need to agree with everything to find common cause.

The trouble is that all parties are still obsessed with power and hanging onto it rather than letting it go and having influence instead. The opposition, (even the descriptions of our political roles are confrontational), need to let the largest party take the lead. The SNP, as the Government, need to have conversations with the other parties that are not couched, as the recent ones were, in terms of "what will it take to buy you off"..."but what can we do together" Then a consensus can be created that respects difference but finds a way through for the people instead.

A day to never forget

2009-01-27T22:36:00.006Z

I was very interested and please to hear that Ann Franks Sister will be talking with school pupils this week as part of the marking of Holocaust Memorial Day. Anything that will help young people dig under the words and see the real human consequences of the Holocaust is to be welcomed. To say that we must never forget what humanity is capable of doing is to vastly understate the case

I think that Holocaust Memorial day is one of the most significant in the political calender. It is a stark and deeply powerful reminder to all nations, and I mean all nations, of the consequences of choosing war based on religious belief, prejudice and/or assumed superiority. It not only causes huge suffering, it damages the whole of humanity and its collective soul. No-one exempt from that lesson. even those who have been victims themselves.

Inching forward to victory

2009-01-26T23:00:00.005Z

I had a very helpful meeting today with Lothian buses and Council officials along with two stalwart bus campaigners about the No 12 bus, one of the many victims of SNP/Libdem cuts.

It appears that our campaign has had two effects. First a new turning circle is proposed at the old Eastern General site (at a cost, not of 20k as first estimated, but 80k), which will allow the No 12 to service the care home and Craigentinny Avemue North. This would not have happened without the campaign led by local people but still leave a large section of the ward without a bus service.

Secondly, the administration have put several options out to tender to get costing for a number of routes, including one that would make use of that turning circle to re-introduce another of the routes cut by the SNP/Libdems, the No 13 and in addition provide a service to the area isolated by the cuts to the No 12.

However, this will only happen if the SNP/Libdems put the money in their budget. So the campaign is far from over. Much is to be done. But at least the SNP/libdems will have to final admit what they have been denying for so long; this is all down to their decisions. The future of these bus services is in their hands. The campaign continues!

I shouldn't be shocked but I can't help it

2009-01-25T22:32:00.007Z

I was bemused by the support from the SNP/Libdem administration for the the announcement that there there is a plan, to convert un-used upper floor space Edinburgh's iconic Princes street. into housing. I am bemused because I proposed the very same thing last year and was shot down by the same SNPLibdems who now, suddenly, think its a great plan! I should not be surprised given their clothes stealing track record, but it is astonishing all the same.

This could be an immortal memory for all the wrong reasons!

2009-01-22T22:04:00.005Z

Help! Its Burns time again and I am doing speeches at three dinners, two immortal memories and a toast to the lassies. Why did I say yes to these !

Two are to adult audiences, one in Portobello for the Burns club there and one in Glasgow for the Scout Associations annual fundraiser. They will be difficult enough but the one on Saturday night is the hardest one of all. Its for a group of 8-12 year olds who are part of a sports club my boy attends. Seemed like a good idea at the time but now I am panicking. Anyone got any ideas for an "immortal memory for 8-12 year olds.....

A great day for us all

2009-01-20T19:59:00.006Z

Great swathes have already been written and will be written about Barak Obama's inauguration. It is an astonishing moment for the world that a man whose father would not have been served in restaurants 60 years ago in Washington because of the colour of his skin was sworn in as president of that same nation.

I offer simply this thought. What struck me about President Obama's speech was that it was rooted in values and offered something deeply spiritual to a hurting nation (and world). It said simply, times are tough and he and the nation he now leads need to dig deep into their souls as they struggle to find solutions to their challenges, domestic and international. He said;

"in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness".

and; "This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny".

I don't pick this out to make a theological or a "pro-God" point. Nor do I suggest that some-one without faith in a divinity couldn't do the job. This is not a man who says "God told me what to do because he's on my side but instead asks what do I need to do to be on God's side".

I do think that it is interesting that what met the need of a broken nation was a language that has been sometimes despised in political circles on both sides of the language. I know that he will need to find policies that match those words but at least we will know what drive the man, what he depends on and why he might have the stamina to make it through the pain that he faces. Faith itself will not bring the hard political answers he needs. But knowing what he believes to be true about the nature of world is a good starting point.

Barak McObama?

2009-01-19T09:12:00.009Z

On the week of Barak Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of America I offer this interesting take on how Barak is really Scottish in heritage...

An unacceptable price tag

2009-01-17T12:04:00.008Z

I am a sports fan. I watched Edinburgh beat Castres 32-14 in the Heineken Cup at Murrayfield last night in a superb match with 4 excellent Edinburgh tries. I encourage my kids to play sports and I know what a successful team can do for the mood and the soul of a community and even the economy.

But sometime we forget that sports are just that, sports. Which is why I find the idea that a football team, in this case Manchester City, can even contemplate handing over £107m for one player morally repugnant. We are in a time of financial crisis, people are loosing their jobs, debts are growing and families are hungry. across the world, poverty grows and the poor are dying. And then a sports team spends £107m on one player. This cannot be right. I know that that £107m would be available for other purposes, nor would it solve all the poverty in the world. But is deeply sadness me that we have created such a system that means it can, even at a time when others are starving, produce sums of that quantity for the sole purpose of buying a footballers talents.

This isn't Manchester City's fault as such. They are simply part of the system. Something is not right with the system itself. These price tags for players demean sports and demeans all of us as human beings and that means no-one wins.

Listen to the Generals...

2009-01-16T22:20:00.007Z

It is not often that I find myself with senior generals but I do today. This letter, publsihed in the Times today, is written by Field Marshal Lord Bramall, General Lord Ramsbotham and General Sir Hugh Beach. It is one of the best critiques of nuclear weapons I have ever read. Even the most ardent pro nuclear nutter would struggle to withstand this onslaught from my new, multi-pipped friends with whom, on this issue at least I find myself standing shoulder to shoulder.

It is easy for me to speak about being "anti-nuclear, I have been for years and so the words come easily to me. I have never heard of these three generals before before but I now hold them in high esteem because it must have been a hugely difficult task to be who they are and say these things out loud. Brave men, all three.

We use what we have to stand for justice, even our wallets

2009-01-15T21:20:00.005Z

Whilst I think that George Foulkes' view in the Guardian that;

"the drive, inventiveness and initiative of the Palestinian people needs to be given an opportunity to flourish. And for that to have half a chance, the conflict must stop and it must do so now. That is the message that should be sent from us all, including all real friends of Israel, to its government".

I still believe that it does not go far enough. I think we need to act in support of a people suffering at the hands of a nation apparently intent on ethic cleansing. So I would add my support to Palestine Israel ethical shopping initiative. (piesi). Having called once for a boycott, I reiterate that call now as do the folk behind piesi. In a world where much of our individual power lies in our consumer choices so we should put that power to good use.

Dubya's top ten

2009-01-14T21:56:00.004Z

When some-one leaves a job, especially one as high profile as President of the United States of America, it is usual to acknowledge their finest moments. With thanks and credit to talkshow host David Letterman, I am pleased to bring you Georges Bush's top ten finest hours...

Useless doesn't really tell the story

2009-01-13T23:47:00.007Z

I have blogged before on the disaster that is the changes to the Kings Road roundabout at Seafield Road. This was an excellent scheme that we got the money for that has be turned into an utter disaster area by the SNP/Libdem administration.

I asked officials for more information about the lack of progress. They have now told me that the completion date is 3rd April (6 months late) and that they still don't know how much the delays will cost or what other work won't be done because of the overspend on this project.

I know that I said I wanted to find a new language for my comments about the SNP/Libdems, but I struggle to so what other words I can use than completely incompetent on this one

Trams, trams everywhere

2009-01-12T23:43:00.007Z

We need a new bridge across the Forth and it does not matter who delivers it, it just needs to be delivered. That means that the meeting this week with interested parties which appears to be at least hosted by the Scottish office is vital, not for who gets credit for sending the invites making the coffee but so that the bridge gets built.

That being said, we don't need any old bridge, we need to use this opportunity for grasping at the nettle of radical thinking on transport. A new bridge should be so designed create the capacity to massively increase public transport, including the potential of trams from Edinburgh connecting with all of Fife. It should include even more park and ride and dedicated bus lanes and not actually increase overall car capacity. Infact, if we do this right, the new bridge could actually decrease car use, not increase it.

Properly grasped, this nettle could be an opportunity to make the kind of regional connectivity for the Edinburgh City region that is vital for its survival and in some parts, regeneration, but in a very different way. A new bridge yes, but not for cars, now there's a plan worth breaking out the Governmental hobnobs for.

In 9 days there are no more dress rehersals

2009-01-11T21:00:00.004Z

The run through of Barak Obama's inauguration is a salutary reminder that soon enough it won't be the dress rehearsal, it will be for real, the Bush Presidency will be over and we can see if America really has changed,

I think that, in the main, it has, or at least it wants to. But so much depends on this one guy who holds on his shoulders the expectations of literally billions of people to get it right, first time, every time, with no more dress rehearsals. This is no longer the West Wing or the trail run. it is for real. I would not want his in tray for anything....

Its a start but its not enough

2009-01-09T16:10:00.005Z

The announcement that Edinburgh is to get £3.5m for its capital city status is bittersweet in the extreme. It is, I believe, John Swinney trying to deliver on a promise but it is a 10th of what we need. So whilst the principle is good and one I argued for when I was leader, it suggests to me that once again the SNP/Libdem mal-administration have failed to stand up for Edinburgh.

The politics of go'an in the huff

2009-01-08T22:30:00.005Z

The claim that the SNP "will resign if their budget is not passed is not a clever tactic. It tells us three things; that unlike last year, they do not yet have the Tory vote, that independent Margo Macdonald, quite rightly, is hanging out for all she can for Edinburgh and that, as ever, their focus is not on the needs of the Country in a crisis but their own political futures. Is this game of political chicken what Alex Salmond really meant when he call us all to "pull together" in his new Year message; that's pull together as in "do what I want or I'll stomp off in the huff!

We all believe something even if its that there is nothing out there

2009-01-07T21:27:00.007Z

The so called "atheist bus adverts" which proclaim that "there probably is no God" will paradoxically probably get more folk talking about the possible existence of God than might others wise have been the case, but not for long, I fear!

The truth is that whilst this campaign will be little more than a one day media wonder with little real furore, had it's promoters really wanted to make controversial statements about what people believe or don't believe and what that might mean for others, they would have had more luck with ads that announced that "there probably is no Santa"!

I thought I'd seen it all....

2009-01-06T20:35:00.007Z

Its been a bizarre few months, arch capitalists becoming market interventionists, the banks nationalised to save them from timeservers and now a local Tory arguing for low paid workers to keep their tips. to, and I quote, "protect vulnerable low paid workers"! Very commendable and not, in itself, to be disagreed with, but given the Tories long time opposition to the minimum wage, whatever they will tell you is policy, is this a sign that they would go back to the times when their leader was campaigning against it on the basis that, with tips, who needs a minimum wage...

Art for arts sake, schools for people sake...

2009-01-05T23:04:00.006Z

Art helps us see who we are as people individually and collectively. A constantly regenerated national art collection helps fill the soul of the nation. Art nurtures our sense of belonging and our search for being as a nation. I get all that.

But I also get that political spending choices are made based on the priorities of a given moment. That mean the same politician may make a different decision on the same subject in different situations. There are always competing moral goods and judgement calls need to be made based on what is needed most.

Which is why the decision by the SNP Government to spend (allegedly) £17.5m on a painting by Titan painting at this moment in time is ill-judged in the extreme. At a time when every politician is saying that what we need to is to spend money of public works to keep the economy going, to choose to spend what could build a primary school on a painting that, for all its merit won't, in itself create one new job nor keep one job safe is can only be described as a seriously bad political judgement call.....but then that's the first of these that we've seen from the SNP

Another, much more serious New Years resolution...

2009-01-04T09:48:00.010Z

So here's another New Years resolution...I will boycott all Israeli goods until the Israeli Government apologises for its actions against the Palestinian people and I call on all those who believe that all peoples, not just Israelis, are entitled to peace, tranquility and freedom, to do the same.

Hamas have done some utterly unacceptable things and they continue to be their own worst enemy, but the actions of the invading Israelite forces, bringing mayhem and death to the Palestinians of Gaza, are so disproportionate as to be almost at the level of ethnic cleansing.

I know that my calling for a boycott of Israeli goods will not exactly have the Israelis quaking in their boots as they trample over the human rights of the Palestinians in Gaza, but given the immorality of the Israeli actions we all have a moral duty to do what we can, no matter how apparently insignificant, to stand up and say no, this is wrong and we will not support it or anything else associated with a state prepared to inflict such untold death and devastation on others, no matter the alleged provocation.

A New Year "to do" list but will it ever be a "now done" list...

2008-12-30T19:56:00.010Z

My New Year predictions were not that accurate last year (something of an understatement actually!), so I thought instead I would try some resolutions instead; at least I would have some chance of making them happen!

so here goes;

get fit; from the low starting point of my rapidly atrophying body this should be achievable; I hope its not too late
loose weight; a perennial of many folk but as my son asked if my now rotund figure constituted a 12 pack something must be done!
Spend more time with said children who already say "who's that man" when I walk in the door, though they are not alone in uttering that fearful cry when I appear....
Read more political history. In the end all my political mistakes are my own but at least this way I might avoid repeating others as well!
Remind myself that sometimes silence speaks more than words, (though not for a blogger!), so also to to really try to blog at least once a day, every day, on my return from the New Year break. I nearly managed it last year but I can always do better...
Find something positive to say about the SNP/Libdems.. a harder task but I do believe in forgiveness even for them...
Search for a new political language that takes me away from the bear pit of conflict without loosing the edge of scrutiny. No easy journey but I am even more convinced than ever before that the present political system of power held tight against an opposition who attacks whatever is said does no-one, least of all the voters, any favours.
Campaign for restoration of the cuts to the No 42, 12 and 13 buses, defend school budgets against more swinging reductions and find a solution to the traffic problems at Craigentinny avenue, both ends..(oops, almost broke number 5 already!).
Get to see Dunfermline Athletic live this season. Its been too long since I was actually at East End Park (over 2 years now) for me to even claim to be a fan, more of a follower of the scores...still, with a good chance of promotion....woops, that was too close to a prediction, lets not jinx them whilst they are doing so well,,,
Keep on going to Edinburgh Rugby, easier to achieve and after that great win against Glasgow, may be this second half of the season will see some more great scores down Murrayfield way.

So we'll see how I get on. On revisiting last years predictions again, I didn't do as badly as I thought but still, this way I should be able to get closer to 100% which should really be my target! Sure I can... Happy new Years to you all.

p.s.-any resolutions that you'd like to use aitkensedinburgh to announce to the world....?

The wean in the manger is with us again

2008-12-24T13:55:00.005Z

There is a deep irony in the interviews of radio and TV financial commentators when they say that the hoped for sales at Christmas have failed to materialise and more businesses are under threat. Its an irony because had the banks applied Christian ethics of meeting others needs not our own greed and prioritising people not pounds we would not be in this economic melt down adn these sales would not be so vital. Its also an irony that so many businesses have built their survival on a consumerist culture, based it would appear, in large part, on maximising profits driven by the commercialisation of the celebration of the man who came to tell us that sacrificial love, forgiveness and care for the stranger and our enemy made the world a better place not the "more, many and mine" world view that is the capitalist paradigm.

I have just read back that paragraph and my goodness I need a holiday! Here ends the sermon. I won't be blogging for a few days but will be back before the New Year. I hope that whatever Christmas means to you, it is as you hoped it will be. God be with you.

The Pope teaches death not love

2008-12-23T21:29:00.006Z

The Pope has crossed the line when he suggests that "saving the world from homosexuality" is more important than saving the environment. There is nothing more important than saving the planet. The human race is in self destruct mode at the moment but not over who we love and how we make love but how we are treating the planet without which there will be no place to make or be in love (or even both).

The Pope should spend what moral authority he may have calling people to consume less and care more about their carbon footprint than worrying yet again about who is sleeping with who. I believe that God made the world and it is sacred and should be treated as such. I also believe that God gave us the power to love another and we should celebrate human love in all its forms not decry a minority for their love for each other whilst all around the world in dying.

Where will I get my pick and mix now!?

2008-12-22T11:17:00.003Z

The demise of Woolies is a sad day for the nation, at least in many folks eyes. The chain, famour for its pick and mix sweet selections, played a part in many people's upbringing. In my case I had a job sweeping the floors in Dunfermline's Woolies for about a year before the chance to play rugby for the school called again. Yet Woolies closure is a classic example of how capitalism has no place for emotional attachments which is why, in the end, it cannot truly meet human need as it suggests. For our humanness, our identity and our sense of belonging all revolves around our emotional attachments, our relationships and our sense of what matters in our memory of who we once were. The market will never meet our human needs, only some of our material ones and even then not always when we actually need them. Woolies death is a parable of why we need to do much more than find a new place to get our pick and mix....

This lot never cease to amaze me...

2008-12-18T22:24:00.005Z

I was wrong. The Council meeting only lasted 8 hours... but it was still 8 hours of uninterrupted chaos and a leadership free zone.

We did manage to vote through the next stage of Portobello High school being rebuilt and the next stage of trams but not without great fudging and stumbling from the SNP/Libdems. In those 8 hours those "listening parties" (aka the SNP/Libdem mal-administration) also managed to;

try to stop one delegation from being heard on a technicality
limit the time the public up on delegations has to speak to 3 minutes, (it was 10 minutes when we were in charge and we still had vastly shorter meetings (there were 14 delegations, all angry about their proposals on several issues!)
shut a community centre that had been only opened 8 years ago
vote through cuts to voluntary groups that will mean job losses
refused to let some members of delegations answer questions put to the by councillors
not understand what is meant by putting a question and instead just made statements to delegations
ask questions of delegations and then chat to their mates instead of listening to the answers
blame me for the funding debacle at Inverness airport, (I am not making that up!)
consistently ignore what was said and mis quote at will, even when the words were said in front of everyone
get very defensive when challenged on their performance on responding to the global credit crunch

It would have been funny of it wasn't sad that their lack of leadership continues to mean the city struggles to play its role in what are tough enough times anyway.

10 hours of my life that I will never get back again

2008-12-18T00:49:00.005Z

Tomorrow, or actually later today I face yet another 10 hours or more of a full council meeting dominated by the incompetence of the SNP/Libdem. 11 delegations, the good news of a new school lost in a badly articulated argument about the site, an astonishing u turn on school meals, anger over cuts to community groups and an over unnecessary stubborn refusal to consider providing more time home care shows the complete lack of political leadership and an astonishing ability to make even good stories into bad ones. I know I stood for election and so I can expect no sympathy but I do expect to be loosing the will to live before mid-day....!

Surely not....

2008-12-16T23:15:00.004Z

Now I have heard it all! Tonight I learnt that there is a proposal from the SNP/Libdem mal-administration to rename librarians as "audience development officers"!

What mad mind thought this up! I cannot believe that they would be so stupid, but then given their track record over the last 20 months, there is every possibility that they would be....

When democracy needs to prove itself worthy of the task

2008-12-15T23:40:00.005Z

Brian Taylors excellent post about health board elections is provocative and captures the issue. Democracy is not an end in itself. It is a tool to an end and its application in any given circumstances must to tested against the outcomes hoped to be achieved.

In the case of health boards that must be; accountability, scrutiny, transparency and good governance. There is nothing about direct elections that will inherently deliver these things any better than other systems that avoids the dangers of single issue campaigners or decisions about serious clinical issues being taken by people with no clinical training or expertise. This is case where democracy in the form being suggested must prove itself rather than been seen as a ethical good in no need scrutiny.

Is there no end to this man's idiocy

2008-12-14T20:58:00.005Z

It says something that shoes were thrown at President Bush at his press conference. What is even more worrying however, is Bush's response, (see video in the link above), where he says "so what the guy threw shoes at me" As the piece says, the soles of shoes and of feet are the most extreme of insults. To compare it to heckling at a political rally or people gesticulating at him when he drives past is to, as is so often the case with the 43rd president, utterly miss the point. No wonder the world is a seriously less safe place than it was when he took office.

another libdem broken promise

2008-12-12T23:52:00.004Z

The Laotian buses fare increase is not good news. It is a result of a number of pressures but whatever the excuses, its more cash flowing from peoples pockets for the same product.

Although I understand the pressures that Lothian Buses are under, I also turn to the libdem manifesto for the 2007 election where I see a commitment that bus fares would increase under their administration only in line with inflation. Compare that promise to the real world where they have risen by much more than inflation which is actually falling.

Yet another promise at best naive and undeliverable, at worst broken beyond all repair. But then we expect little else for this lot these days.

Choose a stamp for Christmas

2008-12-11T19:16:00.007Z

I am not someone who tends to believe in conspiracies, even, perhaps especially when they are accredited to big organisations. So I was a little suspicious when I received this message;

Some information you might like to share with as many people as possible.

This Christmas the Post Office are to issue both secular and religious stamps; but just like last year, you have to stipulate if you want religious stamps!
Apparently each Post Office has been asked to send to HQ the totals for each (possibly to say there is no demand for religious stamps).

Please make as many people aware of this as possible

But given my experience of those who, in their desperation to be inclusive, manage to exclude everyone for not being the same as everyone else, whilst at the same time trying to tell us to celebrate diversity, anything is possible. I don't know if this is true but just to be on the safe side, I'll be asking for those religious stamps....just to keep the numbers up you understand!

We are still in the land of the Chocolate teapot when it comes to schools!

2008-12-10T20:45:00.007Z

Something purporting to be good news for Portie High was released by the less than competent SNP/Libdem administration this afternoon. The press release was headed;

"Go ahead for Edinburgh’s Portobello High school"

which sounds great. Sadly the release then went on to confess that its not the go ahead for Portobello at all but "A proposal to invest an estimated £41.5m in a new Portobello High School" that is "the subject of a report to be considered by the City of Edinburgh Council next week". and that its "part of a programme that will be at least 14 years to deliver and will represent a significant challenge". which means that "it is estimated that construction work (on Portobello) would start in 2011/12 with the new school being open in 2013/14".

Which tells us three connected things

They don't even have the £41.5m for one building far less the £182m they need for their whole 14 year programme,
which means that despite getting more cash from Westminster, the SNP Government is still offering no more cash for Councils
which means that the SNPs Scottish (no) Futures Trust (SFT) is still a chocolate teapot of an idea.

So there will be no dancing in the streets of Portie tonight methinks and I wonder if even the conservative estimate of 13/14 opening is achievable given the paucity of cash support from the SNP Government, the dysfunctional nature of the SFT and the incompetence of the SNP/Libdem coalition. Not a combination that gives anyone a great sense of confidence.

Roll on the zimmer squad!

2008-12-09T21:50:00.004Z

Tonight I witnessed something special. I was at a public meeting in my ward which has a long track record of heated debates about "Youth disorder" and what was I going to do about it.

The police gave their report which said youth calls were dropping to much muttering and shaking of heads... and then this elderly gentleman who had arrived using a "zimmer on wheels' contraption, (what my grannie called her birdcage!). I waited for the harsh words. Instead he said this; "The trouble is we don't talk to these kids. I speak to them, tell them my name and they tell me theirs. They like that. Now they hail me from a cross the road, and check up that I'm ok. They ask what I am doing and I ask what they are up to. Its not complicated. Its just a wee bit respect".

The whole tone of the meeting changed and one person told a story of how she had been told that this chap had been seen "surrounded by teenagers" and the police had been called. only to discover that this chap was just standing talking with the kids and they with him!

What a wonderful example of some-one seeing past the prejudice and looking at the human being. I was inspired as was the rest of the meeting. It was a brilliant moment of hope and challenge to us all and I will drink deep of its strength for some time to come.

Another broken promise..

2008-12-08T23:28:00.003Z

In the Libdem Edinburgh manifesto, a commitment was made to produce a fully costed and financially viable plan for the south suburban railway by summer 2007.

Today we see that their plan was to ask the SNP govt for more cash. Like that was ever going to happen! Having been knocked back, they will now "look at more options" which is a long way from a costed plan by 2007.

What I want to know is why they wrote the promise in the first place? Had they no idea about what it would involve to get a plan in place? Its a classic indication of why they are so incompetent in power. They have no idea of how to deliver what they promised, they just said whatever they thought would get them votes...

We should have seen it coming...

Advent, waiting and wondering

2008-12-07T23:12:00.004Z

Fighting my way through Christmas shoppers this weekend, that consumerist army who seem no fewer in number than usual, I find myself reflecting on Alistair Darling's pre budget package to stimulate the economy and I am torn between two thoughts; the truth of stats and what I feel is true.

Statistically its a great package. Despite the hysteria from those who just want Labour to fail, it is well within our debt limits; at 40% our public debt to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the G7 and will remain so even if it goes up to 57% as one scenario suggests it will.

On the other hand, in some ways, at 1% of the national income, £20b might not be enough rather than be too much, (The US package is 4% of national income). In my guts I wonder if 45% on earnings over £150,000 is enough, was £2.5% off VAT enough, will public works in themselves restore confidence and much more?

Advent is a time of waiting in hope. Never was a moment in a liturgical year more apt for political circumstances, but just as Advents waiting is an active time so our waiting to see is Alistair got it right requires action too, the action of consumption. But will more consumption really be the answer to over consumption. The numbers might tell us so, but I worry that some deeper, more significant change needs to happen to really bring us the peace we desire...and that will always take more than tills tinging and sleigh bells ringing. Welcome to advent waiting with a difference.

A time for big thinking

2008-12-06T21:36:00.005Z

The Scottish Governments Council of Economic Advisers are saying what others have already been banging on about for some time, "lets build our way out of recession" That we are all Kensynans is not news, (well nearly all, save a few bampot tories who are so thurled to the market that any intervention is ideologically unacceptable, even if it helps stave off human suffering, but that's Tories for you!). What we need to be news is how we achieve this programme of public works.

We need three things:

1. The Scottish Government to make its Scottish (no) Futures Trust actually work.
2. Local Authorities (LAs) given cash not just as capital but also to borrow( forget new borrowing for Holyrood, LA's have more than enough powers to get what we need, they just need the cash).
3. The political will of those in power at LAs to make tough choices about what can be built and what will have to wait.

This is a time for risks, for big ideas and for serious leadership over decisions that might not be popular. History will show which we had in what quantity and tht consequences for the rest of those leaders that were lacking one or more of each department.

Holyrood Climate Change bill is good news....

2008-12-06T00:16:00.006Z

The new climate change bill announced today in the Scottish Parliament is astonishing for its vision and willingness to put environmental issues at the forefront of everything we do. No, not a quote from a SNP press release but what I think about this SNP proposal. There is no issue more important for our society and on this one, I have to say, no matter how hard it is to type these words, the SNP have shown some real leadership. Infact, so much so, that at a gathering of "green and environmentalist" journalists this week the complaint was "what are we going to do now because the SNP have rolled over and given us all we wanted"! Who said politics was about giving the people what they wanted.

There are 3 things that flow form this however , that are crucial to understand

1. That word s are easy, making it happen will be what matters and having set high standards, the SNP will be judged by high standards
2. This needs to be embedded in all parts of political life, so, for example, where class sizes of 18 can be achieved by the redrawing of catchments rather than the building of new classrooms, that should happen, no matter how unpopular that is locally
3. the Bills objectives will only be achieved by radical changes in our lifestyles. that needs modelling by Government and unpopular choices. especially over cars and road building. Are the SNP brave enough to be unpopular now for a better time to come... Their track record so far would suggest otherwise, but we shall see.

This Christmas listen to those who are not usually heard

2008-12-04T23:51:00.008Z

I was honoured to once again MC the lighting of the Christmas tree in our community. Over 200 people turned up to sing songs led by a joint Choir from Craigentinny and St Ninians Primary school, hear the Christmas story and prayers and do the count-down to the lights on.

Every year we get some-one significant to do the lighting up but this year was some-one with a different type of significance. I have met many famous and powerful people in my life but the ones I am really in awe of tend to be ones not in the headlines. Today was no except. Lynn Roberston lost her 5 year son Adam at the beginning of November to a pontine glioma (Brain stem tumour). She is one of the bravest people I know. She shared her journey from when Adam was diagnosed 6 months ago with the world in an astonishingly powerful blog which spoke volumes to all of us who read it.

It might seem odd to mix bereavement with Christmas celebrations but part of the Christmas message is about seeing hope in tough times and the idea that by sharing our struggles together we are stronger. Tonight our community stood with Lynn and the boys as they light the tree. In do so we said that we are with them in their sadness. We know we cannot take it away but we also know that community that shares pain of its members is a stronger place. And we were also inspired by their bravery in being willing to stand up and do such a public act of celebration when their pain is so great. As has been the case for the last 6 months, they were an inspiration to us all.

Tonight more than ever, I was proud of the community I have the privilege of representing for being so fully human in giving yet again a glimpse of the power of the divine, of undefeatable love.

Talk about the wrong priorities...

2008-12-03T21:46:00.006Z

At a parent council meeting in my ward tonight, one of the ruling SNP/Libdem councillors admitted that school budgets are likely to be cut up to 2% in next years budget. This is on top of the last years 1.5% cut they were hit with. Those cuts translated into cuts of about £90k per high school and £20k per primary school which schools won't get back again as well as whatever 2% will mean.

We then find that the SNP/Libdems say reserves are their priority. So lets get this straight, kids education will suffer so they can get money in the bank. Its a scandal.

Despite what the present administration claim, we left £50m in the bank. we protected schools from cuts and built or refurbished 34 buildings. They are offering cuts on their previous cuts, an ever increasing overspend and no new schools so they can squirrel away cash for some, as yet undeclared purpose. I don't know how they sleep at night.

Calman, a work in progress perhaps hindered by itself..

2008-12-02T22:27:00.004Z

The interim report from the Calman commission does not have a lot of hard proposals but then, given that it is a "work in progress" that should not be a surprise. This is about the future of Scotland and so seven months of listening and reflecting, whist not insubstantial, is not enough time to do justice to the task. That being said, the two serious issues that the commision has excluded, a second chamber and full fiscal autonomy, need a wee comment or two.

A second chamber was never going to happen when there is still a view by some that we are already over our quota of layers of government and politicians., Despite the fact that this is not a actually true if we are compared to other countries of a comparable size, in politics perception is all and a conclusion that we needed more politicians, was never going to be popular.

Fiscal autonomy is another story altogether, ruled out because it is "inconsistent with the union" is not helpful. The message it send's out is that, in the most crucial of areas, we are not going to consider all the options.

I have long agreed with the view that the most significant theological decisions are made in the finance committee and so it is the same with political decisions. The block grant model cannot stay. It feels like control from London. It isn't, but it feels like it, and because it feels like it, the case for devolution as an effective expression of self identity is undermined. We many not be yet at the stage of moving to full fiscal autonomy but to rule it out at this point was not wise for it suggest a lack of confidence or ambition which is not helpful to the Unionist cause of which I remain a committed member.

Great news for Portie!

2008-12-01T23:00:00.006Z

The announcement today that the Council has had legal advice which means that it is possible to build a new high school for Portobello school on Portobello Park even though it is common good land is great news.

the key quote is:

"In terms of the scheme, no private finance or third party partner will be involved. Accordingly, no interest in title to land passes to any other party. No other party will accordingly acquire interest in title to land such as to constitute a disposal within the meaning of s.75(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The advice of Senior Counsel in their Joint Opinion is that the Council do not require the prior consent or authorisation of the Court under s.75(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to the proposed appropriation of part of the park at Portobello for the construction of a new Portobello High School."

What is interesting is that this is what we said two years ago based on what our legal officers had told us, but it has taken the SNP/Libdems two years and two QCs to get to the same point. Speaks volumes really!

On the subject of school buildings, I see the SNP are winging on about PFI allegedly costing more and that's because it involved private sector cash . This is the party whose so called Scottish Futures Trust is a private company who job it is to lever in private sector expertise and private sector cash... and the difference is...?

An impressive event

2008-11-30T08:18:00.005Z

I was honoured to be a guest of Hutchison Vale football club last night at their award ceremony. I was only able to stay for the first hour because of another engagement but what an impressive event. They have 20 teams with over 500 players aged 10 to 21, male and female and the whole organisation is run by volunteers. Who says all kids are apathetic, don't do sport or join anything. There were many statistics shared last night but one that particularly impressed me was the fact that there are 110 professional players playing this season who are former "Hutchie" players.

It was brilliant to see so many parents and family and friends there to support and celebrate the achievements of these young sports people and I was grateful for the opportunity to be there if only for a short time. I pay tribute to the dedication and commitment of the veritable army of volunteers who make it all happen for Hutchie, who lead by example, and the compatriots in sports clubs all over the city and beyond, giving literally 1000's of young people the chance to achieve great things through sport.

A win, a congratulations and a question

2008-11-29T17:36:00.007Z

Watching Edinburgh thump the Osprey's last night at Murrayfield was a joy even though the second half performance was not nearly as good as the first half and the freezing temperatures meant that there was limited shouting and dancing as we huddled for warmth! The Ospreys were without many of their internationalists as they were down in Cardiff ready to ( as we now know) defeat the Aussies and serious "hats off" to them. I caught the last bit of that match and the Welsh seemed to deserve their win despite a hairy last few minutes. Hopefully I can see the highlights later on.

On the subject of highlights, can anyone tell me why the BBC website has highlights of all the recent matches except the England South Africa.... wonder why....?

WIll we be voting again soon...?

2008-11-27T23:13:00.011Z

There has been much talk of an early election, (June 4th is the date suggested), and I think it may well happen. There's no doubt that no matter how good the "rescue package" is and its about as good as it could get, things will still be tough by autumn next year and it won't be a good a time to go to the polls. If the date is June then if three things happen, there will be a Labour Majority;

The recession is not too deep and Labour can associate itself with that being the case
Cameron continues not to build a credible economic alternative strategy
Labour continues to produce policies like the new to rate of tax that make people feel that those who can help more in these tough times are being asked to do so

The journey out of this recession will not be about economics but emotions; "how do I feel about my situation, who do I trust to get us through tough times, is what is being done to get us out of this situation fair" will be the basis on which most people will vote.

A word to the rich from a place of the poverty...

2008-11-26T22:21:00.005Z

Avid readers of this blog may remember my stories about one of my heroes, the wonderful ex monk Paul Baker Hernandez whom I had the joy of re acquainting myself with last year after nearly 18 years. Paul is a wonderful activist and wandering minstrel who lives these days in Nicaragua. His Charity Echos of Silence supports some of the poorest and moist oppressed people in the world. He's just written to folk here in Scotland with his view of the Global crisis from a place where abject poverty is not a political football but a personal reality. Its worth a read...

Crisis! The spreading econo-eco tragedy is bringing home to us all what most Nicaraguans live through day after day: homes, savings, jobs, forests - even lives gone. And of course, charity also contracts when the system that supports itself largely by decimating the 'Third World' goes into shock, so the outlook for serious international support is more than ever bleak.

However, solidarity is different. In the best Nicaraguan and human tradition of courage under fire, we believe this crisis is actually the moment for us all to reach out across frontiers and divisions and really go for building the new world order we've longed for so, an order based on peace and justice, cooperation and community. Now, at last, as individualistic consumerism begins to self-destruct, we can reclaim our values, our children, our very planet.

So, instead of the usual Christmas cry for help, Echoes of Silence invites you to join us in Water not War, a campaign requiring all governments to commit 1% of all military budgets and personnel to providing fresh water to every person on Earth. Not only would such a measure save millions of lives and reduce global warming significantly, it would also make the profound psychological shift of beginning to build down weapons and war, while preventing ever more terrible resources wars. Please check the WNW website: http://waternotwar.pbwiki.com. Time is of the essence. And, especially since the collapse of the UK pound has devastated our income, donations are still vitally needed (www.PeaceWorks.com). Thanks, and much love from our tiny but indomitable Nicaraguita.

Now there's a wee challenge to our ideas of how to respond to the credit crunch. For get your cash for more spending, lets give up a little more to help a lot....

Sometimes its not the news thats important

2008-11-25T22:24:00.006Z

I know that I really ought to commenting on the well thought out and bold pre budget package aid for the recession package announced by Alistair Darling or the outrageous and morally offensice comments by Tory MP Andrew Landsley that the "recession is good for us" but actually its tonight's debate I had with Margo Macdonald about assisted suicide that I flagged up yesterday that is on my mind so these other matters will have to wait for another time.

Margo was her usual thoughtful but firm self, challenging but respectful and open minded. For her, the moral imperative of autonomy over the choice to die when life becomes in tolerable was paramount. For me, the issue was (and is) how we as a society would reconcile the desire to allow a release of pain in an individual that we can only imagine and the danger that accepting the view of a life, even by the persons whose life it is, is a burden, or without meaning, or valueless. Once we do that we open a door to a role of death in life that can only invade already struggling relationships in a dangerous way.

I do not presume to judge.. I do not see this as a debate about right or wrong but my fear is that in our desire to be compassionate we loose something significant about the value of life in and of itself.

What is clear is that the status quo cannot continue. we need clarity as a society about what we will permit and why whatever we conclude is the case. So whilst I do not agree with Margo, I will be contacting Iain Gray to say that this debate should happen ans Labour should help make it happen, whatever the views of individual members on the subject matter.

A debate of life and death proportions

2008-11-24T22:56:00.008Z

Tomorrow night I will be taking part in what will be one of the toughest debates I have ever engaged in. I am "in conversation" with Margo MacDonald MSP on assisted suicide, 7.15pm at St Johns Church in Princes Street.

I hold Margo in the highest regard and her private members bill on this subject is brought with the deepest of thought and the most compassionate of motives. But I cannot go to where she is. For every case where the choice of assisted suicide seems understandable, there are other circumstances that would make me fear that a decision was not being taken with a full sense of awareness of what other options there are.

This cannot be a debate about moral judgementalism or condemnation nor can it be reduced to situationalism. It must grapple in some form with deciding which a moral 1st principle to hold as being closer to protecting us from ourselves; the right to choose when to die or the right of a society to say we will act sacrificially to severe every need of a fellow human being and not see it as a burden but as a gift and an opportunity so life may continue.

Yet even as I try to write with clarity I know that this is not about a God of black and white but a divinity of the grey areas. This is really going to stretch my thinking and my feeling and though I know where I want to go I am not sure that it is where I will end up...

I will let you know what happens

You heard it here first, (maybe!)

2008-11-23T22:10:00.007Z

Well mercy me! Could it be that Alistair Darling reads my blog. Certainly if he does as is suggested here and puts up the top rate of tax for those earning over £150,000 then, even if it didn't get it from me I will be very pleased. Its the right thing to do and will very much send the right messages of support and commitment to those who are struggling.

Saying no to racism is not enough

2008-11-22T10:58:00.007Z

I think Hazel Blears is right! Now there's a sentence I didn't expect to write too often! But on the BNP she is spot on. The drift of folk to the BNP who at one time were Labour supporters is as much an indictment on my Party as it is a concern at the rise of racism. If some voters feel that we no longer speak for them and they choose to go elsewhere politically is part of the political process. But when they feel we no longer speak for them and there is no-one else doing so except a bunch of far right racist nutters, then we have failed them as to support the BNP in that case is an act of political desperation.

The Labour Party cannot afford to dismiss this as a tiny trend that is a political side show, We have the means to stop it. We need to listen hard (getting past the racist rhetoric or the fears of immigration spun by the BNP to pull them in) to those who have made that move make sure we do what it takes both to bring them back to the fold and take them away from racist solutions that damage not just the reputation but the soul of our nation.

loosing the will to live

2008-11-21T00:06:00.011Z

10 hours is how long the City of Edinburgh Council meeting lasted today. 10 hours almost to minute of directionless, badly handled and incompetent decision-making where even good news stories are making people mad.

Today the SNP/Libdems:

used the Lord Provost's casting vote to shut schools
admitted that their new plan for the Kings road roundabout is uncosted and without a timetable
shelved the Meadowbank Stadium development
admitted that if they could get away with it politically they would reintroduce robes for councillors
refused to discuss the fate of yet another bus service being cut
refused to lobby the Government for more money for investment in Edinburgh

It was an astonishing display of weak leadership and defensive politics. Its 10 hours of my life I'll never get back but more importantly it is ten hours that mean the city will continue to suffer under their incumbency

A gift is not what it might seem

2008-11-19T23:16:00.008Z

The revelation that business leaders are against the SNPs Local income tax, (LIT), proposals might at first appear to be music to Labour ear but we need to be careful here. Implementing the LIT is never the issue. Being seen to be fair and equitable is. That's why the SNPs council tax freeze was so effective. It does not make fiscal sense because it removes £240m out of public services but it does make political sense because people feel, for good or for ill, unfairly treated by the Council tax. They do not have to implement the LIT, which on all figures show that it would produce at least £400m less tax take than at present. They only have to be seen to try, because what they want to be seen as is fighting unfairness. Another barrier, like business objections, will help them seem even more on the side of the little guy, without having to go through the hassle of implementing a policy they know is deeply flawed,

Gift horse, false dawn, call it what you will, but this attack on LIT might well have the effect of stopping the change but helping the SNP to achieve a greater goal of more support eventually, for independence. Labour tactics need to move from the difficult ground of who might win or loose from LIT to focusing on the "broken promise" of LIT and the really dangerous thing of Independence where our struggles to survive would be only just beginning.

such insenstivity will just rub salt into the wounds..

2008-11-19T00:39:00.006Z

When I had political responsibility for schools in Edinburgh I proposed he shutting or merging of 14 schools. I didn't like it but it was the best way of improving not only buildings but the resources we put into schools. That meant that teachers, already doing great job in difficult circumstances, could do even better with new resources and support. Every pupil in a school we shut or merged went into one of 34 new or refurbished schools. In additions we spent millions of pound spent on maintenance and development of other schools.

Having failed dismally to shut 22 schools as they first proposed, The SNP/Libdem mal-administration that we now suffer under want to shut 3 schools with no investment or building programme. What's worse, they have managed to insult staff and pupils along the way with their arrogance. I am told that one of the arguments given at the public meeting to debate the shutting of Westburn School was informed by that " a bigger school will mean better teachers for your pupils" . What a slap in the face for staff who are working extremely hard in difficult circumstances. No wonder this lot are getting a reputation for riding roughshod over the views of local people and not listening to anything that challenges their limited view of the world.

It shouldn't have happened but a witch hunt won't help

2008-11-17T22:10:00.004Z

I have waited all weekend to write about Baby P to see if I could calm down but I haven't. I find myself angry on three levels;

that adult humans could do these unspeakable things to a child who should have been held in their love and protection;
the tragedy could have been avoided if decisions had been taken;
and at the veritable witch-hunt by press an politicians which will do nothing whatsoever to make children any safer.

I have been on the end of the phone getting the call from senior staff in a department for which had political responsibility saying there has been a tragedy and that child protection procedures I had helped put in place had not stopped it.

I have listened to social workers going over every minute detail, all of us wishing they had made a different decision-making.

I led the restructuring of a department so that we might make sure the right decisions would be made and still some fell through the net. It is utterly impossible to create a legislative system that will mean every child, in every circumstance will be safe, or that every social worker will always make the right decision. And lynch mob responses to their mistake s do not lessen the chances of them recurring.

A witch-hunt against hard pressed staff who have to make the most difficult of decisions in often volatile circumstances will not make children safer. It will instead create a climate of fear, defensiveness and isolation for those we ask to make those tough calls. It will mean few folk will want to do the job and it will mean those that do will leave before their experience is honed such that they are more likely to make the right decision. Yes, different decisions should have been taken and yes those involved need to be challenged, but unless we change how we deal with our collective anguish at such tragedies then we will continue to fail to honour the short life of Baby P.

A novel idea but not a new one

2008-11-14T20:45:00.006Z

Rumours of tax cuts from Gordon Brown are rife and there's no doubt that they might boost a little confidence in the short term. make folk feel that they had a little more cash again. The trouble is, as I have said before, e.g. here, to meet a failed consumerism with more consumerism is not a sustainable strategy. If effective political decision-making relates to how people feel however, and I think it is, there is one thing Gordon could do in conjunction with tax cuts; raise taxes for the rich. Not for those just over the 40% bracket, but say an additional 1 or 2 % for those earning over £150,000 or even £200,000 of which there are still plenty. This would have three effects

It would raise some cash to pay for the tax cuts for the less well off so limit the political damage caused in folks minds by the idea of increasing government debt even for tax cuts.
It would be classically redistributive and not a difficult political sell once the high volume protests from the few who were having to pay a little more had died down.
Perhaps most importantly, it would feel like he was being fair, because he was being so.
The Tories would not have anywhere to go with it as to object would see them the party of the rich and to support gives them no political traction with their followers.

So how about it Gordon; there's always room for a wee move back to your roots ever now and again.....

another movement for change

2008-11-14T00:17:00.008Z

I spent this evening at an excellent event to celebrate the registration of the 200th eco-congregation. in Scotland. It was good to see MSPs Des McNulty and Patrick Harvie there, both members of the Scottish parliaments Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change committee, Patrick being convener. Both spoke well and Patrick did the presentations.

Eco congregations are part of an ecumenical movement of congregations who commit to changing not just the energy use of their buildings but also reflecting on their individual lifestyles. They have the potential to be huge catalysts for change in the communities they serve, not simply as within their congregational life.

They also epitomise the perspective that acting ecologically is not simply a response to scientific warning but a moral stance that connects the consequence of all our actions on others. In fact it goes further than that. We act ecologically not because we are in danger of loosing something but because the world is sacred and should be looked after, whether or not global warming exists. We know it does, but if it did not, we still should not waste what has been given to us to look after.

It was great evening and there's more to come from this movement, I promise you

one last wee laugh before reality hits

2008-11-12T22:02:00.004Z

I was sent this video which purports to be the reaction at SNP HQ to Lindsay Roy's great win in Glenrothes. It is a bit over the top, especially some of the language, which sadly takes the edge off it a bit, but there are some very funny lines in it....

Hope in difficult places

2008-11-12T21:39:00.004Z

I spent some time this afternoon visiting the outstanding mediation project amber which specialises in helping parents and teenagers sort out their difficulties. Identified as a method of early intervention to stop teenagers end up homeless because they can't get on with their parents, it has proven to be hugely successful in its 18 months existence. I was privileged to be part of the launch back in 2006 and my high hopes then have been more than exceeded.

What is really exciting about this project is that it mot only prevents homelessness but it also rebuilds families by the simply method of teach folk to listen to each other,. its not rocket science, but it does work. I left enthused by the dedication and commitment of the staff, but also the inspiration of the stories I heard of families healed and lives turned round. Unsung hero's and heroines; the lot of them

Another fine mess you've got into!

2008-11-11T20:50:00.004Z

View Larger MapAnd from the global to the local. There a huge piece of road infrastructure happening in my ward. The roundabout at Kings Road is being changed to traffic lights. its a good move and will improve traffic flow and safety. but then I would say that as it was an Edinburgh Labour plan with funding Edinburgh Labour obtained that's now being put in place,

Trouble is, once again, the SNP/libdems have managed to make a good story into a bad plan. Their recent announcement that the project plans have had to change drastically are just yet another chapter in this sorry saga. The project is now late and will not be finished before Christmas. It was supposed to be finished at the end of October. It has meant more than a dozen roads being closed and many angry locals being given conflicting and unhelpful information. Its also meant teh closure of Portobello high street which inspire the classic bit of SNP/Libdem spin that "shoppers could enjoy the calmer atmosphere of no cars!"

Sure, I/m all for car free zones but shoppers can't get near the place in the first instance thanks to the roads being blocked to everything including buses and, having cut 4 bus routes in the area, there's few enough of them as it is!

We need good safe roads. But we also need our money spent well and we need projects to run to time and budget. Sadly, the SNP/Libdems struggle to make sense of such simple ideas and so any good ideas are lost to their botched implementation

tax cuts might make us feel good but are they good for us?

2008-11-11T00:02:00.005Z

I am worried. Gordon's tax cuts make some sense in the short term because of the "feel good factor" they will bring. All of ecomonics is based on how we feel so its nt a bad move from that perspective. But I have real concerns about how sustainable this is.

Firstly, given that it was consumerism that helped fuel this crisis, why do we look to the same response as the solution. Tax cuts are a market driven solution and its the market model that ahs failed us. There is some sense in giving for cash to save, but to encourage spending again as the solution suggests that lessons have not yet been fully learnt.

Secondly, despite the views of some that all tax is bad, we actually pay taxes for good reasons; to invest in our communities, to build infrastructure to meet our needs and to help the vulnerable. Additional spending under Keynesian thinking uses these infrastructure needs as a vehicle to keep the economy going when the market fails (as it always does in the end). Keynesian models have a track record of working, but if we reduce the tax revenue at the same time as spending more on infrastructure, then we will be less able to help those in need, especially those who are suffering because of the market failure.

Tax cuts may buy time and a little popularity but they will not help in the long term aim of making sure more and ore folk are lifted out of poverty. In fact they may well mean instead that more and more folk find themselves in poverty without the support to get out again and that's not a good place for a Labour Government to find itself in.

Rememberance Day as it ought to be

2008-11-09T18:20:00.011Z

Today's Remembrance Service seemed to go well but were I doing it again I would not write or say anything.

Instead I would simply play this video from youtube that Guido Fawkes has on his blog. As ever, music, images and the insight of folk younger that I speak far more effectively than I could ever do even though its about something neither of us have actually experienced.

Preparing a silence to tell a difficult story

2008-11-08T23:55:00.004Z

Preparing to take a Remembrance Day Service at a church that has no minister at present has proven to be an interesting journey back down my changing view of how these events should be approached.

I started out my ministry taking a very anti war, no militarism line. My services were about peace not war and no words of victory and God on our side ever left my lips.

i still hold to those views but they manifest themselves in very different ways now. These days I focus on the real human stories, not simply those of the service men and women but also those who had to stay behind and wait, never knowing if the knock on the door meant a telegram and or a reunion.

I also take the view now that war is never good, but sometimes, just sometimes, thanks to our human frailties and selfishness, war is all we have left to bring peace. This is not an argument for a "just war" that still remains for me a rationale too close to saying some wars are are good. I don't think that can ever be true, just that sometimes they are simply the last resort. The Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan don't fall into that category but I think now that, given what went before them, WW1 and WW2 were eventually unavoidable and we should mark and continue to mark their ending in a manner that recognises that and the sacrifices that were a consequence.

This idea is, in part at least, captured in this poem

A time for Silence

A time for silence
and a time for noise

A time to remember
and a time to forget

A time to be mournful
and a time to know joy

A time to read
From the war memorial
Names we recognise
sacrifices we can’t imagine

Lives we have heard of
but will never really know

Love we can guess at
but heartbeats we will not hear

Hopes we can speculate
but dreams we’ll never see

in the silence we can hear many things
in the silence we can glimpse another time
when war because what the time demanded
no matter how we wanted another way

and when waiting meant an eternity
waiting for news
waiting for orders
waiting for words
to bring tears of laughter
to bring fear or relief
to bring danger or safety
to bring new times or old worries

In the silence
so much to remember
so much to respect
so much to question
so much to take in
so much to mark
so much it can’t be said
only the silence can speak for us now

What Cammy's by election victory really means

2008-11-07T19:23:00.009Z

There will be much analysis of Lindsay Roys great win yesterday in Glenrothes by folk far closer to the detail than I, so I will simply say that it brings great hope that we can still communicate and we are beginning to act like a coherent, scrutinising opposition, But to mangle a cliche; one by-election victory does win the war that will be a General election. Nor does it completely heal a hurting brand..though it helps tremendously.

I will however, offer a little closer scrutiny of what happened in Forth with Cammy Days superb win for the people of Forth. In Elizabeth they lost a fighter for their cause, in Cammy they got one back;

Here's 5 reasons why Cammy won

1.High quality local candidate who put in the hours on the door step

2. Backed up by better use of voter id than we'd done before for a Council level election

3. We kept it local, very local, like street to street local

4. The Libs are already a tainted brand; Robes, junkets, traffic chaos, botched school closures, cuts to the voluntary sector to name but a few wounds. Interestingly, it did not seem to taint the SNP who have sneakily distanced themselves from the tough calls.

5. The Tories voters realised that if their man did not win, the 29/29 balance on the Council needed to be maintained and so were prepared to transfer to us in almost equal numbers to us as to the SNP.

Which is why we are in a new politics like we have never been before. Without Cammy and his teams brilliant campaign to get home to the place to be the recipient on those transfers he would not have won, but need them he did. This suggests something of a sophistication in votes that rarely, other than in a classic "anybody but" campaign do they have the chance to express in first past the post.

I have always been a fan of proportional representation even though I knew initially it would cost my Party a great deal, But it is fairer, demonstrably so, as can be seen by this by election. Some of my less enlightened colleagues will say "ah but Cammy would have won under 1st past the post" True, but that assumes that winning is enough on its own. This way, more people than labour voters now have had a hand in electing Cammy. He now has a base wider than our voters to work with. They probably won't vote Labour 1st preference but with a good hard working track record as He will no doubt have, he now has a relationships with those beyond the party faithful that, if nurtured will form the basis of the consensus political culture that many call for but our present political structures severely inhibit. Yes, things have changed, and not just across the pond but here to in our own back yard.

Hold on- I was wrong and how glad I am to be so!

2008-11-07T00:54:00.005Z

Silly me for listening to those "close to the action"! What a win for Lyndsay Roy, a majority of 6737, an increase in our share of the vote and hope once again for the party.

That being said, and I don't want to put a damper on a great night (two council election wins as well), my previous points about trust remain. This was fought on local issues and hammered an SNP council record. I am elated tonight but I will be contented when I see a deeper turn in our national poll numbers and folk saying not just that Gordon's the man of the credit crunch moment but that he's the man for the next election as well. Still a brilliant night for us, especially for Lyndsay and Cammy, (though not for my ability to predict election wins!)

VICTORY FOR EDINBURGH LABOUR-what a difference a Day makes!

2008-11-07T00:07:00.005Z

I have just heard that Labour has won the Forth By election. Its amazing! We had a great candidate in Cammy Day but it was always going to be tough with an AV system on a 4 person ward. But maybe its a sign I am wrong on Glenrothes. I hope so!

close but no cigar is what I hear

2008-11-06T23:36:00.005Z

I am hearing that the BBC are correct and that the SNP have sneaked the Glenrothes By election by about 500 votes.

This clearly is not good news. Although things were moving our way there's clearly a great deal more to do for folk to trust us again for all of politics is about trust. Lindsay Roy, our candidate, was trusted by a great deal of folk. I saw that on the door steps myself. But its the brand. The Labour brand is damaged and is in need of repair. Sure its about policies but for people to believe in a policy, to be willing to go with the change a policy brings, they need to believe in the person promoting that policy and their party. And that's what we have not yet achieved. We can and we will, (I nearly said Yes we can but that's been said before somewhere!), but we haven't done it yet and Glenrothes is a clear indicator of that.

Change and the parable of the plumber

2008-11-05T11:13:00.010Z

So the change has begun. Barack Obama is President, (or will be on January 20th) and America will begin to steer another course away from the politics of greed and the playground bully. Or so we hope. There is huge expectation and faith in this man about whom we knew very little until 3 or 4 years ago...so let us pray...

John McCann, on the other hand, lost it looking for a plumber. His mistake was that, in his struggle to find a metaphor to speak of who he stood for, he used one that was not true. The plumbers name was not Joe and his "self made business" was not all it was claimed to be about. Barack Obama used metaphors to speak of a change like we have rarely seen in politics, metaphors that touched people deep in their souls. John McCann's metaphor suggested he didn't know what he was talking about and that's when it all started to go horribly wrong. An object lesson for anyone trying to speak up and speak out whatever the subject matter.

In the election that really matters; vote 1 for Cammy day

2008-11-04T22:20:00.001Z

A moral outrage

2008-11-04T22:08:00.005Z

It is an absolute scandal and a moral outrage that the former chief executive of HBOS is now being paid £60,000 to help Lloyd TSB in the takeover. The greed culture that created the Credit Crunch has clearly not changed one iota is the perpetrators of the collapse get paid exorbitant sums to mop up the mess whilst the victims loose their homes, their jobs and their families.

How different this is to the clear moral and ethical motivations of Rev Hendry Duncan who founded the TSB to help the poor. How he must be spinning in his grave as his successors feed on the suffering for whom the TSB was set up to help.

More cuts, more pain, more anger

2008-11-03T23:52:00.006Z

I spent the early part of the morning catching up with ward correspondence. All of it was complaints about the consequences of the present SNP/Libddem mal-administrations cuts and cock-ups;

In today's mailbag people were angry about:

The number 12 and 13 buses being cut "because we are at the end of the bus route"
That there has been no progress on Portobello School
The work on the Seafield roundabout now running more than 3 months late
The lack of support for challenging anti-social behaviour
Leaves not being cleared up
Being given the run-around by officers on a parking issue
Traffic problems in Duddingston village
No one listening to an elderly man who had a fall because a drain wasn't cleaned
Their community group being unable to compete for a tender for work they have done for years because the money offered would kill the project
Why their community centre still has not had confirmation of their budget for the year

And that's just the ones I can remember but there were many more. My colleagues tell me that my postbag is not unusual. All the time folk scunnered with an administration that is intent on making cuts and ignoring needs. Its quite an achievement to have annoyed so many folk so quickly, but at least they are consistent; they are rude to or ignore everyone!

More to do but it could be the start of something big

2008-11-03T00:20:00.005Z

And so to Glenrothes I went. and it was excellent. I spent time in three different parts of the constituency, including a 2 hour "blitzing" with Lindsay himself and the response was excellent. Labour voters rock solid and Lindsay's reputation as a well liked and very effective local head teacher playing well with the don't knows. Its still very tight, very tight indeed. But I left feeling that there is a real chance we can defend this seat.

What's been very interesting is just how easy it has been to expose the SNP council as utterly inept, driven by cost cutting beyond all else and rapidly loosing the trust of the voters. Linday's has been seen as some-one worth supporting because he's delivered for local pupils, he's not a career politician (remember, he will take a pay cut if he's elected!), and he's independent of mind. Fifers like that in a politician because that's how they see themselves. We're not there yet, but its going to be close, very close and it was good, even just for a day, to be part of that feeling because we haven't had that for some time now.

Its going to be close in Fife..

2008-11-01T21:56:00.008Z

I am off to campaign in Glenrothes tomorrow, finally getting a chance to support Lindsay Roy whom I knew in my CoSLA days when he was President of what was then known as the Headteachers Association of Scotland. He was very good at that job and he's doing a great job for us.

I'm told that its very tight, that our polling shows a wide variant in levels of support for all candidates and that its a very different experience from Glasgow East. This is a fingernail job, but in my guts I think Lindsay going to get there but he won't have much skin left on his teeth or seat in its pants..

some things money just can't buy

2008-11-01T21:44:00.006Z

I was at a joint 50th birthday party last night for two friends of nearly 30 years standing with whom I once shared a flat as part of a street work project based in a Glasgow housing scheme. Domestic hygiene may not have been in our vocabulary but it was a life changing experience for which I will be forever grateful; as I am for their friendship still strong after almost 3 decades. Such things cannot be bought, but they are for me much more the bedrock of a contented life and have a value way beyond anything the illusory "golden calf' wealth of the market could ever offer. It was a great party and even better friendships.

What does it all mean Dad?

2008-10-30T23:40:00.013Z

As my kids get ready for guising tomorrow I've been asked how I can be a Christian and celebrate Hallowe'en. Well here goes;

Hallowe’en is a weaving together of tradition and history which is captured in the diverse mix of symbolism that epitomises Hallowe’en events. We have witches, warlocks and dark spirits on one hand and light and new life in apples, sweets and sharing good things on the other. Some things come from the Samhainn or Samhuin, end of summer, beginning of harvest traditions, others from the Christian “Hallowing” or cleansing of the day before All Saints days, yet more from the Gaelic culture of spirits and good and evil. No one group can “claim” Hallowe’en as their own nor reject it as “against” their beliefs. What matters is what we tell our children.

As a Christian I believe in the power of hope and forgiveness even when these thing seem impossible. Hallowe'en is for me the preparation of a time when we clear our minds of negative thinking to reflect on the lives of all who have gone before us, family, friend and stranger, waiting to celebrate the potential of saintliness in everyone, known and unknown. It shows that death need not be the end and that a willingness to love and be loved can mean the lives of others can be changed for the better even we are dead.

The spirits and ghouls represent the pressures and forces that lead to bad choices. The light and food and fun and sharing speak of new life, harvest and the power of positive relationships that give us the strength to make good choices and live positively for others and for ourselves.

Carefully explained to children, the hallowe’en fun and laughter of guising, tumshie lanterns, dooking for apples and sharing out sweets can also speak of hope and love even beyond death and so should be enjoyed for that alone.

Never a truer word...

2008-10-27T17:12:00.003Z

This is an old joke but it still rings so very true......

The Lost Balloonist

A woman in a hot air balloon realizes she is lost. She lowers her altitude and spots a man fishing from a boat below.

She shouts to him, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The man consults his portable GPS and replies, 'You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

She rolls her eyes and says, 'You must be a Tory!'

'I am,' replies the man. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answers the balloonist, 'Everything you tell me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you're not much help to me.'

The man smiles and responds, 'You must be a Libdem.'

'I am,' replies the balloonist. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' says the man, 'You don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and now you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met but, somehow, now it's my fault.

Its the wrong question...

2008-10-27T12:18:00.014Z

A work trip and then a few days with the family up north has meant I've been too long away from key board and blog... but that's probably a good thing for my sanity!

Being abraod for a few days caused me to reflect on the "could Scotland survive on its own" debate. That reflection has brought me to the conclusion that that's the wrong question. There is no doubt that Scotland could "survive" on its own. That is not the point. The question is, would we improve not just our quality of life but the quality of life of both our neighbours and those we are as yet strangers to by being independent. That seems to me to be a lot less certain.

Take the HBOS/LLoyds TSB merger. I get the iconic thing, (though, interestingly, the TSB bit of LLoyds TSB is as Scottish in origins as any bank), so keeping it separate makes some sense. But it would only be viable to HBOS is now only potentially viable as a separate entity because of money it received from Westminster. So now we have a debate about a Scottish icon being "kept Scottish" only possible because of British economic capacity. Had we been independent we would not have had that capacity and the iconic bank might well have tumbled anyway, tumbled because, alone, we were not able to save it. So who wins then? Certainly not those furth of Scotland whose money and custom is just as important as Scottish support. And Scotland would have lost not just a bank but an Iconic part of its national identity.

In troubled times...

2008-10-20T13:13:00.000+01:00

I have just spent nearly 11 hours on much delayed sleeper from Edinburgh to Euston so there was little good about this morning. That was until I tried to rebook my missed eurostar connection. Not only was the woman at the Eurostar ticket desk unbelievably helpful but we got into a conversation about scotland england and the union.

She asked "do the scots really want to break way?" "only some" I replied. "well everyone I know doesn't want you all to go. Its in tough times (I think she meant the credit crunch not my missed train!) that we discover how much we need each other." Her unexpected defending of the union flumoxed me and so she continued "we are always stronger together than apart" She is so right.

Salmonds mumping at the union in a crisis just so misses the point. In troubled times you discover why sticking together is much better. Now more than ever we should be standing up for the union. Not to defend the past but to protect the future. Together.

A good idea from the SNP... did I really say that!

2008-10-19T16:45:00.011+01:00

In Pictura est puella, Ou est puella, Puella est Falvia, Ou est Falvia,,, Ecce Romani book 1.. 2nd year Latin class-1975! How earth can I remember that opening line from 2nd year Latin only the Good Lord knows especially as cannot remember any more or things that happened yesterday. I've long felt that my overall grasp of languages might have been much better had I not effectively dropped Latin by Christmas of that year ( I use to pay some-one in sweets to do my homework) because I couldn't see the relevance. How foolish I was.

So on that basis, (i.e. those sweets were wasted!), I think that Fiona Hyslop's comments about returning Latin to schools might not seem as daft as they first appear. Premised on the upsurge in Latin following the Harry Potter phenomena, the idea would be to help pupils get the first principles of language and that seems to make sense to me. It would need to be well resourced and well taught but it could open eyes to a whole new approach to the idea of literature and language as the place and the tools to search for meaning. Harry Potter has already brought thousands of kids to enjoy reading for the first time. The idea that the wee wizard could be the catalyst for a revival of an understanding of language itself would be the natural progression.