8 December 2009

Trams

Met with Richard Jeffery Chief Executive of tie to talk about the trams. The good news is obviously that Princes Street has been re-opened in time for Christmas and the signs are that this has boosted shopper numbers in the past week. The disappointing news is that the project remains over budget and over time and the contractors still don’t seem to be putting the kind of shift on we’d all like to see. There’s definite progress at the Gogar depot and in the area of the guided busway but there’s still a big catch up job to be done and productivity has to increase.
I was asked the other day by the P7s at Cramond Primary if I supported trams and I was reminded in answering that it was probably about a decade ago when I was first asked to support a mass transit public transport system for the city. The tram line we’re getting is rather different to the one we were promised then, which originally had a depot at Newbridge and two connected lines but I still believe I was right to support it. I believe we need to see this line as the beginning of a network and to keep faith. I was in Dublin when they were digging up their streets and the concerns were much as they are here. I’ve been there since and the tram lines are a great success that have coaxed thousands of Dubliners out of their cars and onto impressive modern trams. I’m sure in Edinburgh residents will feel the same eventually but we can do without more delays.

7 December 2009

Forth Site Meeting

Out and about with representatives of the BRIGS group in South Queensferry and Mary Mulligan MSP; a site visit to parts of the area affected by the proposed new bridge. I’ve been to most of the locations before but it was useful to be able to ask questions and take photos of affected areas.

4 December 2009

From Cramond to the Caribbean

Visit to Cramond Primary School. Decided not to embarrass our youngest son Michael by popping my head into his classroom and stuck to answering questions from the P7s with Ian Mckee and Robin Harper. I really love school visits and I’m always struck by how much more knowledgeable kids are about politics and citizenship than I was at their age. It’s always a good opportunity to pick up bits of info about other MSPs. Today’s new titbit was that Robin was an Equity card carrying actor for a brief time. Hollywood’s loss is Holyrood’s gain.

A chance to catch up on some casework and then the King’s Theatre at night for the panto "Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates”. I haven’t been to a “proper” panto for years – unless you count First Minister’s Questions – and I thought it was fantastic. It’s been a hard week and it was just what I needed. Chatting to Alan Stewart and Grant Stott afterwards I was amazed to find out that they only have a couple of weeks together for rehearsals. Most embarrassing moment of the evening was when I leant back against what I thought was a solid wall only to find it was an upright advertising hoarding for the sponsors Royal Mail – almost brought the house down! If only I’d known what was behind me.

3 December 2009

Education, education, education

Another busy day. We had our education debate and, as spokesperson, I had to open and close the debate. It was a pretty torrid affair but we won the vote at the end of the day. I was a bit disappointed that the Government isn’t accepting there are real problems in education despite the fact that the opposition parties were quoting from the EIS, CBI, Secondary School Teachers association and parents’ organisations who are concerned too about teachers issues and Curriculum for Excellence. Also spoke in a later debate about GIRFEC – Getting it Right for Every Child when we were all united in determination to deal with issues around child protection and improving services for children. Two education debates with quite a few of the same MSPs speaking, but two very different sets of contribution. I suppose it was to be expected after the momentous events of the week. All I know is I had to speak in the Chamber for 28 minutes in total which is a bit of a record for one day. We normally get speeches of about 4-6 minutes.

Rushed off at the end of voting to see the Corstorphine Christmas tree lights switch on. It’s organised by the Corstorphine Fair committee who do a great job every Christmas and New Year as well as every second Summer when they organise the biggest voluntary community event in Scotland. Stood around and sang Christmas Carols in a very cold and muddy field next to Corstorphine Old Parish Church – every year I wish I’d worn my wellies and every year I forget. But the cold is warmed by fantastic singing by a Gang Show choir and the lights switch on by toddlers from the Corstorphine Playgroup. Home to stand next to a radiator.

2 December 2009

Reshuffle

Lots of fallout from the reshuffle. At lunchtime spoke to a lobby of university staff from the University and Colleges Union who are concerned at the impact cuts in teacher training places will have on the viability of education departments. Met with Mike Russell, the new Education Cabinet secretary and raised this and other education concerns with him. Another late night – working on speeches until the small hours.

1 December 2009

No confidence in the Cabinet Secretary for Education

Really busy few days. Since the weekend we’ve been talking about bringing forward a motion of no confidence in Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet secretary for Education. Tavish Scott phoned at the weekend and said was I okay with us using our party debate time on Thursday to debate education. Given the difficulties the Government’s been having on this I agreed. Our chief Whip informed the Government we were bringing a no confidence motion and Alex Salmond has obviously decided to have a reshuffle before Parliament made the decision for him.

The Government’s first reaction to us was to threaten to resign but in the end rather than risk losing that vote or his own job the First Minister sacked her. Why did she have to go? Well the previous week she had threatened to take the running of local schools out of the hands of councils and put it in the hands of Scottish Government civil servants. While people may have concerns about the actions of councils no-one thinks schools across Scotland can be run from Edinburgh. The second problem was new figures showing that there are now 2300 less teachers than when the Government came to power. Less teachers means bigger class sizes. It’s been estimated that given the rate of progress it would take 80 years for the Government’s class sizes promise of classes of 18 for P1-3 to be met. All of this meant the Cabinet Secretary had to go.

Lots of radio and TV, including Newsnight, meant it was a late night and a fish supper for tea at my desk. Oh the glamour!