25 March 2010

Royal Visit

This evening I attended a question time event at the Royal High School, as part of a BBC competition. Pupils at the Royal High have successfully seen off competition from other schools across the UK and were the only Scottish school left to take part in the final. The prize is the chance to work with David Dimbleby to produce an edition of the BBC's Question Time!

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening which saw me, along with fellow MSPs Robin Harper and Margo MacDonald and comedian Greg McHugh answer questions on subjects from the End of Life Assistance Bill to school funding. The contributions made by pupils both taking part in the competition and in the audience were impressive and certainly gave us all things to think about.

The four winning schools will be announced next month...fingers crossed for the Royal High!

18 March 2010

Back to blogging

I haven't been too good at blogging recently but Parliament has been incredibly busy in the last couple of months. I've given evidence on the impact of the Forth Crossing at the Forth Crossing Bill Committee, had numerous education debates ranging from Curriculum for Excellence to School Management, looked at the Children's Hearings Bill in Education Committee and had members of the Lions Club visit Parliament for a reception.

I was delighted to read yesterday that residents in some areas in Edinburgh West are the happiest in Edinburgh! On issues like litter, graffiti and disturbance people seemed to be a lot more content with the state of things than in other areas of the city. I would like to say a big thank you to all the members of the West Team at the Council who work at Chesser House to make sure that residents in Edinburgh West get the services and support they need.