Edinburgh news the press just won't touch?

I have absolutely no idea who is behind this new addition to quality journalism in Edinburgh ... but it is causing great mirth over here at the Really Bad Blog ;-)

Very good.

... could be yet another 'Council-insider' - who else would know about my annoyance at those bloody posh toilets on the 10th floor of the City Chambers ;-))

The Evening News should be worried ... some serious, journalistic competition at last!

Top Secret?

I've had quite a few e-mails/calls ... mainly from several Nationalist colleagues! ... bemoaning my earlier post on the ever-elusive Scottish Futures Trust (SFT).

The main gist of the 'moans' have been - "the SFT is definitely coming", and "it has to be better than that secretive and expensive PPP option that's been used for the last decade or so".

Well, what can I say but repeat myself ... if the SFT does eventually come along and provides Edinburgh with equivalent levels of finance as the first two-rounds of school-building in the City, then I'll be the first to applaud it. Remember though that round one in Edinburgh was some £130million of capital investment and round two some £180million.

And as for 'secretive and expensive', I can only assume nobody knows about this section of the Scottish Government website?

One swallow - MUST be summer :-)

Have a look at this STV news report from earlier this evening!

It's a brief piece on a new opinion poll that's out - now, just forget about all that New Hampshire polling-stuff for a second and concentrate on this:

Voting Intentions for Holyrood - Constituency:
LABOUR 37%
SNP 36%
CONSERVATIVE 13%
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS 12%
OTHERS 2%

Voting Intentions for Holyrood - Regional List:
LABOUR 38%
SNP 34%
CONSERVATIVE 14%
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS 11%
SCOTTISH GREEN PARTY 2%
OTHERS 2%

Projection based on these figures:
LABOUR: 53 seats
SNP: 47 seats
CONSERVATIVE: 16 seats
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS: 12 seats
OTHERS: 1 seat

One (very early!) swallow - MUST be summer already :-)

Forum on Children and Families Estate Evaluation

First meeting of the newly-established "Forum on Children and Families Estate Evaluation" earlier this afternoon ... not before time, but enough said of that ;-)

The Convener, quite rightly in my view, asked for a bit of a 'public vow of silence' on the detail of what's being worked on - so, no salacious gossip here I'm afraid. Sorry :-((

Any ultimate proposals will have the usual statutory processes to go through - plenty of time for open and robust, public debate then I'm sure.

But very good to see this change of approach at last - I welcome it.

Good old political spin

Classic example of some good old political spin emanating from the Council Administration today ... we're all being boldly told (yet again, via an official News Release?) that "The City of Edinburgh Council today committed to a freeze on Council Tax for 2008/2009"??

... er, sorry - that's a LIE.

When the the City of Edinburgh Full Council meets at 10am on Thursday 21st February 2008 (to set it's budget for 2008/09) I fully expect it may well commit to a freeze on Council Tax for 2008/2009 ... but to 'spin' that it has already done so is just NOT TRUE.

And read that official News Release again ... don't you just love the bit where our esteemed Deputy Leader tries to have a pop at the previous Administration's projected increase for this year, whilst failing to point out that it's exactly the same projected increase that his current partners (the Libs) had in their budget last year as well :-(

It's just the same old politics (as ever) in a new setting.

A bright new future for Edinburgh? ... if only.

No more re-branding?

On the whole, I thought Stewart Maxwell did a reasonable job yesterday of coping with a pretty bad set of cards that had been dealt to him via the SNP national manifesto:

"We will abolish sportscotland and establish the 3 national centres currently run by sportscotland as not-for-profit trusts." ??

... I hope he's had a word-in-the-ear of whoever wrote that !!

I know Stewart of old - through Fairshare - so do have to admit to a slight 'personal bias' in his favour, nevertheless I couldn't help but have a wry-smile to myself when I heard him say in Parliament something along the lines of ... "we'll be keeping the name of sportscotland as it would be a waste of time and money to go through a re-branding exercise". Really?

That, from a Scottish Government Minister ;-)

Health Board elections?

I'm not against having direct-elections for Health Boards in Scotland - personally (I would say this, wouldn't I), I do believe the best solution would be to transfer all health functions that are truly local back to Local Authorities (who are, after all, directly elected!) and to have all national functions under a 'National (yes, elected) Board'.

That type of solution would certainly be more 'accountable' than some of the ideas mooted in yesterday's consultation paper, which it has to be said is a bit light on actual detail despite it's 23-pages.

It is though only a consultation paper (submissions requested by 1st April 2008) and I do hope that the SNP actually listen to some of the submissions they'll undoubtedly receive on this issue ...

... unlike the definite (and obvious) urgency that is needed over the Scottish Futures Trust, I think taking some time over this one could actually lead to longer-term benefits for all concerned - especially patients, who should remain the focus of this process.

Trustworthy Polls?

Those very recent American Poll results appear to be have been about as trustworthy as the SNP national manifesto from May 2007 ;-)

Hats off to Hillary Clinton - I reckon that's an impressive result given the huge onslaught she has faced, on the ground, within New Hampshire over the last 5-days.

Now, I have been receiving a few complaints from my regular readers about too much American politics (yes, I know they clearly need to get a life ? ) ... but fear not, it's a week now until the next US Primary, Michigan state (which won't really count for the reasons explained here) and then nothing until the 19th January! So, I promise to ease off for a few weeks and concentrate again on Edinburgh/Scotland :-)

But, I'll leave the 'American-anoraks' out there with this link - here - do have a quick look ... some of the language is very American (certainly not English!), but it is a good analysis of the Super-Tuesday situation.

It's a blog by an admitted Obama-supporter, and I assume that "Leans" equates to 'likely', or 'leaning towards' ... and if you scroll down and look at the total projections, it does strike me that an awful lot hinges on who actually wins California. With 370 delegates up for grabs, that single state could make or break either the Obama or Clinton overall totals.

Roll on the 5th February ...

... right, back to Edinburgh-politics :-(

Waiting for all our futures ...

The Scottish Futures Trust that is ... I posted about all of this some time ago and argued then that I felt the Scottish Futures Trust was nowhere near delivery.

That was over three months ago; we're a good eight months after the election now and it transpires that there is to be NO development of a Scottish Futures Trust until at least March 2008.

Frankly, it will be a year (post-2007 election) at least before anything is developed and I still have serious doubts that any such Trust will be up and running this side of 2009. I'll repeat that I'd love to be wrong.

Why my renewed depression over all of this - well, have a look at this ... a consultation document launched a few days before Christmas (by co-incidence, of course) which asks for views on a Scottish Futures Trust to be submitted by March 14th 2008.

And if you think I'm being unduly pessimistic, then please do read paragraph 7.1 ... we're talking LONG GRASS here :-(

What a contrast with the SNP national manifesto from May 2007 ... have a look at PRIORITY bullet-point 7 in the 'Department of Finance and Sustainable Growth' here.

Some priority :-((

American obsession continues ...

Amazing set of poll results for Obama out in America today - see opposite!

I do think something quite extraordinary is happening in The States at the moment ... if he keeps up the momentum tomorrow in New Hampshire, he must go into Super-Tuesday (5th February) as clear favourite to sweep the board?

... I wouldn't put money on John McCain being able to stop such a juggernaut (if it happens!) in November. The Republicans need to damage him now, preferably for them before 5th February - unfortunately, I rather suspect they know that :-(

OKAY - no more posts about America until the New Hampshire results are in ;-)

No Big Brother here

I appear to actually "know someone" on the current Big Brother show ... bizarre, but true!

I have to say, it's NOT a programme I watch and would struggle to rate it in a full, round-number, in marks out of 10. Then again, apparently lots of people watch it ... so it must have something??

And, tragically, I won't be able to watch John Loughton's progress this time around, as the programme only appears to be running on E4 and not Channel4 ... for those that don't know, despite being 'reasonably' computer literate; when it comes to TV, I don't even have digital never mind satellite/cable :-((

John is the current Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) and is an all-round excellent chap ... in spite of his politics :-))

He's written an open-letter explaining his decision to go on Big Brother - you can read it on the SYP web-site here.

I do hope he's correct and that the experience is positive for both him and the SYP ... I have to say, I have my doubts and am not at all convinced that mixing reality TV and politics can be to the good?

I hope I'm wrong.

Knocked-out cold

Well, it's the start of a New Year and what's on many of my readers' minds - yes, you guessed it ... the bloody hamster!

I've had several e-mails asking for an update on her Presidential Campaign now that there appears to be a serious challenger ... honestly.

It's bad news I'm afraid - her campaign for the Presidency is all but dead-in-the-water and she is (politically) knocked-out cold ... why?; well even Janet Daly (at the Telegraph) is today predicting that Obama will get the Democratic nomination. She can't quite bring herself to foresee that he'll beat McCain (see her last couple of paragraphs) but in that I suspect she may well be wrong?

Either way, the hamster's run for the Presidency is looking at 10 very difficult months ahead :-((

Decorations all down :-(

That's it - decorations all down for another year, Christmas Tree put out for collection/re-cycling ...

... and the flat is looking amazingly tidy once more - it won't last!

Back to work/school for everyone in the family tomorrow :-(

America again

If you've got 20 minutes to spare (I know, I know!) do watch these two videos from Obama and Clinton as they respond to that result in Iowa a couple of nights ago.

Easy to overstate these things - but don't think I've heard such impassioned oratory as that from Obama for a very, very long time. For me, it's in a whole different league from Clinton's speech. Totally uplifting, positive and forward-looking.

I'm now entirely convinced that if he wins New Hampshire his campaign momentum will be nigh-on unstoppable.

By the way, you may spot on YouTube that over 300,000 people have watched the Obama video; as compared to some 3,000 the Clinton one. Might just say all there is to say?

More mis-use of Council resources?

Having recently applauded the local Nats for NOT following the same blatant mis-use of Council publications as their Liberal colleagues, I have to say I was somewhat surprised to have just spotted this Council News Release from 31st December.

Now, the actual content is fair enough (even though I do not agree with it!) - and I assume it all relates to this story in the Evening News of the same date? But it's the title of the Council News Release that frankly troubles me - have a look at it again.

Is responding "to Labour Party in Scotland Press Release" really what Council officers are paid to do ... shouldn't such blatant Party politicking be done by Party politicians or officials?

I distinctly remember several occasions between 1999 and 2007 when I was explicitly advised that I should NOT use Council press officers to respond to other political Party news releases, and even having to organise several 'Press Briefings' (mainly about Transport issues!) under my own Party banner (and at Party cost) because Council officers considered it too 'political' to be involved. All that despite the clear majority of the Council (albeit a one-Party majority) supporting the position I was trying to promote.

Oh how times, and standards, appear to have changed :-((

Huckabee and Obama

There's no doubt that American politics (and foreign policy) generates a disproportionate interest in the UK when compared to our much closer, continental European politics ... a continent (and political unit) that now unquestionably defies the size and economic (if not military) might of America.

The European Union (EU) now contains some 500million people compared to America's some 300million, making it the third largest population block in the world after the People's Republic of China and India. The EU also now has the world's highest overall GDP (Gross Domestic Product) - an oft-overlooked fact - with GDP here being close to $14,000billion per year compared to America's $13,000billion per year.

Yet, despite my frequent frustration at the blatant 'overlooking' of the economic and political might of the modern EU, I have to admit to finding myself completely and totally engrossed in the upcoming US Presidential Election in a way that EU politics just never 'grabs me' :-(

And last night's first round of nominating caucuses for the Democrats and Republicans in Iowa has only deepened my fascination :-((

And as with the recent Australian election, the BBC's chief US-reporter blog does seem to be shaping up to be a fascinating read over the coming months.

Now, it won't come as a shock to you that I'm principally interested in the Democratic race - I don't have a firm favourite! - and am amazed at the size of last night's Democratic turnout ... some 240,000 Iowans packed into (no doubt) cold, drafty halls and living rooms to choose a Presidential hopeful. That contrasts to some 120,000 in 2004!

Iowa (population wise) is about the size of Wales ... I just could not see 240,000 Welsh (or Scottish or English or Irish for that matter!) voters packing town halls and living rooms on a cold January night to discuss their preferred candidates?

I know the electoral, and nominating, processes aren't really directly comparable ... but what happened last night in Iowa must surely lift the spirits of depressed democrats (small d!) across the world?

If that's not exciting enough for all you political anoraks, I reckon that ... and here's my only New Year's prediction! ... if Clinton loses New Hampshire on 'Tuesday night/Wednesday morning' the first black President of the US will be elected in November of this year.

And he's a Democrat (capital D!) :-))

New Year, less consumption?

I see the first few days of the 'New Year' press are full of all sorts of dire predictions of financial doom-and-gloom for 2008 ... apparently we are all destined to suffer from the 'Credit Crunch' and subsequently not be able to spend as much on consumables.

Oliver James has an interesting take on all of this in the Guardian today - here - it's well worth a quick read ... and do note the huge number of strongly-opinionated comments his article has generated; always a sure sign that an an author has hit the nail well-and-truly on the head!

I've touched on aspects of this debate before and do feel Oliver James has got a pretty strong point when he contests that our material needs as a nation are clearly being put (long) before our psychological needs.

... as many have said before; DOING WELL is now so much more important than BEING WELL :-(

It's a state of affairs that I'm certain will be seen as a huge, historical cul-de-sac.

Reindeer and mountains

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Now back from Cairngorm Lodge Youth Hostel - great time had by all, with the kids especially enjoying all the activities on offer!

I'd highly recommend the location to any 'hostelers' out there - good accommodation and an excellent location for accessing a whole host of outdoor activities.

In no particular order:

• reindeer spotting was a huge success :-)
• plenty of forest-walks nearby in Glenmore Forest Park where the Caledonian Pines are truly impressive
• the beach (yes, a beach!) at Loch Morlich was a firm favourite (no-one brave enough to try swimming)
• the cafe, outdoor assault course and small dry ski-slope at Glenmore village were also very popular and well used by the children in our party!
• mountain-biking in Glenmore Forest Park was also pretty good
• and the adults even managed to get to the top of Cairngorm Mountain (4,081ft) - by foot and not on the funicular train!

Definitely another case of "back to work for a rest" :-))