Congratulations LB

Many congratulations are definitely deserved for Lothian Buses (LB) who have just won the top award as Britain's best public transport operator - topping the poll for the fourth year since 2000!

Pretty impressive.

Having lived in numerous British cities over the years, and putting any political bias to one side, I do actually appreciate just how good LB are in comparison to a lot of their peers ...

... even if I have, in the main, abandoned their services for a superior form of transport ;-))

Don't die just yet ...

BBC Scotland website is running a "don't die just yet ..." story about the cost of funerals in Edinburgh.

... putting any dark-humour to one side, they do appear to be pretty expensive when contrasted to almost anywhere else in the UK?

I'm willing to take any bet that if this story gets some local coverage then, despite earlier avowed intentions, we'll get the blame :-(

Local taxation ...

I've posted extensively about my fears over the future health of Scottish Local Government, all of which is potentially about to be further compounded by what is erroneously being called a 'Local Income Tax (LIT)' ...

... others can judge for themselves, but my worries in this area are generally apolitical - if the Scottish Government were devolving real, autonomous powers to Local Government and were about to bring forward a genuinely, variable Local Income Tax then I would not be voicing such outright opposition to what's been happening to Local Government post-May 2007.

There are plenty of local activists and politicians, across ALL parties (including the SNP), who privately agree with me.

Given that Single Outcome Agreements are now with us - for the foreseeable future at least - then I'm left wondering if there is yet some room for redemption in the LIT plans currently out for consultation?

And, to be honest, I can see few sensible outcomes (short of them being abandoned, or voted down in their current form) - but one solution just could be Land Value Tax (LVT - which does get a mention in the Scottish Government consultation)?

LVT has a long pedigree and there is a wealth of material available on the internet explaining it - I like Mark Braund's writing in this area as he makes plain the links between LVT and the (potential of) wider social and other economic benefits.

Its the Scottish Greens who have made some headway in getting LVT on the Holyrood agenda ... but whether the SNP will be willing to back away from their flawed LIT-plans and opt for something completely different is still pretty unlikely from where I sit ...

... yet, you never know - the consultation closes in a couple of days and there is the promise of imminent legislation thereafter. By the time that legislation gets to the Holyrood debating chamber, there will be (at least!) two new Party Leaders in post, who between them will lead 62 of the Parliaments 129 votes.

Along with the 2 Greens and Margo MacDonald they could all just surprise me ;-)

FEDEGA

That's the "Federation of Edinburgh and District Allotments and Gardens Associations" ... and they have a new website: here!

... and for all you 'allotmenteers' out there, do check the website if you haven't already looked - loads of useful information, especially for us novices ;-)

... back from Glasgow

Back from Glasgow ... and, to be honest, hard to be completely certain about any outcome on the 24th July from the evidence of my day :-(

Leafletting in a pretty strong Labour area of the constituency in the morning, and canvassing what can only be classed as 'not fertile Labour territory' in the afternoon ... so, pretty mixed views and one can only conclude that it is indeed going to be a tight result!

... so, to the few Labour Party members who read this blog - get over to Glasgow East in the next 10-days; and to the legions of Nats who follow my on-line ramblings - just stay in front of those computer screens until 25th July ;-))

Poll disparity

A mere couple of day ago the Daily Telegraph (ignore the bit about Independence!) had the SNP ahead of Labour for 'Westminster voting intentions' by a clear 4-points ... yet, I've just spotted this Glasgow East poll, which is being run in tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph which has Labour ahead of the SNP by 14-points ...

... now, I know the first is a generic poll on Scottish UK-voting intentions, and the second is a Glasgow East specific poll - but the disparity in the figures is just huge!

Well, as mentioned earlier, I'm off to Glasgow tomorrow so will let you know what I experience - but one of those polls surely has to be very, very wrong ... no prizes for guessing which I'd prefer to be accurate ;-)

Inaccurate speculation ...

The venerated Shandon Mince - mentioned on these pages before - had indeed better have good lawyers after their last piece of inaccurate speculation surrounding the development of a canal 'slipway' in West Harrison Park ...

... there is NOT but one new slipway in Harrison Park - there are in fact TWO; one in the West part of the Park and another in East Harrison Park.

Rumours that one slipway is for my private yacht are entirely unfounded - everyone, who is anyone, knows full well that the leaders of the Council Coalition partners (Libs and Nats) have each had one built for their personal use.

Absolutely nothing to do with me and my lawyers will be in touch with "The Mince" very soon ;-))

Permissive localism ... not here thank you :-(

You won't be surprised to hear that I don't always agree with the Guardian columnist, Simon Jenkins ... but today, he has a pretty good article on the Communities White Paper that I mentioned a couple of days ago ...

... he may not debate the use of electoral reform, but the other criticisms he levels at the current state of English Local Government are (sadly) fairly applicable to Scotland as well.

STV-PR, up here, may change things over time (its not though, a panacea), but currently there appears to be no further, associated moves to devolve further powers to local people ... quite the opposite!

... indeed, I would contest that the last 14-months have seen more control removed from a local level than since the onset of devolution in 1999. We're pretty much nothing more than a 'delivery-arm' of national Government now.

All pretty ironic when you consider that many anti-devolutionists thought that the Scottish Parliament would lead to the 'immediate' emasculation of Scottish Local Government (it didn't happen) ... so, even more incredible when you think that its actually taken the Party of "Independence" to remove that very thing from the tier of Government they now control :-(

Badger watch!

No, this post has nothing to do with Alistair Darling ;-)

Went on a "real" badger watch this evening out near Ratho ... details at the bottom of this page.

It was really mesmerising - had to sit quietly for over an hour (junior did very well!) before the badgers emerged from their set, but thereafter it was an absolute pleasure being able to watch them play and run around the surrounding area.

The evening ended with the complete family of badgers - six in total I think? - bounding across the neighbouring field, and into the adjoining section of wood :-))

Power shift to local people?

I see the Department for Communities and Local Government (down South) have published their long-awaited White Paper on empowering local communities today ...

... when you read the Press Release, its all decent stuff - hard to disagree with - but not a single mention of the one thing that would completely transform local government in England in one stroke? Electoral reform, of course.

Have a look at the contrasting facts contained within these two ERS Press Releases:

• this one relates to the "one year on" event that I attended last month ... do check out the three short videos
• this one relates to the (English) White Paper, mentioned above, that was released today ... do check out the 'notes to editors'

A "power shift to local people" ... well, you can make up your own mind?

... despite my deeply-held (political) concerns around the so-called "historic" single outcome agreements, I do know which part of the UK has given real power back to 'local people' - and its not England I'm afraid :-(

April 1st?

I know I shouldn't - but I defy you to read this story on the BBC-site today, whilst keeping a perfectly straight face ;-))

I had to double-check it wasn't April 1st ...

Glasgow East

I've had loads of folk asking what my views are on the contest currently underway (just!) in Glasgow East ...

... well, I'm off over to my 'home city' this coming Sunday, to lend some assistance to local campaigning efforts, and I will indeed report back in due course ;-)

"Work in progress"

Back to the grindstone today, and awash with mail - mostly the inevitable flood of e-mails having been away for a week :-(

One piece of 'snail-mail' awaiting me, was the new-look "Edinburgh Council Services A-Z" ... I've no doubt that the new (smaller A5) format will grow on me, but its truncated size does surely mean it contains a lot less information than previously?

... one page that did catch my eye was the full A5 spread on 'Neighbourhood Partnerships', which boldly directs you to a new website for further information:

www.edinburghnp.org.uk

- as you'll see, if you follow the link above, Neighbourhood Partnerships (in more ways than one) are still "work in progress" :-((

Why members of the public couldn't just be re-directed here I don't know? ... most of the relevant information is all contained therein!

Challenging time ahead ...

Back to work tomorrow ... and, as everyone keeps telling me (thanks!), there is undoubtedly a challenging 4-years ahead for Labour in Edinburgh :-(

Well, that fact you cannot deny!

... but - just to be clear - in my new role I will be concentrating remorselessly (although not exclusively) on local politics in Edinburgh's City Chambers, and I have every intention of holding the current Council Coalition to account for their actions.

... their record of the last 14-months suggests they can expect some very difficult times ahead.

The best man won

I'm no tennis-expert, but I would say that the best man (on the day) won Wimbledon this evening ... and what a match!?

... don't know about anyone else, but I feel a bit of a nervous wreck having watched the majority of the last three sets?

And just imagine what Nadal must have been going through, having lost three match-points before clinching it??

An absolute classic.

Allotment update

Spent a lot of the morning, and the early afternoon, down at the allotment today ... such an incredible amount of growth in only one week - just look at the size of those cabbages!

... and we managed to take a whole box-load of veg. back to the flat, as you can see from the second photo here ;-))

We'll certainly need to share some of the allotment-produce with numerous friends and family over the coming weeks ;-)

Rushed back home to try and catch the men's tennis final!

Glorious Galloway ...

Have spent the last week down at the very southern end of Galloway - second time this year - and have to admit, that we're now a little hooked on this particular part of Scotland.

It is so pleasantly quiet in comparison to many other areas of the country and definitely seems relatively undiscovered.

This time we shared a lighthouse cottage, right at the tip of the Mull of Galloway, with another family of friends ... accommodation was great, and the surrounding area was really stunning - even during the one-day of rain we had ;-)

... and regular blog readers may recall I'm not much of a freshwater fisherman, well I'm pleased to report (its the 'taking part' that counts!) that I'm now an equally unsuccessful seawater fisherman ;-)

... but we're up in Orkney later this summer - so there is hope yet for success with my new "beachcaster" ;-))

Wonderful Radiohead ;-))

Back from a week-long break ... and what a week to be away :-(

... anyhow, before I report on the holiday (and I suppose I'll have to mention national politics again at some stage?) - I must just say how absolutely, bloody marvelous Radiohead were on Friday 27th June, on Glasgow Green ;-))

... to say the weather was far from ideal, would be an under-statement - but it didn't dampen the impact of the concert in any way, shape or form ... the stage show was stunning, and the music was just simply ethereal.

If you EVER get the chance to see Radiohead live, don't miss them!