"Don't knows" in or out?

Forgot to mention the Policy and Strategy Committee, which met yesterday ... main agenda here.

The meeting was totally dominated by the report at item number 5, on the so-called "People's Survey" - you can see the full report here.

Now, if the title wasn't Orwellian enough, you must have a quick glance at paragraph 2.2 (please do!) - I'll paraphrase the content for you here:

• satisfaction levels with Council services are going down :-(
• but dissatisfaction is not increasing!
• its just that too many people are answering "Don't Know" to the questions.
• so we'll consider ignoring them to make the results read more positively ;-)

Classic stuff.

Although, to be fair, in the ensuing debate at the Committee no one was suggesting not keeping both 'sets of data' so that reasonable comparisons could be made across a time frame ...

... but, the 'Machiavelli within me' just doesn't like it :-(

No food waste here

Bit of ongoing hilarity in the Burns household today about the (welcome) success of the Council's food waste pilot - further details of which can be found here ...

... needless to say, my well-earned 'gannet-reputation' means there is little (or no) food waste in Cowan Road - and what little remains is very quickly composted ;-)

There is a serious point behind all of this - I do welcome the pilot and am glad it's been a success; but (just like normal, daily waste) surely much better to reduce the problem at source? --- and I do hope that point doesn't get lost in the rush to recycle.

Special Council Meeting

Well, the Special Council Meeting today actually turned out to be somewhat of a damp-squib :-(

Only item on the Agenda was the Tram Update Report and after a bit of an adjournment to consider various addendum's there was all-Party agreement on the report before us.

Labour Group addendum ultimately read:

1. To instruct the Chief Executive to seek absolute clarification on the new Scottish Government’s intention in relation to the release of the remainder of the £500million Government Grant and that such an update be received by Council prior to any further decisions on this project.

2. To instruct the Chief Executive to report on potential compensation arrangements for Princes Street and West End traders given the possible, additional closure of Princes Street and that such an update be received by Council prior to any further decisions on this project.

3. To instruct the Chief Executive to ensure the next Council report on the Tram project, scheduled for 30 June 2011, was in the public domain a full seven days prior to the Council meeting.

Full Council Meeting on the 30th June is now shaping up to be the critical moment for the project - no doubt about that.

Allotment update :-)

Rather shockingly, managed to leave the flat today ;-)

... and spent a fair bit of time down at the Allotment this afternoon/evening - all 'thoughts-political' banished from my mind (for a while at least!).

Lupins looking rather impressive (if I don't mind saying so myself!), and everything really springing into life now.

Really hard to believe this is the fourth growing-season we've had at the Allotment :-)

Completely free day :-)

Talking about my need for some rest, cannot believe that today I had absolutely nothing in the diary (and I do mean nothing) ...

... and for the first time in a long time, I don't think I even left the flat; just read a bit, ate a bit (well lots actually!), watched some pointless TV and generally did nothing in particular.

Bloody marvellous :-)

London and ongoing lack of sleep!

Apologies for the slight lack of posting - still trying to catch up on sleep! ... and also had a long-day down in London on Wednesday for a series of ERS meetings.

Bit of time for some sober reflection on that deeply disappointing referendum result obviously :-(

Undoubtedly the issue was caught up in a wider political storm, but it would be wholly wrong not to acknowledge that there were campaign-failings as well ... and the relevant lessons need to be learned if electoral reform is to be kept successfully on the agenda in the coming years.

Still as good a time as any to join :-)

Tollcross Primary School visit

Brief visit to Tollcross Primary School, and the Gaelic Unit, this morning ...

... clearly some big decisions coming up for the future of Gaelic education in Edinburgh - think the final reports are going to the Full Council Meeting of Thursday 30th June 2011?

So, was good to see and hear of the main issues first hand.

Audit Committee this morning

Back to some semblance of normality earlier this morning with the Audit Committee meeting.

Main item on the Agenda was the ongoing development of a Commissioning Strategy and the related 'lessons learned' from the Care and Support Tender Review ...

... having been very critical of this whole (earlier) process, I think it would be churlish not to recognise that the two reports linked above do represent very positive progress in this area.

It is to be very much welcomed.

The real political distraction?

Probably not wise to rant-on too much about the Holyrood election results :-((

I'm certain there will be time for more 'considered' reflections in the coming weeks ...

... but, for what it's worth, I really do think Scottish Labour should calmly reassess its view on the devolutionary process - and, as I've made clear on numerous occasions, I do personally believe it is a process not an event.

It might be tempting to revert to the comfort-zone of developing policy on other issues, but until there is clarity on the constitutional question within Scottish Labour (and other Opposition Parties), I fear that 'all else' will ultimately be the real political distraction?

Central spirit

They say a picture is worth a thousand words ...

... well, Sarah might have lost the constituency vote (just!), but this picture sums up, more than any words ever could, the spirit behind Labour's Edinburgh Central campaign :-)

By the way - I missed this Eddie Izzard visit (was a bit gutted), but by all accounts the activists present were hugely impressed by the tone and depth of his support.

Sleep, allotment, planning for next year ;-)

Lots of sleep today - was up from 5.30am Thursday morning until about 11pm Friday evening, with no break and/or sleep in-between ... totally exhausted :-(

But, early Saturday evening and we did manage a brief visit to the Allotment (can't tell you how therapeutic it was!) ...

... and, back from the Allotment, refreshed and now thinking hard about May 2012 ;-)

Hugely frustrating result

Hugely frustrating result for Sarah last night - losing by just 237 votes is tough ...

... but, I really don't think there was anything else we could have done locally to stop the tide-of-change that faced us.

Thanks to all in the campaign team for wonderful support :-)

And many congratulations due to Marco Biagi - I hope he serves Edinburgh Central well - the omens are good, as he was extremely generous towards Sarah in his acceptance speech. I wish him the best of luck.

Just a brief reminder ...

Just a brief reminder ...

Keep an eye on Twitter ;-)

Election Day is here!

Won't have time for much blogging, but will try and tweet throughout the day ...

... you can follow me at: AndrewDBurns :-)

Don't forget to vote!

1-day to go!

Ludicrous amount of work, in preparation for tomorrow, completed over the last 24-hours ... can't thank the wonderful 'Edinburgh Central' team enough :-)

Very much looking forward to tomorrow now - believe it or not, I love election-days :-))

Local Surgeries

Election might just be hours away, but no respite for us Councillors --- local surgery as usual tonight in the St. Cuthberts Primary School!

Tomorrow, in Fountainbridge Library, will be the last one before polls open at 7am Thursday :-)

Count training :-)

Very busy day on the doors, followed by a short (but helpful) 'count-training' event down in North & Leith ...

... Edinburgh's election count out at Ingliston this year: it's the right-side of town for me :-)

Sunshine, doors and dogs

Weather just could not have been better today ... sunshine, endless doors and quite a few dogs: mostly friendly ;-)

Less than 4-days to Polling Day now ... think blog posts might be very brief from now on!

... for a week at least :-))