The dark art of political spin

This is an absolute classic - just out this afternoon from the Scottish Government :-(

I'll quote the bit that even Peter Mandelson would be proud of:

"Since May last year, this Government has signed-off funding for seven major local authority projects" ...

No mention of this:

• S3W-9305 - George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab) (Date Lodged Thursday, January 31, 2008): To ask the Scottish Executive how many contracts for the building of new schools have been signed in each local authority since May 2007.
• Answered by Maureen Watt (Friday, February 29, 2008): Local authorities procure new schools through more than one procurement route. Seven local authorities have signed school PPP contracts since May 2007, allowing building work to progress on 45 schools, almost all new builds. Those authorities, with their shares of 45 schools, are Aberdeen City (10), Dumfries and Galloway (10), East Dunbartonshire (6), Falkirk (4), Perth and Kinross (9), West Dunbartonshire (4) and West Lothian (2). With the exception of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), the Scottish Government does not hold comprehensive information about local authorities'' school building contracts.

... which was followed up thus:

• S3W-10606 - George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab) (Date Lodged Friday, February 29, 2008): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9305 by Maureen Watt on 29 February 2008, how many of the 45 school building contracts referred to were initiated prior to 3 May 2007.
• Answered by Maureen Watt (Thursday, March 13, 2008): All seven contracts were under negotiation prior to 3 May 2007.

So, the Minister might have "signed-off" the contracts but she hasn't been responsible for initiating a single one of the schools contained within them ...

... indeed, she hasn't initiated a SINGLE new school building contract since May 2007.

Talk about NO SHAME.

Another Education policy abandoned

For months and months, I've been banging on about what a miserable failure I believe the SNP have been in the specific area of Education-policy ...

... maybe things are even worse in Edinburgh than elsewhere, but from speaking to colleagues across the country, very few have anything positive to say about what's happened within Education post-May 2007. To be fair, that sense of genuine despair does not pervade every policy area that the Scottish Government is responsible for.

But it is good to see the press now putting pressure on the responsible Ministers about the detail of what they promised to deliver ... and why they are failing to do so.

It is not just on Nursery Education they should be pursued for answers ...

Austria shows the lead

Plenty of coverage of the Austrian General Election today ...

... what's not been such a huge topic of discussion in the UK, is the fact that today Austria became the first European country to lower the franchise to all 16 and 17 year olds. Some 200,000 additional individuals being entitled to vote for the first time ;-)

I'm all in favour of lowering the voting age to 16 - but the tone of debate about this issue in the UK is sometimes pretty derisory ... just check out some of the political responses here :-(

British Youth Council website has the counter-arguments ...

STV referendum victory!

I'd personally like that headline to apply to the UK - one can but dream ...

... but its from Wellington, New Zealand were yesterday an attempt to reverse a move to STV was rejected: but only just!

476 votes in it, out of a total of just over 44,000 votes cast ... that's what I call a very, very close-call ;-)

No-score draw?

Most of the mainstream UK press appear to be calling the first head-to-head Presidential candidates' debate a 'no-score draw'?

... I'm not so sure, bias admitted, I do think that Obama edged it - and the polling being reported on the BBC would seem to back up that assessment?

We'll know the overall outcome soon enough ... only 5-weeks on Tuesday, to be precise.

Time to send them a message

Just in case you doubted the basis of my condemnation of the current politicians in charge of the City Chambers, over the CAB Edinburgh fiasco, have a look at the 4th letter down (here) in today's Evening News ...

... in relation to the plan to shut 4 of the 5 CAB local Edinburgh offices, I'll quote directly from the SNP/Lib-Dem politician in charge:

"The changes mentioned in your article are as a result of operational changes on CAE's part. This was based on a decision made by the board of CAE and we were pleased to grant them an additional £15,000 last year to assist".

Oh dear, one can only assume this letter was sent to the local paper before the CAB Edinburgh (CAE) Board changed their minds under intense political pressure.

But at least we know that intense political pressure didn't come from the SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition running the city - they were happy "to assist" in the closure of 4 out of th 5 local CAB offices.

As I said at the time, the whole plan was "a totally crazy proposal" and yet it was supported by those who currently run the City Chambers :-(

It is beyond doubt time to send them a message.

Hanging on the Telephone

This is really quite funny ;-)

It's definitely true that ... "what goes around, comes around" ...

... and no general election in sight?

US candidates' debate

I've tried my very best to steer clear of American politics for a bit - think my last entry on the ongoing contest was this, now over two months ago!

... but, the first head-to-head televised debate, which appears to be going ahead this evening (well, first thing tomorrow morning), has grabbed my interest again - I'm still of the firm opinion that Obama is going to win by a comfortable margin in November, but I guess tonight will be a good guide as to the current state of play in the Obama V McCain contest?

Looking forward to it :-(

Edinburgh Labour saves CAB Offices!

Is this the quickest campaign victory in the history of Scottish Local Government??

• on Tuesday of this week, I mentioned that CAB Edinburgh (CAE) were going to close 4 out of their 5 local offices.
  


• on Wednesday of this week, the Evening News ran the story.
  


• on that day (do read the press coverage) - less than 48 hours ago - the SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition said they had been at an "extremely productive meeting and in coming to the decision to centralise their services, CAE gave reassurances to the council that service provision would be maintained at exactly the same level, regardless of where clients live within the city." No coalition attempt was made to reverse the decision.
  


• on that day (again, do read the press coverage) - our Labour Group spokeswoman on these issues, Lesley Hinds, said: "There is no way a single centralised office can do the work of five offices."
  


• on Thursday (yesterday) sustained pressure from Labour politicians across the city led to a series of frantically arranged meetings with the CAE Board.
  


• on Friday (today) the CAE Board have just announced they are "suspending the closures of the Pilton, Leith, Fountainbridge, and Portobello offices pending a further consultation".

What an utter and total shambles!

The result - for now - may be positive, but do note I've emboldened the word 'suspending' from the CAE announcement.

Don't forget that one of the threatened offices was in Pilton (near the Forth Ward), and I'd be willing to take any bets that this whole issue will come back AFTER the 6th November by-election ...

... but if you ask me; the best way to ensure this type of ridiculous, local political mismanagement stops is to send a very clear message to the SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition at said by-election.

Labour win local by-election!

No - not in the Forth Ward ... not yet anyhow ;-)

... but (last night/this morning) in the Plumstead Ward, Greenwich Council ...

... and with a 6.6% swing FROM the Tories ;-))

You decide?

"Diplomatic Silence" No.3

Economy in recession!

No, not here (not yet anyhow) but in that oft-quoted Celtic Tiger where we are frequently told everything is so perfect - a veritable land of milk and honey ...

That was the rhetoric ... here's the reality.

Ireland, yes Ireland, is indeed the first eurozone economy to go into recession this year.

- and no sympathetic Scottish Government News Release to be seen anywhere??

Ethical banking?

Very good article in the Guardian today, which is well worth a read ... its about 'ethical banking' - but don't be put off, it is an interesting read!

... I should declare my slight-bias here - I switched to the Co-operative Bank years ago, and I also use the local Credit Union for small savings and loans (which I frequently need!), and I've had nothing but excellent service from both organisations over the years I've been a member.

I do think Deborah Hargreaves makes some very telling points about the banking industry having to rebuild faith amongst its customers (very similar points can be made about politics in general) and models such as the Co-operative Bank and Credit Unions could well provide a few lessons on how to do just that.

Poll conundrum

There's a truly unmissable quote from our great Leader in today's Evening News ... it relates to a poll by MORI (commissioned by the Council) which found that a 'record 95 per cent' of people believe Edinburgh is a good place to live. Actually, its been in the low 90 per cents for quite some time ...

... but the same poll also found the Council's own approval rating had plummeted from 56 per cent to 48 per cent – with particular concern about whether taxpayers were getting good value for money.

The Councillor Leader is quoted as saying:

"Its odd that satisfaction with life in the city is so high, compared to the council's lowly approval rating. I would like to know why that is?"

If she honestly doesn't know the answer to that, then Edinburgh really is in deep, deep trouble ...

Home-Day

Another enforced home-day today, due to the ongoing industrial action, which has seen juniors school once again closed to pupils.

I have to say that I am frankly not supportive of the position recently taken by the Leaders of Scotland's Councils, and I do think that a re-negotiated settlement is achievable, and that an improved offer is possible.

Both sides need to get back round the table and recommence negotiations.

CAB office closures!

Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Edinburgh have just announced they are to close 4 out of the 5 local Edinburgh Branches across the city - rationalising all the services in the 1 City Centre Branch in Dundas Street!

It's a totally crazy proposal.

Can you think of any worse time to shut down 80% of the Capital City's CAB network - I mean its not as if there will be much demand for advice on financial issues given how well the global economy is currently performing :-(

... and to rub salt into the wound, the News Release announcing all of this boldly states "we will introduce an e-mail service to further extend our reach and extend volunteering opportunities" - that's okay then?

Errrr ... aren't those most in need of CAB services most likely NOT to be connected to the internet??

And just have a look at CAB Edinburgh's website - here - I'll quote what's there, just in case it swiftly disappears:

Currently our email advice service is unavailable. Please either call your local office, or visit us to make an appointment.

There won't be a local office for most of the city shortly :-((

Talk about kicking people when they are down.

If ever there was an example of the need for a bit of local leadership from the Council (who are one of the main funders of CAB Edinburgh) then this is it ... sadly, I won' be holding my breath.

Post Office closures?

Two local meetings this evening about proposed Post Office closures in (or on the edge of) the Ward ... in Shandon and Gorgie.

I know only too well that there's a wider-issue with the financial stability of the overall Post Office network (some £500million per day is being lost - that's taxpayers money by the way!) ... but there are pretty severe Post Office cuts being proposed in and around the South West area of the city.

Stenhouse only closed a couple of years ago, and now Shandon, Gorgie and Longstone are all being put forward for consideration to close. I just don't see how the remaining Post Offices in the local area - at Chesser (in the ASDA) and in Gorgie (within the Scotmid) - will cope with the increased migration of business?

Add to that the fairly radical set of cuts and service-reductions being implemented by Lothian Buses and I do feel that Post Office Limited need to reconsider.

I'll be making as strong a case as I can in my submission to the consultation - anyone else interested in doing so, can find all the relevant details here.

Brown's Manchester Speech

Managed to listen to most of Gordon Brown's speech earlier this afternoon - I thought it was a pretty competent performance under (obvious) difficult circumstances.

The BBC coverage - here - has a reasonable balance of the wide-ranging opinions that the speech evoked!

Can't help but draw a comparison with last year, when there was no mention of any opposition party, whereas today the Conservatives drew at least a dozen direct references ...

A week may indeed be a long time in politics - a year even longer.