Week
beginning Monday 14th November 2005
Arrived
in Edinburgh Monday morning to meet up with Alexandre (I spelt his
name wrongly last week), known to us all week as Zander, to start him
off on his week’s work experience from Duncanrig School in East
Kilbride. He instantly fitted in to our office team, he and Calum
instantly forming a double-act to hassle me all week! I mentioned to a
workmate that Calum had ‘reverted to adolescence’ only to be asked
“what do you mean reverted!”
It was
a good week to have Zander around as it was so varied, loads going on
that he could join in with to see lots of different aspects of the
life of an MSP. Started off with recording an interview for a radio
programme on institutional child abuse. Since we had the debate in the
Parliament, culminating in lots of promises from the Scottish
Executive, I am not at all convinced that we are dealing fairly with
those who historically suffered. I still believe that a Public Inquiry
would be appropriate – how can society move on when it hasn’t properly
addressed its past, recognised its failings and shown respect to those
who were let down? There’s still no explanation from the Executive as
to why this would be ‘inappropriate’, and quite frankly I don’t
particularly think that the measures they have claimed to have put in
place are an appropriate response to an issue which looms so large in
the lives of victims. Zander sat in on the interview, and I think this
gave him an inkling for the media as he spent the rest of the
afternoon with the Press Office, learning how to track events, compile
press releases and talk with journalists. The main issue for the week
was the Licensing Bill which was to be up for agreement on the
Wednesday in Chamber.
Sandford and Upper Avondale Community Council’s AGM on Monday night
and lots of discussion about the Council’s draft local plan and
proposals for housebuilding in and around the villages. It was
actually quite a sad occasion, following the funeral at the weekend of
one of the most stalwart community activists in the area who had been
involved with the Community Council for years. Tom Leith will be
missed by many of us.
Working
from home on Tuesday morning, catching up with emails and letters, and
writing to the Council, the Police, the Hospital – most constituency
issues just now relate to these particular areas. Another AGM late
morning – East Kilbride Women’s Aid. An upbeat meeting, the
organisation progressing well with support from all necessary – the
joint initiative amongst Social Work, the Police and the Health Board
appears to be working well. That doesn’t take away from the shocking
baseline statistics though: during the last year over 1400 referrals
to the organisation, 142 women and 215 children turned away from the
Refuge because of lack of space. Recent Executive figures show that
reported cases of domestic abuse are increasing. Whilst it may well be
that women are more likely to come forward these days, it is a
shocking indictment on Scotland that so many suffer, that violence is
seen as somehow ‘normal’ behaviour. Studies amongst young people in
particular have sadly emphasised this ‘normality’ by the belief of up
to 28% of young men and 12% of young women that ‘it is acceptable to
hit a woman under specific circumstances’. I hope that because more
women feel able to talk about it now, such views will gradually
disappear.
Back to
Edinburgh to find Zander and Calum ensconced in eating Tunnocks
Teacakes and researching the legislation covering airguns which is
currently going through Westminster. Zander then gave me bullet points
to use in response to an email query - he’s a quick learner that
laddie! And, he worked on to the early evening with me to do some
research for constituency issues – I think I’ll keep him on.
Bright
and early Wednesday morning and Zander and I in to meet Mr. Shaba, an
MP from Malawi who wanted to speak with me and the Standards Committee
Clerk about transparency and accountability in the behaviour of MSPs.
There are concerns in the Malawi Parliament that the public don’t
trust their elected representatives and Mr. Shaba has been
investigating European models of Codes of Conduct, dealing with
Members’ Interests etc. He was fascinated by the ‘strictures’ under
which MSPs work in terms of both accountability and transparency, and
I reluctantly had to tell him that even though this was in fact the
case we are still accused of all sorts and that politicians here are
sometimes mistrusted too.
Met
with the Europe Clerks at lunchtime as usual on a Tuesday – Zander was
fascinated both by their knowledge and their diplomatic language;
‘Convener, you will be aware that …’, ‘Convener, as you no doubt
intend to say to so-and-so …’. It really is like the old ‘Yes
Minister’ TV series sometimes. I am so glad to have the backing of the
Clerking Team though because the amount I have to learn is colossal.
Zander went off with the Clerks to check out how they work in their
own office – organisation and research, keeping us all up to speed.
We
welcomed St. Elizabeth’s Primary from Hamilton to the Parliament at
lunchtime and as usual really astute questions they wanted answered –
mainly about the use of airguns and whether they should be
licensed/banned, so Zander’s research of the day before was timely.
Well,
Stage 3 of the Licensing Bill in the afternoon and what a debacle that
was. One of my frustrations in the parliament is that no matter what
goes wrong the whole parliament and all the MSPs collectively are
blamed. Well, actually in this case it was the Executive who were all
over the place with no idea what they were about, chopping and
changing, the Labour Committee Convener himself having to try and
amend amendments made and agreed by his committee. What a shambles,
caused by the Government benches, but as always the headlines roared
that the parliament had mucked-up – no we didn’t, we knew exactly what
we were doing, it was the Executive that didn’t!
Busy day for Zander and
I on Thursday. Luckily I wasn’t speaking in either of the day’s
debates – Dentistry and Waste Management – so was able to get some
real work done! We met up with a visiting delegation of Turkish MPs in
the morning who wanted to learn about the work of the European
Committee; Turkey of course hopes to join the EU in around ten years’
time. It was an interesting session, but very quickly the delegates
moved the discussion onto the fact that they had heard that some Scots
were demonstrating against Turkey’s proposed membership and demanding
that an investigation be carried out into alleged Turkish atrocities
against the Armenian population some 80 years ago. They were very
indignant! I was willing to go off agenda and talk about that, much to
the obvious concern of the Executive officials who were accompanying
the group. I told them that we in Scotland have free speech, are
entitled to demonstrate and have the right to voice opinions publicly
as long as violence and hatred against others is not being incited.
The bottom line is that democracy works that way – get learning! It
was a calm and good-natured discussion though with food for thought
for all concerned. Zander told me afterwards that he was fascinated by
the discussion and the body-language that was going on. We all met up
later that day for an informal 'touristy' chat about Edinburgh, so our
visitors were happy enough.
Zander settled down at
one computer on Thursday afternoon and me at another. Worked away
quite happily and then he produced a load of potential parliamentary
questions about the First Minister’s recent trip to Canada. With
barely any editing we submitted them to the Chamber Desk for answer by
the Executive. Told you this lad was smart! Calum’s getting concerned.
Thursday evening was
smashing – a reception in the Parliament for the delegates to the
Tibetan Convention being held in Edinburgh City Chambers over the next
two days. The Convention meets every few years to discuss progress
towards autonomy for Tibet, the delegates being parliamentarians from
all over the world who support the cause. Loads of interesting folk
from everywhere imaginable – Zander had a long discussion with Senator
Consiglio Di Nino from Canada, was presented with a Tibetan prayer
scarf and had a chat with Zululand’s Chief Buthelezi! All in a day’s
work for a lad from Duncanrig School!
Alexander's Week
Well, after our
international day on Thursday we headed for Chapelton Primary School
on Friday morning to present the pupils with their Fair Trade School
Certificate – number two in Avendale, with a third coming up. We
attended the school assembly – it was great, the primary 1’s and 2’s
putting on a wee concert. It’s always funny when the children in
primary schools have to say hello to me; you know the lilting “Good
morning children”, followed by “Good morning Mrs. So-and-So”. Well
with me it’s always “Good morning Mrs. Fa ..b..bb.bb ….. giggle,
giggle”. Makes me giggle too. When I meet them around the town later
I’m happy for them to call me Linda – much easier.
And then off to
Motherwell to show Zander how Davie and I deal with constituency work.
A bit of a different working environment the wee office in Motherwell
– the three SNP MSPs from Central Scotland fund the office because
we’re only allowed one regional office to cover the ten
constituencies. It’s not a drop-in facility for constituents
therefore, except for those who live in Motherwell. Not ideal, and
that’s why it’s so important to be out and about so much, visiting
with community groups, meeting with people in their own homes. Davie
took us into the Motherwell Heritage Museum – fabulous, best kept
secret in Motherwell. Nostalgia time for me looking at the images from
the 1960’s – shop and TV adverts, a mock up of an old cinema showing
the newsreels. Great.
Glasgow in the
afternoon for our Cross-Party Group on Refugees and Asylum Seekers.
Monitoring the First Minister’s comments on his proposed protocol to
stop ‘dawn-raids’ on families being deported was the main item because
we feel that progress might be made at last. Seems to be taking a long
time though, but I guess discussions with the Home Office are
protracted. The longer it takes though the more families and
communities will be affected.
Final meeting for
Zander and I before I took him home on Friday evening when we met up
with David and his family. David is shadowing me next week for his
work experience. Another clever 14 year old, hugely enthusiastic about
coming to work in the parliament, David is a pupil at Hamilton
College. I’ve so much enjoyed having Zander around and am really
looking forward to David coming next week too. It’s great having
someone to chat to when driving around from town to town, or running
around between appointments. Dropped Zander off at home – he sent me
in a wee paragraph about his week:
“My week in the
Scottish Parliament was an interesting and exciting one. I
shadowed MSP Linda Fabiani and learned a lot about the way our
country is run. I did various things including, following the
press office dealing with arguments on the 24 hour licensing bill
and being present at the Tibetan conference reception, and meeting
lots of people from various backgrounds. Many of the people who
work in the Parliament were interested in their job and were
always busy, although whenever they had time they would tell me
what they do and how things work. After my experience of shadowing
an MSP I have a fuller understanding of politics and of the people
involved.”
And so to Saturday.
What a strange day. On Saturday I experienced one of my worst
nightmares and then one of my wildest dreams! Let me explain …
I had been asked, as
Convener of the Europe Committee to attend a session of the ‘African,
Caribbean, Pacific-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly’ on Saturday
morning at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The ACP-EU
meet twice a year for a one-week session and the members are
parliamentarians from 77 member countries from the regions as noted.
Their remit is basically to promote the interdependence of North and
South, and to “promote and defend democratic processes in order to
guarantee the right of each people to choose its own development
objectives and how to attain them”. Anyway, my letter of invitation
said (quite clearly!) to come along around 11 am to meet one of their
committees and exchange views with the members. Well, fine I thought,
a bit of round table discussion. However, I arrived at 10.45 am,
thinking I had time for coffee, to be met at the door, told I was late
and rushed upstairs; I walked through a door in time to hear someone
with a microphone say “I understand Ms Fabiani, our guest speaker, has
arrived at last” and was duly faced with a full conference hall, a
stage with a podium, lit up – FOR ME! Aaargh … wake me up! Well, what
do you do? I’m not quite sure what I talked about, or for how long,
but obviously I had to do it. Goodness knows how it went down – I did
have a couple of folk ask for my business card before I left, so maybe
it wasn’t too bad. I’ll perhaps find out more on Monday evening when
I’m attending the dinner in parliament with them. I never, never want
that experience to be repeated, so from now on I’ll pester whoever
arranges such meetings until I know exactly what’s expected, in minute
detail.
And so, from the
ridiculous to the sublime. As I mentioned under Thursday evening’s
entry, the Tibetan Convention was taking place in Edinburgh City
Chambers. Some of us had been invited to meet the Dalai Lama, guest of
the Convention, in the Parliament on Saturday afternoon. I met the
Dalai Lama last year when he visited Scotland, and was stunned at the
effect he had on me – I am not a religious person, nor am I
knowledgeable about Buddhism, but after an hour in the company of His
Holiness last year, I was walking on air for days! Every time I
thought about it (even now) I got a ‘happy’ feeling. It’s hard to
explain, but I know others feel the same – there’s just something
about the man which promotes serenity, and he’s such fun! So, again I
thoroughly enjoyed sharing his space on Saturday afternoon, and
hearing his views about the Scottish model of devolution and potential
progress towards some form of political autonomy for his land.
Scotland has a parliament, a devolved legislature which, if Scots
wish, can be advanced along the devolution process to independence.
All Tibet has is an occupying force which denies and dissipates the
indigenous culture and forces its leaders into exile. You know, in
Tibet it’s an imprisoning offence to have a picture of the Dalai Lama!
After that meeting, the
Convention organisers asked me if I would give the valedictory address
at the City Chambers, closing the conference. Of course I would – such
an honour to be asked. Well, I ended up heading up Edinburgh’s High
Street in the official car cavalcade, police motorbike escort, the
lot! First time I’ve ever experienced that. Then, I was placed on the
platform, next to the Dalai Lama for the next two hours – what a
thrill. He is just so lovely, and again his sense of humour and
humanity shone. How can someone who has suffered so much, watched his
country and its people suffer so much, be so gracious, accepting, and
lacking in bitterness? He says it’s simple, it’s inner peace – lots of
us could do with even a wee bit of that. He gave a wonderful speech to
the Convention, to a standing ovation of course, from both his
countrymen and women and from supporters of the cause. And then I had
to speak – HOW DO YOU
FOLLOW THE DALAI LAMA FOR GOODNESS SAKE?
But His Holiness made it easy for me, with a smile and a mischievous
pinch of my arm as I passed him on the way to the podium. And it was
easy – the most pleasurable public speaking experience I think I have
ever had. The first words in the Scotland Act are “There shall be a
Scottish Parliament” – surely one day there shall be a Parliament in
Tibet.
I was still smiling all
day Sunday when I sailed through the bag of work I had taken home to
complete, and I’m still smiling now!
Linda Fabiani:
21.11.05
Email Linda at
Linda.fabiani.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
