WEEK BEGINNING MONDAY 8th JANUARY 2007
A guid New Year to all, and
here we are in 2007 – I find it so hard to believe that we’re in an
election year already, as it doesn’t seem four years since the last
one. But, all systems go – things are looking good for us and
there’s been a real shift in how folk talk about the potential of
independence. Now there’s no talk of
whether we can do it, afford it etc. etc., but rather, a sense that
of course we can and the decision is ours. I’ve been picking this up
at so many events I’ve been at lately and from general discussions
with groups and individuals. Of course, the Labour Party are still
trying to scaremonger about passport points at the border,
terrorism, poverty and the usual guff – no-one is falling for that,
they’re way behind the times, and dishonest. Even the Tories have
moved on from that stuff!
Monday 8th started
the working year with the elected representatives’ protest at
Faslane. Faslane 365 is of course organising protests all year
against the renewal of the UK’s weapons of mass destruction housed
on the Clyde. Some of the rhetoric from those who support Tony
Blair’s plans has been appalling – talk from Labour and Tory MSPs
and Councillors about wasting police time, criticism of the
protesters, false accusations of troublemaking and baseless
aspersions about criminal behaviour. I still, even after almost 8
years of dealing directly on a day-to-day basis with Labour
politicians, find myself astonished that so many of those who
protested about so many things during the Thatcher/Major years, but
who are now in power and hold themselves up as representatives of
the people, have turned their back on their principles and go so far
as to try to deny freedom of speech and the validity of peaceful
protest.
Anyway! A load of us turned
out on 8th January, despite the wind and rain – here’s
Jim Mather MSP (and Greenhills’ own Cllr Archie Buchanan just behind
him).
Faslane Jan 2007
More fun on Tuesday morning; a
good start to the year’s business right enough – if only my work
could always be like this. I went up to Strathaven Academy’s first
year assembly to show my photographs and talk about my experiences
in Tanzania and Malawi, with particular reference to education and
schools. You see, Strathaven Academy’s first year pupils are taking
part in the ‘backpack to Malawi’ initiative this year, and each
pupil will fill a back-pack with things useful for their
counterparts in Malawi. The youngsters were fascinated to learn
about the realities of education in parts of Africa – lack of
equipment, difficulty in attending school if you’ve no parents,
distance to travel and general hardship. Fascinated, and caring,
with a thirst to learn so much more. I notice at the start of this
paragraph I said ‘fun’ – how can it be fun to talk of such things?
But, some of it was – see below our Masai warriors and pals – all
from Strathaven!
Strathaven Academy and Africa
Through to Edinburgh in the
afternoon – piles of mail/oodles of emails/loads of reading to do.
Nothing exciting to report about Tuesday afternoon and evening, or
daytime Wednesday – catch up time. But Wednesday evening was grand.
I was at Gilmourton Women’s Rural Institute to talk about being a
woman in politics, and we had a really good discussion afterwards
about the different approaches men and women take, both in the hard
frontline politics, and on constituency issues. I know most of this
is generalisation, and there are exceptions to every rule, but
studies have come up with some very interesting conclusions. For
example, with constituency cases men are more likely to immediately
go public on a thorny issue, whereas women are more likely to
informally discuss the situation with a Minister or officials to
reach a solution for the individual. All very interesting. I had a
new experience on Wednesday night at the Rural too – I got to judge
the baking competition! Years since I had an empire biscuit! Very
enjoyable work.
Back to Auld Reekie on
Thursday for a day in Chamber – Tory debates on Health and
Education, and Stage 1 debate on the Custodial Sentences and Weapons
Bill. I wasn’t taking part in either, but I did manage to get a
question to the Justice Minister on what I believe is discrimination
within the recruitment policy of Strathclyde Police. Strathclyde
Police is the only force in Scotland which refuses admission to
recruits with a particular minor form of colour blindness. I am
acting on behalf of some young constituents who have been denied
entry to the Strathclyde force but told they can probably be
recruited by another force – this seems strange to me. My entirely
personal view, from what I’ve read and heard, is that Strathclyde
Police wrongly interpreted the regulations in the first place, and
now they just will not admit to having made an error – goodness
knows how many lads and lasses have been disadvantaged by this
arrogant attitude. I’ve been digging at this for ages now and the
Justice Minister continues to sit on the fence, hiding behind the
Chief Constable’s right to decide. Seems to me though that if you
issue regulations then you should stand by them. The latest
information I have is that the regulations should in fact be deemed
mandatory, so the Justice Minister really must sort this out.
And so to Friday and delighted
that I managed to clear my desk and deal with some urgent issues
(not clear the work you understand, but merely to separate the big
pile into lots of little piles). I like being organised so that at
least I know what I’m supposed to be doing, if not actually doing
it.
Working weekend – more African
fun on Saturday, courtesy of the African Community Integration
Centre who held their New Year event celebrating Scottish and
African traditional culture – lots of dancing and singing and a
thoroughly good time. The Centre was set up almost two years ago and
meets in Glasgow’s East End. It has a management committee of 20
volunteers – Scottish and from various countries in Africa. They
work to both support the African community in Glasgow and to help
them (if help is needed) to contribute socially, economically and
culturally to Scotland. I got some great photographs on Saturday,
but I really liked these two - cultures coming together:
African Integration Centre
African Integration Centre
And so to Sunday and the end
of 2007’s first working week for me. Constituency cases on Sunday –
Sunday’s usually a good day to get folk at home. So, starting the
week on Monday with lots of follow-up letters and phone calls. Back
to reality right enough.
Linda Fabiani
15.1.07
