3D will do for me
I finally gave in and took
the kids to see Avatar 3D last weekend and it
was amazing, I was mesmerised – and I did look
rather cool in those funky specs. I was
tempted to try them out in Parliament but some
things just shouldn’t be visually enhanced.
It’s nice to get a wee break from politics from
time to time, it refreshes you and lets you get
right back into the swing of things.
I met the young cadets
involved in the celebrations at the 150th
Anniversary event at the Science Centre in
Glasgow.
I was impressed with the dedication and
motivation of the young people involved.
They came from different socio-economic
backgrounds and demonstrated that all kinds of
folks can mix and work together for the common
good and personal development.
I got the chance to hear a
young woman from East Kilbride tell her story
about how she was making a few wrong choices in
her life before she got involved with the cadets
and how joining them helped her to rethink what
she was doing and start making the right
choices. She has gone on to be a committed
adult volunteer, win bravery awards and, most
recently, be nominated as Scotswoman of the
Year. A success story! A senior
officer also told me that everything they do is
now matched up to the Curriculum for Excellence.
I then met with a
brilliant organisation called Medical Justice (http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/)
which visits and cares for people in detention,
doing excellent work and I am hoping to work
with them on a project in
Scotland in the near
future.
Off
up to Oban on Monday with the Education
Committee as part of our inquiry into education
spending in schools. We visited two
schools on a joint campus;
St Columba’s and Rockfield
and I was very impressed with the work being
done and how well behaved and polite the pupils
were. I don’t remember pupils being so
well behaved in my school days (except me, of
course). They are a credit to their school
and to their parents. I’ll tell you,
though, an extra benefit to that visit to Oban
was the fantastic scenery on the drive back –
our country is fabulous.
Back in the city I joined
a group of young people involved in work that
allows them to look at dangerous behaviour and
the impact that it has. A set of
situational scenes shocks the audience into
experiencing some things that young people face
every day; vandalism, bullying, domestic abuse
and violence with a lot of it linked to alcohol
abuse. These are youngsters who are going
out of their way to build a better future.
A brilliant part of my job
(one of the very best bits) is being honoured to
host events in Scotland’s Parliament, and this
week was extra special – I hosted a smashing
event this week; the parliamentary reception for
the Middle East Youth Festival (http://beta.globalcitizencorps.org/blog/2009/10/middle-east-youth-festival-edinburgh-scotland)
where we came together with peer educators,
including some from Scotland, and the Scottish
Youth Parliament. The talent and
motivation of our young people never ceases to
amaze me, I said at the reception that with
these wonderful young people showing us that
they are global citizens our world is in good
hands – youth from
Lebanon, Jordan, America,
Ireland and Scotland showing off their skills.
Back to auld claes an
parritch today, though, and into the chamber for
a debate on education and how we have to equip
the school pupils of today with the tools
they’ll need to compete in the global
marketplace which is opening up further and
further all the time. I focussed on the
need for a greater emphasis on language teaching
and broadening the international horizons of our
youngsters – it’ll be up on the Official Report
bit of Parliament’s website at eight in the
morning if you want to read it.
So there it is – another
week done and another week of celebrating
Scotland.
We’re edging closer and closer to the UK
election, so we can expect more of our free time
to be taken up with campaigning. Still,
onwards and upwards, 3D specs all round!
