I haven't been able to write on the blog for the last couple of days due to work commitments, but I wanted to take this chance, however belated, to add my condolences to David Cameron and his family.
It was terrible to hear about the sad death of their son, and I hope that the messages of support that they have received from across the country and across the political spectrum can be a tiny bit of support in such a horrible time. Politics is an important and combatitive environment, and correctly so, but it is reassuring to see how opponents can put aside their disputes in the face of such real human loss. The added poignancy of Gordon Brown, who himself has experienced the loss of a child, offering his thoughts and support to the Camerons is a clear reflection of the fact that whilst our political ideologies may differ, we are still humans united by the shared experiences of life.
Friday, 27 February 2009
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Discrimination is alive and well.
Makes you proud to be British doesn't it?
Parents are complaining because the BBC has hired Cerrie Burnell as a new presenter to front CBeebies shows. Her crime - she was born without one of her arms, and therefore is 'scary' to children.
This is disgusting, and I am glad that the BBC are choosing to ignore the poison pen letters that a few 'parents' (and I use the term loosely - this sort of attitude seriously implies a lack of parenting ability) have been motivated to write. Frankly it is disgusting that we should still be encountering such pathetic attitudes in 2009, but sadly there is always a remnant of rubbish which can be scraped from the bottom of the barrel.
As someone who is soon to become a parent for the first time, I am delighted that the BBC are continuing to produce high quality childrens' programmes, and are ensuring that they hire the best presenters for the job, regardless of any identifying features. This wasn't a stunt on the BBC's behalf (they stand by the fact she was hired on ability) but has reflected well on them, especially given their recent appalling run of news. I hope that the parents who felt motivated to spill their bile about Cerrie stop and consider the example they are giving their children rather than poisoning them with their own prejudices.
Parents are complaining because the BBC has hired Cerrie Burnell as a new presenter to front CBeebies shows. Her crime - she was born without one of her arms, and therefore is 'scary' to children.
This is disgusting, and I am glad that the BBC are choosing to ignore the poison pen letters that a few 'parents' (and I use the term loosely - this sort of attitude seriously implies a lack of parenting ability) have been motivated to write. Frankly it is disgusting that we should still be encountering such pathetic attitudes in 2009, but sadly there is always a remnant of rubbish which can be scraped from the bottom of the barrel.
As someone who is soon to become a parent for the first time, I am delighted that the BBC are continuing to produce high quality childrens' programmes, and are ensuring that they hire the best presenters for the job, regardless of any identifying features. This wasn't a stunt on the BBC's behalf (they stand by the fact she was hired on ability) but has reflected well on them, especially given their recent appalling run of news. I hope that the parents who felt motivated to spill their bile about Cerrie stop and consider the example they are giving their children rather than poisoning them with their own prejudices.
Friday, 13 February 2009
Tearing up...
A day of high drama yesterday at Holyrood, with Iain Gray tearing up a copy of the SNP's manifesto. Not only did this demonstrate his outrage at the Government's blantant disregard for the voters in dropping manifesto commitments so quickly, it also showed that he is without a doubt the He-Man of Holyrood, the Prize Fighter of Parliament. Next week it'll be the phone book wot gets it.
I happened to be at Holyrood at the time on unconnected business and was watching the debate on the tv in the waiting area. I was struck by the fact that Iain Gray had got to Salmond. It wasn't obvious at first, but as you watched you could see that Salmond's bombast was a bit too bombastic, his hands a bit shaky and his impressive jowls a bit more, well jelly like. It wasn't a fatal blow - Scottish politics seems to be more a case of a death by a thousand cuts - but it rattled the Great One in a way that he likes to pretend never happens.
He shouted and he preened, he avoided the question and did his best to cover everything with that vague rhetorical approach that he calls humour, but ultimately he was a little bit shaken. Well done Iain Gray, let's hope for more of that in the coming weeks!
I happened to be at Holyrood at the time on unconnected business and was watching the debate on the tv in the waiting area. I was struck by the fact that Iain Gray had got to Salmond. It wasn't obvious at first, but as you watched you could see that Salmond's bombast was a bit too bombastic, his hands a bit shaky and his impressive jowls a bit more, well jelly like. It wasn't a fatal blow - Scottish politics seems to be more a case of a death by a thousand cuts - but it rattled the Great One in a way that he likes to pretend never happens.
He shouted and he preened, he avoided the question and did his best to cover everything with that vague rhetorical approach that he calls humour, but ultimately he was a little bit shaken. Well done Iain Gray, let's hope for more of that in the coming weeks!
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Scottish Government reshuffle
So the first reshuffle of the SNP Government has taken place, with a few junior Ministers making way. The changes are:
- Mike Russell replacing Linda Fabiani as Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture
- Roseanna Cunningham taking Mike Russell's Environment brief
- Alex Neil replacing Stewart Maxwell as Minister for Housing and Communities
- Shona Robinson adding Sport to her Public Health brief
- Keith Brown replacing Maureen Watt as Schools Minister
All in all nothing dramatic - certainly not Cabinet posts that have been effected. Bit surprised about Stewart Maxwell, most people I have spoken to were fairly happy with his perfomance, at least in regards to the Community aspect of the portfolio - wonder who he annoyed?
Opposition parties have sniped a wee bit but to be honest there is little to be said about the changes. It will be more dramatic once Salmond decides to move around his main players - however, with a relatively small pool to choose from and a generally successful government thus far, I wouldn't expect to see changes any time soon.
Edit: Andrew Burns raises some interesting points with his blog - could Salmond have chickened out of sacking any Cabinet Ministers? Fiona Hyslop certainly would have seemed the most likely option - would be interesting to find out whether there were indeed any refusals.
In addition, I forgot to mention that Mike Russell also has responsibility for 'consitutional' matters, meaning that he will be driving the process of the referendum and the submission to the Calman. As a keen associate of Salmond it will be interesting to see how he does in this role - certainly the referendum seems a distant possibility in the current political climate of Scotland.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Minister tours pubs and clubs - best excuse ever!
Kenny MacAskill MSP, SNP Justice Secretary took the unprecedented step of touring pubs and clubs at the weekend. What a brilliant excuse to get out in Glasgow on a Saturday night!
I wonder which facilities he visited - the Brazen Heid maybe? Or the Garage to check out what the students were up to?
It is good to see a Minister actively exploring the areas within their remit, although I hope that his responsibility for some other 'justice' areas doesn't require the same level of investigation! It was dangerous enough on this excursion, as he was narrowly missed by a thrown bottle - goodness knows what would happen if he went touring the red light district!
I wonder which facilities he visited - the Brazen Heid maybe? Or the Garage to check out what the students were up to?
It is good to see a Minister actively exploring the areas within their remit, although I hope that his responsibility for some other 'justice' areas doesn't require the same level of investigation! It was dangerous enough on this excursion, as he was narrowly missed by a thrown bottle - goodness knows what would happen if he went touring the red light district!
Reality Bites
The Honeymoon appears to be over for President Obama - I bet he would have wished for one closer in length to that of Alex Salmond. After a hectic and difficult introductory period to his Presidency, in particular with the disaster of three cabinet picks being forced out due to allegations of impropriety, the current fight over the stimulus package is proving a minefield. It may not be impacting upon his popularity as of yet, but it could turn out to be an issue which rebounds on his administration at a later date.
The problem is that the Republicans, for the first time in several years, are being quite canny. Yeah, the stimulus package is needed to counter the effects of their control and yeah it was a Republican President who helped to destroy a massive surplus and turn it into a deficit of staggering proportions, but they are not letting these mere facts stop them.
Rather they are taking the moral high ground and attacking the wasteful spending of the Democrats. Senator Shelby of Alabama declares that it will lead to disaster while Mitch McConnell (R-Ken) the Senate Minority Leader complained about how the public don't quite understand just how big a trillion dollars is (for interest sake, a million seconds is 11.5 days, a billion seconds is 32 years and a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. Pretty big then).
Of course the irony (not always considered a strong point of American humour) is that the main reason that trillions are being talked about is due to the policies of a Republican President. The party of small government, tax cuts and fiscal responsibility abandoned its principles and savaged the economy in an orgy of greed and misdirected financial interventions. A focus on the 'death tax' as the pinnacle of Republican financial policy ignored the destruction being wrought upon the economy on their watch and it is now the Democrats, and President Obama in particular, who have to try and restore the US economy.
The problem is that voters very quickly forget whose fault it was, and the stimulus package has the potential to become very unpopular. People have already seen billions pumped into the economy and are getting fed up of it - they are therefore getting fed up of further interventions which do not seem to be making a difference to their own standard of living or job opportunities.
The stimulus will pass (there are enough moderate Republicans, just, left to make it fillibuster proof) but the Republicans will happily and shamelessly run with this area of attack, aided by the fact that Democratic control of Congress has not exactly been life changing to date. President Obama has had a shaky start to his tenure, his team not supporting him and guiding him correctly, leaving him open to questions about his commitment to the integrity he pledged to introduce to government. The vetting process did not fail - the problem was that it identified the tax problems which existed but ignored them, presuming them unimportant to the American people. This was a terrible mistake which sent out completely the wrong message to people at a time of economic hardship.
However, his willingness to hold his hands up and admit he got it wrong was a welcome change of approach from a politician and one that our own elected reps could do to learn from. He needs to see some success now if he wants to keep the American people on side. The key criticism of his campaign was that it was all style with little concrete evidence of the policy which would drive his administration. He now needs to stabilise his team, strongly outline his political vision for sorting out the mess he has inherited. Otherwise he could find that the honeymoon becomes little more than a distant memory.
The problem is that the Republicans, for the first time in several years, are being quite canny. Yeah, the stimulus package is needed to counter the effects of their control and yeah it was a Republican President who helped to destroy a massive surplus and turn it into a deficit of staggering proportions, but they are not letting these mere facts stop them.
Rather they are taking the moral high ground and attacking the wasteful spending of the Democrats. Senator Shelby of Alabama declares that it will lead to disaster while Mitch McConnell (R-Ken) the Senate Minority Leader complained about how the public don't quite understand just how big a trillion dollars is (for interest sake, a million seconds is 11.5 days, a billion seconds is 32 years and a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. Pretty big then).
Of course the irony (not always considered a strong point of American humour) is that the main reason that trillions are being talked about is due to the policies of a Republican President. The party of small government, tax cuts and fiscal responsibility abandoned its principles and savaged the economy in an orgy of greed and misdirected financial interventions. A focus on the 'death tax' as the pinnacle of Republican financial policy ignored the destruction being wrought upon the economy on their watch and it is now the Democrats, and President Obama in particular, who have to try and restore the US economy.
The problem is that voters very quickly forget whose fault it was, and the stimulus package has the potential to become very unpopular. People have already seen billions pumped into the economy and are getting fed up of it - they are therefore getting fed up of further interventions which do not seem to be making a difference to their own standard of living or job opportunities.
The stimulus will pass (there are enough moderate Republicans, just, left to make it fillibuster proof) but the Republicans will happily and shamelessly run with this area of attack, aided by the fact that Democratic control of Congress has not exactly been life changing to date. President Obama has had a shaky start to his tenure, his team not supporting him and guiding him correctly, leaving him open to questions about his commitment to the integrity he pledged to introduce to government. The vetting process did not fail - the problem was that it identified the tax problems which existed but ignored them, presuming them unimportant to the American people. This was a terrible mistake which sent out completely the wrong message to people at a time of economic hardship.
However, his willingness to hold his hands up and admit he got it wrong was a welcome change of approach from a politician and one that our own elected reps could do to learn from. He needs to see some success now if he wants to keep the American people on side. The key criticism of his campaign was that it was all style with little concrete evidence of the policy which would drive his administration. He now needs to stabilise his team, strongly outline his political vision for sorting out the mess he has inherited. Otherwise he could find that the honeymoon becomes little more than a distant memory.
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Bashir Ahmad
Just wanted to say how sad I was to hear of the sudden death of Bashir Ahmad MSP. It is a terrible shock and my thoughts are with his family.
His role as the first EM MSP at Holyrood was an important one and he will be missed.
His role as the first EM MSP at Holyrood was an important one and he will be missed.
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