2: You Want Good Reasons?

Posted on May 3, 2011 by davidsberry

Last night, Labour’s final party political broadcast went out, highlighting in its negative tone why they have themselves to blame if lose they this election. It seems they realised too late that dragging the tattered Thatcher hate doll out to scare the punters is bankrupt thinking. Even their more positive ‘fighting for what really matters’ gains no traction because they offer no clue whence youth jobs or infinite apprenticeships are to appear. Beyond fear or blind loyalty, they offered no reason to vote for them.

You want good reasons to vote? Dave Berry, fourth generation local, knows the county well from 12 years as a councillor and three years as Council Leader. His administration is building 1,000 affordable homes, calming crime with extra police and wardens, targeting P1-P3 with more teachers to boost literacy/numeracy while keeping your council tax frozen, services intact and staff morale high. His civic actions include getting the SSC, NB Highland Games and Fringe by the Sea off the ground. From his local knowledge, he has given talks on mining in Tranent, on Stevenson lighthouses to the Probus Club and another featured in the Fred Marr memorial tribute last August.

You want more reasons? As a businessman who ran a database consultancy for twenty years, he understands what SMEs need. As a product planning manager, he spent eighteen years in California’s Silicon Valley, learning management and marketing in the US’s intensely competitive environment. Both mean he knows we need small businesses, based in town centres, quality local produce and marine activities to give the county a prosperous 21st © future that is less dependent on elsewhere for jobs. As an environmentalist, he served eight years on SEPA’s East Board. As an SNP member since 1976 (home in Scotland since 1993) he rose to chair its 360-strong councillor organisation and, since 2005, to be one of four members elected annually to its NEC. These last make party mechanisms and decision makers well known to him.

You want ‘human’ reasons? In his spare time, he’ll be found skippering tour boats or acting as a local guide or playing rock & roll with a band that dates from the sixties. In quieter/darker times he enjoys reading history and creative writing or catching up with friends over a decent coffee. Always approachable, never off-duty, he knows fine his loyalties must lie with the people he represents. And, if the people of East Lothian choose him to represent them, East Lothian will be put on the Scottish Government’s map for as long as that is the case.

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William Hill's Odds on Scottish Parliament Election Winner in East Lothian

Posted on May 1, 2011 by davidsberry | Leave a comment

4: Making It All Worthwhile

Posted on May 1, 2011 by davidsberry

Sometimes when you’re out on some windswept estate on a cold January night, barking shins up an ill-lit pend while you try to find number 39, you do get your doubts about the sanity of standing for election. Then there are days like yesterday, a Saturday when the world—but especially East Lothian—was at its most beautiful. First off was the Farmer’s Market at Haddington. All four parties descended mob-handed but there was plenty of crowd to dilute them, superb burgers that stopped many of their gobs and the local pipe band to drown out those still trying to yak.

Haddington Pipe Band at Farmer's Market, Court Street

Then it was on the road through fresh greenery, twittering birds and fields of blossoming oilseed rape to a peaceful lunch stop on the back road to Dunbar.

View from Traprain over Kippielaw towards Berwick Law and Bass Rock

Once at Dunbar, it was hectic but fun meeting loads of people at ASDA. The locals were particularly encouraging but an advantage of this location is so many are en route elsewhere so I find myself lobbying for Alex Neil in Shotts and Derek MacKay in Elderslie, as well as explaining independence to Yorkshiremen (who don’t seem to need much explaining). As ever, good support from the local branch, with Paul McLennan’s popularity underscored by the many people who stop to chat unbidden. Altogether as splendid a day as I could ask for on the final weekend of campaigning.

Dunbar's Cllr Paul McLennan with Isobel Knox—Scotland's Favourites

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5: Democratic Liberals Unite!

Posted on April 30, 2011 by davidsberry

My Lib-Dem opponent has her work cut out. Not only is she new to such contests but she amplifies her beginner status by making statements like “unlike them, I am not a professional politician”. As a result, bookies have pushed her out to super-outsider odds of 150/1. Add in catastrophic polls for the party (most predict a halving of support) and local Lib-Dem voters are in a quandry; the party famous for tactical voting needs to consider doing that for someone else. But for whom?

Labour might have been an option but many Lib-Dem voters were originally lured into the Tory surge in the eighties but whose subsequent excesses then turned them towards New Labour. Whether from the Iraq war or Labour statist profligacy or Brown’s cack-handed fiscal legacy, they drifted Lib-Dem-wards as Clegg exuded reason and principle in equal measure—at first. But they are unlikely to drift back, nor is Annabelle’s lone ‘redoubtable gel’ performance likely to lure them further.

So it’s the SNP, with whom local Lib-Dems have had a very stable and fruitful partnership in ELC, delivering virtually all joint commitments in Our Contract with the People…or throw your vote into the black hole of a poor fourth and miss this opportunity for East Lothian to shake off Labour’s self-interested girning for the first time in its history.

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6: Helping Our Neighbours

Posted on April 29, 2011 by davidsberry

Part of East Lothian that even residents seldom see are our islands. All four are nature reserves under various owners and landing is restricted. But SOS Puffin, a volunteer project sponsored by the Scottish Seabird Centre since 2007 has changed that.  It aims to bring under control invasive tree mallow plants that had taken over the islands of Craigleith and Fidra, threatening nesting puffins and other seabirds. Originally brought from the Mediterranean, it was planted on the Bass by lighthouse keepers as its large soft leaves make good wipes. The massive gannet population on the Bass keeps all vegetation there under control but when it spread to other islands it sprouted into forests taller than a man. Puffins lost access to the burrows they live in and their numbers plummeted.

Between August and April, work parties have been organised on weekends whenever the limitations of boats and tides permitted.  Inevitably in the winter the weather prevented many planned trips from going ahead. The number of volunteers coming on each visit has varied from 8 to 23 with a mean of nearly 12.   Since the project began in 2007 nearly 800 people have been out helping on the island visits, with many coming more than once.

The work can be quite hard, using loppers to sever the 2m high plants at the roots and dragging them into piles to allow natural decay. But it is a privilege to scramble onto and explore unspoiled islands close to us that so many see but so few visit. It’s also great fun to share the adventure and hard work with others. The work has been helped by harsh winter frosts killing seedlings and a recovering rabbit population. The whole programme has been organised by John Hunt and most of the landings done by Dougie Ferguson in Braveheart.

If you do visit North Berwick and take one of the boat trips to marvel at the rafts of puffins, their colourful beaks and their comic, clockwork-toy flight overhead, spare a thought for the adventurous volunteers who helped out our migrating neighbours so that they too had a decent home to come home to.

Volunteer Squad on Craigleith: John Hunt Second from Right

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7: Small Country; Big Future

Posted on April 28, 2011 by davidsberry

I owe my opponent an apology. At our final hustings in Haddington, he disputed my claim (in support of our potential for tidal and wave energy) that the coast of Scotland was 6,000 miles long. I was wrong; it’s 20% longer. To quote Wikipedia: “Measured along the mean high water mark the coastline of Scotland is 11,803km in length.” That’s longer than Brazil or Turkey. It is also over six times longer than England.

And it’s not just our coastline that’s big. Our exclusive economic zone extends out to 200 nautical miles and a UN Convention (Articles 77 to 81) define our rights over the continental shelf, including “control of all resources on or under its continental shelf, living or not”, which includes petroleum drilling and submarine cables or pipelines. Britain’s land area of 220,000 sq km is dwarfed by its 7,048,486 sq km of seabed. Even after the UK’s ‘land grab’ by the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundary Act of 1999 that stole a triangular chunk of the North Sea apexed at Berwick, by this measure Scotland is four times the size of England.

So when last night’s BBC2 Coast programme focussed on Norway (with even longer coast and bigger seabed than us) exporting one fifth of the UK’s gas consumption to the UK, it was another wake-up call to Scotland’s renewables future. Their gas processing plant is powered by green hydro-electricity; most of the country runs on renewables already; they are even developing osmosis power generation from salt/fresh interfaces for use where rivers enter the sea.

How obvious does it have to be for us to get it? Scotland could be a giant in renewable energy from untapped potential in our seas. Tidal power floods our endless coast; our fresh water resources are far larger than our southern neighbour’s. We should stop being distracted by others’ self-interest and unleash our second industrial revolution by following Norway’s lead towards a hugely profitable green future.

Global Tidal Potential

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8: Calling All Conservatives

Posted on April 27, 2011 by davidsberry

It’s all very well for David Cameron to come within an inch of suggesting that Conservatives should vote tactically, i.e. for the SNP. But, even with that endorsement and the glib, condescending tone of Ed Balls’ recent visit to goad you, I’m still not sure that many of the true blue would follow such guidance without further incentive.

Allow me to offer the circa 6,000 Conservatves in East Lothian a cast-iron case.

First of all, whatever misgivings you may have about independence, there would have to be a full referendum before any move in that direction, even if the SNP return as the Scottish Government. There is little else in our manifesto to disturb you. Second, the sole alternative to the SNP here is Labour. However loyal you may be to the Conservative cause, there is no more chance of winning here than of Annabelle entering Bute House this time round. Consider us the lesser of evils.

But finally, and most compelling, if you are genuinely enthused with the prospect of electing Derek Brownlee—a capable young man who has earned much respect—you don’t even have to vote for him. As well as standing in East Lothian, he is top of the Conservative list for South of Scotland. Unless the Conservative vote drops below 7% (something nobody expects) he will be elected as a list MSP automatically. Voting for him with your constituency vote would simply increases the chance that Labour will retain East Lothian, despite the strongest threat they have ever seen.

So don’t waste your vote on third place: vote for Dave Berry and the SNP. While Leader of ELC, Dave worked with the Conservative group there to the benefit of East Lothian. Voting for Dave gives you the best of three worlds, with no down side:

  1. Your man Derek Brownlee is elected anyway
  2. Dave Berry, a formidable local champion, is elected
  3. Labour (and their taking East Lothian for granted) comes to an end
Is this not something worth considering?
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9: Nae Hidey-Hole

Posted on April 26, 2011 by davidsberry

Our campaign has been from one end of East Lothian to the other. It has been an eye-opener for me as candidate because, having represented one area for 12 years (after half that time campaigning across the county as SNP organiser) I confess that I was not as up-to-date about some areas as I might have been. Many new streets have appeared at Windygoul (Tranent), Cuthill (Prestonpans) and Spott Road (Dunbar) as well as more minor developments, changing the demographics of the county.

But a more subtle shift has also been occurring in council estates dotted across the landscape. ELC has always looked after its houses and this Administration takes as much pride as the previous in maintaining their high quality. As a result, unlike estates elsewhere in Scotland, East Lothian’s council estates have improved in quality.

This is only in part from council house sales (Now up to 2 in 3) that provide both new doors and various improvements but also stronger pride in community, as evidenced by the growth in tenants & residents’ panels (TRP). What strikes any visitor, whether in the Trees (Dunbar), Nungate (Haddington) or the street maze of Ormiston is the trig sense of the place—tidy gardens, rafts of little improvements, minimal litter and folk being neighbourly. Where once things were run-down, little of that is in evidence as people respond with pride in their area.

These are the areas with the biggest change in political attitudes too. Whereas they might once have blindly supported Labour to secure more handouts, in these times when any money is tight, people are becoming more self-reliant and less wedded to obligations that come from being dependent. Once solid Labour bedrock, these areas are bcoming very mixed politically. It’s a sea-change; it’s major; no matter what the outcome of next week’s election, it has yet to run its full course. For Labour, there’s nae hidey-hole any more.

The Ormiston Squad: Ross, Jim, Dave, Mark

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10 Days to Decide

Posted on April 25, 2011 by davidsberry

Reading the Sunday papers before setting off round the doorsteps again was really encouraging with another dynamite poll for the SNP that puts the  SNP 13% ahead of Labour and even MacWhirter’s always-measured blog can’t quite stifle a tone of wonderment. But today I was struck by a discrepancy. Whereas you can almost bet that most media issues (pensions; housing; even immigration) will crop up on whatever set of doorsteps you’re on, sectarianism does not and football itself only gets mentioned if you’re interrupting a match.

It’s not that sectarianism doesn’t exist in East Lothian but it is a shadow of its importance in West Central Scotland—a fact highlighted yet again by recent failed attempts to send parcel bombs to Celtic supporters. Anywhere else in the country, such events would meet incredulity but there, however unacceptable, it’s seen as a regrettable part of the culture and reason for another 1,000 police to deploy at the next Old Firm match with collective fingers crossed.

Pride in your culture is a force for good—but not at the expense of any other culture. Glasgow formed as our cultural melting pot and that rich diversity gifted us all an outpouring of art and humour, as well as industry and sport. When the Clyde rang to a billion rivets, Old Firm matches were already intense but the chants, the flags, the violence mostly date from a decline in work and of pride in other things. In post-industrial Glasgow, pride has grown rarer. Many found it in football but, in as lively and gregarious city as Glasgow, the intensity seems to have got out of hand.

It is all very well for clubs and police to promise tough action against sectarianism and for authorities to purge any remnant of discrimination but people will always want to belong to something larger than themselves, something in which to take pride, however vicariously, especially when life has dealt them a poor hand.

Until we in Scotland accept that all of us must create new purpose for Glasgow, where it rediscovers its rightful place as the engine of Scotland, a cultural and economic dynamo that drives the country, we will find our future fragile if its economy stumbles. Then its feisty people will put their energies into such causes as are available to them. Football’s a great game but Glasgow could again be famous for much more than just the Old Firm.

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