79: Security Levels

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Should this persist, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out.

Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the English issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when the Spanish Armada was beating up the Channel.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “See you, Jimmy” to “Let’s get thae Baisterts.” We don’t have any other levels, which explains why we’ve been the front line of the British army for the last 300 years. In sympathy, Cardiff Bay has raised the Welsh level from Cantata 208 (page 184 of Land of My Fathers hymnal—Sheep May Safely Graze) to “ble mae fy defaid?” which translates (roughly) as “just leave the sheep and kick for touch while I warm up the choir”.

Not to feel isolated, the Taoiseach has approved raising the threat level to Eire from “stabbing you in the back in front of your face” to “slitting your throat behind your own back.”  Even the Isle on Man felt sufficiently moved to raise its own level from “Deposits of £50,000 are welcome” to “Deposits of £100,000 are welcome”.

Further a-field, Canada changed their level from “aboot low, eh?” to “aboot medium, eh?” and Australia from “No worries” to “She’ll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! we need more foaming tubes of Mrs Foster’s finest!” and “The barbie is canceled.”

Thankfully, no crisis has yet warranted use of so drastic a level of escalation.

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80 Days to Decide

Plenty of time, then, in which to make up your mind. Perhaps a table of comparison between the two main contenders—Labour and SNP—at our local council level would help. After all, Labour had long experience running this county for thirty years before losing it to “inexperienced enthusiasts” in 2007.

Table 80-1: Lab/SNP Council Comparison

Well, Labour didn’t come off very well in that comparison. But then, they may have been jaded after so long in power. Surely in our new Scottish Parliament, Labour, having had eight years working with a partner and now, after four years of opposition will be bursting with energy and ideas. That’s summarised  here:

Table 80-2 Government Issues Comparison

Worse yet! How can a party bidding for government be so devoid of ideas, let alone how to fund them, with only 80 days left to cobble something credible together?

John Swinney on Apprenticeships

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81: Parliamo Politico II

Let’s Talk Pencil-Pusher: Lesson II—Beancounting for Beginners (Second of a series, translating bureaucrat-speak into what it means for folk in East Lothian)

Our UK-wide BBC has focussed on horror stories of English council cuts, ranging from 8.8% in poor Hackney, Inner London  (£210 per head) to under 2% in affluent Wimborne, Dorset (under £3 per head) so that milder reductions in Scotland have gone barely reported. Here, an average 2.6% means £450m for all 32 CoSLA members. But does that mean cuts for East Lothian and, if so, where?

The answer is: NO. Schools and adult social care have had budgets maintained by ELC. Some teachers may be lost but only because pupil numbers have dropped; the ratio will actually improve as more P1-P3 class ratios drop to 18.

The savings required come from deleting unfilled jobs and staff transfer. The home help service is being cut in line with a policy (from Labour), with a risk that not all will find other posts. But to promise no redundancies would be to put square pegs into round holes: not good use of public money.

People anxious about the future of their council services should not be; our libraries are secure (NB, Haddington and Tranent all due for a facelift); our Sports centres are now run by Enjoy (a trust, insulated from council finances); parks will be mown and flowers planted; bins emptied, roads fixed, lamps lit, etc.—just as heretofore. By planning ahead and slimming staff numbers, buildings can be emptied, further cutting costs.

Doubtless, some—especially the few losing jobs— will be unhappy but virtually all 13,000 job losses expected are in other councils. East Lothian has set an example how best to look after its customers and staff in times that are hard for all.

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82: Think No Evil

Labour is unused to (& deeply unhappy about) being out of power North and South of the border, let alone in most Scottish councils. I can see why. But, their only strategy for salvation appears to consist of pouring vitriol on their opponents’ ideas, since they have none of their own. Thirty years ago, such thinking led to decades of political wilderness. How, with a less loyal/more skeptical electorate and plenty of non-Labour alternatives making a refreshing fist of things, can they think that will work any better now?

Answers. please, on the back of a Labour manifesto (if you can find one)

That's Another Fine Mess You've got us into, Iggy

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83: Bob’s Been Busy

With pressure off after ELC budget-setting on Tuesday, I took a tour of some of the local projects we’ve been funding across the county. Since our Labour opponents in the council and Holyrood both threw their toys so emphatically out of the pram over the last two days, I thought a tour offered a chance to check if people don’t share our pride.

Dunbar’s new primary was a hive of hard-hat activity and the refurbished McArthur’s Stores busy with creels and working fishermen. But Brunt Court’s 88 houses just coming to completion were the most impressive, part because their standard far exceeds government requirements, part because existing ELC tenants jumped at the chance to live there (even at a premium rent) and part because they simply look better than the private homes in adjacent Lochend.

It was the same story across the county—in Macbeth Moir Road or Middleshot Square or even the impressively integrated Balfour’s Square—delighted tenants in excellent houses that many had lost hope of finding. If any were dissatisfied with quality or rent level, I saw absolutely no evidence.

En route, I winessed many completions (Musselburgh stables; new sports pavilions for Longniddry and (again) Middleshot Square), others well underway (the massive John Gray cultural centre; 100 houses at Muirpark) and now still more approved with strong local backing (NB and Musselburgh museums; Ormiston community centre).

Taken altogether, these massive, eight-figure investments in our communities are also a timely shot in the arm for local businesses and employment. Why our naysayer opposition should vote against all this escapes me entirely.

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84: The Coast Line

Relevant though they may be, I am not going to bother you with details how Transport Scotland, Network Rail, SESTrans and various Train Operating Companies interact to organise rail services for East Lothian. Their committees meet out of public sight and move glacially. But our transport problems can be fixed cheaply in six stages:

  1. Agree East Coast/Virgin are not in the short-haul rail business but ScotRail is
  2. Extend ScotRail’s Dunbar service by running the present Saturday NB service Mon-Sat, giving half-hourly trains to Drem then hourly to NB or Dunbar
  3. Replace Class 322 stock with 380 next year as planned (but allocate 3-car units so that they can be doubled up in rush-hour and possibly split/joined at Drem)
  4. Persuade both First and ELC-supported bus services to meet/feed the trains in an East-Lothian-wide integrated transport net using existing style swipe cards
  5. Re-open the station at East Linton and restore a ‘down’ platform at Dunbar.
  6. Double local frequency without corresponding local/express heading conflicts by building platforms on the passing loops at Prestonpans and Drem

Everything needed for steps 1 & 2 is already in place. Five Class 322 units are currently available. Even with one in Glasgow for maintenance, three units are enough to provide an hourly service to NB and Dunbar, with a 30-min service Waverley-Drem.

Possible timetable for The Coast Line: an Integrated Local Rail Service, Edinburgh - East Lothian

So, bottom-line, we could get a train service backbone for East Lothian twice as good as now that requires no infrastructure investment: the track, trains and (since ScotRail started to run to Dunbar) training are all in place. A Coast Line could be running this summer and, with marketing, business would boom… if several secret committees agree.

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85: Flat Budget

The Flat Earth Society lives. I use them as examples of denying-the-bleeding-obvious. But at East Lothian Council’s meeting to set a ‘flat’ (£210m) budget, our other-worldly Labour opposition deserved a prize—if not a world record—for cognitive dissonance.

After Leader Paul McLennan detailed his Administration’s proposals, Labour’s Willie Innes spent his time trying to rubbish his speech. By comparison, Don Quixote was a shrewd strategist. And, lest ye think I’m being partisan, his group voted against:

  • free school meals rollout to more deprived (i.e. Labour) areas
  • two dedicated police, adding to four already in (you’ve got it—Labour) areas
  • a doubling of apprenticeships, so beloved by his party Leader
  • retaining tenant advisors (avoids vulnerable being made homeless)
  • sustaining budgets for Schools and Adult Social Care (i.e. NO CUTS)
  • building more council houses that the 95% of our tenants say they want
  • avoiding planned forced redundancy (savings come from managing vacancies)

To everyone else’s embarrassment, they even tried a legal challenge to the first item. Perhaps when swingeing service/job cuts visited on Midlothian, N & S Lanarkshire and Glasgow by their Labour colleagues become public, ELC’s comparative fiscal robustness might inspire them towards enlightenment.

But I doubt it. Flat-earthers dislike moving at all (in case they they fall off)…and I don’t even know which planet our lot are on. Relevant links (doesn’t matter which you pick):

http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prestonpans-Labour-Party-Social-Club/167173356641834

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86: Parliamo Politico I

Let’s Talk Pencil-Pusher: Lesson I—Bob the Builder (First of a series, translating bureaucrat-speak into what it really means for the folk in East Lothian)

Ever since Mrs T handbagged councils into selling off homes, our crisis in affordable housing has grown. East Lothian Council had quality homes on decent estates; after 25 years, over 12,000 of  20,000 were sold. In that time barely 100 were built. Homeless legislation distorted waiting lists to over 4,000 until non-‘vulnerable’ (i.e. ordinary folk) stood nae chance.

In a press release over the weekend, the SNP Government committed to “invest in record levels of council house building, with funding for 5,000 council houses supporting 8,000 jobs in the next Parliament”. Sounds good; but what does that mean to us here?

In less than four years, your local SNP has completed 100 houses, with 300 more under construction across East Lothian and 800 more in planning. Most will be allocated to existing tenants of good standing and revised laws will keep them publicly owned.

More importantly, this will de-constipate allocation so that sons or daughters can find homes in their home town, empty-nesters can down-size more easily and even priority need clients should benefit by being housed closer to their family and support system.

ELC Affordable Housing Strategy is available at:  http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=917&documentID=309

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87: Schadenfreude

After a lifetime paying attention to politics and over 17 years activism on behalf of my home town/county/country, I may be de-sensitised to what lengths the Labour party will go to rubbish any opposition. But years of close observation of their greed for power in Haddington, Edinburgh and London still had not prepared me for what Wikileaks has dragged, squirming, into the light of day.

Former Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy MP is described in the secret papers as “an up-and-coming Labour leader from Glasgow” is said to have told the Americans that “economics is changing the politics in Scotland,” and in his opinion “the economic crisis has embedded for a generation the idea that Scotland will be better served as part of the United Kingdom.”

On hearing this, Education Secretary Mike Russell retorted angrily: “What type of politician would want to see his fellow citizens bankrupted? So much for Labour’s ‘moral compass’!” Having witnessed how Labour runs things, maybe I’m not so surprised.

See: http://www.newsnetscotland.com/general/1585-wikileaks-labour-exploited-economic-crisis-to-halt-growing-support-for-snp

Schadenfreude (Ger): perverse joy in the discomfort of others

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88: Beef Haddington

I am delicate after an evening’s hospitality from East Lothian branch of the National Farmers’ Union. Though blowing a hoolie outside, the 150-strong annual dinner inside the Maitlandfield roared with cameraderie. And, since members apparently lead double lives as prop forwards, Nico’s big function room was bulging at the seams.

Amidst a background hubbub a decibel or three beyond that requiring ear protection, many made me welcome: Johnny Watson of Skateraw with big ideas for a tourist gateway; Billy Logan of West Garleton who built a major supermarket supplier within a decade; Jim Wyllie of Ruchlaw who has farmed the gamut—from fruit to pigs to arable; Bob Simpson of Castle Mains who keeps Walker supplied with tatties while he manages local Scouts, coaches kids’ rugby and lobbies tirelessly for his village.

My preconceptions went out the window. Accents were a broad cross-section of our county. Bloc loyalty to any political party was nowhere in evidence. And, though talk did sometimes turn to prices, I found these stewards of our beautiful countryside more full of lively good cheer than of bean-counter fixations. Hope I get invited back.

http://www.nfus.org.uk/about-nfus/regional-managers/lothians-borders

East Lothian President: Stuart McNicol, Castleton, North Berwick

Diagram of beef cuts in Scotland

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