This Letter Will Never Be Writ

Inspired by this comment on Brian Taylor's blog but I don't think we'll see this letter on Holyrood headed paper anytime soon at all.

Mr James Devine

I refer to my above named constituent and the case brought against his for theft by false accounting.

I have been aware of Mr Devine's case since May 2009 when he sought assistance from me after a publication of his shelving requirements was published in the Daily Telegraph. It was clear at the time that he recognised the serious nature of the matter he was facing and that it would be necessary to report himself to the police to prove his innocence, and that he had not obtained the money unlawfully.

For a number of years Mr Devine has suffered from low self-esteem mainly associated with his predecessor; he has a office staff, including a job under five years old; and he is heavily involved in the community. All of these aspects of his life have been significantly impacted upon by the mistake he has made.

Mr Devine has denied his wrongdoing and has experienced the consequences of through the loss of his job and withholding of his severance pay, the distress caused to his office staff and his standing in his community. He has advised me that he was merely shifting the £5,500 from his stationary account to his staffing account and has said, since he first sought my advice, that he will sell his interest in his property in London to settle back in Scotland.

He and his, well ok maybe not his office staff, are anxious that a custodial sentence may be imposed by the court and of the further affect this will have on Mr Devine's wealth and the impact on his personal life. I would appeal to the court to take the points raised here into account and consider alternatives to a custodial sentence.

Yours faithfully,

Angela Constance MSP
Member for Livingston

Saving Our Lions?

Well I've just come out of what can only be described as a heated meeting at Almondvale Stadium called by Angelo Massone. There were tantrums., there were walkouts, there was some getting at the facts and some talking about talks to get a way forward.

I Tweeted earlier that Angelo himself turned up late joking that it was like other things. I believe he genuinely wants to put that behind him and move on. Whether that is moving out or not depends on other investment in the club.

From what was outlined there is a plan on the table to pay back the outstanding rent at Premier League prices to the council over the next season and willingness to pay the newly negotiated rate in advance this month. Something that both Massone and Neil Rankine were under the impression that the council executive members who had talks with the two were going to propose instead of this court action.

Non-of the executives of the council where in attendance under legal advisement, nor were any of the councillors. However, SNP MSP Angela Constance was and after admitting that with her father spending Saturday afternoons watching the Wrestling and Speedway she was less well versed in the nuance of football and football clubs than she liked in this situation. However, I think she proved in her summing up at the end of the two hour meeting that she caught up fast with the nuance of Livi. She also found herself co-opted as Chair of a gathering of the factions.

At one point Massone's Latin temperament came to fore and The Livi for Life Supporters Trust Officers walked out en masse. Working as I do with a Portuguese colleague this was something I'm used to on a daily basis. But by walking out on a meeting that we were finally getting to the bottom of the level of debt we are in, without putting forward to the meeting any concrete proposals of their own beyond Massone must go and now I don't think the Trust have any great idea of the way forward.

Those who stayed tried to get out of Rankine what he had in mind with his new model. Community ownership was mentioned. Fans buying shares in the clubs, fans offering services to the club so that we could cope, so that we could survive. So that money could go to paying the overheads, the debts and the players. There are also assurances that HRC have agreed a repayment plan. We were getting real figures out of this meeting for the first time from a Chairman for 5 years.

I did contribute. Asking before I did so to confirm that Massone had written to the Council outlaying his proposed repayment plan. The downside of which is that the Council would get nothing and have an empty stadium on their hands. Then encouraged everyone to write to their councillors I reckon we can cover all 32 in the 9 wards if everyone does. The voice of the people, the voice of the fans has to be heard. If WLC are determined to do what is best to retain senior football in West Lothian they had better give a little extra time to get this money together.

I then gave a little personal advise to the Chairman that if he really wanted everyone on board he'd have to tether that Latin temperament just a little. He later in one of his comments referred to me as 'our friend'. Eek that wasn't were I was when I left the flat this morning.

Is there hope? Is there life in the club yet? I certainly hope so. Angela Constance may have her work cut out in the short term acting as referee but she will have my full support in trying to broker a peace.

Constance Tries to Calm Storm

The letters page of the West Lothian Courier in recent has been red hot with insults and retorts over just where blame should be shunted regarding St. John's hospital. Some of the worse had come from Labour councillors and Labour MSP Mary Mulligan. Mary had been a junior Health Minister up at Holyrood at the time that acute emergency services were downgraded at St John's. She subsequently resigned her post to help fight for the hospital.

No at the time there were a series of public meetings. I attended one at Bathgate which occurred shortly after Mary's resignation as did Fiona Hyslop. At the end of that meeting all three parties agreed that the case for St. Johns was beyond politics and there was a verbal agreement to work together on this for the sake of the community in West Lothian.

However, in the lead up to last May's election it was Labour who broke ranks first and started to use the hospital provision as their charion of 'virtue'. The mudslinging in the press has made for poor and sad reading as the public figures seem constantly to seek to want to lay blame rather than propose solutions. Step forward Livingston's SNP MSP Angela Constance in this week's paper. She may have 8 years less experience as an MSP than Mary Mulligan but she showed true character in not getting involved in the custard pie fight, merely castigating those responsible for the damage they were inflicting on the whole stop the downgrade movement across the county. She went on to say the process is long and tough, something we all knew from day one but which Labour want to ignore, and outlined what movement had started.

So now that I've praised the SNP MSP from one half of West Lothian and the Labour MP from the other half all in the same week I think I'll need to lie down, if I'm not put down first that is.