SNP Control in West Lothian Reduced to Knife Edge

After the 2007 election the SNP formed an council administration in West Lothian with the support of the sole Tory and the three Save St. John's Hospital members. However, one of the St. John's councillors Gordon Beurskens (pictured) has withdrawn his support for the SNP leaving a 13-13 split in the council chamber. The Conservative Provost Tom Kerr would hold the deciding vote on any split decision.

The Whitburn and Blackburn is currently under a Standards Commission investigation into allegations of planning corruption from 2008. But is claiming that the SNP are taking up a "hypocritical" stance with regards to council Chief Executive Alex Linkston.

In today's Courier he announces:

"I have formally withdrawn my support for the SNP administration. I'm not stepping down from the Action to Save St. John's Hospital Party but I can no longer support their formal arrangement with the SNP group.

"My reasons for that I will happily spell out at some stage in the future but they involve my disillusionment with the council chief executive Alex Linkston.

"I believe his position is now untenable and I cannot support an administration group that in private doesn't back him but publicly back him and take a hypocritical stance.

"Obviously I didn't take the decision lightly but it is a personal decision. I will vote with my conscience from now on.

"I have certainly had some approaches from other councillors but this is not about destabilising the administration.

"I have a responsibility to the council and their employees and the wider West Lothian population but I have got to the stage now that I think I have a responsibility to my family and friends who have come second too often recently."

The fact that Mr Linkston of course was the officer that had to take the complaint against Mr Beurskens may well have something to do about the councillor feeling there is a personal vendetta against him. The fact that his two colleagues, Ellen Glass and John Cochrane, do not feel the same way about the SNP administration may suggest it does.

From my dealings with SNP councillors over the last 9 years I have personally heard nothing but praise for the work that Alex does, even when they were in opposition they said he dealt a fair hand. If any of the SNP councillors wish to add a comment (even anonymously) please feel free to do so though the email address in the side bar.

Update 2 on Baby Ben

There is good news for Kerry Robertson, Mark McDougall and their baby Ben. As I reported last Friday when Ben was just 4 days old he was snatched from his parents by Irish social services upon the request of Fife Council's team who had deemed that Kerry was incapable of raising the child.

Yesterday mother and baby were reunited in a mother and child unit in Ireland. While that does mean that they will be under constant supervision it mean that the bonding process between mother and child can resume.

Fife Council it emerges have never carried out a formal psychological assessment of Kerry, who readily admits to not having many qualifications from school. However she was employed as a childcare worker in a local school in Fife before becoming pregnant and does hold a certificate in child care.

Now at least I'm glad that a proper appraisal in the mother and baby unit of Kerry capabilities as a mother can be assessed, though why this wasn't the first port of call from Fife or Ireland is beyond me. I hope that this period of supervision is successful for the family and they can then get on with the normality of raising their child.

UPDATE: To help raise money for the family and Mark to be able to get to the mother and baby unit you can bid for some of his pictures on ebay (via Morgan Gallagher).

Grit Levels Critical in West Lothian

West Lothian Council issued the following statement today via their website.

"We are currently at critical levels in terms of our salt supplies and must conserve these for our main routes. For example, during the recent snow conditions we have regularly treated our major routes five or six times in a single 24-hour period.

"We are actively pursuing additional salt supplies. However we are aware that every other council in the UK is in a similar position. We are also sourcing whindust and ash, which will be used in residential areas. We recognise that this is not as effective than salt nevertheless this will give assistance. The amount of salt used is directly affected by the weather.

"The severe freezing conditions hitting Scotland means that we are continuing to grit our primary routes several times a day. West Lothian Council has already used more salt/grit in the last three weeks than we use in an average winter. We have already used almost 12,000 tonnes this winter. Our next delivery is due on Monday 11 January - however we expect this to be restricted to 1,000 tonnes. Further severe weather is expected and future salt supplies will be under extreme pressure.

"We have been updating the council's website daily www.westlothian.gov.uk (new window) and we would urge people to check it for the latest position."

UPDATE: Sadly I just noticed that a Facebook Group has been set up called. "West Lothian Tax Payers for Gritter Street and filled grit bins.

They ask "are you sick of the council failing to grit your street and fill your grit bins? Then join this group to show your disgust at the lack of service we have had."

Thing is they have been doing a sterling job around the clock in adverse conditions. The main roads and paths have always been clear, I always meet the mini plough out clearing the centre of Bathgate each morning at 6:20 as I head for my bus. It has clearly been down Marjoribanks Street as I noticed on my walk to an from Tesco and along many other footpaths even the one outside my flat the other day the tracks are there.

They can not be everywhere all the time. And now that the snow hasn't fallen afresh heavily for a number of days they are able to do more ploughing. But this is an exception cold and snowy three week period. Very few of us can remember it being this bad. Yet at time of writing nearly 2,000 people have signed up instead of praising the hard work at all times of day and night that these workers have been doing for 22 days now.

Not to mention the work before the freeze took this severe hit. Needless to say I'm not joining nor linking to it.

West Lothian Council Advice for the Conditions

Yesterday I noticed that the bins were not uplifted. I didn't have anything to put into last weeks having just returned from Northern Ireland. This is due to continued disruption due to snow and icy conditions. The council have full details of what to do here. Basically it sums up as:

• Leave your bin out until it is emptied,
• Please do not contaminate recycling bins with non recyclable materials,
• Ensure all waste is contained within the bin and the bin lid is fully closed or it may not be emptied.

Also be careful about where you park you car to allow access. I know that some residents have not moved their cars here for three weeks, but for those that do take it out and then try and park as best they can, do show care and consideration for others. Also if you can consider what you may be able to take to the coucil refuge sites yourself, but don't do so if that isn't a safe option for you.

The gritting teams have continued to do a sterling job working around the clock always it seems in sub zero temperatures. So while we are all able to get or keep snuggly wrapped up in the warm they are out doing their stuff. Of course there are occasions, especially during fresh falls of snow that they cannot be everywhere at once, so keep on being patient. Tomorrow morning could be one such time as the BBC website is forecasting a heavy snow shower, the highest warning of snow they have given in the last 12 days.

As well as the BBC local forecast keep a check on the West Lothian Council updates on conditions and access.

Council Fail, Community Pass II

It was on Tuesday of this week that I posted how the local council here back home were unable to respond to the chaos on residential streets in this area caused by the freeze of thawed snow.

Well today is bin day. However, I walked out to the shops to get some last minute messages, the the temperature was -9c here last night. So the frost was harsh again. The roads were still quite fierce as were the pavements.

Having gone downtown to get some wheaten bread and some other things I returned to find the road had miraculously become less icy than either pavement, in the same conditions of temperature and sunshine. Yes you guessed it the council work lorries were given a gritted road to get to and from their houses while for the last two days local residents have struggled and slipped and slid down the various slopes that make up our roads.

The refuge collectors however are being treated like the Queen with a freshly painted building, no ice on their route.

Council Fail, Community Pass

Once upon a time when I was the age of my nephews the local council here, and indeed the residents were more able to cope with the onset of quite treacherous wintry conditions. Over the past few days we have only had less than an inch of snow on three occasions.

On the previous two occasions this has usually thawed out totally and there have been no issues a couple of hours after even on the residential roads. Today however is different. The snow turned initially to slush, but the temperatures are sub zero later on and the slush has now turned to ice.

Next to my mum's house is a very steep short stretch of hill leading to a T-junction, it is only 2 doors down the road. Mum had already skidded coming round the bends to get here after a morning shopping. And the postman arriving with his second delivery of the day told up that some o the other nearby roads were have cars piled up. So we took the easiest route out to the cemetery to place a wreath on Dad's grave on his birthday.

On our way home we were getting flagged down not attempt to go down the hill. After parking up in driveway I headed straight back to see if there was anything I could do to help. As it was one car had skidded down two car lengths trying to make the junction, another had skidded trying to go around her.

On that hill every year up to this had been a grit bucket. And every year up to this, in these conditions the local residents had sprinkled grit on the top of this hill to enable people to make the junction. What happened just now was that from about four different households came sand, salt, fire ashes, and anything to help get traction under the stuck car, we did end up getting the car up and off the slope. But not before warning several other cars off trying to make their way up.

There are other ways that you can drive from the bottom section around to the area where we live, it was how me and my mother got back. The local police are stretched with so many accidents and so many dangerous roads, but what I saw just now was that the local community are prepared to do their bit to enable to roads to remain passable, if only the council had provided the tools to enable them to do so earlier. There are three hotspots within half a kilometre from here and presently all three have local residents crying out for why the council has removed the grit boxes.

There are times I'm prepared for the worst back in Bathgate, but I rarely have to use the measures I have taken. Our Scottish local councils prepare far better and more effectively than here, at least the community is kicking in to help out as best we can.

Lib Dem Gain in Bearsden South - A Minor Result Correction

Tales of the Lib Dem implosion as expressed in recent times by SNP Tactical Voting and others appears to be somewhat premature.

Ashay Ghai has won the Bearsden South by election for East Dunbartonshire Council from the Conservatives with 1770 votes to 1499. The Conservatives were defending the seat as a result of the resignation of Simon Hutchison who couldn't juggle his demands as a solicitor with his council work. He was the convenor of the planning committee on the Labour/Conservative coalition run council.

Local MP Jo Swinson said:

"I'm delighted Ashay Ghai has won this by-election. There is no sign of a David Cameron bounce in Scotland.

"This is a tremendous boost to the Liberal Democrats as we head towards a general election."

Labour who are saying they will be challenging the Jo's seat of which this is one of the wards were the first party to be eliminated under STV in the first round.

Tavish Scott added his praise for the win by Ashay saying:

"This is fantastic achievement by Ashay Ghai and his local campaigning team, supported by his local MP Jo Swinson. Liberal Democrats beating the Conservatives with Labour humiliated all bodes well for the coming general election.

"People recognise that it is the Liberal Democrats on the side of hard working Scottish families during Labour’s recession, with the Tories only offering tax breaks for the very richest in our society.

"Ashay Ghai will be a local champion for Bearsden South."

For the electoral geeks amongst you here is how the STV system worked out.

Stage 1:
Ashay Ghai LD 1110
Rachel Higgins Con 1261
Fiona Grace McLeod SNP 783
Manjinder Shergill Lab 626

Stage 2 elimination of Shergill:
LD 13061381
Con 13811306
SNP 972

Stage 3 elimination of McLeod:
LD 1770
Con 1499

Originally posted 11 Dec 09 at 13:06 but updated for correction of second stage trasfers. The result in the second stage shows how well the Lib Dem team did at targeting Labour second preferences, as only 45 transfered to the Tories.

Breaking News - First Cabinet Casualty of Nationalist Government

I see via the Steamie that local Linlithgow resident Fiona Hyslop is the first of the SNP cabinet to be forced from office.

Considering that last week there were almost back to back announcements. The first that Local Authorities were to be encouraged to 'retire' elder teachers to make room (especially within budgets) to allow new teachers to take their places. The second that local were to blame for the fall in teacher numbers.

So the mantle of SNP buck-passing on education policy has been passed from Ms Hyslop to some other sucker, err I mean Mike Russell, who you'd hope is seeking out sound advisors with more care than he monitors what his office manager gets up to.

To be honest I don't envy Mr Russell's task. On the one hand he has Local Authorities some of the them SNP led telling him they don't have enough money to implement SNP education policies. On the other his has his cabinet colleagues and the First Minister casting blame on the Local Authorities, some of them SNP led, for failing to implement SNP education policies. I'd put that down to a lose-lose situation for Mr Russell, maybe equivalent to what the old posting to Northern Ireland used to be in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.

SNP's Micawber-ish Approach to Education

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery."
Mr. Micawber from Charles Dickens' David Copperfield

So more or less sums up the SNP's policy on how the Scottish Local Authorities are to help them get out their education quagmire. In the 2007 Manifesto Fiona Hyslop told us that a Scottish Government would "Maintain teacher numbers...place greater emphasis on recruitment for the early years, languages and science." They also promised smaller class sizes for Primaries 1,2 and 3.

Now however, she is asking the Councils whose tax raising power has been frozen by the Parliament to borrow £10m to help early retirement of older teachers so that the newly qualified can take their place.

Hang on. Does this mean that currently we have a surplus of teachers in Scotland? Does that mean that we have people who if they could all be employed could actually enhance the standard of education of our children? Does that mean that there is also £10m that is available for education which the SNP Government is willing to loan out? Why only loan out?

The SNP made all these promise about education, they said that they would foot the bill. However, whilst restricting annual income to a certain level they are encouraging local authorities to borrow to provide for funding which they themselves had promised to give for education. Not only that they are determining how it should be spent, rather than how it can best be used locally.

It sounds very much like Mr Micawber to me, and we know that he ended up in the poorhouse. Is that where Scottish education and our Local Authorities are going to end up thanks to Fiona Hyslop and the incompetent SNP education policy.

What is telling is that Fiona Hyslop is saying that the scheme is designed to break even by replacing teachers at the top end of the pay scheme with those at the lowest. Hang on again. Isn't this the SNP who in last weeks Queen's Speech Party Broadcast slammed the other three main parties for making spending cuts. This sounds like a cut to me.

Not only that but a cut that will place the education of our children and young people out of the hands of experienced hands and more into the hands of newly qualified teachers. Those experienced teachers are also people who are needed to mentor younger members of the profession.

So if we are training a surplus to our current replacement requirements, can't gainful employment be found for all, to help increase our level of education? And why are we making the Local Authorities pay for something else, this case by borrowing, when the SNP have asked them to hold their level of taxation. When the freeze is finally lifted, what hike will the Council Tax Payer (as the SNP have reneged on Local Income Tax) have to face to pay for all this.

Aberdeenshire Council in Cahoots with Trump

Is it any wonder that Aberdeenshire Council have not been taken action to protect local residents from the threat of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs)? As far back as April this year they have been preparing to help the billionaire property developer overcome the public outcry of such an action.

A letter from the council's senior planning officer Dr Christine Gore dated 7 April reads:

"In terms of public relations and management of the inevitable media interest, I would request that we be given at least a week’s notice of your intended submission date. Thereafter, close liaison will be required . . . in order that we can have a managed approach to what is inevitably going to be a difficult and emotive reaction."

So the council have for months been willing with Trump to pave the way for his use of compulsory purchase orders, rather that being neutral and yet to make a decision on the matter as recent events in chambers would have us believe.

The Glasgow based organisation spinwatch is accusing Aberdeenshire council of a "conflict of interests". Prof. David Miller professor of sociology at Strathclyde university and head of Spinwatch said of the discussions being discussed in this way three months before they became public:

"The question of probity and governance is raised by these documents. The council is supposed to protect the public interest, not the private interests of a major corporation. These documents suggest Aberdeenshire council is too close to the Trump Organisation."

The voters of Aberdeenshire Council deserve representatives that will look after their interests, but sadly appear to have a majority of their representatives that have fallen under th Trump spell, for whatever reason, and are ignoring those they are supposed to be representing.

This week work is expected to start on stabilising the dunes at Menie which could affect the area's site of special scientific interest (SSSI) status. RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) have both lodged objections, but with the council appearing to have been largely at the beck and call of the Manhattan Billionaire it is doubtful that the go ahead for work to start will be blocked on Tuesday.

Time Ticks By, But the Council's Not for Turning

The official line may be 'no comment' but the current actions of West Lothian council speak louder than any words and especially those two. Anybody who was present at the recent meeting to look at how to save Livingston FC (that excludes council officials and councillors who did not attend for legal reasons) know just what a grim state the books are in.

The Council may publicly state their intention to do all they can to retain senior football at Almondvale but to turn down any hope of an alternative deal doesn't seem like the way to go about it. If they are turning down a genuine offer from Neil Rankine and Gordon MacDougall that would change the way things are done at Livingston how can WLC expect to find any business willing to deal with them as landlords should the club enter administration or receivership.

The letter I sent off to my three councillors after that meeting has been met with stony silence, the exception is Jim Swann who at least had an out of office message to indicate that he is still away. Which is a pity as Jim is a football fan who follows Bathgate Thistle and I've seen him there on the occasions that I can get to Creamery Park.

The longer this drags on, and time may be running out, and the more it gets taken through legal channels the greater the cost, the greater the liability and the less likely is it that creditors will get any of their money, let alone the offer that was on the table with the Rankine deal.

Currently it looks like the council that brought football to Almondvale is quietly killing the club off, hoping that the few thousand who still count themselves as fans don't remember.

Open Letter: To My Councillors

Dear Councillors Walker, Boyle and McGinty,

CC: Livingston FC, Angela Constance MSP

As a local council tax payer who has also been since 2000 a regular follower of Livingston I am concerned about the mixed messages that the council is giving over the future of senior football in West Lothian.

Yesterday along with many others including Angela Constance I attended a meeting called by Angelo Massone in the Almondvale Suite. He has assured us that he has written to the council with a three month scheme to satisfy the back rent of the stadium that is due. He also outlined that the council thankfully are aware that the rates being paid are not conducive to a club in the lower division and have lowered that rental agreement accordingly.

He and Neil Rankin both told those present yesterday that they were under the impression on Tuesday evening that some of the executive officers of the council were of the mind to recommend this repayment plan to enable the team that has been part of the local community for the past 14 years to carry on trading.

On Wednesday of course the council proceeded with legal proceedings which are not only leading to a greater debt issue with the club as advise is needed to be sought and fees paid to deal with this, but may well end in liquidation of the club in a little of 11 days from now. The result of such action would of course lead to the council not getting any or much of the money it is owed, leave the loyal fans of Livingston FC without their team and the SFL with a major headache that cannot be rectified before the start of the new season.

The council tax payer in me would rather that the council gets the money it is due and looks at the plan for repayment that has been laid out.

The football fan in me knows that while there appear to be payment plans agreed with HRC and Scottish Power the biggest threat to the survival of Senior Football is West Lothian appear to be the Council who are telling the public and fans through the Courier that 'a secure future for senior football at Livingston remains [the councils] priority and [the council] hope this [legal] action will ensure the good name of Livingston FC remains intact for generations to come'. At the current state of non-negotiation with the current owner of the club and Mr Rankin who is prepared to advise and is trying to engage the fans and community in the club is that there may not be a club by the end of this month let alone for generations to come if that is the case.

There is a sense of urgency to save the club that is worse now than at any time in the last 5 years and the council are the creditors who are currently the ones posing the biggest threat. Therefore I would urge you and your council colleagues to look at the proposals put forward by Mr Massone. Balance the fact of what termination of the club would mean to the council coffers as opposed to accepting the repayment proposals.

Time is of the essence may I urge you to save West Lothian's club.

Regards

Stephen Glenn

Debt Collectors Coming for Missing Library Books!!!

Well apparently I live in the Scottish council area with more missing books from its library service than any other. West Lothian has apparently got £51, 218 of missing stock. I would like to assure you dear readers that I personally have no outstanding library books, at the time of writing.



It appears that the council in order to regain this missing stock are about to call in a debt recovery service. Now I've not seen any signs recently advertising a late returns amnesty or anything similar to attempt to draw in the missing stock (I may have missed it and this step could already have been taken). It may well be that some of that stock has been forgotten about and when found the possible late fine is too much for the person with the book decided that it was better to forget about the ensuing fine.

An amnesty of course may not totally work, but what is the cost to employ a debt recovery service to get these books returned? Has anyone done a cost benefit analysis of taking such action for these particular library books? Assuming an average cost of £10 per book, that would be about 5,000 books out there somewhere in West Lothian. The average Library user you would assume as between 3 to 5 books at any time. Say there are 1,500 households involved. The debt recovery service would then be mailing out, possibly with visitation is nothing is forthcoming after a number of mailings.

Seeing as I still get mail for the two previous residents of the flat I've lived in for 30 months depending how far back these missing books go back, in a transient, contractor style environment like West Lothian is at times. It is possible that many of those addressees are no longer present at the address where they registered for their library card. I hope someone at the council has done something obvious, like compare names and addresses of late returnees against say the electoral roll and written to them first if they matched. Rather than this simply being another case of Nationalists wanting control of all the minutiae of people's lives.

Support Staff or Free Meals? That is the Question

According to Albert Henderson the head of schools for Inverclyde council that is the stark decision he will have to make. He cannot fully fund both if he is to meet the SNP's free school meals for all P1-3 pupils under the current budget he is facing. He told the education committee at Holyrood yesterday that there was £368,000, over and above the extra resourses made available, he would need to find to implement the scheme:

"If you were converting that into teaching staff, we're talking about ten teaching staff, so we may be faced with stark choices. We might be faced with staff shortages and that might mean looking at support staff."

The SNP can keep coming up with grand schemes but they have to also be affordable to the people at the delivery end of the scheme. If the Government is holding the purse strings, as with expenditure by local councils, they need to be willing to spend to allow their own multiple targets to be met.

Linlithgow Deserves Health Centre That's Fit for Purpose

There is no doubt that Linlithgow deserves the best health care facility possible, in that I agree with SNP councillor Martyn Day who has said:

"The people of Linlithgow badly need and richly deserve improved health facilities in the town."

Where I disagree with Cllr. Day is that these improvements can best be met by moving the town's health centre into the County Buildings, a proposal that NHS Lothian have now turned down. What Linlithgow deserves is a purpose built, modern facility not one shoehorned into an existing historic building. Whether that requires renovation and upgrade of the existing building or relocation to a new facility is something that should be explored. We're in the 21st century and the people of Linlithgow, future birthplace of the USS Enterprise's Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott, at least deserve health facilities that are fit for purpose and fit for the present.

In recent years the council whether Labour of SNP led have neglected Linlithgow and whenever space has become available it has been used for residential rather than public use. Whether the old school at West Port (now flats) or the bus station (which was earmarked for more flats when there is an outcry for more parking in the centre of town).

West Lothian's area plan seems to care greatly about cramming in the housing and the ancillary services seem to be tagged on as a reluctant after thought. The current strain of numbers on Linlithgow Academy and the Springfield Development of yet another supermarket (without it seems now the initially planned nursing home) are two examples of neglect as the council seeks to centralise on Livingston.

Free Meals Too Costly

23 of the 32 Scottish Councils have said that they cannot afford to implement the SNP Governments plans for free school meals for all P1-3 pupils. This total includes the three main city councils Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen along with SNP led councils including West Lothian, West Dunbartonshire, Perth & Kinross amongst them.

The policy is good, although Aberdeen council would rather see a free breakfast provided for better health and educational outcomes as they "remain unconvinced that the introduction of free lunches to all Primary 1-3 children adds public value or improves the outcomes for children" based on the trials evaluations. While Glasgow welcome the policy they "at this stage, under the current economic climate, cannot commit to implementation for the year 2010/11." Falkirk Council also have concerns:

"Our calculations show that the level of funding currently provided is less than
we would need to meet our ongoing additional day to day operational costs."

So the scheme is good but the Government needs to fund it adequately.

Springfield Up in Arms Over Development

The residents of Springfield are furious that developers of the planned supermarket to the East of Linlithgow looks set to double in size. The news comes as plans to include a nursing home on the triangular parcel of land on the Blackness road were dropped in correspondence to West Lothian Council.

Considering the area was originally zoned for office development in the Council's area plan the nursing home, hotel and retail complex was already meeting opposition from the Linlithgow Against Springfield Development Group.

The council have asked the developers Kensington & Edinburgh Estates to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment to show the affects on noise, light and traffic pollution, impact on water levels, wildlife etc of the proposed development. Considering Linlithgow was recently endorsed as a Cittaslow town aiming to improve the standard of living in the town with the support of the council such a development on top of the two existing supermarkets and DIY superstore in the town, detract from that aim.

Now That's What I Call Local

John Swinney the SNP Finance Minister has finally announced plans for a Local Income Tax, letting the local authorities set their rates rather than controlling it all from his Edinburgh office. After my ranting on Friday about the Nats not respecting local authorities, this is welcome news. Some are accusing Swinney of making a U-Turn but he is merely realising the problems he created for himself by lifting the core of the Lib Dem idea without many of the more thoroughly worked out difficulties and subtleties.

He is also considering sensible options to exempt students from paying LIT and to make sure it is paid on investment income as well. There has long been a dichotomy about those who are super rich and live off investments contributing regularly to the national taxation bracket. The super rich of course have their team of accountants ensuring they pay the least tax possible, tending towards zero.

Labour of course are up in arms, they don't want fairness in local taxation. You only have to look at their moan in The Fifer a tabloid they have put out in Glenrothes for the by election. They take a household with four earners and complain about the fact that this family will have to pay more for local services. They ignore the fact that in the same street, paying only 25% less Council Tax is the single mum who works her guts out to cope with raising her family.

There is also the young couple who both earn but at a lower rate than the heads of the family in Labour's literature who pay exactly the same Council Tax as the four earners that Labour are moaning about. But of course that is taking a far higher proportion out of their salaries than the four people up the street. The family of four's tax bill is not going to double, as all four of them will have their tax threshold of course, but Labour who are starting to sees flaws in council tax are upset that others have found a fairer system before them and Andy Kerr will do anything to run it down.

What the Nationalist Government is Good at?

Alex Salmond was havering on, and on, and on on Question Time last night at times you wondered just what was the point of the BBC paying for the other four guests, or David Dimbleby to turn up in Peterborough for in the first place. However, he kept on going on about the strengths that Scotland and Scots had.



Therefore I am going to highlight courtesy of Lib Dem MSP Jeremy Purvis something that we agree that the SNP are good at.



I can almost sense the intake of breathe from the collective SNP Blogosphere and Cybernats around North Britain as they take in what I have just said. But yes I did say I want to acknowledge one thing that the SNP government at Holyrood is good at.



Ok guys you can breathe out again now.



That one thing is risk management. Not in the classical sense I hasten to add but as Jeremy wrote in today's Scotsman:

"The SNP is almost constitutionally unable to be blamed for anything – either a
council should be doing more under the historic concordat, the SNP claim
councils have a record amount of money, or Westminster hasn't given the Scottish
Government enough money in the first place. "

Yes, the SNP have rick aversion, blame avoidance, innocence and light call it want down to an art.

Jeremy does have a point though you have to listen to most of Alex Salmond's answers to any challenge be that on Question Time, or in FMQs or any other forum and you can see where he is going. Every sentence that seems to come out of Alex Salmond's does one or the other. We need more money from Westminster, or we've given so much to the councils. It's like a child saying "Aw dad I need more money." Before going off and spending it on more and more stuff, but setting strict guidelines on just how much he will spend but the quality of perfection being sought from the good producers.


There are 3,599 targets in operation. They cover every base of SNP policy. So fall down on a target and you should be doing more, because they have been given record extra money.


Of course should a SNP led council, like say West Lothian, fail to deliver expect to hear the lament that though we have given record amounts Westminster haven't given us enough.

Just wait. You'll hear it carry on. Not enough money, boo hoo. Record spending what are you doing with it.

Ignoring the fact that the record spending doesn't nearly cover everything expected. Or you can't lay all blame for things you expecting and responsible for elsewhere if you're claiming to have provided to record amounts for the tasks.

SNP Candidate and Free Meal Delusion

Peter Grant the SNP candidate for the Glenrothes by election who was/is leader of the SNP group on SNP-led Fife council is contradicting the council's director of finance and resources, Barrie Lawrie, on the possibility of delivering free school meals to primary 1-3 pupils across the county.

While Mr Lawrie says "the current budget does not include costs associated with the introduction of free school meals", Mr Grant stoically is saying that the policy will be delivered. How? With what money? Is this just a candidate toeing the party line while seeking election at a time when many councils including many with the SNP involved in the leadership are saying that the Parliament's policy cannot be delivered under the current terms of the concordat.

Is Mr Grant already prepared to lie to the electorate of Glenrothes about just what is achievable? If he's doing it now how much more is he prepared to deceive should he be elected?

Also unearthed this interesting blog which suggests that bookies are also started to lose faith in the SNP in this one.