Reason Why the Fifth of May is Wrong Date for Referendum

It is just over 24 hours from when the announcement for a date of a referendum on AV for Westminster was decided to be up against next May's Scottish Election but already we can see how the SNP are going to use it. The SNP are talking about the lack of respect to the Scottish people, Fiona Hyslop going further cutting to the chase when she said:

"It's important that we see action and not just warm words on respect.

"And in terms of what this is saying in terms of how the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and the Scottish people are being treated, I think this is an example of the British Government just not working for Scotland.

"I think this announcement shows a bit of coalition chaos, where the parties in London seem quite prepared to have a referendum on a voting system that they don't really support but not have a referendum on independence to decide the powers that the Scottish people could have."

That last part is the bit that is going to be concentrated on not respect as that will be shoved out the window by the SNP at the earliest convenient opportunity. No there will be the name calling over why one referendum is good and proper and another is not. There will be no respect for the fact that the Lib Dem MSPs were elected to Holyrood Parliament in 2007 on the promise that they wouldn't hold a referendum on independence in the next four years.

That was a stance I disagreed with on the stand alone principle of it from my stance as a democrat. It has been exasperated now by our own leader the Deputy Prime Minister making two announcements of Westminster to piggy back the next two Scottish elections. In 2015 we already have the concurrent elections of a 5-year fixed term Westminster and the 4-year fixed term Scottish Parliaments, now there are plans to ride over next years Scottish elections too.

For a party that believes in devolution we are being perceived of going a strange way about it, strangling the distinct Scottish message of all parties our own included for the elections for the next eight years of Scottish life with two UK-wide debates simultaneously.

Does Salmond Need an Education in Revealing the Truth

On 5 September 2007 Alex Salmond told Holyrood categorically that the SNPs key election pledge of cutting class sizes for all children in Primaries 1,2 and 3 to 18 or less by the end of this Parliament.

However, it appears he may already have been in receipt of information for one of the education department's senior civil servants that stated that this worthy goal could not have been achieved for 8 to 10 years. That meeting had occurred over two months earlier on 2 July 2007 according to the minute that Labour's Iain Gray produced in yesterday's First Minister's Questions. Mr Gray is now saying that the First Minister is breaking the ministerial code which states that ministers must give "accurate and truthful" advise. This is one pledge that has been repeated over and over. But this is one of the most high profile and early examples that it may have occurred while fresh in the face of contrary advice.

Mr Salmond's spokesman said as way of defence:

"The information (from officials] in July 2007 was to the Cabinet secretary for education, not to the First Minister."

With my former civil servant in a Departmental role I want to say that is not a valid defence in this case. There are two perfectly valid reasons that this would not have excluded Mr Salmond from the loop of such information.

The first is that such a high profile minute would undoubtedly have copied in the Private Office of the First Minister: there are times that the bureaucracy and officiousness of the civil service works for the good. Someone there would surely have highlighted this point and brought it to the First Minister's attention. If not, Fiona Hyslop herself on a subsequent memo in the margin against such a statement would have highlighted that one of the key blanks to the manifesto in her area was unachievable. Having worked in a devolved department in Northern Ireland I know just how much and at what level these things would have been copied over to the OFMDFM (Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister) this sort of meeting would have been one area that that memo was an automatic copy in, even the Administrative Assistant who delivered it would have noticed that as they were getting the document copied.

The second reason would be in cabinet itself. The cabinet meeting after receiving such advice I'm sure that Fiona Hyslop would have been briefed by her Permanent Secretary to raise that issue at the meeting. It would have been a crunch matter for her pre-cabinet minute briefing document, so when as most cabinets do, there is discussion of every member's policy areas she would have had this as probably one of her first two points, if not the top one.

The second reason is most serious. If Salmond does not run his cabinet, and it is only a small cabinet in such a way that Ministers aren't allowed to share their issues of the day with their colleagues he himself is clearly not capable or fit for the job of First Minister. As the Conservative's Murdo Fraser said:

"If true, this is an astonishing state of affairs and no way to run a country.

"Many will find it inconceivable that Alex Salmond was unaware his own senior education advisers had made it crystal clear the SNP's flagship class size pledge could not be delivered in the lifetime of this parliament."

From my knowledge of how the civil service works I would say as above that is is true. Further from my knowledge of how Ministers are briefed ahead of meetings with the First Minister it is also something that would not have been dropped for 2 months and would have been highlighted from numerous sources within their reading of the original memo with urgency to that level. Indeed I can well imagine they would have been several margin notes suggesting that the FM needs to be alerted to this (that is just the way civil servants are).

There are only three options:

• Either Fiona Hyslop failed to alert others of this advice. But the memo of the meeting exists so that is not true
• Or That advice failed to reach the office of the First Minister. Again there are too many civil servants who would have got hold of that information for someone not to have made sure that he did.
• Or that having received the advice in writing or in cabinet Alex Salmond chose to ignore it. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes the reject the improbable of the other two and come to the final conclusion.

If Salmond really thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the other parties about the working of the civil service, especially when two of them where in Government with that same apparatus months before, he really is the Holyrood village idiot ad should sit in the corner in the Dunce's hat and not on the front bench.

However, from the picture above one effect of the demotion of Ms Hyslop is the formation of the West Lothian triangle. The two West Lothian ladies in this party Fiona and Livingston MSP Angela Constance are now seated behind the Linlithgow born First Minister.

Salmond's New Part Time Job

Did anybody else notice that in yesterday's reshuffle Alex Salmond made himself job-share Mike Russell's old non-cabinet level brief with Fiona Hyslop?

So Alex Salmond is now not only MP for Banff and Buchan, MSP for Gordon and First Minister of Scotland, he is also Secretary for Constitutional Affairs. The last being the only portfolio of the major manifesto big pledges that is still currently standing, even if like the others looks unachievable. Wonder if he will demote himself for failure to deliver like he has done with Ms Hyslop?

SNP Crying Wolf Again

It appears that the SNP instead of being able to run a government are an unruly rabble. When threatened with the Lib Dem led vote of no-confidence in the Education Secretary that was Fiona Hyslop, they had threatened to resign en masse to force an election.

They have threatened to do so before, indeed it is a constant refrain come budget time, indeed you would expect to hear it again soon, only they have already shot that bolt. However, while the price of a child's education may be measured in monetary terms it appears that the keys to Bute House, home of the First Minister, well that is priceless.

The Tories were showing they were a party of principle too in light of all the goings on. They had also called for Hyslop's resignation. Indeed on Sunday Murdo Fraser their Education spokesman had said:

"There is a growing crisis in Scotland's schools. Alex Salmond's SNP is fast losing the trust of teachers and parents.

"His beleaguered Education Secretary is getting more isolated and desperate day by day.

"Conservatives have long argued our schools need greater autonomy to run their own affairs. But centralising all control to the woman in the ministry is a recipe for disaster."

However, given the chance to vote no confidence in that disaster area they said they would abstain. It was only when the SNP failed to woo their often times partners the Scottish Conservative and Nationalist Unionist Party that the threat of resigning became too much for the ego himself, the Thane of Banff & Buchan, Thane of Gordon who would want to be King hereafter, after all he's be thrown away out of that large Georgian Townhouse in all possibility.

However, a change at the helm of education policy isn't going to be enough, we need to move away from fantasy policy making. The only bricks that the SNP have been matching in building new schools may have been on their screens during Tetris in their think pods at Holyrood. They certainly haven't been placed on the ground, or on top of each other.

Was She Removed Before She Lost Confidence

Just what has led to SNP Education Minister being removed from the Education brief in cabinet, after all she has been the SNP education Spokesperson/Minister for quite a number of years now.

There was obviously the shift in blame over teacher numbers. Only last week Hyslop was about to encourage Local Authorities to borrow money to pension off older teachers. This despite them being unable to meet their lower class sizes policy for primaries 1,2 and 3.

Then at the weekend the blame for the falling teacher numbers fell to the local authorities. But surely only a few days before the Education Minister was actively encouraging them to actually cut numbers further, or rather not employ extra. The fact is that there are 1,300 less teachers this year than last. The SNP promised that even with reducing class sizes they would not reduce teacher numbers, the idea was to provide better support for our children. A noble aim but one that has clearly failed.

She threatened to take control of education out of the hands of our local authorities, and control it centrally. She was threatening to nationalise the education of our children. Numerous time I have filled in a null return to my local authority when they ask about the number of children I have and the age they are. Even, indeed especially, because of my civil service background and my parents education background I cannot see how any authority looking after the children of over 5 million citizens is going to improve educational standards. Even in London this was and is devolved down to a local level.

The new Curriculum for Excellence is due to launch next August, affecting 54,000 children across Scotland in P7. Being the son of teachers, one who whom was also a examination marker I know that these things are in place at least a year in advance to allow teachers time to adjust what and how they teach and also so they can see the future marking scheme to assess such a change. Teachers currently are not aware of any of this, therefore one wonders just what level of excellence these teachers are going to be able to provide in a few short months, some of which will be taken up getting their current charges ready.

On Saturday the Lib Dems announced to the other parties in Holyrood that they were going to bring a vote of No Confidence in the Education Minister on Thursday of this week, at today's business meeting. Today before that can happen we learn that she is being removed of that responsibility.

Tavish Scott has made a statement to that effect, but also points out that a change in Education Minister, to Mike Russell, is not going to be enough, the SNP need a change in Education policy. The children of Scotland deserve no less, they do not deserve to be treated as a political football, or an after thought. They deserve the funding they had been getting, going to the local authorities to enable it to be spent as best suits the needs of their children. If the SNP continue to pull the carpet from under our local authorities feet as far as education provision are concerned four years after taking control will be four years lost out of some of our childrens' education that cannot be replaced.

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.

Hyslop Announcement Step in the Right Direction

Yesterday the SNP Education Minister Fiona Hyslop announced £30 million of student support of increased grants and loans. Grants of up to £1,000 are to be introduced for independent students – those unsupported by parents and mostly over 25. And she said the maximum level of the income-assessed student loan, which has a current interest rate of 0 per cent, will go up by £442.

Liam Burns the President of the National Union of Students Scotland welcomed the news saying:

"For years, we've been calling for student hardship to be prioritised over graduate debt, getting money into students' pockets when they need it most."

However, he did also caution adding:

"But we still have a long way to go. Even with this money, students will still be living below the poverty line, and we know levels of credit card borrowing and other commercial debt have increased to unprecedented levels."

As I blogged earlier this year there is still a high student reliance on commercial debt. While an extra £442 per year interest free from the Student Loan Company it only goes part of the way to pulling some students out of poverty. Ms Hyslop ignored calls for a comprehensive review on student funding by Sir Andrew Cubie, whose report 10 years ago led to the scrapping of tuition fees in Scotland. The SNP entered Government promising students that they would 'drop the debt' Deputy Conservative leader Murdo Fraser points out that to fulfill that pledge totally the current expenditure required is actually £2bn rather than a £30m drop in the ocean.

Margaret Smith the Lib Dem education spokeswomen added:

"It has taken hard work by the opposition parties and NUS Scotland to drag the SNP kicking and screaming into the best deal for Scotland’s students. Today's decision absolutely vindicates our refusal simply to go along with the government's options and campaign instead for a better option that puts more money into students’ pockets.

"The Education Secretary promised to replace loans with grants, but today's statement is clear. The SNP has abandoned this key election promise."

So maybe this is one small step for the SNP, but we're still awaiting the giant leap for student debt.

La Lingua Franca pour Fiona

The Scottish Education Minister Fiona Hyslop has been accused of letting down Scotland's future. It was announced that one in five schools no longer offer German at Higher Level and one in then fail to provide students an option for higher French. 'Scotland the Brave' is failing to educate to take our place linguistically in a modern Europe.



Le ministre de l'éducation écossais Fiona Hyslop a été accusé de laisser vers le bas futur d'Ecosse. On lui a annoncé qu'un dans cinq écoles n'offrent plus l'Allemand à de plus haut niveau et un dans puis ne fournissent pas des étudiants une option pour un Français plus élevé. 'L'Ecosse le Courageux' n'instruit pas pour prendre notre endroit linguistiquement en Europe moderne.



Der schottische Bildungsminister Fiona Hyslop ist von die Zukunft von Schottland unten lassen beschuldigt worden. Es wurde verkündet, dass ein in fünf Schulen nicht mehr Deutsches an hochgradigem anbieten und eins in dann Kursteilnehmer eine Wahl für höhere Franzosen bereitstellen nicht können. 'Schottland das Tapfere' das erziehen nicht kann, um unser in ein modernes Europa linguistisch stattzufinden.



Regular readers and my SNP rival out here in Linlithgow Ms. Hyslop will probably be glad to hear that I will not continue to write ever paragraph alternatively in my schoolboy French then German. Nor was I going to carry on in my University business Spanish and the smattering of phrases in Italian, Scandinavian language, Dutch or Polish that I’ve assimilated through work in Edinburgh just didn’t cut the mustard*. However, a Government spokesperson yesterday said:

"Modern Languages are key to creating a more successful Scotland. The changes the Scottish Government is bringing in through Curriculum for Excellence reinforce the expectation that schools will offer a modern language by no later than Primary 6 anddeliver relevant language learning."

However, the failure to not sustain that choice of language learning to students at Higher level is startling. Questions most be asked about how a government with aspirations to have be a strong, innovative, independent nation within Scotland seems incapable of standing up for language learning at this level. The above statement is fine in encouraging language skills are available at a young age but fails to promise too maintain a choice in the major languages without potentially changing educational establishment or alternative means.

*Update: It has been pointed out by a work colleague that I omitted Portuguese from the above list of languages. Obrigado. Aceite minha desculpa.

The SNP an Education in Failure

Obviously being a local political operative here in the Linlithgow and Bathgate area one person I run across quite often is the SNP education minister Fiona Hyslop. However, working with numbers all day I have a thing or two I'll be sure to raise with her next time our paths cross.

It does appear that today we have found the way that the Scottish Parliament were hoping to reduce class sizes. Ronnie Smith, general secretary of Scotland's largest teaching union, the EIS deduced:

"Pupil to teacher ratios remain unchanged, which highlights that the Scottish Government's strategy of simply relying on falling pupil numbers and holding
teacher numbers in order to lower class sizes is just not working."

Problem is that Fiona as the Nats education spokesperson promised in her election address to the people of Linlithgow that:

"[The SNP] recruit new teachers to cut over-crowded classes in West Lothian, reducing class sizes in secondary and cutting classes to 18 in Primary 1-3."

Sadly today however, she seems content with the status quo says:

"These figures demonstrate that, for the second year in a row, teacher numbers are delivering a historic low pupil-teacher ratio in Scotland - in both primary and secondary schools.

"The number of teachers in both primary and secondary schools were also higher than in all but one year of the previous administration, in 2006."

Mr. Smith disagrees saying these are the lowest since 2004. Therefore 2004-5, 2005-6, 2006-7 were all academic years when teacher numbers had to have been higher. As schools count in academic years and the Nats had no control over any of these three years.


Considering the SNP glossy A3 promising it's time for a Government of new ideas and then listed:

• It's time for a fairer local tax fail



• It's time for more police on the street fail



• It's time to dump student debt dumped



• It's time for the best start in life fail (see above)



• It's time to keep healthcare local success



• It's time to back small business partial success but how many of the 120,000 small business they set out to help are still in business

So what's that 1.5 out of six key planks. Even Meatloaf would be hard pressed to say that ain't bad.

Update 25/3: Make that one more fail as the Nats are moving to a two tier health service.

Scolari, Fabiani, Watt, Maxwell: Out, Out, Out, Out

On the back of big Phil's removal from Stamford Bridge and while the former heads of the RBS and HBoS were making their apologies Alex has welded his sgian dubh, I would have said Claymore if any of the Cabinet had been effected. Indeed Scottish Tory deputy leader Murdo Fraser did say that Salmond should have taken an axe to his cabinet, rather than 'knifing a few junior ministers'.

Culture minister Linda Fabiani, schools minister Maureen Watt and housing and sports minister Stewart Maxwell all lost their junior ministerial roles in Salmond's first reshuffle. The sport portfolio has been added to public Health Minister Shona Robinson's brief. Mike Russell has moved to Culture while his environment brief has been taken up by Roseanna Cunningham. Also arriving is Alex Neil as a revamped communities and housing minister. With Keith Brown stepping up to assist Fiona Hyslop as the new education minister for schools and skills.

As Mike Rumbles, Lib Dem chief whip put it:

"I'm delighted that Alex Neil's ultra loyalty has finally been rewarded. The lesson of this reshuffle is that slavish adoration of the first minister pays dividends."

Labour health spokesperson Cathy Jamieson said the reason for Maxwell's demise was plain:

"The number of new homes being built in our two biggest cities is falling off the edge of a cliff.

"The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations reports that its members are being forced to reduce their ambitions and shelve badly needed developments because of funding cuts by the SNP government."

So the high noon of the short sgian dubhs is over. Buried under a heap of Scottish Banking news. Does it show that in culture, education, housing and sports that the SNP are failing to deliver?Certainly the team that had been responsible must have been. Shockingly do they really think that Environment has been a success with Maxwell's move to Culture? Or have they failed there to and are just shifting out the dross?

Lesson Plan: Need to Get the Balance Right

It's like "The Portland Trip" episode of The West Wing when Labour education spokesman Ken Macintosh challenged education minister Fiona Hyslop earlier this week. He called on her to provide extra funds to help newly-qualified teachers who are struggling to find work.

Now I know this particular problem is nothing new. Indeed by younger brother amongst the various letters of professional qualifications after his name has a PGCE from Durham, which along with his MA from St. Andrews failed to secure him more than two years work as a teacher. Even when that probationary period was up he applied for jobs in all four corners of the UK, and I mean almost literally the four corners. Which for someone who had been married only two years to someone who was finishing their PhD in a set location was a real potential sacrifice to try and keep in the first profession he had chosen.

Now the fact that I know this happened before New Labour swept to power in 1997 shows that the problem that Mr Macintosh has highlighted is nothing new. Indeed it is something that has been around for longer than Labour have actually been in power. There is a glut of new teachers in certain subjects who have difficulty finding work while there is a shortage in other areas. There is a problem there that is for sure, but while it is true that some newly qualified teachers find it difficult to find work that is somewhat an issue with the planning of the training establishments making supply outstrip demand in their specialties.

Science and maths are areas that there is a major shortfall in qualified teachers, Mr Macintosh should really be looking for ways to encourage graduates in these fields into the profession (like the example muted by Charlie Young in that West Wing episode). He needs to work with Ms Hyslop to get an audit carried out of teaching needs in Scotland for the forthcoming years, to ensure these needs are adequately covered first and foremost.

If there are jobs available but other restrictions than area of expertise in newly qualified teachers taking up posts that are available, cost of housing etc then yes address those issues. But first you need to ensure that those who qualify are the right balance to meet expectations.

Let's Pull Together Pulled Apart by Mulligan

Whilst the news of latest company in what was once known as "Silicon Glen" to relocate 140 jobs from its Linlithgow base is sad news the motion lodged by Mary Mulligan MSP about Sun Microsystems reeks of partisan politics.

"Parliament notes with deep concern the decision of Sun Microsystems to relocate around 140 jobs from its base in Linlithgow to Oregon in the United States of America; notes that one of the company’s executive vice presidents is Crawford Beveridge, a prominent SNP donor and member of the Council of Economic Advisers; understands that the Council of Economic Advisers exists to bring jobs and
economic growth to Scotland, not take them away, and believes that this is both extremely embarrassing for Alex Salmond MSP and extremely worrying for families
across Linlithgow and West Lothian going into the New Year facing redundancy. "

Only 45 of the 101 words in this motion relate to the situation the remainder are an outright attack on the SNP and there is no constructive action recommendation in what could be done. Basically it is shameful.

You wonder if she has deliberately worded her motion thus so that SNP list MSP and Linlithgow resident Fiona Hyslop cannot possibly lend her support to her motion? If so is this so that she can launch an attack that the local SNP have not supported her over a major employer in the area?

Sadly when Labour in Westminster are telling the other parties of the need to pull together to get through the credit crunch my Labour constituency representative at Holyrood is doing just the reverse. It is two facedness of Labour to call for unity in these hard times in one place yet for such a partisan attack when jobs are at stake in their individual patch.

I also find it quite bizarre that the Prime Minister and Chancellor love to point out that there is a global recession hitting us, that all that is going on is outwith thier remit. However, when parochialism is an effective tool one of their party's local representatives hides behind it being a UK, or in this case Scottish problem, even if the company is a global company with corporate headquarters outside these fair isles of ours.

Hat tip to West World

Update: Interestingly the Edinburgh Evening News has followed up on this story a bit since both me and West World blogged about it. It would appear that Mr Beveridge was a part time director with the company and as Sun Microsystems' spokeswoman has confirmed:

"Crawford Beveridge works part-time with Sun. The decision to close
Linlithgow was a manufacturing decision and Crawford was not involved in that
process.

"Had his participation been required, given his ongoing work with the
Scottish Government – in particular, the Council of Economic Advisers – he
would, of course, have had to remove himself from the decision making process
given the conflict of interest."

So heaven knows even more now just what Mary was seeking to achieve with this rant. Although she must now be wiping the egg from her face.

Here Today, But Elsewhere All Week

Having spent a the bulk of my waking hours over the weekend up in Glenrothes. I'm in my paid work today for a one day week, need to get the weekly stats done by 9am New York Time today. Then I'll be blogging light, if at all for the bulk of the rest of the week.

On Saturday we had a meeting of Linlithgow luminaries on the campaign trail. Out in Pitcoudie I ran into the Education Minister Fiona Hyslop and the SNP Westminster PPC for Linlithgow and Falkirk East Tam Smith. Unlike certain campaigners I met the other week this was the good old West Lothian bonhomie. It is now four Westminster by election campaigns this Parliament and in each one I have been on the same street as Fiona Hyslop at least once. Livingston for obvious reasons, in Dunfermline and West Fife while Willie Rennie and Douglas Chapman greeted each other elsewhere in their canvassing teams me and Fiona said hello. On the last Saturday in Glasgow East I was driven past Fiona while she was out canvassing, and then again on Saturday.

Saturday I also saw Annabel Goldie first as she arrived at the Tory HQ next door to ours, as I was being driven out to do some work. Then in Markinch town centre with their candidate Maurice Golden next to our favourite coffee house when we stopped to grab lunch, and finally as she left for the day.

While Caron has been stuck in the office in Markinch I have been out an about. But like her I have yet to run into any Labour campaigners on any of the streets I've been in. I gave seen some evidence of their existence. Leaflets on the mat behind the doors I get to, and yesterday evening in Lochgelly a Labour sticker on the ground. However, I have met on various streets SNP and Tory campaigners. I've even seen a SSCUP (Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party) deliver on my travels. But nowhere have I actually run across a Labour team, or individual actually in real time on the street. Well they have three days yet to make an appearance in my campaign, so I'll let you know on Friday.

I have however pretty much now done the compass points of the Glenrothes constituency. In the north Collydean, to the east Buckhaven and Leven, to the south Kirkcaldy North, looking across the road to Gordon Brown's constituency, and to the west Lochgelly. Though I didn't quite identify the grassy knoll green from where the threat of Sarah Brown's protection detail was aimed at the fourth estate when I travelled through Cardenden en route to Lochgelly.

Only Three Councils Can Afford Free Meals

Many councils, including those with SNP as part of the governing set up, have raised concerns over Holyrood imposing that they provide free school meals to those in primaries 1 to 3 withoug any additional funding. Half have already said they cannot afford the scheme, 13 have yet to consider it fully and so far only three have said they could afford to cover the costs.

Fiona Hyslop the education secretary announced the propoal last week after a £5m pilot scheme. Surely that tells you something, this idea good though it is does cost money. So with the Nats sucessfully getting a universal freeze on council tax increases from the local authorities, and planning to centrally set the rates of local taxation, surely the government at Holyrood must provide the funds for this scheme if they deem it so important. Not rely on the already cash strapped local education budgets which are failing to provide full time nursery teachers and reduced class sizes to met other SNP education pledges.

Wobbly Wednesday for the Nats

Alex Salmond may well have been jealous of Gordon Brown yesterday. Sure the Tim'rous Beastie of Downing Street has had his trouble but they haven't hit three main policy threads on the same day to quite the same devastating effect.

Yesterday it was Alex's turn to miscalculate, face tax problems and be attack whilst on the U-Turn. The Nats have been quick to attack Labour on the illegality of donations and awards for donations, yet seem content to draw a fine line over what legally they themselves can do, under the powers vested in them.

The miscalculation comes in education, which must be an embarrassment, especially for a former Economist like Alex. The SNP had set aside £40 million to reduce class sizes in primary 1 through 3 to 18. It now appears that the figure they told us was undersold in Holyrood building size proportions as just over a year later we find it is actually going to cost £420 million.

Now where is this revenue going to come from? I did hint yesterday that the Finance Minister was looking for help from the Unionist Parties on that one. He'd better first of all sort out local government taxation. The SNP seem set to carry on regardless with their centrally set rate for Local Income Tax to replace the Council Tax. However, Alan Page a professor of public law at Dundee University has warned that because of the legality issues arising out of what is allowed under the Scotland act it could become another Poll Tax scenario. People may end up refusing to pay stating that the Scottish Parliament does not have the right to do what they are attempting.

Finally the whole PFI-lite, sorry Scottish Futures Trust debacle also reached the floor of Holyrood. The plans to remove the PFI funding mechanism and the £150 million a year that raises looks like being replaced by a plan that is awfully similar if less clear. John Swinney made a statement which failed to reassure MSPs when he said the SFT was of the 'PFI Family' and that he would be using the local councils as the borrowing mechanism to raise the Private investment in their projects, again something that the administration has no legal powers to do.

So while Wendy's House on the opposition benches does teeter, Alex's foundations also look far from secure.

Make Trident History

Yesterday evening the Scottish CND march from Faslane to the Scottish Parliament stopped off at Bathgate with just two days march to go. They held a public meeting at St. David's Church at which Bruce Kent, Michael Connarty MP and Fiona Hyslop MSP were the guest speakers. I sat in the audience and was acknowledged by both the local politicians and had passing mention in their comments.

£250 Billion pounds is earmarked as a replacement for the current Trident nucleur deterent. Strange that the UK government and their US buddies should be saying that Iran, North Korean and others should not be allowed to carry on proliferation of nucleur weapons when they themselves are seeking to replace their soon to be redundent systems. We see these countries as a threat and yet maintain a system which by all accounts we have no intention of using.

Last year many people more people marched to Make Poverty History than are on this march for peace. Many people were upset by how little the G8 leaders in the end promised to donate to Make World Poverty History. Yet here we are proposing such large spending on a system that will in all likelihood not be fired in anger just like Trident. It is something which not even Alastair Campbell could spin into being an important weapon in the war on terrorism.

Technology in warfare has moved on since the nucleur option was paraded as the new must have in the 50s and 60s. We now have satilite guided precision weapons which by in large actually take out their target with minimal collateral damage. A nucluer warhead is simply going to have massive civilain repercusions for years and decades after it is used.

Michael Connarty expressed his desire that the vote on replacing Trident be put to a free vote in Westminster, not under the control of the whips. I agree with him on that it would free up many on the Government payrole to vote with their consence and not merely on a party line which has drifted from one camp to the other during the time most Labour MPs have been members of their party.

Do we need a nucleur weapon of mass destruction? If we did threathen to use it shouldn't some country be given liberty to invade us and topple our government? After all this is what we dis to Iraq so we can have no arguments there. So what is the point of having such a weapon?

Let's not replace Trident but use the money far more sensibly.