Indygal Goes to Holyrood!

Indygal LEAVES Holyrood - dignified to the end

2011-03-26T23:20:00.005Z

Of course I wasn't! As most folk know Parliament dissolved on Tuesday at midnight and us former MSPs had till midnight this Sunday to pack everything and clear out our offices. Obviously those of us standing hope to be returning but there are no guarantees and them's the rules. So tonight I went through to finish up in the office and I knew this would possibly be my last time in parliament. I got everything done and at 8pm one of the parly staff put his head round the door to let me know that Earth Hour was starting at 8.30pm and all the lights were going out. "No problem" says I, "I'm just about done and I'll be out of here by quarter past". I felt quite calm, all my boxes were packed, the dusting was done and I was ready to say goodbye to my wee office and the lovely building I've had the privilege to work in for many years. I put the boxes on the trolley, switched off the light and headed to the lift doing my usual ie fiddling about looking for my car key. Only this time I couldn't find it. So I went back to the office and emptied my pockets and my handbag. Not there. Time was running out. I had 9 minutes to get out of the building before all the bloomin lights went out. I decided I could faff about in the office, go and find a security guard to save me from the inevitable mad axemen that always come out in the dark, or I could go to the carpark and look at my car in the complete darkness. Given that mad axemen tend to lurk in underground carparks I went for the middle option. So there I was at the security desk, emptying my handbag (again), emptying my pockets (again) and making the two guards promise not to leave me when the lights went out. Like I say, dignified! One of them asked could I have left the key in the car. Daft idea, as if I'd do that but to make him feel better I let him accompany me downstairs to check. And sure enough ... Four mins left to get back up to the security desk, grab my stuff, race back down to the carpark, get all the boxes and lock myself in the car before the lights went out and the axemen appeared. I nearly skidded across the floor in my haste when someone shouts "aye, we're not doing Earth Hour anymore, too many feart folk working in the building tonight". You know that way when you've started to run, then someone makes you stop and you twist bits of you you were never aware of before? Still, I mustered up the modicum of decorum I had left, shoulders back, head held high and limped out of parliament, trailing my trolley behind me. Like I said, dignified to the end ...

How it all started ...

2011-03-22T23:59:00.002Z

NEW MSP SWORN IN AT HOLYROOD

SCOTLAND MSP
12 Feb 2009 - 09:29
By Scott Macnab, Political Reporter, Press Association Scotland
(ScotFile:News special)

Page 1

Scotland's newest MSP was today formally sworn in at a Holyrood ceremony.

Anne McLaughlin, 42, took her oath of office in Parliament.

She said before the ceremony: "As someone who is passionate aboutScotland and passionate about Glasgow it will be an honour to serve asMSP for the people of this city.

"Having lived in Glasgow for over 20 years I know what a vibrant placethe city can be but I also know the challenges we face in Glasgow and in Scotland and I will work with my colleagues at all levels to meet those challenges."

Ms McLaughlin, the highest-ranking SNP Glasgow list candidate not to get elected in 2007, replaces Bashir Ahmad, 68, who died last Friday, as an MSP.

First Minister Alex Salmond and other party leaders paid tribute to the country's first Asian MSP in Holyrood yesterday. A book of condolence in his memory has also been opened in the main hall.

Ms McLaughlin paid tribute to Mr Ahmad as a "great colleague and an excellent MSP" earlier this week.

As well as being a list candidate, Ms McLaughlin stood for Glasgow Springburn in the 2007 election. She has been a party member for more than 20 years and previously worked as a parliamentary researcher for SNP MSP Bob Doris. ends

Annie Lennox in parliament today

2011-03-16T20:44:00.002Z

Yes I did ask if I could be a backing singer for her. Well, you knew I wouldn't be able to resist. She was doing a photocall with women MSPs and gave us all T shirts so I suggested we could be her backing singers. She said she'd have to audition us so I take that as an invitation. Just waiting to hear when!

Anyway Annie (she's my pal now you see, first name terms!) is the Special Envoy for the Scotland branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and she was here to show us a film about her visit to Malawi. It looks like an absolutely stunning country but there are huge problems. Annie Lennox was there to see how much of a difference support from Scotland is making.

You can read more about it here.

I told her someone I knew who visited Malawi twice a year reported to me a big increase in the number of times he was offered sex with someone's daughter, some as young as ten years old. I asked if she was aware of problems with child sex abuse which, before I get half of Malawi emailing me and demonising me, I KNOW exist in lots of other countries and we're not exactly blemish free here either. But today we were talking about Malawi.

She said she hadn't witnessed anything like that but she told me that HIV Aids is a significant problem amongst young male teachers. And the reason is that they go into schools in a position of power and "have sex with" ie RAPE their young pupils, many of whom are HIV Positive. That shocked me and I really had to struggle to keep my composure. Anyone who knows me or has followed this blog will understand why.

Malawi is just one of 54 African countries. I'm very proud of the work Scotland does in Malawi and in particular the work of Mary's Meals, not least because they employ local people rather than go in and play the visiting white missionary role. We DO have a special relationship with Malawi but let's not forget the other 53 countries, many of whom could do with our help.

The last Wednesday

2011-03-16T20:38:00.002Z

So this is my last Wednesday as an MSP. I'm trying to get maudlin but I'm too busy! I remember Kenneth Gibson advising me to slow down, work less and give myself time to actually enjoy being an MSP. And I remember thinking that was very good advice and I'd take the time to sit in my think pod pondering, I'd stop for lunch in the Member's Restaurant from time to time, I'd not be working late into the night every night. I don't know what is wrong with me but here I am, less than a week to go and have I done ANY of those things? No. I haven't. I remember repeating that advice to Nicola Sturgeon who told me it wouldn't work for me because I'm happiest when I'm on the go all the time. I wanted her to say "yes, good advice" but sometimes I wonder if Nicola doesn't know me better than I know myself because I have control over this and I'm choosing to work like this so maybe she's right. Anyway no point in attempting the slowing down bit now, I may as well give into it and accept that I am not a 9 to 5 kinda gal.

Unemployment is a scourge

2011-03-13T11:10:00.003Z

The text of a speech I made at SNP Conference yesterday welcoming jobs to Glasgow.

Conference the cause of Independence brought me into the SNP but it wasn’t independence that first stoked my interest in politics, it was employment or rather unemployment.

I grew up in Greenock, a town heavily dependent on heavy industries. When I was in first year at High School, Thatcher had just come to power – as if adolescence wasn’t bad enough, mine had to coincide with the reign of Thatcher the milk snatcher.

But it wasn’t just milk she was snatching from Greenockians and Portonians, it was jobs. Every Monday morning at High School in 1979 someone else would come into class to tell us their dad had been made redundant from his job in the shipyards. Every Monday someone else, some other family looking to the future and not knowing what it held for them.

We became used to it and our parents became worn down by it. Because unemployment is a scourge, not just on the individual but on entire communities and on society as a whole.

Seeing what unemployment did to people’s self esteem, to their sense of who they were in the world, to their mental wellbeing and eventually their physical health, seeing that close up, experiencing it, feeling it, made me realise that there just HAD to be a better way and that I had a duty to help bring it about.

And that’s what eventually led to my joining the SNP. I always believed that with Independence we had a far better chance of protecting people’s jobs and that we’d treat people more humanely. And we will get there and I know I’m right.

The early indications are good because here we are coming to the end of the SNP’s first EVER term of office, we don’t yet have Independence so we’re operating with one hand tied behind our backs, we have a minority government, we have to contend with the most savage cuts to our budget imagineable and yet look at just some of the jobs announcements since the start of the year under the SNP government .
950 jobs at Amazon in locations in Fife and Inverclyde, 200 jobs with Ryan Air in Prestwick, 130 jobs at Gamesa Offshore Wind Technology centre in Glasgow,
and the announcement yesterday of 700 jobs for Glasgow which I’ll come onto,

A record 25,000 apprenticeships over the next year,

50,000 job placements for young people every year for the next four.

Our government ministers are working flat out to secure as many jobs as possible for our people because they care and because they know what it’s like to live through tough times, many will, like me, have grown up in towns and cities that were ravaged by Thatcher’s cuts and ignored by Labour’s complacency.

The SNP government is anything but complacent. It is creative and it is forward thinking. Take the Glasgow announcement yesterday. We’re not talking about unskilled low paid jobs here, we’re talking about 700 people to be recruited to a centre for Technology and Innovation. We all know that Scottish innovation helped to drive the industrial revolution and shape the world as we know it today. And Scottish innovation will continue to flourish because of this investment. Of course we should be proud of what Scotland has achieved in the past. But we should also be looking to the future and to what we have yet to invent, develop, improve. And that’s what the creation of this centre will ensure we do.

Conference we cannot underestimate the importance of work. It’s not just about the wages, it’s about who you are. It’s about having a reason to get up in the morning, it’s about having someone acknowledge that you’ve done something well, it’s about making that journey into work where you head into town with hundreds of others knowing that together, you’re all in some way helping to keep Scotland running.

Without it, what have you got? Who are you and what difference do you make to Scotland? That’s not me saying that because I know that everyone, job or no job, makes their contribution whether as a family member (just think of the army of unpaid carers saving us an absolute fortune) , as a volunteer or simply as a friend.

But that, unfortunately, is what every person who’s unemployed asks themselves whether consciously or not. I know because I’ve been there, perhaps I’m about to be there again. We all need to be able to stand up and say “this is my name and this is what I do”.

As children we are rarely asked “what do you want to DO when you grow up?”. Rather the question we hear over and over is “what do you want to BE when you grow up?”.

So it’s little wonder that most people define themselves by their jobs. The SNP government recognises this, that employment is not just about growing our economy, it’s about people, it’s about workers. And if this is what we can do for those workers with one hand tied behind our back, just think what we’ll do when we’re Independent.

Glasgow City Council owes these workers

2011-03-13T11:03:00.005Z

This is the text of the speech I made yesterday to SNP Conference about the way in which Glasgow City Council employees are being treated over the cancellation of the UKBA contract to house asylum seekers.

Last October more than 600 asylum seeking families were sent letters out of the blue from the UK Border Agency telling them the contract with Glasgow City Council (GCC) to house and support them had ended and they would be moved “elsewhere in the Scotland region” with 3 to 5 days notice.

There was much more about that letter and the way in which those asylum seekers were treated that was shameful and the SNP has utterly condemned it. But today conference I want to look not at the effect on asylum seekers but the effect on the 34 members of the Glasgow Asylum Support Services project team. Because right now these men and women are struggling and they need and deserve our support.

These workers aleady work in highly pressurised jobs as it is. They are the main point of contact for some very vulnerable and frightened people. Conference so many people ask me what I’ll do after parliament and they assume I’ll work with asylum seekers but I’m as certain as I can be that I won’t. It is heartbreaking enough representing them as an MSP. I honestly do not think I could do the job that these men and women do day in day out.

So after 5 November not only did they have to deal with panic amongst asylum seekers, they knew that they faced an uncertain future themselves.

However, despite the uncertainty, the one thing they did know was that Glasgow City Council had a no compulsory redundancy policy and that wherever they ended up working, they would, as employees of GCC, at least still have jobs.

But they were wrong. Traditionally in Glasgow housing of asylum seekers has been provided by 3 main providers – GCC which held the bulk of the contract, Y People formerly the YMCA and the most inappropriately named company I’ve ever come across in my life, The Angel Group.

The contract ended up being awarded to Y People and the remaining 34 GCC staff were to be transferred over under TUPE.

TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment) I had always thought was about protecting the terms and conditions of the workers being transferred. And it is. But I have now been told 3 different stories about what TUPE actually means and some say it only has to protect their terms and conditions on the DAY of transfer. If the company they transfer to subsequently restructures, they can be issued with new terms and conditions and they can wave goodbye to the old ones.

And that is precisely what is happening. Y People have said they will not need all 34 project workers. So as soon as they all transfer, a restructuring will take place and Y People staff will compete with GCC staff for the new jobs. There are many other issues about pensions and hours of work, but this is the most crucial point. These 34 workers are expected to accept the transfer – remember their current employer has a no compulsory redundancy policy - accept the transfer and immediately enter a situation where some of them will definitely be made redundant and the remainder will face redundancy next year if Y People do not get the next 5 year contract.

Conference, how many lambs do you know who, given the choice, would willingly amble to the slaughter house?

Well I think these workers SHOULD be given the choice. GCC may not have a legal obligation to redeploy them but they certainly have a moral obligation. You heard me talk about the strain they work under but I haven’t told you how this team has been praised throughout the UK for the high standard of the work they do, the best in the UK I have been told. And I haven’t told you that for many years this team was the only team in social work to be producing a financial surplus. So they’ve gained an enviable reputation for GCC and they’ve brought in money. Some of them have been with the council for more than 25 years? Wouldn’t you say that GCC now owes them?

Yesterday I met with the council, they said it was not possible to redeploy 34 members of staff. And yet when I met with the 34 project workers yesterday they told me of the many jobs they are qualified to do that are currently being carried out by expensive agency staff. They told me about GCC staff who took voluntary severance packages, LEFT but are now BACK performing the SAME role but as agency staff! They told me (and Y People backed them up) that some of the roles they perform are not transferring over to Y People and will still have to be carried out by GCC staff. So why can’t they get some of those jobs?

Another interesting point. The UKBA contract was going to be up for renegotiation this October and there was no guarantee they would get it. So what was Glasgow City council proposing to do with the project staff then given their no compulsory redundancy policy?

And how can the UK’s third largest local authority seriously argue that they can’t redeploy a mere 34 workers?

They may be a mere 34 workers right now but what’s to stop this happening with other teams if work is outsourced or contracts are lost?

Yesterday they told me it made such a difference to them that I met with them and that the SNP council group are supporting them. Let’s give them the backing of the whole of the Scottish National Party and let’s show them one of the reasons we fight for Independence is so that we can create a more just society where workers’ rights truly are protected and people are not discarded in the way that they have been.

Well done Christie!

2011-03-04T18:19:00.009Z

Have I mentioned my niece Christie before? I'm not sure if I have! Well, I suppose I might have mentioned her and her brother Daniel once or twice.

Anyway I do recall writing about how she more or less had to take responsibility for her own education and how I thought it would pay off.

Here's an extract from another blog piece.

"the news from my amazing niece Christie is that she got her Higher results and she got A for French, A for Spanish, B for English and B for psychology. It's all the more amazing if I tell you that just over a year ago, she was only planning to sit 2 Highers because she didn't know you needed more than that to get into Uni. She had a vague plan of what she wanted to do (languages degree) but her school had no idea at all and were quite happily letting her just do 2 Highers.

"Anyway fast forward, she left school, went to the James Watt college in Greenock, TAUGHT HERSELF the basics of Spanish (because her school refused to let her do Standard Grade), focussed herself completely on the task in hand, and now it's paid off. She has impressed me so much with her determination and I am so happy for her. Her aim is to live and work in Spain or France for the next year in order to become fluent in one of those languages and then study Mandarin at Edinburgh University the following year. It's a tough course to get into but I have a funny feeling she'll get there. "

So .... she did! She's been in Spain since April last year and last night when I spoke to her she was reading Twilight in Spanish. And also last night ... she received an UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE to study Chinese and Linguistics at Edinburgh University. That wee smiley face you can do just doesn't cover it right now.

I asked if she was excited and in her usual manner she informed me that it was "one of the things" she was feeling right then! She did admit to feeling a wee bit proud of herself because she doesn't actually know anybody else who's been to or is planning to go to uni apart from me and my sister. That is a subject for another day. So, right now I'm in a good mood and will banish all negative thoughts from my mind.

Me and her mum are considering taking out a billboard advert right outside her school announcing it to the world and her former teachers. Then again, her brother Daniel still has to attend that school so might run it by him first. I think Christie thought I was joking about the billboard. Silly girl doesn't know me at all really!

PS I must be excited if I'm prepared to show that photo of me! And PPS the denim thing is a handbag not my clothing.

There are some vicious people in the world

2011-02-24T21:35:00.003Z

Some of you may have read my post last week about "M" an asylum seeker friend of mine who is at his very lowest ebb right now, despairing as he has to choose between being murdered in his home country or starving to death here. You may also have read my post about this sad hate filled individual who was (anonymously) having a go at me.

I didn't answer his last abusive message so he's sent another one and I've decided to post it in its entirety. I won't be doing this again but I feel it's important to let you see the attitude and the hate that asylum seekers have to face from some people. Anyway I'll stop talking now and let "Angus" speak for himself ...

Your “friend”, as your Mhango friends, is a lying con-merchant - he and his companion gained illegal entry on a forged document. And why all the way to Glasgow - Glasgow the soft touch - that’s why.

Your “friend”, as your Mhango friends, had his spurious claim for asylum turned down. He should, but will not, be making arrangements to leave Britain.

If he claimed he had no money, how did he pay for the “flat they'd been living in”? - answer, he didn’t have to pay, the furnished flat was free - you bampot / liar. So were his utility bills - the British taxpayer paid for those .... From my area MP ....
/ The level of support is intended to reflect the fact that supported asylum seekers do not have to meet the cost of accommodation, furnishings and utility bills. /

And the temporary accommodation you’ve got them? Would that be the same accommodation you hid the illegal Mhangos in prior to assisting them in their illegal run to .... where? How much is the taxpayer doling out to the lying Florence and how much is it costing us to educate the lying, schooled by her mother, Tionge?

Just think, (are you capable) instead of doling out finance to your lying, scrounging, illegals, we could use that finance, for instance, on providing better cancer treatment to Britain’s sufferers.

And instead of squandering finance on an absolute incompetent (you) and your pointless family members signed up by yourself to siphon off a share of the pot, we could ditch you and yours. Praise the Lord - we will be getting rid of you and yours shortly. Although you will probably unload yourself on to some money-wasting asylum support ‘charity’ and carry on living out of our wage packets.

Aye, "you don't know you're born Hen" ....

Have you ever seen children undergoing treatment in a cancer ward? Their time for operations are kept secret for as long as possible from the child patient - the kids know what faces them, during and after.

Have you ever seen sick kids hooked up to and dragging their mobile ‘trolleys’ behind them - feeds them their drips.

Naw, you’re more interested in ‘seeing Precious' smiling face as she pulled her wee suitcase behind her‘ - aw whit a shame.

I could go on, but I will desist, your bleeding heart is reserved for your poor (lol) wee lying, money-grabbing “asylum seekers”.

Clutching at straws on trams fiasco

2011-02-23T23:17:00.004Z

Had evidence session for Public Audit committee today on the fiasco that is the Trams!! The brass neck of the Labour and Tory parties was breathtaking. They voted FOR it. The SNP voted AGAINST it at both council and parliament level. But we lost and it went ahead albeit with a cap on spending of £500 million.

Today, instead of admitting they were wrong and should never have voted this complex expensive project through, some of them tried to blame the SNP councillors in Edinburgh and others tried to blame the SNP government. Apparently the fact that the 12 SNP councillors on a council of 58 in total, are opposed to the trams, has somehow led to the dispute between TIE and the private contractors?! Not according to our witnesses who said it made "no material difference".

And the Scottish Government who voted AGAINST it in the first place? Well, it may be an Edinburgh City Council owned event and we know that normally that would mean that the council would manage it but the opposition have decided that Transport Scotland should have broken with common practice and run it for them. And because they (a Scottish Govt agency) didn't, it ended up like this.

Except, I asked the witnesses if Transport Scotland had an open door or a shut door policy and guess what they said? Yes, TS very helpful and always there when advice needed.

Must be terrible having no-one to blame, particularly when it's your default position!

Birthdays

2011-02-20T23:51:00.003Z

I will turn you inside out!!!

2011-02-20T17:15:00.006Z

That was the charming "threat" from some pathetic moron who sent me a comment after I published this post about a couple of guys I had the misfortune to be sharing a bus with.

However I'd rather be on the same bus as them and their misguidedness than "Angus the Anonymous" with his heartless and cynical attitude toward fellow human beings although he seems to have missed that last bit.

The post was long and full of nasty stuff about how wicked all asylum seekers are etc. Usual crap you get from BNP types but here's how it ended.

"However, the truth is, you made that wee story up by all by yourself. There were no “ two guys in their 20s eating kebabs, drunk as skunks and only just staying upright”.

Wee bit like the asylum supporters who chose to compare asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants with our own unemployed as against the millions of hard-working people who work to provide for themselves - and your asylum seekers.

You should have spent more of the time, we pay for it, getting rid of the illegals, including your failed absconding illegal Mhangos.

Please post this on your blog - I will debate asylum with you - I will turn you inside out."

Turn me inside out? I don't think I can be bothered to be honest. And no, I won't be publishing any more of your lies. If you want to peddle those myths, go ahead but do it on your own blog.

Demon drink, "asylum seekers", kebabs and the 38 bus

2011-02-19T17:06:00.006Z

I was on a bus a while back and standing at the front were two guys in their 20s eating kebabs. I say "standing" but they were drunk as skunks and only just staying upright. I say "eating" kebabs, more like wearing them - and the sauce! Suffice to say they were in a right state and I was listening in to their chat which was quite entertaining in some ways.

However then a guy with two carrier bags of food got up to get off the bus. He looked like he might have been Sri Lankan but anyway he wasn't white - this becomes relevant later. He was very courteous as he tried to get past them. They were not aggressive but they were put out. They were doing that "who do you think you are?" thing without actually saying it out loud.

They waited till he was actually OFF the bus before they did that. And the conversation went along these lines:

"Did you see him wi his f****ing shopping bags?"

"Aye man, who does he think he is?" (Told you!)

"How can a f***ing asylum seeker afford a' they messages and I cannae?"

"I know man. These asylum seekers pure get everythin don't they?"

"That's not right but man is it? I'm fae this country and I cannae get a job so how come he can?"

"Aye. You cannae get a job and nane of us can afford two big bags of messages. Something no right man. Tellin ye."

OK so quick factfile for anyone who doesn't get why I was compelled to join in the conversation from the comfort of my seat on the bus.

Fact 1 - if he's an asylum seeker, he can't get a job, he's not allowed one;

Fact 2 - these two on the other hand ARE allowed to work but it tends to be harder to get one if you are in the habit of getting so drunk you can barely stand;

Fact 3 - it was Farmfoods carrier bags he was carrying. Farmfoods is dirt cheap. If mums go to Iceland, skint mums go to Farmfoods;

Fact 4 - although you can buy strong alcohol far too cheaply thanks to the opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament, they probably spent more on drink and the kebabs they were dripping down their fronts than he did on his week's shopping;

Fact 5 - HOW ON EARTH DID THEY KNOW HE WAS AN ASYLUM SEEKER? The UKBA have not (yet) introduced branding to the forehead so why were they so sure?

They had no answer to that question. In fact, I was surprised that they got quite sheepish when I continued to question them. I thought they'd get aggressive but no, in fact they looked slightly nervous of me. Oops. All I was trying to do was educate them too!

This guy could've been a doctor, a social worker, maybe he even signed on at the same Jobcentre as them. All of this formed part of the lesson which sadly had to endeth when we got halfway along Ally Parade although I was mighty tempted to stay on till their stop.

They looked to me like they still stayed at home and let their mammies do everything for them so why they were fussing about the prices in Farmfoods I'll never know. Oh dear, is that me judging a book by it's cover ... :-)

The despair of people claiming asylum

2011-02-19T16:03:00.007Z

A friend of mine who started out as a constituent has just been given bad news by the UKBA. He and his wife are asylum seekers from Iran. They were being hunted down in their own country and their lives were in danger. So they paid someone who said he could smuggle them out of the country and get them to Glasgow, Canada for a sum of money. It would involve travelling on fake Russian passports.

That kind of thing goes against you when you seek asylum but what else could he have done? What would you do? Stay and wait for the police to return and shoot you as they had already done to so many of your friends? Or hand over the money?

When they arrived here they didn't know they were in Scotland, they still thought they were in Canada, where they have family. They didn't speak English but as soon as they got to the arrival airport they admitted they were running away and that the passports were fake. They had been dumped (and duped) along the way by the guy with all the solutions who had promised to accompany them to their new life, new job, new home and safety.

I met my friend when he was at his lowest ebb. He was very affected by the three Russian asylum seekers who'd jumped to their deaths at the Red Road flats. (Chillingly, that tragedy reminded many asylum seekers that they had another option and one that I believe many would use rather than go home.)

Everyone in my office has become a friend and although we DO feel sorry for him, the relationships are not based on pity. Everyone really likes him and his wife (who we see less often) and he has become a friend to each of us as we have to him.

You only have to read articles like this one and this one with the incredible line from pro government lawyers who called for Iranian opposition leaders:

"to be tried and put to death"

Not sure what the point of the trial is if they're to be put to death anyway! But that is just an indication of the type of thing that goes on in Iran. It is an extremely dangerous country to be a citizen of.

So for that reason, it is highly unlikely that the British UKBA will deport my friend and his wife - I understand very few are sent to Iran. But if it's that dangerous why not grant them refugee status? Without it they are perpetually living in limbo.

Unfortunately for my friend and his wife, it's worse than that. For they have no outstanding claim and if you don't have a claim waiting to be considered, you are not entitled to any of the "largesse" the likes of the Daily Mail or this eejit would claim we dole out to asylum seekers. Thus, last August they stopped being paid the below poverty level benefits they'd been getting. And thus last week they were finally evicted from the flat they'd been living in.

You might wonder how on earth they've managed until now. Five months with no income and I do mean NO INCOME sounds like hell on earth to me. Once or twice the local church has given them payments of around £50. I know some friends who have given them money every so often but it can't amount to any more than £150 from all of them.

And the wonderful Positive Action in Housing, themselves facing funding cuts, gave them £70 at Christmas as well as inviting them to their pre Christmas "shop" where destitute asylum seekers can shop for food free of charge. Even then, we got there and my friend started helping everyone else but was uncomfortable taking anything for himself. We had to "force" him.

I think we often forget in all of this that no matter how poor, how desperate and how utterly helpless people end up in this life, they still have their pride. Can you imagine being starving and living in a rich country where you have no choice but to wait for and to accept the occasional offer of charity? I know all of that slowly eats away at my friend and I can't tell him I'd feel any different because I wouldn't.

Except I can't even imagine it happening to me. Lucky me eh? (At least I appreciate it, unlike this dimwit who seems to think it's the divine right of people in rich countries.)

So anyway, I estimate the MAXIMUM income they've had in 5 months is £270! That's about £10 a week. And it's never been guaranteed, it's just been there if they've been lucky!

And of course last week it got worse when they were evicted. It just so happens that I knew somewhere they could go but even that is very temporary and they just never know when they'll have to leave. We won't allow them to end up on the street but lots of people do.

Do you feel comfortable knowing that we do that to people and they have no legal right to be housed? I know I don't. I feel ashamed.

I know they don't feel right about living where they are. They feel people are doing them too big a favour and they don't want to take advantage. So it's uncomfortable for them but it was only going to be until his fresh claim was accepted by the UKBA and then, with an eligible claim, they would be entitled to housing and financial support again.

Last night I couldn't contact them. This morning was the same. This afternoon, still no answer. And then he texted me. The UKBA have rejected his claim. He couldn't face the world.

I don't blame you M. I don't know how much more of this hopeless situation you can take.

I am writing about this now because he once, at his lowest, asked me if I would make him a promise. He asked if anything ever "happened" to him, would I make sure the world knew that he was genuine, knew that he never wanted his life to turn out like this, knew how dehumanising our system is in the UK. Well I don't really want to wait for something to happen, I want to tell part of his story now. (It IS only part of it.)

It is often impossible, by the very nature of the regimes that people have fled, for them to prove their stories. And often, unless the UKBA has proof, they will reject your claim. M can't get proof, he's given them everything he can, he's told them the truth. There is nothing more he can do.

He's unlikely to be deported as I said, because it's too dangerous (and getting worse if you read the latest reports). So what is the solution? Do they want him to lie down and slowly starve to death? I don't know what to say to him anymore. He looks to me for answers and I am fast running out. It's my job to have the answers, to find the solutions and I cannot describe how it feels to have run out of reassuring words and new ideas. It's ironic to think that M is one of the luckier ones. He has us. But we could all lose our jobs in a few weeks time and although we'll still be there for him, it limits what we can do. Before he had us he told me he felt like a non person and like he wasn't part of society at all.

I think the point in writing this is to ask everyone reading just to be aware (if you weren't already) of how many asylum seekers might be feeling inside. Even better, if you know someone is an asylum seeker, maybe stop to have a chat and just show them that you care, let them know that they are part of YOUR society. If you have the time to befriend someone so much the better and there are ways in which you can offer your friendship, just get in touch with me and I'll let you know how.

My dad used to say to me "you don't know you're born Hen" meaning that I didn't realise how lucky I was. It's a phrase that springs to my mind every time I look at my friend who has done nothing to deserve being where life has landed him.

Poll results sensational or only to be expected?

2011-02-16T09:56:00.002Z

I'm not sure why people are so surprised that the SNP has shot ahead in the latest opinion polls. In case you don't know, latest polls show that we have come from being 10 points behind Labour to being 1 point ahead in the constituency poll and 3 points ahead in the list poll.

I had no doubt that this would happen although before you think I am getting overly confident I am sure this is just the start of the see sawing of opinion polls - we'll go up, we'll go down but it does put paid to the nonsense that any party has already won the election when there are nearly months to go.

As I said, I'm not surprised the voters are swinging back to the SNP. You see, the thing that the polls don't tell us is how passionately people feel. And whilst I appreciate most people I speak to know that I'm in the SNP, I only ever pick up passion and enthusiasm from SNP supporters. I know many Labour voters, in fact Labour members who are apologetic about voting Labour. The last time I heard anyone express any embarrassment about voting SNP was around 1985 and it wasn't because of our policies, it was just that we weren't that "cool".

I knock on doors and I have people THANKING ME and asking me to THANK THE SNP GOVERNMENT. I swear this happens with some regularity. I feel like crying when it happens and it makes me really proud to be part of it. I even speak to folk who intend voting Labour (often apologetic) but who will volunteer their views that "the SNP government's doing a great job".

Now they might also tell me things they haven't agreed with but their overall impression of the SNP is a positive one and even amongst some Labour voters, their overall impression is that it's something they'll probably have to stop doing one day because it is embarrassing. I don't give people a hard time, that's not why I'm on their doorstep but if they seem happy to engage in conversation I will ask them what it is about the Labour Party that they are so keen on. And 9 times out of 10 they can't tell me. There are vague mutterings about their parents being Labour voters and what the Labour Party "used to" stand for but that link is now pretty tenuous.

It's always been the way in huge swathes of the Central Belt that voters who go to the polls undecided or considering voting for a party other than Labour, find when they get there they can't quite bring themselves to do it. Their conscience won't allow them. I have heard this so many time over the last two decades. "I just couldn't Hen, I wanted to but my mammy would've turned in her grave", that kind of thing.

But gradually, bit by bit that's been breaking down as Labour has shown itself to be very far from the party it was in the days of that voter's mammy. The biggest breaking down of that attitude and that connection has come in the last four years and the difference is that they don't have to choose to believe what the SNP says or what the Unionists say about how we'd be in power. They have experienced it and seen it with their own eyes. That's why that emotional connection with Labour that has seeped into people's psyche is now starting to come away.

And what the SNP has to do is tap into people's consciences in the way that Labour had done, so that when they get to the polling station thinking they're voting Labour, they find they can't bring themselves to do it because they think "the SNP government is doing a great job", they don't remember ever thinking that of Labour / they, like the majority of Scots don't want Iain Gray as FM, they want Alex Salmond, they feel SAFER with him in charge / they know that voting Labour would be voting against the council tax freeze, voting for prescription charges again, voting against 25,000 apprenticeship for our young people.

And suddenly they discover that their conscience just won't allow them to go back, to undo all the good the SNP government has done. They'll still be voting with their hearts but whereas in the past all the Unionist scaremongering stopped them from opening their hearts to the idea of the SNP, now they've experienced 4 years of the SNP in charge and running a government, not an executive, 4 years of policies that make a difference to people's lives. And now they know it's not "dangerous" and the country hasn't ground to a halt, their hearts and minds are open to us

I also have no doubt there will be more polls between now and 5 May that show Labour ahead of us. That's just the electorate making up its mind, reacting to recent events, keeping us on our toes. Underlying trends are far more important than single polls. What this tells us, or rather reminds us, is that it ain't over till it's over and the SNP is in with a shout! The outcome will depend largely on how many consciences we can tap into between now and then. Speaking of which, that's what I'm off to do ...

Nothing worse than an unfinished cup of coffee

2011-02-12T22:46:00.004Z

This blog "Indygal goes to Holyrood" started because of something that happened 2 years ago today. On 12 February 2009 I was sworn into the Scottish Parliament and became an SNP MSP for Glasgow. I don't think I'll ever be able to adequately describe what that did to me. Even just typing those words made me want to squeal out loud with excitement and, I guess, disbelief.

Of course at the time I was anything but excited. I was grieving as so many of us were, for Bashir Ahmed who had died only 6 days earlier. I was terrified. And I was completely freaked out by the press attention. From the previous Sunday the papers had all sorts of stories about me. I couldn't get over how they would write about the dullest of things. I had called a Labour MSP "daft" in my blog. And THAT was a story!

The phone never stopped ringing with friends and family wanting to read out something else they'd read about me. Most of them were tickled pink by it all especially my friend Anne who went into Tesco in Inverness to see rows and rows of Daily Records with my face splashed across the front page. And later, much later I was able to giggle at it all. At that time, however, I just felt completely exposed. I'm someone who will always sit in a pub or restaurant with my back against the wall. I'm not someone who was ever going to enjoy that kind of attention.

After being sworn in, something that took all of 60 seconds, I sat down in the chamber and I vividly remember looking round me at everyone and feeling like an imposter. I remember waving up to my friend Thea in the gallery and her stifling her giggles because I suppose it's not really the done thing. (I'll let you into a secret, I still do it!) I remember my lovely wee nephew Toby who was 2 at the time, sticking his face over the gallery edging and calling out. I remember George Foulkes laughing at him.

I remember seeing all these people I'd only ever seen on the TV before. They were sitting in chamber seats too and I remember feeling like I was on some giant game of Celebrity Squares - and again, I was an imposter.

I remember just about every department in the parliament sending people to meet me and tell me things that I just couldn't take in. Asking me questions that I couldn't find answers to. 'Where in your office would you prefer your desk to be?' 'I don't know, does it matter?' I remember my head spinning. I remember missing Kenny Dalglish. My youngest sister, who'd come up from Manchester for the night just to watch me being sworn in, came running over to me at one point telling me she was "so excited, so excited"! I expressed surprise that my election should matter that much to her (we're not that kind of family) and that was when she informed me the cause of her excitement was having just met Kenny Dalglish!

'Where?' 'When?'

I remember her pointing to the lift, the doors of which were just closing. (Have you ever started to sprint and then stopped before you've even put your foot on the ground? It's sore!)

Getting elected like that, long after everyone else has, totally unexpectedly and having been on the inside for so long but not at the core, gave me a unique perspective and I was always aware of how lucky I was to be given this opportunity.

I was also aware that this job is very temporary in nature. And here I am exactly two years later with another unusual perspective that comes of knowing I won't be going back. I found out in October that I finished low down the Glasgow SNP list. It's still possible - either I have to overturn the second least winnable seat for the SNP in Scotland or the SNP must get around 83% on the list in Glasgow.

On the latter, there's a difference between positive thinking and positive delusion. And on the former ie winning my constituency first past the post, it's not impossible but I think it'll take a sustained effort over a number of years before I do that. One or two people have told me that I'll definitely not win if I think like that. I resist the temptation to point out that it takes more than positive thinking and if, at any point, they would care to come out and campaign with me, we will have a far better chance. Is the world always divided between the do-ers and them that tell the do-ers how to do it better but don't actually do it themselves?

I've never believed in pretending to the electorate that you are going to win when you're clearly not. I think people get sick of that. And I think your own voters feel a bit robbed when they've come out and voted because you've told them it's neck and neck only to get beaten by several thousand votes.

What I'll be saying to people is that I intend to build up our vote in Provan over the next couple of years and I'll be asking them at this election to help me to start doing that.

So, the upshot is that certainly for the next four years I will not be in parliament. People have asked why I've not written about that and I think perhaps I will do in the not too distant future. You know what it's like, it's easier to talk about things when they stop mattering to you so much.

Since I found out I was going to be out of a job last October I've really just thrown myself into work and not thought about it much. But since last week, I've not been able to shake it. I walk down the Royal Mile to work and I know it's one of the last times. I have started noticing things I've not had time for until now. I'm worrying about constituents and wondering how I'll be able to stop myself phoning whoever their new MSP is to make sure they're "doing it right". I'm savouring every minute I have left but I can't shake the negative feelings. And I do try. I am very aware that I was given a brilliant opportunity that so few people get. And I am grateful for it, I really am.

But it's a weird situation and I'm never sure how I should feel about it. One of my friends said it was like being sacked but without the letter explaining why. I suppose I can see the similarities. I can't call it redundancy because the post isn't redundant. I know that financially I'll be ok for a while and in that respect I'm a lot luckier than most folk who are losing their jobs right now.

But having lost my job before (that time it was redundancy) I'm keenly aware that it's about more than money and that's the harsh side of politics. You can throw yourself into the job, give it everything you've got, get great results, be absolutely passionate about it, know you couldn't have tried any harder but still lose it in the end.

I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I always said I was grateful for two years and anything beyond that was a bonus. I have never NEEDED this job. As I tell kids when I do school visits who ask me "why did you want to be a politican?", I never did. I just wanted Scotland to be Independent, I just didn't want nuclear weapons in Scotland, I just want our people to be treated fairly. I've never been one for being dependent on anything and I know there is a big wide world out there.

I suppose I'm just thinking today, two years on, that I love my job, absolutely love it and I wanted to keep doing it. Not forever, just until I felt I'd made all the difference I could and I hope I'd have walked away and let someone else come in once I'd reached that stage. But alas it was not to be and I think the next few weeks will be tougher than I expected.

Do you ever make a cup of coffee in the morning and then after a few mouthfuls realise you don't have time to finish it? For the rest of the day you're vaguely aware of something being not quite right, something not quite finished. That's how I feel about my time as an MSP coming to an end. I didn't get to finish what I started. Then again, I suppose it's better to have half a cup than none at all.

And you know what they say about every cloud having a silver lining? Again, I have a different perspective now than most MSPs so hopefully as I savour every last minute, I'll be able to get that across as I write the final month of my blog.

Then after the election, when I get to the other side, I'll see things from a different perspective again. I might throw myself into getting re-elected in 4 years time, I might see if I can become a soap star (dunno why everyone thinks I'm kidding when I say that), maybe I'll go to Egypt and soak up the atmosphere, join one of their new political parties. Perhaps I'll give up caffeine altogether ...

I don't have a clue what I'll do or how I'll feel but despite everything I've said, there's something exciting about not knowing what lies ahead. I've always said life is a big adventure and you never know what roads you'll go down. I will NEVER regret the last two years and I'll always be grateful for having had this brilliant opportunity.

Egypt gives hope to displaced people the world over

2011-02-11T18:52:00.004Z

It is, of course, wonderful news that Mubarak has stepped down and Egypt now has the chance to become a democracy. And even better news that it was all done so peacefully. The people of Egypt are a shining example to the world.

I was with a woman I know when the news came through. She is from Iran and she sought asylum here a number of years ago but the UKBA don't believe she is in danger and want to return her. If the UKBA could have seen the delight in her face when I told her the news and heard the excitement in her voice as she told me how this gave her hope that one day Iran would follow suit and her country would be free, they would know that she is not here because this is where she wants to be. She is here because she is terrified to go back to Iran.

She told me how much she loves her friends here "but" she said "all my family is in Iran, my culture, my language, everything I've known for all my life". Well today she got a glimmer of hope that maybe one day she'll be able to see her family again. I'm sure there are many thousands the world over for whom this has ignited that faint glimmer of hope again.

Why there are criminals more worthy of our sympathy than Jim Devine

2011-02-10T23:02:00.004Z

Am watching Politics Now and just heard commentator Lorraine Davidson say that Jim Devine (ex Labour MP just found guilty of fraudulently claiming expenses at Westminster) shouldn't go to jail. The argument seems to be that he cuts a sad figure these days. How many folk who get found out and are facing jail don't cut sad figures? It's a sad thing, not something many folk would choose.

She also said his defence was reminiscent of playground excuses and paraphrased him: "a big boy did it and ran away". That makes it sound quite harmless but am I not right in thinking that it wasn't a "big boy" he tried to put the blame onto but his secretary? Someone he had a duty to as her employer and he told the court it was her when it was quite clearly NOT her? The only similarity to the playground here is the big bully scenario.

I'm sorry that he's come to this. But we cannot feel sorrier for someone who ends up where he is after a very successful professional life than we do for someone who commits crime after a life of poverty and hardship?

How about we save our tears and soothing words for the women who end up in jail through non payment of fines because they are already living in dire poverty? Or those mothers who our judicial system sees fit to imprison when they can't do their community service because they have nobody to look after their children? That is a major problem that needs to be addressed.

As I said I am sorry for Jim Devine but no more so than I am for anyone whose life goes wrong like this.

And I'm far more sorry for the men and women who start out with nothing, have no expectation of anything more than they started out with and who are absolutely right about that because they ultimately end up with precisely nothing.

He might be sitting in a jail cell one day contemplating how tough it is to fall from such a great height but at least he had the opportunity to climb up there. At least he got to see the view from the top. Many folk can't seem to get on the first rung no matter how hard they try. For so many living in poverty life is one step forward, two steps back. He can sit in his cell dreaming about better days and eventually he'll look forward to better days on his release.

The people I'm talking about will be in their cells worrying about their children, resolving never to resort to crime again and resigning themselves to learning to manage on their benefits or minimum wage jobs if they're "lucky" enough to get one now that they have a criminal record. That's who we should be talking about. These are the prisoners we should be worrying about. Not someone who had so many privileges but fuelled by greed, wanted more and when he got caught breaking the law, tried to blame his secretary who was no doubt loyal to him and probably worked her socks off.

I hope he learns from this but I hope we all learn too that jail MAY be harder (may not be but it may) for someone who's used to a nice lifestyle. But LIFE is not harder for them. It IS far far harder for the people I've been talking about and they still have to cope with it when the prison term is over.

Labour weans

2011-02-10T14:31:00.003Z

Today I made the mistake of sitting near the Labour end of the SNP section in the parliament chamber for First Minister's Questions. Every time I do that I remember why it's a bad idea. Watching alleged grown ups behaving like out of control tantrum throwing children is unedifying to say the least!

As we get closer to the election of course it gets worse and yesterday when they voted AGAINST FREEZING THE COUNCIL TAX, and they voted AGAINST FREE PRESCRIPTIONS and they voted AGAINST 25,000 NEW APPRENTICESHIPS just because it was the SNP who were proposing it in the budget, was a sad example of how it's going to be from now till parliament dissolves on 22 March.

At First Minister's Questions however I really was incensed when I heard the rubbish coming from some of the backbenchers, in particular Michael McMahon and Karen Gillen. The issue of the Labour controlled North Ayrshire Council's ridiculous idea to have a 4 day week for schools came up and Iain Gray said in response this:

"What the First Minister fails to mention is that this idea came about because the SNP group on the council asked for radical proposals."

So what? They didn't ask for utterly stupid proposals and it was the Labour group who came up with it.

That, however, didn't stop the two aforementioned Labour MSPs amongst others in their group heckling the FM with cries of "it was an SNP plan", "it was your party's idea".

Lies, lies, lies. The question is do they not understand or are they deliberately lying? I promise I will NEVER stoop that low no matter how long I remain in politics. I will concede that it's probably easier for me because the Labour Party give us so much material, there really is no need to make it up. However, genuine material or not, if I can't do it without lying I won't do it at all.

The budget today

2011-02-09T17:36:00.006Z

Here's my e-newsletter sent out after the budget today - I've slightly amended it for blog purposes but it's more or less the same.

A Budget for Scotland

As I’m sure many of you are aware, today saw the passing of the Scottish budget. We heard some fantastic news for Glasgow and for Scotland as a whole and I was absolutely delighted to support today’s budget. This really is, in every sense, a budget for all of Scotland. Bear in mind the Scottish Government is having to manage all of this in the face of unprecedented cuts from Westminster.

So below I’ve detailed some further announcements that the Scottish Government have committed to in today’s budget.

A further £11.5 million to create 25, 000 modern apprenticeship places

This absolutely has to be the biggest and best announcement for me. At a time when people across Scotland, particularly young people, are facing real challenges to secure employment, action like this is vital for them. It demonstrates to me that the Scottish Government take unemployment seriously and have put their money where their mouth is. I’ll be fighting to ensure that Glasgow sees as many of these new apprenticeship places as possible. Right now we’re doing all we can, but with the powers of independence we can do so much more.

Yet again we are funding a council tax freeze

I have always believed in freezing the council tax and fully support the Government in their efforts to do so, but it is important that they match this with the funding to councils so that services are not affected. So not only do I welcome the freeze and the relief that it will provide for households across Glasgow, but I also welcome the funding that ensures councils aren’t short changed because of this measure.

Funding to continue and uplift the small business bonus scheme

Despite Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Tories voting to stop large retailers paying a tiny amount more in business rates, a proposal that would’ve given us an extra £30 million, I’m extremely happy to see the Government continue rates relief for our small businesses. There are some fantastic businesses around Glasgow that have really benefited from this scheme, and I’m delighted to hear that 64, 000 small businesses will be removed from paying business rates – saving them an average of £4, 100 per year. In turn this will increase employment opportunities and support our local economies.

Prescriptions to be free for all

Prescription charges are a tax on the sick – nothing more and nothing less. I’ve been happy to see them significantly reduced, but will be overjoyed to see the complete abolition of prescription charges all together. This, for me, shows that the Scottish Government has got its priorities right.

£15 million in funding for college bursaries

Back in the early days of the Scottish Government, they took the decision to abolish the graduate endowment. I thought that was the right decision for Scotland’s students and believe it demonstrated their commitment to students across Scotland. Today, in the last budget of this Parliament, the Scottish Government announced an additional £15 million for Scotland’s students to fund college bursaries. I’m proud of the work that this government has done for Scotland’s students and believe that this announcement today further demonstrates their commitment to higher and further education.

I congratulate the hundreds of you who’ve emailed me on this issue. It is also well worth noting that this is £1 million more than the amount NUS Scotland asked for.

Teacher training

A huge issue, particularly in Glasgow, is the issue of teacher numbers. I’m delighted at the announcement to guarantee a probation place for every newly-qualified teacher and provide enough teaching jobs for every post-probationer in 2011/12.

£10 million support for SME employment creation

Focused on new starts, sole traders and small firms to take on new employees by assisting with employment and recruitment costs and assist with exports. This is an important measure that will help combat unemployment in our communities. Scotland needs a budget that helps create jobs and it’s clear to see from measures like this one, that that is what the Government have delivered.

£16 million further investment in housing

I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear John Swinney announce this in Parliament today. Housing is probably the number one issue that people come to see me about and is something that we badly need more of. Just like with the apprenticeship places, I’ll be fighting to bring as much of this investment to Glasgow as possible. The great thing about this announcement is that it doesn’t just create new housing, but also creates new construction jobs to go with them, and combined with the 25,000 apprenticeships, we are definitely moving in the right direction. It’s measures like this that enable me to call this budget, a budget for all of Scotland.

In conclusion …

I’m sure that you will agree that these measures are good news for Scotland. Despite Scotland’s budget being cut by £1.3 billion from Westminster, I believe that John Swinney has done a fantastic job in balancing the books and getting his priorities right – that’s why I was delighted to support the budget.

The announcements above are only the headline announcements and are in addition to previous commitments made at stage 1 back in October.

I’m deeply disappointed that Labour voted against all of these measures and didn’t bring forward a simply amendment or any alternatives whatsoever. That is up to them, but I’m not clear who it helps. I guess they think it helps them in terms of getting votes and it's sad that they have become too cynical to put petty politics behind them but as I said, that's up to them. For now I'm just delighted that Scotland has a budget.

I'll huff and I'll puff ...

2011-02-04T00:23:00.003Z

I don't know if it's windy where you are but it's blowing a gale here in Glasgow. It's bad enough when you're tucked up safe and warm but imagine you lived next to this close. Look at the window frames hanging out and does that chimney look like it's supported in any way?

No! And that's because it isn't. But for some reason the GHA thought it was okay to leave this close like this after it was burned down more than 3 months ago. It would be bad enough if it was on waste land but it's not.

It's the close right next door to a woman I met the other day. She and ten friends were waiting to greet me when I turned up. They wanted to tell me about a number of things but the most pressing issue was that they have to live next to this and they were scared because at the bottom of the close is a pile of bricks and tiles that came off during the last high winds. Who's to say that chimney won't be next and who can tell if someone will be walking by at the time.

There were many other issues and I'm planning to show you the full extent in the not too distant future but let's just say this place is the land that everyone forgot. It seemed like nobody cared what happened to the families living here, so extensive were the problems. But I care and I got right onto the various agencies including the GHA. Apparently the next morning the GHA were out rectifying some of the problems.

And that's good. But why does it have to wait until an MSP asks them to sort it out? What was wrong with doing it last week or last year when the problems first arose? And would they have done it at all had I not got involved? I really hope I'm wrong about that and I am very glad work has been started. I'll be meeting the GHA onsite tomorrow and I hope to be able to publish a photo which shows this building has been secured and cordoned off if not demolished.

Unionists - all in it together

2011-02-03T13:46:00.004Z

Arch opposer of the teensy weensy additional tax on giant retail units, and thus opposer of an extra £30 million for the people of Scotland, Richard Baker LABOUR MSP has just proven that Labour really has moved so far to the right it's hard to see the difference between them and the Tories.

Stewart McDonald who works as my researcher was in the queue in the canteen today just after FMQs. It was an FMQs that saw the Labour benches enthusiastically slapping their desks (too much effort to clap) in support of Annabel Goldie Leader of the Tories.

Anyway she was in the queue in the canteen when Stewart saw Richard Baker (LABOUR) go up to her, slap her on the back and tell her "good lines Annabel, good lines". You wouldn't catch me congratulating a Tory but like the headline says they're all in it together!

That Friday feeling

2011-02-01T23:58:00.004Z

It's Tuesday and already it feels like it must surely be the weekend! However, hard as I've been working, it's been the kind of work I love doing so I will refrain from complaining. Yesterday, Monday I visited Barlanark Community Health Shop and we had a chat about their funding challenges. It would be such a huge problem for the area if they were to lose their funding but my prediction is that over the next few years there will be more and more vital services disappearing. It would be short sighted however because organisations like this do so much to prevent further (and more expensive) problems down the line. We agreed some things I'm going to look into and I'm really looking forward to doing all I can to support them.

Next I went to see The Pavilion in Easterhouse, a community hall that provides learning support and youth groups. Wait till you hear this. They just happened to mention in passing that the football pitches next to them are not theirs but somehow they've been paying the electricity for ten years! It's all to do with the switch being in their building. So what? They're not their pitches, why on earth should they have to use their very small grants to pay for something that's nothing to do with them? That's what I'll be asking Glasgow Life when I speak to them later in the week!

Quick meeting with David who works for me one day a week after that. I only had 20 minutes and couldn't find a parking space so we ended up having the meeting in the car and moving every time we spotted a traffic warden!

I then handed in my tax returns, patted myself on the back for getting them in "early" ie before 5pm on the deadline) and nipped down to my mum's in Gourock for 2 hours to go over some of the basics of a laptop. I had promised to do it on Sunday but had to work so this was me making up for it.

The day finished off with a campaign worknight delivering supporter letters. I got home about 9.30pm with just enough time to do the dishes, eat my tea and set the alarm for 6am.

Tuesday 6am ...

No of course I didn't get up. I woke up. Forgot why I wanted to get up early and lay there pondering it on and off for the next 90 minutes!

Today I had a brilliant meeting with a group of women in the East End of Glasgow. I won't go into detail just now because I wouldn't be able to do it justice. But it let me see that sometimes people and communities really are just completely forgotten about. Myself and Michael who works with me were horrified by what we learned this morning.

So we spent the next few hours on the phone and firing off letters demanding action. I NEVER demand, I always (politely and sometimes firmly) ask but I never DEMAND. Today however I was so angry with the way these families were being treated that I just had to stand up for them.

The rest of the day was spent going over mail in the office, writing more letters, speaking to the other guys in the office about what they're working on.

At 5.30pm I went to the demo in George Square to support the people of Egypt. It was a really good demo, great speakers and felt good to be a tiny little part of something exciting happening in the world. I hope the people of Egypt get what they want and that is democracy, something we all take for granted.

Anyway I got home frozen to the marrow about 7pm only to discover that I'd left my house keys in the office. Problem was, the house keys are on the same bunch as the office keys so I couldn't get in. I had to drive over to one of my colleagues, borrow his keys, anyway you get the picture. I got home at 8.30pm, wrote a speech for the Forced Marriages debate tomorrow, watched Eastenders, did more dishes and now I'm blogging before going to bed.

You can see why i'm thinking it's weekend time shortly!

Ach it's just oor GENERAL ELECTION - it can wait!

2011-01-30T12:48:00.003Z

This is outrageous. The result of Scotland's general election in May this year is to be delayed for around TWO DAYS. Scotland will be left in limbo from 5 to 7 May not knowing who their MSPs are and, more importantly, not knowing who will be governing Scotland. And all this at a time of great financial uncertainty.

And why? Because the British Government plucked a date out of thin air for their AV referendum - the referendum that was a sop to their Lib Dem coalition partners but that's so weakened from the Lib Dem position that even THEY don't want it - and what date did they come up with? Yes that's right 5 May, the date of OUR general election.

And now it seems that it's not possible for local authorities to count both votes on time so what do they do? Delay our national result. I am shocked but not surprised. I just wonder how long it will be till the people of Scotland WAKE UP to the fact that the reason this country is disrespected is because WE ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN. In fact, I feel like we positively INVITE it!

And when you're telling someone to beat up on you because you don't really mind, it's often very tempting to do just that. The British government (whatever the party colours) gives into temptation every time. Wake up Scotland!

Happy Burns Night

2011-01-25T21:39:00.001Z

This is the brilliant Parsonage Choir performing Rabbie Burns' The Slaves Lament. They were performing at an event I was speaking at last week organised by the Scottish Campaign for Human Rights in Gambia. As I said on my youtube description, I practically had to staple my hands to the chair to stop me getting up on stage and singing with them. I thought they were fantastic and I'd be selfish not to share with you. I've not been well today and this is the only thing that's cheered me up. Hope it works for you too!

Rabbie goes to Haiti

2011-01-25T21:25:00.003Z

Glasgow Caring City the brilliant charity that does so much work at home and overseas, chose today the birthday of Burns to launch something very special. And I was very pleased as one of their Ambassadors to set it up for them. The charity was working in Haiti long before the earthquake just over a year ago. In the last year they have done much but their biggest achievement is in completely rebuilding the Good Samaritan School in Cite Soleil.

One of the rooms will be known as The Caledonian Room and it's where children will learn about and long distance friendships will be built with people in Scotland.

To kick off the latest appeal Alex Salmond the First Minister was the first to donate a book and he chose "A Biography of Robert Burns". I got the other party leaders and a Glasgow MSP from each party together and we each donated a book that we thought said something about Scotland. You can read about the choices here.

I donated a book of beautiful photographs of Glasgow by Colin Baxter. As the children are French speaking (but learning English) I have a feeling mine might just be the most popular book initially!

Sheila's Wheels grind very very slowly and don't mention ScottishPower!

2011-01-23T21:43:00.000Z

Not sure how to introduce this other than to say I feel the need to rant.

Scottish Power are the first to be driving me up the wall. (Not the last as you'll hear.) I get my gas and electricity through Eon. No particular reason other than that's what was here when I moved in and I've not looked at other options. Last September however Eon wrote to me and said "please don't go, stay with us" etc. "What can you mean?" I asked "I wasn't going anywhere". Apparently I was. Apparently I had told ScottishPower I wanted to move to them.

No I didn't.

I wasn't asked. I've never had a phone call from Scottish Power, never had a letter, never had anyone at the door so I'm quite sure I didn't ask to switch to them.

I've had this before. My ex flatmate found he'd switched supplier (funnily enough to Scottish Power) and it turned out some sales person had not got him home so decided that meant he was a switcher (no doubt earning him a nice commission).

So I told Eon no I don't want to switch and that was that. I was quite pleased that my fuel bill over winter wasn't too high - not that I've paid it yet but I'll "get round to it".

And now I know WHY it wasn't too high. Because I have indeed switched to ScottishPower. So not only are they stealing me as a customer, Eon are letting them despite me being quite explicit in my instructions. (Sounding quite school marmish now aren't I?!)

Worse though, I opened two letters yesterday without looking to see that they weren't for me. One was for the woman who sold me this flat over a year ago and it was a ScottishPower electricity bill. The other was for someone I've never heard of but she has my address and it, too, was an electricity bill.

Is it me?

Onto Sheila's Wheels

"Why" I enquired of them "are you taking two direct debits from me, one of which you've been taking for two years when I've only been with you a year"?

Reasonable enough question. Here's the answer:

"One is for your Hyundai Amica" (don't ask, 5 year warranty) "and the other is for the Peugeot 306, Reg R262 FSU". Ah, the one I got rid of in January 2009. Or should I say the one that abandoned me in Jan 2009.

That'll be the one that used to be insured by Sheila's Wheels until I wrote to notify them of its death. Now I know it's daft of me not to have checked my bank statements until now but you know, things happened shortly after that and I got quite busy. Besides, if you tell them you don't need their insurance, you surely can expect them to stop taking your money!

And I'm thinking it must be pretty easy for folk to give a cheaper insurance address to save money because they clearly don't check given that I had two cars insured with them at two different addresses. That's the other thing, the two flats are a street apart. If I was going to have a second home it wouldn't be round the corner!

And that brings me onto my final point. They must have written regarding renewal of insurance. To the old address. Because why would I give them the NEW address if I was no longer with them? These days however, insurance companies don't wait for you to say yes or no, they just tell you if they don't hear from you they'll renew you anyway. I don't like that and this is the reason why.

Anyway I replied to the "you have two cars and two homes" letter on 1st December and what do you think they said? Nothing! My calculations tell me I've paid £400 for nothing and I want it back. No doubt if they EVER reply they'll need me to jump through time consuming hoops and make it as difficult as possible for me to comply. Guess who I won't be renewing with next year!

Mosquito devices are anti young people - I am not!

2011-01-20T10:32:00.003Z

Today in parliament I'll be asking the Scottish Government to ban the use of mosquito devices. The full name is Mosquito Ultrasonic Youth Deterrents and the name says it all. They're not about deterring anti social behaviour, they're about deterring young people. That'll include young people who are doing nothing wrong. The device emits a painfully loud high pitched tone that only those under the age of 25 can hear. Some shopkeepers use it to tackle the problem of young people congregating at their door. It's only a problem if they're behaving in an anti social way so why subject EVERY person under the age of 25 to it? I am aware that even when young people are doing nothing wrong, some older people feel nervous about approaching and I can understand that boisterousness can be mistaken for aggression. So I see why they might not want big groups of young people hanging about their doorway.

But why not do what the Co-operative does in that case? They don't believe in Mosquito devices so they've piloted playing classical music outside 6 of their shops. And guess what. It's worked a treat. It's not punishing them, it just stops it being cool to hang about there so they move on. (There is of course the issue that if there is anti social behaviour, moving it on is no answer but that's an argument for another day.)

Don't forget that EVERYONE under the age of 25 can hear this apparently hideous noise. That includes the young mother trying to do her shopping. And it includes her baby who will become distressed with the noise but be unable to tell mum or dad why they've suddenly started screaming.

Andrew Deans, a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament submitted a petition to the Parliament's Petitions Committee of which I am a member. You can read his evidence session here. Today I will be pressing the Scottish Government to support his suggestion and ban the use of the devices altogether.

Campaigning in Cranhill

2011-01-20T09:52:00.000Z

Human rights abuses in the Gambia

2011-01-19T09:39:00.000Z

On Tuesday evening I was invited to speak at an event organised by the Scottish Campaign for Human Rights in the Gambia and the National Union of Journalists. It was a cultural AND political evening designed to show solidarity with Gambians here and elsewhere who are suffering because of their corrupt and heartless government.

I could list any number of human rights abuses but the focus was on Gambian legislation that imprisons journalists who speak out against the government. I might complain about the press in this country from time to time but freedom of speech and the freedom to report is the hallmark of a democratic nation. Not only can they be imprisoned simply for disagreeing, there is a history of journalists disappearing and never returning or being executed.

The news on the night was that the Gambian so-called Justice Minister has openly said that any Gambian living abroad who speak out against his government will be punished on their return. He referred to them as "evil" and said they tarnished the reputation of Gambia. I was speaking to an audience of many Gambians who have indeed spoken out since seeking refuge here. Of course they will speak out because they want to be able to go back, they want someone to do something to help their families still living there. Many are now living in fear of being returned by the UKBA but I don't see how they can justify that now that a top government minister has openly stated that they will suffer on their return.

For more information read this article by Austin Sheridan a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament who has been actively involved in the campaign. And consider joining the Scottish campaign yourself - sometimes, as my granny would say, we don't know we're born.

Guest post by Christine McLaughlin - Take Action Against Unfair Sweatshops Now

2011-01-09T20:39:00.009Z

Do you care enough about ending the scandal of sweatshop labour to take three simple actions?

Sweatshop fashion contravenes human rights in the most poignant way: millions of people in developing countries live a life of unremitting misery - why? In order to provide us with a constant flow of 'affordable' fashion.

Estimates vary, but it is generally agreed that hundreds of millions of workers are caught in the sweatshop trap. A good proportion of these are children. Human rights are set aside and the misery of long hours and starvation wages is a fact of life for many millions of people, including children. In Bangladesh, for example, many workers are subjected to 16 hour days with minimal breaks and little attention given to providing a safe working environment.

We, the consumers, fund this situation and we can take control. I am suggesting three simple actions you can take in the next five minutes from wherever you are now:

1. Sign my 'Fashion Needs Compassion' pledge

If ten of us cut back on new clothes this year by 10%, that equates to one person not buying any new clothes at all. If ten million of us cut back on new clothes by 10%, that equates to one million people turning their backs on sweatshop fashion.

2. Write a letter/ email

Does your favoured clothing retailer use sweatshops? Write and ask them how they ensure that no child or forced labour is used in their factories; no worker is subjected to violence or discrimination; fair wages are paid; reasonable working hours are adhered to; Trade Unions are allowed and a clean, safe and healthy work environment is provided.

Who to write to? War on Want recently shamed a few high street names and a Dispatches documentary last year uncovered illegal sweatshop labour in Leicester, producing clothes for billionaire ‘Sir’ Philip Green’s Arcadia Group, which include BHS, Peacocks and New Look.

I run my own clothing line, Fairly Organic Folk, and if I can manage to ensure all of the above, surely Sir Philip, who is advising David Cameron on ‘efficiency savings’, can do the same. Nice choice, Dave, by the way.

3. Shop for Victory

An easy one: there are hundreds of retailers of sweatshop-free clothing and now is a good time to start shopping with them because it’s sale time. You can find links to their sites here and here. I’m not saying you should start shopping right now: just bookmark both pages, then you know where they are when you need them, yes?

This has been a guest post by Fairly Organic Folk because Indygal has not been well and was too weak to post her own blog or to refuse when I suggested doing this. She is, however, rapidly recovering from her monster flu bug so if you want to read more of my wise words you are going to have to visit my website, follow me on Twitter, or join my fanpage on Facebook.

It's fair, it's organic, it's fabulous eco chic for babies

2010-12-09T08:24:00.007Z

My sister has designed some very cute baby clothes (from 0 to 18 months) some of them especially for the Christmas period and I love them so much I just have to spread the word. They are all 100% organic unbleached soft cotton which is also non sweatshop traded from Tanzania.

The one shown is a baby gro with tartan lettering saying "Bonnie Yule" and I've bought one for a few babies I know. They're only £8 and they are unique. She also has a baby hat with a tartan star and now that I've seen that I'm going to have to buy it to match the baby gro. It's only £5 so I'm sure I'll manage.

For all you vegetarians there's a design with a turkey wishing everyone a "very merry veggie Christmas".

For environmentalists there's an owl on a skateboard saying "flying's for featherbrains".

And for anyone with any sense there's a design with a very cute baby calling for "peace".

You can see all the designs on Ebay and you can order via Ebay or via me as I will hold a small amount which could save you postage! Have look anyway and let me know what you think. http://shop.ebay.co.uk/fairlyorganicfolk/m.html.

If only I had a helicopter

2010-12-07T23:02:00.002Z

Well! How was your day? Travel anywhere nice? Travel anywhere at all? Let me tell you about MY day. Actually let me tell you about somebody else's day - yesterday.

Aileen Campbell, our youngest MSP, due to give birth today (excited about that) had to travel from Glasgow to her home in Biggar last night. Normally it would take 50 minutes. Last night it took 13 hours. She sounded quite relaxed when she reported via Facebook that she'd finally got home but she can't possibly have been. I'd have been out of my mind. In fact when I heard about it (after the event) I got really stressed out on her behalf.

Another friend was stuck for ten hours on the M80 with her husband and one year old baby boy. How on earth do you cope with that kind of situation? It's unthinkable.

So I DO know as I tell you my tale, that I got off quite lightly. Nevertheless, this blog and you readers are great therapy so allow me to begin.

I had to be at petitions committee today so I thought I'd get the 11am train in order to get in nice and early. In normal circumstances I would get there 2 hours early using that train. I had a suitcase with me as I'm staying over 2 nights. And I'm female, I NEED everything in that suitcase. So I called a taxi. But not only could I not get one to come out, I couldn't even get through on the phone - to any of them!

So my sister (who was staying with me) and I decided to walk to Bellgrove Station and get a train to Queen St. It was quite hard humphing the suitcase over the packed ice especially as most of it was downhill but I managed and felt a great sense of achievement when I reached Bellgrove. And all would have been well if it hadn't been for the fact that we waited a while and then discovered that the trains were all cancelled. Marvellous!

We decided to walk. It's only half an hour normally but normally I'm not mountaineering with a suitcase. Anyway it was fun but the fun ended when I got to Queen St. I was there on time for the 12.30 train which was cancelled as was the 12.45. I was obviously there on time for the 1pm but couldn't get on it. The queue filled the concourse and went out into Dundas Street, looped round and back into the station. We stood in the freezing cold for ages and then we heard the great news. An extra train was being put on and it would leave at 1.15pm.

Not only did I get on that train, I got a seat! And I sat in that seat for over an hour waiting for the train to move! Points problems, something like that, I was past caring. "Give me a solution" I wanted to yell "not a problem". I wanted to yell but instead I smiled sweetly at my fellow passengers.

It worked! The train decided to get a move on and after quite some time we pulled into a station. It's hard to recognise towns in the snow and I was wondering "are we at Linlithgow or Haymarket?" but NO we were at Croy. I wouldn't have minded if the heating had been on but it was baltic. (Actually that's a lie, I would have minded but I wouldn't have been so cold.)

Eventually we got into Waverly at around 3.30pm. I went to the ladies' loo and put my face in the hand dryer and I'd have stayed there had folk not started giving me funny looks. Ha! I'm kidding about that one. Not the face-in-hand-dryer tale, that bit's true. I finally plucked up the courage to walk to parliament and got there at 3.50pm.

So it was only 5 hrs 20 minutes and to be honest although it was cold and uncomfortable it wasn't that bad. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that had more to do with remembering what my friends had to go through. Anything is better than that. And besides, the clerk to the committee must've been feeling sorry for me and he came up to my office with a wee chocolate muffin for me. The world is full of good people and Fergus is one of the goodest today lol.

I hope people stay indoors if they can. Don't be martyrs. I had to come through but unless you're really needed please don't put yourself through it. Stay safe and warm and remember this could last a while. And on that cheery note ... I'm off!

Margo MacDonald's down but not out

2010-12-03T00:39:00.003Z

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the then forthcoming End of Life Assistance debate that was coming up. Yesterday I spoke in the debate and I voted in favour of it. It was defeated by 85 votes to 16. Margo MacDonald who brought the bill to the parliament really came under some sustained attacks in the build up to the debate and there was a fair bit of criticism during the debate.

I know she was disappointed by the result of course and bearing in mind that Margo has Parkinson's Disease, she must have been exhausted by the time she got home last night.

I wondered if she'd be in today. I needn't have wondered for she was there and in fine spirits. In reaction to some of the scare mongering that went on about the bill, she was wearing a red diamante encrusted ring in the shape of a large skull. She did it in reaction to those who all but accused her of standing over the beds of dying people planning their deaths.

Whatever you think of Margo's bill, her intentions were good. Her intentions were to support those people now who know the time will come when their pain becomes unbearable to them and they want to end their lives on their own terms. She is a compassionate woman and to demonise her in the way that some did is a disgraceful way to have treated her.

Disagree with her if you will. But don't demonise her. Still, at least she came back fighting today. I might have been tempted to stay in bed and I have nothing but admiration for her that she didn't.

You can watch the debate by clicking here and scrolling down to Ministerial Statement: Scotland Bill - the debate follows the statement. It's about 1 hr 30 minutes in.

AND another thing ...

2010-12-03T00:24:00.002Z

Still on Question Time.

As always when they talked about tuition fees in England, it got onto talking about how unfair it is that Scotland's students don't have to pay tuition fees. John Sargent was the voice of reason when he pointed out that it shouldn't spark a constitutional debate, it should merely tell us that the governments of Scotland and Wales were managing their money better than the government in charge of education in England.

Sir Christopher Meyer, former UK ambassador to the USA however felt differently.

According to this guy, if Scotland and Wales don't charge tuition fees, England really has to look again at how the cash is divvied up in the UK. We should not be able to "live better" than England, bloody upstarts that we are! (He didn't actually say the last bit btw.)

What he means is that England should cut our pocket money until we learn to behave ourselves and that means that whatever we do, England gets to do better. Like it's our fault the UK government is so appalling!

BBC Blood Pressure Time

2010-12-03T00:11:00.004Z

A few weeks ago the Deputy First Minister of Scotland was a panelist on BBC Question Time. They were discussing the economy and Nicola Sturgeon began describing what the SNP government in Scotland was doing to boost Scotland's economy. I say "began" because David Dimbleby butted in and told her she was not allowed to talk about Scotland. She had to talk about UK wide issues. "This is going out to a UK wide audience and Scottish issues are not relevant to all of them, you must keep it relevant to the UK as a whole" he told her. (I'm paraphrasing but fairly accurately.)

So how come tonight more than half the programme was taken up with English only issues?

The first was England's failed bid to host the world cup in 2018.

The second was how Lib Dem MPs are going to vote on tuition fees in England.

Am I missing something? If I am please tell me because I'm racking my brains and can't figure out how THAT is any different to Nicola talking about the Scottish Government's approach to Scotland's economy.

Enlighten me please dear readers!

It's Thursday night and time to raise the blood pressure

2010-12-02T23:44:00.003Z

Nadine Dorries the Tory MP has just explained on Question Time why she's proud to be a daughter of Thatcher. Apparently it's because she grew up on a council estate in Liverpool and her mum bought her council house then presumably sold it for a large profit so she could move away. Had it not been for Thatcher's right to buy policy (severely curtailed in Scotland now by the SNP government) her mum "would still be living on a council estate". Shock horror! Well thank goodness for that then. Nadine's mum doesn't have to live on a council estate anymore. Because if there's something in life you need to avoid it's living on a council estate.

What a piece of nonsense and if she really believes that then she should be ashamed that anyone still does.

To be or not to be

2010-11-21T11:29:00.004Z

There is so much going on this week that the biggie of the week feels like a long time away but I want to mention it now and invite comments because I know it's something that has sparked a big debate. It is of course Margo McDonald's End of Life Assistance Bill. Stage 1 will be debated on Thursday in the parliament. I've put in a bid to speak on it but there are many others who also wish to do so.

I don't know about anyone else but I am genuinely undecided. I came to this debate believing I would support it on the grounds that I believe every human being should have the right to make their own decisions about whether or not they live or die. However, I recognise how important this is and so I've carefully read all the letters I've received and there's one argument that really has me questioning myself. It's not the religious arguments about God giving us life and being the only one who can take it away. I respect that argument and although I choose to believe in God, I don't think I could stand in front of someone dying in pain and tell them with any great conviction that only God had the right to end that pain.

The argument that caused me to rethink is the one about elderly people believing themselves to be a burden and wanting not to be. If assisted suicide is an option legitimised by us, there is a danger that many older people will, feeling that they have nothing left to contribute, consider going down that route.

That idea horrifies me. Then again, we are at Stage One of the bill and you don't actually vote on it to become law until Stage Three so there are options for amendments to combat that. But can you combat that? What do you do? Put a robust psychological assessment in place to ensure the person is doing it for what we believe to be the right reasons?

My instinctive feeling is there are many questions to be asked and I want to allow the debate to carry on so we can explore those questions fully. Then again, if I vote to do that am I opening the door to a law that I will eventually come to the conclusion I should vote against?

I don't know. So I'm asking you. I'm sending out an e newsletter to my constituents on Monday asking them to email me or comment on this blog post and tell me their thoughts. I'm reading over the letters again, I'm going to read the bill and I'll try to speak to Margo. If I can, I'll speak in the debate and listen to everyone else. If I'm not speaking in it I'll still be watching live on TV.

The one thing I won't do is pretend to be listening when I've already made up my mind. You can be assured that whatever decision I come to it will be done with a great deal of thought, a lot of soul searching and a lot of listening. So please, comment on here (my comments are moderated and only abusive ones won't be published) or email me at anne.mclaughlin.msp@scottish.parliament.uk and tell me what you would do and why. I really want to know.

UK government showing contempt to Scotland - for a change

2010-11-18T14:20:00.002Z

What a day! Had a question at First Minister's Questions, a demo to attend and a meeting with asylum seekers from Glasgow afterwards. It all went really well but I wish I wasn't wearing high heels today, my feet are killing me!

Am about to speak in a debate about this ridiculous and contemptuous decision of the UK government to hold the referendum on Alternative Voting on the SAME DAY as OUR NATIONAL ELECTIONS! Am mad as hell about it and can't believe the Lib Dems and Tories think it's perfectly acceptable.

Better go brush my hair, wash my face and struggle on in the heels then! You can watch it live on www.holyrood.tv or you can watch it later. Or not at all.

Proud of John Swinney

2010-11-17T21:02:00.002Z

I don't have time to go into the detail but I'll try to write about the budget later in the week. For the record, I am extremely proud of John Swinney, I think he's shown himself to be extremely able and has done everything he can to protect jobs and services in the face of the deepest cuts imagineable from Westminster.

I particularly like that he is now compelling the councils to stick to what they agree, IF they agree it. I can't see why they wouldn't. Everywhere else is facing cuts of around 6% but local government can get a cut of only around 2% if they agree to certain things like teacher numbers, freezing the council tax etc. It will mean the difference of around £420 million. But whereas before, councils like Glasgow could simply agree to certain things but not bother to implement them ("we don't think small class sizes make a difference" for example), this time they have to make up the budget that ensures these agreements are met BEFORE they get the extra money.

Good! COSLA have agreed but now we need all 32 local authorities to agree. I think they're being offered a tremendous incentive to do so and at the same time YOU get NO INCREASE IN COUNCIL TAX, CONCESSIONARY FARES stay in place, FREE PERSONAL CARE is guaranteed and a variety of other measures are agreed to.

I am also delighted that he has said if we have a pay freeze for public sector workers earning over £21,000 per annum, we can maintain the pledge for no compulsory redundancies. It's rotten not getting a pay increase, I know that, I have been there often enough myself. But you have to be fair to John and acknowledge that he's proposing that to keep more folk in work and he is freezing the council tax too. He's also chosen not to do what the Greens wanted to do and that is increase income tax. That's because it can only apply to the basic rate and therefore would hit the poorest hardest. Oh and prescriptions - charges will be abolished as planned in April.

Other things of note - public sector workers on under £21k will get an increase of at least £250 a year, the additional 1000 police officers we've put in since coming to power? They're staying put and we're funding it. A living wage for those whose wages the government controls will be at a minimum of £7.15 per hour. Bonuses where the government can control it - suspended until further notice! Distinction awards for NHS - frozen for the foreseeable! I could go on but I did start by saying I don't have time to blog about this.

Having said all of that the SNP government has had to implement cuts of £1.3bn imposed by Westminster so it can't possibly be pain free and no doubt over the coming months it'll become clear who will be worst affected. The Labour Party groan if you dare to mention this in parliament but there's no getting away from the fact that WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE AMOUNT OF OUR BUDGET! As Jeremy Kyle would say: "FACT"!

There is only one way to rectify that and that is by becoming Independent. Whilst I was relieved and proud to read John's proposed budget today, I also felt so sad that we can't just do what any other country in the world would do and use full economic powers to suit Scotland's economy, to grow Scotland's economy, to make Scotland a better place for us all to live in. We have to get our heads round doing that and soon. For now, I think John Swinney has done an incredible job and all with one hand tied behind his back. Think what he would do if that hand was untied. You can untie it. You can vote for Scotland's Independence.

Seeking support of the First Minister

2010-11-17T20:43:00.004Z

I have had a question accepted for First Minister's Questions tomorrow on the matter of the UKBA cancelling their contract with Glasgow City Council to support and house asylum seekers. You can watch it LIVE on BBC2 on Thursday or you can watch it online at www.holyrood.tv. I wrote about it earlier in the week and said how shocked I was at the way they were being treated.

It's a matter for the British Government, the UKBA is one of their agencies and the First Minister has no say in the matter, whilst we're still controlled by the UK.

However I am hoping to get his support to put pressure on the British Government to sort it out. And I also think it's important that asylum seekers and refugees in this country hear its First Minister tell them they are welcome here because the UKBA certainly doesn't make them feel like that!

It was just supposed to be a question but as nearly always happens with me, I come up with an idea, then another, then another and before you know it one little question has grown arms and legs and I've created a monster.

On this occasion it's a monster worth creating. What's happening is that a bus load of people are now coming through to Edinburgh, I've managed to get tickets for 15 of them to get into First Minister's Questions and I have a meeting room booked for 25 of them to meet with MSPs afterwards. It will be very informal but it allows them to talk to their elected representatives about what it's like being an asylum seeker in this country and particularly about this recent development.

One woman told me when she got that letter saying she was being moved to an as yet unknown location in Scotland and would be given 3 to 5 days' notice to pack a maximum of 2 suitcases and leave everything (and everyone) else behind, she decided to give up. She said she just felt like lying on the ground and saying "do what you're going to do but do it quick". That's shocking and I know MSPs will want to hear about the effect this move has had on human beings we're supposed to be protecting.

The photo is of a wee girl from Cranhill (I went to their drop in service on Monday night to try to offer some reassurance) and this is the artwork her mum produced - nice home eh?

Protest at half ten this morning

2010-11-15T09:08:00.003Z

At half past ten this morning I will be attending a demonstration in Glasgow outside the City Chambers protesting against the UKBA decision to cancel its contract with GCC to house and support asylum seekers.

They've done it over a row about the fee they pay the council to carry out this work. The contract was due to expire in less than a year and renegotations would have taken place then. Given that the UKBA may have to pay compensation of up to £5million now for the early cancellation, it doesn't even make financial sense, never mind any other kind of sense!

I'm protesting for a number of reasons. First, as Glasgow has been working with asylum seekers since the year 2000 so has built up a considerable body of expertise. Services have been put in place to deal with the particular needs of asylum seekers. Certain areas eg Springburn, Cranhill have language support teachers in schools and medical practices, there are support workers employed in these areas. It doesn't always work perfectly but Glasgow is placed better than anywhere else in the country to carry out this work.

What this does is WASTE that expertise and experience in Glasgow and it puts a demand on the rest of the country to replicate it. So, say 40 families are moved to Perth. Are the schools there just supposed to cope, are the children just supposed to adjust? And where is the housing coming from? I have contacted Shelter Scotland to get figures on housing availability across the country because what the UKBA are, in effect, saying is "we don't want those 600 houses already being used in Glasgow for asylum seekers, we want to use up housing in other parts of Scotland".

(I am aware some people I've had contact with recently will be jumping for joy thinking this frees up housing in Glasgow for them. Eg the constituent who attacked me for campaigning to keep Florence and Precious Mhango in Cranhill when he couldn't get a flat there. When I went to the housing with him (because I don't, contrary to what he said, just work with asylum seekers) he was quite clear - no multi storeys, no upstairs (he's 27 btw), in fact nothing short of a back and front door. Most of the people who kick up a fuss don't actually want what we give to asylum seekers.)

From the briefings I have received it seems there was no consultation with anyone regarding this move. That astonishes me because the implications for GCC, for the rest of Scotland and of course for these very vulnerable people themselves are immense. It didn't occur to UKBA to speak to anyone who might take over the contract, anyone who might be affected by the move, anyone at all!

I have written to the UKBA and asked them a number of questions. I want to know if Glasgow City Council were aware that this was a possibility, that the contract might suddenly be terminated. If they were then they too are implicated but to be fair, from all I've heard so far, I'm on the council's side on this. Whatever, SOMEONE knew this was a possibility and they should have brought in mediation, they should have consulted, they should have known the consequences for everyone involved would be massive.

The day the council received the note telling them the "deal was off" asylum seekers received a letter basically saying "you're moving, get ready". It didn't say when but promised they would be given 3 to 5 days notice.

3 to 5 days notice??!

Outrageous. I can't even get ready to go on holiday at that short notice and they are expected to leave behind everything they know, not knowing where they are going in 3 to 5 days. Bear in mind many of them have already done that. Many have fled their own countries and they've come here with nothing and nobody. So the friendships they make in Scotland are intensified by the fact that they have no-one else. And they have to leave all that behind with 3 to 5 days notice.

They were told they could take 2 suitcases per person. Outrageous.

Many asylum seekers have been given things by well wishers to make their lives a bit easier. Individuals and the likes of the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees will give them toys and books for their children, a TV that would otherwise have gone in the skip, little things to make life more bearable. And they have to leave them all behind. And what if they don't have 2 suitcases per person. It is not the equivalent to suitcases, it is suitcases.

Last week I took calls from worried asylum seekers, their friends and neighbours, church ministers, teachers and headteachers all desperately worried and right to be.

This is shocking and we have to find a way to stop it. Where there's a will there's a way. My fear is that the will is not there on the side of the UKBA. They can not care or they would not have sent such a callous letter. Come to the demo if you can and join our facebook group by clicking here. Be part of the campaign.

The joys of being a politician

2010-11-14T22:20:00.004Z

I was at an event this afternoon presenting trophies to the winners of a football tournament. It was great, very enjoyable. Most of the time. At the end I was going round folk and letting them know that I was one of their MSPs and encouraging them to get in touch if they'd any problems I might be able to help with. Everyone was receptive and took my contact details but there was one guy who just started having a go at me.

He starts pointing in my face saying "you lot, none of you want to help folk like me" (yes that's right, that's why I'm coming up to you asking if you want my help with anything) "you are all the same" (never heard that one before)!

I think the most patronising and disingenuous thing you can do in those circumstances is take it without standing up for yourself. It would be a bit fake for me to do that so I didn't. I told him I thought there one thing he might need to do himself if he wanted my help and that is ASK ME!!

At this point he admitted that he had never been in touch with me. He went on to tell me about someone he had contacted who couldn't have cared less. I was happy to point out that it wasn't even my party never mind me so hardly fair for him to judge me. I also pointed out the irony of me walking up to him asking could I help with anything and his immediate reaction being that no politician ever wants to help anyone.

It was fine in the end and he's promised to email me with details of a particular difficulty he's having. However it does annoy me the way that one bad experience somehow ends up with us all being the same. I can't imagine me walking up to someone I don't even know and telling them how bad they are but today was not the first time it happened. Ah well, it takes all sorts I guess. Moan over! Thanks for listening ...

Today Matthew, I'm going to be Audrey Roberts!

2010-11-14T09:00:00.001Z

How many of you have heard of Andrew Watson, the first black player ever to play football for Scotland? A left back, the highlight of his career was guiding the strongest club in Scotland at the time, to 3 consecutive Scottish FA Cup victories in 1880. That club was not Rangers or Celtic, it wasn't Hearts or Hibs, it was Queen's Park FC!

Indeed he wasn't just the first black player to play for Scotland, he was the first black international player in world football at all.

Today there is an Andrew Watson Memorial Football Tournament taking place in the North of Glasgow. Organised by the African & Caribbean Network, the aim of it is to raise awareness of the fact that African and Caribbean people have been part of football in Scotland since time immemorial.

The opening rounds will be at Firhill Sports Complex in Hopehill Road, Maryhill from 12 to 2pm and the semi finals, finals and prizegiving from 3 to 5pm at Maryhill Juniors in Lochburn Road. There will be African food and a bar available at the second venue.

The teams include The Persian Gulf, Glas Vegas and AfroScots United.

Andrew Watson seems to have been a pretty amazing man. Born in Guyana to a Scots plantation owner and a Guyanese mother, he ended up studying engineering at Glasgow University - for a black man to achieve that alone (never mind the footballing success) in the Victorian era is impressive to say the least.

My favourite fact about this man I had never heard of until recently is that in 1881 he captained Scotland to a 6-1 victory over England away from home. If only he were still around!

Anyway I better go, I'm presenting the trophies at the tournament today so I need to look out my Audrey Roberts outfit! Try and make it along if you can.

Well done Ryan!

2010-11-11T20:03:00.002Z

Sitting here with a huge smile on my face and a big lump in my throat because of this wee guy Ryan McLaughlin. Because of him, his mum Kirsten, dad Alan and wee brother Darren. Last night he won a Pride of Britain Award for his amazing campaign on the importance of Vitamin D to prevent Multiple Sclerosis which his mum was diagnosed with some years ago.

I've met them a few times because their campaign was focused on the Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee of which I am a member and I've kept in touch with them. It helps that they're all really nice people and they're all McLaughlins :-)

Have a look at the interview they did on The Hour tonight and you'll see him getting his award. An award you really deserve Ryan. Congratulations, very proud of you!

Sad day for Scottish health

2010-11-11T18:30:00.003Z

I spoke in the Alcohol Debate on Wednesday. In fact, for the first time I was allowed to lead for the SNP backbenchers. I think the Chief Whip knew how important this debate was to me so I was chuffed to be able to do it. I think I'm also the first MSP to be brandishing a cider bottle in the chamber now!

Anyway I will blog about this later but I didn't want the parliamentary week to end without me saying how sickened and disgusted I am that the Labour Party, the Tories and the Lib Dems voted down the amendment on minimum unit pricing which would have had a significant impact on our drinking culture.

We had a chance to really do something about the almost out of control problem this country has with alcohol but they stopped us. They didn't stop us because of a passionate belief, they stopped us because we are the SNP. It's pathetic and I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people who I disagreed with politically but who I honestly believed had some integrity.

Jack is dead

2010-11-09T08:42:00.002Z

Oh dear. I haven't caught up with Corrie yet, in fact I'm about a fortnight behind. However I know that Jack Duckworth died last night and I've just seen the clip where he's dreaming that Vera comes for him and they dance together in the living room. Greetin' now. That'll teach me to put the TV on when I'm supposed to be getting ready for work!

Justice for Megrahi petition in parliament Tuesday

2010-11-09T00:16:00.004Z

As a member of the Petitions Committee in Parliament I am particularly looking forward to tomorrow's meeting. We will hear evidence from Jim Swire, father of Flora who was one of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing. He'll be presenting evidence in support of his petition calling for an enquiry into the conviction of Megrahi. He'll do so alongside Professor Robert Black and Iain McKie, father of Shirley.

I've met Iain McKie a couple of times through previous work and found him to be both charismatic and inspirational. And of course Jim Swire has to be one of the most compassionate people ever. I don't know if they have a point in claiming that Megrahi is innocent. What I do know is that it would be all too easy (and understandable) for Mr Swire to accept Megrahi's guilt and put all of his negativity energy in that direction.

But he didn't accept it. He has been outspoken in his condemnation of the conviction and as you can see is campaigning for an enquiry into it. I guess it's important to him that they get the right person but how tempting must it have been to turn a blind eye and blame the man with the conviction?

The other thing that occurs to me is that tomorrow, as I imagine is always the case, he will give evidence and in the recesses of his mind will be this image of his daughter, his flesh and blood, a young woman with a zest for life who only got to live for 24 years. That pain must never leave him and for that reason I am in awe of him and have nothing but the deepest respect.

You can watch the evidence session at 2pm tomorrow click here and scroll down to Petitions.

Make way for George - the ego has landed

2010-11-08T23:15:00.004Z

So, why are you thinking of standing for Holyrood next year Mr Galloway?

"There's no doubt Salmond is a star but there are not enough stars in the parliament and that's why I am thinking about it."

Do you think pretending to be a cat on Celebrity Big Brother has undermined you politically?

"Nobody in the Scottish Parliament today would ever be described as a celebrity, certainly none of THEM would be invited onto a celebrity show."

Better expand the landing strip at Glasgow Airport then ...

Co-operatives Customer Dis-Service

2010-11-08T09:05:00.005Z

I hate to sound like Victor Meldrew here but honestly, what has happened to customer service these days? In May I received a renewal notice from Co-operative Ecoinsurance and it was more than I was expecting it to be. The letter said that unless I told them otherwise they'd be taking £300 out of my account on whatever date. So I looked around, got a quote for £230 from Sheila's Wheels and called the Co-operative. No, they couldn't better it so I said it wouldn't make sense for me to renew with them.

I continued to get letters from them which I never opened assuming they were simply advertising some other service. Meantime my bank account was lower than expected so eventually (and these things take me a long time to get round to) I looked at it and discovered that they had simply renewed my insurance anyway and taken £300 out of my account!

Fast forward to today. I called them to ask why, 3 months after them agreeing to refund the money, they had yet to do so. After going through the whole palaver of postcodes and DOB etc they said I was speaking to the wrong person. So they put me through to the "right" person who asked me all the questions over again and then told me that not only was I not speaking to the "right" person but I was through to the wrong company altogether. The Co-operative guy had (very unco-operatively) put me through to Auto Trader insurance!

And yet none of that is what I really want to have a moan about.

Finally I spoke to the right person (by now I know my DOB and my postcode off by heart!) and she informs me that in August they received my confirmation letter and my certificate of motor insurance. However, she says, there was no proof of insurance from Sheila's Wheels in with it.

Now I can't remember if I sent that or not. I do know that I sent whatever they asked me for and if they asked for that, I sent it. If I didn't, it's because they didn't ask. I was very motivated to get my £300 back you understand. That, however, is not really the point. The point is that they received a letter confirming I wanted (as had been agreed) my money back and what did they do with it? They filed it away! It didn't occur to them to write back or phone me and tell me they needed more information?

Perhaps it did occur to them but perhaps it also occurred to them that people lead such busy lives these days that they rarely have time to deal with that kind of thing. Perhaps they were hoping I'd forget all about it. All they've done however is prompt me to make a formal complaint about their shocking customer service - first, taking money they'd no right to take and then, 6 months later, still no refund. Am not at all impressed.

"Anne you really suit that moustache" - my mother's always wanted a boy!

2010-11-07T23:32:00.003Z

The things they make you do in that place! Here's me with Sandra White and Aileen Campbell posing in moustaches!

It's all for a good cause. We're encouraging the men we know to take part in Movember and grow a moustache to raise money for and awareness of men's cancers.

You can read more here. First time I've been in The Sun! Actually, it's not. I once forgot that our committees are televised and started talking about how much I love graveyards. That got in The Sun! First time I've been in it wearing a moustache though!

I showed my mum today and she said what a few others in parly had already said. Apparently, according to my mum et al "that moustache really suits you Anne"! Not entirely sure if she was suggesting I wear it regularly or not! I won't be!

However, as Mo-Sista to the male researchers in parly I'll happily monitor their moustaches! And YOU can help them by donating something as sponsorship for them - they really deserve it because trust me, most of them do NOT suit it lol. You can donate at this page.

Fireworks for 14 minutes

2010-11-07T23:19:00.005Z

It's not the best photo in the world but what I like about it is that it shows crowds of people enjoying themselves and I particularly love seeing wee kids on their daddies' shoulders trying to catch the fireworks.

This was taken on Friday evening at the Fireworks Display at Glasgow Green. It was great, quite spectacular in fact but I was stunned when it finished after 14 minutes!!!

I guess it's cutbacks which is fair enough but ONLY if the hospitality tent was also cut back. Oor cooncil has a habit of offering lavish hospitality when it's completely unnecessary. And in today's climate, it's completely inappropriate. I couldn't tell you if they had one on Friday night because I'm not a Labour MSP and it seems to be only they who are invited to most events in Glasgow. I think what the council argues is that it's constituency MSPs who are invited, not "list" MSPs. It's just coincidence that most of them are Labour!

Anyway I'm going off the point which is to say that there were thousands of very happy people watching the fireworks on Friday night and for once, it didn't rain. Great night - or should I say "great 14 minutes"?!

Keep helping Haiti

2010-11-06T18:41:00.003Z

Watching a report on Channel 4 news about Haiti and they've just interviewed a young guy who lost a leg and a mum and dad in the earthquake. He survives now by begging but explained that he has an additional difficulty in that people assume his leg is gone because he's been caught stealing and that was his sentence. How cruel has life been to this young guy? I can't even imagine the loss and the devastation on his life.

It's easy to be put off helping because it all seems insurmountable but it's not as you can see if you read this 6 months on update. Many thousands of people are alive and starting to get their lives back on track because of the help many of you have given. So please don't think your money won't make a difference because it will.

I'm an Ambassador for Glasgow the Caring City and if you click on this link you can find out how you can help them to keep making a difference in Haiti.

Please send messages of support to these guys TONIGHT

2010-11-06T17:01:00.003Z

I was just thinking how dark and cold it is outside and how I'd really like it if my heating would work properly. In fact I was thinking of bringing the duvet through and settling in for the night and although I can't say I was feeling sorry for myself, I will admit I was a bit grumbly about the cold.

Then I remembered that some friends of mine are sleeping out in George Square tonight and I'm fairly confident that no matter how much difficulty I have heating my ground floor flat, they will be a whole lot colder than me. It's all for a good cause. They all work for Positive Action in Housing which is a Scottish charity supporting asylum seekers who are completely destitute ie without accommodation or income.

They're sleeping out to raise awareness but also to raise money so please, as you cosy up inside, think of what they're doing for the cause that matters so much to them and send a donation. You can do it online here or you can PLEDGE your donation by emailing home@paih.org or by texting 07530690234 telling them how much you will donate. They'll contact you later for your contribution. Let them know if you want to be anonymous because they're listing their supporters on 29th November.

Don't forget you can use that number to send messages of support to Jamie, Robina and Suki on this cold, dark, rainy November night.

The great thing about them is that as I'm remembering how lucky I am compared to them tonight, I know they will stick it out because they know how lucky they are that it's their choice and it's only one night.

As they know only too well, there are so many people out there on our streets, many of whom have fled state sponsored persecution in their home country, some of whom don't yet speak English and so have even more difficulty asking for help, yet they're not entitled to help anyway and instead are forced to sleep on the streets and rely on the kindness of passers by and the likes of PAIH. Even PAIH can't solve all their problems, they can only give limited help from their hardship fund. But the more you give, the more they can help so please do donate.

Right, I'm away to throw more coal on the fire. Good luck guys - you're far better people than I am :-)

Check the small print

2010-11-06T16:28:00.004Z

I met a friend for a drink on Friday night on our way to see the fireworks at Glasgow Green. I suggested we meet at "the pub at Glasgow Cross but I can't remember what it's called". He said no problem and he'd text me when he got there (he knew I wouldn't be first!) to give me the name of it.

Now bear in mind he is originally from The Sudan and although he's made up for lost time in the last couple of years, he wasn't in the habit of going to pubs out there. Anyway the text duly came through and this is what it said:

"The pub is called Est 1906."

I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. And he will NEVER be allowed to forget it! Oh, and it was the Tolbooth incidentally. I have no idea how he missed the giant lettering and only spotted the "established since" plaque.

All Jock Tamson's Bairns

2010-11-04T15:32:00.004Z

We were taking evidence in the Public Audit Committee yesterday and the convener was asking a question of Steve Cardownie, the Leader of the SNP group on Edinburgh Council. Although it's all on the official record, I won't go into detail of the substance of the meeting until it's all over and done with (which may be never at this rate)!

What I had to laugh at was the convener's reaction when Cllr Cardownie mentioned that Alex Salmond called him on his mobile phone. He said he was "astonished" that the First Minister of Scotland with all his officials had chosen to call the councillor himself!

I'm not sure what he was making of it but I'M certainly not astonished. I'm glad to know that our First Minister doesn't think himself so above mere mortals that he has to do a Yes Minister and get his officials to call Cllr Cardownie's officials to call Cllr Cardownie, when he can just phone him himself!

This obsession with status really irks me. Alex Salmond respects his position but he's perfectly capable of phoning someone and I don't think it demeans his position to do so. As the SNP councillor pointed out, when he was in the Labour Party he regularly got calls on his mobile from Frank McAveety the then Culture Minister.

There really is nothing sinister at all about senior politicians not expecting their "minions" to do their work for them. It's simply in keeping with Scotland's long tradition of eglitarianism and us all being Jock Tamson's Bairns. As it happens when Alex Salmond phoned Cllr Cardownie, he (CC) was having a pint in the pub which he didn't get to finish. I reckon he should point that out to the First Minister and whilst I realise the FM is unlikely to have time to be down the pub of an evening much these days, I'm pretty sure he won't think himself too important to buy him one back!

I

Housing Bill passed today

2010-11-03T19:34:00.002Z

It was great to sit in the chamber today and vote through the Housing (Scotland) Bill which amongst other things restricts the Right to Buy council houses. I've said this many times before but I am fundamentally opposed to the practice of selling off housing stock from the public sector. What we've done is not ban the practice but limit it so that, along with our house building programme, we can start to address the crisis that the last government and the Tory policies of the 80s plunged us into. My parents bought their council house and I have no objection to those individuals who wish to take advantage of the policy but it should never have been brought in, in the first place. The whole thing got out of control with people buying their retired parents' and grandparents' houses for them. Apparently that was to "give them security" but having a tenancy with the council or local housing association is, I would say, pretty secure so there was no need. If we're honest most folk who did that were taking advantage of a situation where they could make / inherit a bit of money. Anyway it was great to be part of that today and I'm really looking forward to the next housing bill which will hopefully be done and dusted before the end of the session in April.

Morrisons to support homeless workers

2010-11-01T17:58:00.002Z

I spent £18 in Morrisons today and I'm glad I did having seen this news story about their commitment to employing people who are homeless or vulnerable in other ways. Hoorah! It's a nightmare for people who don't have a permanent address to get a job and they often need support in other ways that most employers are just not willing to give. Ditto workers with mental health problems. Ditto workers with physical disabilities. So I applaud Morrison's for having the commitment to give a chance to folk who we have no reason to believe will be any better or worse than any other worker but who, more often than not, don't get the chance to prove it. I might shop there again next week!

Not ALL Glaswegians will be miserable tomorrow

2010-11-01T00:03:00.005Z

Apparently today, Monday 1st November, is the most miserable day of the year and Glaswegians are the most miserable folk in the UK. (I would like to add that they mean "unhappy". I take "miserable" to mean "whingeing" which we most certainly are not.)

So, I've got news to cheer you up. If you live in Castlemilk that is. And you have to be on Jobseekers Allowance. If you do and if you are, I have persuaded FirstGlasgow that as of today you should be able to get half price bus fares to help you get out and about looking for work. I've sent over a thousand letters advertising the month long pilot scheme and there have been posters all over the place. But I'm still very keen to let people know.

If it works, FirstGlasgow will consider rolling it out across Greater Glasgow on a longer term basis and that would just be brilliant news. But if there's no interest, the idea will just fizzle out and that will be a great shame.

So, if you know anyone living in Castlemilk tell them about it please. Basically they get the zonecard from FirstBus for £7 for the week instead of the usual £14 but they have to get it in advance by sending proof of JSA, the money and a letter with contact details to FirstBus on Butterbiggins Road. I hope it will make a real difference to people's ability to get out and put themselves about on the job market.

Pointless checking at airports?

2010-10-31T23:20:00.003Z

There's been much in the news this week about checks at airports. From British Airways Chairman Martin Broughton slamming the checks the Americans insist on but don't bother implementing at many of their own airports to the news that the bombs found inside printer cartridges at East Midlands Airport had been partly transported on passenger flights and not just cargo flights as first reported.

I think I probably agree with MB mainly because of the number of times I've inadvertently gone through with things I shouldn't have and have gone completely undetected. I once kept my laptop inside my bag (you're supposed to have it checked separately) but nobody noticed. I have taken bottles of water through, a nail file, various liquids in excess of 100ml and once I even took a parliament bottle of whisky through. I should explain that none of this was deliberate, I just (like everyone else) forget what goes in the hold, what goes on with you and what needs to come out the bag for them to check separately.

Once I remembered after I'd been through and went back to confess to a bottle of water!

But the point is that each time my bag has gone into that machine that searches it and each time there have been contraband items (which apparently have the potential to do great harm) and they've never noticed.

And although I was obviously not carrying anything damaging, the same can't be said of those bomb containing printer cartridges. (Good on the person who spotted them at East Midlands.) I didn't realise the USA had insisted on the checks. Nor did I know that they don't carry them out themselves. It begs the question why we are "kowtowing" as Martin Broughton said, in the first place? I'm inclined to agree with Mr B. Why don't we just decide what checks are actually necessary and then do them properly? Simples as they say on some TV ad!

Questioning Question Time

2010-10-29T17:44:00.003+01:00

I have a cure for low blood pressure. It's called Question Time and it comes on of a Thursday evening around 10.30pm on BBC1. It's about politics in Britain. Sorry, PARTS of Britain. Apparently, according to the host David Dimbleby last night, the guests on the panel can only talk about things if they are related to the whole of the UK.

That's what he told Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last night when he ruled her answer to be unacceptable on the basis that she was explaining how the Scottish Government was dealing with the economic crisis and that only affected Scotland.

So what exactly was the point in having anyone from the Scottish Government or indeed the Scottish Parliament there then? Was he expecting her to answer on the basis of what she would do were she in power in the UK? How absurd!

If the rule is that panellists can only talk about UK wide issues I have 2 questions.

1) Why did David Dimbleby then, out of the blue, start talking about the Scottish Government decision to release Al Megrahi from a Scottish prison? And why did he ask all of the panellists for their opinion EXCEPT for Nicola Sturgeon, a representative of the government that actually made that decision? She got her point in but she really had to fight for the right to speak. Shocking.

2) Can we expect that all future programmes will stick to this absurd ruling and does this therefore mean I no longer have to sit through the panel talking about education and health like we all have the same education and health services but knowing that NONE of what they say applies in Scotland?

On the second point I'll be watching closely and I'll be emailing the show if they break their new rule. I'm expecting repetitive strain injuries galore!

The Milibands win

2010-09-25T18:20:00.005+01:00

Ed Miliband has won the Labour leadership contest on just over 50% of the final vote. His brother David got just under 50% of the vote. So some folk are spinning that and saying it shows the Labour Party will be split. What? Talk about havering! How on earth can a close run thing between two individuals who have no fundamental political differences be seen as an indicator of a split? They were both part of the government that took us into the Iraq war, that lead us into the current financial mess and that tried to introduce ID cards. Neither of them spoke out at the time - when it might have made a difference.

The only difference I can see between them is in their campaigning tactics in this leadership contest. Ed talked a good game about regaining the trust of the working classes. He also criticised the decision to go to war with Iraq. David didn't. Apart from that I'm thinking it makes no difference which of the brothers leads the party. And to call it a split in Labour is just a bit daft.

Now if Diane Abbot (of whom I am not a fan but who at least has fundamentally different views and the courage to express them whether she's standing for election or not), had got 49% to Ed's 51%, then we'd have had a bit of excitement and a definite split. As it is we'll have the same old, same old in new Labour.

Join me in celebrating recovery from addicition TODAY

2010-09-25T09:06:00.003+01:00

I'm doing the UK Recovery Walk today. I'll be joining hopefully thousands of people from around the UK. The idea is that we walk "in solidarity and create living proof that recovery can and does happen". There's a full day of events starting at Glasgow Green at 2pm but the highlights will be the walk itself at 3pm and releasing the balloons at 6pm. We will release balloons in memory of those who've lost their lives to drug problems and addictions. I know who I'll be thinking of and although I think it will be hard for everyone to be there, it's an important message to get across - that you CAN recover from addiction. Many of the walkers today will be living proof of that.

"Glad to be Gay: MSP Anne McLaughlin on Coming Out"!

2010-09-25T08:31:00.004+01:00

Had it not been for the email I got drawing my attention to the end of my article in this month's Scotsgay, I'm quite sure I would have spotted this headline sooner! I wrote a piece about media reporting when people "come out" and how the language is invariably negative. I talk about a male relative saying he'd been "accused" of being gay and how I explained that as there is nothing wrong with it, it's not worthy of accusation. Therefore I can only laugh at the cheekily misleading headline and look forward to being asked over and over again if it's true :-)

Less funny is the reason for the initial email. Actually I got a few emails from people expressing surprise that at the end of the article I say that I can't wait for the day when nobody "gives a f_ _ _" what your sexuality is. Except the article spells it out. No dashes, no asterisks, just the "f" word in all its glory.

Except that is NOT what I wrote. My words were "when nobody gives a ****"! The irony is that I was thinking of the word "damn" but thought it might be a bit offensive to some so I'd asterisk it instead. So how it changed I do not know. I don't want to kick up a big fuss but neither do I want anyone thinking I think it's acceptable to me to swear so casually - and in writing!

Apart from anything else, to me it just looks like MSP trying to kid on she's "down with the kids"! As you all know, I AM down with the kids but it's very uncool to draw attention to that fact! Anyway why not read the article and ignore the "bad word" at the end?

It's the final countdown

2010-09-24T19:40:00.005+01:00

Today is the day they count the votes that determine the internal lists for the SNP candidates in next year's Holyrood elections. What it, in effect means is that by Monday we will all have a pretty good idea of our chances of getting elected as MSPs on the regional list next May. I have to say the great thing about the SNP is that none of us will allow our list place to affect our campaigns to win our seats first past the post. If I'm near the top of the list (and I don't expect to be) I'll still be doing everything I can to win in Provan. If I'm near the bottom of the list, the same goes. That said, it's a tense time for a lot of people.

I WASN'T feeling tense and I still wouldn't be if it wasn't for all the other candidates phoning texting and emailing to say "how you feeling?". One laughed when I said "about what?" and he thought I was joking but I wasn't. Now, of course, I'm thinking about it all the flamin time!!

And yet, at the grand old age of whatever age I am these days, I have been through enough changes and highs and lows in my life and I've started out down enough roads only to change direction shortly thereafter, to know that I will adjust to whatever the members of Glasgow SNP decide.

I will still fight to win my seat and, if that doesn't work, well I've still not ticked "soap star", "tap dancer", "international human rights campaigner" and "celebrated writer" off my "to do" list. That said, I started this job of mine in the worst of circumstances with no expectations and a lot of trepidation. I resigned myself to doing it for two and a half years but within weeks I loved it so I would willingly postpone the tap dancing for another four years if necessary.

Anyway good luck to everyone waiting on results and PLEASE stop talking to me about it, I want to think trivial thoughts for now thank you very much!

Equality vs instinct!

2010-09-21T20:04:00.000+01:00

I was driving to Nicola Sturgeon's house last week with Nicola in the car when I heard the words "I should know not to get in a car with you" coming from the Deputy First Minister, just as a police car starts flashing me to stop! She's right, there have been a few dramas when Nicola's been in my car eg the time she bought hot soup in a service station and was drinking it when I had to brake suddenly and it ended up all over her face! So she really should know better.

Anyway the police were very nice. They were just stopping me to tell me a brake light was out. THEY were fine, it was MY reaction that astonished both myself and Nicola. As she said it was the way that I instantly and instinctively turned on the "stupid woman" act that was so alarming. The police officer told me the brake light was out and I replied (in a very much higher register than my voice is used to)

"oh, does that mean I will have to take it to the garage officer?".

Yes, I'm ashamed and I know not where it came from! I have fixed my own brake lights before, it's just a light bulb. What on earth was I doing? If the sisterhood out there wants to disown me, I will completely understand!

The very mention of my name ...

2010-09-14T16:59:00.002+01:00

I had to smile to myself when a representative of a Glasgow campaigning group mentioned the solution she'd discovered to getting her local Labour MSP to do something for them. Apparently, this very forthright woman has worked out that all she has to do is mention my name to the nameless constituency MSP and it puts "a bullet up his backside". Any time :-)

Getting above our station in life

2010-09-12T23:53:00.003+01:00

OK, I just wrote a great blog post about Joan McAlpine's article on Independence. And then blogger deleted it. I am not doing it all again and the point of it all was really just to recommend that you read it so it's published here if you want to do that. You should, particularly the first and last paragraph.

Hustings today

2010-09-11T09:53:00.001+01:00

It's the Glasgow SNP candidate hustings today! Eek! Yes probably my shortest post ever but that's all I can think of to say - "eek"!

First week back at parliament

2010-09-11T09:28:00.002+01:00

What a week it's been. Because I kept working during recess, I forgot how different it is to be in parliament. It's not that you necessarily do more hours, it's just that those hours are more intense. This week I had my two committees which meant reading 20 odd petitions and all the responses from various bodies to them and digesting a number of audit reports. After that of course you have to actually attend the meetings and make your contribution. So this week I have a far greater understanding of things like difficulties imposed on gypsy travellers, and the wide variation in the cost of replacement hips used by different health boards!

And of course the debating chamber was in full throttle this week with Alex Salmond presenting the programme for government and the debate about the bills that will be laid before parliament between now and next May.

I spoke in the next debate (on Thursday) on the Independent Budget Review. I focussed on the cheek of Glasgow City Council who are wasting so much of our money and yet, want Glaswegians to be the only people in the country not to benefit from the council tax freeze. You can read my contribution here but you can't watch it online yet because they've only put half the debate up!

I also set up a Facebook Group which you can join here if you agree with me that Glasgow City Council ought to get their act together and stop wasting our money.

I also had 2 SNP meetings at night and various receptions and discussions so my head is spinning!

So that's it, back in the swing of things. Got today off and then heading over to Arran on Sunday and Monday for a petitions committee meeting. And so it begins again. The start of the week felt like going back to school but it's so busy and so intense that you get used to it again very quickly.

I'm really keen to speed up my blogging and to make it a routine part of my job because I think it's important you know what you're paying me to do. In the meantime if you'd like to receive my fortnightly E newsletter just send me your email address and I'll add you on.

Castlemilk Celebrations

2010-09-07T09:07:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was a day to celebrate in Castlemilk and here we are doing it. "We" are myself and board members, staff, volunteers and service users of the Castlemilk Stress Centre. The celebration is because the centre closed in May but yesterday, after a lot of hard work and negotiations, we managed to re-open it. You can read more about it here but I like the words of Cathie, one of the board members who said the centre had "risen like a phoenix from the ashes". So true, such a tremendous victory for them and the people of Castlemilk.

They are looking for new board members so if you've a background in sales, marketing or business and are interested let me know and I'll put you in touch. You don't have to live in Castlemilk or even Glasgow, you just have to be able to commit a little bit of time and expertise. And you will be working with a very determined bunch of people so I guarantee it will be rewarding!

Great news on jobs for Glasgow

2010-09-07T08:57:00.002+01:00

Good to have some good news for a change and really pleased to hear that Barclays Bank is creating 600 new jobs in Glasgow. Barclays were helped along in their decision by Scottish Enterprise funding but the good thing about that is there are certain conditions that go along with the funding. Those conditions could lead to the creation of up to 2000 jobs.

Let's reform this nonsensical benefits legislation

2010-09-05T11:59:00.006+01:00

A friend of mine moved house last week. She is a single parent with 3 young beautifully brought up children, one boy and two girls. She went from a house in the East End of the city costing her £450 a month to a 4 bedroom house in a much more picturesque area of the East End costing her £700 a month.

She's not long stopped working and is on benefits so her rent will be paid for her. I can just imagine what the Daily Mail would make of this. How dare she? Would she have done that had she been working and paying the rent? What an outrage this woman taking advantage of the benefits system like this.

Except this woman had NO choice. She didn't want to leave. It was the benefits system that forced her into it.

Natalie (not her real name) owns the first house but when she lost her job a while back and ended up on benefits, she discovered that only part of her mortgage (the interest) would be paid for her. So she was having to find £170 a month out of her income support. It doesn't take a mathematician to work out that this was nigh on impossible.

So she's fallen behind with payments and is now set to hand the house over to the bank. (I'm hoping we can help her find another way but that's how it stands right now and one thing is certain, she can't afford to stay there.) She's moved to rented accommodation and has been assured that all of the £700 will be paid in housing benefit.

How utterly ridiculous is this? There is a choice to be made. Either we (I say we because we're taxpayers) pay the £450 a month to cover the mortgage or we pay £700 a month to cover the rent. Er, let me think ... what would make more sense?

What we've actually done is put the bill to the taxpayer up from £280 a month (the amount they paid toward her mortgage) to £700. Clever! Not!

Not forgetting all the knock on effects to her credit rating, her ability to buy again, her ability to get back into work and off of benefits (now that she has to find £700 a month from any wages) and the disruption to her children, not to mention Natalie herself who just does not deserve this!

It just doesn't make sense to me. And I live by the maxim that if something is right, we have a duty to make it happen; if something is wrong, we have a duty to make it stop. So I'll be campaigning to have this ridiculous situation stopped as part of any welfare reforms being looked at by the ConDem Government. Surely even they can see that it is just common sense!

The real tax fraudsters

2010-09-05T11:44:00.002+01:00

Another legacy of debt from the last Labour government was revealed last week - the "debt" of around 6 million people who, through no fault of their own, have been paying the wrong income tax. Over a million of those people have been underpaying and will be hit with bills averaging £1500 which they'll have to pay over the next year. For some of those people, this is a horrendous legacy / millstone round their necks. Many people these days are really struggling and budgeting hard to pay their bills and not get into debt. And yet they ARE in debt and it's the fault of HMRC. What I want to know is will these people be allowed to work out a manageable repayment plan? If not and they get into debt because of it, what help will the Westminster government give them? (After all they caused the problems in the first place.)

I also want to know how much effort is going to go into recovering tax from folk who actively avoid / evade paying it. It's always happened and it's much harder to detect than benefit fraud because it tends to be people of wealth who do it. And when you already have wealth, you can buy ways to hide the evidence. When I was at drama school in the 80s, we still had grants. My parents were nurses. I got a half grant. There were several children of millionaires in my class and they ALL seemed to be on the maximum grant. It's just how it is when you can afford to get someone to massage your figures.

But it's now how it should be. So whilst the Westminster government is pursuing folk for unpaid tax that they knew nothing about, how about they put resources and intelligence into tracking down people who are getting wealthier and wealthier by actively and criminally avoiding paying the tax that everyone else has no choice about?

Keep pressing on Nicola

2010-09-02T09:18:00.002+01:00

Excellent. Nicola Sturgeon has announced the proposed minimum price per unit of alcohol as 45p per unit. She never was one to be phased by opponents if she believed in what she was doing and she is passionately committed to eradicating Scotland's horrendous relationship with alcohol. The opponents, of course, are primarily opposition politicians with games to play and the Labour alcohol commission that decided it was all too hard for us daft wee Scots so we'd better let the Tory government in Westminster sort it all out. Supporters include most experts in the field.

I keep saying this but it's worth repeating. For me the best thing about minimum pricing is that it will strongly discourage young kids and young adults without an income from buying cheap potent alcohol as they can do right now. It's not about stopping alcoholics from buying it, as many have said if you're addicted you'll do what you have to do to get your hands on drink - that, is a different problem that needs to be tackled differently. What this will do is make it far less likely that folk will start drinking in the first place.

I am working with folk in the East End of Glasgow right now looking at how we can deal with gang violence and they tell me the trigger is almost always young folk hanging about the streeets with nothing to do but drink the easily gotten (because it's so cheap) potent alcohol you can buy with your pocket money. Well no more! Scotland's had enough. The SNP Government's had enough and it's time to get our alcohol problems sorted once and for all.

Jim Murphy talking up Independence - but not for Scotland

2010-09-02T01:19:00.006+01:00

It was music to my ears when I was at a dinner last week and Jim Murphy got up to speak. The Labour MP who used to be the Secretary of State for Scotland (for that read full time anti SNP campaigner) was sweet talking the crowd. He spoke of a modern, independent nation taking back its rightful state from Britain and becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

He talked about the pride and joy that went into growing their independent nation. Oh he just waxed lyrical about independence.

For India.

Ha! Did I have you fooled there? Did you honestly think Jim Murphy would EVER have anything good to say about his own country? Course he doesn't.

We were both speaking at a dinner to celebrate Indian Independence Day and I couldn't cope with his hypocrisy so I talked about how much I admired India for doing what I've always wanted my country to do. He did not like it! But I didn't really care because I don't much like his attitude either.

I had a really enjoyable evening and met some lovely people but I'm not going to speak at a dinner and celebrate another country's independence and ignore the fact that my country doesn't have it yet! They invited an SNP MSP so I don't think many of them were surprised. I think he was though and he started heckling me.

Toward the end of my speech he started talking in a very loud voice (so grown up) and I was clearly getting to him. It may have been when I said that it was great to be celebrating the independence of India and that if it took till the day I died to get Independence for Scotland then so be it. I think his ilk feel uncomfortable with genuine passion for a cause and it frightens them that no matter what happens, we will not give up.

He may also have been aware that one or two people were starting to take my point about celebrating the Independence of one nation whilst denying the people of another the right even to vote on it. I know this because a few people approached me at the end to tell me they were going to go away and think about that one. One woman also thanked me for adding a bit of excitement and controversy - apparently it's not the done thing at these events but she reckons I might start a trend!

It's all part of my conscious decision that I will NOT apologise for wishing my country to be independent. I am PROUD of the cause for which I fight and I'm not having anyone tell me I can't talk about it as they frequently do. You see it a lot in the parliament. Should any SNP MSP dare to mention the "I" word in committee or in the debating chamber, they're met with either loud exaggerated yawns, booed at or heckled to "change the record".

Well we won't be changing the record, in fact I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that we'll all be playing that one over and over and turning up the volume as high as necessary in the not too distant future.

We are not the ones with something to apologise for. Those who hypocritically celebrate independence for any nation other than their own are the ones who ought to be sorry - let's make sure at next year's election that they are!

Powerful personal statement from William Hague

2010-09-01T22:15:00.000+01:00

I was quite taken aback by this statement from William Hague in response to speculation about the state of his marriage. All I can say is if this doesn't kill the stories stone dead nothing will. It's a powerful and moving but succinct statement that he should never have had to make. You can't help but wonder how the journalists who tittle tattled over his private life felt when they read that.

Not how they reacted in front of their colleagues, but how they really felt inside.

The statement ends with the words "I will not be making any further comment on these matters". Once those journalists have apologised I think they should follow suit!

British Establishment Attitude to Scottish People

2010-08-30T00:25:00.006+01:00

I had a flying visit to Donegal this weekend to celebrate my friend James' 40th birthday and whilst there I went walking with his brother Liam who lives in Australia. We got talking about politics and he was asking about Scotland and the campaign for Independence. He was stunned when I explained about the block grant we receive from Westminster. He genuinely couldn't believe that we operate in such a way that all our money goes down there and then we wait (as we are doing now) to see how much they'll give us back.

He used the analogy I always use of a family where the children never leave home and remain dependent on the parents.

I was aware when we were talking about the long battle with the British state the Independence movement has faced, that I was sounding a bit like a conspiracy theorist particularly when we spoken about stuff like this.

Had I known about THIS at the time I think Liam would have seen quite clearly that the conspiracies against Scotland are most certainly not imagined. To save you reading it, it concerns Baroness Deech, someone who has been named on different occasions as "the 107th most powerful person in Britain" (The Observer 1999) and "26th in the God list" which was Channel 4's list of the 50 most powerful people of faith in the UK.

This most powerful and influential (not to mention deeply religious) woman basically starts running down Scotland and Scots. It wasn't just her. Some guy who's in charge of The Centre for Social Cohesion (which I thought was about equality but obviously not) was enjoying the Scot baiting. Oh and it seems the audience was lapping it up!

And that's fine?!

Is it? Of course it isn't and if they were saying this sort of thing about any other nationality, they'd be getting done under the Race Relations Act. If you click on this link you can read the edited "highlights" and listen to it in full but to whet your appetite I will give you one example ...

"We're all subsidising them" says this wummin "I think, by way of benefits and all sorts of reasons and if they want to show how independent they are, ok, thank you and goodbye".

I'm going to be somewhat more mature than Mrs Deech and here's my message to her:

"If we want to run our own country, we will do that in the same way that the vast majority of other countries do. Even if it's not what your country wants, I hope we can still be friends.

"I'm not suggesting we live in each other's pockets and pretend that nothing's changed but that we form a new, more equal, possibly even respectful (if you can manage that) friendship with each other and stay on good terms.

"So, when we do go, Mrs Deech I will join you in saying 'thank you' but I won't say goodbye, simply au revoir."

My sat nav tried to kill me

2010-08-27T00:23:00.004+01:00

I drove through to parliament today and used my sat nav for only the 4th time. In fact, I was driving round in May getting lost as per usual when I thought to myself "I must get a sat nav" which jolted me into remembering that my mum had bought me one for my birthday in March! I'd completely forgotten about it. Blame the job.

Anyway I used it today and it tried to kill me! At first she was just trying to annoy me. She'd say "at the roundabout take the first exit" and I wouldn't, mainly because there was NO roundabout. She was not happy. "Recalculate, recalculate" was the war cry. I pointed out to her that she wouldn't have to do that if she didn't give duff directions in the first place.

So, I'm driving down a road in the city centre when she says "in 100 yards, turn right" AS I am passing a right turn which, when I look, I discover is the turning I should have taken only it arrived 99 yards early! It's too late to turn so I carry on and she's back to her "recalculate" nonsense except this time I SWEAR I heard an attitude in her voice! Next thing I know, as I'm heading over North Bridge, she starts going:

"turn right, turn right, right now turn right"!

That'll be a right turn into a freefall onto the railway tracks below will it? I don't think so! But it just goes to show that you really ought not to trust anyone these days if even your sat nav is trying to kill you! So be warned! Do some thinking for yourself and whatever you do, don't let me give you a lift!

"I'm gonna spend, spend, spend" Viv Nicholson 1961

2010-08-25T23:01:00.002+01:00

Yet another of those things that's just common sense as far as I'm concerned. When a country has a windfall as we have with oil over the last 30 years, you don't just spend, spend, spend like Viv Nicholson did (as those over a certain age should remember)!

You don't spend it all, you invest some of it. Norway did. We didn't. Norway will benefit from that oil for generations to come. We won't. And if I'm not convincing enough for you listen to Joseph Stiglitz an economist so well respected that he won a nobel prize. Surely he would know ...

We all worry - useful information eh?

2010-08-25T18:22:00.000+01:00

En passant this morning, I heard that some report has been published that shows that we all spend on average 5 years of our lives worrying. What? Why? I mean why do we need to know that? And where will it lead to? Do you think perhaps it will force us into addressing our tendency to worry so that next time they do this kind of research, say in 25 years' time, we're only worrying "on average" for 4 years and 11 months? That'll be well worth all that research won't it? Honestly, it's daft. Worrying is just part of life and we'd do less of it if they stop going on about it and producing these reports. Next thing they'll be telling us that "on average" we spend approximately 75 years of our lives eh ... living! Fascinating.

If the constituent won't come to the MSP ...

2010-08-17T23:14:00.003+01:00

I think I must have ants in my pants because I can't seem to sit still these days. We embarked today on a new style of reaching out to constituents. It involves getting out and "accosting" folk in the street. I tell them who I am, remind them that they pay me quite well and that I think they ought to get value for money by making me work for my wages. Not that I NEED anyone to make me work hard of course.

So we started today in Castlemilk. I think some people were a bit surprised at my Oprah Winfrey approach but I made the point to them that FAR TOO MANY people don't actually KNOW what their MSP does. Some know you can go to them with problems but let me tell you, they don't always have a good experience.

Anyway I'm not sitting in draughty libraries and church halls anymore waiting for you to come to me, I'm coming out to get you! Expect to see me at your local shopping centre, your post office, jobcentre, in fact send me ideas of where I should go next time - and keep it polite please!

Eastenders is right to show Phil's drug addiction

2010-08-17T19:44:00.003+01:00

I hear some people have been complaining about Eastenders and the fact that they're portraying Phil Mitchell as he descends into crack cocaine addiction BEFORE 9PM! Others say it's wrong because it's all about the ratings. Personally I don't CARE why they're doing it, I'm just glad they ARE.

And as for showing it after 9pm, why would that be? So that kids can't see it? Well it's kids who SHOULD be seeing it. We should MAKE them watch it. And anyone who thinks differently has absolutely no idea how vulnerable our children are to drugs, how easily they can be tempted to just try it one time and how damn quickly they can become addicted, particularly with crack cocaine.

A relative of mine became a crack cocaine addict, he said the first time he took it. He described the terror he felt at how quickly and how dramatically it took over his life and how he could think of nothing else, how he simply could not function without it. His addiction killed him in the end and his life was wasted just like the 545 addicts who died in Scotland in 2009-2010. All those broken families, all those wasted lives, all that potential gone for nothing.

So I don't really care if we frighten children by showing them just how horrific and completely unglamorous drug addiction really is. Better they are frightened than tempted to venture down a path that ends in their destruction.

Stick to socialism is the message from LORD Prescott

2010-08-17T00:16:00.003+01:00

I wasn't sure if the news that former Labour Health Secretary Alan Millburn would be working with the Tory / Lib Dem government was a sign of mature politics or unbridled hypocrisy. Part of me thought it was shocking that a Labour MP would be helping to implement right wing Tory policies. Then I remembered they were doing that all the time Labour was in power so it's not exactly a huge leap is it?

I did laugh, however, when Lord John Prescott criticised the move only to be dismissed by Nick Clegg who described Lord Prescott's comments as a sign of JP getting "his ermine in a twist". Unbridled hypocrisy indeed ...

Glasgow Labour should get real!

2010-08-16T23:42:00.004+01:00

What is it with Glasgow Labour? Do they really not get it that folk are getting sick to the back teeth of them, particularly that shower in the council and their shenanigans. Every time you pick up a newspaper someone else has been suspended amid drugs allegations or for making inappropriate advances on fellow councillors.

So you would think they'd want to keep folk on their side by doing something sensible. For instance, we are entering a period when belts have to be tightened and savings have to be made. I know it's quite a revolutionary idea for them but they're going to have to do it just like every other publicly funded organisation in the country has to do.

However, not only are they NOT prepared to even attempt it, they also intend to increase the council tax for every council tax payer in Glasgow. They want the Scottish Government to agree to them increasing YOUR council tax AND they want the Scottish Government to continue to pay them the compensation they've been getting for NOT increasing it.

Get real. This is just ridiculous. Nobody likes the financial situation we're in but the Scottish Government's hands are tied by the constraints of being part of the United Kingdom and having our "spending money" dictated to us by their government. So we're all just going to have to get on with it.

I really wish Glasgow Labour would stop p***ing about with party politics and petty point scoring and just figure out how they're going to make savings and protect frontline services WITHOUT ordering Glasgow citizens to pay EVEN MORE of their hard earned cash in council tax PARTICULARLY when they've been given a large sum to compensate for freezing the tax.

If I were Glasgow Labour with the shocking revelations that keep pouring out of the city chambers this year, I'd be keeping my head down and working hard to earn back the respect of the folk of Glasgow, not trying to rip them off for even more money!

Pressure mounts as Welsh Labour back minimum pricing

2010-08-15T10:54:00.001+01:00

What can I add to this? The opposition parties are beginning to look like a bunch of schoolkids. Grow up you lot. I do not believe that you actually believe what you say. Not everyone in Scotland wants minimum pricing of alcohol, but they DO all want grown up politics and they ARE all sick of these childish games. Pressure mounts as Welsh Labour back minimum pricing

Formal Family

2010-08-15T09:08:00.002+01:00

I was repeating a story my mum told me to a friend earlier this week. It was about a conversation she had with my sister. I got to the bit where my mum said to my sister "no it was Anne McLaughlin who did that". What I did is not relevant to this tale. What's relevant and what had my friend pulling the strangest face in response is the fact that my mum and sister refer to me as Anne McLaughlin. I have pointed out to both of them that they now know me well enough to be permitted to call me by my first name but no, whenever they talk about me, it's Anne McLaughlin. It comes, apparently, of having a large and quite close family the majority of whom are called Anne. Actually that's a bit of an exaggeration. There's my mum's sister "Anne Soulier", there's her daughter in law (my cousin's wife) "Anne Hessinger", there's her daughter "Kerry Ann" (called after Kerrygold butter, I kid you not) and there's my cousin "Ann Purdie".

Thus, when my mother or my sister refer to me it is deemed necessary to give me my full name! My youngest sister doesn't but she's probably got a completely unique name for me that I will never know :-)

A great man Jimmy Reid has passed away

2010-08-11T09:50:00.003+01:00

What a horrible start to my day to wake up to the news that the great Jimmy Reid has died overnight. For anyone who doesn't know he was the UCS shop steward who, along with Jimmy Airlie and Sammy Barr, led the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in in the early 70s. It wasn't a strike, it wasn't a sit in, it was a WORK in. The yards were facing closure but he was determined that they would finish the orders they currently had and demonstrate the validity of the upper Clyde.

The company had gone into liquidation and Ted Heath's Tory government refused to loan them money which could have saved the yards and thousands of jobs. Clyde shipbuilding had a global reputation of which we can all be proud but the industry was about to collapse and Jimmy Reid was having none of it.

I "remember" it but seeing as I was 5 at the time and living in either Germany or the South of England and despite the fact that TV footage went all round the world, it's more likely that I heard so much about it in later years that I just think I remember it. Certainly the tales of Billy Connolly going to entertain the "workers-in" and John Lennon sending them a donation were legendary. And the actual impact of what he did was tremendous.

Who can forget his famous speech where he told fellow workers that the eyes of the world were on them and therefore:

"There will be no hooliganism,
"There will be no vandalism,
"And there will be no bevvying".

It was a brilliantly organised, disciplined, principled action that eventually pressurised the British Tory Government into saving two of the yards.

As a daughter of ship building town Greenock, my interest in politics started at the age of 13 in 1979 when I was in first year in high school. Every Monday morning we would sit in registration class and hear which of our friends' dads (and sometimes mums) had been made redundant from the shipyards the previous Friday. We knew what a first class reputation our yards had so it was hard to fathom why nobody would intervene - again, a Tory government was in power, this time under Thatcher. At one point there was barely anybody's parents working apart from my mum and dad who were both psychiatric nurses and for whom there was plenty of work around at that time!

I think what's most upsetting about Jimmy Reid passing away is that we have lost someone with rare qualities in public life. I believe he did what he did purely because he believed it to be right. There are many who do similar today but how many do it purely for that reason? In all the times I met him I never once sensed an ego at play. I know many good politicians and trade unionists who do a great job but they still like to hear that they've made a great speech or they're loved and appreciated. (I try my best but I can't totally exclude myself from that description sadly.) I really never got that from him. He was a lovely, down to earth, principled man who didn't look for special treatment or ego stroking, he just did what he believed to be right.

And of course I was very proud that he chose some years back to join the SNP. I think it finally put paid to the lie that you couldn't be a socialist and be in the SNP. For those of us with left leaning tendencies and a commitment to international co-operation, it was a great day when someone of his stature became one of us.

Jimmy Reid will be missed by many, not least of course his wife Joan and his three daughters. He will be missed by the trade union movement, by political activists and by his country - Scotland was a better country for having Jimmy Reid around.

Doh!

2010-08-10T16:43:00.003+01:00

Have you ever had a question or a puzzle going through your mind that you never seem to get the answer to - until you stop and think it through and then you realise what a numptie you've been? No? Never happens to me either. Except for earlier today when I was at Kelvingrove Park and watching nursery workers taking the babies round the park in some of these double pushchairs.

There is a nursery round the corner from my office in Glasgow and you often see the staff taking the babies out in twin pushchairs and every time I see them I think what a coincidence that they have so many twins at that nursery. So today when I saw nursery workers in the West End with 8 sets of twins and similar thoughts went through my mind as well as the question "are there special nurseries just for twins?", I actually stopped to think it through.

And I thought "why would twins need a special nursery?" and "how come some of those twins look absolutely nothing like each other?". Stop. Brain in gear. Think. Ah, okay, it's the pushchairs that match, not the children. I'm sure it can't just be me! OK on this particular occasion it probably IS just me but I'm sure we've all been there, where we've had that blindingly obvious eureka moment.

My "eureka moment" made me laugh so much I forgot I was on a road and nearly got run over. Sometimes my life feels like a Bridget Jones movie! Right, back to being serious politician!

Cardinal's compassion

2010-08-09T22:14:00.004+01:00

Good on Cardinal O'Brien for speaking out on the USA's attitude to Scotland over the decision to release Megrahi when it became clear he was dying of cancer. I met the Cardinal last week to update him and the First Minister on how Florence and Precious are doing. As we waited for the FM he was talking to me about how angry he was at America's attitude to this. And he said much of what eventually appeared in the article where he compared Scotlands "culture of compassion" to what he said was the USA's "culture of vengeance". We spoke about our opposition to the death penalty. For me it's just wrong and makes us, as a society, as bad as the people we dish it out to. For Cardinal O'Brien it's at odds with what the bible teaches. Having said that I bet I know some who study the bible and will tell me it says the opposite! I'm not particularly religious myself but I do know that Cardinal O'Brien is passionate in his opposition to a culture of vengeance. And he's right.

"You can chain me, you can torture me but you will never imprison this mind"

2010-08-08T12:27:00.003+01:00

The quote is from Mahatma Ghandi. The photo is of my nephew Daniel and our friend *Fraser who came to Scotland as an asylum seeker escaping from Darfur in the Sudan. He is now a refugee, in other words, he's allowed to live and work in Scotland which was a great relief to everyone.

The quote came to mind when I dropped him off on Friday after our walk from Lunderston Bay to Inverkip (pictured). There was a big group of very loud kids hanging about outside his flats and I asked if he got much trouble.

He said to me "Anne, I have been in Scotland for 3 years and 4 months and I have NEVER had any problem with anybody. Every single person I have met has been nice to me." Made me really proud that. I know it's not true for everyone but I'm glad it is true in his case.

He went on to tell me that there are lots of "junkies" (not a term I use but his word) in his area and he'd never had any problems with them either. As he explained it "they are really suffering and I have suffered before so I know how hard life must be. They are taking drugs but they are not stupid, they know when people are looking down on them. I don't look down on them and they know that so they are always nice to me."

Here is someone who has been through hell in his life. I don't want to go into detail because although I've changed his name and not shown his face, I am sure he wouldn't want his private suffering to be public knowledge. The Ghandi quote should give you some idea.

Anyway he's been through hell and his faith in humanity must have been stretched to the limit but he has come out the other side still able to care for others, still with the mental capacity to show compassion for someone that many of us would indeed look down on. Maybe it's because this country has shown him some kindness. Either way he knows how fortunate he is to be here and I know how glad I am that we have people in our country who don't allow the barbarism shown to them to affect their capacity to love.

*Not his real name.

Lord George Foulkes, the guardian of public money

2010-08-07T11:44:00.003+01:00

I notice me old mucker (on the Public Audit Committee in Parliament) Lord George Foulkes is at it again. Mind you when the press encourage him by rewarding him with headlines like this one "£1million spent on ministerial limos" who can blame him? The story goes on to say that in the last year the Scottish Government spent almost £1million on limos and Lord George calls it "an astonishing figure".

If you carry on reading however you discover that the Scottish Government in its attempt to save public money has actually reduced overall travel costs by £1million representing a saving of roughly 18%. I will be pointing this out to Mr Foulkes next time I see him, as I always do. The fact that he's like a broken record and it's easy to switch off from the "same old, same old" is absolutely no excuse not to keep challenging him. (As an aside, he takes it very well!)

I would too if I had the same attitude to public money that he does. You know, the kind of attitude where you think it's perfectly acceptable to take £54,441 in allowances for your "job" in the House of Lords whilst you're being paid £56,671 as a Member of the Scottish Parliament.

If that newspaper article was more accurate the headline would read "£1million SAVED by Scottish Government on transport costs" but being responsible and thrifty is not the sort of story anyone's interested in is it?

I'm back

2010-08-06T11:39:00.002+01:00

Hello blog! Not spoken to you for a while. Now you might think that's cos I'm doing nothing but it's not, the opposite is true. It's because recess, that time to gather your thoughts, think about what you want to look at politically, spend more time planning, clearing out, reading what you haven't read (but had to pretend you had!), maybe working normal office hours, possibly having lunch breaks and who knows, perhaps a day or two off, has been busier for me than it was when parliament was sitting!

That, of course, is because of the intensification of the situation with Florence and Precious which I will not complain about (other than to complain that they have to put up with this crap in the first place) and of course none of the other work goes away, does it?

However, things are a little calmer now. I've spent 3 days filing and recycling and doing all sorts of minutiae like getting printer cartridges for the printer I've not been able to use for 3 months (what was so difficult about ordering cartridges?), paying bills (direct debit is the way forward for people like me!) and transporting the 15,000 annual reports from my hallway and kitchen to the office. I've not stopped but it's been so well worth it. I feel I can actually see the wood for the trees at last.

So today I'm off to visit my mum with Cambull, my Sudanese friend who has apparently adopted my mother! She loves it and he seems to find it quite amusing when I point out that she was MY mother first. I don't really mind seeing as his family were all killed, it would be kinda selfish of me to deny him the opportunity to take my mum out when she's too old to do it herself - nice one Cambull :-)

So we're going down there for the day and I "think" I am taking next week off. I'm fantasising about getting my photos framed, might even put one or two up on the wall, possibly buying and doing something with curtains, after all it's only been 10 months since I moved in to this flat!! I may also buy a George Foreman grill to replace the one I wrecked last week when I soaked it in water. It and the cables! Not a good move. The replacement will have removeable plates this time.

And of course I will have the headspace to blog. So, I promise it'll be more interesting than this drivel. As I said I'm filing, recycling, chucking out rubbish and that includes trivia that's been running round in my head for weeks. So thank you blog, thank you for the catharsis! I will not neglect you again and I will be back tomorrow!

Victory for Medical Justice and human rights

2010-07-26T11:02:00.003+01:00

Brilliant news just out from the High Court in London. The wonderful organisation Medical Justice has just convinced the judge that fast track deportations should be declared unlawful. What had been happening was that the UKBA was ignoring the standard 72 hours notice rule for certain categories of people.

Astonishingly enough they were the most vulnerable of people - those who may be at risk of suicide if they know they are being deported and those who are classed as "unaccompanied minors". The latter group would make you weep and on occasion they have done exactly that to me. We're talking about children (under 18s) who, for whatever reason, end up in the UK alone.

I'm wondering what the thinking is (sorry WAS!) behind fast tracking those who are suicidal. Could it be to make sure if they do commit suicide, they do it somewhere else, that it's not us that have to mop up the blood? And how on earth could someone who was deeply depressed EVER ask for help if they knew they might be fast tracked like this?

We really ought, as a set of countries, to be exceptionally careful when sending fellow human beings away, to be sure we are not sending them back to human rights abuses. If we are not absolutely certain then we, too, are guilty of abusing their human rights.

As usual the UKBA gave the UK a complete showing up in the human rights stakes but thankfully the courts recognised this and have put a stop to it. Time to shake up the entire system methinks!

Don't let them take her baby away

2010-07-25T20:16:00.003+01:00

I've been feeling a bit down today because I'm missing Florence and Precious. I really miss seeing the wee one smiling shyly, hearing her sweet voice which is often barely whispers and watching her concentrate intently on her latest project whether it be knitting or writing or her homework. I've not seen them for a while and although the whole campaign is tough on a political level, I am having to acknowledge how much it also affects me personally. It's hard not to get involved when the people you're trying to help are so vulnerable and so likeable so I was feeling the strain a bit earlier.

And then I think about Florence. And I remember that if we don't win this for them, she will be sitting somewhere in the not too distant future missing Precious too. But she'll be missing the child she gave birth to, her baby, she'll be torturing herself wondering what might be happening to her. And she'll know it's unlikely she'll ever see her again.

I am having an off day but I'll survive. Florence will not survive without Precious. She told me once that she can't live without her. And I believe her. The already strong bonds between mother and child have been intensified between Florence and her little girl because of all they have been through together. They can't survive withhout each other. Don't let them be torn apart. Help me to prevent it before it's too late.

Proud of Kenny MacAskill

2010-07-23T09:44:00.002+01:00

I was in parliament yesterday and after work I was sitting having a drink with our Head of Press outside the soon to be closed Tun Bar when we spotted 2 American tourists asking directions of none other than Kenny MacAskill. Yes he who has been summonsed by the rulers of the world and all other planets, the United States Senate. He had just been to the gym and was dressed appropriately so I doubt it very much but I did wonder if they realised who it was that was giving them directions.

He's not going by the way. In case you're wondering, he's not going to the States to justify himself. He has no need and why should he? It's bad enough having to kow tow to our British masters without letting the USA tell us what we can and can't do.

He seemed to be in good spirits though and I had to laugh as he told us he was meeting Charlie Reid (of Proclaimers fame) for dinner - his parting shot was "a different kind of letter from America tonight". Gaun yersel Kenny.

Keep speaking out for Florence and Precious

2010-07-21T17:15:00.003+01:00

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller

"Blog-in" for my lovely, brave friends Florence and Precious

2010-07-19T17:30:00.001+01:00

I am supporting Florence and Precious Mhangos bid to stay here in Glasgow where they belong.

This is the UK Border Agency in action

2010-07-19T15:16:00.003+01:00

Florence and Precious Mhango are unwell and therefore unable to do their usual weekly reporting to the UKBA in Brand Street in Glasgow. My office handed in a letter from their doctor to this effect. It was clear from their angry reaction that they had been planning to detain them so in a way I'm glad they're sick.

However, talking of being not well, I have been thoroughly sickened by the way the UKBA staff have behaved as a result. So much so that I'm putting in a formal complaint to the Border Agency, I will be speaking to the Trade Union and I intend meeting with the police in the next day or two to establish if an offence has been committed.

For that reason, I can't go into any detail except to say that criminal offence or not, I'm certainly offended by the way they have been treating friends of Florence in Cranhill and I'm quite sure telling lies and using bullying and threatening tactics on ordinary people who've done nothing wrong is not part of their code of conduct.

I have to say they've not come anywhere near me, they prefer to target people who might seem a bit easier to intimidate. So here's my message to the UKBA:

"As you have already been told, if you have any questions about Florence Mhango there are 3 people you can contact. Their lawyer, Florence herself and their MSP - that's me! I know you have this utterly ridiculous policy of refusing to speak to MSPs but seeing as you seem to be bending all sorts of rules especially for the Mhangos, why not bend that one too?

"Leave the single parents alone, don't EVER stand over Precious' Godmother as she lies in her bed AGAIN. If you want to lie to people, if you want to threaten them, how about you try it with me. They didn't invite you to speak to them but I AM inviting you.

"Don't come to my house, you're not welcome there. Make an appointment to come to my office or invite me into yours. I'll be there. I can't say I'll look forward to it after what I've heard about you. But I'd rather you picked on me than on them. So there you have it, an open invitation. I won't hold my breath."

"Oh, one more thing. You have been asking around for a list of Florence and Precious' friends, presumably to intimidate them too. I can give you a bit of inside info on that one. There's a wee group of their friends meeting at 5.30 today at the top of Buchanan Street. I'm sure they'd be happy to welcome you into the fold. So you know where we are ..."

We're staging a BLOG-in for the Mhangos

2010-07-19T14:37:00.006+01:00

Later today we are having a *vigil for Florence and Precious Mhango, a ten year old girl and her mum who are currently being pursued by the UK Borders Agency in an attempt to deport them before a judge decides if they have a case for an Appeal. So many people who cannot make it contacted me asking what they could do and here's what, between them, they've come up with.

1) Change your facebook photo to the photo on this post from 5.30pm to 7pm and tell everyone you are taking part in the facebook vigil for the Mhangos.

2) Take part in the "tweet-down" on Twitter by posting a message of support to them. Use the hashtag #florenceprecious

3) If you have a blog, take part in the "Blog-in" by publishing a post at 5.30pm using the photo and saying why you're supporting them. If you don't have time to write it simply say "I'm supporting Florence and Precious Mhango". And if you are coming to the vigil, remember you can time your blog to publish at 5.30pm.

4) Email the UKBA at 5.30pm reiterating your support for the Mhangos. If everyone emails at the same time they cannot fail to notice! The address is public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

5) Light a candle, tie a yellow ribbon round your wrist, pray, think of them, send them positive thoughts and be very thankful you are unlikely ever to have to go through what they're currently suffering.

Thank you!

*Vigil is at 5.30pm at the top end of Buchanan Street in Glasgow, at the foot of the stairs coming down from the Concert Hall.

A brilliant wedding party

2010-07-17T18:04:00.001+01:00