|
I am writing
this column on Monday 25th October – evening, and I’m in a heck
of a bad mood, because I’ve written it already and just deleted it by
mistake! I was just starting on Friday too! Aaarrrggghhh!!!
So, Monday 18th
October. In between having my Yellow Fever inoculation for my forthcoming
visit to Tanzania and visiting the Dentist, I dropped in on a Strathclyde
Police event in East Kilbride. They had taken over an empty shop unit in
the shopping centre and it was full of stalls relating to women’s and
children’s health; Women’s Aid/Quit Smoking/Al-Anon/Adult Literacy/Healthy
Heart Campaign. I joined the queue to have my cholesterol and
blood-pressure checked – not bad, except told to have more exercise.
Nothing changed there then! It was a good and worthwhile event, and
extremely busy. Well done Strathclyde Police and East Kilbride Police
Station in particular.
Met in the
afternoon with a case worker from Black Community Development Project in
the Pilton area of Edinburgh, because they have asked me to address their
conference on Friday about how black/ethnic minority communities can
access community planning. This organisation started in 1991 in Muirhouse
following a couple of racially aggravated incidents, and they have gone
from strength to strength.
Because it’s
still recess I managed to feel quite good on Tuesday night, having spent
the day clearing lots of emails and paperwork. Got quite an interesting
Parliamentary Question back – PQs to the Scottish Executive, are the main
way that parliamentarians can get answers from the Government. Mind you,
unless you’re very careful about the wording you don’t get answers as
detailed as you would like. Anyway, this one confirmed that Reliance
operatives – Reliance is the private company which has taken over prison
escort services from the Scottish Prison Service – have no authority to
chase and apprehend a prisoner who escapes from their custody. All they
can do is wave ‘cheerio’ and call the police! So much for saving police
time. Later that evening it was confirmed on the news that a prisoner in
Reliance custody had been injured in an attack whilst waiting at court.
Got wakened
up early on Wednesday morning by the BBC UK and BBC Scotland wanting to
do interviews on the Reliance issue. To me it’s very straightforward;
there are services which should never be privatised and the criminal
justice service is one of them – the Reliance contract should be stopped.
And, as for the reasoning being to free up police time, then surely that
should be by review of the whole system, meaning for example that police
officers should not be sitting day after day in courts waiting for cases
to come up. Local radio picked up the story so all in all a busy morning.
Wednesday
afternoon brought a visit to parliament by members of the Lanarkshire
Friendship Force and their visitors from the Netherlands. Like most people
who have visited the Parliament they were favourably impressed and lost
their initial scepticism. When the ridiculous process is separated from
the end produce, It really is a beautiful piece of architecture and
design. The Security Officers were all looking exhausted on Wednesday
evening, and they told me that they had screened more than 2,500 visitors
that day.
Again, most
of Thursday was spent in clearing the decks, apart from a meeting with
colleagues about the forthcoming Charity Law legislation. It’s the
Communities Committee which is dealing with this, so Christine Grahame and
I will be leading it for the SNP Group. We are at the pre-legislative
consultation stage, so members will be going round the country speaking
with relevant organisations, community reps. and individuals. I’m off to
Easterhouse, Glasgow on Tuesday morning.
I mentioned
in a previous column about Thistle TV having agreed not to show their
proposed interviews with the Leader of the British National Party. When I
got back from Arran I was invited by them to take part in a studio
discussion about freedom of speech, the BNP etc. I declined. Well, this
afternoon I received a ranting email from the presenter of this programme
accusing me of, amongst other things “denying the public the right to
judge for themselves”, “deciding what is suitable for viewers”, and
“assuming that you know best”. It also demanded that I “come in here and
justify your position to the electorate of this area”. Well, no! I made a
personal decision a long time ago not to give any racist organisation, or
their views, any credence by discussing them publicly. I know I might be
accused of doing that here, but television is a particularly powerful
medium. I would be interested to know what readers think.
Friday
morning brought the Fred Macauley Show on Radio Scotland again, to discuss
MP’s expenses. About time they were made as transparent as those for MSPs.
Then on to
the Black Community Development Project Conference – excellent event, well
attended and well run. The black community in Scotland faces many of the
same difficulties of any other community, but the reality is that it is
more difficult if you are black. As someone from an Italian background, it
is often said to me that the Italians have integrated, like the Poles,
like the Lithuanians, but you know, as a third-generation Italian it is
not immediately apparent by looking at me that I come from immigrant
stock; you can’t say the same for third generation Chinese, African or
Pakistani. So, it really isn’t as simple as that. The only time I ever
suffered any kind of racial abuse was whilst electioneering in 1999, and
it was minimal. some of the stories of abuse I heard on Friday morning
would break your heart. We have to recognise as a nation that we’re not
actually as welcoming as we would like to believe – the “all Jock Tamson’s
Bairns” syndrome. For some of our countrymen and women it really is
difficult.
On Friday
afternoon I was delighted to meet up with Rosemary Burnett, Scottish
Director of Amnesty International – Rosemary took a year out and went to
Guatemala to work with an organisation which accompanies civic society
activists to and from their business. It’s extremely dangerous in that
part of the world to be ‘mouthy’ and fight against the establishment, but
the presence of international volunteers keeping a watchful eye helps. Her
experiences sound really interesting and I’m looking forward to hearing
the full presentation of her trip which she is preparing.
Constituency
work on Saturday as usual starting with a meeting in East Kilbride with
people who are extremely worried about the new Job Centre Plus plans which
mean that some benefit offices are closing – there are concerns about this
in both East Kilbride and Hamilton. Yes, this is a ‘reserved’ matter and
for the local MP to deal with, but when it directly affects local people,
it’s only right that they are able to discuss the issues with all local
representatives. All I can do though is try to get further information,
and keep an eye on the responses to the consultation which is current.
We had a ‘One
World’ day in Strathaven in the afternoon, run by the Fair Trade Group.
Lots of folk attended and took advantage of the Fair Trade Tearoom and
bought their Christmas paraphernalia from Traidcraft. I chaired the
presentation on the Chair’s visit to Nicaragua where she was working on a
coffee plantation – a co-operative run on Fair Trade principles. Everyone
enjoyed hearing about Pat’s trip and the questions after her presentation
were really detailed. It struck me quite forcibly that the last
presentation I attended about a Latin American plantation showed children
with birth deformities because of the chemicals used, Union activists
being hauled off to prison on no charges, and police brutality. The Man
from Del Monte says YES to a lot of awful things. Fair Trade and
co-operative principles may not yet be the norm in many societies, but a
start is better than nothing, and good luck to all of those who campaign
for a better deal.
Saturday
carried on with a visit to a local asthma charity – SARA – who run an
extremely successful second-hand shop in the town, and meetings with
individuals – the Health Service again I’m afraid.
And so to
Sunday – lazy day looking at Housing Policy, and then a welcome visit to
Strathaven’s Town Mill Theatre in the evening for a singalong of “Songs
from the Shows”. I’m a sucker for all these big production numbers! It was
a wild night, and the poor theatre is suffering from lots of leaks, and
was freezing cold! Again, in Strathaven this resource is run by volunteers
who are constantly fundraising to try to upkeep this beautiful old
building. Sadly, most shows they put on run at a loss – it’s the usual
cart and horse scenario – no money for marketing, no making money without
marketing!
And so to bed
… … |
