|
I’ve been terribly lax
recently about getting my diary written. Sorry about that, but I’ll try
to make it up for it now.
We had a massive effort
in Glenrothes a couple of weeks ago, the party proving once again that
we are a formidable campaigning machine. We fell short this time,
though, and we had to take the pain of defeat. Sometimes the tide just
isn’t with you, no matter how strongly you campaign.
Well done to the whole
campaign team, though, for what was a creditable result in difficult
circumstances, and well done to Peter Grant for the dignified way he
carried himself throughout the campaign.
That, of course, was
closely followed by Remembrance Sunday when I was honoured to attend the
service in Hamilton. In remembering those who made the ultimate
sacrifice for our freedoms and rights we simply do what is right. It’s
sometimes easy to forget those who do come back, injured or traumatised
from the wars which are still being fought around the world. There are
still Scottish servicemen and women dying overseas, and there are still
people coming home from war zones with horrendous injuries.
We owe a duty, I believe,
not only to remember the sacrifice of those who died, but also to honour
the debt we owe to those who are still living. We’re making some
progress there and I hope we’ll continue to improve the services we
offer them.
My colleague, Keith Brown
MSP, was a marine during the Falklands conflict and served on those
islands with 45 Commando. He makes the case for the veterans well and
his position as an MSP has helped to highlight some of the issues that
have to be addressed. I’ll let you know what he’s doing from time to
time.
It’s awards season as
well – I was delighted to get to the Scottish BAFTAs. I wasn’t up for
an award, not even for my Newsnight performance, but was there as a
guest – basking in reflected glory as it were. I wasn’t up for an award
at the Politician of the Year Awards either – I think they’re not paying
enough attention! Nicola Sturgeon picked up the big award, of course,
but she was run close by John Swinney and some chap called Salmond. I
think Labour must think of these three as some kind of terrible trio,
the stuff of nightmares for the opposition; intelligent, confident
politicians with a cause to win – a potent combination.
Whitcomm Co-operative was
launched in Parliament as well, it aims to reduce the number of people
who are excluded from the internet revolution. Through Whitcomm, low
income families will be able to access the services that the majority of
people take for granted and delight in (like reading my diary, of
course). It will provide communication packages at reduced prices in
Whitlawburn using top-notch equipment, and there are plans to create a
‘community portal’ for the area. It’s a fantastic idea, and one that
might be capable of being copied elsewhere in the country. I’ll be
keeping my eyes open for other areas that might be able to do the same
thing.
On the same note, I was
pleased to be invited along to an event at a primary school in Edinburgh
to see the pupils using new ‘learn through play’ programmes like the
Sports4life business game. One or two future entrepreneurs there.
Keeping on the subject of
learning, I was off to Motherwell College’s new campus being built on
the Ravenscraig site. I’m delighted to see this site being developed
for proper community use and I’m delighted to be able to support
Motherwell College in its ambitious development.
The white towers of the
college are representative of the towers of the old steel mill before it
was closed and demolished and the wee pods are the nursery where each
age group will have its own pod.
There I was on site with
the finest pair of wellies and a hard hat at a jaunty angle, finding
myself fascinated by the plans for the college and the enthusiasm that
the whole college staff have for the new campus. I’m looking forward to
going back for the opening.
That brings us right up
to this week, and what a week it’s been. Monday morning saw me on a
visit to St Hilary’s in East Kilbride, filling in for Linda Fabiani who
was in Poland on Ministerial business. The funny thing about visits to
primary schools is that they provide some of the toughest questions that
politicians get asked. Never mind Brian Taylor or Michael Crow, it’s
the primary school pupils that are the real tough interviewers!
A funny wee thing about
Linda’s trip was that one of the meetings she had in Poland was with a
chap from Edinburgh. They’d been trying to set up a meeting for months,
discovered they were going to be in Warsaw at the same time, and so had
the meeting there – see this Scottish Government, it never stops
innovating.
Tuesday I was off to
Calderside Academy for the opening of the new campus by Education
Secretary Fiona Hyslop. The new building looks fabulous and it seems to
me that it will be an excellent learning space for the next few
generations of Calderside pupils. It’s good, sometimes, just to see
that delivery happening, and good to see that we’re getting things done.
Wednesday was back into
Parliament and the Education Committee. We were considering a Statutory
Instrument that would allow councils to provide free school meals to all
pupils in primaries 1, 2 and 3. Myself and the other SNP members on the
committee – Kenny Gibson and Aileen Campbell – were supporting the SI
(in spite of the grilling earlier in the week) because we’ve listened to
and read the evidence that suggests that this will reduce stigmatisation
of children, that the health benefits of ensuring at least one decent
meal a day during the school term are quite substantial, that the
education benefits might manifest themselves quite soon, and that the
pilot projects went well.
We were, of course, also
following the principle that we believe this policy to be the right one,
and we were backed up by poverty action groups, trade unions, children’s
charities, and head teachers. I was amazed to learn that the other
parties intended to vote it down in order to inflict a defeat on the
Government. Taking food from the mouths of children for the sake of a
small political victory – and they didn’t think that this was a bad
thing.
There was a fair amount
of pressure applied to Labour MSPs by members of their own party who
were shocked that their party could be considering such a thing and, in
the end, the Labour MSPs abstained from the vote. The Conservative, Liz
Smith, and the Lib Dem, Margaret Smith, voted against. Thankfully, the
three SNP members were enough to see that the motion passed and that the
SI passed the committee. It will be interesting to see whether the
opposition will try to vote the measure down in the plenary session next
week, though.
Incredibly, when I
mentioned the committee’s decision during my speech in the education
debate on Thursday, I was heckled by Labour members – it seems they bear
a grudge.
Today’s debate was on the
needs of looked after children and care leavers and how we make sure
that we’re giving them every possible chance in life. It’s one of those
areas where politicians have to be careful to deliver the right support
to the frontline workers but don’t go stomping in with tackety boots. I
think we probably got it about right this week, and we’ll be coming back
to the issue in the near future with the Additional Support for Learning
Bill.
Justice and Peace
Scotland have been asking people to ask their MSP to sign my motion on
Dungavel:
S3M-02576 Christina
McKelvie (Central Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Dungavel and the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child—
That the Parliament welcomes the UK Government’s opting-in to the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the fact that this will mean
the end of the practice of incarcerating asylum seeker children and
child migrants without judicial scrutiny; further welcomes the fact that
Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre will no longer hold children in
close proximity to potentially dangerous adults; encourages the UK
Government and the National Asylum Support Service to implement the
convention now instead of waiting until domestic legislation is aligned
with the convention, and congratulates all those who have campaigned to
end child detention at Dungavel on the success of their campaign at
last.
The campaign to support
those who are being held at Dungavel continues, and I’ll be back outside
the centre on St Andrew’s Day (30th of November – I know you
know but the other people reading this might not… ) I hope you can join
me there. The day will probably be along the same lines as the Burns
Day event, which you can read about on the Justice and Peace website at:
http://www.justiceandpeacescotland.org.uk/downloads/jpmagissueifeb08.pdf
I’m dashing off just now
to attend the awards ceremony at Motherwell College – not at the new
campus, of course, that’s not finished yet – I think it’s going to be an
enjoyable evening, seeing people getting on with their lives having
taken the effort to study a course. |
