A few weeks ago I took my eldest son to the Isle of Lewis showing him his great-grandparents graves and the Island more generally. Tourist sites like the Calanais stones and Luskentyre beach were the busiest I can ever recall, and it wasn’t peak summer. When Justice Secretary I remember being taken to the stones by the Island police commander… Read more »
We can’t roll back on commitments to tackle climate change and the Prime Minister’s proposals and posturing are just wrong. It’s not just climate activists who have spoken out but industry with Ford lamenting the changes and emphasizing the need for commitment and continuity. Other countries have spoken out against his plans, not just developing countries, but even the President… Read more »
Rebutting the suggestion that Scots were taken as slave’s is important, but more so is consideration of just what Scotland’s role was in that heinous trade. For like many, if not most, I’d once assumed it was little. For sure the big houses and estates in the Highlands and elsewhere indicative of the wealth made by a few through enforced… Read more »
Last week in Parliament saw me raise the issue of public ownership of offshore wind. As the pillars and turbines become more visible both in the Forth and along the length of the east coast who’s benefitting. Of course, the skills of private firms and multinationals are both welcome and required. But there should also be an opportunity for both… Read more »
A debates running on whether Scots prisoners were once transported into slavery or were sent to penal servitude. All the historical evidence shows it to have been the latter not the former and conflating the two’s both factually wrong and in danger of downplaying the heinous trade, and Scotland’s role in it. That’s not to say that the penal servitude… Read more »
Parliament was dominated by the fallout from the crisis in public buildings with RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete). A real concern with parents understandably worried about local schools. However, it’s something where officials in the council have been ahead of the game for which they deserve great credit. It was before the summer recess that I was advised by the… Read more »
MACASKILL QUOTES BILLY CONNOLLY IN WESTMINSTER ENERGY DEBATE TO ASK UK MINISTERS “WHERE’S OURS?” ALBA Depute leader and MP for East Lothian Kenny MacAskill is to lead and open a Westminster Hall Debate on “The Level of Public Ownership in the Offshore Wind Sector”. Mr MacAskill will demand that the people of Scotland benefit from the profits generated by offshore wind, not the multinational,… Read more »
Drug Consumption Rooms, Safe Injection Rooms, call them what you will, it’s the same thing. A safe venue where an addict can be supervised and be safe in their taking of whatever narcotic they’re addicted to. It stops them doing so in the park, public toilets or even the street and medical practitioners and drug counsellors can both oversee what’s… Read more »
Robert Reich who was Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary recently tweeted that “three multibillionaires now own more wealth than the bottom 90% of America”. The term bottom 90% a strange way to describe the overwhelming majority of the population but it makes his additional comment that “this is what oligarchy looks like” ring true. It’s over a decade since publication of… Read more »
Parliament returned on Monday and so last week saw preparations for it. The issues this session remain much the same as before, with energy costs to the fore. There may have been a further reduction in the Energy Price Guarantee, but costs still remain higher than last winter where £400 was given to each household and from the year before… Read more »