Category Archives: Press Release

Devolution Day – 9 March 2023

  

It’s over 30 years since the SNP produced a party political broadcast for the 1992 general election which stated that nobody ever celebrated Devolution Day. The fifes and drums of George Washington’s American Revolutionaries were shown and the broadcast made the point that the Fourth of July just wouldn’t be the same if all the US had achieved was devolution. It was light-hearted… Read more »

East Lothian Courier – 9 March 2023

  

I receive many briefings about the constituency most are interesting, some very helpful indeed. But one that I received a few weeks ago from Action for Children (ACH) I found staggering. It detailed the extent of child poverty in East Lothian. Now, the county’s by no means the poorest part of Scotland. Not having had the endemic poverty of much… Read more »

Faith and Politics – 2 March 2023

  

Faith in politics has been the subject of heated debate and even condemnation from some. But I’d rather someone entered politics through conviction and had a value system they strived to live by than simply viewed it as a career. Modern politics has been debased by too much of the latter, and not enough of the former. Obviously though, if someone tries to… Read more »

Palestine Silence – 2 March 2023

  

The West fell silent last week as the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was recorded. But many of those understandably condemning Russian atrocities are blind to other conflicts. The silence is deafening, and it’s worsened by complicity in arms sales. There’s almost an inverse of the Iraq War situation going on at the moment. Then a horrific conflict in the… Read more »

East Lothian Courier – 2 March 2023

  

The lack of progress on the A9 and A96 was in the news. The delays are a blow to the North and North-East. The Scottish Governments handling of them, and explanation have been poor. But what about other critical infrastructure projects and ones much closer for East Lothian, the A1 and the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Lack of progress… Read more »

What’s Left? – 23 February 2023

  

The SNP Leadership contest has opened up the debate on what’s “Left”? Kate Forbes and Ash Regan have been attacked for their views on the transgender debate and the former on her views on same sex marriage and abortion. They’re important issues but they’re conscience issues rather than the defining issues for being a radical or even a socialist. Some… Read more »

Sturgeon Resignation – 23 February 2023

  

It wasn’t the going but the speed which was the surprise. There was no way that Nicola Sturgeon was going to lead the SNP into the next election as the Gender Recognition issue was the least of her worries. “Judge me on education” she said, and that would be the first and by no means the hardest of questions she’d… Read more »

East Lothian Courier – 23 February 2023

  

COP26 in Glasgow now seems so long ago. It didn’t deliver much. But one pledge to be welcomed and committed to by both Scottish and UK Governments was for a “Just Transition”.  That’s described as job security in industries that’ll play the biggest part in the transition. That clearly applies to the offshore oil and gas sector where although new… Read more »

TRAGEDY IN THE NORTH SEA EXPOSES LACK OF “JUST TRANSITION” FOR OFFSHORE WIND WORKERS

  

JAKE MOLLOY, RMT AND KENNY MACASKILL MP The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Regional Organiser Jake Molloy and ALBA Depute Leader Kenny MacAskill MP have today (Friday) presented a short paper (attached below) asking “Where’s the Just Transition?” in which they outline how the recent tragedy in the North Sea, 98 miles east of Aberdeen, in which a man went… Read more »

Off Gas Grid Fuel Poverty – 16 February 2023

  

There’s a clear correlation between being off the gas grid and facing fuel poverty. The statistics are as stark, as the plight of many’ s cruel. It’s worse in Scotland at 19%, than in Britain as a whole, or in England and Wales where in both it’s 15%. That exclusion worsens the fuel poverty position in Scotland already lumbered with a colder climate and higher rates of fuel poverty.  What adds… Read more »