I had my surgery this morning at the Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre, and as has become a bit of a habit, had lunch in their lovely cafe.
The cafe employs several members of staff with learning disabilities, who always make you very welcome. The food is very tasty, and they do wonderful home baking which I try hard to resist! Today they had cheesecake, carrot cake, shortbread and scones (I resisted!).
I can confess to a slight obsession with club sandwiches, and as you can see from the photo, Reidvale's cafe produces a particularly fine example. Even better - it's only £2. Really! Worth a visit for this alone, and just the thing for a Councillor-with-baby constantly on the move.
It’s been nearly two years since I first started my Councillor’s surgeries, so I’ve taken some time over recess to think about times and venues.
If you’ve never been to a surgery, it’s all pretty simple*. I book a room in a hall, a school or library at a set time every month, and you can come and see me to talk about your problems or ideas for the local area. I’ve stuck some photos up from a couple of the venues – there’s always a chair and a listening ear waiting for you!
A lot people tend to get in touch with me directly, by phone or email, and I pick up a lot of cases while I’m out and about. I still think surgeries are important to do though – unlike MPs and MSPs, Councillors expenses don’t run to providing a local office, so surgeries are the best alternative to ensuring the public can find us when they need us. If no-one arrives, I get some quiet time to work on committee papers or chat to the janitor or staff (great sources of news!).
Some locations are better attended than others, yet there’s no rhyme or reason to when they’re busy. People have come to see me in the pouring rain, and stayed away on sunny evenings. Some I’ve promoted quite a lot, but still seem quite quiet. I think I’ve managed to achieve a good geographical spread within the constituency, in walking distance for most people.
I do eight surgeries a month, which is more than the average. Details of all the surgeries held by Councillors in Glasgow can be found on the Council website or in the back pages of the Glasgow Magazine. I don’t see it as a big time commitment though – eight hours in a month is pretty reasonable.
The main reason for reviewing surgery times and places has been my Calton surgery, which was previously held in St James’ Primary, which Labour voted to close. There are no other public buildings in the Calton – which was of course part of the problem with this particular closure. I have arranged to use a room in St Luke’s and St Andrew’s church on Bain Street, which I hope will be convenient for most people in the area.
I’m also moving three of my morning surgeries at Reidvale, Dalmarnock and Helenslea to Thursday rather than Tuesday. Bridgeton Library will continue to be on a Tuesday, as the Library opens later on a Thursday. Some of my colleagues have surgeries on Mondays and Fridays, but I was concerned that these are often subject to cancellation due to the closure of buildings on bank holidays.
The full list has been updated on the side bar and the Council
website. I’m always up for trying out new venues or ideas to communicate with my constituents – if you have suggestions please let me know!
* These kind of surgeries don’t involve any medical procedures – a friend of mine was quite concerned when I said I was going out for my surgery!
I was a left a bit bemused by this article in the Sunday Times, which reveals that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has admitted she would not feel safe walking around London after dark.
Let's firstly get out of the way the major issue here - that if you are a Minister of the party which has governed the country for more than ten years and you don't feel that you could safely walk outside in the dark, that's surely an admission of some kind. OK, you could argue that London is a very very big city, and that it follows that as a vulnerable solo woman in that city you might feel that you'd be more likely to be a victim of crime.
However, there's also the issue of the Minister being entirely out of touch with reality:
In the interview, Smith, the first woman home secretary, was asked whether she would feel safe walking on her own around Hackney at midnight. She replied: “Well, no, but I don’t think I’d ever have done. You know, I would never have done that, at any point during my life.” Asked why not, she answered: “Well, I just don’t think that’s a thing that people do, is it, really?”
People sometimes have no choice; no access to a private car (never mind a Ministerial car!), no trains, no buses, no cash for a taxi, so shank's pony is the only way home. If the Home Secretary doesn't appreciate that, she really has lost touch with the very people she is supposed to be looking after.
I'm perhaps a bit too reckless for my own good but I have wandered home on many occasions on my own at night, most regularly in Glasgow these days, but also when I was at Uni in Aberdeen and when I was an intern in Brussels. I've been lucky, as no harm has come to me so far. I do know people, including my partner, who have been attacked. What reassures me (in a strange way) is that all of the incidents I know about have been random, pure bad luck and the result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I believe that I'm likely to be a victim at some point, but that there's no point in worrying about it as there's little you can do in that situation.
Since I was elected, I've often walked home from my surgeries, on my own, in the dark. Do I feel vulnerable? Occasionally. There's nothing like a drunken learly football fan to make you want to cross the road and hurry on your way. Do I fold and avoid walking in Glasgow at night? Absolutely not - what kind of public representative, what kind of person, would that make me? Perhaps one like Jacqui Smith.
One final footnote:
After the interview, a worried aide called The Sunday Times saying the wording had not come out as the home secretary had intended. She said Smith had recently “bought a kebab in Peckham” at night. The south London district is one of the most deprived in the capital.
The cafe employs several members of staff with learning disabilities, who always make you very welcome. The food is very tasty, and they do wonderful home baking which I try hard to resist! Today they had cheesecake, carrot cake, shortbread and scones (I resisted!).
