Parkhead Library

I've been keeping an eye on the renovations to Parkhead Library. When the library closed on the 11th of April, it was due to be closed for twenty weeks. 

I contacted Glasgow Life last week to see if they had a date for re-opening, but sadly it'll now be the week beginning the 3rd of October before the library is open to the public again. 

According to Glasgow Life:

"the 20 week completion date was an initial 

estimate by City Building who are undertaking the works. However, there has been significant 

reinstatement work required to the ceiling which wasn't anticipated at the outset. This has 

meant that specialist plasterwork has had to be undertaken, which unfortunately has 

resulted in a slightly longer timescale for the re-opening of the library."

I'm quite disappointed by this, as I know lots of people use the library not only for reading, but 

for accessing computers, participating in classes, and just meeting people. I'll continue to 

monitor the situation and will update on here if I get more info!

For weddings!

It's my third wedding anniversary today, but thoughts of marriage have been playing on my mind since last week, when John Mason laid down his controversial motion in the Scottish Parliament.

During summer recess when MSPs are in their constituencies (not on holiday, as some may think), visiting organisations and constituents and taking the time to prepare for the session ahead. This is particularly true of those newly - elected MSPs. It's not really a time to take stances unless you're very keen to do so, as anything remotely newsworthy is certain to get in the papers. And so it does. 

A Scottish Government consultation is to be held later in the year on equal marriage; it's well known that John is a man of faith, but I must say I didn't expect this motion at this time. The wording for those who've missed it, is as follows:

Motion S4M-00586 - John Mason ( Glasgow Shettleston ) ( Scottish National Party ) : The Equal Marriage Debate

 

That the Parliament notes the current discussion about same-sex marriages and the Scottish Government’s forthcoming public consultation concerning equal marriage; further notes that, while some in society approve of same-sex sexual relationships, others do not agree with them; desires that Scotland should be a pluralistic society where all minorities can live together in peace and mutual tolerance; believes that free speech is a fundamental right and that even when there is disagreement with another person’s views, that person has the right to express these views, and considers that no person or organisation should be forced to be involved in or to approve of same-sex marriages.

Supported by: Dave Thompson, Bill Walker, Richard Lyle

 

The motion, and the interpretation of it has provoked a lot of debate, both within the SNP and outwith. It has opened the party to criticism, when the notion of disapproving of equal marriage is not party policy or anything approaching the view of most members I know. 

Three years ago, Joe and I had a civil ceremony in the beautiful Trades Hall in Glasgow, where we were strictly instructed not to mention God or religion anywhere in the proceedings. My family are notionally Church of Scotland, but since I hadn't been any kind of regular attendee at any church, I felt it would be a bit rude and hypocritical to suddenly decide that I wanted to be married in a church. It was a lovely ceremony, with poems by my brother and Joe's brother, and family and friends around us. 

I can't support the current situation, where for some, a marriage can't be called a marriage. To me, that is immoral and discriminatory. If two people love each other enough to stand up in front of friends and family, to commit to sharing a future together, they deserve to be recognised and celebrated by society, regardless of their gender. Some Churches may question this, but I wonder what their opposition serves other than to turn people away from organised religion. It may be that we could consider adopting practice such as in France, where everyone has to have a Civil Ceremony, followed by a religious one if people so choose.

For the sceptics and the critics, it's worth noting that an increasing number of MSPs have signed Patrick Harvie's amendment to John's motion. I hope that those who try to pin a badge of inequality on the party I love will bear this in mind.

Motion S4M-00586.1 - Patrick Harvie ( Glasgow ) ( Scottish Green Party ) : The Equal Marriage Debate

As an amendment to motion S4M-00586 in the name of John Mason (The Equal Marriage Debate), leave out from “desires” to end and insert “considers that the balance between these views has changed substantially over recent decades, with the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey showing 53% in agreement with equal marriage and only 21% in disagreement, and a poll in 2010 showing 58% support with only 19% against; congratulates the Scottish Youth Parliament on the launch of its Love Equally campaign for equal marriage and civil partnership, a campaign that it voted to select after consulting over 42,000 young people across Scotland; believes that the Scottish Government is recognising this shift in public attitudes with its forthcoming consultation on equal marriage; considers that allowing same-sex marriage and mixed-sex civil partnerships would in no way undermine the rights and freedoms of those who do not wish to participate in them, and further believes that it would be both right and popular for secular and religious Scots alike to be free to reach their own view on the legal status that is right for their own relationship instead of being banned by law from having their relationships recognised on equal terms.”

Supported by: Jamie Hepburn, Linda Fabiani, James Dornan, Sandra White, Liam McArthur, Jim Eadie, Kevin Stewart, Maureen Watt, Dennis Robertson, Joe FitzPatrick, Gil Paterson, George Adam, Kezia Dugdale, Alison Johnstone, Neil Findlay, Aileen McLeod, Joan McAlpine, Jean Urquhart, John Finnie, Drew Smith, John Park, Willie Rennie, Richard Baker, Mark McDonald, Jenny Marra

Return to blogging

The past few months have flown past scarily fast. I never intended to give up blogging - I just couldn't find the time and energy to devote to it. I do think it's important though, and I hope (having given the blog a wee facelift) that I'll manage to stage a return to blogging.

I put a fair bit of effort into establishing and keeping up the blog; with so much going on in my ward, it would be a shame to let it die now. Twitter has been a good medium for sharing news quickly, but it lacks the depth of information or opinion that a good blog post can provide. So please forgive me blogosphere, and watch me fill this space!

Glasgow City Council fails to heed it's own advice

Just the other day, this letter appeared in my inbox, warning Councillors that we should be very careful what we send out during the period of the Scottish Parliament elections Quite right too - and not only because there are several Councillors bidding for one seat in particular.

You'll see in the second paragraph that the Glasgow Magazine is mentioned - how odd therefore that the Council itself has been caught using that very publication to make blatant party political statements! 

Illiterate Labour

My mum passed on to me this rather poor piece of campaign literature from Labour in Clydesdale. Labour are claiming to support the apprenticeships and the Council Tax freeze which they voted against, present falsehoods about NHS cuts, are apparently now against tuition fees which they introduced in government, and are promoting the 'two week cancer guarantee' (sounds a bit scary, but relates to waiting times, which have actually fallen under the SNP's stewardship).

The real sweetie in the letter is in the fourth paragraph. I've noticed before that Labour have a bit of a problem when it comes to literacy. This letter is just embarrassing - two typos in the paragraph which calls for bringing literacy teachers 'back' into schools for goodness sake. The simplest spell checker could pick that up. 

Furthermore, I'm not sure where these imaginary literacy teachers went, or how something which never existed can be brought back; as ever for Labour, the facts just get in the way of a nice wee bit scaremongering. 

If this is Labour's standard of campaigning, I do hope they contact lots of people...  

Would you like your road repaired?

I've just received the following email... if you have any suggestions please get back to me and I'll add them to my list!

Dear Elected Member

Following the Council’s decision to award a further additional £8M capital to address the road condition challenge in Glasgow we are currently finalising our suggested programme for next year.

Could I, therefore, ask that you provide me with any detail based on local knowledge of locations or schemes that you would wish to have considered in the 2011/12 spend before we finalise this proposal.  Thereafter we will discuss the draft programme with Area Committees and other interested groups.

A response by Thursday 31 March 2011 would be appreciated as it would allow us to consider your priorities with those currently being developed by our Roads Investment Group.

 
Thanking you in anticipation for your assistance.

Regards.


Robert

Robert Booth
Executive Director
Glasgow City Council
Land and Environmental Services
231 George Street
GLASGOW G1 1RX

Skittish Labour's Council Tax Confusion

Things really must be getting desperate over at John Smith House - Labour's recent u-turn on the Council Tax demonstrates how few ideas they have for governing Scotland. 

At Full Council back on the 28th of October, Glasgow City Council Treasurer James McNally proposed a motion saying that a continued freeze on Council Tax was "not sustainable" and called on the Scottish Government to "restore the flexibility to councils to set a reasonable level of Council Tax without suffering financial penalty". All very interesting euphemisms for increasing taxes, I'm sure you'll agree. 

Glasgow Labour were far from the only part of that party calling for an increase in Council Tax, however. Iain Gray had made remarkably similar comments in the Herald on the 3rd of October:

“It does not look to us that the council tax freeze is sustainable... They (local authorities) have to have as much flexibility as possible."

Labour were against the freezing of Council Tax, they said, due to the alleged threat to public services. That threat, if it ever existed, seems to have vanished like yesterday afternoon's snow flurry over Glasgow. 

 

In the Scottish Parliament, they claimed various catastrophes would strike: 

David Whitton (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): "The cost of the unfunded council tax freeze does untold damage to local authority services, just so the SNP can claim to have helped the average band D council tax payer to save a few pence a week."

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): "Campaigners in Scotland warned that people would die as a result of the cuts, which councils blame on the SNP Government's council tax freeze."

On the 30th October 2010 Des McNulty made a conference speech claiming that:

"The consequence of freezing the council tax is cuts in our children’s education"

Where do all these spokespeople, Councillors and MSPs stand now? Do they still believe that the Council Tax freeze, which has  helped hard-pressed householders (including those on fixed incomes such as pensioners), is dangerous? Or did they never really believe that in the first place, prepared yet again to put the party political interest before the needs of ordinary people? I think they owe Scotland an apology, and at the very least an explanation.